Chapter 4
But I hadn't logged into any social media accounts since waking up.
Chloe grabbed my wrist and screamed.
"Harper! People live by their reputation! Are you trying to destroy me?!"
"Adrian saved your life! I saved your face! Even your job in Scandinavia was through our connections! We don't expect you to repay us, but how can you be so ungrateful?!"
During the struggle, the wound on my wrist reopened.
Blood dripped onto the sheets one drop at a time.
But Adrian just looked at me with disappointed eyes.
I took a deep breath and spoke slowly.
"It wasn't me."
But Adrian simply picked up my phone and unlocked it by entering his birthday-which he knew by heart.
Then he pointed at a ten-thousand-dollar transfer record and demanded coldly.
"If it wasn't you, then what's this?"
He didn't know that was money I'd advanced for my mother's surgery.
He threw the phone at me, shielded Chloe, and walked out.
Half an hour later, Adrian posted his marriage certificate with Chloe on the official social media account of the Sterling Group.
The date was seven years ago.
The same day Adrian and I had made our relationship official.
They'd gotten their marriage license.
My heart hurt so much it went numb, yet I couldn't shed a single tear.
Public opinion reversed.
Countless netizens cursed me for being a mistress trying to sabotage their marriage.
My personal information was quickly exposed, my work email flooded with hate mail, and my social media inbox became a swamp of vile insults.
More devastatingly, my supervisor in Scandinavia called to fire me directly.
Adrian easily crushed everything I'd worked years to build.
And the story of my father abandoning my mother years ago was endlessly magnified.
"Harper's dad didn't want her mom, and Adrian doesn't want her either. She and her mother are destined to be mistresses!"
"And she proudly posted their chat records, thinking it would hurt Miss Morrison? What a clown!"
"Disgusting. How does someone like that have the face to keep living? Harper and her mother should just die!"
The class group chat exploded too.
"Wasn't Adrian's girlfriend always Harper? How is Chloe the one he married?"
"You don't know? Adrian actually always liked Chloe. During that earthquake, he went to save people because he thought it was Chloe buried there!"
"So Harper's been a pathetic stalker for all these years? Wow, she's been a mistress since her student days?"
When I saw that message, I nearly collapsed.
Just as I was about to fall, Chloe suddenly steadied me.
She looked at my pale face and said with a cheerful smile.
"Harper, do you know why Adrian pursued you?"
She lowered her voice, enunciating each word.
"Because I have certain... preferences."
"Adrian loves me too much, so he condescended to seduce you. Now that I'm bored with this game, it's time for you to leave!"
"Oh right, the day after tomorrow is my wedding with Adrian. My dear best friend, you absolutely must come."
As Chloe turned to leave, she deliberately slipped a pregnancy test into my hand.
"The fruit of mine and Adrian's love. Four months along."
My world collapsed.
Adrian's former devotion, those promises more moving than sweet nothings-it had all just been a game.
Adrian's call suddenly rang.
But I didn't answer.
Soon he sent a text.
"Harper, don't believe what they're saying in the group. After I marry her, I'll explain everything."
I pressed my nails deep into my palm and typed.
"When you called me 'baby'... were you calling for her?"
The other end went silent.
The tears I'd held back for so long finally fell.
I don't know how long I stood in the cold wind.
I wiped away my tears and dialed a number I hadn't used in ages.
"Mr. Hawthorne, I agree to join your polar research project. For the three years I'm gone, please take care of my mother."
The person on the other end agreed readily.
"No problem. I'll send a private jet for your mother right away."
The call ended, and immediately the phone rang with a call from my mother's caregiver.
"Miss Reed, something terrible has happened! Your mother's in trouble!"