Chapter 3
I lowered my head, opened my phone, and scrolled through Zoey's social media posts.
I never used to look at her social media.
Hugo always said, "Out of sight, out of mind."
But now, I was scrolling through her posts with an eerie calm.
Her profile was completely public.
Three days ago, she posted a photo from Aurora Island.
In the photo, a man and a woman stood in the snow, their fingers intertwined.
On the man's wrist was the watch I had given him for our fifth anniversary.
The caption read: [Aurora lights are stunning, but nothing beats the warmth of his hand. 'I'll guard you for life,' he promised.]
The comments section was filled with our mutual friends hyping them up.
[Hugo, you finally made it through the storm and got your moment.]
[After everything, first love really is the sweetest. Natalie clung to Hugo for five years, got pregnant when he was at his lowest. So? In true love's eyes, she's the one weaponizing that kid, the truly shameless third wheel.]
[Exactly. She's been playing house in that spot long enough. It's time she gave it back to Zoey. I heard she was throwing tantrums and faking sick in the group chat today. So gross.]
Every word stripped away the last shred of my dignity.
And right there, under all those savage comments, was Hugo's reply.
It read: [Don't mess around like that. Zoey's sensitive. She'll get upset if she sees this. Anyone else, I'll take care of them. Don't kill our vibe.]
My fingers stopped dead on the screen.
He didn't bother to deny the "third wheel" comment.
He played along with his friends' nastiness, shielding Zoey, and dismissively wrote me off as nothing but an outsider. Never mind that I was his legally wedded wife who had just lost our son.
No system. No mission. Not even the excuse of protecting me out of necessity.
I spent the whole morning scrolling through every single post Zoey had made.
From the day she returned to the country to the moment she moved into the Finn residence, every little detail was steeped in their secret, burning love.
So the so-called "system" was only a fancy excuse.
What Hugo really loved was always Zoey, the woman he loved but lost to his brother when they were young.
Those car crashes, those accidents—maybe they were coincidences, maybe someone planned them. But none of it mattered anymore.
What mattered was that Hugo went with the flow, took advantage of how scared I was of the system's penalties
He took my patience and love for granted, all while openly favoring Zoey.
And me? I was a fool, letting Alex pay the price again and again, all to keep Hugo from "breaking the system."
My stomach churned violently, and I rushed into the bathroom, dry-heaving until tears and snot ran down my face.
I looked up. The woman in the mirror was deathly pale, her eyes drained of all hope.
Alex had been pushed aside, over and over, until Hugo's endless "missions" rendered him nothing but an afterthought.
*****
Alex's farewell was as simple and quiet as it could be.
I didn't tell anyone from the Finn family. I didn't even tell my own parents.
On the third evening, I came home cradling that tiny urn in my arms.
The villa felt empty, but everywhere I turned, there were reminders that Alex had once lived here.
Blocks were stacked in the corner of the sofa, toy cars lay scattered across the carpet, and there were the marks on the wall where he'd measured his height.
I spent the whole night slowly removing all traces of Alex's presence from the house.
His toys were packed into cardboard boxes. His clothes were folded and put away at the bottom of the closet.
On the coffee table in the center of the living room, I laid out a black cloth.
I set Alex's urn and a palm-sized black-and-white photo on the coffee table.
In the picture, Alex was smiling so sweetly, his eyes crinkled up. That was the only time Hugo took him to an amusement park, when Alex was two.
I sat on the couch, quietly staring at that photo. I didn't turn on the lights.
At ten o'clock at night, I heard a car engine shutting off outside.
Next, the electronic lock beeped as it unlocked.
The door was pushed open, and the motion sensor light in the hallway came on.
Hugo walked in, grinning ear to ear, carrying several shopping bags. The most eye-catching was a giant Iron Man toy box.
Hugo kicked off his shoes and tugged at his tie, his tone a mix of helplessness and indulgence. "Why is it so dark in here? Come on, stop sulking.
"Zoey's mood finally settled down a bit, so there wasn't much I could do these past few days. See? As soon as I got a break, I came right home."
He walked into the living room, tossed his car keys onto the entryway cabinet, and raised his voice. "Go get Alex. I spent two hours in line for this limited edition Iron Man. He's been asking for it nonstop, hasn't he?
"Tomorrow's the weekend. I cleared my schedule, so I'll take you guys out for a nice dinner. That should make up for it, right?"
The huge living room was completely silent. Not a single response.
Pale moonlight seeped through the window, casting a cold glow across the floor.
Hugo finally realized something was off. He stopped, frowning, and peered deeper into the living room by the dim light from the entryway. "Natalie? What are you doing in here, acting so creepy..."
His eyes slowly settled on the coffee table in the middle of the living room.