Chapter 2

When the Millers realized we were actually serious about cutting them off, they panicked. That was when Ethan finally showed up after vanishing for days.

"Chloe, you can hit me, you can scream at me, just don't ignore me."

Seeing that I wasn't responding, Ethan started playing the victim, reaching out to grab me.

He kept pestering me, trying to block my path. I dodged him twice.

"Chloe, you weren't like this before. You wouldn't even hurt an ant, yet a girl's life was on the line! I know you can understand why I had to go, right?"

Looking at him, I felt physically sick.

My friends had already snapchatted me the truth. Ethan had spent the last few days constantly by Hailey's side.

If my father hadn't threatened to cancel our contracts, I bet I wouldn't have seen Ethan for the rest of my life.

"Baby, give me another chance. I promise our next wedding will be way bigger and better."

Ethan grabbed my wrist, squeezing it tightly.

"Baby? According to family ranking, you should be calling me Aunt Chloe."

I couldn't shake him off, and my anger was boiling over. He abandoned me in front of everyone, and now he wanted forgiveness? Did he think I was some kind of saint?

"Stop playing around. Damian is not a good guy. Don't do this just to spite me."

Before he could finish, his phone started buzzing crazily in his pocket. I caught a glimpse of the caller ID. It was Hailey.

He let go of me, mumbled that he would come back tomorrow, and rushed off to his car before I could even reply.

I let out a cold laugh. That was the second time he had abandoned me for that woman.

Originally, I had taken a six-month sabbatical for our honeymoon. Now, that was obviously off the table.

Since our "wedding," Damian had given me total freedom. He shared his schedule with me every single day and never pried into what I was doing.

Whatever I wanted to do, he backed me up 100%. I was starting to think Damian was actually a great catch.

A week later, I went back to work. The moment I sat down, the receptionist called, saying a Mr. Miller had sent a bouquet of flowers and asked if she should bring them up.

I told her to reject any deliveries from him and never let him into the building again.

But I underestimated how thick-skinned Ethan was. He actually went to the parking garage to corner me.

Seeing him now only made me feel disgusted. There's a saying that comparison is the thief of joy, but in this case, comparing Ethan to Damian only proved that Damian was lightyears better.

"Chloe, how long are you going to keep this silent treatment up? Hailey and I are just friends. If your friend was in danger, would you just stand by and watch?"

Ethan chased after me, desperately trying to explain. I had already blocked his number and Snapchat.

"What does that have to do with me?"

I scoffed. What was he so frantic about?

"You're the woman I want to spend my life with! I just want you to understand me, not let these little misunderstandings ruin us."

Little misunderstandings? To him, me being publicly humiliated at my own wedding was a "little thing"? His running off to his ex was a "misunderstanding"?

Our values were so misaligned we couldn't even speak the same language.

Suddenly, Damian's sleek black car pulled up right in front of us. Ethan instinctively took two steps back. I immediately hopped into the passenger seat, eager to escape.

At first, I wanted to end things with Ethan gracefully, but I realized the Miller family had absolutely no shame.

He literally camped outside my office building every day and kept calling me from burner numbers.

Did he do it out of love? No. He just realized his family was losing the Vance family cash cow.

"Do you need me to handle this?" Damian asked.

This situation had given Damian a perfect excuse to drive me to work every day. But I felt bad dragging him into my mess.

"No, it's fine. I'll handle it."