Chapter 4

In the end, I called Delia.

The phone rang for a long time before she picked up. It was noisy on her end, like she was at a business dinner.

The first thing out of her mouth was, "What is it this time?"

I gripped the phone, my voice hoarse. "I'm at the police station."

She was silent for two seconds. "What kind of trouble did you get into now?"

I closed my eyes for a moment. "Jensen says I keyed his car. He wants 100,000 dollars."

The other end of the line suddenly went quiet.

Half an hour later, Delia arrived.

The moment she walked in, she looked at Jensen first, and when she saw his red-rimmed eyes, her expression visibly darkened. She lowered her voice to reassure him. "I'll take care of this."

From start to finish, she never once asked me how I got the bruises on my face. She paid the money for me, and the whole thing was quickly smoothed over.

Outside the police station, she pulled open the car door and said coldly, "Get in."

I stood there and did not move.

She glanced back at the bruises on my face, her eyes full of impatience. "Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?"

I got in the car anyway.

The silence was suffocating the whole ride.

Poppy sat in the back seat, playing games on her tablet. After a while, she looked up at me and said in a small voice, "Papa said you were mean to him."

Delia kept her hands on the steering wheel, her tone flat. "Jensen isn't the type to hit someone for no reason."

I laughed, and the corners of my mouth stung. "So I slapped myself, then?"

She frowned. "Simon, stop making everything sound so ugly. If you hadn't provoked him, it never would have come to this."

I did not argue any further.

She drove me back to my rental, and before I got out, she left me with one warning. "Don't go anywhere for the next few days, and don't respond to anything online."

At the time, I did not understand what she meant.

Early the next morning, I went downstairs to buy some bread rolls.

When the woman at the corner store saw me, her voice suddenly dropped. "That's him, isn't it?"

The person beside her, who was holding a phone, whispered back, "The guy from the video."

I hesitated for a moment. When I walked over, they both shut their mouths at once.

Back in my room, I opened my phone. The video from outside the restaurant had already spread everywhere.

It had obviously been edited. All that was left was Jensen crying with his hand pressed to his face and me standing there with my hair a mess, looking like a madman. The headline was harsh and ugly.

[Heiress's Fiancé Puts Her Kept Man in His Place in Broad Daylight.]

I scrolled through the comments one after another, and every single one was tearing me apart.

I called Eddie, but he did not pick up.

Calvin, on the other hand, sent me a message.

[Simon, don't go out for a while. Everyone's still angry right now.]

[The truth always comes out. Just don't make this any bigger than it already is.]

I stared at those two lines, my fingers trembling.

Not long after, Dad called.

The moment I picked up, he started yelling at me, "Simon Wheeler, what on earth did you do? Your video is all over the family group chat! How are we supposed to show our faces now?"

"Aren't you going to ask whether I was set up?" I asked him.

He paused, and his voice turned even colder. "Why would anyone bother framing you, of all people?"

Mom chimed in from beside him, "If you really did something this shameful, don't ever tell people you're my son again."

My sister, Allie Wheeler, grabbed the phone too. "Simon, can you stop dragging the family into your mess? My boyfriend's family saw it!"

Holding the phone, I suddenly felt exhausted. "From now on, you can all pretend I don't exist."

With that, I hung up.

The room was so quiet that the only sound left was the hum of the fridge.

I stood in front of the mirror and stared at the bruises on my neck for a long time.

After dark, I started packing my ID, a few changes of clothes, and my bank card. There was only a little over 2,000 dollars left in my account.

For years, I had worked myself to the bone for a family that never even existed, and in the end, I had nothing left to show for it.

I had already bought a train ticket to Solenne Valley, the cheapest one available, leaving in the early hours of the morning.

Calvin called, but I did not answer. Delia called once too. I watched the screen light up and then go dark, and in the end, I simply turned my phone off.

At 4:00 am, I dragged my suitcase to the train station.

The station was crowded. When the announcement came over the speakers, I saw on the big screen that my train had started boarding. I stood up and pulled my suitcase forward.

This time, no one came to see me off. And from now on, no one would be worth waiting for.

Delia did not find out I had left until three days later. She went to my rental, but the place was completely empty.

The landlord told her, "Oh, him? He moved out three days ago."