Chapter 3

03

The early-autumn night wind drifted in.

I looked at the dark storm on Kathleen's face and felt no satisfaction at all.

What a ridiculous scene.

Me, raised from childhood on the finest elite education, now trading claws with another woman over a man.

All at once it felt utterly pointless.

I was about to turn and go when she spoke again.

"What would you know?"

"If I hadn't told him to pursue you back then, do you really think you'd ever have caught his eye?"

My steps stopped. I whipped my head around to look at her.

She stood with her arms crossed, watching me.

"When he said he was lonely abroad, I was the one who told him to date someone."

"When he said he had a bit of a thing for you, I played strategist and fed him the ideas."

"Your first date, when he suddenly kissed you on the Ferris wheel? I told him to do that."

"The restaurant where he took you out for Christmas dinner? I scouted it beforehand and sent it to him."

"Even your anniversary gift, he just picked from the backup options I gave him."

"You thought his feelings for you ran deep. Really, I was the one pushing it all along."

She studied my expression, savoring it, her smile stretched wide.

"Oh, and do you know why I told him to go abroad?"

"Because I knew what would make him take another look at what we had was never time. It was distance."

"When he lost me and got me back, that's when he'd finally understand I'm irreplaceable in his life."

I looked at her without a word.

The grief pressing on my chest was suddenly replaced by a wave of relief that I'd escaped something—

I had actually imagined spending the rest of my life with Ezra Henson.

How absurd.

Three years ago, the marriage proposals piled up in front of me like a mountain, and I never spared them a glance.

Only because I'd never lacked for anything from childhood, and I knew my own worth completely.

I believed I deserved to marry for love.

So when I went abroad to study, I turned down every shortcut my parents arranged for me.

I told them with a smile that this time I wanted to prove myself.

Besides finishing my degree honestly, maybe I'd also find a love that was truly mine.

And then Ezra Henson appeared, matching every fantasy I'd had of a future partner.

He wasn't the one who chased me hardest among all those men, but he was the one who moved my heart most.

Steady, capable, driven, and respectful of women.

For the first time in my twenty-some years, I truly fell in love.

I just never imagined there was someone else in that river with me.

"Before I decide to actually make a move, you'd better know your place."

"After all, he kept you abroad for three years. You've squeezed plenty out of him already."

Hearing that, I actually laughed.

"He kept me?"

"What else? Four days a week you were over at his apartment mooching meals. You love tennis, so you sweet-talked him into paying three years of your club dues. You love the whole grand-gesture thing, so you had him buy you expensive gifts for every single holiday—"

Listening to her lay it out, item by item.

A surge of absurdity rose in my chest.

Who would ever have guessed that the daughter of the Mason family would one day become, in someone else's mouth, an irredeemable gold-digger?

Suddenly I wanted to ask Ezra Henson to his face,

hadn't I paid all of that back to him, several times over?

Getting quietly burned in love, I could chalk up as a life lesson.

But slandering me over money, as the daughter of a business magnate, forgive me if I refuse to let it go.

I drew a deep breath and was about to speak.

A long black car suddenly pulled up at the curb.

The window came down, and a familiar handsome face appeared in view.

"Miss Mason. So this is where you've been hiding."

I blanked for a few seconds, then quickly recognized him.

Harrison Simmons. The only son of the Simmons Group chairman.

If his family hadn't moved across the ocean to settle there the year we finished middle school, given the bond of growing up together we'd carried all this way—

we'd probably count as childhood sweethearts.

Even though we'd stayed in touch over the years, seeing him show up out of nowhere still caught me off guard.

"What are you doing here?"

His smile carried a few layers underneath it.

"Cutting in to steal you, obviously."

Then his gaze roamed the space around me.

"Where's that man you brought back? I've got the lines and the thirty million ready, just waiting for him to nod and say it's over."

I stalled a second, caught between laughing and crying.

Beside me, Kathleen's eyes had gone red at some point.

She stared hard at the car and at Harrison's face and started in with her sneering tone.

"No wonder you're so calm. Turns out there's plenty of fish in your pond."

Then she gave Harrison an ingratiating little smile.

"Buddy, you look like a smart guy, so let me give you a heads-up—"

Crack—

A sharp slap rang out across the whole street.

Harrison whistled at once, then clapped while remarking in an appreciative tone,

"Nice. Though isn't your technique a little rusty?"

I ignored him and just looked at the stunned Kathleen.

"Did you really think I was a soft persimmon you could squeeze?"

Kathleen cupped her cheek.

"You dare hit me?"

Harrison stuck his hands in his pockets and sauntered a step forward.

"I did. So what?"

Suddenly a voice came from across the road.

"Davina Mason!"

I looked up to see Ezra Henson standing on the far side of the street, a bag of things in his hand, his eyes on me both shocked and furious.

And right on cue, Kathleen started to sob.

I used every ounce of my upbringing to hold back the urge to roll my eyes.

I turned, pulled the car door open, and got in.

Harrison didn't move. He sized up Ezra Henson with obvious interest, his tone playful:

"That's him?"

I answered without patience.

"Are you going or not?"

"What's the rush? Afraid he really will break up with you for the money? Isn't this the perfect chance to see him for what he is?"

He said it and then gave a meaningful glance at the man hurrying toward us.

"Want to bet I won't even have to name a price, and he'll let you leave with me? Might even bring up the breakup himself."

I drew a deep breath.

"No need to name it. We're already done."

Harrison raised an eyebrow. "When?"

"Now."