Chapter 3

Laurel, with her fiery temper, wasn't having it. She exploded, letting loose a string of curses. "You two are absolute scum! Hooking up five years ago behind her back?

"Caesar, you had a kid with this woman and still played house with Serena all these years? What kind of snake are you, you jerk!"

Caesar and I had been together since college. After graduation, I gave up everything—my hometown, my friends, my life—to move to his city and be with him.

Back then, he was amazing. He handled all the chores, treated me with such tenderness. I thought I'd found my forever.

But over time, everything changed.

He grew distant, cold. He'd shrug and say love just "turns into family" and didn't need work anymore.

Naive as I was, I bought it, thinking love could naturally morph into something cozy and familiar.

Now, I saw the truth. His love had long been given to someone else. All I got was the scraps—a hollow, dutiful kind of "family."

"Caesar, is she telling the truth?" My voice trembled, my body ice-cold.

The desperate need for answers that had been driving me lately fizzled out, leaving me numb.

He looked down, hesitating before muttering a quiet, "Yeah."

"Got it," I said, my heart turning to stone. I turned to Laurel. "Let's go."

At that point, all I had left was my dignity, and I was clinging to it.

But then Caesar, leaving Oriel behind, chased after me. He grabbed my arm, his voice frantic. "Serena, I can explain. I had my reasons. Don't be mad.

"Once the wedding's over, I'll come talk to you, I swear."

"Explain what?" Laurel snapped, shoving his hand off me and dragging me away.

All the way to her place, she kept railing on Caesar, cussing him out left and right.

I knew she was trying to make me feel better, but I couldn't hear it. I just wanted silence.

When we pulled up to her building, I cut her off mid-rant, my voice calm but firm. "Laurel, go home. I'll pack my stuff and come find you."

"You sure you don't need me to stay?" She gave me a worried look, her brow furrowed.

I forced a smile. "I'm fine. Don't worry."

If this was the end, I'd end it with my head held high. I didn't go down without a fight.

And now that our fake divorce was turning real, there were things I wasn't about to let slip through my fingers. The house we lived in? I'd bought it outright before we got married. It was mine, no question. Legally, he had no claim.

I decided to sell it and take the money back home to spend time with my parents.

The day the realtor came to check out the place, Caesar showed up out of nowhere.

The second he saw a guy in the house, he lost it, not even bothering to ask who it was. "Serena, we're just fake-divorced, and you're already bringing other guys home?"

I ignored him, politely telling the realtor we'd reschedule. I walked the guy out, keeping it civil.

But Caesar wasn't done. He blocked the door, getting in the realtor's face. "Nobody's leaving until we clear this up."

Back when we were in love, I was blind to his flaws—thought they were quirks, even cute.

Now, with the rose-colored glasses off, I saw him for what he was: insufferable.

"We're divorced, Caesar. You don't get a say in my life anymore." I pushed past him, apologized to the realtor again, and sent the poor guy on his way.

Back inside, Caesar was still at the entryway, fuming like he had any right to be. "Serena, we agreed it was just a fake divorce!"

I stared at him like he'd lost his mind. "Did you forget you're married to someone else now?"

"I had no choice!" he blurted, launching into a frantic explanation. "Oriel and I, it's a fake marriage too. The kid was an accident—I didn't even know how it happened.

"My mom found out about him somehow and said she's dying, that she just wants to see her grandkid before she goes."

He rambled on, acting like his excuses were perfectly reasonable, like I was the one being difficult.

But his words meant nothing to me anymore.

I wasn't buying it—especially since his mom had looked perfectly healthy at the wedding, glowing like she was ready to run a marathon.

"Caesar," I cut him off, "fake divorce or not, it's real now. I've already got a lawyer, and we're splitting everything.

"This house? I bought it before we got married. It's mine. I'm selling it, and you need to stop showing up here."