Chapter 3

I kept my voice steady.

“Help with what?”

They had hired a top event-planning team for the engagement party.

They didn’t need his ex-girlfriend helping out.

“Greet the guests. You know the people from the company. Help me welcome them.”

He exhaled a stream of smoke.

“Vivian Sinclair thinks you should be there, too. She wants you to see how happy we are.”

I gave a short laugh.

That last sentence was the real reason he wanted me there.

“All right.”

I took out my phone to make a note.

“I’ll confirm the details with you at the office tomorrow. If there’s nothing else, may I leave?”

His fiancée had just left. He probably didn’t need me to stay overnight.

After all, a mistress was only there when he wanted sex.

He narrowed his eyes.

“You’re not upset?”

“Do you want me to be, sir?”

He said nothing.

He put out his cigarette, walked over, and gripped my chin.

“Claire, honestly, you’ve changed a lot lately.”

His fingers tightened.

“This attitude of yours is really pissing me off.”

I kept my eyes lowered.

“How would you like me to act, sir? I can change.”

This was exactly what had attracted him to me in the first place.

I worked beside him. I had plenty of opportunities to get close to him, but I never asked him for anything.

Back then, he said he liked my self-respect.

Now he didn’t like my attitude.

I had always been this way.

He was the one who had changed.

“Forget it.”

He stared into my eyes for a long time before letting go.

“Go home.”

I turned to leave, but he wrapped his arms around me from behind.

His chin rested on my shoulder.

His voice grew quieter.

“Do you know why I won’t let you leave me?”

He meant the Mistress Agreement that kept me there.

I didn’t know either.

I had thought that, at the very least, two people could break up peacefully when they no longer loved each other.

“Because you’re so obedient. You never make things difficult for me. You never cause a scene or ask where I’ve been or who I’ve seen. Unlike her. She’s always asking where I am and who I’m with.”

His arms tightened.

“Sometimes I think, if you came from a family with money and status, I wouldn’t have to marry someone else.”

I almost laughed.

In the end, he blamed me for not coming from a better family.

But he had forgotten something.

He was the one who had pursued me.

He had known what my family was like from the beginning.

“Sir…” I gently pulled his hands away. “What color should I wear to the engagement party? I’ll need time to get something.”

His hands stopped in midair.

Perhaps he was tired after sleeping with her and didn’t want to keep arguing with me.

In the end, he let me leave.

Outside the hotel, I realized my nails had dug into my palm hard enough to draw blood.

On the day of the engagement party, I stood by the ballroom entrance, checking in guests.

I held a glass of champagne.

But I couldn’t stop looking at the couple surrounded by people congratulating them.

Watching them, I remembered the day I signed the Mistress Agreement.

I had quietly left the medical report confirming my pregnancy in his study drawer.

I thought that once he found it, he would propose.

So when he brought out the agreement, my heart had jumped.

I thought it was a prenup.

He came from a wealthy family. Signing one before getting married was perfectly normal.

I was willing to sign.

Because all I wanted was him.

I had never imagined that, after six years, this was what he would offer me.

I had gone from being his girlfriend to a mistress no one could know about.

Near the end of the party, Vivian stopped in front of me.

She smiled.

“You must be Claire?”

I paused, then nodded.

“Ethan’s mentioned you. He says you’ve worked at the company for years and you’re very good at your job.”

I gave a few polite replies.

She smoothed back her hair.

“Oh, by the way, I won’t be letting him stay at that apartment after next week. We’ve already chosen a place to live once we’re married.”

“It wouldn’t really work for you to stay there, either. You should start looking for somewhere else.”

My fingers trembled.

I almost cried.

I lowered my head and straightened the guest list, waiting until I could speak without crying.

“All right…I’ll make arrangements.”

I had barely finished speaking when she picked up the glass of champagne beside me.

Before I could react, she screamed.

“Oh!”

“You…why did you throw your drink on me?”

Then she slapped me hard across the face.

I pressed a hand to my cheek and looked up.

All I saw was her champagne-soaked dress and her reddened eyes.

People across the ballroom turned to look.

Ethan approached, frowning.

“What happened?”

Vivian immediately threw herself into his arms.

“Ethan, I was only trying to help. I told her you wouldn’t be staying at the apartment anymore and suggested she find another place. Then she threw her drink on me…”

“Claire!”

“I didn’t…” My voice was strained.

“What, she poured it on herself and then slapped you?”

He had already decided Vivian couldn’t have done it.

No one would believe a bride-to-be had poured a drink on herself at her own engagement party.

And he had already decided I didn’t want to give up the apartment.

“Apologize,” he said coldly.

I didn’t move.

“Don’t make this difficult for me. You know what today is. Making a scene won’t do you any favors. Apologize, or don’t come to work tomorrow.”

I looked at him.

Six years ago, he had brought me in from the rain and said, “No one will ever dare hurt you again.”

Six years later, he held the woman who had just hit me and demanded that I apologize to her.

I thought I had accepted that he didn’t love me anymore.

But right then, my chest hurt so much I could barely speak.

I lowered my head.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have thrown my drink on you.”

Ethan still didn’t look entirely satisfied.

But he turned to the people watching and told them to move along.

“It’s fine. Just a misunderstanding. Please, enjoy the party.”

Before leaving, he looked at me one last time.

“Go clean yourself up in the restroom. Don’t embarrass yourself here.”

I touched my swollen cheek, then the hair that had come loose when she slapped me.

Yes, it was humiliating.

But the most humiliating part was that the man I had loved for six years had decided I was guilty in front of everyone without even checking what had happened.

I took out my phone and sent a message.

I want to move up our plan.

Then I laughed through my tears.