Chapter 2

She thought she had Gavin’s heart.

What she did not understand was that men like Gavin never paid for emotion.

They only invested where they saw value.

So Nora’s little performance did not make me jealous.

It only bored me.

On the drive back, Gavin finally spoke.

His voice was casual, almost careless.

“So? Nora’s been good, hasn’t she?”

I said nothing.

I waited for him to continue.

He did.

“I don’t need love. I need novelty. She’s young. As long as she listens and doesn’t make trouble, that’s enough.”

He laid out his rules for relationships as if he were discussing an investment portfolio.

To Gavin, I was not a wife.

I was a business partner who occupied an important position.

And one who could be replaced at any time.

Nora, on the other hand, was just a passing indulgence.

I leaned against the cold window, and the last of my hope finally disappeared.

This marriage.

This life.

It was even harder to bear than I had imagined.

By the time we arrived at my parents’ house, my mother’s birthday dinner had already started.

The dining table was covered with dishes she had spent all day preparing, but without one of the people she had been waiting for, the room felt strangely subdued.

The moment Gavin walked through the door, the careless air he had carried at the hospital vanished.

He put on the perfect expression instead.

Polite. Humble. Charming.

A faint floral perfume clung to him.

It was subtle, but I caught it immediately.

He walked over to my parents, greeted them warmly, and handed my mother the gift he had prepared.

The wrapping was elegant.

The price tag was obvious.

Just like the flawless image he always showed the world.

When my father saw Gavin, his tired face immediately broke into a smile.

“It’s good you made it,” he said. “You work so hard, but you still have to take care of yourself.”

He pulled out a chair for Gavin, poured him a drink, and fussed over him with an eagerness that was impossible to miss.

My family was not poor.

But next to the Hart Group, we were still the smaller party.

For years, my father had walked carefully around Gavin, afraid of saying the wrong thing or displeasing him.

Every time I saw my father force a smile in front of Gavin, something inside me twisted.

Tonight, that feeling was worse than ever.

It felt like something was lodged in my throat.

And suddenly, I understood.

Gavin was not only my husband.

He was also the person with the power to decide how far my family could go.

Throughout dinner, Gavin sat in the seat of honor, but his mind was nowhere in the room.

His phone kept vibrating.

Each time, he picked it up immediately, his fingers flying over the screen as he typed.

Every now and then, he gave my parents a distracted reply, but his eyes never settled.

To him, this family dinner was just another obligation he had to make a brief appearance at.

He did not notice my mother’s expression shift from hopeful to disappointed.

He did not notice my father’s smile slowly stiffen.

He ignored all of us and disappeared into his phone.

The delayed birthday dinner ended with the pale glow of Gavin’s screen and the quiet understanding between my parents and me.

Late that night, Gavin shut himself in his study, claiming he had work to do.

After washing up, I lay down on the cold bed and tried to push every absurd thing that had happened that day out of my head.

Then my phone lit up.

A text from an unknown number shattered the fragile calm.

I almost ignored it.

But something made me open it.

“I’m sorry, Lily. Gavin found me. He paid me to leave you.”

The two short sentences hit me like a blow.