Chapter 4

For a few hours, I had almost forgotten what it felt like to be happy.

Being outside with Kym had given me a small taste of the life I had lost—a life where I could laugh without looking over my shoulder, speak without being afraid of saying the wrong thing, and simply exist without someone reminding me that I didn't belong.

But I should have known better than to believe happiness would last.

Because every time I allowed myself to breathe, reality always found a way to drag me back into the cage I called home.

---

It was almost six in the evening when I finally finished preparing everything. Just as I was putting the last few things away, I heard the sound of a car pulling up outside.

Gavin was probably home already.

A small smile appeared on my face as I stepped out of the kitchen, ready to greet him. But the moment I saw that he wasn't alone, that smile immediately disappeared.

"Whoa... so this is the wife?" one of the men asked. His hair was tied into a top bun as his eyes traveled over me without even the slightest bit of shame.

The way he looked at me made my skin crawl.

He looked like the kind of man who didn't know how to keep his thoughts—or his eyes—to himself.

"Don't mind her, Rye," Gavin said dismissively, sounding painfully bored as he carelessly tossed his keys onto the coffee table.

"She's actually pretty, even if she's skinny. You never mentioned that," another man with a clean-cut appearance added.

His eyes slowly traveled from my head down to my feet, lingering on my bare legs in a way that made me want to cover myself.

It felt as though they were stripping me with their eyes.

My body stiffened, and for a moment, all I wanted was to turn around and run.

"Tsk. Fuck off, Len. She's boring for that."

Gavin's voice cut through the room, but he didn't even bother looking at me.

"Well, you told me your wife looked like an old hag. You're a damn liar, bro. She's skinny, sure, but she still looks good enough to eat."

The blond man shook his head with a smirk.

I swallowed several times.

Seriously?

Right in front of me?

Was this really how rich people talked to each other?

And did every compliment have to come with an insult attached to it?

Couldn't they tell me I was beautiful without mentioning my body size?

Couldn't they compliment me without turning me into something sexual?

Men.

"Of course, only one woman is ever beautiful in his eyes. Are you even surprised? He could sleep with every woman in the club and still go home thinking about only one woman."

Rick laughed, and Lucas immediately joined him.

The implication behind their words hit me harder than any physical blow could have.

"Why don't you let me have her, Gavin?" Lucas suddenly asked as he started walking toward me.

I instinctively stepped back.

Fear immediately crawled through my body, and I prepared myself to run. But my legs felt weak, almost frozen in place, and I couldn't seem to find enough strength to move.

"You only married her because of her father, right?"

My heart started pounding violently.

I looked at Gavin desperately, silently begging him to defend me. To claim me as his wife. To show even the smallest amount of respect for me.

But all he gave me was a cold, sharp look.

As though I had done something wrong.

"You're scaring her, dumbass!" the quiet man with messy hair muttered before swatting Lucas on the shoulder.

"I said fuck off, Lucas!" Gavin suddenly shouted.

He shoved Lucas aside as he walked toward me.

My breath caught.

For one stupid second, I thought he was coming to protect me.

I thought he was finally going to ask if I was okay.

But no.

His hand roughly closed around my wrist instead.

I gasped from the sudden pain.

He didn't care that his friends were watching. He dragged me toward the stairs as though I were nothing more than a piece of luggage he was embarrassed to own.

"G-Gavin... it hurts..."

My voice cracked as I desperately tried to pull my wrist away from his grip.

He didn't answer.

He only tightened his hold.

Then he continued dragging me toward our bedroom.

The moment we entered, he shoved me inside with enough force that I stumbled forward and nearly crashed into the bed.

"Stay there. Do not come out."

His voice was cold and authoritative.

I held the part of my wrist where his fingers had been digging into my skin and slowly looked up at him.

I was trembling like a terrified animal, fresh tears gathering in my eyes.

For a brief second—a single heartbeat—I thought I saw something flicker across his face.

Pity?

Regret?

Concern?

Don't be stupid, Alia.

This man is worse than his friends.

He immediately turned around and walked out.

The door slammed shut behind him.

I curled myself up on the bed, hugging my knees against my chest.

The muffled sounds of laughter and glasses clinking drifted upstairs from the living room.

They were downstairs celebrating his success...

While I was locked away like some shameful secret.

Driven by a painful, almost masochistic need to know exactly where I stood in Gavin's life, I slowly crawled toward the door.

I pressed my ear against it.

My breathing hitched as their voices became clearer.

"Bro, seriously?"

Lucas's voice boomed through the hallway, followed by the unmistakable sound of someone pouring alcohol into a glass.

"Your wife is a knockout. A little... fragile, maybe. But she's definitely not the 'obligation' you described. Why keep her locked up like that? Are you sure nothing has happened between the two of you?"

Several seconds of silence followed.

I could almost picture Gavin sitting comfortably on the leather couch, leaning back while swirling a glass of scotch between his fingers.

"She's a necessity, Lucas. Nothing more."

Gavin's voice was as cold as ice.

And with every word that followed, the pain inside me grew deeper.

I pressed my lips together tightly, desperately trying not to cry.

"A placeholder to satisfy my father's wishes. You don't bring a placeholder to the front lines. You leave it in the background, where it belongs."

My chest tightened at his words.

Fresh tears filled my eyes.

I knew listening would only hurt me more.

But I couldn't make myself walk away.

"Well, that 'background' is about to get pretty crowded."

I recognized Rick's voice, his tone suddenly becoming more secretive.

"I saw the headlines this morning. The Paris Fashion Week wrap-up."

"She's coming back, isn't she?" the blond man asked.

"July fourteenth."

Gavin's answer made my entire body freeze.

Next week.

"Olivia is wrapping up her exclusive collaboration with Chanel before returning to oversee the expansion of her luxury fashion house between Paris and the Philippines."

Gavin continued speaking.

"She called me last night. She'll be here for my birthday."

So they really were talking again.

His ex.

A bitter laugh nearly escaped my lips.

Olivia Valencia.

The visionary behind one of the world's fastest-rising luxury fashion houses.

The woman whose face had appeared on the covers of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and countless magazines I could only admire from a distance.

The woman Gavin had loved since they were teenagers.

The woman who left to build an empire in Paris, promising that she would return only after making all of her dreams come true.

She was finally coming back.

Coming back to take the place I had only borrowed.

"The beloved returns," Lucas teased him.

But there was no cruelty behind his words.

His friends respected Olivia.

They admired her.

And suddenly, I couldn't stop myself from wondering...

Why couldn't they respect me, too?

Was it because I looked like a maid while Olivia was a successful CEO?

Because she was famous?

Beautiful?

Powerful?

Because she had everything I didn't?

"What are you going to do about the... domestic situation?" Lucas asked again. "Having the media's 'Queen of Luxury' living under the same roof as your housewife isn't exactly going to look ideal."

My fingers tightened around the door handle until my knuckles turned white.

I didn't know if I could survive hearing what Gavin would say next.

But apparently, I was stupid enough to keep listening even when I already knew the truth would destroy me.

"Alia won't be an issue."

Gavin's voice was calm.

Too calm.

As though he had already planned everything.

"I already know how I'm going to get rid of her. I have RDC now. My father can't manipulate me anymore. He's too weak to stop me, and almost all of our properties are already under my control."

My entire body went cold.

Get rid of me?

The words echoed inside my head.

"I don't have much to say about this, but..." another voice spoke. I wasn't entirely sure who it was, but I assumed it was the quiet man with messy hair. "Didn't Olivia cheat on you before?"

A heavy silence followed.

Then Gavin answered.

"I love her. I don't care what she did."

I bit down hard on my lower lip.

"Let's just say she wanted to taste a different dish for a while. But I know she'll always come back to me. And what do you know? She's coming back for me."

My heart shattered quietly inside my chest.

He was willing to give her another chance.

He loved her that much.

He loves her that much, huh?

But that wasn't fair.

That couldn't possibly be love.

I was the one who stayed.

I was the one who remained loyal and faithful to him.

So why couldn't I be given even a single chance?

Why was I never enough?

Other than money...

What did Olivia have that I didn't?

"Well, then! Let's have a toast to Gavin's freedom—and the return of the real Mrs. Romano!"

I slowly stepped away from the door.

The tears continued falling without stopping.

My chest tightened so painfully that breathing suddenly became difficult, and I stumbled back toward the bed before collapsing against it.

I curled into myself, desperately trying to make my body smaller.

As if disappearing would somehow make everything hurt less.

My birthday was next week, too.

There were only three days between my birthday and Gavin's.

I had actually been planning to ask him to give me something.

Not jewelry.

Not clothes.

Not money.

Just himself.

I wanted to ask him to spend that day with me.

I wanted to believe that maybe, for once, he could choose me.

But now...

Now I realized how stupid I had been for even thinking about it.

How pathetic it was to keep asking for love from a man whose heart had never belonged to me in the first place.