Chapter 2

Midnight in Mayrelle City. Snow filled the sky.

I clutched the divorce agreement in my palm and didn't feel cold at all.

A message popped up on my phone—from my sister.

Just as expected. He had rushed off again to be with her.

Maisie: [Adele, your husband and I have run out of condoms. Can you bring some over for us?]

Maisie: [Carthorpe Hotel, Room 1206. Make sure they're ultra-thin.]

I stared at the photo she sent. Lucius's eyes were heavy with desire.

My heart felt as though a thorn had been driven straight into it.

I went back home and listed every piece of jewelry he'd given me over the years on an auction site.

While sorting through them, I realized that the sapphire necklace from today—he had given me an identical one before.

How perfunctory, Lucius.

After everything was listed, Lucius called.

"Come to the hotel," he said. "There are a lot of reporters downstairs. I don't want to get photographed."

After all these years of marriage, he had always been extremely cautious with his affairs—for the sake of appearances. So cautious that most of his mistresses even resembled me a little.

The last time he was nearly exposed, he'd dragged me in to clean up the mess.

It seemed my compliance today had pleased him—pleased him enough to push his luck.

Lost in thought, I heard him add, "Oh, and pick up some food on the way. Maisie's hungry."

Before I could respond, he hung up.

I laughed bitterly.

The faint trace of expectation I'd felt when I answered the call now seemed utterly ridiculous.

After some hesitation, I still headed for the hotel.

There was no other reason—the legal process wasn't finished yet.

If public opinion spiraled out of control, his losses would become my losses.

Besides, what I wanted went far beyond this.

When I knocked on the hotel room door, Lucius yanked it open and pulled me inside.

In the luxurious presidential suite, my sister sat naked at the edge of the bed, her body covered in countless kiss marks. She displayed herself openly, looking at me with blatant provocation.

Lucius glanced at my empty hands and frowned. "Where's the food?"

"I forgot," I said coldly.

The temperature in the room dropped instantly.

It wasn't until my sister spoke that the silence broke.

"Lucius, don't bully my precious little sister. Just making her come all this way is enough to make her cry for three days."

Lucius raised a brow and lightly pinched her nose. "You're right, sweetheart."

They showed affection openly, right in front of me.

My heart, already numb, still ached fiercely at that moment.

"How much longer?" My voice was icy. "If you keep flirting, the reporters will be gone."

Maisie suddenly burst out laughing.

"They've already left. Oh, no—actually, they were never here to begin with."

I froze, my voice trembling. "What… what do you mean?"

Only then did Lucius look at me, sounding almost helpless.

"Maisie wanted something exciting, so she teased you a bit. What, are you mad?"

Anger surged wildly in my chest, but I forced myself to suppress it.

"Lucius, don't you think you've gone too far?"

He curled his lips. "Too far? I thought after a hundred times, you'd be used to it by now."

He said it so lightly, as if it were nothing at all. Yet it had been a nightmare that wrapped around me for three full years.

I let out a self-mocking laugh. Then I slammed the door and left.

At some point, the blizzard outside had already stopped.

I looked up at the hotel windows above.

Lucius stood there smoking, watching me as I stood by the roadside.

I must have looked like a stray dog.

I wandered across the crosswalk, hollow and dazed.

Suddenly, a car sped straight toward me.

"Adele!"

As my consciousness blurred, I seemed to see him sprinting downstairs like a madman.