Chapter 3

Nova's eyes widened, her face all wounded while her tone was anything but. "What's that supposed to mean, Landon? Are you hinting that I cheated on you? I've been home all day; I never even stepped outside. The security cameras can prove it."

Soon, Nova's best friend, Candace Green, barged into my house with Luke, her cousin, in tow. When she saw how upset Nova was, her temper flared. She stormed up and slapped me across the face, cursing me out.

"Can you even call yourself a man, Landon? You're the one who's been busy with work and neglecting Nova, and now you've got the nerve to blame her for playing games and neglecting you? Apologize to her right now, or I swear I won't let you off!"

Luke rushed straight to Nova's side, wrapping an arm tightly around her shoulders to comfort her. "Candace and I came right over the second we heard Landon wanted a divorce. Don't worry. With us here, he's not laying a finger on you."

He looked up and glared at me, his voice threatening. "If you dare bring up the divorce and upset Nova again, I'll make you pay."

My gaze dropped to the two of them and how naturally intimate they were. "Luke, before you start threatening me, do me a favor and open your damn eyes. Take a good look at my wife's outfit right now.

"The second you walked in, you plastered yourself all over her in that skimpy getup. Looks like this isn't the first time, is it?"

Nova's face flushed red, then went pale, but she made no move to pull away from Luke. Instead, it was Candace who exploded. She shouted at me for being shameless and stepped forward to slap me again.

This time, I caught her wrist first and flung her away. She hit the floor hard, forced to glare up at me and argue from there.

"Landon, Nova and I have been best friends forever. Luke is my cousin, so it's totally normal for him to treat her the same way he treats me," she hissed. "You're the one with the dirty mind. Everything you see, you twist it into something filthy. I bet you're smearing Nova as a cheater so you can clear the way for your side piece!"

Luke shouted at me too, not loosening his hold on Nova one bit. "What kind of man hits a woman, Landon? Apologize to Nova and Candace now!"

I couldn't be bothered to waste my breath on them. I walked over to the table, picked up the divorce papers again, and set them down in front of Nova.

"You can scream all you want, but it won't change anything. I'm going through with this divorce." I glanced at Luke. "As for that horror game you're developing, I'm done funding it. I'm pulling my investment."

The second I mentioned the horror game, Nova's expression finally shifted into one of fear. She practically crawled to me and clutched my leg, begging me.

"Landon, that game is a really good project. We put so much effort into it. Please don't give up on it, okay?"

"We? Or do you mean you and Luke?" Watching her beg me for the game that had basically become their little love nest made my stomach turn.

I shook her off and pulled out my phone to call my assistant, Adrian Jones. "Adrian, draft a contract for me. I'm terminating my investment in Lunova Studio's—"

Like a cornered animal, Luke lunged at me, tackling me to the ground. He swore up and down that if I didn't reverse my decision to pull the plug on the game, he wouldn't let me walk away unscathed.

But it was too late. I spoke briskly into the phone, giving clear instructions to go ahead with canceling the funding. The moment I hung up, Luke's rage finally boiled over. He started punching me.

"You're a monster, Landon! Do you have any idea how much this game means to Nova and to me? We were this close to finishing it!" he roared.

I let out a cold laugh. "I invested in that game to make money, not to give you two a convenient place to sneak around and hook up."

Luke froze for a split second. I used the opening to jerk my leg up and throw him off, sending him crashing to the floor.

He hit his head, and Nova shrieked, rushing over. She dropped down and cradled his head in her lap like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Luke, are you okay?" she cried.

I couldn't help but find this ridiculous. When I was getting beaten up, she and everyone else had just stood there and watched. But the second Luke got a little bump on the head, she was suddenly heartbroken.

Nova lifted her head and shot me a vicious glare. "He's just upset about our studio's game. Did you have to go that far? If you want a divorce, then fine. Let's do it. But I have one condition—you leave with nothing."

I chuckled. "What a coincidence. I was thinking the exact same thing, but the one leaving with nothing is you."