Kaden Zacarias and I have been together for a decade. He gives me all his love throughout that time. But one day, I see the news of him marrying Gwendolyn Crawford as part of a marriage alliance.

He tells his friends, "I'm only fooling around with Ella—does she think I'll actually marry her? It's not like my parents will ever agree to it. I can just keep her around as a mistress after getting married. Remember to keep your mouths shut about this."

Our decade-long love goes up in flames, but I don't question him. Instead, I call my father with a withered heart and say, "I'll go through with the marriage alliance. I'll leave the country."

When I found my passport, my boyfriend of ten years, Kaden Zacarias, coincidentally returned.

As usual, he wrapped his arms around me from behind and put his chin on the crook of my neck. The faint cedar scent invaded my nose instantly.

It was the scent of the perfume I hated the most, as it was like a blatant provocation.

"What are you doing, wifey? Why aren't you waiting for me in the living room?" Kaden asked.

On usual days, I would be seated on the couch, waiting for him to come home from work. I would then greet him with a warm kiss to ease his fatigue from that day's work.

But today, my gaze was fixed on his coat.

I had gifted him that coat last month. In the news broadcast earlier, Kaden wore this black coat while holding hands with Gwendolyn Crawford. The two of them stood closely together like they were the couple of the year.

The Flarian media had touted them as the "perfect match" while congratulating the Zacariases and the Crawfords for this joyful union.

But when I refreshed the page, all these posts disappeared in the next moment.

It must have been Kaden's doing.

Feeling diffident under my piercing stare, Kaden avoided eye contact with me.

"Are you upset because I came home late? I'm sorry, wifey. I've been so busy lately," he explained.

Then, he continued rambling, "There's a really important project that I needed to follow up on tonight. So, I can't help but come back late. When I'm less busy, we'll go on a trip to relax, okay?"

He picked me up and placed me on the dining table. Then, he bent down to put the indoor slippers on my feet tenderly.

"Why are you running around barefoot again? You'll catch a cold like this."

I stared at the crown of his head, and my sunken heart skipped a beat.

I wanted so badly to ask him why he showered me with affection when he didn't love me. Why had he chosen to marry someone else when he claimed to have loved me for the past ten years?

Before I started a relationship with Kaden, I had once told him, "If you ever fall in love with someone else, please don't hide it from me. We can part peacefully."

Yet, he chose the path he knew would hurt me the most.

Not only did he decide to marry Gwendolyn, but he also wanted to keep our relationship going at the same time. Because of his ridiculous choice, I was now the mistress—the other woman.

I took a deep breath and held back the tears welling up in my eyes. "It's fine. Go ahead and focus on your work."

After all, I was planning to leave anyway.

He patted my head and rambled on, completely oblivious to the obvious shift in my mood, "That won't do. Our tenth anniversary is coming up. I'm definitely taking you on a trip to celebrate our tenth year together."

Kaden seemed genuinely excited about our tenth anniversary. But if my memory didn't fail me, that would be the day right after his wedding to Gwendolyn.

I lowered my head and let out a cold laugh but didn't bother to expose the truth. "I know. You should go wash up."

The moment he turned around, his phone suddenly rang. I saw the name "Gwendolyn" displayed on the screen.

Kaden's expression darkened as he hastily said, "It's a work call."

That was all the explanation he gave me.

As he stepped into the bathroom, the sound of the running water drowned out the ringtone. I couldn't help but strain my ears to catch even the faintest bit of the conversation.

"Be good. I won't come over today… Don't cause trouble for me. I need to spend time with my wife…"

His words came intermittently, and they were spoken in a clingy tone that I'd never heard before.

Clenching my teeth, I rushed to the guest bathroom and scrubbed myself clean from head to toe. The thought of Kaden touching me with the same hands he used to touch Gwendolyn made me so sick that I almost threw up.

There came the short chime of a notification tone. Then, I saw a text message from my dad pop up on my phone.

"I bought you a plane ticket a week from now. Take care on your trip home."

I took a deep breath and opened the video I'd received from an anonymous sender earlier that afternoon. The video showed Kaden and a few of his friends hanging out in a restaurant.

Someone asked, "Kaden, are you really not going to marry Ella? What if she finds out?"

Kaden was silent for a long time before finally saying, "My parents won't approve of her. She's just someone to have fun with. How could I marry her for real?"

As he spoke, he glanced in the direction of the camera. "What are you recording?"

The person holding the camera leaned in to kiss him and placed a hand on his chest, their voice dripping with smugness.

"Can't I take a video of my own husband?"

The video cut off abruptly.

The blow it dealt to my heart was devastating.

When I had finally composed myself, Kaden stormed toward me in a fit of anger.

He questioned angrily, "Ella, what have you been saying to your friends? Why are they so out of line? How can they tag us so thoughtlessly and suggest that we should get married soon?"

I opened my social media and saw that a friend who had just gotten married a couple of days ago had tagged me and Kaden in her post.

She commented, "Looking forward to you two also walking down the aisle soon."

Kaden was furious. "Don't tell me you didn't know about this. If you hadn't mentioned something to her, why would she say that?"

Well, I'd indeed said something to my friend. Everyone kept asking me when Kaden and I would be getting married after ten years of being together.

I thought back to when we first got together. Kaden had held my hand and promised me, "I'll definitely marry you."

But at some point, he would instinctively avoid the topic of marriage whenever I brought it up.

"Ella, isn't what we have now good enough? You already have everything. What else can marriage prove?"

I thought he was simply afraid of marriage and didn't want to push him further.

Kaden continued treating me well, and everyone said he was madly in love with me. When he was on a business trip abroad, he would condense his work schedule and catch a red-eye flight just so that he could get back to see me sooner.

When his parents voiced their disapproval of my becoming his wife, he moved out with me decisively and insisted that no one disturb our life together.

However, I never imagined that he would ultimately choose to marry someone else.

Kaden gave himself an excuse to leave. "Forget it. I'll sleep at the office tonight."

He slammed the door shut and disappeared into the night.

Later that night, I received photos from the private investigator.

In the dim light of a private room, Kaden and Gwendolyn sat together with Kaden's friends surrounding them. They were the same friends who used to call me "Mrs. Zacarias" teasingly. Now, they were chatting and laughing with Gwendolyn just fine.

Gwendolyn held a wine glass to her lips to take a sip. Then, Kaden drank from the same glass by pressing his lips to the same spot she'd drunk from a moment ago. Their gestures radiated intimacy.

I silently gathered evidence of Kaden's infidelity and began packing my bags. After all, there were still six days left until I could finally leave.

…

The next morning, Gwendolyn barged into the villa uninvited. Bright red hickeys adorned her neck.

Upon catching sight of me, she smiled sweetly and said, "Ms. Selkirk, I'm just here to pick up some documents for Kaden. I hope you don't mind."

As she spoke, she nonchalantly took out a pair of slippers for herself.

I froze for a moment.

Back when we installed the shoe cabinet, I'd chosen a design that hid it in the wall so that it wasn't visible at a glance. Hence, no one coming to the house for the first time could possibly know where the shoe cabinet was or where the guest slippers were stored.

It was clear that this wasn't the first time Gwendolyn had come to the villa.

The thought of what might have happened between her and Kaden in this house made me so nauseated that I dry-heaved at the spot.

Gwendolyn let out a mocking laugh. "Ms. Selkirk, you're good at playing the victim. You've been with Kaden for ten years but haven't gotten married to him yet. Why haven't you given up?"

I looked at her coldly and retorted, "What does that have anything to do with you?"

Gwendolyn covered her mouth and laughed. "Of course it has everything to do with me. After all, I'm about to marry him. When the time comes, you must come to our wedding, Ms. Selkirk."

As she passed me, she spoke in a soft voice, "You already know, don't you? Soon, you'll be the mistress. I guess I can just call you a shameless woman."

Enraged by her blatant provocation, I clenched my fists and shoved her hard.

A gleeful laugh escaped her lips before she stumbled backward toward the stairs and tumbled straight down. As she fell, she grabbed onto my dress and pulled me down with her.

I twisted my ankle as I hit the steps painfully.