Chapter 4

I rushed downstairs and, ignoring the security guard's attempt to stop me, stormed into the hotel lobby.

Selena was checking in at the front desk with that man. Her body was turned sideways to me, and she wore a radiant, relaxed smile. It was a side of her I had never seen before.

"Selena!" I cried out, my voice straining and out of tune with anger.

She turned around. The moment she spotted me, the smile on her face vanished, replaced by a cold detachment, as if she were looking at a total stranger. "Can I help you?" she asked apathetically.

The man took a step forward to put himself between us, eyeing me warily. "I'd appreciate it if you showed a little respect, sir."

"This is between us!" I stared straight at Selena. "Tell me. What's going on here? Who is this man? And that lawyer's call. What on earth are you trying to accomplish?"

Selena gently nudged the man aside and took two steps forward. Sizing me up, she responded, "Oliver, my lawyer will be in touch with you regarding our affairs."

"I don't want to talk to a lawyer. I want to talk to you!" I bellowed. "Did our three years together really amount to nothing more than a lawsuit and a charge of 'misappropriation'?"

"Our three years together?" she repeated before bursting into laughter. It rang out painfully shrill in the opulent marble lobby. "Are you seriously talking to me about our three-year relationship, Oliver?"

The man beside her, Mr. Novis Smith, handed her a tablet right on cue. Selena took it, slid her finger across the screen, and flipped it around to face me. Displayed on the screen was SplitMate's familiar interface.

However, it wasn't our shared account. It was a completely new ledger she had created entirely on her own.

The ledger was titled, "Three Years of Wasted Youth." Below it sat a single, staggering entry.

"Item: Companionship & Emotional Toll. Unit Price: Unquantifiable."

"Estimated total: Two million dollars."

As I stared at the astronomical number, the blood rushed to my head. "Have you lost your mind? You're asking me for two million dollars?"

"Calm down." The corner of Selena's lips curled into a cold smile. "According to the 50-50 split principle we both faithfully believe in, this expense will be split evenly between us."

With a gentle tap of her finger, the number on the screen refreshed. "So, you, Mr. Newman, owe me a grand total of one million dollars."

After retracting the tablet, she handed it back to Mr. Smith and pulled a wet wipe out of her Hermès handbag. Leisurely, she wiped the finger she'd used to tap the screen, as though she'd touched something filthy.

Once she was done, she looked up at me and met my gaze. Her eyes were filled with pure, unadulterated contempt. "What's the matter, Mr. Newman? Are you having a hard time balancing the ledger?"

Selena paused before adopting that exact calm tone I knew all too well from when we used to discuss data models. "Or are you telling me… you can't afford it?"

Those last four words hit me like two sharp slaps across the face. I stared at her intently, desperately searching her face for even the slightest trace that she might be joking.

"Selena, you're extorting me," I gritted out.

"I'm extorting you?" she chuckled. "Oliver, I'm merely using the method you taught me to settle our final assets. Aren't you the one who loves to calculate everything? Didn't you believe that absolutely everything in this world could be quantified?

"Well, now I'm quantifying my youth, my feelings, and every sacrifice I ever made for you. Do you think a million dollars is too much?"

Mr. Smith, who stood beside her, adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and added, "Mr. Newman, this one million dollars is merely a settlement offer proposed by Ms. Jenkins in good faith. Should you refuse to comply, we'll formally initiate legal proceedings.

"When that happens, the court won't just be calculating emotional damages. We'll litigate the exact sum of the illegal profits you gained by capitalizing on Ms. Jenkins' financial models over the course of your three-year relationship. According to our preliminary estimation, that figure could far exceed one million dollars."

It felt as though the very rules of the universe were crumbling beneath my feet. At the moment, the rationality I had taken pride in and the contracts I had believed in blindly became a joke—a million-dollar joke.