He Stole My Jade, I Exposed His Affair

Chapter 3

As if to prove he meant every word, Howard stayed by my side almost every day after that.

That continued until our anniversary, the day we had originally planned to go to Disneyland together.

But Howard called me out of the blue to say he had an unfinished project to handle and needed to head to Atlanta.

There was deep apology in his urgent tone.

Perhaps because I had lowered my expectations of him, I did not get angry. I simply replied calmly, "Okay."

Without Howard, I asked Rachel, the young lady of the Reed family, to go to Disneyland with me instead. After all, the tickets were already bought, no way we're letting them go to waste.

We played from morning till night. When dusk fell, the long-awaited fireworks show kicked off.

Boom.

Each loud boom, romantic fireworks bloomed across San Francisco's night sky, painting streaks of brilliant color.

I took the chance to snap a photo, only for my camera to capture a line of text bursting open in the sky.

Happy 18th Birthday to my Giana! - Howard

My heart dropped. A bad feeling settled over me.

The crowd around me was in an uproar.

"Ahhhh! this is so romantic! Which rich heir would put on a fireworks show like this for me?"

"In your dreams. I looked it up. Exclusive booking for this kind of show costs 700 to 800 thousand dollars. Tsk, it only lasts 10 or 20 seconds, that's just throwing money away."

Following the direction of everyone's envious gazes, I saw Howard and Giana as expected. They were huddled close together affectionately, and Howard even touched Giana's head fondly.

I pushed through the crowd toward them, only to be stopped by several black-clad security guards.

"Sorry, miss. Mr. Hayes has rented out the entire inner area. You are not allowed to enter."

Ignoring the sympathetic look Miss Reed cast at me, I forced down my roiling emotions and dialed Howard.

"Howard, you've really mastered the art of saying one thing and doing another, haven't you? I'll give you two minutes. Get your ass over here right now."

At the other end of the line, Howard turned around instinctively. Our eyes met, and he looked both guilty and surprised.

"Kara, what are you doing here?"

I gave a cold sneer. "I should be the one asking you that. Weren't you supposed to be on a business trip?"

The line went silent.

After a moment, he explained, "The vice president is handling the project. Giana has never been here before, and she just had her 18th birthday today, so I brought her along."

He averted his gaze, ignoring my question entirely.

"Kara, if you're going to blame anyone, blame me. I was the one who offered to bring her here, and I can't just leave her alone right now..."

With that, he hung up directly.

Across the crowd, I watched as he took Giana's hand and ran toward the exit. When I tried calling him again, he had already turned his phone off.

Not long after, Giana updated her i********:.

Mr. Hayes turned off his phone just for me, saying he's all mine tonight. He's so handsome. I really want to give myself to him as a present.

The attached photo was of the two of them running, with Howard looking back and smiling at Giana.

I was so furious I was grinding my teeth. I took a screenshot of Giana's i********: post, then posted her passive-aggressive, sickly-sweet remarks on my own social media account.

Congratulations to my fiancé on his new relationship with the female student I've been sponsoring!

In an instant, the entire elite circle of San Francisco was thrown into an uproar.

A: [Damn, Howard Hayes's got some real wild game going on, huh?]

B: [This girl's got some tricks up her sleeve. No wonder Howard Hayes couldn't resist.]

Hordes of rubberneckers flooded my social media account, all sharing my post and bombarding Howard with questions.

They asked when Howard had latched onto the Davis family, and whether he was ready to stand against the Davis family to the end for his true love.

With all this drama blowing up, Howard could no longer care about his romantic tryst. He kept calling me over and over again.

I followed his example and simply turned off my phone.

*****

The next day…

Howard was dragged by his parents to my house. The moment they stepped through the door, his father slapped Howard right in front of me.

"You, shameless disgrace! Apologize to Kara right now!"

His mother immediately chimed in, playing good cop to her husband's bad cop. "We've spoiled you far too much all these years, that's why you've become so arrogant and reckless."

With that, she ordered Howard to kneel before me.

Howard sure knew how to bend when the situation called for it. At her words, he thudded to his knees in front of me.

His mother ranted about all of Giana's faults.

He lifted his head, his eyes bloodshot.

"I'm sorry, Kara. I lost my mind yesterday. Giana begged me again and again to take her to Disneyland. I only agreed because I felt sorry for her... I really had no idea she would post that on her i********: to provoke you.

"We've sponsored her for so many years after all. You'd get attached even if you were raising a dog, right? Don't worry, I really will never have any contact with her again from now on. Forgive me this once, just this once. It'll be the last time!"

He grabbed the hem of my pants, looking every bit like a man who'd learned his lesson and was determined to turn over a new leaf.

Meeting his earnest gaze, I raised an eyebrow with a faint smile and said:

"You heard yourself. Last time."