Chapter 3
A photo caught my eye. In it, Lucy was beside a man, with the magnificent aurora spanning the sky behind them.
The photo was geotagged at Aurora Bay, and the caption read: [If someone ruins your galaxy, I'll give you a sky full of stars.]
My grip on the phone tightened until my hand was shaking.
"Alright, very well!" I seethed.
If Richard was hell-bent on going against me, I wouldn't spare the long-standing relationship between our two families.
It was a week later when Richard returned to the company.
But the sight that awaited him was far from what he expected.
Instead of me, blubbering and pleading for forgiveness, he found a company that had shed most of its staff and lost a significant number of investors overnight.
And to top it off, I, his wife in this family-run business, had divested my shares.
When he managed to find me, I was having a jolly conversation with my business partner, Alex Morgan.
As soon as he saw the guy kiss my cheek, he stormed over and yanked us apart.
I stumbled, nearly losing my balance, and shot him a glare.
"What the hell are you doing?" I snapped.
Richard's breathing was ragged. "That's my line! What the hell are you doing?"
"It's just business. Ever heard of a cheek kiss, or is that news to you?" I shot back, my tone dripping with sarcasm.
"I—" Richard blurted, totally thrown off.
Of course he knew what a cheek kiss meant.
Still, watching me and my partner greet each other like that just made him lose it.
"Uh... About you withdrawing your shares..." Richard shifted the topic.
I gave him an impatient look. "I didn't want to be your partner anymore, so I pulled my shares. What's the big deal?"
"Oh, so it's totally fine for you to partner up with him, huh?" Richard snapped, pointing right at Alex across the table.
I shot him a cold glare. "Richard, I get to choose my own partners. If you disrespect my business partner again, don't blame me if I blow up on you right here," I said, my voice ice-cold.
"Business partner?" Richard was breathing hard. "Are you really that blind, or just playing dumb about the way he looks at you? I can see it clear as day—he's—"
Alex's face went pale.
I cut Richard off before he could finish. "My relationship with Alex is just like yours with Lucy! Can you stop being so paranoid? Sometimes you just need to give people a break—is that really so hard for you?"
Richard was stunned as realization dawned on him.
Those were the very same words he'd once said to me.
He clenched his jaw, stepped back twice, then turned on his heel and walked away without another word.
That night, I grabbed dinner with Alex to make it up to him.
By the time Alex got me home, tipsy and giggling, I honestly thought I'd walk into an empty house, just like always.
But this time, the moment I opened the door, Richard was there on the couch, looking up at me.
Richard's voice was hoarse as he called my name, "Eve..."
His eyes were red, like he'd been crying.
"Lucy's been fired," he said, his voice thick with emotion.
Then he held out Lucy's resignation letter for me to see.
"Honestly, I couldn't stand her at first. But when I was checking out the project, she jumped in and shielded me from a falling rock—and ended up hurting her arm. I felt like I owed her after that.
"I thought getting her that sapphire would be enough to pay her back, but I never expected you to be there..."
Richard paused, then reached for my hand, testing the waters.
"I admit, I was just being petty. When you went after Lucy, everyone started laughing at me, saying you were making me look like a fool.
"I got so worked up, so I kept siding with her again and again. Truth is, I never even liked Lucy."
His phone was blowing up, and he handed it over to me.
Lucy blew up his screen with message after message.
[Mr. Bennett, is it something I did wrong? Just say the word, I'll change, I promise!]
[Or do you think I'm too demanding? I gave back everything you bought me. I don't want anything, just let me stay with you...]
[Please, Mr. Bennett, I came here all alone. You're the only person I have. If you leave me, I'll have nothing—I don't know what I'll do...]
Richard pulled up Lucy's profile, and right in front of me, blocked her and deleted her contact without a second thought.
Then he took a deep breath and looked at me.
"I'm sorry, Eve. I thought being petty and picking fights with you would somehow fix things between us. But when I saw you and Alex greet each other with a cheek kiss, I realized I just couldn't take it at all.
"Everything I did with Lucy, just to spite you, only ended up hurting you even more. I'm sorry..."
Suddenly, the door behind him opened up.
Gifts were piled up everywhere, covering the whole room.
But what really blew me away was the ceiling—it had been turned into a stunning Milky Way.
The sapphire I'd always wanted was finally back—he'd gotten it from Lucy, had it re-cut, and put it in a box just for me.
"Eve, let's make up and live in harmony from here on, okay?" Richard said, his voice soft and pleading.
"Okay," I replied, my tone gentle.
Five years of a marriage built on business, with a little bit of real feeling mixed in—I was just trying to knock some sense into him.
Now that he had finally wised up, we could still make a killing together.