Chapter 2

He turned around and left for his office.

Very soon, his assistant delivered a share transfer agreement to my apartment.

The assistant looked at me nervously, walking on eggshells.

"Mrs. Carter, Mr. Carter seems terrified that you're angry. He was completely distracted during the entire board meeting, didn't say a single word, and almost fell down the stairs on his way out."

"He really loves you. Please don't be too hard on him."

On the last page of the contract, there was a line written in Ethan's handwriting:

Chloe, please don't be mad at me. You're the only one I love.

I stared at those words in silence.

To be fair, other than sex, Ethan had been an incredible husband.

He always quietly cleaned up my messes at work and always left a warm glass of milk on my nightstand when I pulled all-nighters.

I was terrified of thunderstorms. Whenever a storm hit, he would cancel all his meetings just to stay home and hold me.

Once his startup took off, he was never stingy with money or shares.

He always said, "Chloe, you married me. It's my job to give you financial security."

Yet, he still cheated. He lost to what he called "physiological craving."

I let out a bitter, mocking laugh and took the contract into the study.

As I opened the drawer to find a pen, my hand recoiled as if I had been electrocuted.

Stashed inside the drawer were several provocative Polaroids of Scarlett.

She was posing seductively, and the edges of the photos were stained with dried, suspicious fluids.

I stumbled backward, my hands shaking as I pulled up our home's smart security camera history on my phone.

It turned out that every single time I went out of town, he brought Scarlett into our home!

The study, the master bedroom, the balcony...

They had slept together in every single corner of my house.

An overwhelming wave of nausea hit me, and I bent over, dry-heaving.

The front door clicked open. Ethan rushed in, frantically rubbing my back.

"I was so worried about you, so I came back early."

"I've settled everything on my end. I broke things off with Scarlett completely. I promise you will never see her again."

I shoved his hands away.

"How could you bring her into our home?!"

"That's Scarlett! You could have cheated with anyone, but why her?!"

I threw the dirty Polaroids right at his face.

"Since you never forgot about her for the last three years, what did my pain mean to you? What about the years she bullied me?"

Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose, looking exhausted.

"The Brooks family went bankrupt, Chloe. Scarlett is working as a waitress now. I only helped her because we went to college together."

"You are my wife. The high school bullying is ancient history. Don't be so petty."

My brain went entirely numb.

The "boyfriend swap" rumor back in college had ruined my life for a year.

Scarlett and her ex-boyfriend had spread rumors on Snapchat that my mother was a high-class escort and that I was a repressed prude who wore a purity ring.

No matter how much I tried to explain, their photoshopped pictures of me had already gone viral.

I was cornered in the girls' bathroom by Scarlett, slapped across the face, and pointed at by everyone on campus. I suffered from severe panic attacks.

Once, I was shaking so badly from low blood sugar that I fainted on the lawn.

Ethan was the one who skipped his final exam to find me, scooping me up in his arms and whispering comfort.

"Chloe, you did nothing wrong. They are the ones who sinned, and they are throwing dirt on you."

He spent weeks accompanying me to get medical reports and file police complaints.

But the Brooks family used their connections to bury the case, and Scarlett only ended up giving me a half-assed verbal apology.

But now that her family had fallen, Ethan was sleeping with her behind my back.

He gave her money, gave her resources, and gave her his body.

He had completely forgotten what she did to me, even accusing me of being petty.

"Ethan, you make me sick!"

I snatched the photos, wanting to tear them to shreds.

But he shoved me hard, causing me to stumble and fall to the floor.

"How long are you going to keep acting like a child?!"

He roared, quickly gathering the photos as if protecting his most precious treasure.

The way he looked at me was freezing cold.

But the next second, his phone buzzed.

He picked it up, his face turning pale. Without a single word, he spun around and bolted out the door.

Before I could even process it, my phone buzzed with a message from Scarlett.

Chloe, come watch the show.

I rushed to the local police station, only to find Ethan sitting in the lobby with a cut on his face.

He had gotten into a physical fight with Scarlett's ex-husband, Derek.

Scarlett was gently wiping the blood from his forehead, looking heartbroken.

I walked past them, keeping my eyes straight.

Ethan jumped up, grabbing my hand in a panic. "Chloe, it's not what you think..."

But the officer at the desk interrupted, "Why were you guys fighting again?"

Scarlett crossed her legs, speaking with complete nonchalance.

"We were hooking up at my place, and my ex-husband burst in. He tried to hit me, so Ethan defended me."

"What can I say? We just have amazing chemistry."

Nobody expected her to admit to adultery so casually in a police station.

Under the judgmental stares of the officers, my face burned with humiliation.

But only for a second.

Ethan kept his face down, but he never argued with her, nor did he deny it.

I looked at Ethan. "You rushed over to her place just to have one more quick hookup, didn't you?"

"Didn't you say you broke things off? Were you playing me like an idiot?"

Ethan's face flushed red, then turned pale.

"Chloe, I just wanted to end it cleanly."

I didn't want to hear another word. I signed the release papers for him.

The officer looked at me with pity. "Since it was mutual combat, we can only let them settle it privately."

"Mutual combat? Then charge them however you're supposed to."

I tossed the pen onto the desk and walked out of the precinct.

"We are getting a divorce anyway. Whatever happens to him has nothing to do with me."