Chapter 3

That night, Claire came to my hotel room.

"Why did you lie to me?" I demanded.

If she'd told me the truth sooner, I wouldn't have worked myself to the bone trying to buy a house, nor would I have promised my mom that I'd bring home my future wife one day.

Claire handed me a bank card. "Nathan, there's 200,000 dollars in here. The PIN is your birthday. Consider it compensation. My marriage to Damian… was arranged by our families. I didn't have a say in it."

I looked at the familiar face I'd loved for ten years and felt all that love shatter in an instant.

A flicker of emotion crossed Claire's eyes. "If you want, you can still stay by my side. Just pretend none of this ever happened, and we can go back to how things were before. Damian just can't find out about this."

I flung the bank card back at her, making my refusal clear.

Claire still didn't give up. "I admit I handled this badly, but I really do care about you. Haven't I treated you well all these years?

"I paid for your mom's treatment, covered your rent in Westhaven, and even pulled strings to get you the project that led to your promotion," Claire said. "If you stay with me, I'll give you 2,000 dollars a month, and you can pick any one of my luxury homes."

Everything I'd thought I'd earned through my own hard work turned out to have Claire's hand in it. She kept insisting she cared about me, yet she wanted me to become a homewrecker and destroy someone else's family.

I kicked Claire out of the room. That very night, I packed my bags and decided to leave Haine.

Just as I was about to go through airport security, someone dumped a bottle of water over me. "You're the man who seduced Claire? Disgusting!"

I stood dripping wet in the middle of the airport terminal as the crowd's stares pierced me like needles.

I turned to Ryan, who stood nearby with an uneasy look on his face. "Do you think I'm a homewrecker too?" I asked.

Ryan closed his eyes. "Nathan, no matter how close we are, I can't take your side on this. You... are the homewrecker here. Damian hasn't done anything wrong. You can't go around destroying someone else's marriage."

The crowd began to stir, and someone quickly posted the footage online.

The comment section descended into a frenzy of insults. My name, university, and workplace were dug up and plastered all over the thread. My phone wouldn't stop buzzing with abusive messages from strangers.

Then came a call from HR. "Nathan, don't come in to work for now. We'll let you know when you can return."

Right after that, my mom's caregiver called. "Mr. Holt, the medical team treating your mom is planning to pull out. They said you'd crossed someone you shouldn't have."

My mind went blank. My hands trembled as I called Claire. "Why are you doing this to me?"

On the other end of the line, I could hear an argument break out before Claire snapped at me, "Nathan, you brought this on yourself! Damian knows about you now. I warned you!"

The line went dead. As I stared at the endless stream of hateful comments online, I had no choice but to put together a post detailing my ten-year relationship with Claire and the life we'd shared to prove that I wasn't a homewrecker.

But the post was quickly reported and taken down. My account was suspended soon after.

For the first time, I realized how futile my efforts were in the face of absolute power.

Claire called me once more. "Go on a livestream and apologize to Damian. He'll forgive you, and we can still be together. My offer still stands, Nathan. You're a smart man. You know what choice to make."