Chapter 1
I got up and walked back to the bedroom. I didn't take off my makeup, didn't change clothes—just sat straight on the edge of the bed.
Frank Gold came out of the shower, saw me sitting there, and paused for a second.
"I'm going on a business trip tomorrow. Valois, probably two weeks."
Same old routine—a perfunctory heads-up.
"Frank."
I looked up at him.
"I haven't been to Valois in a while. Mind if I come along?"
His hand, towel-drying his hair, stopped.
"I won't interfere with your work. Just traveling together?"
I pressed on.
"Can I... please?"
He didn't even let me finish.
"No."
He turned around, already frowning.
"Don't make a scene. It's business, not a vacation. You promised you wouldn't affect my work. You need to learn to be independent..."
'Independent.'
That word cut through me like a dull knife, slowly slicing open all the grievances of the past three years.
When I had a 102°F fever and called him, he said he was in a meeting and that I had to learn to be independent and go to the hospital myself.
When someone rear-ended my car and I called him in tears, he said he was negotiating a deal and that I had to learn to be independent and deal with the cops and insurance myself.
When I worked overtime until two in the morning and asked him to pick me up, he told me to just take a cab home.
All for his so-called independent love.
I registered at the hospital alone, got the IV drip alone, pulled out the needle alone, stood in the cold wind waiting for the traffic cop alone, and clutched my phone in the back of a cab at dawn—with my own number set as my emergency contact.
I thought that was just the way he was—cold and distant with everyone.
But today, I saw in his phone that he could say to someone else:
Frank: Little Madcap, it's not safe out this late. Wait there, I'm coming to get you.
Frank: How'd you cut your finger slicing veggies? Don't move, I'll be at your place in a minute.
Even something as trivial as getting breakfast—he'd drive across town just for her.
I looked up at him.
"You won't let me go because you're taking Lily Jones, aren't you? Afraid she'll be upset if I'm around?"
Frank Gold's brow furrowed.
The next second, his expression returned to normal—so fast I almost thought I'd imagined it.
"You're just overthinking because you're too stressed at work. Don't ever say that in front of anyone—it'll cause misunderstandings and bother Lily."
His first reaction wasn't to defend himself.
It was to worry about Lily Jones's situation.
I pressed him.
"Bother her? When Lily Jones walks in and out with you arm in arm, did she ever think about the bother it causes me?"
Frank Gold's face instantly darkened.
"Gwen Nance," he called me by my full name, "are you deliberately picking a fight today?"
I took a deep breath.
"Got mad? Hit a nerve and now you're defensive? You don't want me to come to Millbrook because you're afraid I'll spoil your little getaway, right? No need to give me some lame excuse about the company going public."
He was stunned for a moment.
That brief shock quickly turned into anger.
"You went through my phone?" His voice rose sharply.
"Gwen Nance, have you no respect for privacy?"
I laughed coldly.
"You call that privacy, not deception?"
He opened his mouth, then closed it again.
After a moment, he changed his tone—as if helpless, as if magnanimous. That condescending magnanimity.
"Lily and I aren't what you think. I haven't slept with her. I haven't betrayed you. The person I love is still you, Gwen."
I almost laughed out loud.
He continued,
"I just think it's tough for her, a single mom raising a kid in Victoria City."
I poured the milk I'd warmed for him down the sink.
"If you're so worried, go take care of her. Don't come back."
I stormed out. He thought I was just throwing a tantrum and didn't pay attention.
