Chapter 2

Thinking about the past made my mind drift back.

Years ago, Marcus was just a bodyguard hired by the Sterling family. He had saved my life during a kidnap attempt by my father's business rivals.

Like a cliché movie plot, I fell hard for him.

Because he saved my life, my father tolerated our relationship.

It wasn't until Marcus put his own father into a secure care facility that I realized he was never just a bodyguard.

He was the unacknowledged, illegitimate son of the Foster family.

From then on, he spent every day and night fighting a bloody war to take over his family's empire, constantly covered in new scars.

The day he finally became the CEO of Foster Industries, I ignored my father’s warnings and insisted on holding a massive, high-profile wedding with him.

Not a single member of the Sterling family showed up that day.

When we exchanged rings, I genuinely believed Marcus was my entire world.

Until I heard that conversation outside his office door.

Until I discovered that his personal secretary—whom he always claimed to protect because she was his childhood nanny’s daughter—was actually the woman registered on his legal marriage certificate.

I had slammed the door open and screamed at him, throwing every document in his office at his face. He hadn't said a single word.

Outside the glass walls, the employees whispered, thinking I was just a crazy mistress demanding a title I didn't deserve.

No matter how much I screamed the truth, no one believed me.

The way they looked at me that day... I could still feel the humiliation even after all these years.

It wasn't until Mia complained that I was "too loud" that Marcus finally reacted.

He looked at me with cold, dead eyes and told me to get out.

So I did. I packed my bags and moved three thousand miles away.

I closed my eyes, forcing myself back to the present.

Seeing the tears in my eyes, Marcus gently reached out to wipe them away.

"Vivian, stop being angry. If you want, we can have another wedding. An even bigger one."

He spoke so casually, as if he were granting me some royal favor.

I looked up, staring right into his eyes, and exposed his disgusting thoughts.

"Marcus, I know exactly what you want. You want to keep your perfect wife on display while keeping your little side-chick happy."

"But everyone has to pay for their actions." I paused, my voice dropping. "I paid for my stupidity with the life of my first child."

I wiped my own tears and turned to walk away.

But he hugged me tightly from behind.

"Vivian! The agony of losing you for seven years was my payment!"

Marcus’s arms tightened around me, as if terrified I would vanish.

"I know you never remarried over these years. You were waiting for me, weren't you? Now that we have our boy, we can finally be a real family."

"I don't need you!" I slammed my high heel down onto his expensive leather shoe.

He groaned in pain and loosened his grip, allowing me to break free.

He looked at me, a tiny spark of hope still lingering in his eyes.

I turned my head, crushing that last bit of hope.

"Marcus, if you ever harass me again, I won't hesitate to use the entire Sterling family fortune to crush you."

"By then, you'll be the one left with absolutely nothing."