It felt like falling from the clouds straight onto concrete—no buffer, nothing but the raw, tearing pain of impact.
Stella put away the video, completely confident as she stared at me.
"So? Still planning to cling to him?"
I blinked back my tears and forced a laugh. "No. I won't."
"But I do want to show you something."
I held up my phone and showed her the messages Gerald had just sent me.
[Stella has a strong sense of morality. If she finds out she's actually the other woman, she won't be able to bear it.]
[I'll compensate you. For now, just play along with her.]
Her face twisted again.
Her eyes reddened, and she burst into angry tears.
She immediately dialed Gerald.
"Tell me, who's the mistress here?! Gerald, you scumbag! Get over here right now and clean up your mess!"
Before he could say a word, she hung up.
The arrogance in her voice made it obvious—Gerald spoiled her regularly.
I had been his childhood sweetheart.
Ten years of love, five years of marriage.
Even at my angriest, I had never spoken to him like that.
"Sorry... I didn't know my husband lied to you," she said, wiping her tears with a silk scarf. "My attitude earlier was a little harsh."
Heat rushed through me—anger, disbelief, grief blending into something nearly uncontrollable.
I stared at the silk scarf in her hand.
My mother's scarf.
Her final design before she passed away.
Someone had once offered fifty million for the design rights, and I still refused.
I always treated that scarf like a priceless treasure, placing it in the safest, most precious spot in my dressing room.
It was the last thing I had of her.
Whenever I missed her, I would hold it close and inhale the faint scent that reminded me of her.
My hands shook violently as I snatched the scarf away from Stella.
My eyes stung as I glared at her.
"This belonged to my mother. Why do you have it?!"
She flinched, startled. Confusion spread across her face.
"Gerald bought it for me. He said he paid twenty million for it."
Then her gaze suddenly shifted behind me. Her face twisted with rage.
"Gerald! You are going to explain this Right now!"
The private room was filled with tension.
When Gerald walked in and saw the two marriage certificates on the table, he didn't spare me a single look.
Instead, he immediately pulled Stella into his arms, trying to calm her.
"I'm sorry, wife. I... I lost my mind for a moment."
Wife.
He called her wife.