Chapter 2

After that day, Tiffany and Nathan became inseparable.

Nathan claimed she was his assistant who needed to learn the ropes.

At the convenience store near our office, I stood behind them in line. Tiffany, utterly oblivious to anyone else, clung to his sleeve like a kitten seeking shelter in his embrace.

During meetings, she'd sit beside him, file in hand, while their fingers secretly intertwined beneath the table.

Even the dinner plans we had made would be canceled at the last moment because she had, as he put it, "a bit of a headache."

That day, I stood in the pouring rain, drenched the entire night.

When I stumbled back to the mansion, soaked and miserable, he merely glanced up. His voice, tinged with irritation, dismissed me.

"Scar, don't overthink it. She's far from home, alone, and it's not easy for her. I'm just trying to look out for her."

I nodded, my heart twisting painfully, my throat tightening.

"I know."

But only I knew that I spent that day curled under the showerhead, hiding every sob within the drumming water.

I came down with a high fever that very night.

Nathan finally panicked.

He rushed to the hospital, pulling me into a tight embrace, his voice low and laced with profound heartache.

"Scarlett, what have you done to yourself?"

I groggily opened my eyes, feeling the familiar scent of cedar wood from his body brush past my nose.

For a moment, I almost believed we were back to how things used to be.

Just then, Nathan's phone rang.

Tiffany's whiny, tearful voice drifted from the other end.

"Nathan, it's so dark at home. I'm scared. Can you come stay with me?"

The arms holding me stiffened instantly.

My fingers instinctively tightened around his sleeve, but in the very next second, his body shifted away, letting me slide slowly from his embrace.

He took a deep breath, ruffled my hair with false tenderness, and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"Scar," he said, his voice calm yet unbearably cruel, "you have a caregiver here at the hospital."

"Tiff gets scared. She can't sleep alone. It's pathetic, I know."

"I'll go for a bit. I'll be back soon."

With that, he decisively pulled his hand from mine and left without a backward glance.

He never came back that night.

Then a new message flashed on my phone:

"He doesn't care about you at all! He doesn't love you! He's happiest when he's with me! You old hag, why don't you just disappear?!"

Attached was a video of them half-dressed, limbs entangled.

A hot rush of blood surged to my head. Fueled by the high fever, the world spun, and I nearly lost consciousness.

When I woke up the next day, Tiffany was standing by my hospital bed.

She made a point of showing off the hickeys on her neck, hher face glowing with triumph as if the victory was already hers.

"Scarlett, you have no idea how fierce Nathan gets when he's with me. I doubt he ever showed you that side, did he?"

I'd been spoiled and cherished by both our families since childhood, never one to swallow an insult.

The moment the words left her mouth, I snatched the flower basket from the bedside table and hurled it straight at her.

Nathan walked in at that exact moment.

Tiffany immediately crumpled to the floor, weeping fake tears in Nathan's arms.

"Nathan, I only came here out of concern for Scarlett, but I never expected her to go crazy and try to hit me the moment she saw me..."

I was about to speak when I heard a sharp smack.

A crisp slap landed on my face.

"Scarlett! How did you become so malicious?! You've truly disappointed me!"

I stared, utterly disbelieving, at Nathan.

That was the first time he had ever laid a hand on me.