Chapter 3

Over the next few days, I spent every waking hour gathering evidence of his infidelity, determined to ruin him.

But the more I uncovered, the colder my heart became.

Three months ago, on my birthday, I sat alone in the dark waiting for him until dawn. He spent the entire night setting off fireworks with Vivian.

Two months ago, I went to the hospital and found out I was pregnant. I tried to call him to share the joy, but he was unreachable. He was busy taking care of Vivian because she had menstrual cramps.

One month ago, when my reputation was ruined and I miscarried in the hospital due to stress, he was in Iceland with Vivian, watching the Northern Lights.

I let out a bitter laugh. I rushed to the bathroom and threw up again.

I threw up until there was nothing left but bile, and only then did the numb pain in my chest ease a little.

The next day, I sent all the evidence to a prominent media contact, waiting for them to break the story.

When I got home, I forced myself to sit down and draft the divorce papers.

As I wrote, my eyes welled with tears.

We were childhood sweethearts. We had crushes on each other for years.

When we graduated high school, we promised that once he finished his degree abroad and came back, we would be together.

In the beginning, no matter how late I worked, he would always pick me up.

When I was sick, he would cancel multi-million-dollar meetings just to cook soup and take care of me in the hospital for six hours.

On the day I got promoted, he spent over a million dollars at an auction to buy a diamond ring and propose to me.

I didn't want people to say I was using him to climb the social ladder, so we kept our marriage a secret.

But I never expected that this secrecy would become the perfect cover for his affair.

Tears blurred my vision. Before I could understand when exactly he had changed, I fell asleep from pure exhaustion.

When I woke up, the trending topics on Twitter were exploding.

But the moment I opened my phone, I almost fainted.

The evidence of his affair had been twisted. It was released as my "confession" of being a homewrecker!

They had used AI to clone my voice for a fake audio apology and even generated my handwriting!

The internet went into a frenzy again. My photos were maliciously photoshopped with "Homewrecker" labels and circulated everywhere.

Not only that, but all my social media accounts were banned, and my phone number was leaked.

Harassment calls and disgusting text messages flooded in.

Some called me a whore and told me to die.

Others asked how much I charged for a night to be their side chick.

I laughed out loud, a sound full of misery.

In that instant, I realized this was Liam’s retaliation.

Whenever I faced negative comments at work in the past, he was always the first to shut them down, protecting me from any hurt.

But now, for the sake of Vivian, he had personally dragged me into this hell.

The door opened, and Liam walked in.

My rage burned away all remaining sanity.

I grabbed a glass cup and hurled it at him. "Liam! I am not the mistress! She is! I want a divorce!"

He dodged the glass, stepped forward, and grabbed my throat, pinning me against the wall.

Even as my eyes bloodshot and physiological tears spilled over from the pain, his grip didn't loosen.

Only when I was on the verge of suffocating did he finally let go.

"Are you calm now? Do that again, and I’ll make sure it hurts more."

"Maya, a little jealousy is fine, but if you keep making scenes, I’ll get annoyed. Stop using these cheap tricks to get my attention."

"You love me to death, and I need a wife who knows her place. We both get what we want, don't we?"

He glanced at the divorce papers on the laptop and sneered.

"You want a divorce? Do you even have the guts? Now that you have no job, who else can you rely on besides me?"

"Be good. Once I'm done having fun, I'll clear your name."

I coughed violently, but he ignored me.

"Vivian cried until her eyes were red. She wants me to throw a massive wedding to make it up to her. And she wants you to personally apologize to her at the wedding before she forgives me."

Before leaving, he turned back.

"Whether you show up is up to you. But if Vivian is unhappy, I don't mind giving you another little punishment."

After he left, my vision was still swimming in darkness.

I started laughing hysterically.

And then, I cried.

That night, Liam paid to push a new topic to the top of the trending list:

*The Reformed Playboy! The Sterling Group Heir Spends $100 Million on a Century Wedding to Make His Wife Happy!*

The comments section was flooded, and people even started shipping them.

[Real couples are the best! It must have been that other woman who seduced him! A famous TV host acting as a homewrecker, how disgusting!]

[Does Maya have a shortage of men? She’s so desperate! I hate homewreckers! Go die already!]

[Her mother died early, so she was raised without any manners. No wonder she has no morals.]

After reading these, I leaned over the trash can, feeling like I was going to throw up my entire stomach.

In my fading consciousness...

I remembered him kneeling on one knee, his ears bright red, carefully sliding the ring onto my finger and swearing to love me forever.

When I raised my head again...

Except for the nausea and the burning sensation in my stomach, the sadness suddenly vanished.

Everything about Liam seemed completely meaningless to me now.

My phone vibrated, and a text message lit up the screen:

*I saw what you sent me. When can we meet and talk?*