Chapter 3

Andrew called again less than a minute later.

I let it ring.

He kept calling, nonstop.

On the seventh call, I finally picked up.

"Mr. Reed, is there something else?" I asked.

His breathing was noticeably heavier. "Why didn't you discuss it with me before you quit?"

"You didn't bother consulting me about the divorce, so why should I have to check with you about resigning?" I shot back.

"Tanya, do you realize what you're doing?" he asked.

"I know what I'm doing." I sat back down on the couch, taking my time. "I'm cutting my losses."

He went quiet for a few seconds.

Then, suddenly, he asked, "Who's with you?"

I froze for a second.

Right then, I heard Charles call from the kitchen, "Tanya, do you want sugar in your coffee?"

I couldn't help but laugh, "Did you hear that? I'm not alone anymore. So, Mr. Reed, stop blowing up my phone."

Andrew's voice went cold in an instant. "Are you with Charles?"

"Is that any of your business?" I shot back.

"Tanya, don't push your luck."

"I'm hanging up."

The moment I ended the call, I actually felt a bit vindicated.

Charles came out with the coffee, clicking his tongue. "All it took was me calling out, and I bet he was fuming."

"How do you know he was fuming?" I asked.

"A guess." Charles sat down across from me, a mischievous grin on his face. "Men like him aren't really jealous. They want to be the only ones who get to play dirty with you, and won't let anyone else get close."

I lowered my head and stirred my coffee, not saying a word.

Because I knew he was right.

Andrew always knew exactly where the lines were.

He made sure I was the one stuck guarding them.

*****

At noon, Margaret called.

I picked up, and she got straight to the point, "What exactly are you trying to do?"

"Divorce," I replied.

"You think being Mrs. Reed is something you can toss aside whenever you feel like it?"

"Weren't you the ones who forced me to walk away?"

She was caught off guard for a second, then sneered, "Tanya, have you forgotten your place? You only married Andrew because you got lucky. Vivian is the one who actually fits him. If it hadn't been for that accident, you never would've had a shot."

I gripped my phone; my hand went cold.

I knew she'd looked down on me these past three years.

But she'd never said it so bluntly before.

Now that Vivian's back, she figured the stand-in should know when to exit.

I leaned back in my chair, my voice barely above a whisper. "Mrs. Reed, you're right. Since it was never really my turn, I'll bow out."

"You..." she started.

"But remember one thing," I cut her off. "I wasn't the one clinging to the Reed family. Andrew was the one who begged me to marry him. Now that I'm done, you should be throwing a party, not acting like I made out like a bandit."

With that, I hung up.

Charles glanced at me. "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine." I picked up my coffee and took a sip. The bitterness stung my tongue.

The truth was, I wasn't fine.

All that embarrassment I'd been swallowing for years finally spilled out today.

My marriage to Andrew wasn't anything dramatic.

Back then, I was twenty-five, my mom was seriously ill, and I was holding down the fort at Lane Wedding Studio, the business she left behind. I took orders during the day and spent my nights at the hospital with her.

Andrew was a client.

To be precise, he was the client who came to cancel his wedding.

His fiancée, Vivian, had run off with the investor's son a week before the wedding.

The wedding dress was made, the venue booked, and the guests invited. All of Riverside City was waiting to see Andrew make a fool of himself.

I stepped in at the last minute, pulling three all-nighters to help him contain the wedding crisis and save half of the Reed family's reputation.

Later, when Riverpoint Health ran into trouble, the board staged a coup, and the investors pulled out. Andrew stayed at the hospital with his father, who had suffered a stroke, and didn't eat for three days.

I mortgaged my studio and took out a high-interest short-term loan to scrape together 1.1 million dollars to pay his employees' salaries.

That night, he stood outside my mom's hospital room, his eyes bloodshot, and asked, "Tanya, do you dare to marry me?"

I was such a fool back then.

I thought that when a man hit rock bottom and reached for a woman, it meant trust, it meant dependence, and sooner or later, it would turn into love.

So I nodded.

I stood by his side through his toughest three years.

I stayed until Riverpoint Health was back on solid ground, until he became the Mr. Reed everyone admired, and until my mom passed away. I missed her final moments because I was busy dealing with a PR crisis for him.

But in the end, he dismissed everything I did for him all those years with one excuse about dealing with what mattered first.

With all that in mind, I suddenly didn't feel sad anymore.

It was a damn shame to waste tears on someone who wasn't worth it.

At two in the afternoon, I stopped by the old studio site.

Lane Studio had long since closed its doors, and the sign was gone.

The front door's shutter was thick with dust. The lady from the flower shop next door spotted me and let out a sigh. "Tanya, if your mom were still around, she'd never let you go through all this."

I smiled and stayed silent.

She lowered her voice. "That woman who wore your clothes last night? I saw the photos online. People these days have no shame."

I froze. "What photos?"

She handed me her phone.

There was a candid photo all over the trending topics.

In the picture, Andrew was opening the car door for Vivian, and she was half leaning against his shoulder. The shot made them look like long-lost lovers finally reunited.

The caption was nastier. [Riverpoint Health's CEO reunites with his forever crus. His official wife storms out late at night. Is this the end of the rich family's stand-in marriage?]

The comments were blowing up.

[Told you, Vivian always had that wife energy.]

[Girls like Tanya are Cinderellas. Three years is already a win for her.]

[First crush comes home, while the stand-in gets booted. The classic drama unfolds in real life.]

I stared at those lines and let out a bitter laugh.

It turned out, in their eyes, I didn't get a name.

I was nothing but a stand-in.

When Charles picked up, I said, "Help me figure out who leaked those photos."

Two hours later, the answer came back.

The account that first posted the photos was run by an entertainment marketing company, and the owner had ties to Vivian's people overseas.

I sent Andrew a screenshot of the evidence.

Three minutes later, he called. "I'll handle this."

"How?" I asked.

"First, I'll get the hot search taken down. Then, I'll track down who's behind it."

"And then what?"

He stayed silent.

I finished for him, "Let me guess. Next, you'll say Vivian didn't mean it, she's back from abroad and feeling lost, so I should cut her some slack, right?"

"Don't get emotional, Tanya," Andrew said.

"You want me to turn off my feelings?" I was so pissed that I almost laughed. "Andrew, your wife's getting called a stand-in all over the internet, and you expect me to keep my cool?"

"I'll make it right."

"I don't need your excuses."

I gripped my phone, staring out the window. "I want a divorce."

Andrew said, "That's impossible."

I retorted, "And why is that impossible?"

"I'm not agreeing to this."

"Then you can wait for the court summons."

I hung up, my chest still heavy with frustration.

Charles handed me the file. "So, what's your move?"

"First, I'll sue the marketing account. Then, I'll sue Vivian for defamation," I said.

"And Andrew?" he asked.

I paused for a moment. "He doesn't deserve a line in my lawsuit."