Chapter 1

Riverdale's autumn night was bone-chilling cold.

In Leon Carter's villa, the chandelier's harsh light struck the marble floor, reflecting shattered glass and Vivian Lane's tear-streaked face.

She huddled in Leon's arms, shoulders trembling, fingers gripping his suit sleeve, sobbing breathlessly. "Leon, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to break it. I only wanted to check out Chloe's decoration, but my hand slipped. I really didn't mean it."

But behind her sorry words, a tiny spark of satisfaction glowed in her eyes.

The thing smashed on the floor wasn't some random trinket.

It was the trophy Claire Summers had won at 22 for Aethel's top design award, her only hidden glory during three years of secret marriage.

For three years, she lived as Chloe Summers, dimming her brilliance. She abandoned the bright fame of her award days and willingly stayed in Leon's villa, a fancy prison, as his full-time housewife.

She remembered his bad stomach. When he came home drunk at 3 a.m. from a business dinner, she always had a honey drink ready.

He once casually mentioned liking croissants from the south side of town. She would get up at 5 a.m., drive 40 minutes to wait in line, and return to place them on the table before he woke.

A design flaw appeared in his company's project. She spent three sleepless nights drafting an anonymous solution that saved him tens of millions. Then he turned around and gave all the credit to Vivian.

For three years, more than a thousand days and nights, she had made herself nothing but Leon's shadow.

In public, Claire was always introduced as a family friend he had taken in. At the Carter Group's annual gala, she sat in the farthest corner, watching him hold Vivian's hand while everyone called them the perfect couple.

She had been hurt. She had confronted him.

But every time, Leon frowned and said in an almost impatient tone, "Chloe, I watched Vivian grow up. Her parents died young. Can't you just be the bigger person?"

*****

Be the bigger person. Those four words had been eating away at Claire like slow poison for three years.

Then today, Vivian smashed the trophy that Claire had tucked away at the back of her study, right in front of her.

Leon, her husband and the man she had loved and tolerated for three years, didn't ask what happened. He didn't even glance at the broken glass.

Instead, he pulled Vivian into his arms, looked at Claire with cold, unfamiliar eyes, and said the words that shattered every last hope she had.

"Chloe, Vivian is like a sister to me. You're really going to pick a fight with her and scare her like that?" he said.

The air went dead silent.

Vivian's sobs paused for a moment. She secretly peeked up from Leon's embrace, her gaze at Claire full of smug, victorious pride.

Claire stood there, staring at the two of them wrapped up in each other. Out of nowhere, a smile broke across her face.

It wasn't a crazy or hurt smile. It was calm and peaceful.

Three years of obsession shattered in that moment, even more completely than the trophy on the floor.

She finally saw that her problem was neither doing too little nor being too generous, but that Leon had never truly cared about her at all.

Her love, her effort, her hidden brilliance meant nothing to him.

"Leon," Claire said, her voice perfectly steady. Her fingers didn't even tremble.

Then she pulled a signed divorce agreement from her trench coat pocket, tapped her name at the bottom, and tossed it onto the walnut coffee table in front of them.

The sound of paper sliding across the table cut through the quiet living room.

"Well, looks like we're even now," she said, her voice as cold as the autumn wind outside, locking eyes with Leon's stunned face. "From today on, I'm just your ex-wife."

Leon's brows furrowed instantly. He glanced down at the divorce papers on the coffee table, then looked up at Claire, his disbelief quickly turning into pure contempt.

He saw her as this meek, compliant woman who was completely dependent on him, and without him, she couldn't even make it on her own in Riverdale.

Filing for divorce? She was just jealous that he protected Vivian and wanted his attention.

"Chloe, are you done?" Leon released Vivian, stepped forward, and towered over Claire, his voice dripping with impatience. "Don't try these childish games on me. I'm not buying it. Apologize to Vivian now, and I'll pretend this never happened."

"Apologize?" Claire looked at him as if he had just told the most ridiculous joke. Her eyes held no love, only an empty coldness. "Leon, are you out of your mind? She broke my things, and you want me to say sorry to her?"

"It's just a stupid decoration!" Leon's voice suddenly boomed, full of arrogant authority. "So what if it's broken? Tell me how much it cost, and I'll pay you back. Vivian's terrified because of you. Don't you think you owe her an apology?"

Just a stupid decoration. So the trophy Claire had poured her heart and soul into, the one that stood for all her youthful glory, was nothing but a stupid decoration to him.

The last bit of warmth in Claire's heart vanished completely.

She couldn't be bothered to argue with him anymore. She lifted her chin and pointed at the divorce papers on the coffee table.

"I don't want a single cent of your money, and I couldn't care less about the house or the car. Just sign your name. I'll see you at the courthouse in half an hour," she said.

Leon's face turned stormy.

He'd known Claire for three years, but he'd never seen her like this before.

She used to be gentle, always compliant. If something upset her, she would only cry on her own, eyes red. She never dared talk to him this way, and bringing up divorce was completely out of the question.

A sudden flash of anger shot through him, but underneath it all was an unshakable arrogance.

He was certain she'd never actually go through with the divorce, and she was just putting on a show.

"Chloe, think this through." He locked eyes with her and delivered each word like a threat." Without me, you won't even be able to get a proper meal in Riverdale. You won't even have a place to crash.

"Don't come back crying after the divorce when you've hit rock bottom. I won't go soft on you then."

Claire looked at him, so ridiculously full of himself, and found it downright ironic.

He would never know that the woman he thought couldn't survive without him had already become a genius designer the international scene was fighting over three years ago. She was the one the Carter Group couldn't lure even with triple the sky-high pay.

She had only bowed down for love, not because she was incapable.