Chapter 5

Her gaze dropped to the bike beside me, which I hadn’t even bothered to lock properly, and her brows furrowed again.

"I… I came out to experience real life!" I blurted, grasping for an excuse to cover how pathetic I looked.

"Experiencing life involves digging through trash?" Alisha pointed at the overturned garbage can by my feet. A few empty plastic bottles had rolled out onto the ground.

An idea hit me.

If I was already this deep in, I might as well commit. There was no way I was admitting I’d followed her because I felt insecure.

There was no chance of that. My pride mattered more than anything.

"Yeah! I’m collecting bottles! So what if I am? I’m not stealing. I’m doing this for the family!"

The more I talked, the more frustrated I felt, my voice rising as I squared my shoulders. "Alisha, if you think I’m embarrassing, just say it! Once your debts are paid off, I won’t owe you anything either. We’ll have a clean divorce!"

The diners around us had all stopped eating, staring at the scene, as if they’d just stumbled into some high-society drama.

Alisha looked even more stunned, her brows lifting in disbelief. "What are you talking about? What debts?"

Even now, she was still hiding it from me. Anger flared in my chest.

"Alisha, we’ve been married for years. Can’t you just be honest with me? Or do you really think I’m the kind of man who can only enjoy the good times, but won’t stand by you when things get hard?"

"You’re not like that at all!" she said quickly, flustered. "Why are you suddenly saying all this?"

"If that’s true, then why didn’t you tell me about your bankruptcy?"

"Whose bankruptcy?"

"Yours!"

"Mine?"

"Yes!" My face flushed red as my voice rose again.

God, this woman was stubborn. So what if she’d gone bankrupt? What was the big deal? Why did she have to carry everything alone like this?

"The other day, that call from Mr. Shaw came to the house. He said your company was restructuring its assets, and you don’t have much left! Lately, you’ve been even more frugal than before!

"You came here today to deal with the assets, didn’t you? The documents he’s holding… That’s the proof!"

I let it all out in one breath, panting as I tried to steady myself.

Only then did I realize that it had gone completely silent.

Every single person in the place was staring at me.

Especially Alisha.

Her mouth hung slightly open, not a single word coming out. The confusion in her eyes was so obvious it almost spilled over.

Wait. Why did she look even more lost than I was?

Xavier stepped forward and carefully held out the documents in his hand.

"Um… Mr. Day, I think you’ve misunderstood. This is the ownership agreement for a private island. Ms. West bought it as a birthday gift for you."