CHAPTER THREE

The words echoed in her chest like a bullet.

"Jeffery lands on Tuesday."

Angelie stood frozen in the hallway, her fingers clutched around the banister, heart racing. Lucas had said it with a smile, like it was good news. Like it was a game.

But to Angelie, it felt like the moment everything would fall apart.

Tuesday.

Three days.

Three days before the man she couldn’t forget came back to see her married to his brother.

She went to bed that night still wearing the ivory press dress. The zipper caught, but she didn’t care. She sat on the edge of the massive bed in the guest room Lucas had called “temporary,” staring into nothing.

Every breath felt borrowed.

Every second with Lucas felt like a countdown.

Would Jeffrey believe the headlines?

Would he see through them?

Would he even want to?

********

Morning came like punishment. Angelie didn’t sleep.

She was already awake when Lucas knocked and strolled in without waiting.

“Good. You’re up,” he said, sipping coffee. “Big day.”

She didn’t answer.

“Reporters are dying for more of the 'engagement fairytale.' The photo ops are scheduled. A few investors are already asking for wedding invitations.”

She stood slowly, facing him with dead eyes. “This is all a lie.”

Lucas smiled. “That’s the thing about lies. Tell them well enough, and they become truth.”

Angelie didn’t speak again.

She saved her energy for survival.

*********

The Lu family estate was a stage, and Angelie was the unwilling lead actress.

That afternoon, she sat for interviews, posed with Lucas, nodded through fabricated stories about how they met, how he proposed, how "love blossomed in unexpected places."

Each smile felt like a betrayal.

Each camera flash is like a slap.

But it was when they asked her, “What was it like falling in love with Mr. Lu?” that she almost broke.

Lucas answered for her, his hand resting on hers like a brand.

“It was inevitable,” he said smoothly, eyes gleaming. “Some people are just... meant to be.”

Angelie flinched.

And somewhere in the back of her mind, a question begged louder than anything—

Would Jeffery believe she had fallen for Lucas?

Or would he see the truth?

That night, the air was too still.

Angelie sat on the edge of her bed, staring at her phone.

No messages.

No calls.

Just one contact lit up the screen like a ghost, Jeffery.

She hadn’t deleted him.

Couldn’t.

She hovered over the button to call.

But what would she say?

That she missed him?

That she was still in love with him?

That she was marrying his brother in three days?

Her thumb moved away.

It was too late.

Too much had already been broken.

She closed her eyes and curled into a ball beneath the cold sheets.

But before sleep could take her, a voice cut through the silence.

“Still awake?”

Angelie jerked up.

Lucas leaned against the doorframe, uninvited as always.

“What do you want?” she asked, voice raw.

“I just thought you might like to know...” He stepped inside, slow and deliberate. “Jeffrey’s plane just landed.”

Her heart stopped.

“He’s back in San Francisco.”

Angelie swallowed hard. “So?”

“So?” Lucas smirked. “You should be asking when he’s coming here.”

Angelie rose to her feet. “He’s coming here?”

Lucas nodded. “Tomorrow. Family brunch. The old man insisted.”

“No,” she whispered. “He can’t…he can’t see me like this.”

“Too late for that.”

She shook her head. “I won’t be here.”

Lucas stepped closer. “You will. You’ll be wearing white. You’ll smile. You’ll kiss me in front of him. And you’ll make him believe you never wanted him.”

“Why are you doing this to him?” Her voice cracked. “Why are you doing this to me?”

Lucas’s face twisted for a moment, something deeper behind his smug expression.

“Because he always gets everything,” he said, voice low. “And for once, I want him to watch me take it.”

He walked to the door, then paused.

“Oh,” he added, “and wear the necklace. The one he gave you. I had a copy made.”

The door closed behind him.

Angelie sank to the floor.

Tomorrow.

Jeffery will be here tomorrow.

And he would see her for what she had become...

The wife of his enemy.

The pawn in a war she never chose.

But the part she didn’t know yet, the part that would burn her soul

Was what Lucas had planned for the night after.

A trap.

A drug.

A bed.

And Jeffrey.

The night that would change all their lives forever…