Chapter 3

It was a company that barely generated any revenue. The only income they had was the hundred million dollars Arthur funneled in, as well as various funds allocated by the Borne Corporation.

Despite that, its business scope was vast. Every product would inevitably involve a girl named Ely Melor.

Eventually, I tracked down Ely’s profile on social media. She was living the high life in her beachfront villa. Her latest post was a picture of her interlocking her fingers with a man.

The caption read: "I love you until the end of time."

I zoomed in on the picture. On the man’s ring finger was a ruby ring that matched Ely’s. I also spotted a pale band on his wrist that marked where something used to be.

Arthur had once told me he did not like wearing rings. Therefore, we ticked off every standard item during our wedding except for a ring.

I had naively believed him and proceeded to make him a bracelet to wear instead of a ring. He had kissed the bracelet and told me it would be his protective charm that he would never remove.

However, he removed the bracelet as soon as he knew he was going to see Ely.

As it turned out, he did not dislike wearing rings. He just disliked wearing matching rings with me.

I continued to scroll through her page. On Valentine’s Day, Arthur had given her a sapphire necklace. It was an intricately made piece of jewelry made from the best cut of sapphire.

On the same day, he had given me a blue diamond necklace.

On the seventh of July, he bought several bolts of the finest fabric and had a whole wardrobe made for Ely.

That same day, he had given me a silk scarf made from the same cut of fabric.

…

As I continued to scroll her feed, I buried my head in the pillow and started convulsing while laughing like a maniac. My pulse seemed to stop at one point amidst the hysteria.

As far as Arthur was concerned, I was only a shield for Ely. A sacrificial piece.

All the gifts he gave me were the leftovers of the gifts he carefully curated for Ely.

Five years of love were undone in a single day.

I cried all night.

At one point, Arthur sent me a text. I used to think that he loved me and wanted to know what I was doing all the time.

This entire time, he was merely worried I would run away.

There was no way I would let him get away with this. The next morning, I contacted my lawyer and had him erase all of my personal information as quickly as possible.

When Arthur came home in the middle of the night, the first thing he did was to bury his head in my neck.

"Juniper, did you miss me? I couldn’t get a wink of sleep last night without you."

I could see dark circles under his eyes. It did seem like he hardly got any sleep last night.

In the past, I would have been deeply moved by this, but now, I was as stiff as a statue.

He never loved me! The false display of affection made me sick to my stomach!

"Are you being shy?" He chuckled softly before pulling me into his arms and forced a soft moan out of me. I was his plaything. He never even considered that he was disturbing my rest.

Tears fell from the corner of my eyes and soaked the pillow, as if my sadness had never existed.

The next morning, I saw his stormy expression as soon as I woke up. His reputation alone was enough to make me shiver in fear.

"Your phone is ringing. What’s that message about deleting something?"

I quickly glanced at my phone. My lawyer had just texted me. He had sorted out the paperwork for me. All of my personal information will be officially deleted in three hours.

I strained a smile and brushed it off, "It’s nothing important, just an email that I used a long time ago but hasn’t been in use since. I figured I might as well delete it for security reasons."

"Ah." He leaned in closer suggestively and gripped the back of my head roughly. He robbed me of my breath until I collapsed weakly in his arms.

"Juniper, don't lie to me. Don't betray me."

I nodded desperately while tears welled in my eyes. My fingertips turned cold from fear.

Just a little longer!

I’d be able to get away from him soon!

Soon, Arthur would no longer have Juniper by his side!

Luckily, his phone rang just in time and stopped him from taking things another step further.

"What? Ely is back? Who told her to come? Wait for me. I'm on my way." His voice was grave, and he left without so much as sparing a glance at me.

I kept reminding myself to breathe.

There was one more thing to do before I left. Even if I had erased my personal information, I did not want my name to be associated with his anymore.

After calming down, I received another text from my private investigator. The text contained a string of numbers. It was Ely’s phone number.

"Hello, I am Arthur’s wife. We need to meet."