Chapter 2

Leo invited all the local socialites over for a pool party.

Someone started chanting, "Kiss her! Kiss her!"

Willow's face flushed, and she kept backing away.

Leo reached out, pulling her small frame into his arms and kissing her.

After the kiss, she playfully slapped him. "Mrs. Hayes is watching! I don't want people to misunderstand and think I'm a homewrecker!"

Their friends chimed in.

"If anyone's a homewrecker, it should be Mrs. Hayes."

Leo massaged her slender waist, saying casually.

"In my heart, you're my true wife."

All their sneering eyes fell on me.

But you were the one who pursued me in the first place, Leo.

The first time I met Leo, it was at the gates of State University.

I was rushing to my tutoring job, hastily got into a car by the university gates, and urged him to drive faster.

Leo looked at me, stunned, then smiled and drove me to the upscale neighborhood without a word.

When I reached for my wallet to pay, he chuckled.

"Does my car look like an Uber?"

That's when I realized I'd gotten into the wrong car.

From then on, Leo began to pursue me intensely.

Once, when a student's father was sexually assaulting me, he kicked open the door and beat the man pinning me down, sending him to the hospital.

He held me, trembling, and said, "Don't be scared, I'm here."

After we started dating, he publicly declared our relationship.

His Ins and phone wallpaper were all photos of us together.

Later, he looked deep into my eyes and knelt on one knee.

"So, Anya, will you marry me?"

I smiled and said, "I will!"

Leo took me to meet his parents.

His parents gave me an expensive bracelet but made a request.

"The company needs a major investment now, and we must have the Reed family's support. To secure this partnership, Leo must become engaged to Willow. But rest assured, this is strictly a business arrangement. All you need to do is wait one year. Once the deal is finalized, the engagement will be dissolved, and we will make it up to you with the grandest wedding you can imagine."

Leo apologized, looking guilty.

"I'm sorry, Anya. Don't worry, it's just a formality. Willow is my childhood friend, and after we get engaged, she's moving abroad permanently. It won't affect our relationship."

I suppressed a myriad of emotions and nodded.

Leo got drunk because of it, clinging to me and saying many things.

"The thought of having to wait a whole year to marry you makes me miserable."

"If only you could give me a child. With you and a baby, I'd give up everything..."

A week before the wedding, I found out I was pregnant.

Just as I was hesitating whether to tell Leo, his mother, Rachel, sought me out.

She congratulated me with a beaming smile, then told me.

"Actually, Leo's grandfather set up a fund. As long as Leo has a child, he can access this fund. Then Leo won't have to go through with the arranged marriage."

She looked at me meaningfully.

"Anya, tell Leo this good news on the wedding day."

Joy clouded my judgment.

I thought I was helping Leo solve a huge problem. Happily, I changed into the wedding dress Rachel Hayes had given me and rushed into the wedding ceremony.

He leaned down and said in my ear.

"Anya, you're nothing but a slut."

Willow's figure, crying as she ran away.

Overnight, I was branded online as a homewrecker and a slut.

I was also forced to drop out of college.