Chapter 2

I don't even remember how I made it back to the bedroom.

The nausea soon intensified into sharp, stabbing pains in my stomach. I was so weak I couldn't even stand up to get medicine.

I don't know how much time passed before my phone buzzed.

It was Julian. His voice was low and calm.

"Ethan returned the ring to me. You didn't want it?"

I could barely breathe, and he immediately noticed.

"What's wrong?"

"Stomach ache..."

The line went quiet for a few seconds. Then Julian spoke again.

"Go downstairs in twenty minutes to get some medicine. We'll talk when you're feeling better."

My heart clenched, and tears silently soaked into my pillow.

Twenty minutes later, I dragged myself downstairs.

The house was dead silent.

But Ethan was sitting in the living room.

He held up a prescription box with a sticky note on it. The handwriting was masculine: "Take care of yourself."

Ethan's eyes were darker than I'd ever seen them.

"What is this?"

"Elena, who is the bastard you're screwing behind my back? He's delivering medicine right under my nose."

He threw the box straight into the trash can.

"Can't you live a single minute without a man? You can't even buy your own damn medicine?"

"It's just medicine," I said, exhausted.

He could be so sweet and attentive to Sienna, coaxing her to take her pills with candy.

But when someone else bought medicine for me, it was a crime.

My lack of explanation only infuriated him more. He grabbed the heavy glass ash tray from the table and hurled it straight at me.

"And here I was, planning our wedding for next month! You don't deserve any of it!"

The ash tray struck my forehead, splitting the skin.

I didn't duck. First, because I didn't have the strength.

Second, because his words reminded me of the four other weddings Ethan had "planned" over the last five years.

The first time, there was a venue issue. Everyone said it was just bad luck.

The second time, his grandfather passed away.

The family whispered behind my back, calling me a curse.

The third and fourth times were also canceled due to various "accidents."

Eventually, everyone saw through the Vance family. I became the ultimate joke, the poor girl who failed to climb her way into high society.

When I accompanied his friends, they would ask me disgusting questions like, "Is it because you're bad in bed that he won't marry you?"

I had even been cornered in bathrooms by his friends trying to grope me.

So, how could there be a wedding this time?

Ethan seemed stunned that I hadn't dodged. His tone softened slightly.

"Why didn't you move? Come here, let me clean that up."

Every time I got hurt, Ethan was the one to bandage me up.

I used to think it was out of love. Later, I realized he was just terrified of the bad press if anyone saw my bruises.

I pushed his hand away, knelt down, and retrieved the medicine from the trash.

Ethan stared at me, his mouth opening and closing.

Suddenly, his phone, lying on the table, speakerphone on, let out a woman's voice.

"Ethan, don't waste your breath on her. We're still waiting for you."

My breath hitched. My hands shook as I opened the medicine box.

"You've been on a call this whole time?"

Ethan frowned. "Yes."

So that was why he was awake and waiting downstairs in the middle of the night.

He was on his way out to meet Sienna.

Sienna's whiny voice came through the speaker again, urging him to hurry.

Ethan looked at me with a momentary flicker of hesitation, but ultimately turned and walked out the door.

I leaned against the wall for a long time before opening the fridge.

There wasn't even a single bottle of plain water. The shelves were stuffed with Sienna's favorite gourmet desserts and soda.

I turned on the tap and swallowed the pills with cold tap water.

My throat burned.

The taste was bitter and sickening.

I wondered how many of his friends had just listened to my humiliation over the phone.

But the first call I received wasn't from a mocker. It was my brother, Mark.

"Did you cheat on Ethan? Do you have any idea how many people are laughing at me right now?!"