Chapter 4

He saved me, and the rich kid he humiliated came after him for it.

I blamed myself, my chest aching for him, crying so hard I couldn't speak.

He only wiped my tears away, gentle as ever. "I'm here. I won't let anyone hurt you."

And now, for another woman, he's become the one who's hurt me the most.

I should have seen the change in him long ago.

When Jade Jennings first came back, he used to tell me the things she'd shared about his older brother.

Little by little, every word out of his mouth was about her.

He heard she loved roses, so he bought nine hundred and ninety-nine of them and arranged them all through the house.

He'd forgotten I was allergic to pollen.

Driving me to the hospital, he frowned and scolded me. "Why didn't you say something sooner? Such a buzzkill. Jade was finally having a good time."

There was a time he carried a mask everywhere for me, a time even a single sneeze from me set him on edge.

And there was the day a man stopped Jade Jennings on the street, asking for her number.

She'd done nothing but frown, and Clive Sanchez, always so steady and even-tempered, went wild. He slammed the man to the ground and beat him until his face was a bloody mess.

Afterward he ordered the hospital to refuse treatment, leaving the man crippled for life.

I told him he'd gone too far. He just looked at me, disappointed.

"I was only thinking of how it used to be with you. Back then I beat a man bloody for your sake too. So why is it, when it's Jade, you suddenly don't understand me?"

I didn't understand.

Back then he'd hit someone to buy us a chance to run.

But this time, it was simply because Jade Jennings had lost her temper.

The memories churned, and I shook my head, dragging myself up off the ground and walking away alone while the crowd watched.

I don't know how far I'd gone before a few men blocked my path.

"Well, if it isn't the famous mistress, Millicent Maddox."

"Heard you were young enough to hire people to ruin an innocent girl's name. A bitch like you deserves a taste of her own medicine."

The words had barely landed before the thugs lunged at me and started dragging me into the alley.

My clothes tore. They wrenched my injured hand, twisting it so hard the taste of blood rose in my mouth.

I screamed for help, but the moment passersby heard they were beating a mistress, they just stood there and watched, cold-eyed.

Only one person couldn't stomach it. "You can hate a mistress all you want, but you don't get to beat someone in the middle of the street. Let her go!"

I grabbed at it like a drowning woman at a rope. "Please, help me! Please!"

One of the thugs jeered. "You know who this is? This is Millicent Maddox! You'd protect trash like her?"

The man's face changed. "The murderer Mr. Sanchez called out? Forget it. Take her to the police station!"

A sound roared in my head. The thugs froze too, and their grip loosened.

I scrambled for my phone and found the source of it all in seconds.

A video Clive Sanchez had posted.

"The rumors going around that I cheated with my late brother's widow are nothing but Millicent Maddox's slander."

"In high school, to get me, she hired thugs to torment my first love until the girl dropped out. I was deceived by her. I only learned the truth two months ago, and I broke things off with her immediately."

"Considering how young she was at the time, I meant to cover for her. I never imagined she'd refuse to repent, going so far as to spread lies about my first love and my brother. Only then was I forced to tell the truth."

At the end of the video, he held up two marriage certificates.

"If not for Millicent Maddox, my first love and I would have been married long ago. Now everything is back on track. I hope you'll all wish us well."

Beneath the video, one comment had been pushed to the top.

【*Heard your brother's death had something to do with Millicent Maddox. True or not?*】

Clive Sanchez had replied. 【*I've already gone to the police. I trust the truth will come out in the end.*】

That reply blew the comment section wide open.

【*He's already called the cops, so there's got to be proof!*】

【*Killed his brother and then slandered the man too. Pure evil. Why couldn't it have been this bitch who died?*】

【*Quit just cursing her out here. I found this monster's phone number and address. Let's all go say hello to her!*】