Chapter 3

Just as I was about to pop a bottle of champagne to celebrate, the doorbell rang.

Carter’s stony face appeared on the video intercom, his mouth set in a grim, rigid line.

Before I could even wrap my head around how he’d tracked me to this secluded hillside estate among all the properties under his name, he had the security manager override the smart lock. The door flew open, and he shoved me violently against the foyer wall.

His fingers clamped down brutally on my waist. His dark eyes burned with a feral, murderous intensity, yet his voice came out eerily calm.

"Chloe Scott. You really outdid yourself."

The heat from his hands seeped through my clothes, blistering hot. I lowered my eyes and gave him a flat, uncaring shrug.

After all the vicious things he’d hissed at me over the years, a petty threat barely registered.

I was completely numb to it.

I even had the spare energy to point toward the TV news and mock him.

"I mean, she’s gorgeous and knows how to put on a show. She’d make a lovely Mrs. Vance."

"Why don't we sign the divorce papers tomorrow?"

Usually, the mere mention of divorce set Carter off like a bomb.

Having known him for decades, I understood him better than anyone—especially how much he despised me.

He would rather use our marriage as a prison to rot in together than ever grant me the freedom to walk away.

I let my eyes fall, feeling like an exhausted beast backed into a corner.

I braced myself for another miserable, shouting match.

Except, this time, things went differently.

Carter let out a dark, furious laugh at my apathy, but said nothing.

After staring down at me for a long, silent second, he hoisted me effortlessly over his shoulder.

Dizzy and gasping, I kicked and struggled, but he hauled me straight upstairs to the master bedroom and slammed me onto the mattress.

The second I pushed myself up from the pillows, I saw him unbuttoning his shirt with icy detachment. In his hand, he gripped his black textured designer belt.

Realizing what he was about to do, my heart leaped into my throat, and I scrambled to scramble off the edge of the bed.

I barely reached the footboard before his fingers clamped around my ankle.

The cold metal buckle snapped shut around my wrists.

His scorching breath fell heavily against the back of my neck.

Through the sharp, tearing agony of his intrusion, his cold, deep voice echoed in my ear:

"Guilty people don't get happy endings."

"Chloe, we are in this until the day we die!"

That was Carter’s lifelong verdict for me. I never accepted it.

So, we spent three years ripping each other apart inside this sick joke of a marriage.

A constant war of attrition, back and forth, endlessly exhausting.

Except now, I didn't want to play his twisted game anymore.

Clutching the medical diagnosis in my hand, I stared quietly out the window.

Beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass, an orange sun dipped below the horizon, its fading light slowly swallowed by the towering city skyline until the last trace vanished.

When darkness settled completely, I rubbed my aching eyes and dialed Carter’s number.

The line rang steadily for thirty seconds before cutting off. Unanswered, exactly as expected.

Sighing softly, I sent a text on SnapChat to a mutual friend in Carter's inner circle.

A location pin came back immediately.

When I arrived, the VIP lounge was at the height of its party.

A girl in a white dress had just been shoved into Carter’s lap, her cheeks flushed with shy embarrassment.

Truth or Dare gone wrong, presumably.

The crowd around them was cheering, egging her on to kiss him.

Carter lounged back in the center, his sharp jawline framed by the dim shadows.

The corner of his lip curled in an easy smirk as he slid an arm around the eager girl, though his dark eyes flickered with faint irritation.

Fluttering her lashes, the girl leaned up to press her lips to his.

Carter held that wicked, teasing half-smile, neither leaning down nor pulling away.

Just as their lips were about to meet, someone caught sight of me standing by the door.

A voice gasped out in shock:

"Chloe!"