Jason consoled me by saying that the necklace no longer suited my style and that I should just let it go.

I was so mad at him for not understanding how important the necklace was to me.

As I thought back about it, it truly was comical. It was just his tactic to steal from me, then pretend to comfort me.

Philippa Sanders subconsciously touched the necklace. Her eyes looked shifty and her lips quivered, yet she could not find a single word.

Just at that moment, someone called her name.

Relieved that rescue came just in time, she muttered a goodbye and quickly left.

Seeing her fleeing the scene in a panic, I smirked. I distractedly dried my hands before I left the restroom.

Then, I called my brother, Daniel Kidman.

Daniel was the head of the Eternal Group, who was also an important business partner of Jason's.

I calmly said, "Daniel, please call off your business with Jason. I'm about to get a divorce. Yes, that's right. He has a secret lover. A college student."

…

The legal department at the Eternal Group worked quickly. That night, I received a hard disk.

I connected it to my computer and saw the truth that Jason had been hiding from me.

Every single one of them.

On the tenth of October of the previous year, I was in Malersha on a business trip. We had agreed to check out the night lights at the Twin Towers.

Jason stood me up as I stood under the Twin Towers, waiting for him. I ended up having a high fever for the three days.

It turned out that he had accompanied Philippa to a luxury brand's limited-edition 'Lover's Workshop'.

On the fourth of November, one of the branches of my cafe caught on fire. I was slightly injured, but I still ended up with a miscarriage.

I sobbed my tears out in the hospital. I called Jason multiple times, but no one picked up.

It turned out that he was with Philippa at a beauty spa.

On the sixth of November after the miscarriage, I was recovering at home, all depressed. He gave me a vinyl collector's edition of The Lovers. He said that he had asked a favor from his friend and had taken a long time to find it.

We had a candlelight dinner, dining to the song 'As Seasons Go'.

Only at that moment did I find out that the vinyl was just a lucky draw prize that he and Philippa won from some event.

The date that he seemed to have prepared meticulously, from the playlist to the menu, was just a replica of the date he had with her the previous day.

The next day, he left on the excuse of a business trip, when in fact he took Philippa to a cruise party.

In the photos of the party, everyone was happy. Most of them were our mutual friends. Some of them were even on our main table at our wedding.

There they were, having fun with Jason and his lover. What good friends they were.

I went through the hard disk as my heart sank lower and lower.

Just when I was about to switch off the computer, a medical test report came into view.

I suddenly stopped breathing as a chill ran down my neck. With trembling fingers, I clicked the file open.

It was a medical report on a certain brand of birth control pills, yet the photo of the bottle was of the vitamin bottles that I had been faithfully taking every day.

At the bottom of the report, there was a cautionary warning clearly stated.

[This medication has a significant effect on early pregnancy. Use may result in spontaneous miscarriage.]

Continue scrolling down was a screenshot of Philippa's social media post.

She was showing off the same bottle of pills. She wrote a caption to go with it.

[My husband said that he only wants a baby with me.]

Someone in the comments teased her.

[Planning for a baby already?]

She replied with a blushing emoticon.

My ears buzzed. It turned out that my miscarriage was no accident.

Jason had replaced my vitamins with the drug with the excuse of conditioning my body.

To top it off, the reason I had not been able to conceive afterward was not, as the doctors claimed, because my body needed time to recover.

It was because the medication was never meant to be taken for more than three months.

How was that any different from poisoning?

Tears fell as I chuckled. All the details that I had deliberately brushed aside came flooding back to me once more.

The occasional foreign smell of perfume on him. The late-night whispered phone calls from the balcony.

The glass of water he so eagerly handed to me the night before my miscarriage…

I was an idiot. I was so drained that hatred felt pointless.

I wiped away my tears hard.

I was not going to let those scumbags get away with it.

Just as my thoughts spiraled, an unfamiliar number rang.

I took a deep breath before answering the call.

"Who's speaking?"

A mocking lady's voice came through. My sworn rival, Yvonne Shonda.

"Well, look at that. You're still alive! I thought you were dead. Jason Moore was so eagerly introducing his replacement wife."

Being frenemies for so many years, I knew she would just call to mock me.

I ignored her mockings and asked, "What did you see?"

She snickered. "Looks like you aren't that stupid after all. There's an industry networking event over here. Your husband’s been going around introducing his new fiancee to everyone."

She added, "I just sent you the address."

I looked at the address. It was an hour's car ride from where I was. How dare they be so brazen, so close to where I was?

I sneered. Fiancee?

The gall he had. How could his legal wife miss out on such a lively event?

…

I headed straight to the address. I had just gotten into the car when I received Jason's message.

[Honey, aren't you home? I happened to check the pet cam in the living room to check on the cats, and I didn't see you around.]

He had been awfully concerned about me recently, worried about my health and mental situation. It turned out that it was only because he was worried I might spoil his fun.

I snickered and replied with a photo.

[Ida's here. We're having a coffee downstairs.]

In less than a second, Jason sent a reply.

[You should probably stick to fruit juices. Doctor's orders.]

He attached a photo of himself at work. What a great actor, sticking to his act to a tee.

All those years, he always informed me where he was, and I never once suspected him.

Yvonne's hotel had great security. With that high level of a networking event, the security system had to be flawless.

Through the very clear security footage, I saw Jason wading through the crowds with Philippa by his side.

He held his hand around her waist as they went around, raising glasses to the other guests.

Philippa was wearing a champagne-colored long gown. I was familiar with the gown.

Jason showed me a photo of it last month and said, "This gown would suit you a lot."

However, it ended up on another woman.

They were talking to a few important guests. I recognized one of them. Albert Chandler, an investor whom Jason and I worked with before.

Philippa nodded and smiled gently. Jason was beaming at her, his eyes filled with nothing but adoration.

They clearly looked like the happy couple to be wedded.

At that moment, Philiippa touched her abdomen and said something to Jason. He immediately bent down to have a listen. Then, he chuckled happily.

He swept her hair behind her ears, looking at her with so much affection. Everyone around them chuckled and raised their glasses in congratulations.

Albert patted Jason on the shoulder, looking overjoyed.

Looking at the scene, I suddenly remembered my family doctor telling me a month ago, "Don't worry, you'll have a child eventually."

At that time, Jason held my hand and gently consoled me.

"Don't worry. We have a lifetime together."

However, there he was, about to have a child, but the mother was not me.

In the live security footage, the crowd gathered in the middle of the venue. The host officially started the event and Jason was invited on stage to share his opinion.

Afterward, he invited Philippa on stage. He spoke with great affection on how they met. He described how Philippa was always by his side during all the late nights and how she silently supported him when he was stressed out on projects.

"She's my little ray of sunshine, always giving me energy."

The crowd erupted into applause, praising their beautiful love story, yet they seemed to have forgotten that Jason was a married man.

How comical.

Sitting in the security control room listening to his speech, even I was almost moved.

Of course, that would only happen under the pretext that the man giving the speech was not my husband.

Philippa took over the microphone. With a catch in her throat, she began praising Jason for being her mentor in her career.

She said the last time her father's company was in crisis, he was the one who pulled strings, mobilized connections, and raised emergency funds overnight.

"Meeting a man like him is the greatest blessing in my life."

A wave of nausea rose in my chest looking at their pretentious performance. They used my connections, killed my child, yet they were playing the sweet lovers without any regards of others.

The doctor had said that my pregnancy was unstable, yet Jason hadn't hesitated for a moment to make his move.

Just as the atmosphere reached its peak, Jason let go of Philippa's hand and got down on one knee, taking a ring out.

"Philippa, I know you don't care for formalities, but I love you. I want to give you the best. I would like to take advantage of today's networking event and propose to you. Will you marry me? I'll give you the grandest wedding! Will you be my wife?"

The venue broke into thunderous applause as the guests congratulated the couple.

Amid the cheers, I clearly heard Albert, who had once secured a project only because I introduced him, raise his glass and cheer, "Mr. Moore, what a truly loyal and devoted man! Congratulations on your family and career!"

Richard Leigh, whose son’s legal troubles were resolved through my connections, clapped enthusiastically and sighed.

"Mr. Moore is a lucky man to bag such a beautiful wife! You two are a match made in heaven!"

Michael Walton, who had repeatedly obtained government approvals only through my brother, stood up excitedly to make a toast to them.

"Mr. Moore, Ms. Sanders, may you two be happy together for all eternity! Don't forget to invite me to the wedding!"

Everyone there had once profited from me, yet they had completely chosen to ignore my existence. It was as if I had never existed in their lives before.

Right at that moment, Yvonne interrupted the happy cheering, "Mr. Moore, when did you divorce Rachel Kidman? How come I didn't hear about it?"

Her words were like a loud slap, shattering the illusion of happiness in an instant.

The crowd froze, and the hall fell into pin-drop silence.

Jason and Philippa looked flustered. Gone was their previous smug satisfaction.

Jason soon collected himself. He pulled Philippa closer to him while casting Yvonne an icy gaze.

"The woman I choose is my wife. No one else needs to be mentioned."

In front of the screen, I clenched my fists so hard my knuckles turned white. All those years, I had used all of my connections and resources to support him in his career.

He had once promised me that he had my back and he would be my strongest supporter. We were once the power couple of the business world.

In the end, I was just a person who should not have been brought up in front of him.

My heart prickled, but that pain soon turned into a burning rage.

Yvonne snickered and was about to continue when Albert immediately stepped in and said, "Ms. Shonda, it's a happy day today. Why bring all this up? Besides, Ms. Sanders is pregnant. If anything were to happen to the baby, no one can afford to bear this responsibility."

The guests raised their glasses once more.

"Congratulations! What a happy additional surprise for you, Mr. Moore!"

"I heard that Ms. Kidman couldn't give birth to a child. Someone has to take over the Moore family's business after all."

Philippa slowly got her courage back as she saw everyone siding with her. She replied demurely, "Thank you for your wishes. We'll invite everyone to our wedding."

Jason took the opportunity to double down on the promise. "All of you here are our witnesses! We'll surely send you a great gift!"

As the rapturous applause broke out, a shrill feedback screech tore through the microphones.

I slowly walked up on stage amid the silence. Looking at everyone's shocked faces, I smirked.

"Why did no one inform me to join in such an exciting wedding proposal?"