Chapter 3

By the time we got back to Lane Manor, it was fully dark outside. The whole house was brightly lit, and the staff stood silently on both sides, barely daring to breathe.

William dismissed everyone and personally poured me a glass of warm milk.

Everything in my room looked exactly the way it had before I got married, as if that wedding that had shaken the whole city had only been some absurd dream.

I held the warm milk in both hands and took small sips.

He broke the silence first. “Don't worry about what happened today. I'll handle it.”

I held the cup and shook my head. “William, I did nothing wrong, but I still became the joke of the whole city.”

“A joke?” A cold edge curled at his lips. “Let anyone laugh. I'll make sure they never laugh again. You're my sister. Even if you never marry, I've got your back. No one's ever going to bully you.”

His words brought a little warmth back to my frozen heart. But I knew it wouldn't be that simple.

"Half the business at Alex's company was being propped up by the Lane family's connections.

If he could throw me aside for another woman at the wedding, then tomorrow he could betray the Lane family for something else too. "

A man like that couldn't be kept around.

In that instant, I understood exactly what my brother meant.

That night, I took off the heavy wedding gown, changed into comfortable pajamas, and said nothing else.

Around midnight, it suddenly started pouring outside.

My phone buzzed with a security alert.

Someone was frantically trying to enter the code to the penthouse we'd set aside as our marital home.

I pulled up the surveillance feed on my phone. On the screen, Alex stood outside the door, soaked through, his face full of panic.

He punched in the code over and over, and the lock kept rejecting it every time. He finally started to panic for real and pulled out his phone to call me.

I looked at his flashing name on my screen, declined the call, and blocked him.

When he couldn't get through to me, he called my brother instead. My brother's phone started ringing in the living room.

I walked out and saw him sitting on the couch, smoking.

He answered and turned on speakerphone.

Alex's anxious voice came through immediately, “William, where's Vicky? Why isn't she answering my calls? Why was the code to the condo changed? Is she mad at me?”

William let out a stream of smoke and spoke in a voice cold as steel. “Don't call me like that. And Vicky isn't your name to say either. Who the hell do you think you are?”

Alex froze. When he spoke again, there was a hint of pleading in his voice. "Mr. Lane, I know I was wrong today, but Emily suddenly started bleeding internally. I couldn't stand there and do nothing.

"Vicky's always been so understanding. She'll understand me, right?"

Understanding. That word again. All I felt was bitter amusement. Too little, too late.

Did he really think this sob story could erase the humiliation I'd suffered? He didn't understand my brother at all. And he understood even less about me, after my heart had already died once.

“Understanding my ass,” William snapped. “Alex Carter, now listen. That condo is Victoria's premarital property, and so are the cars. I've already had the lock changed, the cars taken away.

"And every authorized card tied to Vicky's accounts shut off. Right now, you don't have a dime to your name.”

Alex completely lost it on the other end of the line. "Mr. Lane, you can't do this. Vicky and I love each other. We were about to get our marriage license!"

“A marriage license?” William let out a cold laugh. “You think you can marry into our family? Even if you dropped dead outside, you still wouldn't deserve to cross this threshold.” With that, he hung up.

On the surveillance screen, Alex slid to the floor in despair. Staring at the closed door, he finally realized that what he'd lost wasn't just a wife. He'd also lost all the money and status he depended on.

He stood downstairs in the pouring rain and pounded on my door all night. Security tried to drive him away several times, but he refused to leave.

By the next morning, the news had spread through the entire social circle.

My best friend Lucy sent me a WhatsApp message, and she sounded thrilled: [Vicky, did you see what a wreck Alex is? I heard he knelt outside your house all night!]

I looked at myself in the mirror. My face was pale, and there were faint dark circles under my eyes. But the anticipation that used to be in my eyes before marriage was gone. All that remained was dead silence.

He knelt there all night? So what. Did he really think something like that would make me soften?

I picked up my phone and called my lawyer. “Mr. Mason, help me calculate every cent I've spent on Alex over the last three years.

"The watches, the suits, even the client resources he pulled in through the company because of me. I want every last cent back.”

Since things had already turned ugly, I might as well finish the job. I was going to make him understand that without me, he was nothing.