Chapter 3

The crisp sound of the slap rang through the entire banquet hall and drowned out every murmur in the room.

Jacob's head snapped to one side. A clear handprint reddened his left cheek, which burned with pain.

But that pain was nothing compared to the ache in his heart.

He slowly turned back and stared in disbelief at the wife who stood before him.

Amanda's chest heaved, and tears welled in her eyes. The face he had once loved so deeply now held nothing but disappointment and rage.

The hand that had struck him still trembled faintly. She had clearly put every ounce of strength into that slap.

Jacob stood stunned. As he looked at Amanda, he felt as though the woman before him had become a frightening stranger.

They had been married for five years. They had fought before, but neither had ever raised a hand against the other. This was the first time. In front of every relative and friend they knew, she had slapped him across the face for another man's sake.

"You..." Jacob's throat felt dry and raw. He tried to explain. "Do you know what he just said to me? He—"

Before he could finish, a pained groan cut him off. "Mandy... don't... Don't blame Jake..."

Dorian lay on the floor, his face pale and his forehead covered in beads of sweat.

He curled in on himself in pain, yet he still insisted on defending Jacob. "He... He probably just misunderstood... I... I only asked about his mother's condition because I was concerned... I didn't mean anything by it..."

Then he turned to Jacob and forced out a smile that looked more painful than tears. "Jake... Bro... I know you didn't mean it..."

This gracious, forgiving act finally set off the last of Amanda's temper. She thought Dorian was kind to the point of foolishness. Even now, he was still speaking up for an unreasonable brute like Jacob.

Meanwhile, Jacob showed no remorse and still seemed intent on arguing his way out of what he had done.

Compared with Dorian, Jacob had become, in her eyes, a narrow-minded and ungrateful man who repaid kindness with cruelty.

"Do you have anything else to say?" Amanda snapped at him.

The disgust and disappointment in her eyes struck Jacob harder than the slap had.

"We'll settle this at home," Amanda said coldly. Then she refused to spare him so much as another glance.

"Quick! Someone call an ambulance!" She barked orders at the guests and bodyguards who milled around in confusion. "Be careful. Whatever you do, don't touch his hand again!"

She carefully knelt on the floor and rested Dorian's head on her lap. She dabbed the cold sweat from his forehead with a tissue, her expression full of anxious tenderness, a tenderness Jacob had never once seen her show him.

And through all of it, she never once asked Jacob, "Why did you hit him?"

Not once did she look at him again.

Jacob stood there alone and watched his wife and a crowd of people hurry the man who had just insulted his mother out of the banquet hall.

The party, which had been so lively only minutes earlier, fell silent.

One after another, the guests found excuses to leave. On their way out, they cast Jacob looks filled with pity, contempt, and barely concealed satisfaction at his misfortune.

Soon, all that remained of the once-bustling birthday party was the wreckage scattered across the floor.

Cornelius let out a heavy sigh, his expression grim.

He walked over to Jacob and patted him on the shoulder. His mouth opened as if he wanted to say something, but when he saw Jacob's swollen, reddened cheek, all he could manage was another heavy sigh and a shake of his head.

"Jake... ah."

Cornelius regarded him with a complicated look. He was disappointed in his daughter, disgusted with Dorian, and helpless when it came to his son-in-law.

He knew things were rarely as simple as they appeared on the surface. He knew Jacob's temperament well. Jacob would never have raised his hand in a setting like this unless he believed he had no other choice.

But what could Cornelius say? Both sides were family to him, one way or another.

In the end, he said nothing more. He turned away to deal with the mess.

Jacob no longer felt the pain in his face. He could no longer hear the sounds around him. All that remained inside him was a cold, hollow numbness.

He stood there for a long time, until the lights throughout the mansion went dark one by one.

…

Late that night, Jacob returned alone to their home in the upscale villa district by the river.

The clear imprint of five fingers remained swollen and red across his cheek.

Without a word, he boiled a pot of water, pulled a pack of pasta from the cabinet, tore it open, poured the pasta into the pot, and added salt.

Before long, a key turned in the lock.

Amanda walked in from the cold night air. The moment she stepped through the door, she saw Jacob sitting there, eating pasta al pomodoro.

An inexplicable pang struck her heart, but anger quickly overwhelmed it.

Dorian had suffered a second fracture to his left wrist. The doctor had said that even if the surgery succeeded, his hand would never regain the dexterity required to play the piano. That one punch from Jacob had ended Dorian's career as a pianist for good.

The image of Dorian lying pale and hopeless in a hospital bed flashed through Amanda's mind, and her anger became impossible to contain.

Her voice turned cold. "Jacob! You're actually in the mood to sit here and eat? Do you have any idea what you've done?

"Dorian broke that hand once already when he saved me! And now you've broken it a second time!

"The doctor says it's completely ruined this time. He'll never play the piano again for the rest of his life. You ruined him. Do you understand that?"

She glared at him, her chest heaving with agitation.

Jacob continued eating his pasta.

"Oh," he said flatly.

His attitude instantly sent Amanda over the edge. "Oh? That's all you have to say, even now?"

She could hardly believe her ears. He had broken Dorian's hand, yet there he sat, eating pasta as though nothing had happened.

The thought enraged her. She stormed forward and slapped the plate of pasta off the table.

The plate crashed to the floor, and the oily red sauce splashed all over Jacob.

Amanda's voice rose to a hysterical shriek. "Jacob, what is wrong with you? You ruined a man's entire life, and you still don't think you've done anything wrong? You're nothing but a violent animal!"

Jacob slowly lifted his head and stared at her.

"What did I do wrong?" His voice was icy. "From the moment you slapped me at the birthday party to right now, when you knocked my food onto the floor, have you asked me even once why I hit him?"

The question caught Amanda off guard.

She hadn't.

In her mind, no matter the reason, resorting to violence was wrong. It was even more unforgivable because Jacob had injured the man who had once saved her life.

Jacob saw her stunned expression, and he smiled bitterly. "And if I told you, would you even believe me?"

His words stirred an inexplicable sense of guilt in Amanda. Whatever the reason, the scales in her heart had already tipped toward Dorian. More than anything else, she couldn't stand Jacob's attitude now.

His attitude only provoked her further, and her voice rose again. "Believe what? Believe that you're jealous and throwing a tantrum? Jacob, stop fooling yourself!

"Do you think Dorian is better than you, and that makes you feel inferior? Are you jealous of him? Is that why you've become so twisted?

"You've really changed, Jacob. You've become someone I don't even recognize anymore."

"Inferior... Twisted..." Jacob echoed.