Chapter 8
A few days later, an absurd scene unfolded outside my new apartment building.
A massive projector was casting my and Rhett’s wedding video onto the side of the entire building.
In the video, I was leaning against the handsome Rhett, laughing joyfully.
Security rushed over to stop it: “Sir! Sir! You need to stop all this right now. We’ve received complaints from residents!”
Rhett pushed them away, pointing at my image on the wall, his voice hoarse with anger:
“That’s my wife!!”
In the apartment upstairs.
I hid behind my easel, my face burning red.
Riven, who was temporarily serving as my model, calmly adjusted his shirt and tie in front of me.
As he was about to leave, my mentor called him back again.
Then he handed Riven a bottle of hair dye.
“Go ahead,” he said.
Before I could refuse, I was pushed onto the carpet. Riven meticulously followed my mentor’s instructions, dyeing my hair a bold pink color.
The three of us sat on the carpet, staring at the live surveillance footage on the tablet from downstairs.
“He’s lost it,” I said.
“No,” my mentor said with a smile, “he’s finally realized what he’s lost.”
Riven seemed indifferent to it all, until suddenly, he reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear.
When his fingers touched my skin, my heart raced.
I thought my silence would make Rhett give up, but I never imagined he would shamelessly sink even lower in my estimation.
‘Famous young designer Liora has an affair during marriage, conspiring with her lover to betray her husband for career advancement!”
The post was accompanied by a candid photo of me and my mentor having an intimate conversation in the studio.
But overnight, the media organization that leaked this story had their server backend hacked.
A thoroughly deleted transfer record was completely recovered.
thett’s name appeared, alongside a seven-figure amount.
n the prison visiting room, we were separated by thick bulletproof glass.
You conspired with others to destroy me!” Rhett’s eyes were bloodshot, his palm slamming against the glass, “Liora, you’re so heartless!”
I calmly watched him as if he were a stranger.
I ignored his roaring and simply held up a document against the glass for him to see.
“My studio will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange next Monday.”
His pupils suddenly contracted.
I smiled slightly and added: “Oh, I almost forgot to mention.”
“You got the wrong photo. My new boyfriend is my mentor’s son, and by the way, he’s also the head of the FBI’s Organized Crime Division.”
Chispter &
Those transfers you used to slander me might actually help him get a promotion?”
Rhett’s face instantly turned pale.
He slumped in his chair, his lips moving but unable to say a word.
The prison guards came in and dragged him away.
As they passed by me, something fell from Rhett’s pocket.
It was our wedding photo in a silver frame.
In the photo, twenty-year-old me was smiling carelessly.
The photo hit the ground, the glass shattering right across the corner of my sweet smile.
2
At my studio’s success celebration party, my mentor was completely drunk, and when Riven came to take him home, he solemnly placed my hand in Riven’s.
“Liora…”
Looking at his face, I felt a wave of guilt.
Once, I had refused his offer and married Rhett instead.
But he never gave up on me, even willing to give me another chance when I picked up the paintbrush again.
I glanced at Riven, then helped him get my mentor into the car.
As soon as the car door closed, Riven suddenly held me tightly in his arms.
When I learned from my mentor that his son Riven had liked me for many years, I was shocked.
We had a six-year age difference.
But he had fallen in love with me at first sight when he first met me.
suddenly felt lucky that I had agreed to go to my mentor’s house to discuss painting.
might have missed Riven forever.
Massive fireworks bloomed in the night sky, as if illuminating all of New York.
When I returned home, the TV was broadcasting news about an international financial fraud case.
Jyra was wearing prison clothes and handcuffs.
