Chapter 2

2

Dragging my weakened body through the city, I finally made it back to the villa.

The moment I pushed the front door open, I froze in shock.

The living room was a complete disaster zone. My suitcase lay wide open on the floor.

My daily clothes were scattered everywhere, and my skincare products were dumped into a corner like piles of trash waiting for the garbage truck.

I stared at the designer coat lying discarded on the porch.

Silas had given it to me for my birthday. He had draped it over my shoulders himself, smiling as he told me how much the color suited me.

Now it lay in the dirt like a filthy rag.

A sharp pain seized my chest, making it nearly impossible to breathe.

I took a half-step forward to pick it up, only to hear the faint sound of tearing fabric.

Mandy was standing right on top of another one of my shirts, grinding the heel of her shoe into the collar.

Martha, the housekeeper, wrung her hands nervously, her lips trembling.

"Miss Ross, I'm so sorry… Miss Cole suddenly…"

"Aahh! I don't want to see her! Make her leave!"

Mandy's shrill screams rained down from the second floor, saturated with hysterical madness.

"Silas, she's going to steal you away from me! I want to kill her! I'm going to kill her!"

Martha was cut off and retreated into the corner in fear.

Silas's footsteps echoed down the staircase as he carried the sobbing Mandy in his arms.

"Good girl, Mandy. That won't happen."

Silas's voice was impossibly gentle, filled with a tenderness I had never once received.

"I only want you. I don't want anyone else."

He murmured soft reassurances as he carried her down the stairs.

I looked up to see him holding Mandy tightly against his chest. His arms wrapped around her protectively, without sparing a single glance at my scattered belongings.

"I'll throw away all these eyesores for you," he whispered to her with absolute indulgence.

"If you don't like them, we'll replace everything with brand new things, okay?"

Mandy lifted her tear-streaked face. The moment she spotted me standing by the door, she shrieked again.

"She's here! She's here! Get rid of her!"

Only then did Silas finally turn his eyes toward me. Those usually indifferent eyes were filled with blatant disgust.

"Why are you back?"

His voice turned icy. "Didn't I tell you to stay somewhere else for a few days?"

I opened my mouth, but my throat was too dry to produce a sound.

He clearly didn't care about my answer anyway. He simply frowned.

"Why are you still standing there? Can't you see Mandy is unwell? Pack your junk and get out."

When he looked back down at Mandy, his voice softened instantly.

"Don't be scared, Mandy. I'm making her leave right now."

With that, he actually bent down, grabbed one of my jackets, and tossed it right out the front door.

He did it with such casual ease, as if he were tossing out actual garbage.

Mandy finally calmed down a little, sniffling against his chest.

Silas gently patted her back, never once looking in my direction again.

My suitcase remained open on the floor, containing every trace of the life I had built over the years.

Now, they were all reduced to "eyesores" that needed to be purged from their world.

I stood in silence, watching Silas patiently carry Mandy upstairs while the woman in his arms flashed me a triumphant, mocking smirk.

Looking down at my trampled clothes, I suddenly found the entire scene bitterly absurd.