Chapter Three

The violent bang of the mahogany door hitting the wall shattered the room, cutting through the laughter like a blade.

The friend who had been mocking me froze mid-gesture, his hand still stretched over his face, his smug smile dying instantly as his eyes locked onto mine. A suffocating silence fell over the private suite, heavy and thick.

Iris was leaning directly against Kevin's chest, her fingers resting over his shirt. When her eyes swept toward the doorway, I saw the exact second realization registered in her mind. Her gaze darted from my face to the hair pulled forward over my scar, then up to Kevin's unbothered posture.

A flash of sharp, calculating recognition flickered in her eyes.

This is the hidden wife.

Instead of pulling away in embarrassment, she took her time straightening up and smoothing down her rose silk dress before gliding toward me with a sweet, radiant smile.

"You must be Elodie," she said, her voice dripping with soft, practiced grace. "I'm Iris. It's so wonderful to finally meet Kevin's wife."

As she spoke, her eyes never met mine. They remained pinned relentlessly to the left side of my face, hungry and prying, trying to peer through the dark curtain of my hair to inspect the damaged flesh underneath. The grotesque curiosity in her stare felt like fresh acid poured over my skin.

Behind her, Kevin rose from the booth. He moved with that same fluid, immaculate composure that had drawn me to him seven years ago, stepping toward my side.

"Elodie," he said softly, his voice a soothing, gentle purr. "They were just joking around. Don't take it to heart."

A suffocating physical agony gripped my throat.

Even now, surrounded by the elite friends who had just dragged my dignity through the mud, he was as gentle as ever. But that gentleness was a poison. It sliced through me to realize that behind his soft demeanor, he was taking their side. He was trivializing my humiliation just to keep the mood light for them and for her.

"I'll apologize on their behalf," Kevin added smoothly, reaching out to place an arm around my shoulders. "Tell me what you want, sweet girl. Anything you want, I'll get it for you as compensation."

Compensation.

As if six years of public erasure, secret shame, and mockery could be bought off like a bad business deal.

Before his hand could touch me, I stepped back and brushed his arm away with cold, absolute revulsion.

His friend swallowed hard, attempting an uncomfortable laugh. "Yeah, sister-in-law, come on. It was just a joke among friends. No harm meant."

I let out a low, ragged laugh, a sound so hollow it rattled my own ribs. "A joke? Is the burn on my face a joke to you?"

The friend flinched and stepped back.

Before Kevin could answer, Iris stepped into the space between us. She reached out with both hands and grasped my fingers tightly, her eyes filling with sudden, glistening tears.

"Elodie, please don't be mad," she pleaded, her voice trembling with delicate fragility. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have brought up your face. If you're angry, just be angry at me alone. Please don't let my mistake make things awkward for Kevin and everyone else."

I stared down at her hands wrapped around mine, sickeningly aware of the performance. She was framing herself as the delicate victim and me as the unhinged, jealous monster.

With a fierce, cold flick of my wrist, I tore my hand from her grip.

Iris gasped softly and took a dramatic, unsteady step backward as if I had struck her. She turned her tear-rimmed eyes up to Kevin, her lower lip trembling.

"Kevin, does your wife hate me? Did I do something wrong?"

Kevin's soft expression instantly vanished. The gentle warmth in his eyes evaporated into a sharp, protective coldness, and it wasn't for me. It was for her.

"Elodie, that's enough," he scolded, his voice dropping into a firm, commanding edge. "Iris was only trying to be nice. Stop acting like this and making a scene."

Stop making a scene.

I stared at him, my breath catching in my chest. I looked at the man I had nearly died for, standing tall and protective in front of his first love, reprimanding me for daring to bleed when cut.

Every shred of love, every tiny grain of hope I had harbored for six years withered into ash.

I didn't yell. I didn't cry. I simply looked at him with complete, terrifying clarity, turned on my heel, and walked out into the corridor.

The cool night air hit my face as I stepped outside the restaurant, but the heat of humiliation still burned beneath my skin. Just as I pulled out my phone to check the directions to the recording studio, the screen lit up with an incoming call from the producer.

"Elodie? I am so sorry," the producer’s voice sounded rushed over the speaker. "Our main sound console just short-circuited. We had to call in a technician, so we’re going to have to push your demo recording session to tomorrow morning at nine."

"I understand," I whispered, my voice faint. "Tomorrow morning is fine.”

I couldn't go back to that mansion. I couldn't sit in that empty villa and wait for the husband who had let his friends call my ruined face disgusting.

I checked into a nearby hotel under my maiden name.

The moment the lock clicked shut behind me, the walls I had built around my heart completely collapsed. I slid down the back of the door, sinking onto the cold carpet as a guttural, suffocating sob tore from my throat.

I pulled my knees to my chest and buried my face in my hands, gasping for air as six years of buried agony overwhelmed me. I thought of the way his friends laughed, the way Iris looked at my hidden scars like I was a monster in a cage, and the way Kevin stood there, suave, perfect, and completely indifferent, watching them strip away my last piece of dignity.

I gave him my face. I gave him my career, my youth, my entire future on a stage. And to him, I was just a shameful, disfigured secret he paid off with boutique dresses.

Hot tears soaked through my sleeve as I cried until my chest burned and my throat was raw, mourning the naive girl who had run into a burning building for a man who had never even loved her.

In the dark room, my phone on the nightstand suddenly began to buzz, illuminating the ceiling.

I wiped my wet face with a trembling hand and looked at the caller ID.

Kevin.