Chapter 3

The next morning, Miranda put on her makeup and waited by the bed with Mia’s favorite little dress in hand.

When Mia opened her eyes and was met with her mother’s gentle smile, she looked slightly unsure. She turned over and curled up like a kitten, burying her face in the pillow.

“Sweetheart, do you want to wear your pretty little dress today?” Miranda asked with a soft smile.

Mia flipped onto her back and glanced at the pink princess dress. She nodded eagerly. “Yes!”

Miranda carried her beautifully dressed daughter downstairs. Felix was already waiting on the living room sofa. It had become his daily routine to take Mia to school before heading to the office.

“Daddy, do I look pretty?” Mia asked as she twirled happily in front of him.

Felix looked at her with unmistakable affection in his eyes. “Yes,” he said without hesitation. “You look beautiful.”

He picked her up, and Miranda took the backpack from Mrs. Young before heading out with them.

The school was nearby, just outside the gates of their villa community. It was one of the most expensive private kindergartens in all of Atlantis City.

Once they arrived, Mia hopped out of the car. Miranda walked her to the entrance, adjusted her backpack, and asked with a smile, “I’ll come pick you up early this afternoon. Want to bake a cake together?”

Mia beamed and nodded excitedly. After greeting the principal and teachers, she walked into the school with a bounce in her step.

Miranda watched her daughter disappear inside, eyes filled with tenderness. Then she turned and looked toward the car.

Felix was still seated behind the wheel. He looked as steady and composed as ever—charming and poised. But his eyes, like a winter night, always held a cold, distant chill.

“I’ll walk home. You go on to work,” Miranda said as she approached his side of the car.

Felix pressed his lips together and turned the steering wheel with graceful ease. The black Rolls-Royce pulled away and disappeared into traffic.

Miranda stood there, watching the car go. After all these years of marriage, she still didn’t really understand him.

Even though she had known all these years that what he felt for her was gratitude, not love, she had still waited foolishly.

She had waited for him to love her. And that wait had lasted six years.

But Miranda no longer blamed anyone else. She blamed herself for choosing the wrong person and she was ready to accept the consequences.

When she arrived home, Mrs. Young came up to her. “Ma’am, what would you like for breakfast?”

“Two boiled eggs and half a corn cob,” Miranda replied calmly.

Mrs. Young paused for a moment, then headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

“Something about her expression seemed different today. It seems colder than usual,” she thought.

And last night, there hadn’t been a single argument between her and Felix.

Normally, if he didn’t come home for weeks, she would be visibly upset. But this time, even after something as serious as Mia being hospitalized for a lung procedure, she hadn’t said a word.

Upstairs in the third-floor study, Miranda sat deep in thought.

Just a month ago, she had taken the stage as the top graduate at a major medical forum in Merika. Her speech had already drawn attention from more than a hundred of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.

All she had to do was say yes, and she would gain access to the best research labs and billions in investment.

But she had never shared any of this. At home, and in the eyes of the world, she was just a housewife in a gilded cage, dismissed as someone with nothing to offer.

And then there was her husband, Felix Gibson.

At eighteen, he had already become a star consultant on Wall Street. By twenty-three, he had taken over the company and made a name for himself as a ruthless legend in the investment world. In just four years, he had climbed to the very top of the national wealth rankings.

Just then, Miranda’s phone buzzed with a message from her close friend, Sophie Shaw, a lawyer.

“Mira, I was out having lunch with a client today. Guess who I ran into?”

Three photos followed.

In the pictures, Felix was seated in a private room, entertaining a group of foreign clients. And right beside him, dressed to impress, was Xena.

She wore a form-fitting silk dress, elegant and seductive. In the third photo, she was laughing, her expression playful and captivating. Felix, meanwhile, had his gaze fixed on her, calm and focused—like a picture-perfect couple.

“Mira, don’t overthink it. Don’t let this get to you,” Sophie added.

“I won’t,” Miranda replied.

To Felix, she had always been the wife he couldn’t show off. But Xena—she was a woman he could display proudly.

An internationally renowned pianist. A darling of the fashion world. A brand ambassador for top jewelry houses. Every part of her image added to Felix’s prestige.

By 3:30 p.m., Miranda was already parked outside Mia’s school, determined to be the first one to pick up her daughter.

Around 4:00 p.m., a red Ferrari pulled up and stopped across from her.

Miranda’s grip tightened on the steering wheel.

It was Xena.

She was in the driver’s seat, reapplying her makeup. Clearly, she had arrived early on purpose, waiting to meet Felix when he came to pick up Mia.

A woman who could hold onto Felix’s heart for this long had to be clever and calculated.

For the past two years, Miranda had never once confronted her face-to-face. Even when she lost her temper, she kept it in check, thinking that maybe Felix would return to their family.

But reality had only proved otherwise. The more she held back, the more reckless they became.

This time, Miranda wasn’t going to shrink back and stay silent.

She opened the car door and stepped out first, her eyes cold as she looked toward Xena’s car.

Xena spotted Miranda and froze for a second. “So it’s not Felix picking Mia up today,” she silently remarked.

When she noticed Miranda’s gaze locked on her, Xena smiled confidently. She stepped out of the car with elegance and began walking over.

Miranda’s fists clenched as she stared at that face with unmistakable disgust.

Xena smiled sweetly. “Hello, Miss Stone. I’m sure you know who I am by now. Let me formally introduce myself. I’m Xena Spencer, Felix’s close friend.”

“I don’t care who you are,” Miranda said flatly. “Just stay away from my daughter.”

Xena raised her eyebrows, then suddenly chuckled. “Miranda, do you really think just because I like your husband, that makes me the villain here?”

Miranda didn’t even bother responding.

Xena scoffed. “Well, what if I told you the man I love was stolen by another woman and forced into marriage? Wouldn’t that make you just as awful?”

Miranda looked her dead in the eye and remarked coldly, “Saying something that shameless like it’s perfectly justified? You really are one of a kind.”

Xena’s fingers brushed lightly over the necklace at her throat. Miranda’s gaze followed.

Dangling boldly from her neck was a striking sapphire necklace.

Xena didn’t need to say a word. Miranda already knew it was from Felix. After all, he had been with her these past two weeks.

At that moment, the school gates opened.

Without saying another word, Miranda turned and walked briskly toward the entrance.

Behind her, Xena watched her go with a faint smirk.

But in her eyes, there was clear disdain.