Chapter 2Love Money, Not Men

That night, Martin threw a birthday party for me.

It was clear that a great deal of thought had gone into all the decorations, with my favorite flowers and colors being featured.

Martin held my hand and led me to the center of the stage, but before he even had a chance to speak, his phone rang.

He hung up time after time, yet it kept ringing.

I glimpsed the name on the screen—Julia.

Martin looked uncomfortably at me, but after hesitating for a moment, he answered it anyway.

"Martin, my stomach hurts so badly. Can you come over and stay with me for a bit?"

Hearing this, Martin shot a look at me.

I didn't say a word and simply pulled my hand out of his grip.

Martin thought it over and finally spoke up, "Anna, be good. I have an urgent matter to handle right now and need to leave. I promise to make it up to you next time."

"Okay, go ahead."

Hearing me say this, Martin looked a bit surprised.

He stood there for a moment, then hugged me and promised, "Anna, I will make it up to you.

"I've got a surprise I prepared for you tonight, and it's full of things you love. The butler will keep you company. Happy birthday, sweetheart."

With that, Martin turned around and left.

I looked down and adjusted the hem of my dress, which Martin had wrinkled.

As I turned to watch Martin's departing back, a wave of disgust washed over me.

However, I didn't leave. Instead, I waited all the way until midnight to watch the fireworks Martin had prepared for me.

The fireworks Martin arranged lasted for a full nine minutes, and at the very last moment, the fireworks formed words in the sky.

[Julia, I love you the most.]

Standing to the side, the butler carefully examined my reaction, terrified that I would throw a massive tantrum upon seeing this or faint on the spot from rage.

Yet, I showed no reaction and simply remained on the balcony, watching the display fade into nothing.

Previously, I would've definitely thrown a scene.

But now, the person I cared about was no longer Martin.

To me, Martin was just like those fading fireworks right now. Though there was a fleeting moment of brilliance in the past, darkness mostly followed it.

When Martin first pursued me, he had been just as attentive as he was with today's surprise.

He had gone scuba diving personally to harvest pearls just to make a necklace for me, never giving up, even when his hands became completely swollen from the water.

Recalling the past, I let out a helpless smile.

I thought that by remembering the good things he used to do for me, I would still have lingering fragments of emotion.

As it turned out, through the long passage of time, those feelings had completely vanished.

Compared to those emotions, I was actually much happier that I could start all over again and was given a second chance to choose.

Right then, Martin’s phone call came through. "Anna, listen to me. Julia was in a terrible mood today, and I only changed the words at the last minute to make her feel a bit better.

"Julia didn't ask me to do it. It was entirely my idea. Don't make things difficult for her."

I gave a simple, brief "Mm" in response and hung up the phone.

Then, I pulled out my phone, opened the asset transfer page, and casually curled my lips as I watched the transfer notifications rolling through.

"Congratulations, Don Clark. In order to make Julia happy, you have paid a price of tens of millions.

"This was your second chance."