Chapter 3

I froze where I stood.

But this was my home. This was the apartment we were supposed to be married in.

I was the one being intruded on.

And yet I didn't have the courage to say a word.

The man who had promised to always hold up a home for me, to always leave a light on, to give me a place in this city that would forever be mine.

Had thrown me out with his own hands.

Dragging my luggage out of the complex, my phone lit up with a message from my mother.

【If you really love him that much, if it has to be him, this year's date is a good one—I had your father get someone to check the calendar. Just go register your marriage that day.】

My eyes blurred with tears.

All these years, Mom and Dad had never agreed to us being together. They didn't want me marrying so far from home.

I'd spent all that time waiting for them to relent, and I never imagined they'd relent at the very moment I'd decided to let go.

I turned and looked back up at that window.

Their whole happy family was reflected in the glass.

I typed out a few words.

【No need. We broke up.】

Mom called almost right away.

I didn't want her to worry, so I made up some excuse and cut the conversation short.

Monday morning, when I got to the office, everyone looked at me strangely.

I couldn't figure out why, until my boss called me into his office.

On his desk was a letter and a phone with the screen still lit.

It was playing yesterday's scene—me being beaten and screamed at as a homewrecker.

The video, titled "Tearing Into a Homewrecker," had been shared hundreds of thousands of times.

"I'm not what they say. This is a misunderstanding!"

He didn't speak. He lifted his chin and tapped the envelope.

When I opened it, Melvin's familiar handwriting cut into my heart, stroke by stroke, like a knife.

I had never imagined that the man who once wrote me hundreds of love letters would sit down and write a report letter accusing me of loose morals, of seducing someone and wrecking another couple's relationship.

My boss sighed.

"I'd heard you stayed on here to get married to your boyfriend, and honestly it moved me. I was even about to make you permanent and give you a raise. But look at the mess now. Pack up and go. I'll have accounting transfer your wages to you."

My fingertips burned as if scalded, and the envelope drifted to the floor.

With shaking hands I called him.

Each call was hung up, one after another.

In the end there was only a text.

【They forced me to write that report letter. Just wait a little longer—once I've finished playing along with her, I'll explain everything to you. Go home and lie low for now.】

I turned off my phone and blocked him.

But the moment I got back to the hotel, I saw Mom and Dad. They'd heard I'd broken up, thought I'd been bullied, and had rushed over in a panic.

I didn't want them to worry, so I only said it was all a misunderstanding.

Right now I just wanted to leave here as fast as I could.

Just as we were about to check out and go, Madeline and her mother came running up, phones held high.

"See her? That's the homewrecker—spending my future son-in-law's money and hiding out in a hotel! I'm telling you, the two of them are getting married any day now. You give that money back, right now, or I'll make you regret it!"

Dad pushed me behind him.

"What are you talking about? Who's your son-in-law? What does any of this have to do with my daughter?"

Madeline's eyes went red.

"Sir, you protect her so fiercely, so you clearly treat your daughter well. How did you raise one who'd seduce another woman's fiancé and become his mistress?"

Father's face changed.

"Impossible! My daughter dated her boyfriend for five years, and they've already broken up. Don't stand here spouting nonsense. Turn all those phones off—you're violating our privacy!"

With that, he shoved Madeline's phone away.

She lost her footing and fell to the ground.

Scarlett's eyes went wide.

"He hit someone, he laid hands on her! Look at these people, how arrogant they are—like father, like daughter, a crooked beam over a warped one. Covering for a homewrecker, no less. There's no justice left in this world!"

As the words fell, a figure burst through the crowd of onlookers and rushed over.

When I made out Melvin's face, I thought he'd come to set things straight—but instead he charged in and shoved my father aside.

"What do you think you're doing! Laying hands on someone in broad daylight is against the law!"

My father staggered and went straight down, his head striking the wheel of the suitcase.

"Dad! Dad, are you okay!"

The chatter in the crowd stopped at once.

Only then did Melvin see that I was there too.

I glared at him, my eyes gone bloodshot.

"Have you lost your mind! Can't you see they were the ones who started it?"