Chapter 5

A week passed before Chloe finished arranging her grandmother’s funeral.

Her sister had been the backbone of the family business. As soon as the ceremony ended, she rushed back to Brookshire but not before pulling Chloe aside. She told her, in no uncertain terms, to go back, cut ties, and never look back.

Chloe’s face was pale as she promised she would.

When she returned from the airport, the roses in the villa’s garden had wilted after a week without care.

Purple roses, the symbol of eternal love.

Brian had planted them himself when they first bought the villa.

At the sight of the shriveled stems and yellowing petals, a trace of mockery flickered in Chloe’s eyes. She walked forward, pulled the roses out by their roots, and threw them into the trash. Then she took out her phone and made a call.

“Hello, this is Chloe Spencer. About the villa, we can go ahead with the offer you mentioned. If possible, I’d like to sign the contract and complete the transfer as soon as we can.”

The buyer agreed, and they set a time to meet.

Chloe hung up and went upstairs to pack.

She moved all her valuables to her grandmother’s old cottage, throwing away everything that reminded her of Brian.

By the time Brian’s assistant arrived, the trash bins at the gate were overflowing.

He frowned, glancing toward them. Something about those clothes looked oddly familiar.

“Mrs.—” he started.

Chloe lifted a hand and interrupted him. “It’s Miss Spencer.”

“Right. Miss Spencer, Mr. Shaw has a banquet tonight. He asked me to pick up a suit and have you help choose one.”

Her face stayed blank. “Why didn’t he come get it himself?”

The assistant looked down, flustered. “He just returned from a business trip and went straight to the office to handle some urgent matters.”

“Is that so? I thought he might’ve decided he didn’t want to come back at all,” she said lightly.

The assistant froze, unsure how to respond.

Chloe glanced at the trash bins. “You’ll find it over there.”

He followed her gaze just as the maintenance workers started hauling the trash away.

“Uh… what?” He blinked in confusion.

Chloe’s tone was cool, almost casual. “You’d better hurry, or someone else might get to the good stuff first.”

Without another word, she walked past him, got into her car, and drove off.

The assistant stood frozen for a moment, his expression twitching. Then, remembering his orders, he ran after the departing trash truck.

---

At Vision Studio.

The assistant returned carrying a suit he’d managed to snatch back from a group of scavengers. In the struggle, someone had elbowed him near the eye, leaving his face bruised and swollen.

“Mr. Shaw…” he began, stepping into the office.

He stopped short. Brian and Candice were sitting close together, their heads nearly touching as they discussed something on a document.

A wave of frustration hit him. ‘They cause the mess, but I’m the one who gets beaten up for it.’

Brian looked up and paused when he saw the state of his assistant. “Did Chloe hit you?”

Candice looked surprised, then gave the assistant a look of fake sympathy. In her mind, Chloe was unstable anyway, the same woman who had randomly splashed coffee on her at the bridal shop.

The assistant took a breath. If only Chloe had been the one to hit him. Before transferring to Brian’s team, he’d worked as her assistant. He’d seen everything unfold over the past six months—the lies, the affair—and he felt guilty for staying silent.

“No, sir. I just ran into something by accident.”

Candice seemed disappointed but said nothing.

Brian nodded slightly. “Be careful next time.”

The assistant hesitated, unsure whether to tell him what he had seen at the villa, but before he could speak, a group of designers entered the office carrying racks of brand-new suits.

They laid them out neatly in front of Brian and Candice.

Candice’s mood lifted immediately.

Brian, amused by her excitement, raised an eyebrow and looked at her with a faint smile. “Pick one. You’re coming with me to an auction tonight.”

Her eyes lit up, admiration and delight all over her face. “Really?”

Brian reached out and ruffled her hair. “Really.”

Blushing, she stood and began to choose a dress.

The assistant swallowed the words on his tongue and quietly slipped out of the office.

---

That evening, Chloe received an invitation from her close friend, an M&A broker, to attend a private charity auction.

It was perfect timing. Chloe had been meaning to ask her about the market value of her Vision Studio shares.

She planned to sell every single one of them. And with her friend’s expertise, she knew she’d get far more than if she handled the sale herself.

When Chloe arrived at the auction venue, she went straight to the private suite on the second floor that her friend had mentioned.

Inside, her friend, Vanessa Fanning, was sitting alone with a dark look on her face.

“Who got under your—”

Before Chloe could finish, voices drifted over from the next suite. The walls here were thin.

A man’s laughter rang out. “You really know how to live, Brian. Getting married next month and still keeping such a beauty like Miss Lawson by your side. She’s so gentle and devoted, following you even without a title. Can’t say I’m surprised. I just wonder how you keep things balanced at home. Teach us a few tricks, will you?”

Brian didn’t respond, but the others kept flattering him.

“Even if he did teach you, you’d never pull it off. Chloe Spencer’s head over heels for him. She’s too scared he’ll dump her to ever start a fight.”

Another man chimed in with a laugh. “That’s how a man should live. Keep the wife at home and let the mistresses sparkle outside.”

Vanessa’s face went pale with anger. She shot up from her seat.

Chloe caught her arm just in time, though her sudden movement knocked a porcelain cup off the table. It hit the floor with a sharp, ringing sound.

Brian’s low voice came through the wall a second later. “Enough with the nonsense. Let’s focus on the auction.”

Vanessa was fuming, but when she saw how calm Chloe looked, she understood. Chloe had probably known about all this for a while.

“You’re just going to sit here and take that?” she whispered.

Chloe smiled faintly and spoke in an even tone, loud enough for the next room to hear.

“In life, there are times when you accidentally swallow something disgusting. You don’t scream about it, you just keep your composure and clean it up. Why would I announce to the world that I ate crap?”

The next suite went completely silent.

Not a single sound followed.