Chapter 3

The art warehouse was in Brooklyn.

After we had driven for a bit, Chloe turned around. "Stella, you don't even have a boyfriend. What are you doing going out on a snowy day like this?"

"Just running an errand."

The light turned red. Chloe took out her lipstick and handed it to Gabriel. "Help me touch this up, honey?"

He took it without a second thought, cupping her face in one hand as the pad of his thumb gently wiped the corner of her lips.

They were so close that they were almost kissing.

I jerked my head away, fixing my gaze rigidly on the snowy scene outside the window.

Just as we were about to reach our destination, Chloe let out a small gasp. "Oh no! I forgot the documents I need to give to my friend! We have to go back and get them!"

The GPS showed we were only about a mile away.

Gabriel barely hesitated before pulling over. "It's out of the way, Stella. You can call an Uber yourself."

My heart froze solid in an instant.

"Fine."

I pulled the car door open, and a frigid wind full of snowflakes cut at my face like a knife.

The black sedan sped away, kicking up a spray of slush that splattered the cuffs of my pants.

The world was a vast white expanse, and on the empty street, I was alone, trudging through ankle-deep snow, one heavy step after another.

That mile felt like a century.

After seeing the artwork, I ran into my old mentor.

We exchanged a few pleasantries, and when she heard I was planning to settle in California, she asked in surprise, "You're not coming back? Gabriel is okay with that?"

"He is." I forced a smile. "I can't depend on him forever."

My mentor sighed wistfully. "That may be true, but Gabriel's devotion to you... it's truly beyond words! When you were falsely accused back in the day, he rushed straight to the university the moment he was out of surgery!"

"When you were injured and hospitalized, he postponed a multi-million dollar project without a second thought! And also..."

Her words brought it all back, every single instance, with vivid clarity.

The warmth I had deliberately buried surged up, bringing with it a suffocating, dull ache.

"Remember to repay his kindness!"

I nodded forcefully.

The best repayment is to disappear completely.

Back at my apartment, I began to liquidate everything.

Twelve years of living expenses, tuition, and intangible support... it all added up to an astronomical figure.

The shares in the trust fund were listed for sale.

All the gifts he had given me—the jewelry, the sculpting tools, the limited-edition collectibles, and even the piano I cherished—were donated to charity.

The art of letting go, starting with my worldly possessions.

My phone vibrated, the screen lighting up.

A dozen photos from Hawaii flooded the chat window. Chloe was nestled in Gabriel’s arms: "Stella, Gabriel and I are getting away for a few days! Be a good girl~"

My fingertip slid across the screen, my heart a barren, quiet landscape.

Okay, have fun.

They returned five days later, the necklace from the auction dazzling at Chloe's throat.

She eagerly showed off her spoils, holding a cashmere scarf around my neck. "Look, Stella! Just think of it as a gift from the future Mrs. Throne, how about that?"

The words "Mrs. Throne" stabbed my ears like needles.

The moment I lifted my gaze, a deep, crimson hickey stood out on the side of her neck.

An image of the hotel's king-sized bed flashed through my mind.

I lowered my eyes.

At dinner, Chloe brought up a charity gala, whining coquettishly that I just had to go.

"Gabriel, let Stella come too, won't you? We're about the same age!"

Gabriel’s brow furrowed slightly.

He had never taken me to formal events before.

This time, worn down by Chloe's incessant pleading, he finally gave a resigned nod, a foreign look of compromise in his eyes.