2. THE SECOND BLOW

The city glowed below the window of the mansion– a perfect picture of the luxury and calm that mirrored his life– or so he thought.

Ethan Kim leaned back in his chair, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as his gaze lingered on the picture glowing on his phone’s screen.

Liana.

She was just perfect! Her smile was polished and soft– the kind that made him want to start believing in things he had stopped believing in years ago.

Her dark hair framed her face perfectly, her eyes glowing like she had been born just for the spotlight.

His eyes held a longing look as he traced his thumb over the picture, softly grazing the engagement ring he had given her few weeks ago.

“Just two weeks”, he told himself. “And she will be my wife”.

Ethan had met Liana at a charity gala 8 months ago.

She‘d seemed just as perfect then– kind, gentle, a woman who saw him for who he truly was. Right there and then, he knew she was the right one for him.

Liana had made him feel….normal. Wanted for who he was.

He smiled softly at this memory, his chest tightening with affection.

“I will make you the happiest woman on earth, Liana Bennet”. He promised softly.

His smile lingered, completely oblivious to the fact that the woman he loved so deeply was about to destroy him and that someone else– equally broken, was about to save him from it.

Mira barely slept, her night had passed by in fragments– flashes of betrayal, Liana’s smug look, the way Adrian eyes darted away, not knowing what to say to her.

When morning finally came, she felt hollow.

Her mother was already at the dining table, dressed impeccably in silk and jewelleries, flipping through a magazine about recent high class weddings.

Her step-father as usual, sat at the other end of the table, peacefully sipping coffee like his daughter hadn’t just wrought havoc on Mira’s life.

Mira stood in front of her mother for a moment, her throat tight.

“Mom”. She called softly.

Her mother didn’t spare her a glance.

“What is it?” She finally snapped.

“Adrain and I broke up”

That made her mother pause the flipping, one of her brows perked up, more in curiosity than concern.

“Why?”

Mira swallowed hard

“I caught him in bed with Liana”

Her mother’s head jerked up in surprise.

Then a pause– then a laugh, short and dismissive.

“That is it? Mira, you look like a ghost this early morning just because of that?”

Mira blinked in surprise.

She hadn’t expected her mother to be excessively sympathetic, but she was still shocked.

“He….was my boyfriend. For 8 years!”

Her mother’s eyes flicked from Mira‘s fingers to her face.

“And yet I don’t see a ring, he wasn‘t even a CEO. Please be realistic Mira”.

She looked at her magazine and shrugged.

“You should be happy your sister found someone worthwhile, Ethan Kim is the real catch. But then, where would you ever find someone like that”?

She gave Mira a scornful look.

Mira‘s fingers curled into fists.

“Mom… she took everything from me”

Her mother sighed, already annoyed.

“Oh please! Stop being so dramatic. Men come and go all the time”.

Her mother’s words hit harder than anything Liana and Adrian had done.

Mira stared at her mother, she trembled all over with fury.

This was a woman who was supposed to be her safe place, who was supposed to protect her and for the first time Mira realized she never would.

She wasn’t a mother, she was a mirror of everything Mira hated about the world– cruel, shallow, selfish.

”Of course. I forgot, money fixes everything for you”.

“Don’t talk back to your mother!” Her step-father snapped, glaring at her over his newspaper.

Mira turned away and stormed to her room.

In her room, she collapsed on the bed, the image of Adrian and Liana in bed replaying in her mind.

Eight years of loyalty, gone.

Her own mother had laughed at her pain.

She took her phone and opened social media, pictures of the engagement were everywhere, as if they were sent to taunt her.

Her bestfriend, Rina had messaged her again.

“Are you okay? I can come over“

Mira just stared at her phone blankly before she replied.

“No, I just need to think”.

She didn’t need to think, she had already made up her mind.

Liana was getting everything she wanted…. again! A billionaire with status and power.

Ethan was the kind of man Mira‘a mother would try to impress.

And yet Mira knew her step-sister’s secret, that habitual need for attention, that obsession with other men, the emptiness she hid behind that dazzling smile.

The world saw a perfect angel

But Mira saw the cracks, and she was going to use that.

She stood up with renewed determination and marched to Liana‘s room.

She pressed her ear against Liana’s door and listened for any sound.

But of course, she wasn’t in.

She was probably out basking in her new celebrity status as a billionaire’s wife.

She opened the door and grabbed Liana’s laptop. She sat on the bed.

Liana was a little bit of a scatterbrain so she only had one password since she was 16.

Mira logged in into Liana‘s private social media account and was shocked at the numbers of pictures that filled up the screen.

There was one,Liana was standing too close to a man, who wasn’t Ethan Kim…. and then a second. A third.

Different nights. Different men. Different locations.

Mira brought out her phone and took pictures.

Mira swallowed hard. “You destroy everything around you….and somehow you always get away with it“.

Mira shut down the laptop.

“But not this time”

She got up and hurried to her room, clutching her phone like her life depended on it.

Immediately she got to her room, Mira attached the pictures to an anonymous email.

To:[e-mail]

Subject: You should know the woman you are getting married to.

Her finger hovered over the send button for a moment and before she could convince herself otherwise she pressed send.

******

At the other side of the city,Ethan’s phone buzzed on his desk.

He picked it up absentmindedly, expecting another congratulatory message.

But the subject of the mail made him pause.

He tapped the mail open and his eyes narrowed as photo after photo flooded his screen.

His Liana,with other men– smiling,touching and laughing.

The photos burnt themselves into Ethan's mind and warmth completely drained from his face.

He scrolled again,expecting to see a message from the anonymous sender but he found nothing.

No explanation– just the truth laid bare.

His hand trembled slightly, but when he spoke, his voice was low, cold and almost deadly.

"Liana...". He whispered,the name suddenly tasting bitter on his tongue.

At that exact moment, in a quiet room across the city of Aurelis.

Mira's screen blinked– "Message sent".

She trembled slightly. She didn't know what came next after this, but one thing was sure– she didn't regret it.

And far away, Ethan sat alone in the dark, staring at the photos that were about to destroy everything he believed in.