Chapter 2

Ethan didn't take me seriously.

"Are you mad? I've been working like crazy. The sooner I save up, the sooner I can marry you. Can't you be a little more understanding?"

That was when I noticed he had already swapped his tailored designer suit for cheap, faded casual clothes.

Every time we FaceTimed, he wore this exact outfit. He always claimed it was the nicest thing in his closet and that he wanted to look his best for me.

Now I realized it was just his designated costume for playing poor.

"I'm right across the street. Look up, Mr. Hayes," I scoffed, ripping away his carefully constructed charade.

Ethan finally realized something was off. He looked around and spotted me.

Panic flashed across his face as he darted across the street toward me.

"Aren't you supposed to be working? What are you doing here?"

I violently shoved his hand away, glaring at him with pure hatred.

"What's wrong? Am I not allowed here? Afraid I'd catch you?"

"Afraid I'd find out you've been lying to me for four years? That you have another woman on your arm? Or that you can't even stand typing a text to me yourself?"

Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose and spoke in a slow, patronizing tone, treating me like a lunatic throwing a fit.

"Chloe, calm down."

"You talk too much, and I'm busy. I only asked the people closest to you to keep you company."

My lips trembled. Even now, he had the audacity to spin such a pathetic excuse.

"Keep me company? Or keep tabs on me?"

Ethan took a deep breath.

"You don't need to make it sound so ugly. We all agreed you couldn't handle the cutthroat politics of high society. We hid it from you to protect you."

I let out a hysterical laugh. "Protect me?"

"You shipped me two thousand miles away to a crime-ridden town where I had nobody! I starved myself because I couldn't afford food! Was that for my own good?"

"You had your company dock my pay to trap me there while you threw lavish parties for your mistress! You call that protection?!"

Ethan's patience wore thin.

"Those are trivial things. Why do you have to be so dramatic?"

"They weren't trivial to me! You knew how miserable I was, and you chose to ignore it!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs, completely unhinged. I shook my head, my voice cracking.

"We're done."

"I'm not playing this sick little game with you anymore, Mr. Hayes."

Before the words fully left my mouth, two figures rushed over. Liam shoved me hard, sending me crashing onto the asphalt.

"Chloe, Mom spoiled you rotten! Throwing a tantrum over nothing again? Apologize to Ethan right now!"

That was when I noticed the luxury car key dangling from Liam's belt and the brand-new Chanel bag on Chloe's shoulder.

The horrific truth hit me like a slap to the face. Everyone around me had profited off my misery.

Everyone except me.

"If you two love kissing his rich ass so much, go right ahead. I'm done with all of you."

I couldn't say another word. I turned on my heel and walked away.

Liam tried to grab me, but Ethan held him back.

"Let her throw her tantrum. She won't last long on her own."

A bitter smile touched my lips as I pulled out my phone and submitted my resignation through the company portal.

I wasn't looking back. In a manipulative relationship like this, cutting my losses was the only way out.

But soon enough, I realized why Ethan had been so arrogant.

My resignation was instantly rejected.

The reason: my contract explicitly stated that if I resigned unilaterally, I owed Hayes Group a breach-of-contract penalty of five hundred thousand dollars.

The very contract Ethan had handed to me years ago.