Chapter 3

I laughed at myself.

"Yara, what you're doing is no different from the mistress who wrecked your marriage. I'm ashamed of you."

She froze for a moment, then dropped the fragile act.

She snatched up the shopping bags and hurled them at me, one after another.

"Zelda, what gives you the right to look down on me? If it hadn't been for me, you'd have died a long time ago. Everything you give me, you owe me!"

"I'm not leaving Joe, because I won't let my child grow up like you—an unwanted stray!"

I stood there frozen, forgetting even to wipe away the blood where the sharp edge of a bag had cut my forehead.

This was the woman I'd treated as my own sister, taking the thing that hurt me most and driving it in like a knife.

Yara worked herself up so hard that she clutched her stomach and cried out in pain.

Years of habit made me reach out to steady her without thinking, and someone shoved me hard to the floor.

Joe pulled Yara into his arms and flung a bank card in my face, furious.

"Zelda, Yaya is pregnant. Provoking her wasn't enough, now you want to get physical?!"

"There's enough on this card to cover all that money. Don't use it to guilt-trip Yaya!"

Yara dragged me up, sobbing, and shoved me out the door with all her strength.

"You wicked woman, get out. From now on we're even. I'll never let anyone wreck my family or hurt my child again!"

My heels gave out under me, and the shove sent me down.

My head struck the elevator door hard, and something hot spilled out.

Not one of them cared.

The door slid shut in front of me, and from inside came the faint sound of Joe soothing her.

I slumped against the floor and let the tears fall, a bitter smile on my face.

The night I first brought Yara back from her ex-husband's home.

His mistress had come to the door and beaten her, and she'd lost the baby, two months along—and all she could do was cry, helpless.

It had been dangerous that time. Even Joe was shaken, gripping my hand and swearing:

"Zellie, I'll treat you well for the rest of my life. I'll never let you go through what Yara went through."

"If I ever fail you, or lay a single finger on you, let me lose everything."

Later, when Yara saw me running back and forth at the hospital, worn out and three days without sleep, she said, full of guilt:

"Zellie, I've made you worry over me again. I'll learn to be braver. From now on, if Joe ever mistreats you, it'll be my turn to protect you."

Now one of them had finally found a little courage—and turned it on me.

And the other had long since forgotten his vow.

A few days later, Beulah Sullivan, a client I was close with, called me.

"Zellie, that best friend of yours just blasted an ad to everyone. Says she sold off her store and opened a new one somewhere else."

"Rent in that area isn't cheap. I asked around—word is Joe put up the money, and she's even renamed the place 'Belle Vera.' Practically spelling it out for everyone. Isn't he your boyfriend?"

"The girls all shopped there out of respect for you. So what on earth is going on now?"

I said flatly:

"Yara is carrying his child. Whatever happens between them from now on has nothing to do with me."

Beulah went quiet for a few seconds, then muttered a curse under her breath:

"Got it. When you need help, just say the word."

A week later, my leave ended, and I went in to work as usual.

Joe called me into his office.

The door had barely shut when he slammed me against the wall:

"Zelda, was it you spreading rumors to Yaya's old clients, calling her a mistress?"

"They've canceled their memberships now, deleted her, and called her goods filthy. Do you have any idea she was so wrecked she nearly lost the baby? You'd really stoop to something this low?"

I laughed, cold and sharp:

"Whether it's a rumor, you know perfectly well. I only told them the real reason we broke up."

Joe drew in a deep breath:

"Call those people right now and explain. Clear Yaya's name. And apologize to her publicly."

"In your dreams."

Joe's face went hard. "Zelda, you're forcing my hand. Don't regret it."

That night, Joe put up two posts to his feed.

The first said we'd been incompatible and had broken up long ago.

He hadn't expected me to hound him, though—spreading filthy rumors about his girlfriend, smearing her name, showing up at their door to harass her, nearly causing her to lose the baby.

He reserved the right to sue me, was terminating my employment, and was reclaiming every project I'd handled.

He also put out a notice to the whole industry: I was bound by a two-year non-compete, and if anyone took in a morally bankrupt employee like me,

the company's legal team would sue at once.

The second post was the moment he proposed to Yara and she said yes.

The caption:

【With me here, I'll never let you or the baby suffer a thing.】