Chapter 4

I hit send, but a red exclamation mark popped up. He had blocked me.

I didn't care. If he blocked me, so be it. I'd just mail the hard copy to his office.

Right before I got home, Chloe sent me a Snap. I opened it and instantly frowned.

[Sorry, Maya. We left a bit of a mess in your car. I'll pay for the detailing.]

Attached was a photo.

A couple of used condoms sat in the cup holder, and there were damp, unmistakable stains on the leather seats.

If this had been my past life, I would have cried, screamed, and demanded Julian explain himself.

But now, I just felt physically repulsed.

Julian had actually used my car for *that*.

Suppressing my anger, I immediately listed the car on eBay Motors.

When I walked into the house, Ethan was already there.

He had just landed, and his eyes held the fatigue of a long-haul flight.

But the moment he saw me, his expression softened instantly.

"You're back?"

I nodded softly.

The suffocating weight Julian had placed on my chest vanished completely.

Ethan stayed with us for two days. The more my mom saw of him, the more she approved. She insisted on organizing a five-day pre-wedding trip.

Julian and Chloe were invited too, because my mom was still trying to play matchmaker for them.

The moment Julian saw Ethan, he raised an eyebrow condescendingly.

He assumed Ethan was just a prop I hired to make him jealous.

He dragged me to a quiet corner and sneered,

"Maya, how can you still be this childish? Did you really hire a random guy just to make me jealous? You should take notes from Chloe. She's so much more mature and elegant than you."

I ignored him completely.

Julian seemed thrilled with the trip. He stuck to Chloe like glue the entire time, leaving me far behind.

He even shared a room with Chloe at night.

When key cards were being handed out, he tossed one to me and one to Ethan.

"Maya, the hotel is fully booked. Since we're technically uncle and niece, it's inappropriate for us to share a room. Ethan is a guest, so he can't room with me either."

"Chloe is an old friend, so it's perfectly fine for us to share."

I didn't argue. I silently recorded his voice on my phone and forwarded the audio to my divorce lawyer.

The next morning, I snapped a photo of the glaring hickeys all over Chloe's neck and sent them to my lawyer as concrete evidence of Julian's infidelity.

Two days later, we drove to our next destination.

On the highway, we got into a massive car crash. Ethan was in the passenger seat, while Julian, Chloe, and I were in the back.

The second the collision happened, Julian threw his body over Chloe to shield her. Once the car stopped rolling, he scooped her up and sprinted away, never once looking back at me.

My ankle was fractured, and the smell of leaking gasoline filled the crushed cabin.

In my moment of utter despair, it was Ethan who kicked open the warped passenger door, pulling me free just seconds before the car went up in flames.

He shielded me with his own body, taking the brunt of the blast, though I still sustained some minor burns.

Only after we reached safety did Julian finally wander back to find me.

Seeing my blood-soaked ankle and burns, he looked away, unable to meet my eyes out of pure guilt.

"I'm sorry, Maya. I thought you had already gotten out."

"Besides, Chloe is fragile and has severe panic attacks. A shock like that could kill her. You're different—you're strong. I knew you'd make it out in time."

Then, his eyes fell on Ethan, who was holding me tightly against his chest, supporting my entire weight.

Julian's face went blank for a second, and then his eyes flared red with rage.

He pointed a shaking finger at Ethan and barked at me:

"Maya, how dare you let him touch you like that?!"