Chapter 3
I couldn’t just sit there and wait to die.
Sophia had given me three days.
Within those three days, I needed to make her disappear from my path for good.
I went to Vincent and told him Sophia was threatening me.
But I left out the pregnancy.
I cried in his arms instead, telling him how Sophia had “misunderstood” us and was trying to force me to leave with those photos.
“Vincent, I’m scared.”
“I’m scared she’ll show Leon everything. I’m scared we’ll lose all of this.”
He held me close and stroked my back.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
His reassurance filled me with courage.
“What about Sophia?”
“I’ll handle her.” He kissed my forehead. “She won’t bother you again.”
I believed him.
In this family, Vincent was the God overhead.
If he gave an order, nobody dared go against it.
The next day, Sophia didn’t show up.
I texted her.
No answer.
I called.
Nothing.
An uneasy feeling crept over me.
Sophia wasn’t the kind of woman who gave up so easily.
And sure enough, on the third night, the bell rang at the Johnson estate.
It was Sophia.
She hadn’t come alone.
Behind her stood two family enforcers in uniform.
And Leon.
Leon’s face was paper white. The moment he saw me, his eyes filled with shock and pain.
Sophia, on the other hand, wore the cold smile of a general returning victorious from war.
“Elena. Leon’s home.”
“You wanted to know whether I’d dare?”
Her smile sharpened.
“Now I’m going to show him.”
She threw the stack of photos down in front of Leon, leaving me no room to deny anything.
“Look carefully, son.”
“This is the wife you loved so desperately.”
“The same woman who was sleeping with your father behind your back.”
Leon swayed like he’d been struck by lightning.
He stared at the photos on the floor, then at me, then at the father behind him whose face had gone equally grim.
“No... this isn’t real...”
He bent down and picked one up with shaking hands.
In the photo, Vincent was kissing me in the study.
The room was unmistakable.
“This isn’t real!” he shouted. “They’re fake! You’re all lying to me!”
He tore the photo apart with bloodshot eyes like a wounded animal.
Then he lunged at me, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me hard.
“Elena! Tell me this isn’t true! Tell me!”
“You love me! You married me! How could you possibly—how could you and him—”
His voice broke.
He sounded like a man being split open from the inside.
And as I looked at him, writhing in pain, I felt no guilt at all.
Only anger at having my lie exposed.
“So what if it’s true?”
I shoved him away and looked at the whole family with ice in my veins.
“Leon, did you really think I loved you?”
“The only person I have ever loved—ever—was your father.”
“I married you for one reason only. To stay by his side openly.”
My words were a knife.
The sharpest one.
And I drove it straight into Leon’s heart.
The color drained from his face. He staggered back and knocked over the vase behind him.
“Why...”
“Why...”
He clutched his head and sank to the floor like an abandoned child.
Sophia went to him immediately and held him tight like her heart was breaking for him.
“Now do you finally see her for what she is, my foolish son?”
Then she lifted her head and glared at Vincent and me with naked hatred.
“Vincent, look what you’ve done!”
“For a little whore like this, you threw away your own son!”
“How can you do this to me? To Leon?”
Leon’s face had darkened into something terrifyingly cold.
He stared at me like I was someone he had never met before.
A stranger. Cold, disappointed, and tinged with a hint of betrayed anger.
And for the first time, my heart sank.
