Chapter 3

After seventy-two hours, Carol affectionately helped my exhausted body up, her embrace still tainted with the nauseating scent of Timothy's cologne.

I thought I had no tears left, but when I reached up, I felt something hot and wet on my cheek. I heard Carol ask, "Have you learned your lesson now, Lucien?"

The wedding dress was delivered after being altered, but it was made for someone else.

I dropped my gaze and let out a bitter, self-deprecating smile.

I said, "Yeah, Carol, I get it now. I've learned my lesson."

Carol was choosing a suit for Timothy for the dinner party. When she saw the wedding dress, she frowned and asked, "Why did they still send this? I told them the wedding was postponed."

I replied in a flat tone, "The wedding is next week."

Her hand froze, and she said in a teasing tone, "Lucien, are you seriously going to have the wedding all by yourself, just like you did for the engagement party?"

I stiffened.

That engagement party I'd spent half a year preparing for was filled with anticipation.

Back then, I kept telling myself that this was a marriage of convenience. We would each do our own thing, look the other way. How hard could that be?

At least I'd have my moment in the spotlight. At least I could have the fireworks over Ertonhull Harbour blaze for three whole days and nights for me. At least, I'd still be the most special one in Carol's eyes...

But Timothy crashed my engagement party, stirring up trouble.

He showed up in a plain white T-shirt and jeans, looking ridiculously shabby next to my custom-tailored suit.

Yet the moment Carol saw him, the calm facade she'd worn all evening finally showed a crack.

"Carol, I'm not going to be the other man who wrecks someone else's marriage. Are you coming with me or not?" Timothy said.

He pressed a fruit knife to his wrist. He let out a clumsy, laughable trick.

Carol believed him, against all odds.

She seized the blade, blood streaming down her fingers.

Without even looking back, she said, "Lucien, carry on with the engagement party."

Amid the uproar, she took Timothy by the hand and led him out.

All around me, guests whispered and snickered, my parents' faces twisted with worry and anger, and the paparazzi's flashes kept popping.

The fireworks over Ertonhull Harbour burst loudly.

Humiliation and despair burned in my tears as they rolled down my cheeks. Right then, I swore to myself this was the last tear I would ever cry for Carol.

But it hurt so much.

After that whole mess, I overheard someone talking to her. "Ms. Gordon, you really shouldn't push things too far. Lucien is still a young master, after all. What if you really piss him off and he walks away?"

Another socialite nodded in agreement. "Lucien's got quite a temper, you know. Ms. Gordon, you'd better be careful not to go too far. Or are you actually interested in Timothy?"

My heart skipped a beat when I heard that.

Carol arched her brow, her voice steady and assured. "I grew up with Lucien. I know him. He can't live without me."

She casually flicked the ash from her cigarette, her gaze shadowed and unreadable.

"Besides, the role of my husband has always belonged to him, and it always will," Carol said.

Someone asked, "And Timothy?"

My heart skipped a beat.

After a long silence, Carol said, "He's just an accident."

We grew up side by side. I understood Carol really well.

Accident was her way of saying she had caught feelings for Timothy, and she couldn't let go.

I gave a bitter, self-deprecating chuckle. That was easy, Carol. All I had to do was bow out.

Since I was about to move to the mainland, I started selling off my properties in Ertonhull.

Carol heard about it from somewhere, gave me a puzzled look, and asked what was up.

"Short on cash?" she joked, pretending to sign a check for me.

I shook my head. "I don't like them anymore, so I'm letting them go."

She paused, her eyes curious and probing. "I gave you several of those places. You don't like them anymore?"

I smiled. Yeah. And honestly, I stopped liking her a long time ago.

Carol didn't wait for my answer. She just fired off a quick message to her assistant.

She said, "Then I'll buy you a few more until you find something you actually like.

"Timothy and I are heading to a dinner party tonight. Tag along with us. He's still pretty clueless, so look after him and introduce him around."

I took the check. The amount was huge.

Real estate in Flaftol was insanely expensive. Why put myself through all that trouble?

When Timothy walked out wearing that family heirloom thumb ring, Carol frowned at him for the first time.

"Who gave you permission to wear that thumb ring?" she asked.

Timothy looked startled. "Mr. Reily."

Faced with Carol's stunned expression, I just gave a slight nod.

That thumb ring was the one Carol's mother had personally slipped onto my finger, beaming at me with approval.

"Lucien, you're the son-in-law I've chosen for Carol," she'd said.

But now, Carol has fallen for someone else, and I'm moving on, marrying someone else myself. Might as well let them be together.

"Mr. Rivera looks great in it," I said.