Chapter 3

Joe finally came home at eight that night.

He did not look well. He sounded exhausted when he spoke to me.

"Simone, do you really want to cancel our wedding over something so minor?

"I promise to cut all ties with Erica after we get married."

The whole situation was torture to me right now. I did not want to wait until we got married.

I shook my head and smiled bitterly. I relished in my revengeful tone as I spoke sarcastically, "Joe, are you sure we're able to spend the rest of our lives together?"

His expression turned grim. He suddenly pulled me into his arms and kissed the back of my neck.

"Give me another chance, honey.

"I'm begging you!"

I took a deep breath. I wanted to push him away so badly.

However, his hands were like lead as they wrapped around my waist so tightly that I could hardly struggle.

I closed my eyes and decided to give him one last chance.

Joe finally kept his promise this time. He ignored Erica whenever she came over to cause trouble.

He focused on his work as he prepared for the next season's preview of his jewelry collection.

"This time, the theme I'm designing for is 'eternal love'. I'll be using our love story as the background and core of the design to publicize the idea behind this concept…"

Joe rambled on about it while looking lovingly at me.

I felt nothing as I looked into his eyes. On the contrary, I had a bad feeling about things.

The wedding went forward as planned. Joe was busy juggling work while organizing the wedding too.

On the day I was trying on my wedding gown, I received an anonymous message that sounded like the sender was showing off.

"Simone Carter, I always get what I want. You don't even stand a chance against me!"

I frowned. I quickly recognized it as a taunting message from Erica.

The first thing I did was block the sender. After that, I called Joe to ask him what he was doing.

"Honey, I'm busy working on the next season's jewelry collection preview. My team has invested so much money and work into it. We're aiming to hit a new high in our advance sales."

Joe sounded excited about it, which made me let my guard down.

"Also, it's our wedding the day after tomorrow. I won't forget about it. Don't worry, honey!"

Joe hung up. I felt relieved.

I hoped nothing would go wrong this time.

The night before the wedding, the nagging feeling that something was wrong only grew. I kept feeling like something was about to happen.

I called Joe again to ask him where he was.

This time, he sounded a little annoyed and slightly breathless.

"I'm finishing up the last piece with my colleagues, so it won't be a distraction during our wedding tomorrow. I'm working hard until late tonight—"

I suddenly overheard a voice in the background, and I frowned.

Before I could ask about it, Joe quickly explained, "My colleague fell down. I need to take a look at him."

The moment Joe hung up, my mother called me in a panic. She sounded like she was breaking down as she fired a question at me.

"What happened, Simone? Why didn't you tell me anything?

"You're my only daughter. How can I not worry when you're facing something like this?"

My mother sounded more anxious by the second. She must be really mad about something.

My mother suffered from severe asthma, so she should not be agitated. I tried to comfort her patiently.

"What's going on, Mom? Nothing's wrong with me…"

The next second, I received messages that my mother had forwarded to me.

All sorts of unseemly photographs appeared in front of my eyes.

They were all passionate pictures of Joe and Erica in bed.

Their naked bodies clung to each other like Siamese twins in a tight embrace.

She had also forwarded a voice recording that lasted a little more than ten seconds of their erotic, breathless pants. It burned my ears.

It featured the boyfriend who had just claimed he was hard at work in the office.

I clenched my phone tight as I stared at the obscene photos. My heart felt like someone had just squeezed it dry.

There was no doubt that Erica was doing this on purpose to get me riled up.

I did not dare to think about my mother's reaction when she received these messages.

Just as my brain went blank for two seconds, my mother wheezed and fell hard on the ground. The call was cut off.

Something broke inside me, and I went into panic mode.

"Mom!"