Chapter 3

When I pushed open the front door of our house, Ethan was sitting on the sofa, reviewing some gang ledgers.

Seeing me walk in, he opened his arms as he always did, expecting me to throw myself into his embrace. But his face darkened the moment he saw the rose in my hand.

"What is that?"

I instinctively tried to hide it behind my back, but he grabbed my wrist with bruising force.

"Our daughter's anniversary is next month, and you're out buying bright, celebratory flowers? Elena, do you even have a heart?!"

A hollow laugh escaped my lips.

When our daughter, Lily, was just a baby, she and I were kidnapped by Ethan's enemies.

On the edge of a cliff, blindfolded, I could only hear my baby's desperate cries.

The kidnappers demanded Ethan take his own life.

To prevent him from being held hostage to their demands, I grabbed Lily and jumped off the cliff.

Even though I fought the waves and held her above the freezing water with all my might, she caught a severe infection and died shortly after we were rescued.

Since then, our child had become a taboo subject in this house.

But now, while he was pretending to mourn our daughter, he was actively planning a wedding with another woman.

I gently placed the rose on the table. "A friend of mine got proposed to. She gave this to me."

I looked up at him, a tiny, pathetic shred of hope still lingering in my chest.

"After Lily's anniversary... let's go on a trip. Just the two of us. Let's travel the world for her."

Without even thinking, Ethan snapped, "No."

Perhaps realizing he sounded too cold, his tone softened slightly. "I just took full control of the Vance syndicate. It's not a good time for me to be away. Once things settle down, I'll take you."

"Then the day after, can you accompany me to—"

"Enough!"

Ethan ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, looking at me with pure disappointment. "Why are you so selfish, Elena? Do you only think about yourself? Are you not even grieving for our daughter as her mother?"

He stood up and walked away, leaving me collapsed on the floor.

My phone buzzed. It was a text from Chloe with the date of her wedding:

[May 13th, babe! You absolutely have to be there!]

And Lily's anniversary was May 12th.

He couldn't even wait a single day.

One day he would play the grieving father, and the very next, he would play the happy groom marrying his soulmate.

Ethan, the only selfish one here is you.

Taking a deep breath, I gathered a stack of syndicate documents and knocked on his study door.

"Come in."

When Ethan saw it was me, he sighed and pulled me into his arms, burying his face in my neck. His voice was muffled.

"I didn't mean to snap at you earlier. It's just... Lily's anniversary is coming up, and I'm a mess. You understand me best, right?"

I closed my eyes, a single tear slipping down my cheek and landing on his neck.

I quickly wiped my eyes and handed him the documents. "These were just delivered. They said you bought some new properties and need to sign off on them."

Without even looking, Ethan scribbled his signature on the bottom line.

I stared intently at the tip of his pen.

As he finished the stroke, my heart felt like it was being sliced into pieces by a thousand razor blades.

Ethan had no idea that mixed within those gang ledgers was our divorce agreement.

The moment I stepped out of the study, I sent the signed divorce papers and our marriage certificate straight to my lawyer.

Then, I went to a local boutique to pick up a black dress for my daughter's anniversary.

While I was waiting for my order, a familiar voice echoed from the fitting rooms:

"Ugh, why did you buy me so many red dresses? I told you, I want a pure white gown for the ceremony!"

It was Chloe.

I turned around. Ethan was spinning her around by her waist, laughing. The moment his eyes met mine, his footsteps faltered.