Chapter 2
Outside, rain had begun to fall without anyone noticing. The mansion was on a hilltop in the suburbs, making it difficult to get a taxi.
The others had already left in their cars. Amber, who had arrived by taxi, was now the last one remaining. She stood under the eaves, watching the drizzle.
A black Rolls-Royce cut through the rain and stopped in front of her. The window lowered, revealing Blake’s assistant’s face-Devon Ward.
“Mrs. Westwood, please get in.”
Amber remained standing, her gaze penetrating the car window crack, seeming to know someone else sat inside.
She didn’t speak, and Blake’s voice rose from within.
Drive. Let her cool off out here.”
Devon looked uncomfortable but had no choice. He drove away.
Amber watched the car leave, blinking as raindrops drifted in and landed on her face, their coolness penetrating to her marrow.
At eighteen, Blake had looked forward to celebrating his twenty-eighth birthday with her, but at twenty-eight, he thoroughly despised her.
During these three years, he hadn’t touched her once, had barely even come home.
Society gossips said she was the most pitiful among all the women who had married into powerful families. All she had was a beautiful cage and nothing else.
In everyone’s eyes, she was the villain who had caused Victoria’s sister Sophia to become a vegetative patient and then stolen Victoria’s fiance. She deserved universal contempt.
But no one seemed to remember that from age twelve to nineteen, she had accompanied him from his lowest point to his rise to prominence.
Everyone said the Westwoods had already done her a huge favor with that goddaughter title, but she still wasn’t satisfied-using those seven years together to emotionally blackmail Blake for life.
Another seven years had passed. All told, she had been by Blake’s side for fourteen years.
She lowered her lashes, staring at the rideshare request on her phone. Still no drivers willing to accept the trip.
By the time she returned to River Haven, it was already two in the morning. Her skirt was soaked, clinging to her ankles. In the deep autumn night, it was so
old her lips trembled slightly.
Lights were still on inside the mansion. As she changed her shoes in the entryway, she saw the man sitting on the sofa handling business documents.
Blake’s bone structure was exceptional. No matter how long one looked at him, his appearance remained stunning and captivating.
Sitting there, he resembled an unattainable snow-capped mountain.
Amber certainly didn’t think he was waiting for her. Three years ago, they had completely fallen out, and she had transformed from a once bright young woman into someone who barely recognized the shrew she saw in the mirror.
She quietly changed her shoes, tossed the scarf into the garbage bin by the door, and went upstairs.
The master bedroom contained many of her things, kept clean and cozy, since Blake had rarely returned home in the past three years. Everyone mocked her for living as a married single woman.
She pulled out a small suitcase and packed some of her regularly worn clothes. As for the wall of luxury bags and jewelry, she had never touched them.
Blake had said she wasn’t worthy.
In his eyes, she was a gold digger. Placing luxury items in front of her but forbidding her to use them was his form of torture.
Chapter 2
Blake, I’ve signed it.”
During these three years, they fought whenever they met-more accurately, she would unilaterally accuse him of coldness, desperately trying to get his attention like a madwoman. He would stand silently, watching her lose control with a detached, cold indifference.
Blake’s gaze shifted from his computer to her suitcase, his throat burning as if someone had poured sulfuric acid down it, scorching from his throat to his
stomach.
He sneered, his cold, mocking voice like a sharp knife threatening to pierce her eardrums. “Bringing this tiny bit of stuff-what, you planning to keep coming back for more every few weeks? Amber, did you forget how you landed this position in the first place? I was engaged to Victoria, and you drugged me at our engagement party, got us caught in bed together, and forced me to marry you.”
“Yeah, that’s on me.”
She gripped the handle of her suitcase, her face draining of color, her damp skirt making her appear on the verge of collapse.
Her fingers clenched tightly. After a long silence, she finally spoke hoarsely.
“Blake, I want to know-why did you suddenly stop loving me?”
She had pondered this question many times over the past three years. Back when they huddled together in that cramped apartment, he had said Blake would love Amber forever. Later, after the Westwood family found him, people had warned her to take some money and leave, saying the Westwoods would never accept a daughter-in-law of her background.
She hadn’t listened, clinging to his promise, waiting for him to come marry her in grand style.
Instead, she received news of his engagement to Victoria. He said he no longer loved her.
How could he stop loving her so suddenly?
“Because you’re not worthy.”
Those words hit her like a hammer blow, making her dizzy.
She couldn’t describe the pain. Her heart felt punctured in countless places, bleeding profusely.
When he loved her, he said Amber was the best girl in the world. When he stopped loving her, he casually said she wasn’t worthy.
With her ordinary background, she had defended their love in front of those high-society heirs who looked down on her. In their eyes, she was a presumptuous clown.
But she had always thought of herself as a knight, believing his engagement must have been due to unavoidable circumstances.
She had deceived herself for three years. Now it was time to wake up from the dream.
She picked up her suitcase and walked to the entryway. “Sign it, then. I’ll wait for you at the registry office tomorrow at noon.”
After saying this, she changed her shoes, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and smiled. “Blake, I’m sorry for bothering you all these years.”
Blake’s grip on the contract documents trembled with such force that he nearly pierced the paper, then helplessly released them.
“Yes, finally some relief.”
Hearing this, Amber couldn’t help but feel hurt. She wanted to smile but found she couldn’t.
She could only turn and leave.
Devon was waiting at the door. Seeing her with the suitcase, his face showed conflict. “Mrs. Westwood, the boss didn’t intentionally forget to notify you last night. He…”
Amber dragged her suitcase into the rain, seemingly unwilling to stay a moment longer.
But after a few steps, she stopped and turned to Devon, who still stood at the door. “The Pine Creek Estate-who is he keeping there? Can you tell me?”
Devon tensed visibly, quickly lowering his head, seemingly surprised she knew about that place.
Seeing his reaction, Amber took a small breath. “He’s been keeping someone there for three years, hasn’t he?”
“Mrs. Westwood, I’m sorry, I don’t know anything about that.”
How could he not know? He was Blake’s closest confidant.
Amber wiped away the gentle rain from her face, her clothes getting soaked. “It’s fine. You don’t have to tell me.”
“Mrs. Westwood…”
But Amber had already stepped into the rain.
When she gave Blake her first time at eighteen, she had imagined their future together.
She never expected that at twenty-six, everything would be shattered, and letting him go would feel like carving out half of her flesh and blood.
But she truly didn’t want this anymore.
(2)
