Chapter 3
When she arrived at her sister Jordan’s house dragging her luggage, Amber felt somewhat embarrassed.
After leaving River Haven, she had brought nothing with her except two hundred dollars in cash.
During her three years of marriage, she had developed severe depression amid constant arguments. Afraid to face people, she had stayed in the mansion perfecting her cooking skills, not caring even when her hands were covered in blood blisters. She still loved Blake and wanted to salvage their precarious relationship.
But the meals had grown cold so many times, and he had never eaten them.
Jordan wasn’t her biological sister. They had run away from their village together years ago. Jordan had quickly been adopted by a family and now was married, living with her partner in a modest 700-square-foot apartment with a peaceful, warm life.
Later, Amber met Blake when she was near starvation, and he had tossed her a bread roll. She had shamelessly attached herself to him, working alongside him
to earn money.
Amber’s body was still dripping wet. She quickly wiped her face and rang the doorbell.
Jordan opened the door in her pajamas, looking surprised. From the bedroom came her husband’s impatient voice: “Who is it?”
Jordan pulled her inside and hurried to the bathroom for a clean towel.
“Amber, why are you here in the middle of the night? You’re soaking wet. Did you fight with Blake?”
“Can I stay here tonight, sis?”
“Of course. We have an extra bedroom. It’s tiny, but I hope you don’t mind.”
Jordan handed her a new pair of pajamas and efficiently prepared the bed.
The bathroom was narrow, barely fitting two people, but it had separate wet and dry areas. The corner was covered with brownish water stains that had never been cleaned away.
She quickly took a shower, too embarrassed to use the hair dryer at this hour, and went straight to the bedroom.
The room was indeed small, with just a five-foot bed and a narrow desk.
She heard her brother-in-law’s voice from the master bedroom.
“Who is it?”
“Amber. She probably had a fight with Blake.”
“She’s a wealthy socialite wife. What’s she doing in our place? Don’t you know who Blake Westwood is? I’ve been working in the lowest ranks of Westwood Industries for three years and haven’t even glimpsed him once.”
“Enough, Amber is my sister.”
The whispered conversation stopped.
Amber dabbed at her hair with the towel, wrapped it up turban-style, and simply lay down on the bed.
At seven in the morning, the kitchen already echoed with the sounds of breakfast being prepared.
Her hair had dried naturally overnight, but she had a headache and forced herself to get up.
The table was set with five small dishes. Her brother-in-law, Mark Quinn, was setting out plates and noticed her approach. “Amber, come sit! I bought fish early this morning and had your sister make fish soup.”
visit.
Jordan brought over three plates of scrambled eggs and toast, smiling at her. “Dig in.”
Amber’s skin was luminously pale. Since clinging to Blake’s side from the age of twelve, he had never mistreated her.
During those impressionable years, she thought it was love, never suspecting he merely saw her as a sister.
ཇ་ཇ་སྒོ
She lowered her lashes, her face pained from the headache.
Mark enthusiastically pushed a plate of ribs toward her. “Jordan got up at five to cook. Hey Amber, did you know I work at Westwood Industries? My supervisor is such a bootlicker, yesterday he made a girl in our department cry. Word is he got in through connections and has cut my salary twice already. Could you maybe put in a word with Blake for me?”
Jordan glared at him, but Mark just smiled.
She quickly ladled some fish soup for Amber. “You look unwell, and you got rained on last night. Have some soup to warm up, and don’t listen to him.”
Amber looked up, her pale face bearing an unhealthy flush. “I’m sorry, Mark, but Blake and I are getting divorced.”
This statement was met with several seconds of silence at the table.
Mark’s surprise flashed briefly across his face before he asked, “So he’s giving you half his fortune? Amber, even though he paid for your education at the best university, you married him right after graduation, right? You’ve never actually worked, so you probably don’t know how to manage money. I’m concerned someone might take advantage of you with all that money.”
“Mark!” Jordan reprimanded sharply.
Finally, Mark fell silent and took a bite of food.
Jordan had known Amber since childhood. They had journeyed to NY together, like two raindrops merging into a vast sea, where survival itself was a challenge. She got adopted, while Amber bounced from job to job with Blake. Thankfully, Blake treated her decently, working himself to exhaustion to put her through school.
She took a deep breath. “Just keep your money safe. If you want to buy property, Mark can recommend some…”
“I’m leaving with nothing.” Amber interrupted. “He’s not giving me any money.”
Mark’s expression darkened. After devouring most of the ribs, he stood up and told Jordan, “I forgot to mention, Mom wants to take you for a medical check-up in a few days. Clear out the guest room-family comes first.”
Jordan remained silent as the front door opened and closed. Mark was gone.
The feast on the table suddenly seemed to lose its appeal.
“Sis, I’m sorry for putting you in an awkward position.”
Jordan’s eyes reddened as she sighed. “I’m not uncomfortable. But how did things get like this between you two? I remember he used to be so good to you. When you secretly got a job without telling him, he scolded you. He worked five jobs a day to support both your educations, and all his scholarship money went to you. Remember that year when you nearly became brain damaged in that car accident? He worked translations non-stop that year to earn money. How could
he now…”
Amber’s throat ached, making even swallowing difficult,
Precisely because their past life was impoverished yet beautiful, she had clung to this spider silk thin connection, carefully holding on for seven more years. only convincing herself to let go after being wounded beyond recognition.
“Sis, I’ll start looking for work this afternoon.”
“Amber, if you need to cry, just cry.”
She couldn’t cry anymore. In three years of marriage, her tears had dried up.
She ate breakfast and took on dishwashing duty. Jordan winced seeing those beautiful, slender hands stained with grease.
Those hands weren’t made for housework. Even when Blake was at his poorest, he never let you do things like this.”
Amber froze, waves of dense pain suddenly washing over her, making it hard to breathe.
Jordan had to hurry off to work.
ཌ་ཇ་ཇ་ཇ་ཇོ་ཆེ་
Amber stayed alone until noon, then took her documents and went to the registry office.
But even by one o’clock, Blake hadn’t shown up.
She took out her phone and called him.
。
As usual, he didn’t answer.
She had no choice but to call Devon.
“Mr. Ward, where’s Blake?”
“Mrs. Westwood, the boss is traveling on business. He might return in three days.”
For these three years, Devon had been her only source of information about his schedule.
She sat in the chair, feeling dizzy and unwell, resting her elbow on her knee. “Could you give me his upcoming schedule? I want to see when he might be available.”
Devon looked uncomfortably at the man sitting in the chair. The man’s aura was cold, keeping people at a thousand-mile distance.
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