Max's words had been so devout.

He'd even smiled, knelt before me, and said, "Compared to anyone else, you'll always come first."

But now, he just made me sick.

My stomach churned violently, and I ran to the bathroom, retching over and over.

Max leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching me.

"Seriously?"

"It was just sleeping with another woman. You're acting like you're some kind of saint." His lip curled. "Back then, weren't you the one pinned under some other guy, almost—"

He stopped mid-sentence when he saw the color drain from my face.

Panic flickered across his expression.

"I'm sorry, babe. I didn't mean to bring that up."

He knew. He knew exactly what had happened. Walking home from a late shift, I'd been cornered by a group of drunk men. If he hadn't shown up when he did and chased them off, I would have—

I couldn't finish the thought. Even now.

For years, every mention of that night dragged me back into a shadow I couldn't escape. It had taken me so long just to tolerate a man's touch without flinching.

Every time it came up, Max had been careful. Gentle. He'd tiptoe around the subject like it was made of glass, never pressing, never pushing.

And now he'd thrown it in my face like a weapon.

In that moment, I understood. There was no going back. Not anymore.

I ran out of the hotel. Behind me, Max's phone rang, and whatever the call was, it stopped him from following.

Tears blurred my vision. I was about to hail a cab when my phone buzzed.

Brenda Drake. My coworker.

Her voice came through tight and urgent.

"Madeline, do you remember that pre-sale apartment you bought three years ago? The one your husband said was never finished?"

A cold feeling settled in my chest. "What about it?"

"I just found out the building was completed and delivered three years ago. It was never stalled. Not even close."

My heart seized like a fist had closed around it.

"What did you just say?"

That apartment. I'd bought it before the wedding. Three years ago, Max told me the developer had gone under and the project was dead in the water. He said he'd filed lawsuits, multiple rounds of them, but the developer refused to cooperate.

I'd wanted to dig up evidence myself, push the case further. Max had stopped me.

"Let me handle it," he'd said, his voice soft with what I thought was love. "Why should my wife have to worry about something like this?"

"I just feel bad, Madeline. All these years of long distance, and you can't even live in the home you bought for us."

The guilt in his eyes had been so convincing. I'd told myself that as long as we were in it together, no storm was too big to weather.

Now I understood. He was the storm.

I'd saved for five years before the marriage. Every penny. My parents had quietly slipped me money too, part of my nest egg for the future. All of it had gone into that apartment.

It was everything I'd hoped for. The home where I thought we'd build a quiet, steady life together.

Brenda's voice cut through the fog. "Madeline? Madeline, are you okay? I'm sending you the filing records and the delivery confirmation right now. Don't panic. That apartment is your pre-marital property. He has no legal claim to it."

I hung up. The messages came through instantly.

Clear screenshots of the official filing. A delivery stamp in bold red ink. Even the property management's move-in registration records. And there, in the column marked Owner, a name I didn't recognize.

Abigail Pruitt.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

Abigail Pruitt. Max's childhood sweetheart. The one he said had moved abroad three years ago.

She'd been living in my home this entire time.

An empty cab pulled up to the curb. I yanked the door open.

"Lakeview Manor. Now."

The home he'd told me was stalled in construction for three years.

He said it had never been livable.

We were in a long-distance relationship, and the distance was too far for me to visit. I'd never once gone to see it for myself.

But when I finally did, I found it fully renovated, beautifully furnished.

Another woman had already moved in and made herself at home.

I used the spare key Max had given me and opened the front door.

The neighbor next door was already sizing me up with a look of open contempt.

"Young girl like you, and this is what you do with your life? Homewrecking? Now you've got the nerve to show up at their front door."

Before I could respond, the elevator doors slid open, and Abigail walked out in a miniskirt.

The neighbor immediately rushed over to her.

"Abigail, sweetie, watch out. The other woman just showed up at your door."

"Look at her. She even knows where your spare key is..."

I froze.

Max and I had registered our marriage three years ago. We just hadn't held a ceremony yet.

And somehow I was the other woman?

Abigail's smile stiffened on her face when she heard this. She looked me up and down with curiosity.

"Excuse me, miss, are you sure you have the right place? This is my home. Mine and Max's."

"Max?"

I repeated the name, my throat so dry it ached. "Max Matthews?"

"That's right."

Abigail nodded, smugness practically dripping from her eyes.

"We've been together for three years. Moved in three years ago. Max said he'd throw me a grand wedding soon, once things settle down."

She paused, pressing a hand to her mouth in mock surprise.

"Oh, you don't... have the wrong idea, do you? Max never told me he had another girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?"

I laughed. Laughed until tears nearly spilled.

"Abigail, did you know that Max and I have been legally married for three years?"

The words landed like a bomb, detonating in the crowd of onlookers.

Every face in the hallway changed.

The woman who'd just been pointing fingers at me stood there with her mouth open, unable to form a single word.

A crack finally appeared in Abigail's composure, but she recovered quickly. She even pushed past me, walked to the shoe cabinet, and picked up a framed photo, holding it up for everyone to see.

In the frame, she and Max stood together. The background was this very living room. They were wrapped in each other's arms, smiling like they didn't have a care in the world.

"Look. This is our home."

"This place was the home he prepared for us. Every detail of the renovation, we picked out together."

I drew a deep breath and forced down the storm raging inside me.

My gaze drifted past Abigail and landed on the living room behind her.

On the couch lay a gray jacket Max always wore.

On the dining table sat two bowls. One pair of chopsticks was the wooden kind Max preferred. The other pair was pink.

The whole place was warm, cozy, thoughtfully arranged. It really did look like a home.

My fists clenched so tight my knuckles went white. I could feel the blood draining from my face.

"Did Max ever mention that I helped pay the down payment on this place?"

Right then, my phone rang.

It was Max.

I glanced at Abigail. There was a flicker of challenge in her eyes, a trace of triumph.

I hit speakerphone.

Max's voice came through, tinged with urgency.

"Madeline, where are you? I've been calling you over and over. You didn't pick up. I'm sorry about what happened at the hotel. That was my fault. Please don't be mad, okay?"

I looked straight at Abigail. A cold smile curved the corner of my lips.

"Max," I said into the phone. "I'm at Lakeview Manor."

On the other end of the line, Max went dead silent.

A few seconds passed before his voice came through again, rattled and unsteady.

"Madeline, what are you doing there? Who told you to go?"

"Why shouldn't I come?"

I shot back, my voice terrifyingly calm.

"Isn't this the house you told me was stalled in construction? I came to see for myself today. I wanted to know exactly what kind of 'stalled' we were talking about."

"And guess what I found?"

I paused, letting my gaze sweep over Abigail, then over the neighbors gathered around, and spoke slowly, enunciating every word:

"I found my home, decorated like a palace."

"I found my husband living here with his childhood sweetheart, playing house like a pair of lovebirds. And me? The legal wife? The neighbors thought I was the other woman."

"Max, don't you think you owe me an explanation?"

On the other end, Max's breathing grew ragged. He seemed to be scrambling to cover something up.

"Madeline, let me explain. It's not what you think. Abigail, she... she had nowhere to stay, so I just took her in."

I let out a cold laugh. "Max, do you really think I'm that stupid?"

Max went quiet for a long time. Then, all at once, he stopped pretending.

"Enough, Madeline!"

"Are you done?"

"Fine, I lied to you. So what?"

"You're the one who refused to give up your career. You insisted on keeping this long-distance thing going. I'm just a regular guy with regular needs."

"Madeline, don't flatter yourself."

"If it weren't for the fact that you had a government job, and my parents insisted I marry a girl with a stable position, do you honestly think I would've looked twice at you?"

I froze.

Max's family had once been distinguished intellectuals. Word was that one of his ancestors had placed third in the imperial civil service exams generations ago. Even now, with the family fortune long gone and barely any money to their name, they still carried themselves with an unbreakable sense of pride.

But that pride?

All it did was make people laugh.

It was my savings, over a hundred thousand dollars, that I'd handed over for him to invest, to start a small business. That was how the money started growing.

He hadn't even made it to the top yet.

But he already had the attitude of a man who had.

He even had the nerve to say "everyone in his circle" lived like this.

"Max, have you forgotten what you promised me?"

By the time Max arrived at Lakeview Manor, it was already dark.

He shooed the neighbors away and told Abigail to go downstairs. That left just the two of us in the room.

I pulled up the recording I'd kept pinned at the top of my phone. My eyes burned red as I tapped play and held it up in front of him.

His voice filled the room.

"I, Max Matthews, swear to God that I will marry no one but Madeline Henson in this lifetime. I will be faithful to her, without regret."

"If I ever break this vow, may lightning strike me down."

In the past, whenever he'd messed up or we'd had a fight, all I had to do was pull out this recording and he'd cave. He'd apologize in no time.

But now, the only thing in his eyes was disgust.

"That recording is ancient history. You're seriously digging that up? Don't you ever get tired of yourself?"

"Three years of long distance. What makes you think you can demand I stay faithful to you?"

"Compared to you, every girl out there is more fun and more lovable."

"Madeline, don't make me despise you even more. Don't push this to divorce."

I stared at the impatience in his eyes, and it felt like a thousand needles driving into my chest.

All these years I'd been with Max, my parents had adored him.

Good family background. Decent looks. Strong work ethic. A degree from a top university.

He'd checked every single box for their idea of the perfect son-in-law.