Chapter 3

"Julian. Sarah told me everything."

I took a step back, dodging his touch. "Haven't you performed enough?"

...

"Julian. Sarah told me everything."

I took a step back, dodging his touch. "Haven't you performed enough?"

The color drained from Julian's face. Panicking, he stretched his arms open to pull me in.

"Evelyn, it's not what you think! Let me explain—"

"Don't touch me!"

Nausea surged in my stomach. I threw him off with everything I had.

In the struggle, my elbow slammed hard into his lower back.

"*Ah—*"

Julian doubled over in agony, folded like a shrimp, and crashed to the floor with a strangled groan.

I froze. Cold sweat soaked through my back in an instant.

Julian had a serious old lumbar injury—one he'd gotten in senior year of high school, saving me.

That night, I was walking home alone when a group of drunken vagrants cornered me. He came charging in with a baseball bat and took the beating in my place.

Three of his ribs were broken. He was left with permanent nerve damage in his lower back. He'd been forced to give up his shot as an Olympic-track swimmer.

For countless nights afterward, guilt kept me awake. But Julian, lying in his hospital bed, would grip my hand through the pain and kiss my forehead so gently.

"Evelyn, my pearl. If something had happened to you, what would any of that glory even *mean*?"

Back then, he really would have laid down his life for me.

And now, he was the one grinding my heart into dust.

I drew in a deep breath and calmly dialed 911.

Half an hour later, I rode in the ambulance with him to Presbyterian Hospital.

After swiping my card at the front desk for the emergency bill, I realized I'd left my trench coat draped over the chair outside his room.

I doubled back. Through the glass window of the ER, I heard soft, coquettish sobbing from inside.

"Does she even *know* how bad your back is?! How dare that lunatic put her hands on you?!"

On the bed, Julian was gingerly lifting his hand, brushing tears from Chloe's cheek. His voice was so tender it could have dripped water.

"Don't cry, Chloe… I'm not in pain. It's my fault. I handled things badly between the two of you. I owe her an apology."

Chloe sniffled, her voice thick with resentment. "Are you really going to marry a woman that emotionally unstable? You two will *never* be happy! I regret it so much… If I hadn't run off overseas out of spite back then, the woman marrying you should have been *me*!"

Julian was silent. His silence was his agreement.

If not for Julian's gravely ill father wanting a docile housewife of a daughter-in-law, he would never have chosen me.

Then Chloe, overcome with emotion, leaned down and kissed him on the lips.

My blood turned to ice.

...

If not for Julian's gravely ill father wanting a docile housewife of a daughter-in-law, he would never have chosen me.

Then Chloe, overcome with emotion, leaned down and kissed him on the lips.

My blood turned to ice.

I was about to shove the door open—when a savage force yanked me back by the collar!

*Crack!*

The back of my skull struck cold brick. My vision blacked out instantly. Before I could even cry out, I was being hauled roughly around the corner of the stairwell at the end of the hallway.

I forced my eyes open. Standing over me were the other four members of that little circle.

Victoria stepped forward first, arms crossed, eyes brimming with condescension and disgust.

"Evelyn. Since you already know, we're not going to bother pretending anymore. You should be clear about one thing: the only woman Julian has ever loved is Chloe."

Lucas twirled a Zippo lighter in his fingers. "Evelyn, have some *dignity*. Don't stand in the way of true love."

Mia leaned in, matter-of-fact. "Wake up. Julian only agreed to marry you as a tactic to force Chloe home from abroad. It's called relationship gamesmanship. Get it?"

I had done nothing wrong. And yet they'd convinced themselves I was the malicious homewrecker.

Seeing me lying there, silent, Sarah crouched down.

"I'm doing this for you too, Evelyn. Even if you strong-arm Julian into marrying you, he'll never love you."

She pulled out her phone and thrust the screen at me—the group chat between the five of them on iMessage.

"You know every time Julian said he was working late at the office? He was out shopping with Chloe."

"You know his phone's Face ID was set to two faces? His own, and Chloe's."

"You know the person highlighted on his Apple Calendar was Chloe's menstrual cycle, and the person pinned at the top of his WhatsApp was her?"

"Even that custom cake you got for your birthday last year? Chloe had already turned down that design."

"We kept it from you because we were afraid you—unhinged as you are—would hurt Chloe. Do yourself a favor and disappear."

Sarah added, with a cold smile, "If you try to make trouble for her, the four of us will make sure you regret it."