Chapter 3

I packed my things to go home. A colleague sent me a text message.

"Holden, why is the platform full of bad reviews about you?"

"The company fired you and locked your car access."

I felt no emotion. I knew without asking this was Serena's doing.

She wanted to use this method to force me to apologize, to force me to endure.

But that was fine. I was going to resign anyway. This saved me the trouble.

But the next sentence truly stopped me in my tracks.

"Oh right, Miss Moore is actually the daughter of Mr. Moore, our chairman!"

Serena was the daughter of Steven Moore, the owner of the rideshare company?

My heart sank to rock bottom.

No wonder management always gave me trouble and assigned me barely any orders.

No wonder she could get her mother to sabotage me.

But from our marriage until now, she'd lied to me, saying her parents were farmers in the countryside who couldn't conveniently come to the city.

I'd never met her parents. They hadn't even attended our wedding.

I didn't care about her background, but I couldn't accept that she'd deceived me for five years.

From the very beginning, she never planned to accept me, and after all these years, she still hadn't.

I was about to block Serena's contact information when an unknown number called.

"Is this Holden Hayes? I'm Serena's mother. Do you have time to come over for dinner?"

I thought about it and agreed. Our seven years together deserved some kind of closure.

I arrived at the Moore family mansion. Inside was lavishly decorated, filled with their relatives.

After dinner, out of respect, I volunteered to wash dishes and clean up.

That's when I heard people around me gossiping.

"So this is the man Serena never brought home? He's quite handsome, but he looks so shabby."

"Oh honey, he's just a rideshare driver who saved her once. How can he compare to Preston?"

"Exactly. Preston may not have a job, but his family background is so much better."

I kept my expression unchanged, but my heart ached again.

Back then, for Serena's sake, I'd refused the family's arranged marriage. I'd fought bitterly with my father and been kicked out of the house.

I'd worked hard to give Serena the best life possible. She complained I was useless, yet the man she was devoted to was a freeloader who did nothing.

The difference between love and lack of love was indeed obvious.

Mrs. Moore sneered. "What husband? The marriage certificate is fake."

"My daughter said he's just a male housekeeper Serena hired."

All the blood in my body seemed to freeze. I stood there rigid.

The marriage certificate was fake?

I thought of yesterday, when I'd taken out the marriage certificate to file for divorce, never imagining it was a fake document.

The year we got married, Serena and I walked out of the courthouse together.

She held that red booklet and smiled at me for the first time.

"Holden, I'll treat you well."

I'd been so excited I couldn't sleep all night.

How moved I'd been then was how ironic it felt now.

Mrs. Moore even pulled out photos of their family of three and introduced them to everyone. "This is my real son-in-law. The child looks so much like his father, doesn't he?"

Just then, a news segment played on the TV.

"The Moore family heiress has publicly revealed her longtime partner, Mr. Preston."

"According to the couple, they will hold a wedding of the century at the end of this month."

Looking at the TV screen showing the two of them smiling and snuggling sweetly together, I finally understood Mrs. Moore's intentions.

She'd called me here just to make me leave on my own, to establish in front of everyone that I was the homewrecker destroying their family.

After gathering my things, I pushed open the door to leave, only to run straight into Serena, who'd just returned.

Behind her stood the child and Preston.

When she saw me, she slapped me without a word.

"Holden Hayes, how dare you make a scene at my house?"

"In front of all these people---what exactly are you trying to do?"

After all these years, she still jumped to conclusions without asking, never caring about my feelings.

My face stung painfully. I pulled at the corner of my mouth. Might as well make everything clear in front of everyone.

"Serena Moore, I came to tell you that not everyone is like your freeloader mistress."

"I, Holden Hayes, never used a cent of your money or asked you for a single favor."

"From now on, you and I have nothing to do with each other. Understand?"