Chapter 3

"But I want ten million in compensation."

Alfred's voice came back at once from the other end:

"Fine."

I froze.

Suddenly all the money Alfred had spent on me over the years flashed through my mind.

The most expensive gift he ever gave me was a bottle of cheap discount-store lipstick.

But for Libby, he wouldn't so much as blink at ten million.

The doctor said that fortunately my mother's surgery had been done in time, and it had gone very well.

I sat blankly in front of my mother's hospital bed.

Someone pushed open the door to the ward and came in. It was my good friend, Georgina.

Georgina held her phone up in front of my face, her voice full of anger as she spoke:

"What is Alfred playing at? His mother-in-law is having surgery, something this serious, and he doesn't come—he's off drinking at a bar instead?"

I raised my hand.

I tapped into the video.

In the video.

Alfred had Libby wrapped in his arms, his eyes full of a tenderness I had never seen before.

He grabbed the liquor in front of him and drank it straight from the bottle in one gulp:

"Libby, I'm sorry. I promised I'd protect you, and this time it's my fault."

Then.

Alfred picked up the documents beside him and held them out to Libby:

"Thirty percent of the company's shares—this is my compensation to you. How about it? Feel any happier? In a better mood now?"

I stared silently at the documents in Alfred's hand.

Alfred hadn't always been this rich. He'd come all the way up from a rented room, and I was at his side through all of it.

He said he wanted to start a company, so I quietly stood by him.

He said he needed to work the social circuit to land projects, but his stomach was bad, so I went with him to one function after another, drinking glass after glass for him.

When a rival company smeared him, it was me who found every way I could to gather evidence and demand justice for him.

Not long ago, I mentioned wanting to work at the company, and he refused without a second word.

But now.

With a wave of his hand, he was giving thirty percent of the shares to Libby.

The company had grown into an industry leader.

Yet I, the one who'd walked the whole road with him, seemed to have been left behind.

At the end of the video, Libby choked out:

"I just can't understand... why Carrie would treat me like this..."

"Alfred, don't worry about me, you should head back. After all, tomorrow is still your wedding with Carrie, and I don't want to be the reason things go wrong for you two."

And Alfred said without hesitation:

"I won't be showing up tomorrow. Carrie has to pay the price for what she did."

"This time Carrie really did go too far."

"Libby, don't worry, I'll make Carrie apologize to you in person."

I turned off the video, looked up at my friend, and said quietly:

"Georgina, from today on, Alfred and I have nothing to do with each other anymore."

That night.

When Alfred came stumbling drunk through the front door, he called out to me on instinct, the way he had countless times before:

"Carrie, get me a glass of honey water..."

But all that answered him was a room full of silence.

Alfred sobered up a little.

He sat on the sofa, staring at the open wedding album, at the photos where I smiled with a look of pure happiness.

Alfred reached out and picked up the album, his fingers coming to rest on my picture.

He couldn't help frowning.

Carrie really went too far today. How could she act so recklessly, just because she was about to marry him?

Not even married yet, and she already dared to hurt the person who mattered most to him.

He made up his mind.

This time, he was going to make Carrie learn her lesson for good!