Chapter 2

Mia's POV

That house was left to me by my grandmother before she passed away.

After the funeral, Richard handed the deed over to me.

"Mia, your grandmother left this for you. No one can ever take it away."

Who could have guessed that, in the end, they would be the ones to take it.

I don't remember how I got home from the hotel.

All I remember is jamming the key into the lock three times before it finally went in. The apartment was stuffy, the radiators blasting an oppressive heat, yet I felt freezing.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in my head.

"Open the window. It won't be so stuffy once you open it."

I looked up at the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room. It was pitch black outside, the glass reflecting my own face—pale, swollen, with dark bruises of exhaustion under my eyes.

"Open it and jump. If you jump, your head won't hurt anymore."

I walked over, unlatched the lock, and pushed the window open. The freezing wind poured in, and indeed, it didn't feel as suffocating anymore.

I pounded my temples with my fists.

If I jump, will it really stop hurting?

I stepped over the window frame, my toes touching the cold metal of the fire escape outside the balcony.

"Mia!"

Before I could even turn my head, a brute force wrapped around my waist. I was yanked backward, my spine slamming heavily against the hardwood floor.

Julian pinned me down, gasping for air.

"I'm sorry, Mia. I'm sorry I came home late."

His heartbeat pounded against my eardrums, frantic and erratic.

With my face buried in his coat, I caught the scent of a sickly sweet perfume.

"Where did you go?" I asked, my voice muffled.

He stiffened for a split second before helping me sit up.

Cupping my face with both hands, he used his thumbs to wipe away the tears on my cheeks. I hadn't even realized I was crying.

"I went to a friend's wedding."

As he spoke, he pulled out his phone with one hand, keeping the other firmly on my shoulder, as if terrified I would vanish into thin air the moment he let go.

"Ethan went with me. If you don't believe me, you can ask him."

He dialed the number and put it on speaker. It connected after three rings.

"You home? Mia isn't giving you a hard time, is she?"

"She's right here next to me," Julian said.

"Oh." Ethan paused, his tone instantly shifting into something serious. "Don't overthink things, Mia. I went with Julian today. He didn't wander off anywhere, and he headed straight back the second the wedding ended."

Julian hung up and pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead.

"Are you at ease now?"

At ease. I thought of that kiss on the stage. Julian leaning down, Tessa tilting her face up, not a single millimeter of space left between them.

My stomach violently churned. I shoved him away, doubling over as I dry-heaved. Stomach acid burned the back of my throat, bringing fresh tears to my eyes.

"Mia—" Julian reached out for me.

His phone rang.

He glanced at the screen, and a subtle shift rippled across his expression. He stood up and walked toward the balcony.

"I need to take this."

The balcony door wasn't completely shut, and snippets of his voice drifted in.

"Acting crazy again... I'll be right there."

Footsteps returned. Julian squatted in front of me, his tone laced with just the right amount of reluctance.

"Mia, Dad just called saying he's not feeling well. I'm going to go check on him. Don't wait up for me tonight, just go to bed early."

Before he even finished his sentence, my phone lit up. Dad flashed on the screen.

I answered.

"Julian is coming over to check on me. Don't worry about it, just get some sleep."

What perfect cooperation. Their timing was so flawless it was as if they had rehearsed this a hundred times.

Julian held his wrist up in front of me, shaking it slightly. The bracelet glinted under the living room lights. "If you're still worried, you can check my location anytime."

He left. The door clicked shut.

I braced myself against the sofa, stood up, and walked over to the window to look down.

Under the streetlamp below, Tessa slipped out from the shadow of a black SUV. She threw herself into Julian's arms, practically vibrating with impatience, and tilted her face up for a kiss.

But Julian pulled back half an inch on pure reflex. He cautiously scanned the surrounding streets.

Only after confirming the coast was clear did he look down, wrap his arms tightly around her waist, and kiss her with desperate urgency.

That practiced, familiar routine of a cheating affair pierced my eyes like a jagged thorn.

The two of them quickly ducked into the car. The doors shut, and the taillights turned the corner at the parking lot exit, disappearing completely from sight.

I took a deep breath, then went downstairs and hailed a cab.

As the car drove out of my neighborhood, my phone buzzed. It was a location alert—Julian's bracelet was parked on the street right next to my parents' house.

I clutched my phone, pressing my fingernail so hard against that red dot on the screen that my fingertip turned white.

"You alright, miss?" the cab driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror.

"I'm fine," I said, my voice so eerily calm it surprised even myself. "Please drive faster."