Chapter 1Gone with the Broken Wind

Alex cheated. With a subordinate twelve years his junior.

When I found out, he chose to come back to his family.

Everything was quiet until tonight, when I happened to see an unsigned text on his phone.

[I'm getting married tomorrow. Can you come to Port Crest to see me one last time?]

It’s a three-hour drive from our city to Port Crest. If he left now, he’d get there around one in the morning.

I watched him pack a suitcase, my voice deceptively light.

"Taking that many clothes? Are you planning to sleep with her one more time?" I added, a saccharine smile on my face, "Oh, should I pack a box of condoms for you two?"

Alex looked up, his face a mask of exhaustion I’d never seen before.

"Stella, I already chose you. What more do you want?" His voice was raw. "Do you really have to push me to the edge before you're satisfied?"

* * *

I remember the day I caught him with Lily in that hotel room. The sheer panic on his face was almost comical. And I had become a cliché, the scorned wife from a TV drama. Fueled by a blinding rage and a shattered heart, I had screamed, clawed, and hit them. I took humiliating photos and blasted them everywhere.

Lily’s reputation was ruined. She was fired from her job and fled back to her hometown not long after.

Alex lost a six-figure deal because of the scandal and was forced to resign from his director position. Crushed under the weight of moral "condemnation," he got on his knees, begged for my forgiveness, and came home.

After his return, he became the picture of obedience. If I said east, he wouldn't dare look west. Even as he struggled to launch his own startup, facing unprecedented pressure, he took over all the night feedings for our newborn daughter, Penny, just so I could get some sleep.

In the span of a single year, despite the exhaustion, his new company was on its feet and starting to thrive. As his status rose, he regained his swagger, a success story in the eyes of the world.

It seemed like he’d faced no real consequences at all.

Oh, except for a few bad colds from being overworked in the beginning.

And that's what he calls me pushing him to the edge?

The irony was suffocating.

A bitter smile touched my lips. "Alex, how dare you say that to me."

"Have you forgotten the oath you swore? That you would never see her again?"

He slowly unpacked the suitcase, folding each item and placing it back in the closet before shutting the empty luggage.

"Stella, it's been a while since we visited Director Thompson and the kids at the orphanage. Let's go together tomorrow."

"We should get some rest before Penny wakes up. You know how much of a handful she is when she's fully charged."

His casual tone was laced with a deliberate, gentle warmth that made my skin crawl.

I dug my nails into my palms, the sting of it grounding me. I hated this placid mask he wore, this way he sidestepped everything important. He was the one who had shattered our lives, yet he stood there, the picture of calm rationality.

My voice dripped with scorn. "What about Lily? You love her so much. Won't she be heartbroken if you don't go to Port Crest? Or are you just afraid of being struck by lightning for breaking your sacred vow?"

His expression remained infuriatingly placid.

"Stella, the kids love the pork buns from that Southside bakery. Remember to pick some up tomorrow."

This was classic Alex. The colder his exterior, the more organized his thoughts, the deeper the emotion he was burying. It used to be for me. Now, it was for her.

I felt a desperate urge to rip that fraudulent mask from his face.

I yanked open a drawer and pulled out a stack of letters, my stomach churning. In a voice thick with mock sweetness, I began to read his words aloud, one by one.

"Lily, you are like a cloud in the sky, untouched by the dirt of the world. Seeing you, I finally understood that something so pure and clear could exist."

"They say clouds are fleeting, but I will hide you, my cloud, in my heart. Year after year, I will protect your pristine beauty."

"All I desire in this life is to drift with you, my cloud, from dawn till dusk, never apart."

"Lily, the person in my bed is not the one in my heart. Only in the depths of night, in my dreams, can I see your face, so pure it makes my soul tremble."

A crack finally appeared in his composure. His voice erupted in a desperate roar. "Shut up! Stella, I made a mistake, okay? Just one mistake! Haven't I atoned enough this past year?"

"It's over! Why can't you just let it go?"

I smirked, snatching a pair of women's silk panties from the drawer—embroidered with twin lotus blossoms—and threw them in his face.

"Let it go? Oh, but these love letters you wrote her are just too moving. I have to keep them, to constantly remind you of the pure, beautiful Lily hidden in your heart!"