Chapter 2

"What if I can make it official? What if I make you my husband? Everything you want, Julian. I'll give you all of it."

I closed my eyes. There was nothing left inside me but grief.

In the silence, Julian slowly let go of the arm he'd been using to steady me.

He lowered his head.

"Okay. Three more days. If you haven't done it by then, you let me go."

After Vivian left with him, I bent to retrieve my phone.

More than a hundred thousand people were watching.

The chat was full of the same demand.

"Show us the diary!"

I looked where the phone had fallen. A journal had slipped out beside Julian's pile of luggage — a journal about their relationship.

I opened it for the viewers.

With every page, I felt the blood drain farther from my face.

March 18, 2018

"We've been together for three years. Today she married someone else.

"She says he's just part of a business deal between their families. I'm the only one she loves. We spent the night together, crying and clinging to each other."

Our wedding night. She'd left me alone until morning.

Now I knew where she'd been.

April 4, 2019

"She told me she didn't love him. But she got pregnant. She swore through her tears that the only children she would ever have would be mine."

In seven years, Vivian had lost six pregnancies without explanation.

Whenever I suggested we see a doctor to find out why, something happened to stop me.

The first time, a car crash left me in a coma for six months.

The second time, I was stabbed by a man I was told was mentally ill.

The third time, I got food poisoning.

And it kept happening.

I went cold.I didn't dare think any further.

June 19, 2021

"It was pouring today, and I accidentally hit someone with the car. Thunder scares me. Thank God she was there."

The day my mother died.

I'd knelt in the rain, crying until I developed a fever and collapsed. Vivian had left me there to spend the night with Julian.

May 14, 2025

"My family keeps pushing me to get married. I tried to break up with her for the first time. She gave me ten percent of her company. Said it meant I'd never have to worry about my future."

A share-transfer agreement was tucked behind that page.

I read it and forgot how to breathe.

That May, Dad's company had run out of cash. Bankruptcy was closing in.

I'd begged Vivian to help him. Over and over, she told me money was tight.

The assets she said she couldn't touch had gone straight to Julian instead. At almost exactly the same time.

Dad's company went under.

Then Dad ended up in intensive care.

My hands shook so badly I could barely end the stream.

The moment the screen went dark, I started sobbing.

Vivian was waiting when I finally made it home.

"Sign the divorce papers."

She reclined on the couch, legs crossed. Love bites showed above her open collar.

I clenched my hands and forced the words past the lump in my throat.

"You cheated on me for seven years. You don't think you owe me an explanation?"

She looked up.

"Technically, Nolan, you're the one who came between us."

I stared at her.

"Sign the papers and behave," she continued. "You'll still have your place with me."

The bitterness nearly choked me.

She wanted to make Julian her husband and keep me as her side piece.

I fought back tears.

"And if I refuse?"

She rose, crossed the room, and seized me by the throat.

Her voice was ice.

"Your family's bankrupt. Your father's coverage ran out months ago. Keeping him on that ventilator runs six thousand dollars a day out of pocket, and your livestream is the only thing paying for it."

She leaned closer.

"Sign, or I'll destroy your account."

I looked at her and laughed. Tears ran down my face.

When Dad first collapsed, I'd thought about asking her for the money. It would have made everything easier.

But I loved Vivian. After all those pleas about Dad's company, I hadn't wanted money to become the only thing left between us.

So I'd pushed myself to stream around the clock and cover his care on my own.

I'd thought I was protecting what we had. She'd been holding it as a chip the whole time.