Chapter 5

Bitterness welled up in Sophie again at the thought of the past. She lowered her head to hide the tears that threatened to spill and mumbled, "You're right. I'm overthinking this."

Jason fell silent at her words, feeling diffident. He didn't dare continue the topic with her. Though he was physically with Sophie, his heart was with Geraldine, who was still downstairs.

He stayed with Sophie for a while before excusing himself, saying that he needed to head to the study to take care of some work.

She knew he was leaving to be with Geraldine. She quelled her hatred and immediately pulled up the surveillance footage on her phone once she was sure he was gone.

In the dining room, Geraldine sat on a chair while Jason brought an ice pack to her face.

"Get away from me!" She pushed his hand away, fuming. "You chose Sophie over me, didn't you? Don't touch me!"

"What are you talking about? When did I choose her?" He sighed helplessly.

He grabbed both her wrists with his free hand while carefully pressing the ice pack to her cheek with the other. He said tenderly, "You can be mad at me, but don't do it at the expense of your body. Your face is swollen. You need some ice to bring down the swelling."

Geraldine scoffed but didn't reject his help again. She was still upset, though. "You didn't believe me earlier! I told you Sophie did this to me!"

"I do believe you." Jason nodded. "But whatever it is, Sophie is still my legal wife. I couldn't have taken your side over hers so directly, could I? You have to understand that, Geri."

Despite his words, deep down, he knew he still sided with Sophie. He didn't believe she could do something like this when she was blind.

Geraldine sensed he was brushing her off and grew even angrier.

"I want you to say that you love me and not Sophie, Jason!" She grabbed his tie. "I also want you to say that you think she's disgusting and that it's torture to have to be with her every day!"

"You're being silly." He chuckled in resignation but still repeated her words, sounding affectionate.

Geraldine laughed happily, finally feeling better.

As Sophie listened to Jason tenderly comforting Geraldine and going along with her in saying those insulting things, she couldn't help feeling a pang in her heart. She'd genuinely loved Jason once, after all. He used to be that tender and doting to her, too.

However, now that she'd seen his true colors, she knew there was no point in getting upset over someone like him. All she wanted to do was get more information out of them.

She tried to quell the nausea as she continued listening to them. Then, she finally heard something useful.

"Are you sure Mr. Walker is coming here?" Jason asked Geraldine excitedly.

"Of course! I heard my brother say so." She sounded smug. "He's not the only one who's coming. Mr. Halston is here, too! You've never been able to meet with them back in Dalea, right? Now's your chance!

"If you can get both of them on board, that project our families are working together on will get the biggest investment possible!"

The Walkers and the Halstons?

Sophie immediately thought of George and Oliver at the mention of those surnames. Could Jason and Geraldine be talking about them?

Judging from their tones, these two people were vital to them. Though she'd yet to find out who exactly they were, she'd already decided that she had to think of a way to ruin whatever they were up to. She couldn't let Jason get what he wanted.

Once Jason and Geraldine left the dining room and headed to the latter's bedroom, Sophie couldn't hear them anymore. She closed the surveillance footage.

She saved all the recordings in a private folder before registering an anonymous email account. She'd hired a Dalean private investigator to snap photos of Jason and Geraldine being intimate, and she now sent those photos to The Lotus Trophy's official email address.

Her marriage to Jason wasn't a secret, so it was easy enough to find out they were each other's spouses. The Lotus Trophy's committee had always been fair and just. They didn't just value a dancer's technical skill and artistry but also their character.

A dancer who'd ruined a marriage wouldn't just fail to get the gold medal. They wouldn't even have the right to compete! Geraldine's desire to win the competition was no more than a pipe dream!

Once Sophie was done with all of this, she took a shower and went to bed.

…

In the wee hours of the night, Sophie was half-asleep when she felt the other side of the bed suddenly sink. Someone had lain down beside her.

She knew it was Jason.

"Sweetheart." He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly.

His embrace was still warm and familiar, but it no longer brought Sophie the sense of security it once had when she smelled the perfume on him. She didn't want to smell the disgusting scent, so she pulled away.

"Where's my ring?" She hadn't forgotten about that.

Jason had found it in Geraldine's bag. He handed it to Sophie and lied through his teeth, saying, "I found it in the study."

She didn't say anything. Instead, she felt the ring all over several times, relaxing only when she was sure it was the one Tricia had left for her.

This time, she would keep it safe. She wouldn't foolishly hand it over to anyone else again!

"Go shower." She pushed Jason away, not wanting him to be close to her.

"I don't want to. I just want to hold you right now." He laughed and leaned in. "Sweetheart, I love you. I love you so, so much."

Jason's sweet words only felt bitterly ironic to Sophie. He'd just been with another woman, yet there he was, professing his love to her and acting like nothing had happened. People said that late-night declarations of love were a sign of guilt after cheating. She now knew they were right.

"I'm really sleepy." She pushed him away again. "Go shower and sleep in the guest room."

Jason wanted to object, but Sophie had already shut her eyes to sleep. He could tell she was acting strangely, but he thought it was because she was in a bad mood after arguing with Geraldine. He didn't take it to heart and headed to a guest room after showering.

…

The following morning, the first thing Jason did after waking up was to head to the master bedroom to look for Sophie. He found her instructing the maids to clear out their wardrobes. All the clothes and accessories were packed into boxes.

"What's this about?" he asked, feeling confused and uneasy.

"These clothes and bags are out of fashion. I don't like them anymore," Sophie said.

"I thought you were running away from home because I did something to upset you," he half-joked. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and continued, "Throw all of this out if you don't like them anymore. I'll buy you new ones."

Sophie had some savings of her own, but she would need a sizable sum of money for her eyes' follow-up treatments.

Though she would have the Walker family to help her, she didn't want to rely solely on them. So, she wanted to sell all of these luxury goods for cash. The more she got, the better.

"Sure," she said.

Since Jason was willing to buy new things for her, that was even better. After all, the newer an item, the higher the price it would fetch.

Jason wasn't interested in meddling in this. He yawned while heading to the bathroom to freshen up. Then, he noticed that his things were gone. He frowned and asked, "Sweetheart, where's my toothbrush and towel?"

"I threw them out," Sophie said calmly. "Get some new ones."

A lot of their daily necessities were matching items, but she was now nauseated by the thought of using something that was a pair with his. She'd had the maids throw everything out.

Not only did she despise Jason, but she also found this villa disgusting. Before leaving this place, she wanted to make sure she wiped all traces of her existence from it.