Chapter 1
Amber Chase arrived at the hilltop mansion breathless, realizing the party had already begun without her.
The doorman looked surprised to see her. “Miss Chase, what are you doing here? Everyone’s already finished dinner…”
Her husband’s birthday celebration, yet they’d forgotten to include his wife. Among all the guests from theft social circle, not a single person had bothered to
notify her.
She smiled at the doorman and was about to push open the door when she overheard a conversation from inside:
“Victoria, what gift did you bring? Blake has been eyeing your gift bag for half the evening.”
“Have 17”
“You haven’t even opened it yet, but you’ve been eyeing that bag so hard you’re practically drilling holes in it! Since Victoria’s finally back from overseas, you should just dump Amber already. She totally kills the vibe.”
“For real! She drugged you and jumped into your bed. If you hadn’t gone all soft and worried about her reputation by making her your wife, she’d be toast by now. Everyone would’ve ripped her to shreds.”
The man sitting in the center wore a crisp dark suit with the top two buttons of his shirt undone. His features were striking and aggressive, with naturally deep-set eyes, a high nose, and thin lips. Like a brilliantly poisonous butterfly, his slightly upturned eyes carried a distant, aloof arrogance.
“No rush,” he said coolly.
“Blake, it’s been three years and you’re still not in a hurry? Back then, she caused Victoria’s sister to become a vegetative patient. If your grandmother hadn’t protected her, we would have destroyed her long ago.”
Blake Westwood’s elegant fingers played with a lighter in his hand as he caught a glimpse of a shadow at the doorway.
Only then did the group notice that Amber had been standing there for who knows how long
Someone whispered. “Who invited her?”
No one answered. Clearly, she had come uninvited.
Amber lowered her lashes. She had a delicate, cool beauty with an oval face and wore a light cashmere sweater. Her forehead was framed by hair gently tucked behind her ears. Just looking at that innocent face, nobody would believe she could pull off such shameless stunts, but she definitely did all that stuff.
she clutched a gift in her hands and looked toward Blake sitting at the center. Her chest felt as if it were bound by wire, the pain penetrating deeply, making her ingers clench tightly.
she walked to his side, but before she could offer her carefully prepared gift, she saw him slightly furrow his brow and casually mock her: “Who invited you?”
Laughter erupted around them, shattering what remained of her pride.
Victoria, standing nearby, gave Blake a reproachful glance before pulling Amber to sit down. “She’s still your wife. It’s only right for her to bring you a gift. Amber, sit down. Blake just has a terrible temperament.”
Amber pressed her lips together without speaking. She was his wife, yet needed his ex-fiancée to smooth things over. No one here welcomed her, but she had come anyway, just because when he was eighteen, he had promised they would celebrate his twenty-eighth birthday together.
She deliberately sat next to Blake, displacing Victoria.
Victoria’s expression faltered momentarily before becoming somewhat unpleasant. Then she asked, “What gift did you bring for Blake?”
A mischievous guest immediately opened it, revealing a scarf without tags that appeared handmade.
Videns var rose again, “Oh my! We must be connected somehow-I also brought Blake a scarf.
The two scarves now sat alde by side, both handmade, wilk
Sommerse accidentally bumped the table, causing an open bottle of wine to spill toward both scarves.
Blake reached out and took one of them, while the other became soaked with wine and reeked of alcohol.
He had taken Victoria’s scarf.
Seeing the scarf she had knitted for two months soaking in wine, Amber’s face turned pale for reasons she couldn’t explain, her heart feeling both numb and
dull
Victoria sighed, sympathetically linking arms with her. “Amber, don’t be upset. This one can still be used after washing.”
Amber still didn’t respond, instead looking toward Blake.
He kept his lashes lowered, hiding the emotions in his eyes.
The atmosphere got super awkward, with Amber basically crashing what was supposed to be a fun celebration. Everyone started making excuses to leave.
She just sat there motionless, staring at the scarf abandoned on the coffee table, discarded just like her.
As others gradually left, she fixed her gaze on Blake, who was also about to stand. “Blake, happy birthday,” she said softly.
Blake acted as if he hadn’t heard. When he was twenty one, he had just been reunited with the Westwood family. By then, he was already a self-made business. prodigy with nineteen-year-old Amber by his side.
Seven years later, the business prodigy had become a titan at the center of power, but any feelings between them had long since vanished.
Those difficult early days of struggling together in obscurity now seemed like another lifetime.
Blake had Victoria escorted home.
Victoria reached out and lightly touched his shoulder. “Talk things through with her. Don’t keep fighting
Someone scoffed quietly, “Victoria, you’re too kind hearted.”
‘I’m not kind hearted. I just think the young Amber didn’t know any better back then. I’m sure she didn’t mean it.”
‘Bullshit. She ruined someone’s life and shamelessly stole your place. How dare she show her face again.”
Their voices were filled with disgust, growing fainter as they left.
Amber sat motionless, as if paralyzed, every drop of blood running cold, her lips losing their color.
she stood up, grabbed the soaked scarf, and looked at Blake.
‘Blake.”
Her voice was gentle as she called his name.
Blake had already draped his suit jacket over his arm. Hearing her, he loosened his tie slightly without looking at her, his brow visibly irritated. “What now?”
She smiled faintly, her beautiful lips forming the words: “Let’s get divorced, Blake.”
Surprise flashed in his eyes, quickly replaced by layered malice in his expression. “What new game is this? First you drug me to get me to sleep with you, and now you’re acting noble and asking for divorce? Aren’t you tired of these tactics, Amber?”
“I’m sorry for wasting three years of your life, but I’m serious this time.”
Blake’s mocking expression disappeared inch by inch as he yanked her close, his fingers digging into her chin. Seeing her wince in pain somehow eased his unexplainside frustration. “Now you’re talking about wasting time? Where the hell were you three years ago? Listen up, Amber-you want a divorce? Fine! But you will see a single fucking penny from me!”
Chapter 1
T leave with nothing.”
Her eyes were clear, her voice still calm and untainted.
After the Westwoods finally tracked down Blake, they promptly adopted Amber-who’d been by his side-as their goddaughter. Everyone knew exactly what they were doing: the family didn’t want their precious second in line, the backup heir to the Westwood fortune, marrying some nobody with an ordinary background, so they gave her this goddaughter status to shut people up.
Blake stared at her cool face, his throat working silently as he turned away.
“Fine. Nothing. Don’t regret it.”
