Chapter 3

I was so scared I didn't dare move a muscle all night, and I immediately called the police.

Alexander rushed over as soon as he got the call, holding me and comforting me for a long time.

Later, worried something like that would happen again, I had security cameras installed—the kind that connects to a phone app.

But as work at the law firm got busier and busier, I never went back to that villa to vacation again.

Just now, on some strange impulse, I opened the security camera app. As soon as the feed loaded, the live footage appeared.

Isabella, dressed in black lace lingerie, was personally pouring Alexander a glass of red wine.

They were embracing on the leather sofa, their posture intimate.

Isabella giggled coquettishly, teasing him, "Darling, does your wife know you lied to her about being in meetings, when you've actually been shacked up with me for three days?"

Alexander kissed her lips. "Kitten, you're forgetting that you're my wife."

"We got our marriage license in Bermuda. We're a legally married couple."

Isabella climbed onto his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, persistent. "Then I want you to call her. Call her right now."

As she spoke, she hugged him tightly. The man sighed and, with a look of fond indulgence, did as she asked.

My phone buzzed twice.

With a trembling hand, I answered, "Hello."

"Sophia, are you off work yet? I miss you so much. Do you miss me?"

His breath hitched as he spoke, but his words were like a hundred needles stabbing at my heart, a dull, aching pain.

"What are you doing? Did the... meeting go well?"

My eyes were glued to the security footage of him, completely seduced by Isabella's advances. He rolled over and pinned her down, and I could hear their suppressed gasps through the phone.

"What's that noise on your end?"

Alexander was completely lost in the moment. The phone fell into the crevice of the sofa, and his voice was muffled as he buried his head to kiss her, yet he still remembered to put on a show for me:

"Nothing. The projector in the conference room is acting up. I'm just trying to fix it, so it's a little loud."

Isabella, her lips a seductive red from his kisses, playfully tapped his chest in protest before he pulled her back into a deep kiss.

Tears I could no longer hold back streamed down my face.

"Well, you get back to it then. I have a case to work on, so I'm hanging up now."

I didn't wait for his reply, hanging up immediately. It felt as if all the strength had been drained from my body, and I collapsed into my chair in despair.

Meanwhile, the man and woman in the video were completely lost in an ocean of desire, oblivious to the world around them.

Three days later, Alexander came back from his business trip.

"Honey, it feels like we've been apart for a century. I missed you so much."He buried his head in the crook of my neck like a lazy cat.

It was his usual way of showing how much he relied on me.

But my body was rigid, my mind consumed by the image of him pressing Isabella against the sofa, kissing her.

After what felt like an eternity, Alexander finished tapping out a message on his phone and set it down.

"There's a law school alumni gathering. Want to go? I'll go with you."

I shook my head.

He knew I was a lawyer, usually too busy to even have time for a proper meal, and I still had two clients' cases on my plate.

Seeing my lack of enthusiasm, Alexander smiled dotingly and pulled me out of my study.

"I know my dear wife is a workaholic, but you're not a machine. You need to rest and relax. Come on, your husband will take you to see some old classmates."

In the end, Alexander practically dragged me into the venue.

It was a high-end gathering for the legal community. The party had just started when a man's flirtatious laugh suddenly came from nearby:

"Hey beautiful, are you here at the party all by yourself?"

"Leave me alone," a girl said, her voice laced with irritation.

The familiar voice made both Alexander and me freeze. We snapped our heads in its direction.

The girl with pearl earrings, holding a glass of champagne, was none other than Isabella.