Chapter 2

02.

I drove around the city all night.

It was late when I finally got back.

Lucy was not home. The sexy lingerie sets I bought recently were missing from the closet.

The night was quiet, but I could not sleep at all. My mind kept replaying all our years together.

We were high school classmates. In my junior year, my family lost everything. The huge blow left me with nowhere to go.

Debt collectors pushed me so hard that I tried to end it all in the river. Lucy recklessly jumped in and saved me.

She was so kind and righteous back then. She gave me all her savings and wrote letters to encourage me.

Those letters helped me survive countless hopeless nights. I eventually built my own success.

In college, I knew she had a crush on someone else. But I still went after her fiercely. She finally became my girlfriend.

She wanted to study abroad, so I paid and pulled strings.

She wanted to be in showbiz, so I made the connections.

But she failed to get famous after three shows. She looked at me with red eyes. "Hubby, do I lack talent?"

"How about I start a talent agency instead?"

I was deeply against it. My parents were ruined by this exact industry.

But I could not bear her sad face. A month later, I set up the company for her. It has been running for ten years.

For ten years, I worked my a*s off managing the business. Lucy only had to show up occasionally and look pretty.

I thought my loyalty would earn hers. Then Shawn showed up.

He looked exactly like her first love.

Lucy signed this troubled guy against everyone's advice. She paid his massive breach fee. Then she threw all our resources at him.

I felt sick about it, but Lucy comforted me.

"Hubby, my first love helped me a lot, but he went abroad forever. I am just compensating for the past through Shawn."

I foolishly used the same excuse to calm myself down.

Then she started coming home later and less frequently.

She even ditched everyone on the wrap-up day. She ran off to date him in the mansion I bought.

Love does not just die in an instant. It fades through a thousand cuts.

I took out my phone and texted my lawyer.

"I want a divorce. Please draft the papers for me."

When Lucy sneaked back in, I was still waiting for a reply.

She stuffed the ruined lingerie into the trash and hit the shower.

The running water could not cover up her nasty flirting on the phone.

It was purely disgusting. She could not even shower without calling him.

The smell from the trash was sickening. I opened the window and tossed the whole bin out.

"That is it for now, kisses. Good night, see you tomorrow!"

She was still whispering sweet words right before stepping into the bedroom.

Seeing me on the balcony scared the hell out of her.

"Oh, you are home..."

I stared at her without a word. Guilt flashed in her eyes before she raised her voice.

"I was just calling my bestie. I have a business trip tomorrow."

Business trip?

More like a cheating trip.

Watching her eagerly pack her bags right in front of me was beyond exhausting.

I was about to leave the room. She thought I was going to ruin her bags, so she shielded them and snapped at me.

"Colton, what is your problem? I said I am going with my bestie. Are you forbidding me?"

"I married you, I did not sell myself! If you are bored, go drive an Uber. Stop monitoring me all day!"

She only realized her mistake when I walked straight past her out of the room.

Her loud voice dropped immediately. She suddenly hugged me from behind.

"Hubby, I know you have worked hard. I have been busy and tired too."

"When I am done with this, let us go on a vacation, okay?"

I said nothing. I just pried her fingers off me one by one.

As I shut the guest room door, I could still hear her screaming.

"Colton! You are pushing it! I just missed the party! How long will you keep acting like a baby?"

"I at least got you a gift! What did you get me? Nothing! And you dare to be mad?"

"You want a cold war? Bring it on, a*shole!"