Chapter 1

They both froze. Elena didn't reach for a blanket to cover herself. She reached for Julian’s arm, shrinking back as if I were the predator in my own bedroom.

"Clara..." Julian stood up, his face hardening almost instantly into a mask of cold defense.

"It’s not what it looks like. I had a panic attack. I was afraid to be alone." Elena defended, still hiding behind Julian.

"A panic attack that required you to be in my bed, eating my food, with my fiancé’s hands on you?" I asked, my heart hammering against my ribs so hard it hurt.

"Don't start with the drama," Julian spat, his guilt turning into a familiar, icy aggression.

"You’ve been gone for three months, obsessed with your career. You left me alone with Elena in the house. What do you expect?”

He stepped in front of her, shielding her from my gaze. "Stop blaming her for anything. She didn't do anything.”

He turned to look at Elena, his eyes softened quickly. “I like her. It’s my fault, not hers.”

‘I like her,’

These words kept echoing in my head like a harsh reminder of how unreliable a man’s heart could be.

Three years ago, when media people were after me, trying to figure out what connection I had with the city’s most eligible bachelor, he held my hands and announced to the world, “I like her. Now, stop disturbing our peace.”

At that time, I was overwhelmed by his protectiveness. He was like my shield against the world.

Now, the same person had been shielding another woman against me.

“So, you aren't even pretending to hide your affair with…” I choked, looking back at Elena, I added, “I thought we were like sisters!”

“I said it's not her fault.” He snapped back, “If you’re going to be mean to her, let's go somewhere else to talk."

I looked at the woman I called my sister and the man I called my soulmate. The betrayal was a physical weight, crushing the air from my lungs.

"This is my house, Julian," I said quietly, my voice trembling despite my effort to remain calm. It was the first gift from Julian after our relationship became official. He had told me that as long as he was alive, no one could ask me to move out of the house.

But today, he was asking me to leave.

For Elena, the woman he claimed to hate just three months ago.

He didn't say anything. His eyes turned dark, showing the cold and demeaning side of him that he used to deal with his business rivals.

He simply grabbed my hands and dragged me out of the house. After ten minutes, his car stopped in front of a rental building.

He then pushed a card before me and said, “Take whatever price suits you. Elena loves that house. I can't see her sad.”

“You can live here. I have paid the rent for the next ten years.”

“Three years of my love and devotion for you, Julian, and you are repaying me like this?” I asked, my voice trembling.

My heart was bleeding inside. Not because of what he offered for what he took from me, but how casually he was explaining everything, like it was just a business deal for him.

“I have also paid a huge amount to secure your mother’s trust from your father. Our separation will not hurt your mother’s trust. In return, I only want you to be good to Elena. She doesn't want to lose you as a friend.”

“A friend?” I laughed; the word felt like a joke to me. “After breaking my home, she dares to call me her friend?”

“It was not her fault, Clara. You and I were never meant to be. Within three years, I had already started feeling bored with you. But Elena is different.”

“She is lively and vivid. It's natural for any man to court her over you.”

Julian’s words cut deep through my heart like a blade. A year ago, when I took Elena in, he had degraded her for the very same reason.

“She wears revealing clothes, giggles at every man, and behaves like a slut. I don't blame her husband for divorcing her.”

I hadn't talked to him for weeks after his harsh remarks about my friend. Even three months ago, when I was leaving for my business trip, he was very displeased with living with her.

“You want me to share the roof with her. I have a reputation to maintain in public, Clara. Do you have any idea what people will talk about me if they see me with a woman like her?”

I wondered how quickly people’s hearts change. In just three months, suddenly Elena was the woman every man wanted, and I…

I was the woman who could easily be discarded?