“Look, Ronnie, let me explain. Lily was a virgin when she came to me. Eight hundred a night. That's practically a bargain.”

“I did this for your sake, too. You have no idea how dirty the girls out there can be. One wrong move and you catch something nasty.”

“But Lily's different. I handpicked her. She's clean, hardworking, eager to learn, sweet and considerate. The day you and I get married, she'll move out on her own.”

Eight hundred a night. Every single night, no days off.

That was at least twenty-four thousand a month on Lily Graves alone.

No wonder he was always telling me his salary wasn't enough, that he couldn't afford a bigger place.

He'd been spending it all between another woman's legs.

Three years of cheating, and he had the nerve to call himself clean.

And me? I'd been the fool. When my mom insisted he buy at least a thousand-square-foot condo before the wedding, I was the one who talked her out of it.

When he saw I wasn't asking for anything, that I'd set the bride price at just $8,800 for good luck, his eyes welled up with tears.

He knelt in front of my mother and swore:

“Mom, I promise! I'll treat Ronnie right. I'll love her and take care of her. I'll work hard and give her the best of everything!”

But the money he earned? What he spent on me in an entire month wasn't even a fraction of what he gave Lily Graves.

I stared at the face in front of me, so familiar, and couldn't reconcile it with the man I'd loved for three years.

I loved him for him. For how good he was to me. For his discipline, his self-respect, and for honoring my wish to wait until marriage.

I thought if he could endure three years of celibacy, he'd never betray me.

It never once occurred to me that from the very first time I turned him down, he'd already been betraying me.

At least it wasn't too late.

To show how sorry he was, Carter transferred his entire month's salary to me.

I was about to decline.

But then he pressed a business card into my hand.

“We're getting married soon. It's time you started learning some essential skills.”

“This is Lily's number. Add her. Pick up some tips from her when you get the chance.”

“Once you've got it down, I'll hand over every paycheck!”

“I really can't wait for your surprise!”

Before I could refuse, he'd already called Lily and told her we were all having dinner together.

It wasn't until we arrived at the restaurant that it truly hit me: he actually expected the three of us to sit down at the same table.

The whole point was for me to learn from Lily Graves how to please him.

I lost it:

“Carter Rowe, do I look cheap to you? If she wants to sell herself, that's her business. Don't you dare drag me into your filth!”

He looked even angrier than I was, his brows twisted in disbelief:

“What? I'm handing you money to learn how to take care of a man, and you don't want it?”

“Lily's willing to teach you for free. If anything, you should be the one picking up the check tonight. What are you cursing me out for?”

Lily Graves, face done up in that calculated no-makeup look, the picture of wide-eyed innocence, reached over and smoothed the crease between his brows.

Her voice went syrupy sweet:

“Carter, don't be so hard on her! It's normal that she's not comfortable with this yet. You have to be patient with her, just like you were when you first taught me……”

The suggestion dripping from those words sent the blood rushing straight to Carter's face.

Just when I thought he was about to kiss her, he shooed her out of the private room.

Unease surged through me, and I moved to leave too.

Carter grabbed my wrist:

“Ronnie, I don't think I can wait anymore. Can I?”

I felt him pressed against me and grabbed the ice-cold Coke off the table, dumping it straight over his head.

But instead of flinching, he grinned, voice thick with amusement:

“Ronnie, are you shy? Or is it that you're jealous?”

“Gotta say, you're pretty cute when you're jealous.”

I lost it. My hand came up and cracked across his face.

“Jealous? I'd have to be out of my goddamn mind to ever fall for a piece of shit like you!”

“We're done! It's over!”

Carter pressed a hand to his already swelling cheek. He wasn't angry. He was grinning, eyes alive with excitement.

“Damn, nice swing. Hits harder than Lily's, too.”

His words churned my stomach.

When he saw me doubled over dry-heaving, the playfulness vanished and his face shifted to concern.

“Ronnie, what's wrong? Are you sick? I'll take you to the hospital right now!”

I shoved him back.

“Get away from me!”

“Don't touch me!”

Only then did it hit him that I wasn't sick. I was disgusted by him.

He stared at me, wounded, his eyes rimming red.

“Ronnie, you don't love me anymore?”

“I was willing to tell you everything, no secrets. Why won't you believe me?”

Something seemed to occur to him, and he immediately booked a hospital appointment on his phone.

“If you don't believe me, I'll go get bloodwork done right now! I'll prove I'm clean!”

He actually thought that as long as he hadn't caught a disease, he was clean.

Unbelievable.

I took a deep breath and said it to his face, word by word.

“Carter Rowe, in my eyes, every inch of you is filthy.”

He went rigid, eyes wide, swearing to God.

“Lily's an innocent college girl, pure and obedient. There's no way I'm dirty.”

I grabbed my phone and refunded the thirty-two thousand on the spot.

“Clean or dirty, it's got nothing to do with me anymore! You and I are done. Finished!”

Seeing me refuse even the money on top of breaking up with him, something in him panicked.

He grabbed my arm, dragged me out of the private room, and told Lily, who'd been waiting by the door, to come with us to the hospital.

The whole way there, he kept pulling Lily along, the two of them swearing oaths together.

“Ronnie, once the bloodwork comes back, you'll see I wasn't lying.”

At the hospital, he rushed Lily to the blood-draw window, frantic to get them both tested.

But Lily never made it to the window. She collapsed right there on the floor.

Carter caught her on instinct, scooping her up and rushing her straight to the ER.

Half an hour later, a doctor came out holding a test report and congratulated him.

“Sir, your girlfriend is pregnant. Congratulations, you're going to be a father!”

Carter went stiff. His eyes darted to me, panicked.

“Ronnie, let me explain, there's got to be a mistake! I used protection every single time, there's absolutely no way……”

The doctor looked at him, then at me, and instantly understood that the three of us were a story.

She gave me one pitying glance before turning to Carter, her tone cold.

“Mr. Rowe, a urine test can give a false positive. A blood test cannot.”

Carter's lips were trembling. He reached for me.

I slapped the other side of his face, the side that was still unmarked.

“Cheater!”

“Animal!”

“We're done!”

Carter took that slap without flinching, head bowed, and apologized.

“Ronnie, give me ten minutes. I'll go take care of everything right now.”

He drew a breath, looked up, asked the doctor to schedule an abortion, and walked into the ER.

Seconds later, I heard Lily sobbing from behind the door.

“Carter, I don't want your money, I don't care how much you offer……”

What Carter did about that baby was none of my business.

I picked up my bag and went straight home.

I'd barely lain down when the doorbell rang.

“Please, I want to keep this baby.”

“I'm begging you……please don't make me go through with the surgery……”

Lily's sobbing started up outside my door. I pretended I was deaf.

She only cried harder, loud enough to draw the neighbors out.

And under their questioning, she had the nerve to call me her older sister—the one forcing her to abort her baby.

The neighbors, knowing nothing, started pounding on my door.

I was so furious I could barely see straight. I yanked the door open to throw her out.

She was on her knees.

“Please, I really do love Carter. Don't tear us apart, okay?”

I pulled out my phone to show the neighbors photos of me and Carter together.

But Lily beat me to it—shamelessly showing them photos from his bed.

Compared to the polite, public shots of Carter and me standing at a careful distance, her intimate photos were far more convincing.

What sealed it was the background of one picture: Carter's family portrait.

Anyone could see they'd been living together.

The neighbors turned on me with open disgust:

“Stealing your own sister's man? Have you no shame?”

“Who gives you the right to force someone to kill their baby?”

“We're watching you tonight. Try something—see what happens.”

I couldn't take it anymore. I called Carter.

He showed up fast. The second he saw Lily kneeling in front of me, his face went dark.

He pulled her up, gathered her into his arms, and started checking her over.

When he saw how red and swollen her knees were, he turned on me:

“Veronica! You've gone too far!”

“Why would you do this to Lily?”

The neighbors piled on, embellishing every detail of how I'd supposedly bullied her.

My vision blurred with rage, but I forced it down and asked him, voice cold:

“Tell everyone. Before today, whose boyfriend were you?”

Carter's gaze swept across the neighbors staring him down, but it never landed on my face.

That didn't stop him from answering:

“I'm Lily's boyfriend.”

“You have no right to force her to get rid of our baby.”

Lily's wet eyes lit with triumph—and a taunt meant for me.

“Carter, don't blame her. I know she just loves you too much. And I wasn't sincere enough, kneeling like that……”

Hearing Carter claim her with his own mouth, one of the neighbors stormed back inside and came out with a carton of eggs. They hurled them at me.

Shells cracked against my forehead, my cheeks, my clothes—the raw stench so thick I nearly gagged.

Lily quickly raised her hand to stop the crowd:

“Please, don't make things harder for my sister. She has her reasons.”

Then she tugged Carter's sleeve:

“Let's talk inside. Don't put her in a worse spot out here.”

Without a word, Carter scooped Lily up and carried her into my apartment.

The neighbors lingered for the show, but Carter sent out a few fat red envelopes on his phone and apologized to the crowd:

“Dirty laundry shouldn't be aired in public. Sorry for the trouble.”

The money shut them up, but on their way out, several of them spat at my feet.

I looked up at the hallway security camera and swallowed everything down.

Inside, I didn't spare a glance at the two of them tangled together. I went straight to the bathroom and scrubbed the filth off my face.

Then I took out my phone to call the police.

Before I could say a word, Carter snatched it out of my hand and smashed it on the floor:

“Veronica! After all this, you still don't think you've embarrassed yourself enough?”

“I told you I'd handle everything. Why did you have to go after Lily?”

I fired back:

“I went after her?”

He pulled out his own phone and shoved a screenshot in my face—a message Lily had forwarded to him.

“You threatened to expose her, to ruin her chances of getting her diploma. When did you become this vicious?”

I stared at that anonymous message and almost laughed.

No wonder he'd gotten here so fast. Lily had set the whole thing up.