Chapter 2

It wasn't until the next day that we saw news about Kai and Lex again.

By then, Rachel and I had already slipped away to another island. We were lounging in our villa, sipping wine and wearing face masks as we scrolled through the headlines.

On-screen, Lex looked grim, while Kai's eyes were visibly red. The two sat side by side in a car.

A reporter, speaking into the camera, delivered the latest update.

"Breaking news: Renowned designer Carrie Wunder and her sister Rachel Wunder have gone missing after a tragic accident while vacationing on a seaside island. Their whereabouts remain unknown. Both of their husbands, Huxley Ventures CEO, Kai Huxley, and Rangoon Ventures Chairman, Lex Rangoon, are reportedly en route to the island and will personally join the search efforts."

Rachel scoffed.

"Hmph. Too little, too late. If they had the guts to cheat, they should've expected we'd leave eventually."

I nodded in agreement. A swipe of my finger brought up the next headline.

[Shocking: Rangoon Ventures Chairman, Lex Rangoon, Suspected of Cheating. Mistress Caught in Public with Alleged Lovechild!]

It was a video posted by a gossip account. In the clip, Lex stood beside a young woman, holding hands with a little girl.

The video had been posted a week earlier, but now it was suddenly going viral.

I opened the comments. The top one caught my eye.

[Am I the only one who finds this way too coincidental? The lovechild scandal breaks, and now his wife's gone missing?]

Replies flooded in beneath it.

[Good point. Maybe marrying into a rich family isn't all it's cracked up to be.]

[Are we doing conspiracy theories now? Since when are gossip accounts reliable?]

The comment section was ablaze with speculation, drama, and even the occasional post about beach safety.

Seeing Rachel's expression darken, I turned off the screen.

She stared blankly at the blacked-out phone, then downed an entire glass of wine in one go. Her face was slightly flushed, and her eyes were tinged with sorrow.

After a long pause, she looked at me sadly. "Carrie… how did things end up like this?"

I sighed and reached over to gently stroke her hair.

"Maybe… it's just the flaw at the core of men," I said softly.

Rachel was quiet for a few seconds, then buried her face in my arms.

"Carrie, Lex was so good at acting. Even now, part of me still feels hurt. I even thought… he really loved me."

Her muffled voice tugged at my heart.

I thought of that call to Kai, and how it was Briana who had answered. Disgust rose in my chest. These two men couldn't be more despicable.

"Rachel," I said, "they're just men. Not worth our tears. From now on, let's just enjoy our vacation. All these years of designing have earned me enough to live lavishly for the next thirty. Are you really going to let some cheating man ruin your mood?"

I knew Rachel well. She was a shameless little money-grubber to the core.

But back then, she had chosen to be with Lex when he had nothing—not a cent to his name, cast out by his family.

In their worst days, they survived on two plain meals a day, often just stale bread. She never once complained.

Then Lex founded Rangoon Ventures, rising step by step, eventually devouring his family's empire. He became a man of status, admired and envied.

And just when things had finally settled… a woman and lovechild appeared out of nowhere, like a knife twisted into Rachel's heart, thrown to the ground and stomped on for good measure.

Fortunately, she and I had the strength and the means to walk away.

The days that followed were peaceful. We traveled from place to place, as if all our troubles had been washed away by the sea.

Every now and then, though, a headline would pop up. Kai and Lex were still searching for us.

From the initial emergency rescue to a full-blown global search, it seemed neither guy had any intention of giving up.

One of them even issued a statement. "As long as they remain missing, I won't stop searching. Not for a single day."

This wasn't what I'd expected at all.

With other women by their side, they should've moved on long ago. So what was this dramatic performance now supposed to mean?