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.

I was in so much pain that sweat drenched my forehead, but Gwendolyn quickly put up an act.

She cried out pitifully, "Ms. Selkirk, why did you push me? What did I ever do wrong?"

At that moment, Kaden rushed in with a very grim expression.

He didn't even ask any questions and immediately turned on me. "What are you doing, Ella? How could you push her? Don't try to deny it. I saw the whole thing. She's just a secretary from my company. Stop overthinking, will you?"

He came up with an excuse for Gwendolyn effortlessly, completely ignoring the fact that my ankle was already bruised and swollen.

But when he saw the sweat on my forehead and how I was grimacing from the pain, he pretended to berate Gwendolyn for a bit. Although he was seated next to me, his gaze kept drifting toward her.

Gwendolyn cradled her arm and nursed the scratch on it cautiously with an aggrieved expression.

Kaden managed to maintain his act of nonchalance until Gwendolyn let out a soft whimper.

She complained, "It hurts…"

At that, Kaden couldn't hold back any longer. He pulled Gwendolyn into his arms and said to me, "I'll have the security guard take her to the hospital first. Wait for me. I'll be right back."

I closed my eyes with a heavy heart and said nothing.

Kaden seemed surprised by my calmness, but Gwendolyn's sobbing kept him from dwelling on it.

Once they were gone, I turned on the dashcam to view the real-time video it was showing.

The moment Gwendolyn got into the car, she straddled Kaden. "I thought you didn't care about me anymore! Don't forget that we're already engaged. Next week, we'll be getting our marriage certificates."

Her voice was coy and playful as she continued, "She was so mean to me, yet you didn't even defend me."

By then, Kaden saw through her act and realized she'd been pretending to be in pain.

He frowned as he lit a cigarette. "Why did you come here? Didn't I tell you not to disturb her? Have you forgotten our agreement before we got engaged? I said I wouldn't break things off with Ella, and you accepted it. What are you trying to do now?"

Gwendolyn gritted her teeth. But then, she quickly adjusted herself and said pitifully, "Why are you so mean to me, too? I missed you. You kept me up all night, but when I woke up, you were gone."

Kaden muttered a few more words perfunctorily before turning to leave, "That's enough. You should go now. She's still waiting for me."

But then, Gwendolyn suddenly unbuttoned her coat to reveal the sexy lingerie underneath.

She flashed Kaden a seductive look. "Are you really going to leave?"

Right away, I saw the change in Kaden's expression. In the shadows, a discreet smirk formed on his lips. "You really know how to tempt me."

The two of them locked lips.

Meanwhile, I turned off the dashcam footage with an ashen face.