Chapter 2

Chad's POV

After getting an affirmative reply, I hung up the phone. I felt as if my heart had been ripped out.

Everyone in Haddon knew I had changed careers to become a weather presenter so I could marry Shelly.

My mother-in-law, Karen Scott, had initially looked down on me, saying that lawyers made a living with nothing but their silver tongues and were hardly respectable.

Shelly didn't hesitate to make me the TV station's number one presenter, and I won award after award. But just when I was at the height of my career, she had artificial rain created for a male escort at a nightclub.

I was devastated, but she simply laughed maliciously in my ear. "Are you jealous? I put in way more effort when I was pursuing you. You won't even let me make a few other men smile?"

Then, I slowly began to understand. Once she had won me over, I became nothing more than something she could trample beneath her feet.

That night, the station director called me in urgently. I hastily prepared the manuscript and was about to enter the studio when Anthony Manson approached me. He asked, "Chad, Shelly asked me to take a turn in the studio. You don't mind, do you?"

He stared greedily at my manuscript, as if he knew I couldn't refuse.

I knew Shelly might dote on Anthony, but I never expected her to betray me even more than I had anticipated. I gave a self-deprecating smile and let the script go.

Shelly sat in the control room as she listened with amusement to Anthony's clumsy delivery, occasionally bursting into laughter. There was no hiding the affection in her eyes.

Meanwhile, I was pushed to the sidelines for the first time in my career. Anthony had me running errands for him. I had to fetch drinks and even revise his scripts behind the scenes. I was reduced to the most humiliating of roles.

The very colleagues who had once looked up to me were constantly mocking me.

"Anthony's only been here for three days, and he's already making his screen debut! So what if Chad's the station's best presenter? He still has to make way."

"Isn't Chad always obsessed with snow? Looks like there won't be a single snowflake this year with Anthony around."

"500 dollars says Anthony wins the Most Outstanding Presenter tomorrow. I'm putting my money on him."

…

After the broadcast ended, Shelly brought Anthony to me, beaming.

"How was he? Anthony did a good job, didn't he? I told you he had great potential," she said, unable to hide the pride in her voice.

I gave a hollow hum in assent and went to the break room.

Shelly frowned as she watched me leave, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back. However, the chorus of congratulations from everyone around her drew her attention back to Anthony.

I locked the door, but I still couldn't drown out the noise outside. I was drinking a cup of coffee to wake myself up when my phone suddenly received an anonymous audio message. I opened it almost instinctively, and I heard Anthony's panicked and terrified voice.

"Shelly, what do I do? Chad's mother suddenly ran out on her own, and it was raining heavily… Please help me, Shelly. I can even disappear for a while. Just don't let me go to jail, please…"

My heart clenched, and I held my breath as I waited for what came next. For at least three minutes, there was nothing but silence in the recording.

Then, I heard Shelly's voice. "This is a ticket to Linton. Leave everything else to me."