Chapter 2

The lighting in the private room was dim and suggestive, yet it made every expression on their faces strikingly clear.

There was mockery, disdain, and disgust.

None of them displayed any guilt.

I looked at Luke, the man I had loved for seven years.

From sixteen to twenty-three, my whole youth revolved around him.

He once said, "Winnie, you're like a porcelain doll, too fragile for this world. I'll hold you carefully in the palm of my hand forever."

He also said, "Winnie, I'll destroy whoever makes you suffer."

Now, the person who had made me suffer the most was him.

I did not cry. I did not even make a scene.

I simply bent down calmly and picked up the gift box from the floor.

Luke thought I was going to give it to him. A trace of smugness appeared on his face, as though he was saying, 'See? She can't live without me.'

"Whitney, if you apologize to Charlotte now and admit you were wrong, we'll let this go."

Luke lifted his chin arrogantly.

Adrian chimed in, "Yeah, Winnie. Luke still cares about you. Just apologize and stop being childish."

Apologize? I looked at the box in my hands and suddenly laughed.

"Luke, were all those three years of kindness fake?"

He avoided my gaze and replied in a cold voice, "You're just too difficult. No one can put up with you forever.

"I'm a man. I need a partner who can stand beside me in battle, not a crying accessory."

"Fine."

I nodded. My voice was as soft as a feather.

"Luke, as you wish."

I walked to the garbage can and threw that priceless gift box inside without hesitation in front of everyone.

Luke's expression instantly darkened. "Whitney! Have you lost your mind?!"

"This is the last time I'll ever lose my mind over you."

I turned around and looked at everyone in the room.

Adrian and Zayden were my childhood friends.

"Since you all like Charlotte so much, you can stay with her for the rest of your lives. I won't be joining you."

Then, I turned around and left.

Behind me, Charlotte's faint mocking voice rang out.

"Miss Xander really can't take it, huh? Looks like Mr. Howard was right. You are too delicate."

Luke's voice came through the crack in the door, laced with anger and frustration.

"Let her go! Let's see how far she gets! She can't do anything without me. I bet she'll be crying and begging me to take her back tomorrow!"

Outside the club, the cold wind cut against my face like a blade.

I did not call the chauffeur. I walked alone down the empty street.

The streetlights stretched my shadow long and thin.

Memories surfaced one after another.

My childhood friends withdrew their investment from my small art gallery to support Charlotte, saying her art was just a childish hobby.

Luke claimed he was busy, but he was actually accompanying her on projects. There was once when he even left me stranded alone on the highway just because she called him.

Now, I realized all the distance had been deliberate.

I had already become a burden to them.

Without realizing it, I reached the riverbank.

My fingers brushed over the diamond ring on my ring finger.

The engagement ring Luke gave me when he proposed was a five-carat pink diamond, symbolizing his one and only love for me.

Now it felt like nothing but irony.

Without hesitation, I raised my hand.

The ring fell through a crack in the sewer grate by the roadside.

By the time I returned to the Xander residence, it was deep into the night.

I went straight to my grandfather's study and made my decision.

"Grandpa, I'll take the Africa development aid project. I'll agree to the arranged marriage, too.

"I have only one condition: I leave tomorrow morning. Don't tell anyone."

I would make a clean break and leave for good.

From this day on, Whitney Xander would no longer exist in the capital.