We played late into the night, losing game after game, a cycle of his frustration and my calm perseverance. We ended up two ranks
lower than when we started. Ethan was good, but he couldn’t carry our entire team. Especially since I was also terrible.
The faint dark circles under my eyes had barely faded by the time of Sophia’s exhibition.
Ethan came with me. The moment he walked in, he became the center of attention. Half the room seemed to know him.
“Mr. Sterling, good to see you.”
“Ethan! When did you get back in town? You should have called!”
I shot him a questioning look, waiting for the inevitable explanation. A delivery boy turned business scion. How wonderfully cliché.
9
“So, where’s this drama you promised me?” Ethan whispered, leaning close.
As if on cue, Sophia appeared, clinging to Jack’s arm. She was dressed like an extravagant peacock, and the two of them, for all
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Chapter 2
their toxicity, looked undeniably striking together.
Jack’s expression, however, was sour.
Our eyes met across the crowded room. He instinctively dropped Sophia’s hand.
The exhibition began. But instead of showcasing Sophia’s supposed masterpiece, the large screen at the front of the room flicker- ed to life with grainy security footage. It showed Sophia stealing another artist’s designs.
Then, a video of a man appeared. “My name is Michael Kahn,” he said, his face grim. “I am formally accusing Sophia Croft of plagia-
rizing my work. She then used her connections to have me blacklisted from this exhibition. I hope that justice will be served.”
“Turn it off!” Sophia shrieked, her voice cracking. “Turn it off now!”
The room was filled with the frantic clicking of cameras. Sophia, in her vanity, had invited dozens of jour
be trending online within minutes.
his scandal would
“It’s fake! It’s all fake! Someone is framing me!” she screamed, grabbing Jack’s sleeve, her eyes wild with panic. “Jack, you
me, don’t you? It wasn’t me! Someone set me up!”
Every eye in the room turned to Jack.
believe
Sophia’s manic, contorted face was no longer lovely. He coolly pried her fingers from his sleeve and looked down at her, his expres-
sion unreadable.
“When you do wrong, you face the consequences, Sophia,” he said, his voice devoid of emotion. “You brought this on yourself.”
Then, he turned and walked straight toward me.
He stood beside me, a silent spectator, as Sophia completely unraveled. She smashed the large screen, her screams echoing thro-
ugh the silent hall as she hysterically proclaimed her innocence to anyone who would listen. Eventually, officials arrived and escor-
ted her away for questioning.
The whole time, Jack stood by my side, watching the chaos unfold as if he were watching a movie.
As we were leaving, he blocked our path.
“Hey, ex–hubby, what do you want?” Ethan said, stepping protectively in front of me.
“This has nothing to do with you. Get lost,” Jack snarled. He looked past Ethan to me. “Erika, are you just going to hide behind him?”
Because of Ethan’s presence, Jack looked even more incensed.
I thought about it. Ethan was only nineteen. Hiding behind him did seem a bit inappropriate.
“Maybe… we should talk?” I suggested to Ethan.
He shot Jack a wary glance and shook his head firmly. “You go wait in the car. We’ll have a little chat, and then I’ll drive you home.”
I let them have their space.
As I turned, I saw Ethan’s fist connect squarely with Jack’s jaw.
“Cheater! Gaslighter! You piece of trash!” Ethan grunted, landing another punch.
Jack was no match for the younger, stronger Ethan. He was completely overpowered.
“You think because you’re the CEO of Kartalian Corp, you can just parade your mistress in front of everyone? You’re pathetic!” Ethan
punctuated his words with two sharp kicks to Jack’s ribs.
could almost feel the pain.
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Chapter 2
“I’m warning you,” Ethan said, standing over the crumpled Jack. “You’re divorced now. Stay the hell away from Erika. Or next time, it
won’t be just a few bruises.”
When Ethan got back in the car, he realized he’d parked in a spot with a perfect, unobstructed view of the entire beatdown.
He rubbed his nose, looking sheepishly embarrassed. “Uh… so you saw all that? You’re not… mad, are you?”
I gave him a thumbs–up.
We looked at each other and smiled, a silent, shared understanding passing between us.
10
On the drive home, he finally came clean about his situation. He was the heir to the Sterling fortune in Po
he didn’t want, he’d run away from home, dreaming of a simpler life in Ashton. Then he’d lost his wallet
delivery driver.
o escape a future
ed up becoming a
“My family found me a couple of weeks ago,” he explained. “I have to go back to Port City next month. Erika… would you be willing
tb…”
“You want me to come with you?” I finished.
He nodded, looking shy. “It’s a bit forward, I know, but I had you looked into. You don’t have any family, you were married to that jerk
for seven years without a single close friend to your name. So… why not come with me?”
He really was quite forward.
“It’s okay if you say no,” he added quickly. “I’ll wait for you. Until the day I have to leave.”
“You don’t have to wait.”
His face fell, an expression of “I knew it” mixed with genuine sadness.
“I’ll come with you,” I said.
“What?”
I wanted to go with him. Not because I was in love with him, but because with Ethan, I felt a sense of stability. He was the only
person in this world who knew I wasn’t the original Erika.
But mostly, I just wanted to see Port City.
The news of our impending departure hit the gossip columns the next day. “PORT CITY HEIR ETHAN STERLING IN LOVE WITH DIV- ORCÉE TEN YEARS HIS SENIOR,” the headlines screamed. “RUMORED TO BE RAISING HER SON.”
I could hear Ethan arguing fiercely with someone on the phone from the other room. My own phone was blowing up with calls from unknown numbers and, relentlessly, from Jack. He’d called me more in the past day than he had in the last seven years combined.
I turned my phone off and went for a walk. Even a capybara gets annoyed sometimes.
“Mom!”
Llooked up to see Tim standing in front of me, with Jack right behind him, still frantically trying to call my phone.
