Chapter 4

Graham had taken up eight years of my youth.

We had been together since I was 18, from the first flutter of young love to the comfortable certainty of adulthood at 26.

To everyone around us, we were a perfect couple—the kind people admired and tried to imitate. Our families were equally prominent, and we looked as though we had been made for each other.

So, why had Graham betrayed me? I went over it a thousand times in my head and still couldn't find an answer.

The next morning, I finally went outside.

Graham was still standing in the rain, swaying slightly from exhaustion.

"So? Was cheating on me worth the thrill?" I asked.

He crossed the distance between us in a few quick strides. "Honey, I screwed up. I swear to you, it will never happen again."

He sounded so sincere, as though he had genuinely regretted everything and was ready to turn over a new leaf.

I stared at him blankly. My eyes traveled slowly over the face I had known for eight years, as if I were seeing 26-year-old Graham for the very first time.

Years in the business world had changed him. He was calm, controlled, and distant now. He was no longer an 18-year-old boy who wore every emotion on his face.

The bright, fearless boy I had once known was gone. What remained was something deeper and far more complicated—emotions I could no longer understand.

"Graham," I said quietly, "you're dirty now."

He stiffened, real panic crossing his face. His shoulders slumped as though the strength had suddenly left him. He begged me not to break up with him.

My face was expressionless, and I remained silent.

He took a deep breath to fight back his annoyance. His eyes flickered, and he changed tactics. He pulled out financial reports and documents outlining upcoming joint ventures between our families.

Calmly and methodically, he began explaining the enormous benefits of continuing the partnership. He tried to win me back with these prospects. But as I listened to his polished analysis, my heart continued to sink.

I had always known that people could change. I had known that once a man fell out of love, cruelty and indifference could come as naturally as breathing.

Still, my chest ached with a dull, relentless pain. In the end, my eight years of devotion couldn't compete with the new thrill.

Graham measured my affection in dollars and percentages, then tossed everything we had shared aside, as if none of it had ever mattered. He had become exactly the kind of man I despised.

I closed my eyes and cut him off. In exchange for the Whitmores giving my family a 30 percent edge on our future projects, I agreed to let it go.

Love could fade, and there would always be someone else. But once the money was gone, there might be nothing left.

I had thought Graham would keep his word and cut Jennifer out of his life. Between the carefully maintained reputation of Whitmore Group and a mistress, a wise man like him surely knew which one mattered more.

But I had overestimated him.

One pregnancy test was all it took to throw him off balance. Without a second thought, he made her promises of forever.

Jennifer even announced on social media that she was getting engaged. She couldn't wait to tell the world that she had finally won.

Six years of waiting had finally paid off, and her love story had gotten its perfect ending.

Then a mutual friend sent me a video.

In it, Graham had Jennifer wrapped in his arms inside a noisy private room. He leaned back against the sofa, looking relaxed.

"Luna?" he said dismissively. "She won't make a scene. Her family needs me to make them money. They are nothing but vines clinging to me. Jennifer is my one and only."

I let out a cold laugh, then made a phone call.

"Stay on them. The second you get anything that can't be denied, release it. And make sure tomorrow's trending story goes like this: Whitmore Group CEO Calls Off Wedding for Mistress, Publicly Declares His Love."

I paused. "Pull every dollar of our investment from the Whitmore Group. Immediately."

If Graham loved chasing love and despised my family so much, I would show him no mercy.

He had clearly forgotten one thing. I had never been the kind of woman who would swallow humiliation and quietly accept whatever was handed to her.