Chapter 4

Episode 4

POV Lyra

The scorching daytime air in the VIP parking area turned hollow. My breath caught in my throat, unable to be pulled in or exhaled. My feet were glued behind the concrete pillar, refusing to move even just to step back an inch. My eyes were still vividly recording how my husband's lips devoured the lips of that woman—the woman he had introduced to me all this time as his own biological younger sister.

Could Kaila not be Casian's biological sister? But if she wasn't his sister, then who on earth was she?

That question spun wildly inside my head, tearing apart every single ounce of sanity I had left. Over the past year, Kaila had always been present in the middle of our little family under the guise of a sweet, innocent sister-in-law who needed protection. Casian always told me that Kaila was the only remaining family member after their parents passed away. With my soft heart and a nature that always believed in my husband's goodness, I welcomed that woman with open arms, even allowing Casian to provide financial assistance for her boutique.

What kind of foolishness was this? I chuckled inwardly, a discordant laugh that felt bitter and tortured my throat. All this time I had been living in a golden cage of lies ruled by the man I considered an angel.

Unconsciously, I turned around and walked unsteadily toward my car. My hands trembled violently as I inserted the ignition key. My vision blurred from tears that spilled without being able to be prevented. I drove the car with no specific destination, letting the wheels carry me as far away as possible from that disgusting place. The image of Casian hugging Kaila's stomach and kissing her kept flashing across my mind, making my chest nauseous and unimaginably tight.

Before I knew it, my car stopped in front of an exclusive nightclub in downtown. A noisy place with pounding heavy bass music and the dim glow of colorful lights. I did not care about my messy appearance, disheveled hair, and swollen eyes. I only needed a dark place to submerge myself, to calm my head that was about to explode from bearing the weight of this betrayal.

I ordered a table in a somewhat quiet corner, then asked the waiter to bring me a glass of high-proof alcoholic beverage. The cold liquid burned my throat, providing a slight numbing sensation amidst the emotional storm burning my chest. I gulped it down straight, hoping to wash away the bitter reality that my ten years of marriage were nothing more than a cheap play.

"Are you Lyra?"

A very familiar voice broke my reverie from the side of the table. I turned slowly, finding a neat man in a suit with his top button open standing looking down at me intently. His facial features were firm, his jaw strong, and his gaze held a sharpness that always made other people deferential.

Bill Davidson.

My childhood best friend ever since we used to run around in the courtyard of the grand Stevans family house. The man who all this time had built his own empire as the founder of the most feared law firm as well as the CEO of several giant multinational corporations.

"Bill...?" I murmured softly, making sure I was not hallucinating amid this dizziness.

Bill directly pulled out the chair in front of him and sat down uninvited. He observed my appearance from head to toe with a probing gaze full of concern.

"Goodness, Lyra. It's been over a decade since we last contacted each other after you fled abroad, and now I find you here in such a messy state?" Bill's voice sounded cold yet carried a familiar warmth that never changed.

I immediately straightened my posture, half panicked to death. "Bill, please... Don't call me by that name here. I've been disguising myself as an ordinary woman all this time. No one knows my true identity."

Bill let out a soft snort, leaning back casually in his chair while folding his arms across his chest. "Very well, Young Miss Stevans. But now, explain why the arrogant and stubborn rightful heir of the Stevans dynasty is sitting alone in a bar crying like a little kid?"

I lowered my head, squeezing the empty glass in my hand. The pain in my chest urged me to tell him everything, but pride and shame made my tongue feel numb. I could not bring myself to admit that my choice for these past ten years was a massive mistake.

"I... I have a friend," I stammered, trying to construct a play in front of my childhood best friend. "Listen, Bill... This friend of mine just experienced a tricky problem. She has been married to her husband for two years. Her husband used to be a simple man who was very kind and sincere. My friend always helped her husband's finances until her husband's faltering company managed to rise back up."

Bill listened intently, raising one eyebrow. "And?"

"And... recently, my friend accidentally caught her husband getting intimate with another woman. That woman was introduced as his own sister, but her husband treated her more than just a sibling. There was even a pregnancy test, kisses, and intimate gestures in public. Yet her husband always swore to be loyal." I bit my lower lip, holding back the sobbing that urged to come out again. "What do you think my friend should do, Bill? My friend is completely devastated."

Bill stared at me sharply. That gaze seemed to pierce through the thin layer of lies I had fabricated. He knew very well who I was representing in that story, but he chose not to expose it directly.

Bill let out a long sigh, then took a sip of his drink before looking back at me seriously.

"My advice for your friend, Lyra: don't act recklessly," Bill said calmly yet firmly. "Don't immediately lash out or show explosive emotions in front of her husband. If that man has dared to play with fire behind her back, it means he has a plan or leverage."

I blinked, staring at Bill with a furrowed brow. "What do you mean?"

"Find out all the evidence quietly first," Bill continued in the cold tone of a master lawyer. "Gather every single detail of recordings, fund flows, any assets that might have been secretly transferred, and who this woman called a sister actually is. In the legal world, emotions cannot be used as evidence, Lyra. What we need are hard facts that can destroy the opposing party without mercy."

I was stunned hearing Bill's explanation. My brain, which had previously been blocked, began to grasp my best friend's line of thought.

"Don't act like a fool who has lost direction," Bill added while leaning his body slightly closer to me, his gaze fixing sharply with full conviction. "If her husband really betrayed and betrayed your friend's sincerity, make sure her husband not only loses face, but also loses all his wealth and future in the blink of an eye."

Bill's words seeped slowly into my head, reigniting the remaining sparks of fire inside me. The heartache and betrayal slowly metamorphosed into a deadly coldness.

"You're right, Bill," I whispered softly, my voice sounding much firmer than before. "I... I mean, my friend must not look weak."

Bill smiled faintly, lifting his glass to toast softly across the table. "Good. If your friend needs legal help or someone to sort out matters like this, she knows exactly where to find me."

We spent a few hours at that corner table in a soothing silence. My mind began to clear, plotting plan after plan to expose Casian Pettel's rottenness if indeed my husband truly betrayed me.

Toward evening, I decided to go home. Upon arriving in front of the house, I stepped inside.

The atmosphere of the house was very quiet. Calvin was already fast asleep in his room. I walked slowly toward the main bedroom. However, as I pushed open the bedroom door, which was not tightly shut, my footsteps suddenly halted on the threshold.

Casian was not in the room. Even though I clearly saw his car parked outside.

Instead, the sound of soft whispering could be heard faintly from the en-suite bathroom. The bathroom door was slightly ajar. With my heart beating fast once again, I stepped closer without making a sound, then peeked through the open door gap.

The sight behind that bathroom door gap instantly rejuvenated every single nerve of horror in my body. Casian stood straight in front of the vanity mirror, his breath racing erratically with sweat seeping into his temples. My husband's left hand held a glowing smartphone, revealing a video screen with Kaila's face moaning flirtatiously. Meanwhile, Casian's right hand moved rapidly up and down on his manhood which was fully erect, venting filthy lust in front of the camera in real-time.

"Ah... Kaila... baby, I'm going to explode," the sound of Casian's moan slipped from his lips, so intimate and adoring—a tone of voice he had never given completely to me for these past ten years.

My blood suddenly boiled. It felt like my entire stomach was churning violently, creating an extraordinary sense of nausea. Ten years I served, hid my true identity, and funded every step of his success from the shadows of the Alpa Stevans foundation, paid back with disgusting betrayal inside our own home. Bill Davidson's image suddenly flashed sharply in my mind: Don't act recklessly. Find out all the evidence quietly.

I bit my lower lip, holding back the scream of anger urging to get out. With trembling hands, I reached for the phone from my pocket, secretly opened the camera app, and recorded every second of the rotten scene being displayed by my husband. Tears of anger spilled silently, wetting my cheeks which now hardened coldly. "This game has just begun, Ca

sian. I will play along with your game."