Chapter 3
It was an antique vase he'd bought at an auction three years ago for 25 million dollars.
He used to say it was beautiful, but not even a fraction as lovely as me.
Looking back, when a guy said sweet things, not even the punctuation was worth believing.
The vase hit the floor, shattering into pieces all over the place.
Jackson finally lost his temper.
"Audrina, are you done acting crazy yet?" he snapped.
My eyes were red. "Me? Crazy? Jackson, you're the one who cheated."
"I didn't."
"Then tell me, do you like her?"
Jackson's expression turned cold, and he stayed silent.
I pressed in closer, refusing to back down. "Just say it."
He finally spoke, his voice icy.
"Julia's not like you."
I let out a bitter laugh. "Really? What's so different about her?"
He looked at me, his gaze mixed with a cold cruelty.
"She's uncomplicated."
"She's not like you, always has to come out on top, every single moment."
I stood there, stunned.
So that was it.
I was too strong, too proud, and too vibrant.
I never learned how to be vulnerable.
So when he loved me, I was like a rose, gorgeous, dazzling, and impossible to ignore.
But when he stopped loving me, I was nothing but trouble, too sharp, too prickly for him to handle.
I looked at him and said, "Jackson, did you forget? When Junior kicked you out, I was the one who fought by your side and helped you reclaim everything."
His expression turned ugly in a flash.
"So what?" he shot back. "Are you planning to hold that over me for the rest of my life?"
That line made me sicker than the cheating itself.
I wasn't trying to hold the past over him.
I just wanted him to remember that we used to stand side by side, facing the world together.
But he'd already forgotten.
Or maybe he hadn't forgotten.
He didn't want to admit it anymore because if he admitted those memories, he'd have to face how much he's fallen now.
I looked at him, and finally, the tears fell.
"Jackson, you've changed," I said.
He looked away, his voice low and cold.
"People change."
Yeah, that was true.
People really did change.
Even the leading man could fall from grace.
After that night, Jackson and I were locked in a three-day cold war.
On the first day, I spent the whole day crying.
My eyes puffed up, my voice was gone.
I sat in the walk-in closet, digging through every single thing he'd ever given me, one by one.
The diamond necklace, the ruby earrings, the designer dresses, and all those handwritten cards.
His handwriting on those cards hadn't changed at all. [Happy birthday, Audrina.
[May my Miss Cline always hold her head high.
[Don't ever bow your head. I'll always have your back.]
I looked at that line, "Don't ever bow your head", and laughed through my tears.
Now he wanted me to bow my head.
The next day, I stopped crying.
I started clearing things out.
I had my assistant send all the jewelry he'd given me to the auction house.
As for the clothes he'd left at my place, I had the butler pack them up and send them back to the Russell Group.
And the wedding venue we'd picked out together? I called and canceled it.
The wedding dress designer messaged me, asking if I was sure.
I stared at my phone screen and replied with just one word: [Yes.]
By the third day, I was completely calm.
Jackson sent me the first message since our cold war started.
[Are you done with your drama?]
Ten minutes later, he texted again. [If you're finished, just come home.]
Staring at those two messages, I suddenly felt like all that crying I'd done the past two days was a waste.
See? He didn't even think he did anything wrong.
He thought I was throwing a tantrum.
He figured I would do what I always did. Get angry, cry my eyes out, and after all that, end up back in his arms.
Staring at the screen, I suddenly got it. So I tapped out a reply: [Jackson, do you really think that no matter what you do, I'll always forgive you?]
He must've thought my question was a joke, because he replied almost instantly: [Audrina, what we have is something no one else can ever compare to.]
He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
As if just saying "what we have" could sweep all his betrayal under the rug.
I let out a bitter laugh.
[So you think just because you're the leading man, you can mess up and get away with it?]
As soon as I sent that message, Jackson's call came through, the ringtone blaring nonstop. For the first time, it actually grated on my nerves.
Right then, I knew for sure.
He knew.
At least he knew he was the "leading man."
But he had no clue about the real rules.
He just knew he had the spotlight, but had no clue where it really came from.
But he forgot.
The rules of this world were never his to make.
On the third night, I slipped into that black slip dress he used to love so much and poured myself a glass of red wine.
I sat alone in the empty room, staring up at the ceiling.
Honestly, I hardly ever called out to Mom on my own.
Mom was the one who wrote this world.
She created me.
She always had a soft spot for me.
She gave me beauty, a strong family background, abilities, that main character aura, and she even gave me Jackson, who once loved me with everything he had.
When I was little and fell, Mom would make the wind blow flower petals right into my hands.
Whenever I got nervous before a test, she'd make sure the whole exam was exactly what I'd studied.
The first time I got kidnapped, she sent ten police cars after the kidnappers and made sure they crashed and burned literally.
Mom would say, "Audrina, you're my heroine.
"I didn't write you into this story just to let you get hurt."
I always remembered that.
But I never imagined that, growing up, the first person to make me feel so wronged would be the hero my mom created just for me.
After I drained that glass of wine, my eyes were still red, but my voice had gone soft.
Just like when I used to whine to her as a kid.
"Mom," I called out. "This toy's dirty now.
"Can you get me a better one?"