Chapter 2

Every time I pictured him holding me while hiding another woman in his heart, a sharp ache tore through my chest.

The second I walked into my apartment, the dam broke, and I collapsed into a puddle of tears.

I cried until I drifted into an exhausted sleep, only to be jolted awake when the mattress dipped beside me.

"Surprise!"

"Nora, bet you didn't expect me back early, huh?"

"I missed you so damn much. Come here, give me a hug."

Liam acted like nothing had happened, leaning in with open arms to pull me close.

I flinched back on pure instinct. His arms froze mid-air, a look of confusion washing over his face.

"What’s wrong with you? Did something happen?"

I didn't know why, but this man—whom I had loved more than life itself just days ago—suddenly made my stomach churn with disgust. I stared at him and said coldly, "Good, you're back. Pack your trash and get out. Let's make this clean."

He had probably never heard me speak to him in such a freezing tone. Liam blinked, stunned, before putting his concerned facade back on.

"Nora, I have no idea what you're rambling about. But we’ve been together for eight years. How could you throw around a word like breakup so heartlessly?"

He sounded worked up, indignant, as if he were the devoted victim being wronged.

If I hadn't witnessed his lavish vows with my own two eyes, I might have fallen for his act all over again.

But now...

I sneered. "Liam, haven't you grown sick of playing the doting, loyal boyfriend yet? How long were you planning to keep up the lie?"

At that altar, he had sworn his eternal love to another woman with the exact same tender sincerity.

I couldn't fathom how a man's heart could be split neatly in two—one half for her, one half for me.

The moment the words left my mouth, Liam’s smile vanished completely. His brow furrowed into an ugly scowl, his voice snapping with impatience.

"Nora, if you have something to say, just spit it out. Stop with the passive-aggressive bullshit. What lie? When have I ever lied to you?"

Sick of his hypocrisy, I grabbed his bags, dumped his clothes into a pile, and chucked them outside the front door. As he sputtered in shock, I shoved him out after them.

"Nora, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Liam pounded on the door with his fists, his voice booming with fury. "I skipped dinner and raced back on the red-eye just to see you, and this is how you treat me?!"

"If you had a bad day at work, stop taking it out on me! I'm exhausted every single day, and coming home to your childish drama is driving me insane!"

Not once did he reflect on what he had done. Instead, every single syllable was an accusation aimed at me. A hollow exhaustion settled over me.

I pulled open the door with whatever strength I had left, grabbed the printed wedding invitation, and shoved it right into his face.

"You wanted to know what you did? Do you know now?"

Liam’s roaring instantly died in his throat. His eyes darted frantically before turning back to glare at me. "Where did you get this?"

Part of me had held onto a delusional fantasy that this was all a misunderstanding, that he would tell me it was someone else sharing his name. But he didn't even bother denying it.

He didn't even offer an excuse.

I bit my lip hard, trying to keep it together, but hot tears spilled over anyway.

Liam’s expression darkened into something menacing. He grabbed my shoulders, digging his fingers in, and snarled, "I asked you: how the fuck did you get this?"

"Are you stalking me?"

"Did you hire someone to dig into my life?"

"Nora, have you never trusted me for a single goddamn second?"

The massive issue here was that he had secretly married another woman behind my back, yet Liam was obsessed with making it about me "spying" on him—whether to deflect blame or because he genuinely thought his secret wedding wasn't a big deal.

He wouldn't stop screaming about whether I had tracked him.

The truth was, that alternate account was something I’d created months ago when we had a fight and he ghosted me for three days straight.

Later, I felt pathetic doing something so desperate, so I abandoned it.

I never imagined it would be the very thing that ripped off his mask.