Chapter 3 The Secret He Betrayed

My heart lurched.

Sabrina's smile turned sweeter. "Did you really think he'd keep your secrets? Sorry to break it to you, but he spilled everything when he was coaxing me to sleep. He said you were trapped as a kid, so you never sleep well when it rains.

"He said you act tough, but deep down you're still that little girl who's afraid of the dark and the water."

My ears rang.

Her words were colder than the downpour.

I had been with Jay for three years.

I had stood up to the board when they tried to oust him.

I had secured overseas financing for him.

I had stayed up until four in the morning revising his acquisition proposal.

I was the one who kept vigil till dawn the night he was hospitalized with a bleeding stomach.

I was the one who found the holes in the account books and dragged his tattered reputation out of the mud when the Harrison family's eldest son framed him for embezzling company funds.

He had knelt in front of me and vowed, "Melanie, I wouldn't be the man today without you. I promise I'll marry you when I take Harrison Group back."

I had believed him. Turns out, I was just a useful tool to him, someone who would give everything in return for a little tenderness.

Sabrina tapped on the glass. "Don't blame me, Melanie. I just want you to know your place."

Then, she looked up at Jay, her voice going soft. "Jay, you're not mad at me, are you?"

Jay stubbed out his cigarette. "Don't go too far."

Sabrina pouted. "How am I going too far? You promised I could enjoy myself tonight. You even said the engagement was just a stopgap."

A stopgap.

Those words sawed back and forth across my heart like a dull blade.

I raised my head and looked at Jay. "Is it true?"

Jay frowned. He hadn't expected Sabrina to let it slip in front of everyone, but he quickly recovered. "Since you've found out… Yes, it's true."

My eyelids fought against the freezing water as I stared at him. "Is tomorrow's engagement banquet fake as well?"

"Not fake," he replied flatly. "It's only an engagement, not a marriage. Melanie, you should know that marriage in the Harrison family can't be just about feelings. Sabrina has the Payton family behind her. She's the one best suited to stand beside me."

My nails dug into my palms.

"Then, what about me?"

A flicker of impatience finally appeared in his eyes. "Do you have to make it sound so ugly? I haven't mistreated you these three years. You wanted a position, so I made you vice president. You wanted respect, so everyone at Harrison Group calls you Ms. Roxen.

"As for marriage, I can't give you that. I'm already being kind by not trapping you in a lie."

He said it calmly, as if my three years' worth of effort were nothing more than a vice president's title.

Sabrina smiled and leaned against him. "Melanie, you should learn to be grateful. You don't have any connections, no family name, and no one powerful backing you. The fact that you're going to get engaged to Jay at all… Honestly, you've hit the jackpot."

Someone chimed in, "Exactly."

"If Mr. Harrison really married her, the Harrison family would never live it down."

"What good is talent? Marrying into a family like that is about pedigree."

"Melanie needs a reality check. She was useful on Jay's way up, but that doesn't mean she gets to be the wife."

I looked at the people speaking, the same ones who used to nod and bow to me in conference rooms. They had been so deferential when they addressed me as Ms. Roxen back then. However, they immediately changed their tune now that they figured that I had lost Jay's protection.

A man in a gray suit grinned and waved his phone. "Ms. Roxen, do you want me to snap a photo as a keepsake? After all, Ms. Sabrina will be the one standing beside Mr. Harrison tomorrow. You should consider this your last chance of becoming the leading lady tonight."

I said nothing more because my fear had already passed its worst surge.

Right now, my panic had shot so far past its usual threshold that I was now strangely clear-headed.

I lifted a hand to my right ear. The earring was still there.

It wasn't an ordinary earring.

Three months ago, I had my security team build me an emergency device when I noticed something off in Harrison Group's financials. If pressed three times in a row, it would automatically send my location and an alert to my lawyer, my assistant, and my private security.

Jay had no idea about this. He had always assumed I'd handed him every card I had. Alas, he had forgotten that someone who had crawled out of the rubble would never truly put their life in anyone's hands.

I lowered my head, pretended to choke on the rainwater as I covered my ear.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

The earring vibrated faintly as the signal was sent out.