Chapter 2

The next morning, I dragged myself into the dining room looking like a ghost.

The scene waiting for me stopped me cold.

Alexander had his sleeves rolled up and was bustling around the kitchen.

Evelyn leaned against the doorframe, her voice warm with playful affection. "You sure you know what you're doing? Want me to take over?"

"Don't worry. I can do this."

I turned to escape, but Alexander happened to look back and held out a ladle toward me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Eve, come taste this and tell me if it needs more salt."

In that instant, I felt less like his fiancée and more like a servant who happened to live in the house.

I once told him I wanted to cook together. He wrinkled his nose and said he couldn't stand the grease and smoke.

Turns out, the only thing he couldn't stand was doing it with me.

My fingers went slack, and the porcelain spoon shattered against the floor.

"Alexander, now that she's back, let's end this." Before he could say a word, I lifted my gaze. My voice came out so calm it startled even me.

The air between us turned to stone.

"Eve, please don't get the wrong idea. Alexander and I are just old friends." Evelyn stepped forward at once, her face a portrait of sincerity and apology.

"My family's going through a rough time, so he's just letting me stay for a bit. I'll leave right now."

She turned to Alexander, her voice dripping with earnest concern. "Alexander, talk to her. She's the one you're marrying."

She turned and walked away. Even her retreating silhouette managed to look delicate and wronged.

Alexander instinctively moved to follow her, but she waved him off.

"Happy now?" He turned all that rage on me instead. His eyes were cold and disappointed.

"When did you become so unreasonable, Eve? So confrontational?"

Confrontational? The last ember of hope in my heart went dark.

"Alexander, let's break up." I met his eyes with a calm I had never felt before.

He stared at me like I'd just told the funniest joke he'd ever heard. A mocking smirk curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Break up? You really think you can make it on your own?"

He stepped closer, towering over me, and every word cut into my chest like a blade.

"Even your name, your whole identity, I gave you all of that. Without me, what are you? What can you possibly do?

"Just be a good girl and stay where you belong. What have I ever denied you?"

I stared at him in disbelief. It felt like an invisible fist had closed around my heart, squeezing so tight I couldn't breathe.

So that was how he saw it. Three years of love, of devotion, and all I ever was to him was a vine that couldn't survive without its host.

"You're the one who made me this way. You turned me into someone who couldn't live without you." My voice cracked, and my eyes burned red.

"You humiliated me at our wedding for another woman and made me a joke to the entire city.

"You know I'm allergic to chocolate, and you still sent me to the kitchen at four in the morning to make her hot chocolate!"

Every ounce of pain I had been holding back finally broke through the dam, and tears streamed down my face.

The moment he saw my tears, his hand reached out on instinct, moving to wipe them away.

"Eve, Evelyn is... different for me." His tone softened, but it carried the hollow comfort of charity.

"Just be patient, okay? Once I've sorted out her situation, we'll get married. I promise."

"Different." I repeated the word under my breath. My heart had gone completely numb.

Right then, his phone rang. He glanced at the screen, answered, and his expression shifted. He turned and left without a second thought.

The empty dining room held nothing but me and the shattered pieces on the floor.

I looked down at the message Olivia had just sent.

Olivia: [I'll be there tomorrow night. Wait for me. I'm bringing you home.]

When I lifted my head again, there were no tears left.

Alexander, you were right. Without you, the old Eve was nothing.

But I was never Eve. My name was Lily Quinn.