Chapter 4

I walked straight past him without replying.

I returned to Liam's side.

Liam looked down at me, satisfaction in his eyes.

He smelled of Serena's perfume, and there was a trace of her lipstick on his neck.

No need to guess what they'd done while I was gone.

But none of it mattered anymore.

I glanced at my phone. Half an hour until ten o'clock.

Liam leaned down and whispered in my ear, "About the wedding—we'll hold it next month. I've looked at a few venues. Tonight when we get back, I'll have Beta Jordan send you the information so you can choose."

I looked at him. "I already told you—forget about the wedding."

His voice carried a warning. "There's a limit to throwing tantrums. I've told you, I'll only marry you. What more do you want from me? Do you want me to beg you?"

He was getting impatient, mistaking my indifference for another tantrum.

"I don't want anything from you," I said. "I'm just not marrying you anymore."

"Enough." His voice turned cold. "Do I need to send you back to the island before you'll wake up? Don't be ungrateful."

I took a deep breath. "You still think I'm throwing a tantrum, don't you?"

"What else would it be?" He let out a cold laugh. "Isn't it all because of Serena? Getting mad at me—how many times has this been now?"

I wanted to say that I really didn't care anymore.

But before I could speak, Serena walked over again, holding a glass of red wine.

She walked quickly. As she approached us, she suddenly exclaimed "Oh my!" and the entire glass of wine spilled precisely onto the front of my light-colored dress.

"Oh my God! Ellie, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! Look at me, so clumsy..." She apologized loudly, but her voice held no real sincerity. Instead, she successfully drew everyone's attention.

Liam frowned but first comforted the supposedly startled Serena.

Then he looked at me, soaked and frozen in place, his gaze cold, his tone clearly displeased. "What are you standing there for? Don't embarrass yourself here. Go take care of it yourself."

With that, he put his arm around Serena's shoulder and turned toward the lounge.

Chase's gaze landed on me like a spotlight, full of amusement and anticipation of a good show.

If this were the old me, I would've already lost it and started attacking people.

But now, I simply said calmly to the nearest server, "Could you take me to the changing room, please?"

Chase clapped his hands and approached, looking me up and down. "Damn, Ellie, which facility did you go to that's so effective? You can endure being treated like this?"

"Are you really changed, or are you planning an even bigger counterattack?"

"I have to say, this version of you is way more pleasant than when you used to throw tantrums. Liam might actually go for this. Very clever tactics."

I ignored them and simply followed the server outside.

Behind me, Chase's voice rang out. "You're really just going to change clothes? Not waiting for Liam to come back and coax you?"

I didn't pause or look back.

I didn't go to the changing room. Instead, I went straight to the entrance and said to the doorman, "Could you call me a car, please?"

I went back to the villa first to get my already-prepared small suitcase, then headed to the airport.

I boarded the plane and put my phone on airplane mode.

I slept for what felt like a long time.

When I woke up, I'd landed.

I turned off airplane mode.

Almost instantly, my phone began vibrating violently.