Chapter 2

The next day, Yarden made up an excuse about a business trip. When he called, his voice was cold and distant. "Something urgent came up at work. You'll have to stay home alone for the next few days."

A few hours later, Lillian updated her social media.

She posted a photo of herself and Yarden in swimsuits at the beach, captioned: [I can only be my true self when I'm with Yarden.]

In the picture, she was practically draped over Yarden, beaming brightly, with the ocean and sky stretching out behind them.

I set my phone down, my face expressionless. Right after, the doorbell rang. It was the eight-pack personal trainer I'd splurged on.

In the living room, the trainer and I sat across from each other on the yoga mat.

He was seriously good-looking, and his physique was just perfect.

"Mrs. Lawson, your flexibility is amazing." He kept guiding me through the moves, all the while praising me with real admiration.

"This move is pretty tough. It takes real core strength, and you need your whole body working together. I'll guide you through it," his voice low and confident, all business.

I got the tip that Yarden was coming home early from the mole I had planted by his side.

The moment the door swung open, the trainer was practically pressed against my back, helping me with a tricky move.

His hand was firmly on my waist, his palm warm against my skin. The whole scene was so intimate that it was almost scandalous. The air froze instantly.

Yarden's face was thunderous, his eyes practically shooting flames.

He lunged forward like a lion whose territory had been trespassed, roughly shoving the trainer aside.

"Who the hell are you?" Yarden roared.

Then he spun around, jabbing a finger at me. "Natalie, do you even have any shame? I leave for a business trip, and you drag some guy off the street into our home."

I stood up at my own pace, deliberately brushing his finger away from my face.

"Why do you always have your mind in the gutter?" I copied Lillian's best friend act to perfection, my tone dripping with fake sweetness just like hers.

I said, "He's just my close friend. We were literally discussing body mechanics. It's totally normal for a trainer and client to have some physical contact. You're not seriously getting jealous over something this minor, are you?"

Yarden was completely caught off guard by my retort, so furious his chest was rising and falling, but he couldn't get a single word out.

He definitely never expected I'd echo his own words back at him, exactly as he'd said them.

Just then, his phone suddenly blared with a video call ringtone. It was Lillian.

On the screen, she was standing right at the edge of a rooftop, the evening wind whipping her hair into a mess as she cried her eyes out.

"Yarden, I'm being attacked online. I can't take it anymore. Everyone's tearing me apart," she sobbed. "That horrible video was made by your wife, wasn't it? Why is she doing this to me?"

She was standing right on the edge of a skyscraper, looking like she might jump any moment now, all for that ridiculous best-friend act.

"Yarden, if you don't come right now, you'll lose me for good," Lillian sobbed.

Yarden's expression changed in an instant. He snatched up his car keys and dashed for the door.

As he hurried past me, I clutched my chest and let myself fall onto the couch, my hand dropping weakly to the side.

My face went very pale, my breathing coming in quick, shallow bursts.

"Yarden, my chest hurts so much," I called out.

"Back when I saved you, I swallowed so much water that it messed up my health. Now, it feels like it's flaring up again." I gripped his sleeve tight, my fingertips digging in so hard they left marks on his arm.

"Do you remember how freezing it was in the water that night? I really thought we were both done for," I added. My voice was barely a whisper, every word a pointed reminder: he owed me his life.

Yarden froze mid-step. He glanced back at Lillian sobbing on the video, threatening to jump, then looked down at me, slumped on the couch, barely hanging on.

On one side was his best friend, on the other, his lifesaver.

Pain flickered across his face. After a moment of struggle, he clenched his jaw and ended the call. "I'll take you to the hospital," he said.

Lillian spent the whole night on the rooftop, freezing in the wind, waiting for her hero, Yarden, but he never showed.

The next day, she went live, bawling her eyes out, but soon lost it and started swearing at the camera. Her rant was so vulgar that people couldn't believe their ears.

Just like that, her sweet girl act totally collapsed overnight.