Chapter 2

Julian didn't come home for three days.

Every major tabloid and Instagram gossip page was flooded with photos of him and Seraphina.

"Deep gazes," "intimate dinners," "reunion of the century."

If I were the old "Chloe," I would have been crying my eyes out in the bathroom or spamming his phone with desperate calls.

Instead, I was busy packing my bags.

Honestly, I didn't own much in Julian's penthouse.

Aside from a few clothes, there were only the designer bags and jewelry he had gifted me.

I lined up those expensive handbags neatly in the living room.

They were my "workplace hazard compensation." I was definitely taking them, just not like this.

I planned to call a luxury consignment dealer to cash them out all at once.

As I was packing, the front door suddenly unlocked.

Julian walked in smelling of alcohol, followed closely by his legendary muse, Seraphina.

Seraphina wore an elegant, custom-made white dress. She looked incredibly ethereal, like a delicate porcelain doll.

Seeing me, she froze for a second before offering a polite, practiced smile.

"Julian, is this... the Chloe you mentioned?"

Julian loosened his tie, not even sparing me a glance.

"Yeah. The girl who takes care of my place."

"Takes care of my place."

Five words. That was how he summarized my three years of devotion—a high-end housekeeper.

I sneered inwardly but kept my face perfectly submissive.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Sterling. I'm Chloe."

Seraphina looked me up and down, a subtle look of superiority in her eyes.

"I heard you're very capable, Chloe. Thank you for taking care of Julian's stomach issues."

"Just doing my job."

Julian seemed annoyed by our small talk.

He pointed at the pile of luxury bags on the sofa.

"What's all this?"

I kept my eyes down. "Mr. Thorne, these are the gifts you gave me. Now that Ms. Sterling is back, I didn't want them taking up space, so I was preparing to get rid of them."

Seraphina chuckled softly. "Julian, Chloe is so thoughtful. But honestly, I don't really care for last season's styles anyway. Just throw them out."

Julian replied carelessly, "Do whatever you want with them."

"Throw them out?"

That was literally hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting there!

I cursed their wasteful souls in my head, but smiled. "Of course. I'll have someone haul them away tomorrow."

Julian finally looked at me directly.

"Seraphina is staying here tonight. You sleep in the guest room."

I smiled and nodded. "Of course, Mr. Thorne. But the guest room sheets haven't been changed yet. I'll just check into a hotel so I don't disturb you two."

With that, I grabbed my pre-packed suitcase and walked toward the door without looking back.

Julian's cold voice rang out behind me. "Stop."

My heart skipped a beat.

Did he figure something out?

I turned around, putting on a perfectly confused expression. "Is there anything else, Mr. Thorne?"

Julian walked over, towering over me.

A strange, unreadable emotion flashed in his dark eyes.

"It's late. What hotel are you going to?"

"A budget motel near the office. It'll make it easier to get to work tomorrow," I lied smoothly.

He seemed to relax slightly. He pulled a black card from his wallet and tossed it at me.

"Go somewhere decent. Don't embarrass the Thorne name."

The card flew through the air and landed on the rug.

Humiliation.

Pure, raw humiliation.

In the past, I would have picked it up with teary eyes and thanked him.

But today, I bent down, picked up the card, and placed it gently on the entryway console.

"No thank you, Mr. Thorne. I have my own money."

With that, I pushed the door open and left.

The cool night breeze swept away the last trace of my humility.

I hailed a cab and headed straight to Mia's apartment.

The moment I got in, Mia called.

"Chloe! Check YouTube! The video is viral!"

I opened YouTube and saw a video of Ryder that already had over a million views.

In the video, Ryder was down on one knee, holding a massive diamond ring, looking desperately up at Seraphina.

And Mia was standing right next to them, holding a glass of red wine.

The next second, she splashed the entire glass of Cabernet straight onto Ryder's face.

The comment section was flooded with people calling Mia a crazy, jealous gold-digger.

But in the corner of the video, I saw the tiny, victorious smirk on Mia's lips.