Chapter 3

Ezra's POV

When I arrived at the house we'd prepared for our wedding, I stared at the "Just Married" banner pasted on the front door. I reached out and gently peeled it off.

The entire house had been decorated for the occasion. There were balloons and flowers everywhere.

When I'd arranged all of this, I'd imagined bringing Clover home as my bride and giving her the very best of everything.

Now, I threw it all away, piece by piece, along with every gift she'd ever given me.

As I sorted through everything, I realized just how pitifully few gifts Clover had given me over the years. Not only were there barely any, but most of them had been freebies.

I'd seen the genuine versions of those very same items all over Zander's social media.

All these years, I'd been blinded by what I thought was love. I'd somehow ended up being neither a proper lover nor someone she even loved.

After I finished clearing everything out, I received a call from Clover's mother, Harriet Clark.

As usual, her voice was calm. But this time, I finally recognized the condescension behind it.

"Ezra, I heard you just had a huge argument with Clover and the others? Clover was in the wrong. She should have made things clear to you from the beginning. Still, you should understand that someone from your background was never a suitable match for our family.

"Clover stayed with you for seven years. That's already more than generous of her. She's even willing to give you a wedding. As for Zander and his child, you don't need to worry about them. They won't have that many opportunities to cross paths with you anyway."

I pressed my pale lips together and replied calmly, "Harriet, there's no need to explain any of this to me. If Clover had been honest with me from the beginning, I never would have gotten involved with her at all.

"There's no need to hold tomorrow's wedding, either. Clover and I will have nothing more to do with each other."

A mocking laugh came from the other end of the line.

"Ezra, you've been clinging to our family for seven years, hoping to marry Clover and use her to climb the social ladder. Now that you've realized it isn't going to happen, you're running away?"

"Oh, well. At least you have the sense to leave on your own. That saves Clover the trouble of dealing with you once she's grown tired of you and you start pestering her."

I didn't wait for her to finish. I hung up.

For the past seven years, the Sorrell family had treated me with such indifference that I'd mistaken it for acceptance. Now, their true colors were finally showing.

I laughed until tears rolled down my cheeks.

Once I'd calmed myself, I went back to packing.

Just then, my phone suddenly buzzed several times. I picked it up and saw that my social media feeds and every other platform were flooded with Clover and Zander's photos. There were wedding photos and pictures of them at their marriage registration.

Even the official websites of Sorrell Group and Carlson Group had posted confirmations that the news was genuine.

Quite a few people online were questioning what had happened. After all, whenever Clover had attended social events and banquets over the years, I'd always been the man by her side.

So why had she suddenly replaced me?

Clover even used her personal account to post a grand family photo of herself, Zander, and their child.

She then posted a clarification that read, "This is the third year since I married Zander. We are still very much deeply in love. Ezra Kane did pursue me before, but my heart has always belonged to Zander."

She even added a giggling-behind-her-hand emoji after the text.

The comments section immediately filled with people piecing together the timeline of the past few years.

Clover and Zander had registered their marriage three years ago, and their child was already three years old. So, it was only natural that I was painted as the homewrecker trying to break up their marriage.

Plenty of people began leaving vicious comments and curses.

"Trying to marry into a rich family, huh? He knew Ms. Sorrell was already married and still went after her. I've seen plenty of men like this."

"How absolutely disgusting! I can't believe a man tried to become a homewrecker, and he didn't even succeed. LOL!"

I kept scrolling, clenching my teeth so tightly they hurt. My fingers were trembling so badly that I couldn't bring myself to close the screen.

Just then, my mother called.