Chapter 4

On the weekend, Frederick had a gathering with friends.

I hit traffic and arrived later than planned.

The moment before I pushed open the private room door, voices from inside filtered through.

"Frederick, if the Hayes family hadn't taken advantage of the situation back then, you would have married Ruby by now, right?"

"You two were doing so well together, forcibly torn apart."

"Exactly." Another voice chimed in. "Serena's move was pretty calculated. I heard that when your family had problems, she was the first to jump out proposing a marriage alliance. Who knows if her family was behind it all?"

"I've wanted to say this for a while—you and Ruby were such a perfect match back then. She still can't forget you, writing all those love letters. So devoted."

"Serena's just been taking advantage these three years, when you get down to it."

Laughter, voices agreeing.

Then I heard Frederick's voice.

His tone flat, almost cold.

"It's all in the past."

My hand stopped on the door handle.

He didn't deny it.

Didn't say Serena wasn't that kind of person.

Didn't say she wasn't scheming.

Didn't say she was his wife.

He didn't even tell them to stop.

One dismissive "it's all in the past."

Drowning three years of marriage and my dignity in their mockery.

My nails dug into my palm. It hurt a little.

I had looked into Ruby. When the Ashford family was in crisis, she had quickly latched onto a new benefactor.

Even I could easily find this out. I didn't believe Frederick couldn't.

Unless he trusted her completely.

I suddenly recalled three years ago.

When the Ashford family was in crisis, my family opposed the marriage alliance.

They said the Ashford family's problems were too deep—the Hayes family didn't need to get involved.

I was the one who sold all the properties under my name and mortgaged my shares in Hayes Corporation.

I scraped together that money and transferred it to Frederick's finance department under the guise of working capital.

I never told anyone about this.

Including him.

I thought that was love.

Turns out in others' mouths, it was called taking advantage of someone's misfortune.

The laughter inside continued.

I released the handle and stepped back.

Before tears could fall, I left the club.