Chapter 2

I held the phone farther away and calmly listened to the person on the other end scream.

“Avery! Have you lost your mind? Ethan was such a rich, successful man, and you actually divorced him?! What were you thinking?!”

I bragged about it to everyone I met.

“He left with nothing.”

Claire went silent for two seconds before shrieking again.

“Avery, you finally got it! Good girl! Good girl! You understand that you can’t sacrifice yourself just to spare someone else!”

I sat in the luxury car Ethan and I had bought during our marriage and opened a bottle of ’82 Château Lafite. I leaned back comfortably.

“So? Are you coming to Velvet Room or not?”

Velvet Room was a classy bar. Every now and then, they held special events with wild pole dancing. I’d originally planned to have a few drinks and talk about life with my friends.

After all, I had no elderly parents to care for and no children to raise. I had no burdens and several million dollars in assets. My future was bright and beautiful.

But the bar I visited only a few times a year had, of all things, decided to host an open dance night.

With the music pounding and Claire enthusiastically egging me on in the dazzling atmosphere, I completely let myself go.

The dance floor was packed. The music was wild, and I kept shouting for more drinks, determined not to leave until I was completely drunk.

When I noticed no one was onstage, and fueled by all the alcohol, I pulled off my crop top, shoved through the crowd, stuck my butt in the air, and climbed onto the stage.

Claire was terrified that any party might become boring. The moment she saw me go up, she whistled from below.

“Avery! You’re incredible! I love you!”

The crowd watched me grab the pole and began cheering. Their shouts rolled over me like waves.

I was starting to lose all sense of reality.

I shouted at the DJ to play the most intense song he had and wrapped myself around the pole.

Before long, the entire area beneath the stage was packed with people. I glanced over the crowd and thought I saw Ethan.

I shook my head and erased his face from my mind.

We were divorced. Why was I thinking about him? He would never come to a place like this.

I drank until I was completely wasted. After the wild night, I woke up in a hotel.

The first thing I saw was white sheets and expensive hotel furnishings. My mind was blank.

I suspected someone had slept with me, but I had no proof.

I shot upright and gasped.

“Oh, hell!”

I pulled open the covers. My clothes were perfectly intact, but a little red booklet beside me sent me into deep thought.

Divorce papers?

Mine?

There was a bottle of water beside the bed. I unscrewed the cap and took a sip. Memories from the previous night came rushing back.

How the hell did I get so into pole dancing?

Had I really seen Ethan?

Was someone trying to take me away?

“What are you doing?”

“…Her husband.”

“I could say I’m her husband too. Kid, don’t ruin my fun. If you don’t want to get beaten up, get lost!”

The man across from him was slurring badly. He had probably been drinking just as much as I had.

Ethan smiled.

It was a polite, clean smile.

I remembered my junior year of college, when he had invited me out. We’d stayed out late, and on our way back to campus, a few punks had tried to start trouble with us.

Ethan had looked like a helpless scholar, so they decided he would be easy prey.

He had stood in front of me and given them that same gentle smile.

In a calm voice, he asked, “Are you moving or not?”

The punks had continued acting tough.

Ethan smiled and rolled up his sleeves.

Three minutes later, all three of them were on the ground.

That was the night I decided I was going to marry him.

I shook my head, annoyed with myself for overthinking.

I must have really been drunk. The last thing I remembered was Ethan smiling.

But the divorce papers were here. They had to belong to either me or Ethan. They couldn’t belong to someone else.

I was furious, and that usually meant trouble. I called Ethan.

The moment he answered, I shouted, “Did you freaking sleep with me again?!”

There was confusion mixed into Ethan’s cold laugh.

“???”

After recovering, he replied with perfect logic and complete composure.

“Thanks to your kindness, I’m homeless and starting over from scratch. Where would I sleep with you? How would I sleep with you? You’re seriously the woman with the biggest mouth and the least evidence I’ve ever met.”

I was speechless, but not intimidated.

“Your divorce papers were left on my bed.”

There was silence on the other end.

Then his voice came through the phone.

“Damn it!”