Chapter 3

I laughed at myself.

"Hudson, what you're doing right now is no different from the mistress who wrecked your marriage. I'm ashamed of you."

He froze for a second, then dropped the fragile act.

He snatched up the shopping bags and hurled them at me like a madman.

"Desmond, who are you to look down on me? If it weren't for me back then, you'd be dead. Everything you give me, you owe me!"

"I'm not leaving Trudy. I won't let my child grow up like you, some unwanted bastard nobody wanted!"

I stood there frozen, so stunned I didn't even wipe the blood where the sharp edge of a bag had cut my forehead.

This was the man I'd treated as my own brother, taking the thing that hurt me most and driving it into me like a knife.

Hudson stumbled getting up, and old habit made me reach out to steady him before I even thought about it. He shoved me down hard.

Trudy threw herself in front of him and slammed a bank card into my face.

"Desmond, Hud has depression. Provoking him wasn't enough, now you want to raise a hand to him too?!"

"There's more than enough on this card to cover that money. Stop using it to guilt-trip Hud!"

Hudson dragged me up, crying, and shoved me out the door.

"Get out, you monster. We're square now. I'll never let anyone wreck my family or hurt my child again!"

My heels gave out under me and I went down.

My head cracked hard against the elevator door, and something hot ran down.

Not one of them cared.

The doors closed in front of me. From inside came the faint sound of Trudy soothing him.

I slumped against the floor and let the tears come, laughing bitterly.

The night I'd first brought Hudson back from his ex-wife's place.

His ex-wife had aborted their child behind his back, the mistress had beaten him half to death, and all he could do was cry, helpless. It had been touch and go that time, and even Trudy had been shaken. She'd gripped my hand and sworn to me:

"Des, I'm going to be good to you for the rest of my life. I'll never let you go through what Hudson did."

"If I ever betray you, let me lose everything."

Later, when she saw me running around the hospital, wrecked from three sleepless nights, Hudson had said, ashamed:

"Des, I've made you worry about me again. I'll learn to be braver. From now on, if Trudy ever bullies you, I'll be the one protecting you."

Now one of them had finally found a little courage, and used it to attack me.

The other had forgotten her vow long ago.

A few days later, Jarvis Mason, a client I got along well with, called me.

"Des, that childhood friend of yours just blasted out an ad to everyone. Says he closed his shop and opened a new one somewhere else."

"Rent in that district isn't cheap. I asked around. Word is Trudy's the one footing the bill, and he's even renamed the place 'Coleman & Moon,' like he's afraid people won't get the point. Isn't she your girlfriend?"

"The guys only bought clothes there because of you. So what's going on now?"

I said flatly:

"She's carrying Hudson's child. Whatever they do from here has nothing to do with me."

Jarvis went quiet for a few seconds, then cursed under his breath.

"I get it. You need anything, you say the word."

A week later, my leave ended and I went back to the office as usual.

Trudy called me into her office.

The door had barely shut before she shoved me against the wall.

"Desmond, was it you spreading rumors to Hud's old clients, telling them he was the other man?"

"Now they've canceled their memberships and cut him off, saying his stuff is filthy. Do you have any idea he was so torn up he nearly slit his wrists? You'd really stoop to something this low?"

I laughed, sharp and cold.

"Whether it's a rumor, you know perfectly well. All I did was tell people the real reason we broke up."

Trudy drew in a long breath.

"Call those people right now and explain. Clear Hud's name, and apologize to him publicly."

"In your dreams."

Her face went cold all the way through. "Desmond, you're the one forcing my hand. Don't regret it."

That same night, Trudy posted twice to her social feed.

The first said we'd broken up long ago over clashing personalities.

But that I'd refused to let go, harassing her, spreading vicious lies about her boyfriend, smearing his name, and even showing up to pick fights and get physical.

She reserved the right to sue me, announced she was firing me, and clawed back every project in my hands.

She also put out an industry-wide notice: I was bound by a two-year non-compete, and if anyone took in an employee as morally bankrupt as me,

the company's legal team would sue immediately.

The second post was a shot of her proposal to Hudson going through.

The caption:

【With me here, I'll never let you suffer a single wrong.】