The year Chloe’s life imploded, she was sexually assaulted. Someone recorded it, then splashed the video all over the internet. I saved her when she was about to leap from a rooftop. I stayed by her side through her darkest hours. Five years later, she became a top lawyer and proposed to me. But just before our wedding, the man who’d assaulted her showed up, driving a fancy sports car. He wrapped an arm around Chloe’s waist, gave her a casual, almost possessive kiss. Then he lifted his chin toward me, a smirk on his lips. “Thanks, man. Couldn’t have asked for a better fiancée. As a reward, you can host the wedding.” My blood ran cold. I stared at Chloe. She didn’t look back. She just stared at the ground, her silence a deafening yes. Blake’s hand was still draped over Chloe’s waist, a blatant claim of ownership. I fixated on Chloe, remembering her standing on that rooftop five years ago. “Alex,” she’d said then, her voice a raw whisper, “if I’m going to live, I’ll live only for you, my entire life.” Now, she leaned obediently into her attacker’s embrace. She was still wearing the wedding dress I’d designed for her myself. Blake then pulled a stack of photos from his jacket pocket and flung them at my face. They were all intimate photos of him and Chloe in a hotel room. On the big hotel bed, Chloe wore a sexy slip dress, her face contorted into an expression of raw desire I’d never seen, kissing Blake passionately. My mind exploded, a deafening roar in my ears. I remembered last night. Chloe, who rarely drank, had gotten completely wasted. The moment she got home, she started kissing me, more fiercely, more desperately, than ever before. “Alex, I love you, I only love you.” She kept repeating it, as if trying to convince me, or maybe herself. Midway through, her phone rang. Her face went bone-white the instant she saw the caller ID, and she abruptly pushed me away. I grabbed her arm, my voice hoarse. “What’s wrong?” She avoided my gaze, her voice laced with panic. “We’re getting married tomorrow. I… I’m a little nervous. I just need some space.” With that, she fled the house as if escaping, and never came home that night. It wasn’t nervousness. She was rushing to meet another man. I bent down, picking up the photos one by one, then walked over to Chloe. She instinctively recoiled a step. I sneered, tearing the photos into tiny shreds. Then, I pulled a velvet ring box from my pocket, opened it. Inside was the diamond ring I’d spent three months’ salary on. As Chloe’s pupils constricted, I took two steps back and tossed it into the nearby storm drain. Plop. The sound was like a final period mark on our five years together. “Alex!” Chloe’s face finally went white. She screamed. “What are you doing?!” “What am I doing?” I echoed her words, feeling a crushing weight in my chest. Blake stepped forward, shielding Chloe, and pointed a finger at my nose. “Listen, punk. Don’t push your luck. If you dare ruin my day, I’ll make sure you don’t walk out of this street.” I ignored him. I just stared at Chloe, the girl I thought I’d pulled from hell. But she’d never left. She had only learned to survive in a different one, a hell of Blake’s making. I turned, reaching into my briefcase for another file. That was my wedding gift or Chloe, prepared long in advance. A heavy dossier of evidence: years of Blake’s bullying, corporate fraud, sexual assault, and bribery. For five years, while working multiple jobs to put her through law school, I had quietly gathered everything. I thought, once she became a lawyer, she could personally send this monster to prison. That it would be her fresh start. But now, she stood with the monster. I walked straight to a police officer who was handling a minor dispute nearby, clutching the file. I handed over the thick stack of documents. “Officer, I’m filing a formal complaint against Blake Sterling.” I pointed at Chloe. Chloe panicked. She lunged for the file, but an officer blocked her. When our eyes locked, I saw no guilt but hate. After one last venomous glare, she turned and threw herself into Blake’s sports car. The tires screeched, and she was gone without a look back. Sirens wailed. I was led to a squad car. Through the tinted window, I watched the red blur of the car carry my fiancée away until it dissolved into the dust and distance. My bride had run off with the monster who broke her. And on my wedding day, I found myself in handcuffs at the police station.
“The evidence chain is incomplete, and too much time has passed. It’s going to be very difficult to file a case.” Inside the police station, the young officer shook his head, looking through the materials I’d provided. I sat on the cold chair, unable to say a word. My mind replayed the last five years. To put Chloe through the best law school overseas, I worked three jobs a day. Daytime construction, dishwashing at a restaurant at night, and then late-night food delivery shifts. She suffered from severe PTSD, waking up screaming from nightmares almost every night. I would hold her, comfort her. I thought I’d pulled her from the abyss. I never knew she’d turn around and willingly jump back in. The interrogation room door swung open. Chloe walked in, followed by a formidable team of lawyers. Her face was perfectly made up, devoid of all emotion, her eyes cold as if looking at a stranger. She placed a document on the table before me, her voice icy. “Alex, I’m Mr. Sterling’s attorney. You must retract this false accusation and issue a public apology. This is malicious prosecution.” I looked up, my voice trembling. “Chloe, have you forgotten what you told me on that rooftop five years ago? You said you’d make sure men like Blake faced justice! That you’d use the law to protect others like you!” Chloe looked at me, a mocking smirk on her lips. “People have to move on, Alex.” She paused, a hint of pity even gracing her features. “Blake’s father has promised to invest thirty million dollars into my law firm if I make this problem disappear. Do you know what that means? It means I can instantly become one of the top lawyers in the industry.” I felt my blood slowly turn to ice. “So, your success means being his lapdog?” SLAP! A sharp, stinging slap landed hard on my face. My cheek burned. Chloe’s hand trembled, her chest heaving. My words had clearly enraged her. “What do you know?! This is a shortcut! A shortcut someone like you, who’ll spend their entire life struggling in the trenches, will never understand!” She pulled a black bank card from her designer Hermès bag and threw it on the table in front of me. “There’s half a million in there. Consider it payment for the last five years. From today on, we’re even.” I stared at the cold card and laughed. Then I forcefully snapped the card in two. I stood up and said. “Chloe. We’re not even. You owe me. And I’ll make sure you pay it back, with interest.” The officer, having finished his current task, walked over to me. “We’ve processed your report. Regarding your alleged malicious prosecution, there’s currently insufficient evidence. You’re free to go. We’ll contact you if needed.” I stood up, pushed my chair back, and walked out of the police station without a backward glance.
When I returned to our apartment, Chloe’s belongings were all gone, leaving behind only scattered debris and empty rooms. They silently mocked me, the abandoned fool. On the wall, our sweet photos still hung. I took down the picture frame, and along with every other trace of her in the room, I threw it into the downstairs trash can. I had planned to get married yesterday, then bring the marriage certificate to my father’s grave today, to surprise him. My father, a respected and incorruptible judge during his lifetime, had passed away too soon from overwork and illness. I carried a bouquet of white lilies to the cemetery. From a distance, I saw a few people gathered around my father’s tombstone. As I drew closer, my feet froze. It was Blake and Chloe. Blake held an expensive bottle of wine, slowly pouring it over the top of my father’s tombstone. Dark red liquid snaked down the cold stone, staining my father’s grave. He was muttering obscenities under his breath. “Stupid old man, had to make a big deal out of my dad’s little business hiccup back then, cost us a fortune. Now what? Your favorite student is still happily lying in my bed.” Blake continued to pour, spewing insults and dirty words. And Chloe just stood by, a document in her hand, her expression cold, her eyes vacant. She watched, unmoved, as my father’s tombstone was desecrated. In that instant, all the blood rushed to my head. I lunged forward like a madman. “Blake! I’ll kill you!” I shoved his bodyguards aside and punched him square in the face. He staggered back a few steps, spitting out a mouthful of blood. I lunged again, ready to fight him to the death, but his two burly bodyguards grabbed me, pinning me to the ground. The taste of dirt and grass filled my mouth and nose. I struggled, my eyes bloodshot, glaring at Chloe. “Chloe! Look closely! He’s insulting my dad! He helped you in your darkest hour, and he’s insulting everything you once believed in!” “Have you forgotten why you studied law? You said you wanted to be just like my dad!” Chloe finally moved. She walked to me slowly, then knelt. In her hand was a single document. It was a summary of withdrawal requests-name after name of the victims from the corporate fraud case involving Blake’s father years ago. My father, the presiding judge for that case, had faced immense pressure but insisted on a thorough investigation until his dying day. Now, Chloe had used every legal maneuver, every polished skill, to coerce and convince each victim to sign away their right to seek justice. With these signatures, the case my father died trying to solve was buried forever. Chloe wouldn’t meet my eyes. Her voice was barely a whisper. “We have to move on, Alex.” “Digging up the past helps no one.” Blake wiped the blood from his lip, a smug grin spreading across his face as he walked over. He let out a triumphant laugh. He strode over, pulled Chloe against him, and fixed me with a look of pure contempt. “You hear that? Your old man was just a stubborn fool who couldn’t read the room.” “Now, your girlfriend, using all the tricks your dad taught her, has perfectly helped our family close all the legal loopholes.” He leaned closer, whispering in my ear, a voice only we could hear. “You know, last night, she even went down on me.” “I’ll kill you!” I completely lost control, lunging at Blake again. But before my fist could connect, his two bodyguards had me pinned to the ground. My cheek pressed against the cold, rough earth. Blake put his foot on my right hand and slowly, forcefully, twisted. “Agh!” The sound of bones cracking, accompanied by my agonizing scream, echoed through the entire cemetery. Excruciating pain spread from my hand throughout my body. I convulsed in agony, cold sweat instantly drenching my back. In the moment before my consciousness faded, I used every ounce of strength to lift my head and look at Chloe. She just stood there, watching, utterly cold and indifferent. As darkness consumed me, I heard her say one last thing to Blake. “Don’t kill him. Keep him alive. He’s still useful.”
I woke to the smell of disinfectant in the hospital. My right hand was encased in a thick cast, immobile and throbbing with excruciating pain. Two men in black stood guard at the door of my room. Chloe had me imprisoned. When she pushed the door open, she was wearing a sleek business suit, her makeup flawless. She was back to being the brilliant, golden-girl lawyer. She placed a gilt-edged invitation on my bedside table. It was for her law firm’s opening celebration party. Tonight. “Alex, all you have to do is publicly apologize to me and Blake at the party, admit that everything before was a malicious accusation driven by your unrequited love.” She looked down at me, her tone condescending, almost charitable. “And we’ll let bygones be bygones.” She even offered a magnanimous smile. “For old times’ sake, I can arrange a quiet administrative position for you at my firm.” “Fifteen hundred a month, that should be enough for you to live on.” I looked at her, at the face I once adored, and suddenly felt utterly alienated. I slowly forced a smile, one that was submissive, even a little fawning. “Okay.” “I’ll apologize.” She seemed pleased by my “sensible” decision, a slight upturn of her lips. She turned and walked out, her heels clicking on the floor. She nodded in satisfaction. “Smart move. You’ve finally come to your senses.” On the night of the party, bodyguards “escorted” me to the venue. The city’s legal elite were all there, and the media’s camera flashes were blinding. Chloe and Blake stood on stage like a perfect, dazzling couple, basking in everyone’s congratulations and flattery. I, like a defeated captive, was “invited” by her assistant to the most inconspicuous corner of the hall. Finally, it was time for the highly anticipated “apology” segment. The host announced in an enthusiastic tone, “Now, please welcome a special guest, Mr. Alex Harper, to say a few words.” All eyes instantly focused on me. There was pity, disdain, and schadenfreude from those eager for drama. I calmly walked onto the stage and took the microphone. Chloe stood beside me, giving me a warning look, silently telling me to behave. I bowed deeply to the sea of faces and the countless flashing cameras below. Then, I pulled a hospital injury report from my pocket. “I, Alex Harper, am formally filing a lawsuit for intentional assault against Mr. Blake Sterling here today.” “Furthermore, I will be filing an indefinite lawsuit against Mr. Blake Sterling and all companies under his father’s name for tax evasion, corporate fraud, and all other illegal activities.” My voice, amplified by the microphone, echoed through the entire ballroom. The hall erupted in chaos! Reporters’ flashlights flared frantically. Chloe’s face drained of color. She lunged for the microphone, but I turned and stepped clear. I looked at her panic and made my second announcement. “Second, I have formally accepted an offer to join Morning Star Law Firm as a junior partner.” “My first case will be my own.” The hall exploded! Everyone knew Morning Star was the archrival of Chloe’s firm, locked in a bitter feud. As the crowd stared, a woman in a sharp white suit walked onto the stage, heels clicking with purpose. She came straight to my side. Her presence was commanding, her gaze razor sharp. “Hello, I’m Sierra Hunter.” Chloe went sheet white the moment she saw her. She rushed the stage. “Alex, you wouldn’t dare!” But before she could reach us, several of Sierra’s security personnel calmly blocked her path. Every eye in the room shifted from Chloe to the woman standing beside me.
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