Chapter 3

I remembered something.

Once, years ago, I had cut my finger.

It was barely more than a scratch, but Jace had acted as though I’d been seriously injured. He carried me straight to the hospital, yelling at the doctors to hurry up while they laughed at him for making such a fuss over a tiny wound.

That was the man I remembered.

And now?

He couldn’t even see that I was hurt.

I quickly wiped my face.

Enough.

I had already made my choice.

So why did it still hurt?

I forced myself upright, ignoring the ache in my back, and walked out of the building without turning around.

My next stop was the courthouse.

I filed for divorce.

There was a mandatory waiting period of one month. After that, Jace and I would have nothing left between us.

This time, I would leave.

No matter what happened.

**

Jace didn’t come home that night.

Instead, I received a short message from him saying he had to stay at the company because of an urgent business matter.

Then came another sentence.

Don’t be late tomorrow.

He was talking about dinner.

The dinner I had arranged myself.

The person joining us was connected to one of Jace’s underground operations. A valuable contact.

And a dangerous one.

I stared at the message for several seconds before typing a reply.

Okay.

Nothing else.

I didn’t ask where he really was.

What good would it do?

**

The following evening, I arrived at the club right on schedule.

The meeting was being held in one of the private rooms of an exclusive establishment—the kind of place where powerful men made deals over expensive liquor and problems disappeared before they ever reached the outside world.

But Jace wasn’t there.

Instead, Allicent was waiting.

The moment she saw me, she stood.

She looked completely different from the woman I had encountered the day before. Her clothes were neat, her hair perfectly arranged, and her expression was polite.

“Mrs. Cole,” she greeted me. “President Cole is still occupied with another meeting. He asked me to come first and explain.”

She smiled politely.

“He also told me to stay here and learn from him.”

Learn?

I nearly laughed.

Still, I said nothing.

I simply nodded and walked inside.

“Fine. Stay nearby and don’t cause any problems.”

The dinner began.

Our client had already been drinking before we arrived. He was loud, careless, and his eyes kept wandering toward Allicent.

She noticed.

And she encouraged it.

She refilled his glass, leaned closer whenever she spoke, and deliberately let her body brush against him.

When he touched her arm, she didn’t move away.

Instead, she laughed.

It was obvious what she was doing.

I felt disgust rising in my throat.

I had never liked women who used themselves to get ahead.

Everything I had accomplished, I had earned without resorting to those tricks.

I wasn’t going to sit there and watch it.

“Excuse me.”

I pushed my chair back and left for the bathroom.

When I returned, the hallway outside the private room was crowded.

Several people stood there, speaking in low voices.

Something had happened.

My stomach tightened.

I pushed through the crowd and stepped inside.

The room had been completely overturned.

Chairs were scattered everywhere. Broken glass covered the floor. There was a sharp metallic smell in the air.

Then I saw the body.

The client was lying motionless in a pool of blood.

My breath caught.

“What happened?”

Then I saw Jace.

He was already inside.

And he was holding Allicent.

Her hair was disheveled, her dress wrinkled, and she was trembling against his chest.

I understood immediately.

Before I could say another word, pain exploded across my cheek.

Jace had slapped me.

My head jerked sideways.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

His voice was low, furious.

“If you want to play dirty, Elena, then do whatever you want. But leave her out of it.”

His eyes were full of anger.

“She can’t handle this kind of thing. She isn’t like you. She doesn’t have your ruthlessness.”

I froze.

My cheek was burning.

But his words hurt far more.

Ruthless?

Me?

I remembered the early years of our company.

I had fought for every deal. I had sat across from men who thought they could intimidate me and walked away whenever their demands crossed the line.

There had been one deal in particular.

Things had turned dangerous.

I refused to compromise.

Even though walking away meant risking everything, I still did it.

Jace had been furious.

He stormed into my home, grabbed me, and struck me once in anger.

He spent several days in custody because of it.

But when he came home, he held me and apologized.

He told me I had made the right choice.

He had thanked me for protecting myself.

From then on, everyone who knew me understood one thing.

I hated those dirty rules.

I hated doing business that way.

And now Jace looked at me as though I had become exactly the kind of person I had always despised.

A tear slipped down my cheek.

“Is that really what you think of me?”

For a brief second, he said nothing.

Something uncertain flickered across his face.

Then Allicent clutched his shirt.

“Mr. Cole**”

Her voice was weak and trembling.

“Your wife told me to drink with him. I told her I couldn’t handle alcohol, but she kept filling my glass.”

She swallowed.

“I feel so sick**”

Silence filled the room.

Jace’s expression hardened.

When he looked at me again, there was nothing but coldness in his eyes.

“People change,” he said quietly.

His gaze lingered on me.

“Apparently, I just failed to notice when you changed.”

That hurt more than the slap.

I stood there without answering.

He didn’t wait.

He simply picked Allicent up, holding her carefully as though she were fragile.

“Come on,” he murmured.

Then he carried her out.

Just like that.

I remained in the ruined room, surrounded by broken glass, blood, and whispered conversations.

Slowly, I lowered my gaze.

After a long moment, I smiled.

It hurt more than crying.

Yes.

People changed.

Jace had changed.

Or perhaps he had never truly belonged to me in the first place.

**

The ride home was strangely quiet.

The streets passed around me in a blur, and I barely noticed anything.

I didn’t realize someone was following me until a hand suddenly grabbed me.

I was dragged into a dark alley.

My heart jumped.

“What are you doing?”

I struggled desperately.

“Let me go!”

No one answered.

They shoved me to the ground and pulled me farther into the darkness, my shoes scraping against the pavement as I fought to get free.

There were too many of them.

I couldn't fight them all.

Then I heard it.

Water.

A river nearby.

Cold fear spread through me.

They dragged me toward the edge and forced me down.

One of them grabbed my hair and slammed my face into the water.

For a moment, everything disappeared.

I choked as water rushed into my mouth and nose.

I tried to breathe.

There was nothing.

Just cold water and panic.

When I was nearly unconscious, they pulled me back up.

I coughed violently, desperately sucking in air.

Then they pushed me under again.

And again.

And again.

I lost track of how many times.

My lungs burned.

My strength disappeared.

Eventually, even struggling became difficult.

I felt myself fading.

When they finally stopped, I collapsed onto the ground.

My entire body was trembling.

I coughed up water, barely able to move.

Then I heard them talking nearby.

“Enough. The boss only told us to frighten her, not kill her.”

The man sounded uneasy.

“You want to explain it if something goes wrong?”

Another man laughed.

“What are you worried about?”

He snorted.

“You’ve seen how that bastard treats his own wife. He couldn’t care less about her.”

His voice turned careless.

“We could take it further and nobody would even give a damn. Hell, maybe he’d thank us.”

My eyes opened.

Jace.

They were talking about Jace.