Chapter 2

2

I had always known about Audrey's childhood friend, Kendrick.

Before we met, Kendrick had gone abroad to study and had not returned for years.

I had heard all about their past romance from Audrey's close circle of friends.

Yet I had never cared, believing that having her as my wife was all that mattered.

I worked tirelessly just to make her happy.

I pushed myself through endless overtime and gave everything to my job.

To close a critical deal, I drank until I suffered internal stomach bleeding, yet I still dragged myself out of bed the next morning to meet clients.

The moment the contract was signed, I collapsed in the hotel lobby and was rushed to the hospital.

When I called Audrey from the hospital bed hoping for a word of comfort, she casually told me she was boarding a flight to London.

The next day, she posted a photo on her social media holding a golden retriever.

"Happy birthday, my sweet baby."

Standing right beside her was Kendrick in London.

From the comments below, I learned that the day happened to be Kendrick's birthday.

That sweet nickname had never been meant for me.

The entire day passed in a haze of distraction.

Just before clocking out, I received a text from Audrey reminding me not to be late to apologize to Kendrick.

My chest tightened with suffocating pain, but I swallowed the humiliation and replied with a single word.

"Okay."

For the sake of my grandmother, I could not afford to defy Audrey.

A single word from her could cut off my grandmother's life support.

I took a deep breath and was about to head to the address Audrey sent when my phone rang.

"Mr. Thorne, your grandmother's condition took a sudden turn for the worse. She needs emergency surgery right now."

"Then do the surgery immediately!" I panicked, quickly hitting the turn signal to speed toward the hospital.

"There is a problem…" The voice on the line hesitated.

"Dr. Harrison, the specialist in charge of her case, was called away by Ms. Mercer."

My heart plummeted straight to the bottom.

I hung up and frantically dialed Audrey's number, but the line was busy.

Moments later, her phone was completely turned off.

With trembling hands, I opened our chat app to message her about the emergency, only to find she had blocked me.

Right at that moment, she had posted an update.

"Baby, you are going to pull through this."

In the picture, she was cradling a dog, while a man's hand rested gently on her shoulder, showing off a luxury watch.

I had seen that watch saved in Audrey's photo gallery before.

I had foolishly thought it was meant as a birthday gift for me, until I saw it on Kendrick's wrist the night she got drunk.

I did not have time to dwell on their sick games and frantically called Audrey's executive assistant.

"Please tell Audrey that I need Dr. Harrison right away. My grandmother's condition crashed, and she needs surgery immediately…"

"Mr. Thorne," the assistant interrupted awkwardly.

"Ms. Mercer gave strict orders that she does not want to hear anything about you until you learn your place."

Blood rushed to my head, and my vision went dark.

This was completely insane.

She knew damn well how fragile my grandmother's health was, yet she used her life as leverage just to force me to bow down.