Chapter 2

Ethan froze.

Maybe Lily's words brought back the memory of the day I caught them.

Catching him was an accident.

That day, I was folding his laundry when I found a bright red lipstick stain on his collar.

Lily saw it too.

We had grown up together, relying only on each other.

She couldn't stand seeing me get hurt. She immediately hired a private investigator.

When we got the hotel room number, Lily tried to calm me down.

But all my sanity evaporated the moment I pushed that hotel door open.

Two naked bodies were tangled on the bed. The girl was Chloe—the intern I had mentored like my own family.

My mind went completely blank. I grabbed a heavy vase from the entryway and threw it at them.

"How could you do this to me?!" I screamed.

Ethan shielded Chloe with the duvet.

His eyes held no guilt. Only fury.

"Elena, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I should ask you that!" I cried, my voice breaking. "You met Chloe through me! You knew she was my intern!"

"You knew I treated her like a little sister! How could you both do this to me?!"

Ethan choked on his words.

Chloe quickly slipped on her robe and got on her knees in front of me.

"I’m sorry, Elena. I know it’s wrong, but I love Ethan..."

Before she could finish, my palm slapped hard across her face.

"How dare you, Chloe! After everything I did for you!"

The next second, Ethan lunged forward and slapped me across my face.

The force of his blow sent me spinning. My cheek burned.

I stared at him in utter disbelief.

"You... you hit me for her?"

Ethan and I had been together since college.

After he took over his family’s firm, he took me to every gala to make me feel secure.

When I had a high fever, he stayed up all night at my bedside.

We never had major fights, and in our three years together, he had never laid a hand on me.

For a split second, regret flashed in Ethan's eyes.

But it was gone instantly. He grabbed Chloe and walked out, leaving me with cold, brutal words.

"You have no right to judge me, Elena. Not after your cozy pictures with your ex-boyfriend got leaked all over Snapchat."

He was talking about the photos.

I had met up with my ex-boyfriend, Leo, just to discuss a business project. Someone took photos and used AI to make them look incredibly intimate.

The moment those photos leaked, the design firm was filled with nasty rumors.

Everyone called me a slut.

I had asked Ethan if he believed me. He nodded back then.

Even when I noticed him avoiding physical contact with me afterward, I still chose to trust him.

But the truth was, he never believed me.

His affair with Chloe was just his sick way of getting revenge.

I laughed. I laughed until tears streamed down my face.

Just like Lily was doing right now.

"You cheated on her for 'revenge.' You didn't believe a word she said. You sent her to prison and ended up killing her!" Lily screamed at Ethan.

"You were the one who ruined everything! Why is she dead while you get to live perfectly fine?!"