Sabina's car pulled up in front of me before I'd gotten very far.

She rolled down the window and said, "I knew you'd be upset. Fine, you don't have to apologize. But honestly, they're in such a tough spot already. Why do you have to get all jealous over the two of them?"

"I came all the way out here to pick you up. Get in."

I didn't feel like arguing. I walked straight to the passenger side.

I opened the door and found Rhys sitting there.

He raised an eyebrow and gave me an apologetic look. "Sorry, Edgar. I'm not feeling well today, so I took the front seat. You can sit in the back."

Sabina glanced at me nervously, her lips parting as she prepared to defend Rhys.

Any other day, I would have frowned and insisted. I would have argued my way back into the passenger seat, the one that belonged to the man of the house.

But today, I said nothing and climbed into the back.

The visa office was eleven miles from downtown. Cabs were nearly impossible to flag down out there. If she was willing to come get me, I'd treat her as a free ride. Nothing more.

Sabina seemed surprised. Her lips moved, and she turned her head to say something to me.

Rhys cut in. "Sabina, the car behind us is honking. Let's go."

I closed my eyes. I didn't know how long we'd been driving when the car finally stopped.

I opened my eyes and found we were parked outside a Michelin-starred restaurant.

When she saw me frown, Sabina smiled. "Rhys knows you're upset about the green card. He's treating you to dinner to make it up to you."

"No thanks," I said flatly. "I want to go home."

But Sabina laughed and pulled me out of the car.

"Come on, be good. We'll sit down and explain everything about the marriage certificate. I promise."

I sat down with a blank expression and spent the entire evening watching the three of them act like a cozy little family.

One moment, Rhys was reaching over to take Sabina's steak and cutting it for her. The next, Joey was whining for Sabina to feed him.

My patience ran out. "If you have something to say, say it."

Sabina took her time. "Let me order some wine first."

The moment she finished ordering, Joey knocked over a glass of red wine.

Rhys yelped.

Sabina turned to me immediately. "Honey, let me take Joey to the restroom to clean up his clothes. Wait here for me."

Rhys shot me a smug look, then took Sabina by the arm and led her away.

I waited for a full hour. Not one of them came back.

Instead, the restaurant manager appeared. He smiled politely. "Sir, we're closing up for the night. Your bill comes to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars."

I froze.

A second later, a message from Sabina lit up my phone.

"You just had to make things difficult for my brother and his son. You still won't apologize. It's only because I loved you too much that you got this entitled."

"I've frozen your card. You're in a foreign country with no money to pay. Let's see if you're ready to back down and say you're sorry."

The manager watched me stare at my phone in silence. He raised his voice. "Sir! Your bill, please!"

Whispers and quiet laughter rippled through the dining room around me.

"Can't afford to eat here, so why bother coming? What an embarrassment to his country."

"People like that should just go back where they came from..."

Countless mocking stares landed on me, each one sharp as a slap across the face.

My phone kept buzzing.

"Edgar Finch, apologize to my brother. Promise you'll never bring this up again. Otherwise, you can sit here until they call the police and haul you off to jail."

I read her message, my expression completely still.

I looked up and spoke in fluent English.

"Call your general manager. Tell him Mr. Finch is here."

The floor manager didn't understand what that meant, but something in her gut told her she needed to do exactly as I said.

After she left, I pulled the bank card from my wallet, snapped it in half, and tossed it in the trash.

Sabina really did think I was nothing more than a kept man, completely dependent on her.

What she didn't know was that I'd long since inherited the fortune my parents left behind. The businesses under my name spanned the globe.

I'd never told her any of this, because when my parents passed away, their will stipulated that if I ever married, I had to conceal my identity from my spouse. The moment my partner discovered who I really was, every cent of my wealth would be seized by the Finch Family Foundation, and I'd be left with nothing but an annual dividend.

I understood their reasoning. They were trying to protect me from gold diggers.

There was a time I believed Sabina was different.

She was driven and hardworking. She'd earned her way to a teaching position at the university through sheer merit, and she'd even been selected for a government-sponsored fellowship abroad.

But when the final list came out, her spot had been handed to someone with connections.

Sabina was devastated. She locked herself in the study and refused to come out.

I couldn't stand watching someone that brilliant be buried alive. So I quietly had my assistant donate an entire building to a prestigious overseas university in exchange for a joint-training placement and a visiting professor position.

When Sabina heard the news, she burst into tears of joy. She threw her arms around me and choked out the words:

"Edgar, I'll work so hard over there. Once I'm settled, I'll bring you here to stay for good."

The truth was, I didn't care about permanent residency.

What I cared about was not wanting to see her for only three months out of every year.

At that thought, a bitter, self-mocking smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.

Sabina had never intended to let me stay here with her.

She'd already given her legal sponsorship to Rhys.

No wonder every time I came back, I'd find things in the house that didn't belong to me.

No wonder every time, even before the three months were up, Sabina would pack my bags and urge me to head home early.

So during the nine months I was gone, the home I'd carefully furnished had another man living in it.

Before long, the general manager walked in. The moment he saw me, he bent at the waist in greeting.

Then he turned to the floor manager and said, "Mr. Finch is our boss. His bill doesn't need to be—"

I raised a hand, cutting him off.

"Why shouldn't it be settled?"

I tapped a finger toward the security camera on the ceiling.

"Skipping out on a bill with malicious intent. That warrants an immediate call to the police. Under local regulations, the outstanding amount should be recovered at ten times the original sum."

Sabina, you had it backwards.

You've been lying to my face all this time without a shred of guilt, and the only reason you got away with it was because you were banking on my love for you.

But when that love is gone—

I want to see exactly where that leaves you.

I returned home. The moment I pushed open the door, I was greeted by a picture of domestic bliss.

Joey sat curled in Sabina's lap, clinging to her and begging for a story.

Rhys stood behind her, kneading her shoulders.

His fingers grazed Sabina's collarbone, and a faint blush crept across her cheeks.

But my gaze locked onto what Rhys was wearing—a set of matching pajamas, nearly identical to Sabina's.

Couple's pajamas.

I'd once bought a set just like them and begged Sabina to wear them with me. She'd scoffed without a second glance.

"Edgar, that's so childish. Only teenagers wear matching pajamas."

The next year, when I came back, the pajamas were gone.

I had always assumed Sabina threw them out.

I never imagined they'd ended up on someone else's body.

I kicked the door open, startling all three people inside.

Rhys yelped and immediately let go, ducking behind Sabina.

Sabina looked briefly caught off guard, then asked with an uncomfortable expression:

"You... how are you back?"

I let out a cold laugh.

"It's my house. Why wouldn't I come back?"

Sabina faltered, about to say something, but Joey had already launched himself at me like a little cannonball.

His head slammed straight into my stomach.

I crashed backward into the corner of the table, a searing pain shooting through my lower back.

I stumbled and collapsed to the floor.

"Waaah! You big meanie! It's all your fault! Every time you show up, me and Daddy have to leave!"

"You're a bad person! Don't you have your own house? Why do you have to steal ours!"

Sabina pulled Joey back with an awkward expression, her face stern.

"Kids say the darndest things. It'd be pretty petty of you to hold it against a child."

I clenched my teeth and hauled myself to my feet.

"Fine. I won't hold it against the kid."

Before the satisfied smile could fully form on her face, I had already crossed the room and slapped Rhys hard across the face.

"When a child misbehaves, it's the father's fault. Rhys Whitney, you had that coming!"

But Sabina shoved me aside.

The next second, a searing pain exploded across my skull.

I staggered and hit the ground. Through a curtain of blood, I looked up at Sabina standing over me, the jagged neck of a broken bottle in her hand.

Her face was ice-cold.

"Are you done? Edgar! Clearly tonight's lesson wasn't enough for you!"

Something seemed to occur to her then, and her expression turned ugly.

"The bill tonight came to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. You didn't have a cent on you. How did you pay?"

Before I could open my mouth, Rhys spoke up, his voice dripping with false concern.

"Edgar, even if you're upset with us, you shouldn't go hurting yourself like that."

"No wonder the manager was smiling at you when we left. Did you and her..."

He covered his mouth, putting on a show of horrified regret.

Sabina's fury ignited. She fixed me with a vicious glare.

"Edgar Finch! Rather than apologize, you'd rather seduce some old woman? This is how you treat me?"

"You're... how could you... You're disgusting! Absolutely revolting!"

Her hand trembled as she pointed toward the door.

"Get out! Get out right now!"

"You want to break up? Fine! We're done! Now get out of my sight!"

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and swayed to my feet.

"Sabina, this is my house. The ones who should be getting out are you three."

Rhys's eyes glinted with mockery, but his voice stayed gentle, patient.

"Edgar, I know you put in some money back in the day... but Sabina already transferred the deed to me. Sorry about that. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

My head snapped toward Sabina.

"You transferred our house to Rhys Whitney?"

Rhys walked over and slipped his arm around Sabina's slender waist, wearing an expression of pained reluctance.

"Sabina was worried Joey and I wouldn't feel comfortable living in someone else's home, so she put the house in my name."

"She said that way I'd finally have a place of my own..."

I had long since stopped expecting anything from her. But in that moment, the pain still cut through me like a knife.

"This is our home! We picked out every tile, every fixture together! Sabina! How could you do this?"