Miss Ambrose, do you have anything to say about the rumors accusing you of coming between Miss Griggs and President Laurence?”
Flashbulbs burst across the night like a storm of lightning.”
Microphones pushed toward me from every direction.”
For a split second, instinct told me to seek shelter, to hide in Dexter’s arms.”
But he had already moved, shielding Heidi, standing firmly in front of her.”
He didn’t even glance at me.N
“Which outlet are you with? Who said you could take pictures?” he barked.”
I stood alone in the wind, its chill cutting through me.”
Maybe this was how it had to end. He didn’t need me beside him anymore.”
From this moment forward, I’d protect myself.”
“President Laurence, so you’re confirming the breakup with Miss Griggs?” the reporters pressed, voices rising over one another. Heidi suddenly began to tremble, her voice soft and shaking. “Brother Dexter… I’m scared…”
The reporters surged forward, thrilled by the drama, thrusting their microphones into Heidi’s tear–streaked face. Dexter’s frown deepened. Without hesitation, he swept Heidi into his arms and rushed toward his car. Some reporters followed them in a frenzy, while others turned their cameras back on me.” In the chaos, someone stumbled. A camera slipped from their grip and crashed into my arm.” “Ah! My hand!” I cried out, staggering from the blow. The heavy lens had slammed hard into my wrist.” Dexter paused for a brief second.
But Heidi clung tighter to his neck, sobbing, “I’m so scared…”
He never looked back. He gently helped her into the passenger seat, then drove away.”
Everything had been caught on camera.}
And just like that, fearing backlash, the reporters scattered.”
PIF DU ESO DI U GEFS COSHU = < @ = F S
In the end, it was a lone security guard, unable to stomach what he saw, who stepped forward to help and called an ambulance.” Thankfully, the bone wasn’t broken, just a mild sprain.”
With time and rest, it would heal.§
I went through the check–up alone. Picked up my medication alone. And returned home alone.\
Dexter still didn’t come back.”
Worried the plagiarism scandal might jeopardize my job offer, I quickly called Imogen.”
“Hey, Blythe! We didn’t just look at one painting. We reviewed dozens of your works. Of course we know your style!“}
“Don’t worry. The teacher’s already used her connections to circulate your other pieces. They speak for themselves. Honestly? This is the best kind of rebuttal!”
A stranger I had never even met was willing to step up and clear my name.“]
But Dexter? He let me get dragged through the mud without a word.“]
I thought I’d feel heartbroken. But all I felt was disappointment. Disappointment in my pathetic taste in men.”
That night, the pain in my wrist got worse. I had to take painkillers just to sleep.”
While digging through the medicine box, I found the old ointment Dexter once bought for me. A wave of bitter nostalgia hit me
hard.
Back then, when he was drowning in debt, I stayed beside him, accompanying him to dinners, helping him craft proposals, and securing bids.!
Every night before bed, he would take out that ointment and gently massage my hand, whispering with a smile, “Our Blythe’s hand is worth more than Van Gogh’s. When I bounce back, you’ll paint as much as you want.”
Those blush–worthy words still echoed in my ears.”
But now, he couldn’t even be bothered to ask if I was okay.!!
1 pulled out my phone.
2/2
200%
6:39 AM
M
Back then, when he was drowning in debt, I stayed beside nim, accompanying him to dinners, helping him craft proposals, and securing bids.
Every night before bed, he would take out that ointment and gently massage my hand, whispering with a smile, “Our Blythe’s hand is worth more than Van Gogh’s. When I bounce back, you’ll paint as much as you want.””
Those blush–worthy words still echoed in my ears.”
But now, he couldn’t even be bothered to ask if I was okay.”
I pulled out my phone.”
Heidi’s alternate account had just posted a new photo: dozens of gold jewelry pieces, gleaming with age and heavy opulence.
The caption read, [Hubby says the best way to ward off shock is gold! Tacky or not, it’s all heavy with love!]
She really went out of her way to flaunt it just for me to see./
How exhausting that must be.”
But I never fought over men.
If he wasn’t mine, I wouldn’t take him, even if he was handed to me.”
I glanced down at my injured right hand.”
I had tried so hard to protect his pride.M
Since he didn’t want me to know the truth, I pretended I didn’t.”
But now? I regretted it.”
I just wanted to rip the mask off. End it. Clean, cold, merciless.”
After taking the painkillers, I slipped into a dazed, drugged sleep.”
I didn’t know how long I was out before the phone rang, jolting me awake.”
“Blythe, the driver’s downstairs. Come to Brother Jordan’s club now. I’m waiting.”
Still half–dazed, I stumbled toward the window.
Sure enough, the driver stood beside the car, scanning the building for me.”
So, after calming Heidi, he came to pacify me next?!!
He really didn’t get tired of this game.
I wanted to make it clear and end it once and for all.”
But as I stood to leave, a wave of dizziness swept over me.”
22
67
The moment I pushed open the private room door, the once–lively chatter came to a screeching halt.”
Heidi was half–leaning against Dexter, her eyes red and watery, like a scene straight out of a bad melodrama.
“Damn, low–class trash always has their little tricks. And such a stench when she walks in. A woman sneered I’d seen twice before. One of those childhood friends who’d grown up alongside Heidi and Dexter. Every time we met, she made sure to remind me how perfect the two of them were for each other.”
I had thought Dexter called me here to comfort me after what happened. I never expected a full audience.%
I’d thrown a jacket over my loungewear, expecting something quiet, and now every gaze in the room was dragging over me, head to toe.
“If you don’t want to be here, then leave! Sis–in–law isn’t like that, it has to be a misunderstanding!“Z
To my surprise, the one who spoke up for me was Jordan.”
“Sis–in–law? What makes her sis–in–law? Heidi is-”
She shot to her feet, but Dexter’s voice cracked through the room. “Enough!“Z
Even now, Dexter was still chasing the illusion of having both./
Still hiding the truth. Still pretending he wasn’t already married to Heidi.”
What he didn’t know was that Heidi had already lost patience and flaunted it proudly to me through her alternative account.”
“Oh, right. If you say it’s just a misunderstanding, then of course it is. My reputation, my twenty years of hard work in art, none of that matters. As long as sis–in–law’s feelings aren’t hurt. Can’t have me spoiling her mood…”
Heidi choked out a sob, tears flowing again, coating the room in a sickening sweetness.// “What exactly do you want? If there’s nothing, I’m leaving.“/
The meds were making me lightheaded. Her performance was exhausting. I just wanted out./ “Were those reporters at the venue your doing? Trying to smear Heidi and destroy her art career?“}
Dexter’s tone was cold, and his stare even colder. I instinctively pulled my jacket tighter around me.”
Heidi leaned closer to him, just enough to brush against his shoulder./
A smirk tugged at the corner of her lips before she quickly masked it with another sob./
“So now I’m the one who forced her to plagiarize my work? Then hired reporters to expose her?“%
“I’d never stoop that low, but now that you mention it, not a bad plan.“/
Dizzy, my temper snapped.”
“Shameless! You’re the one who copied Heidi and bribed the judges! Switched the paintings and fooled everyone into thinking yours was better!”
Heidi’s face twisted.”
I let out a low, cold laugh. “What? Even your friend admits your painting’s worse. That’s rough. Art takes talent, after all.””
Her tears soaked half of Dexter’s shoulder as she sobbed pitifully.”
“Sister Blythe, I know you’re afraid I’ll steal Brother Dexter, but ever since my family forced us apart, I’ve already let go. Why are you targeting me like this…”
Forced to break up??
Back then, Dexter had flown overseas just to see her one last time.
He waited outside her apartment in the pouring rain, an entire day and night, until he collapsed with a raging fever.”
And Heidi? She never spared him a single glance./
Now, all it took was one word, forced, and Dexter, like a loyal dog, had come crawling back.”
I let out a long, quiet breath.”
There was no point mocking Dexter anymore.”
Wasn’t I the same?%
I had known full well he still carried scars from his past. And still, I gave him everything.“.
Seven years standing by him without question.”
“What do you want from me?”
“As long as the misunderstanding is cleared up, that’s enough. Sister Blythe, please don’t use tactics like that again. Brother Dexter already has enough betrayal to deal with in the business world.”
Heidi pulled away from Dexter and filled a glass to the brim with strong liquor.
“Drink this, and the matter is over,”
Dexter’s face was cloaked in shadows. I couldn’t make out his expression.
than I didn’t moun Haidi lifted a smaller place and douuned it in ann aula
Heidi pulled away from Dexter and filled a glass to the brim with strong liquor. “Drink this, and the matter is over.”
Dexter’s face was cloaked in shadows. I couldn’t make out his expression.
When I didn’t move, Heidi lifted a smaller glass and downed it in one gulp.§
“This is my sincerity.” She collapsed dramatically onto Dexter’s arm, feigning a cough.”
“Heidi never drinks Look at her now and you’re still playing innocent? Everyone knows how many times you’ve toasted at business dinners with Dexter! Can’t drink a drop now? What kind of act is this?“>
I didn’t flinch.
My gaze stayed locked on Dexter, hidden in the dark.
“So you want me to drink too? Apologize to your new lover. Oh, wait. I forgot. Old lover.“”
Dexter said nothing.”
EPSZY OF 0 0 3 F < F
The others might not have known.
But he did.”
Back then, to help him seal deals, I gave up painting and followed him to countless dinners, drinking until I ended up with a bleeding ulcer.
The doctor had warned me: if I drank again, I might lose part of my stomach.”
And yet that night, clutching a freshly signed contract, Dexter had knelt by my hospital bed, crying, swearing he’d protect me.” That he’d give me all his love.”
All his love?!
What a joke.
