Chapter 3

She was afraid I was going to cause trouble for Shawn.

After all, I had a history.

Back when I first discovered Shawn was secretly delivering late-night snacks to Moon's place, I lost my mind.

I took a megaphone to his campus, stood beneath his dorm building, and blasted the clingy, flirtatious voice messages he had sent her on repeat.

While the entire dorm was whispering about Shawn being a homewrecker, Moon's luxury sports car pulled onto the courtyard.

Her bodyguards shoved the watching crowd aside.

I marched forward, trying to put my arm around her shoulder to claim what was mine.

"You're my girlfriend. What right does some stray dog have to seduce you?"

Moon only looked at me with chilling indifference. Right in front of everyone, she led the furious, tearful Shawn into her car.

"Look at you. You look like a pathetic maniac, not an heir to a business!"

She drove away, leaving me standing alone in the center of the courtyard, the butt of everyone's jokes.

Shawn ended up moving into Moon's mansion.

Meanwhile, Moon locked me in a dark basement room to "reflect on my actions."

However many days it took for Shawn to calm down was how many days I stayed locked inside.

Not a single sip of water, not a single bite of food.

Moon spent an entire week comforting him before she finally stepped outside again.

And out of fear that the campus rumors would hurt his pride, she donated thirty million dollars to a prestigious school overseas to secure his transfer.

I shook my head, forcing a smile that felt uglier than crying.

"I just want to explain to him that we've broken up."

The disbelief painted across her face still managed to twist an agonizing knot in my gut.

I admitted it to myself: I still loved her.

I knew her pride was fragile because of her limp, so I had never once shown the slightest sign of pity or disrespect.

I walked on eggshells, terrified that a single misplaced glance or word would wound her ego.

Yet I never imagined she could be this merciless.

She had plotted the destruction of my entire family just to soothe Shawn's ruffled feathers.

It wasn't that I stopped loving her. I was terrified of her.

Once the dam of grievance cracked, the despair flooded out uncontrollably.

A grown man, pushed so far to the edge that tears spilled freely down his cheeks.

Moon's fingers twitched at her side.

"Just talk. What are you crying for...?"

She raised her hand to wipe my tears, but a figure came running out from the club lobby.

I hadn't seen Shawn since he left the country.

He wore a bespoke designer suit, the custom luxury watch on his wrist dripping with quiet wealth.

He looked nothing like the timid, desperate waiter I had once rescued.

He looked far more like a privileged young master than I did now.

"Why did you come out?"

Moon wrapped her arm around his, her voice gentle and soft.

Shawn lowered his head, the corners of his eyes turning red. That tiny hint of distress sent Moon into a fluster; she stood on her tiptoes, murmuring soothing words.

"What's wrong, honey? Who upset our Shawn?"

Shawn's expression finally softened. He wrapped his arms around Moon and murmured, "I heard Julian was here. I came to see."

"Well, you've seen him. Are you satisfied?"

She was asking Shawn, but her eyes were fixed on me.

I figured he must have been thrilled.

The man who had once saved him with a casual word at a charity gala was now soaked in his own blood, standing in the cold like a stray dog.

How could he not be satisfied?

I wanted to scream at them, to demand why, but I didn't dare.

If I made Moon angry, my family wouldn't even last the week before being erased from the city entirely.

I forced my lips into a groveling smile.

"Shawn. Long time no see."

He acted far more familiar than I did.

"Julian, you really didn't have to come in person. I've already forgiven you."