Chapter 4

I never realized how much I loved Luke.

From our student days, he was always the one chasing me, the one giving everything.

The moment I realized I couldn't lose him, I even started to wonder.

Was I really too strong-willed with him?

So that day when I called him, I poured out every soft, pleading word I could think of.

"Just come back, just cut ties with that woman, and we can pretend nothing ever happened, okay?"

My voice was so careful, so pathetic.

But he said no.

He said he had to protect Tiffany.

"She's had such a tough life, I just feel like I owe her, I have to make it up to her."

To get him to come home, I agreed to give Tiffany a monthly allowance.

I thought that would finally be enough.

But Luke kept finding excuses to see her every single day.

If a friend brought delicious pastries, he would immediately take them to that girl so she could try.

If he got concert tickets, his first thought was to take that girl so she could see the world.

He even opened a bar for Tiffany, naming it "The Siren's Gaze."

When a drunk man harassed Tiffany, Luke didn't hesitate to throw him off a balcony.

Fortunately, the man's fall was broken by a tree. After we paid a hefty settlement, the case was closed.

"When you did that," I asked, my voice trembling, "did you ever think of me? Of our child?"

"Do you want our child to be born with a criminal for a father?"

But Luke just accused me of having no compassion before he started destroying our home.

When our wedding photo shattered, the glass cracked perfectly between us - separating his image from mine forever.

Broken mirrors are hard to restored.

The tragedy is, I was too young back then to understand that simple truth.

On our wedding anniversary, I waited at a restaurant we'd booked months ago until closing time.

What I got instead was a post on Tiffany's Ins.

"Thank you for showing me that even if you're not perfect, you can still be loved."

In the photo, she was wearing the latest Chanel haute couture dress, carrying a Louis Vuitton bag.

All identical to mine.

She was telling me that everything I had, she would have too.

Luke was raising her all over again, using my lifestyle.

In that instant, nausea and an unspeakable sense of grief overwhelmed me.

I drove, tears streaming down my face, directly to the villa Luke had bought for her.

The moment I pushed open the door, I froze.

There was Tiffany, wearing my wedding dress.

They were kissing.

I think I truly lost my mind then.

I screamed, a raw, hysterical sound, and rushed forward to tear them apart.

In the struggle, Tiffany shoved me.

I fell to the floor.

And then I felt it - the warm blood spreading beneath me.