Chapter 2

Determined to force me out of hiding and humiliate me, Hunter made a point of taking Winter to his company the next day in full view of everyone.

He drove the Porsche that he had originally gifted me and walked hand in hand with her into the executive elevator.

At lunchtime, they dined at his favorite private restaurant. Winter eagerly placed a piece of meat near his mouth. "Here, Hunter. Have more."

Hunter took a bite and immediately frowned. The greasy food made his stomach churn.

Almost by instinct, he picked up his phone and opened the pinned chat labeled "Wifey". His finger hovered over the message box as he considered asking me to bring him his medicine.

In the past, no matter where he was entertaining clients, I would rush over with medicine if his stomach acted up. I would even bring him warm soup made specially for his sensitive stomach.

He used to hold me close and say, "Stella, what would I do without you?"

Now, his hand froze. He suddenly remembered I had "run away from home". With a sharp smack, he slammed his phone onto the table and barked, "I'm not eating anymore!"

Winter jumped at the sudden outburst. An idea popped into her head, and she deliberately excused herself to send an email from her laptop.

A few minutes later, she exclaimed, "Oh, my goodness! Hunter, look! Isn't this Stella?"

On the screen was a modified photo taken at an airport. The pregnant woman in the picture looked strikingly like me, and the man embracing her was one of my college seniors.

Hunter only needed one glance before snapping, "Well, isn't that amazing?"

He stared at the screen, his eyes bloodshot. "No wonder she insisted on picking a fight with me yesterday. It turned out she already had someone else lined up!"

I floated across from him, screaming at the top of my lungs, "Can you get any dumber than this, Hunter? That photo is so badly edited, the lighting doesn't even seem natural! And I was wearing pajamas yesterday!

"The woman in the picture is wearing a trench coat! Just look carefully, Hunter!"

Unfortunately, jealousy and blind rage had clouded Hunter's judgment. In his mind, that senior from college had always been a thorn in his side.

No matter how many times I explained that we were nothing more than friends, he stubbornly believed I was unfaithful. I had told him repeatedly that there was nothing between us, yet he never let it go.

Once, that jealousy had been proof that he loved me. Now, it had become the very blade that cut me down.

"Call Finance. Freeze all of Stella's accounts. And the money for her mother's dialysis—recover every cent of it."

Hunter's assistant hesitated on the other end of the line. "But Mr. Gibson, Mrs. Newman needs that money to save her life—"

"I told you to recover it!" Hunter roared into the phone. "She thinks she can run off with another man while still spending my money? Tell her sick mother to go to hell!"

I lunged at him like a vengeful spirit. "Leave my mother out of this! If you want revenge, take it out on me!"

I tried to snatch his phone from his hand, tried to shove him away, but my hands passed through everything time and again. I couldn't touch or stop anything.

Despair swallowed me whole. All I could do was watch as Hunter ended the call with a look of grim satisfaction. "This is what happens when you betray me, Stella."

Then, he posted a statement online. "Talk about trusting and marrying the wrong person."

Friends who knew nothing about the truth immediately flooded the comments. Some cursed me, while others comforted him. Beside him, Winter's lips curled into a smug smile.

Hunter called over his assistant and pointed toward the security guards at the entrance. "Tell them that if Stella comes back begging for forgiveness, throw her out, by force if necessary. I don't care what she has to say."

I floated behind him, watching helplessly as he cut off Mom's only chance of survival over a poorly edited photo and reduced me to nothing.