Chapter 2

2 I hadn't even reached the elevator when I heard glass shattering behind me.

Hazel's screams followed me down the hall.

"Silas! You're just a parasite living off me! You think I can't live without you?"

"Mark my words! You'll come crawling back begging for my forgiveness!"

The insults stinging my back only made me walk faster.

The person I loved for five years saw me as a waste of space. To her, I was less than a dog.

It felt like someone was carving out my heart, inch by inch.

Actually, Hazel wasn't entirely wrong. To the outside world, she was the breadwinner.

I didn't have a regular nine-to-five. My social circle was tiny. My entire life revolved around her.

When I first met Hazel, I'd had a massive fallout with my father. He kicked me out of the Thorne family in a rage.

To force me to crawl back, he used his connections to blackball me from every industry.

For a whole year, I couldn't find a job.

I survived by selling design blueprints online under a pseudonym.

Eventually, I landed a big contract that required me to personally measure a model for a custom line.

Hazel was that model.

Back then, she was just the rebellious daughter of the Vance family. She wanted to model, but her parents hated the idea.

They had cut her off from all resources to force her into the family business.

In a way, we were exactly the same.

We were both passionate people being crushed by our families.

Naturally, we fell in love.

Hazel's modeling career was a struggle. To help her dream come true, I swallowed my pride.

I gave up my own dreams and went back to the Thorne family. I accepted my father's terms and took over the company.

I did it all just to clear the path for her.

My plan was simple. I'd handle the corporate stress and the family drama alone.

The girl I loved only needed to do what she enjoyed. I wanted to protect her innocence forever.

I spent my days running a multi-billion dollar empire and my nights taking care of her.

By her third year in the industry, her career was skyrocketing. Her agency assigned her a new manager.

That was Cody Graham.

They shared the same goals and interests. It was easy for people like that to be drawn to each other.

Soon, Cody and Hazel were inseparable.

She started spending every waking moment with him.

When I started questioning it, she just said they were friends.

Feeling the distance, I began proposing. She rejected me twice.

Eventually, probably because she was tired of me asking, she half-heartedly agreed.

I still remember the night she finally said yes. I overheard Cody asking her something in the study.

"Are you sure you want to take those kinds of photos?"

"Why not?" Hazel replied. "Don't you want to possess me completely before I get married?"

I was standing outside the door, but I didn't understand what photos Cody was talking about.

Modeling was her job, so I didn't ask questions. I thought my role was to support her.

It wasn't until the night before the wedding that I saw those disgusting images.

They made me want to throw up.

At that moment, I realized the truth. Our relationship had died the second Cody appeared.