Leon leaned against my shoulder and scoffed.

"I knew you were just playing hard to get. If you really don't care, why are you crying?"

I said nothing. Just turned off my phone.

"I was just thinking... the way I used to act was like a madwoman."

Looking back at those hysterical five years, I barely recognized the person I'd been.

Leon grabbed my chin and turned my face toward him. Then he kissed away my tears, rough, almost like punishment.

"Now you finally get how much you've embarrassed me all these years."

His breathing grew heavier.

Then Chloe's voice called from outside the door.

Something sharp flashed in Leon's eyes.

"How about the three of us... together?"

My expression froze.

Like the moment had soured, he brushed his thumb across my lips.

"Wynne, being my wife isn't the same as being the Wronski family's heiress. You need to be a bigger person. Behave a little better, and next year I'll take you to my family's estate for Christmas with my parents."

I dropped my gaze and watched him leave—Chloe already tucked in his arms.

But there wouldn't be a next year for us.

I met Leon my freshman year of college. We dated four years.

He was the most popular guy on campus. Love letters never stopped.

Leon never shut them down. He'd just smile and say he liked watching me get jealous.

Somehow, over those four years, I turned into someone insecure.

Like a trapped animal guarding its turf—teeth bared at the swarm of girls circling him.

I couldn't stop myself from grabbing onto something.

So on graduation day, I proposed to Leon.

He lit a cigarette first. "Wynne, I'm not done having fun yet. If we get married, you can still be my wife. But can you live with me keeping mistresses?"

I thought he was joking.

Six days into our marriage, I walked in and found him in bed with another woman.

Leon didn't even pause. He saw me—and just kept going.

Something in me snapped.

I went full psycho and trashed the whole house.

The girl got scared so bad she landed in the hospital, and Leon and I made front-page headlines.

After that, Leon came up with the Christmas draw. His brilliant idea to make me "behave."

Bernard made a bet with me. If Leon didn't take me to his family estate within five years, Bernard would come drag me back to Solmierz.

I took the bet without blinking. Easy win, right?

First year, the winner was some random spa girl.

And Leon actually took her to the Fabian estate.

Me? Locked out.

My hands froze until they blistered. I walked down the mountain all night before I finally made it home.

Second year, the winner was some country girl.

In the family photo Leon posted, she stood right in the center.

I sat in front of the cold Christmas Eve dinner, crying until my chest hurt.

After that, I got desperate. Praying day and night, begging for the winning lot.

Third year. Fourth year...

Now the fifth. The last one.

Still not me.

By then, I'd basically turned into Nowevik's favorite gossip story.

Fine. Whatever.

I didn't want to be a Fabian anymore anyway.

[Bernard, come get me early. The Christmas Eve dinner in Nowevik... yeah, I never got used to them.]

I took some hangover meds and headed to the mansion's little bar to find Leon.

Through the glass window, I saw him inside with his buddies.

"Leon, whoever wins the draw is just you saying the word. Wynne's been the punchline for five years. Aren't you worried she'll figure out you've been rigging it the whole time?"

My hand froze on the doorknob.

My chest tightened.

Leon sounded totally unconcerned.

"She still doesn't know how to be Mrs. Fabian. How could I bring her to my family's estate? And even if she finds out, so what? I'll sweet-talk her a little. She won't make a fuss."

The heated floor warmed my feet, but the rest of me felt like I'd dropped into an ice pit. I shivered.

All the tricks I'd used trying to win that draw...

Turns out I was the joke.

"Maybe Wynne won't make a fuss," someone said. "But what about her family?"

Leon paused. Then his voice came back, easy and sure.

"They're too far away. The Wronskis can't do anything."

Three thousand kilometers lay between Nowevik and Solmierz.

The distance—and everything I'd crossed for love at eighteen—had become the reason people looked down on me.

I let go of the doorknob and smiled at my own stupidity. Bitter.

I turned to leave.

The door swung open from the inside.

Chloe stepped out holding two bottles of wine. Surprise flashed across her face, then melted into sweetness. "Didn't expect you here too. Come in and join us."

Before I could refuse, she shoved me inside.

I stumbled. The hangover meds slipped from my hand and scattered across the floor.

Chloe casually dropped onto Leon's lap and sighed.

"You're so thoughtful. I'm not like that. I just think Leon holds his liquor well, so I always make him drink a couple more glasses."

Leon looked pleased and reached for the medicine.

I kept my face cold, ignored his hand, and dumped the pills in the trash.

"If his tolerance's that good, he probably doesn't need hangover meds."

Leon's hand froze midair.

Like payback, he slid his hand into Chloe's collar. "Baby, you're right. I can handle my liquor. I don't need certain people worrying about me."

The room went stiff until someone suggested Truth or Dare.

The bottle spun... then stopped, pointing at Leon.

The guy asking the question looked between him and me.

"Pick a woman here to spend the night with."

I didn't react. I just stared at my phone.

Text from Bernard.

[Everything's ready. Christmas Eve, I'm taking you home.]

Before I could reply, my phone suddenly got knocked to the floor.

Leon grabbed my wrist. Anger flashed in his eyes, his grip tight enough to hurt. Then he sneered.

"I choose Chloe."

The room fell silent.

Every look thrown at me carried the same mix—mockery and pity.

Leon scooped Chloe into his arms. When he passed me, he paused, eyes sliding toward the master bedroom.

"Give us the master bedroom."

His tone made it clear. Not a request.

He knew I had severe germophobia.

I met his punishing stare and nodded, calm.

Then I opened a drawer, pulled out a sealed box of ultra-thin condoms, and set it on the cabinet beside them.

Quiet. Casual.

After that, I closed the door.

A slow breath left my chest.

Three days left.

They went at it until the middle of the night.

By morning, when the door opened, clothes and used condoms were scattered all over the floor.

The sheets were wrinkled, smeared with sticky fluid. My favorite set of bedding.

The maid stood in the doorway, looking at me awkwardly, unsure what to do.

I glanced at the mess, face cold. Not a flicker of emotion.

"Throw it all away."

Chloe fed Leon a glass of milk, the faint red marks on her chest impossible to miss.

"Sorry for messing up your room so much."

I kept tending the potted plants on the balcony and ignored her.

Before, every time Leon brought a side chick home for the night, the disgust would have me throwing up nonstop.

Now that I didn't care anymore...

It was actually a lot easier.

Seeing no reaction from me, Leon spoke, almost like he needed to get a rise out of me. "Where's the pendant I gave you?"

My hand paused while trimming a branch.

Just for a second.

I set the scissors down and brought out a neatly kept box.

Inside sat a pendant engraved with the Fabian family crest.

Leon gave it to me when we first started dating.

"Wynne, this gets passed down to Fabian daughters-in-law."

Back then, I'd been overwhelmed. I treasured it for almost ten years.

Now I placed it straight into Chloe's hands.

"Leon's right. Only this pendant matches your beauty."

The second the words left my mouth, his face darkened. The glass in his hand shattered in his grip.

"Wynne Wronski, what exactly are you playing at?"

I had no answer.

Nothing I did ever seemed to please him.

Once, Leon kept a favorite side piece around for three months. He asked me for one of my moth orchids to give her.

I was so furious I cut every stem to pieces. Made a whole ugly scene.

The girl cried. Leon snapped at me in front of everyone, grinding my dignity into the floor.

"Wynne, do you have to be this petty? It's just a pot of flowers. Why are you fighting her over it?"

Now I was handing over the Fabian family pendant—the thing I'd treasured most.

So what exactly was he still mad about?