Chapter 4

Charlotte said, "Do you remember the first time we met? It was at a party. The hosts kept inviting me to play, and I couldn't refuse their invitation, so I played a song on the piano.

"Jonathan, your eyes were practically burning a hole through me. I couldn't have ignored you even if I tried.

"Then you had your assistant bring me flowers and hand me your card.

"Jonathan, I'm not some inexperienced girl just discovering love in her early twenties. I know exactly where admiration ends and possessiveness begins.

"You kept hiding behind business talk to ask me out for dinner, sending me gifts. Do you really think I couldn't see what you were after?

"If SkyLight Group didn't care so much about Infinity Capital's capabilities, I would've drawn the line with you ages ago.

"Then, out of nowhere, I saw you with Stella. It felt like my whole world had crashed down. If you loved her, why couldn't you just stick with her? I was so furious I could've killed you. You made me sick.

"After that, I decided to play along and see just how far you'd go if I didn't say no.

"Scuba diving, stargazing, parties... I went along with all your little games, but I never thought you'd actually try to sleep with me. Do you think you can look Stella in the eye after all this?"

I tilted my head, watching Jonathan, silent and miserable.

Every word from Charlotte seemed to cut him deeper.

Nobody made him cheat. That was all on him.

Scenes from our past played in my head.

Honestly, I always knew he had a wandering eye.

It first started feeling off when Jonathan stopped replying to my texts right away.

I kept telling myself he was just busy with work, but even when he was swamped before, he always made time to answer every single one of my texts.

Then, he started leaving me on read for days, not even bothering to reply.

After it happened over and over, the lame excuses I made for him just stopped working. The insecurity ate me up inside, so I called him out and asked why he kept ignoring me.

He rubbed his temples, looking exhausted. "Stella, you know the company's going public soon. I'm swamped. Can you just be understanding and not make a fuss?"

Just like that, he made me feel like I was overreacting. I started wondering if I was asking for too much. He'd already given me a good life, showered me with affection, so I felt that I should be grateful.

To make it up to him, I cooked a meal and snuck over to his office during his lunch break.

But when I got there, I saw him sitting anxiously in his chair, his eyes kept glancing at his phone.

I stood at the door for a while. When the person he was waiting for finally replied, his face lit up as he grabbed his phone, looking absolutely thrilled.

I'd seen him at work plenty of times, and he never looked like that.

I only ever saw that kind of cautious anticipation and the satisfaction of getting a reply when we first started dating.

Once I became suspicious, I started noticing more and more shady things.

There was a perfume that wasn't his, ties I'd never seen before, and he stopped wanting to share things with me. He didn't want me by his side at important events anymore, either.

But he still came home with flowers, or steaks from restaurants I'd never tried, or rare items he'd won at auctions.

I kept wavering between my suspicions and the way he still treated me so well.

"Jonathan, do you still love me?" I asked.

He paused in the doorway, then smiled at me, all soft and affectionate. "Stella, you know I love you. Of course I do."

I forced a smile. "Come home as soon as possible after work, okay? I'll be waiting for you."

As I watched him walk away, I picked up a small piece of steak from my plate. It was medium rare. I couldn't stand meat with blood in it.

But I swallowed it anyway.

I told myself it was fine, as long as he still came home.

Because I was so dependent on Jonathan, I let all his messed-up behavior slide.

I thought if I just pretended not to notice, our life could go on like it always had.

But then I got an anonymous email.

Inside were chat logs between Jonathan and another woman.

He'd been sending her flowers and taking her out for steak dinners.