Chapter 3

The longer I read, the more I smiled—and then, without warning, the tears came pouring down.

The pain in my body and the ache in my heart made it almost impossible to sit still.

Ezra Gilbert wanted more time to spend with Bailey Winters.

He lied to me and made me leave the company.

That day happened to be our third anniversary, and he gave me a precious gift.

In that warm, tender moment, he suddenly spoke as if it pained him.

"My mother is sick, but the caregiver mistreats her whenever I'm not around."

I couldn't stand to see him so troubled, and after hesitating for a long time, I offered to go take care of her myself.

Ezra held me then, his voice full of emotion.

"Camila, I'll always remember how good you've been to me."

But as time passed, his mother grew more and more dependent on me.

My working hours kept getting cut back, until at last I had no choice but to resign.

I spent almost all my time at the hospital.

There wasn't even time to sit down and share a proper meal with Ezra.

But while I was so busy and worn out, he was with Bailey Winters.

Looking back now, I can see just how ruthlessly he schemed against me.

I gave my whole heart, and this was how it was betrayed.

I confronted Ezra like a woman gone mad.

"We've been together so long—why would you treat me like this?"

Ezra didn't dodge the water glass I threw at him.

He didn't even mind the blood seeping from his forehead. His eyes, looking at me, still held guilt.

"Camila, there's nothing between Bailey and me. You have to believe me."

"I just feel like I'll never meet another girl as pure and kind and good to me as she is. She's different from you. She likes me—she really just likes me, she's not after my money."

He paused, and there was disbelief and suspicion in his eyes.

"Camila, you got together with me in the first place because you thought I was impressive, didn't you? If I weren't smart and impressive and successful, would you still like me?"

I gave a helpless little laugh.

He thought being with me was an investment—that I didn't love him as a person, that all I valued were the so-called impressive labels attached to him.

Bailey wasn't after his money. I was.

My body started to ache again.

Faced with my silence, Ezra left the hospital room.

He used my injury to smoothly get Bailey the job offer from that company.

He even secured five million dollars in compensation for her and helped her buy a small apartment in Capital City to stand on her own.

And he was still lying to me.

"Camila, rest and heal up. I'll get justice for you in this matter."

"From now on, I'll never let anything involving Bailey bother you again. She'll never appear in front of you again."

"Let the past stay in the past."

"From now on, let's be together, the two of us."

I said nothing, and I didn't look at him.

What Ezra didn't know was that the past would not be past, and there would be no "from now on."

I had originally planned to give him a surprise.

I was going to propose to him and tell him we'd soon have a child of our own.

But because of what happened that day, after the surgery the doctor told me the baby had miscarried.