Chapter 2

This time, I was hoping Eric could pull some strings for me again. But to my shock, he didn't pick up once.

I called him over and over—from upstairs, while waiting for the elevator, all the way down to the parking garage. I must've called him twenty times.

Desperate, I started my car and called Eric's assistant, Alex Clark.

The phone had barely rung once.

Alex picked up right away.

"Mrs. Shaw, hello," he said.

I got straight to the point.

"Where's Eric? Can you help me get in touch with the specialist Eric got for my dad last time? My dad's having a heart attack; he's in the ER right now," I said.

Alex paused for a couple seconds, then said, sounding genuinely sorry.

"Sorry, Mrs. Shaw, but Ms. James just called me. She said you've already signed the divorce papers, so I'm not allowed to help you with anything anymore, not even contacting Mr. Shaw for you.

"Mrs. Shaw, I'm just a staff here. You know how much Mr. Shaw spoils Ms. James. I really can't go against his orders. Maybe you should try calling him yourself?"

With that, Alex hung up.

I stomped on the brakes, nearly slamming the front of my car into a stone bollard by the street—my hands were shaking with rage.

It made me think about the past year since Eric started seeing Lily James.

Honestly, at first, I didn't even see Lily as a threat.

She was just a community college dropout, working as a waitress at a café, serving coffee and steak, nothing special at all.

Back then, I really thought Eric was just having a momentary lapse in our marriage.

But then Lily started sending me messages, cursing me out and hurling insults. I even showed Eric the messages, thinking he'd care.

But Eric just stayed totally calm and said, "She's young and naive. Just cut her some slack."

That was when I realized Lily was actually more cunning than she looked for a community college girl.

But even then, I still didn't take her seriously. It wasn't until I miscarried because she made me so upset, and Eric acted like nothing happened and said, "It's your own health, not her fault."

That was when I started to panic.

That was when I finally started digging into Lily's background.

And that was when it hit me. Lily didn't catch Eric's eye because she was some high-level schemer or anything.

She was just his old high school classmate, the girl who sat next to him in class. When Eric was flat broke, she brought him breakfast every day for three years, and sometimes handed him fried chicken her mom cooked at her street stall.

It was that simple, down-to-earth connection that got Eric totally hooked, even willing to throw away his marriage just to be with Lily.

The moment I found out, my chest ached so badly I could barely breathe.

Lily and Eric's relationship started from humble beginnings, but mine with him was no different.

Eric and I were college classmates. I messed up my major selection and ended up in an Information Technology program I knew nothing about.

Back then, the lectures felt like they were in a foreign language to me, while Eric was the genius of our computer science department. He could code and make his own games from day one.

Not wanting to flunk out, I went to Eric and asked if he could tutor me.

Eric agreed, but with a cheeky grin, he said, "Only if you treat me to three meals a day."

That was when it hit me.

Eric's family had it rough. His dad passed away early, and his mom hustled at a street stall just to put food on the table.

Maybe it was because we both grew up in single-parent homes, both losing a parent young, that we just got each other.

After six months of tutoring, we ended up together.

Eric was broke, but only for a year. By sophomore year, he started picking up coding gigs online.

After that, he started making real money, way more than your average college kid.

Eric was always so good to me. No matter how busy he was, if I called, he'd always make time for me, whether it was just to hang out or hit the mall together.

He'd wire some of his side gig money to his mom, and the rest he'd trust me to keep safe for him.

I thought life would just keep rolling along, until Eric's senior year. One night, it was pouring, and he came to find me, drenched from head to toe, and suddenly told me he wanted to break up.

I was in total shock. I grabbed him, refusing to let him leave, insisting he give me a real reason.

Eric just squatted there in the rain, crying his heart out, and finally admitted—his startup had crashed and burned, and he was deep in debt.

That was when I realized he'd been secretly hustling to start a business behind my back, maxing out credit cards and borrowing from every loan app he could find. And his partner? He'd already skipped town.

My chest hurt so much it felt like I was shaking. I held him tight and told him, "I've got a way to fix this."

So I went home, got down on my knees in front of my dad, the one who'd always doted on me, and begged him to help me, to help Eric.

My dad, a professor, let out a long sigh and looked at me. "Emily, I did set aside 300 thousand for you, but that's your marriage gift.

"Are you really sure you want to use all of it to help him? If you spend it now, I won't have anything left to give you when you get married," he said.