Chapter 2

Iris POV

Everyone thought I was the woman Adrian treasured above all else.

He'd guarded me for twenty-five years, from a confused girl to the billionaire who ruled an empire. If I so much as frowned, he could turn half the city upside down.

Yet this same man had lied to me for five years. Completely upended my life.

......

In the law office, the cold leather sofa pressed into my spine.

I'd come to handle the inheritance of my grandfather's estate. Instead, the lawyer told me something utterly absurd.

"Miss Winters, legally speaking, you are single."

I thought I'd misheard. I forced a strained smile. "Adrian and I have been married for five years. The whole city knows."

That wedding five years ago had shaken the entire city.

Adrian had deployed three hundred drones to spell out my name in the night sky.

He'd also covered an entire island with nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine roses flown in from Holland.

That day, I was the happiest bride in the city.

How could I be unmarried?

The lawyer slid a document across the table. Black and white. His expression was sympathetic. "Mr. Adrian's legal spouse is someone else. A woman named Luna."

My fingertips went ice-cold. My mind buzzed.

The housekeeper's daughter. That girl who always kept her head down, spoke in soft whispers, looked gentle and pitiful.

My breath caught. My heart ached until my vision blurred.

I forced myself to read the critical information in that document.

Spouse: Luna Sterling.

Date of registration: Five years ago. The day after our wedding of the century.

With a deafening crash, everything I'd believed for twenty-five years came tumbling down.

From the day we met at five, to the day I "married" him at twenty-five, Adrian had been my faith.

I loved him to the bone, trusted him more than I trusted myself.

I never checked his phone, never questioned his schedule, because the security he gave me once made me feel nothing could destroy us.

But reality slapped me hard across the face.

I don't know how I walked out of that law office.

I started my car, merged into the city traffic, driving aimlessly.

Harsh sunlight flooded the interior, but couldn't dispel the chill in my heart.

My phone screen lit up. Adrian had sent a text, his tone commanding: "Bought that blue diamond you like at the auction overseas. Take a shower and wait for me in bed tonight."

A flawless blue diamond had appeared at a London auction recently.

Adrian had said that shade of blue resembled my eyes, that only I was worthy of it.

I looked at the text, finding it ironic.

Just then, my car stopped at the entrance to a private dock.

Through the iron gate, I saw that familiar yacht.

It was the twentieth birthday gift Adrian had given me.

Adrian was standing on the yacht's deck, embracing another woman.

That woman wore a white dress, her hair flowing to her waist. It was Luna.

The next second, Adrian gripped the back of her neck and kissed her.

The guests' cheering around them was carried away by the sea breeze, blurred and unclear.

Those tender memories flashed through my mind, scene by scene.

At eighteen, I received an acceptance letter from a top foreign design institute. He stood downstairs through a blizzard all night, begging me not to go. The next day, he burned with fever and fell unconscious, still calling my name in his delirium. I softened, tore up the acceptance letter, and stayed.

At twenty, a star player from the school football team gave me roses. Adrian beat him in front of the whole school until his bones broke, then buried my car with thousands of roses, possessively declaring, "Iris is mine. Anyone who touches her dies."

At twenty-two, to attend the same university as me, he gave up the Ivy League school his family had arranged, condescending to come to my school, spending four years with me.

Once, these were all proof he loved me to the bone.

But now, these soul-deep vows had all become lies.

I laughed until tears streamed down, laughed until my whole body trembled.

Twenty-five years. I'd used my entire life only to move myself.

If that's the case, then this man who'd occupied my entire existence should be completely excised.

I wiped away my tears. I didn't go home. I returned to the law office instead.

"Mr. Louis." I sat back on the sofa, my voice calm and emotionless. "I want to liquidate and sell all the Winters family assets in this city. Don't leave a single property."

The lawyer froze. "Miss Winters, you..."

I picked up the contract on the table, swiftly signing my name. "In half a day, half the Winters assets have already changed hands. Move faster."

The lawyer looked at my resolute expression and finally nodded. "Processing all assets will take ten days at most."

Ten days.

I repeated that number silently.