Chapter 3

Everyone knew that three years ago, Damian had destroyed the Kent family as a gift for me in order to propose to me. He sent Alice’s father to jail and had the entire family vanish from Zolnah.

Yet the disgraced heiress who should be struggling to survive in the slums was walking straight to us while wearing a diamond worth millions and a champagne flute in hand.

“Good evening, everyone.” Alice pretended not to notice how unwelcome she was and remained smiling. Then, she looked past the crowd and saw the shawl around my shoulders.

In the next second, she covered her mouth in exaggerated movements, though her amusement never reached her eyes. “My goodness, Annie, that shawl you’re wearing… What a coincidence. That’s the limited-edition shawl Phoenix launched this season, and it’s the brand I created.”

Whispers rippled through the crowd instantly.

“Didn’t the Kent family go broke? Where did she get the money to create a luxury brand?”

“I heard that Phoenix received a huge investment…”

Alice seemed to be basking in the crowd’s puzzlement.

She twirled the champagne flute and cast a flirtatious glance at Damian’s tensed jaw before crooning in a sickeningly sweet manner, “That’s right. I thought that I was done for, but later on, I got myself a good husband.

“Not only did he give me a startup capital worth tens of billions, but he even used his connections from both the criminal world and legal world to help me launch more than ten luxury brands across the globe.”

After a brief pause, she gave me a challenging look. “He said that he couldn’t bear to see my talents fade into obscurity. After all, I’m the most special woman he’s ever met.”

My heart clenched, and the sharp pain made all the blood drain from my face.

Back then, Damian had traveled frequently to Cesely Isles on the excuse that he had to get rid of the family’s traitors, but he was really paving the road for Alice. He used the family’s power to help my mortal enemy rise to power.

“Annie?” When Damian noticed me trembling, he held my waist and scowled. “You’re so pale. Are you feeling sick again?”

His loving facade made me feel nauseous.

“I’m going to the washroom.” I pushed his hand away and tried to leave the suffocating space.

However, when I walked past Alice, she discreetly extended a foot in my path.

I could not avoid it in time and staggered so badly that I nearly fell.

Damian quickly grabbed me.

“Oh my!” Alice covered her mouth in feigned alarm, but her eyes shone with malicious glee. “Donna Annie, why are you so unsteady on your feet? Is it because you’re old now and suffering from osteoporosis?”

“That’s enough!” An enraged shout stunned the entire crowd.

Damian let go of me and went up to Alice. He grabbed Alice’s thin neck with one hand and lifted her from the floor.

“Who let you in? Get out, now!”

Alice’s face turned red as she kicked around in the air. Tears pooled in her eyes, and she looked like she had suffered a great injustice.

Damian seemed visibly affected by that.

He let her down and ordered her to leave again.

After smoothing out her wrinkled red dress, Alice could only listen to him and leave.

When she walked past me, she spoke at a volume only the both of us could hear. She whispered, “Don’t act so smug, Annie. Want to bet that he’ll come running to me and leave you behind the moment I call him?”

I ignored her and went straight to the washroom.

Once I splashed my face with cold water, I stared at the woman in the mirror. Her face was pale, and her dull eyes slowly filled with determination.

When I walked out of the washroom, Damian was smoking while leaning against the wall. The moment he saw me, he immediately put out his cigarette. Panic shone in his eyes as he walked over and held my hand.

“Annie, about the brand. I didn’t know it was hers. You know that my subordinates sometimes don’t notify me when they do certain things.”

What a cheap lie.

Damian knew everything that went on in the Morrety family. He would know even when a fly flew through his territory.

Just then, his personal phone rang. Only a handful of mademan knew that number.

Damian took one look at the screen, and his expression changed.

He answered the phone, and out came Alice’s shrill cries. It was especially piercing to the ears in the quiet corridor.

“Damian, help! Leo is down with a fever, and he’s spasming! The doctors say he’s in critical condition! You have to hurry!”

He hung up and looked at me before swallowing. “Annie, the company—something happened at the harbor. Our goods have been seized. I need to deal with it.”

It was yet another lie.

However, I did not expose him. I just called out to him softly. “Damian, you promised me before that no matter what happens, you’ll keep me company tonight. Don’t go, please?”

A strange wave of panic suddenly seized his heart.

It was a weird feeling, reminiscent of a hunter who was about to lose his most prized prey. His instincts told him that if he walked out that door today, he was going to lose something forever.

His knuckles turned white around his phone, and conflict raged in his eyes.

Leo was his and Alice’s child.

His phone vibrated again, and he received a photo from Alice. It showed Leo in the hospital.

The scales tilted in Alice’s favor.

He sucked in a deep breath, took a step forward, and kissed my forehead. It was as if he wanted to use that to make sure that I still belonged to him.

“I’m sorry, Annie. It’s really an emergency, but I swear to you that I’ll come back immediately once I’m done with it.”

Then, he let go of me and walked toward the elevator. He moved so decisively that he never once turned back around to look at me.

I stood in the empty corridor. As the elevator door closed, it obscured me from his sight.

“You don’t have to give me anymore excuses, Damian,” I whispered to the air, and I smiled, as if I was free.

“This was the last time, and you still chose her, Damian.

“This will also be the last chance I give you.”