Chapter 2

The second our eyes met, the smile on Mandy's face vanished, instantly replaced by pure disgust.

She shoved my shoulder aside. "I get annoyed just looking at you. Get out of my way!"

I blocked her path. "You forgot. We're done."

Mandy scowled. "Enough! Saying it once is drama enough, but saying it twice just makes you sound like a nagging b*tch!"

I said coldly, "The housekeeper has packed all your things. Please take them and leave."

Mandy glared at me, her eyes widening. "I think you've lost your damn mind! Open your blind eyes and look at who I am!"

When she tilted her head back, I caught sight of several dark red hickeys scattered across her neck.

Out all day and half the night. We were all adults; what had happened between her and Nathan didn't need explaining.

It made me sick.

The nausea rose in my throat again. "I see very clearly. You are not welcome here."

Over the past few years, Mandy's temper had grown worse by the day. The slightest inconvenience would set her off screaming at me.

This time was no different. "I am your fiancee!"

Behind her, Nathan chuckled softly, stepping forward to play the peacemaker. "Chase, don't get so worked up. After all, you were in the wrong today too.

"Ditching your bride at the altar with so many guests watching... that was way out of line.

"Anyone else would have never looked back. Mandy has a good heart; she still bothered to come home to you even past midnight."

His words neatly painted me as the villain.

Having finally snapped out of my delusion, I knew the real reason Mandy came back. She had nowhere else to go, and she couldn't survive without my money and resources.

And perhaps, she also wanted to flaunt the marks on her neck right in my face.

I let out a cold laugh. "Then I truly hope she never steps foot in here again."

Nathan kept that smug, drama-loving smirk on his face. "Mandy didn't do anything wrong to you. She and my brother are just friends."

I turned on him. "And what about you?

"She's in love with Sean, but Sean is happily married now. So she settled for second best and went after you instead, didn't she?"

The smile on Nathan's face instantly froze. "Chase, don't talk like that. It's uncalled for.

"You two never signed the marriage certificate, and you're the one who refused to finish the wedding today. Whoever Mandy chooses to be with has nothing to do with you, does it?"

I genuinely wondered how people like them were wired.

To twist logic into such disgusting shapes.

I looked him dead in the eye. "Calling her your sister-in-law every five seconds... do you get a kick out of sleeping with your brother's stand-in bride? Or does this twisted little setup just get you off?"

Nathan's face darkened instantly. "You and I are nothing. I only called you bro out of courtesy. Don't push your luck!"

Perhaps remembering that his brother really did have a wife at home, a look of disgust flashed across his face, as if he had swallowed a fly.

He just wanted to get out of there. "Mandy, if he doesn't want you here, let's go. He'll regret this sooner or later."

I had begged her too many times in the past.

That was why she was so brazen, convinced that within a few days I would be crying and begging her to come back.

She rolled her eyes, grabbed a suitcase, threw in a few of the most expensive designer bags, and walked out.

Coming back tonight probably hadn't even been her idea.

She had been furious since the altar; knowing her pride, she never would have crawled back on her own so soon.

Nathan had likely orchestrated this, deliberately bringing her here to rub my face in the dirt.

I just couldn't understand what he stood to gain by doing this.

He clearly didn't love Mandy. With his family's wealth, he could have had any woman he wanted.

Yet he insisted on hooking up with Mandy just to disgust me and tear us apart.

It was hard not to suspect that he had an ulterior motive all along.