Chapter 3

"Fine!"

I threw open the car door, got out without looking back, and rushed into the rain.

The newly bought six-seat luxury SUV shot past me, splashing muddy water all over me.

Tears fell instantly.

Geoffrey and I had been together for ten years, and in all those ten years our relationship had never had a single problem.

He had a bad temper, and sometimes when he was unhappy he'd yell a little, but other than that he was really good to me.

He gave me the best gifts for every holiday, and he gave me so many surprises.

He would always hold me and say, "Leo, marrying you is my greatest dream."

Later, his family went bankrupt, and I was the one who stayed by his side through those hard years.

When everyone urged me to leave him and marry someone else, I stood firmly by his side.

But now, through his actions, he was telling me that none of it had been worth it.

So it turned out love could change just like that.

Now his eyes held no more tenderness for how hard my pregnancy was; instead, they were full of dissatisfaction with me.

That temper he used to hold back was now, with love gone, coming out one bit at a time.

"Baby, Mommy chose the wrong person."

"I'm sorry, baby."

I don't know how long I walked in the rain, but I finally made it home.

In the living room, Geoffrey sat there waiting for me.

He glanced at me and casually tossed a towel onto my arm.

"Hurry up and dry off."

"You're pregnant, and you sulk without even caring about your own body."

With those two sentences, Geoffrey acted as though nothing had happened.

I clutched the towel and looked up at him.

"Geoffrey, when did you and Alexandra get so close?"

Geoffrey's shoulders went stiff.

"Haven't you always wanted the two of us to get along?"

"Now you've got what you wanted, and you're starting to imagine things again?"

"Leonora, have you forgotten it was you who begged me to let her into our company? We're colleagues. Do you think you'd be happy if I gave her a cold face every single day?"

After his family went bankrupt, Geoffrey threw himself into finance.

Relying on his old connections, he'd done quite well in the field.

Alexandra lost her job at the start of the year, and after she defaulted on her mortgage she came to me for help.

I begged Geoffrey to get Alexandra an internal referral, and she got in as a secretary.

Looking back now, their relationship really did change after they became colleagues.

And at the time I was so immersed in the joy of being pregnant that I didn't notice a thing.

I opened my mouth, but with a whole bellyful of rebuttals, I no longer wanted to say a single word.

I had seen the way Geoffrey looked when he loved me.

And now, the way he looked when he didn't, I could see through it at a glance too.

In the past, when we had a conflict, he wouldn't argue with me about who was right or wrong; he would just coax me until I was happy.

But now all his eyes held was the drive to win, to come out on top.

As if only when I admitted defeat would he feel satisfied.

"Forget it."

I dragged my heavy steps to the bedroom door and slammed it shut with a bang.

There was no sound outside the door; it was dead quiet.

The phone in my hand kept dinging over and over—messages from Alexandra.

I didn't read a single one.

I lay in bed and let the night and the sorrow swallow me whole.

Maybe only then could I leave with resolve.

I logged into the resale app and listed the luxury SUV Geoffrey had just bought.

New car, selling cheap.