Chapter 3

Before marrying Chloe, I was the CEO of Horizon Group, running a multi-billion-dollar publicly traded empire.

Because she said she wanted a partner who could take care of her, I threw away the spotlight, dimmed my own shine, and put her first in everything.

And my reward? She aborted our child in secret and fell into another man's arms.

Back at my private penthouse, I took a quick hot shower. Just as I stepped out, my phone buzzed on the counter.

It was Lucas, a mutual friend of mine and Chloe's.

After a brief hesitation, I picked up. There was no need to drag an outsider into our mess.

"Ethan, where the hell are you? It's pouring outside! Chloe called me and said you two got into a fight. She told me that as long as you apologize, she'll let you come home."

I realized then that Chloe had asked him to reach out to me.

Hearing my silence, Lucas sighed and tried to reason with me. "Bro, stop being stubborn. Every time you fight, you're the one who ends up groveling anyway. Don't wait until she walks out of your life for good. By then, it'll be too late to fix it."

Lucas meant well, even if his words stung.

Throughout our marriage, we had had countless arguments, and every single time, I was the one who lowered my head and begged for her forgiveness.

She had never reached out first. Not once.

Even tonight, after kicking me out into a freezing rainstorm, she still had our mutual friend call me to demand an apology instead of admitting her own faults.

"Do me a favor and tell her I'm not coming back."

"What?" Lucas sounded stunned. "Ethan, did the rain fry your brain tonight?"

"Others might not know how much you love Chloe, but I've watched you for years. There's no way you'd just walk away from her."

"I mean it, Lucas. I'm never going back to that apartment."

I repeated the words firmly. Lucas grew frantic. "Bro, you've been married for three years! Don't throw your whole life away over a moment of anger!"

"When I said she might run off with someone else, I wasn't joking! Check your phone right now. I ran into them at a restaurant tonight."

I glanced at the picture Lucas sent over.

It showed Chloe and Julian sitting close together at a high-end dinner table, their fingers intertwined beneath the tablecloth.

The radiant smile on her face was almost blinding.

She had never smiled at me like that in our entire marriage.

"Ethan, people make mistakes when they're vulnerable. We've been brothers for years, and I really think—"

"Lucas."

I cut him off before he could finish. "I know you're looking out for me."

"But I have standards."

"I don't touch things that another man has ruined. It disgusts me."

With that, I hung up the phone and closed my eyes, desperate for some rest.

Around three in the morning, a customized ringtone suddenly shattered the silence.

I jolted awake. The caller ID on my screen flashed brightly: "My Darling Wife".

It was Chloe.

When we first started dating, I was swamped with corporate business and missed a few of her calls. She threw a massive fit, accusing me of not caring about her.

To make sure that never happened again, I assigned her a unique ringtone so I would never miss her call.

My instinct was to reject it, but my finger accidentally swiped across the accept button.

Just as I was about to hang up, Chloe's drunken voice came through the speaker.

"Why are you touching my phone?"

"I told you, within three days, Ethan will be crawling back on his knees begging for my forgiveness."

Then, another woman's voice came on the line. "Hey, Ethan, sorry about this. Chloe had way too much to drink. She's over at my place right now. Can you come pick her up?"

"Don't take what she just said to heart. She's totally wasted."

"Really?" I replied coldly. "Sounded like honest drunken truth to me."