Chapter 2 2

Three days passed without a word from Olivia. Ethan's calls went straight to voicemail. His messages remained unread. The hospital, surprisingly, had contacted him about Grace being approved for the Rothman Protocol, a miraculous development they couldn't explain but insisted he accept immediately.

Something was terribly wrong.

It was Victoria who saw the announcement first, scrolling through social media during her vigil at their mother's bedside. Her gasp drew Ethan's attention.

"What is it?" he asked, looking up from the insurance paperwork.

Victoria's face had drained of color. Wordlessly, she handed him her phone.

There on the screen was a photograph that stopped his heart: Olivia, stunning in a designer dress, smiling woodenly beside a handsome man whose arm was wrapped possessively around her waist. The caption read: "Montgomery Industries heir Olivia Montgomery announces engagement to tech magnate Alexander Reed. Society's wedding of the year is scheduled next month!"

The room seemed to tilt around Ethan. This couldn't be real. Not Olivia. Not his Olivia.

He was out of the hospital and hailing a taxi before conscious thought returned. The drive to the Montgomery estate passed in a blur of rain and rage and confusion. The security guards recognized him, Olivia had made sure of that during happier times, and reluctantly let him through when he insisted it was an emergency.

The Montgomery mansion loomed before him, gleaming white against the stormy sky, a monument to wealth and power he'd always felt uncomfortable approaching. But today, he didn't care. Today, he needed answers.

A maid answered his insistent knocking, eyes widening at his disheveled appearance.

"Mr. Chen! Miss Montgomery isn't..."

"Ethan?" Olivia's voice came from the grand staircase. She stood frozen on the steps, her face pale and drawn despite flawless makeup. She wore an elegant blue dress that Ethan had never seen before, her engagement ring catching the light with obscene brilliance.

"Is it true?" His voice was barely recognizable to his own ears.

The maid quietly disappeared, leaving them alone in the cavernous foyer.

Olivia descended the stairs slowly, as if approaching her execution. "You shouldn't be here."

"Is. It. True?" Each word felt torn from his throat.

When she reached the bottom step, Ethan could see the evidence of carefully concealed crying, the slight puffiness her makeup couldn't quite hide, the redness rimming her eyes.

"Yes," she whispered. "Alexander and I are getting married next month."

The confirmation hit harder than he'd expected, despite the evidence he'd already seen. "Three days ago, you told me you loved me. What changed in three days, Olivia?"

She seemed to be fighting some internal battle, her hands trembling slightly before she clasped them together. "Nothing changed. I just... I realized what I want."

"And what's that? A man you've never once mentioned? A life you always said you despised?" Ethan stepped closer, searching her face. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you love him."

"That's quite enough." A new voice, cultured and arrogant, cut through the tension.

Alexander Reed appeared from a side hallway, tall and classically handsome in a way that spoke of generations of careful breeding. He moved to Olivia's side, placing a proprietary hand on her lower back. "You need to leave."

Ethan ignored him completely, his focus entirely on Olivia. "Tell me the truth. Please."

Something flickered in her eyes, desperation, apology, love, before her expression shuttered closed. "The truth is, I can't do this anymore, Ethan. Your mother's sickness, your financial struggles... I tried to convince myself it didn't matter, but it does."

Each word struck like a physical blow, but Ethan knew Olivia, knew the micro-expressions that signaled she was lying. "I don't believe you."

"Believe what you want," Alexander interjected smoothly. "Olivia's made her choice. She told me everything, how exhausting it was playing charity worker with your family, how she couldn't bear the thought of being dragged down by your debts."

"Stop," Olivia whispered, but Alexander continued as if she hadn't spoken.

"Some women have a weakness for hard-luck cases," he said with a cruel smile. "Fortunately, Olivia came to her senses before making a permanent mistake."

Ethan stepped forward, fists clenched, but froze when he saw Olivia flinch. Not in fear of him, never that, but as if stopping him from making a terrible error.

"Is this about my mother's treatment?" he asked suddenly, connections forming. "The Rothman Protocol approval came out of nowhere. Did your father..."

"Security will escort you out if necessary," Alexander interrupted, producing a phone from his pocket. "Don't embarrass yourself further."

Olivia finally met Ethan's gaze, her eyes filled with unshed tears. "Please go, Ethan. Take care of your mother. Take care of Victoria. Forget about me."

"How can you ask me to do that?" His voice broke. "Did everything we had mean nothing?"

For a moment, Olivia seemed on the verge of breaking, her carefully constructed facade cracking. But then she straightened, her expression turning coldly resolute. "It meant something once. Now it's over. I've moved on. You should, too."

She turned away, walking back toward the stairs without looking back.

"Olivia!" Ethan called after her, desperation bleeding into his voice.

She paused, her back still to him, shoulders rigid with tension. But she didn't turn around. Didn't speak. After a moment of painful silence, she continued climbing the stairs until she disappeared from view.

Alexander's smirk was insufferable. "Let me be crystal clear," he said, voice low enough that only Ethan could hear. "Olivia Montgomery was always destined for someone of her own class. You were a diversion, an exotic pet she grew tired of. The sooner you accept that, the less pathetic you'll appear."

Ethan wanted to smash that perfect, sneering face. Instead, he asked the one question burning through his mind: "Does she love you?"

Alexander laughed, a sound of genuine amusement. "Love? Is that what matters to you people? How quaint. Olivia understands what truly matters: power, position, legacy. Things you could never provide."

Something in Ethan hardened, crystallizing into resolve. "This isn't over."

"It was over before it began." Alexander gestured toward the door. "Now leave before I call security. Oh, and Mr. Chen? Enjoy the medical treatment. Consider it a parting gift from the Montgomery family."

As Ethan was forced to walk away from the Montgomery estate, rain soaking through his clothes, a vow formed in his heart, cold and terrible. This humiliation, this pain, would not be the end. Somehow, someday, he would become a man that even Harold Montgomery couldn't dismiss. A man with the power to uncover whatever truth lay behind Olivia's sudden betrayal.

In her bedroom, Olivia had collapsed against the locked door, sliding down until she sat on the floor, knees pulled to her chest as silent sobs wracked her body. Her father's final warning echoed in her mind: if Ethan ever learned the truth, if she ever spoke to him again, the treatment would be terminated immediately.

To save Grace Chen's life, she had to let Ethan believe the worst of her. The cruelty of it was almost unendurable.

"Miss Montgomery?" her lady's maid called softly through the door. "Mr. Reed is asking when you'll be down for dinner."

Olivia wiped her tears, leaving streaks of expensive makeup on her sleeve. "Tell him I'm not feeling well," she managed to say, her voice surprisingly steady despite her shattered heart. "I need to rest before tomorrow's engagement party."

"Yes, miss."

When the footsteps receded, Olivia crawled to her bedside table and pulled out the small framed photograph she'd hidden there, Ethan and her, laughing at the beach last summer, his arm around her waist, her head on his shoulder. A perfect moment frozen in time.

With trembling hands, she placed the photo face down in the bottom drawer. That life was over now. That Olivia was dead.

Tomorrow, she would smile for the cameras. She would accept congratulations from people who called themselves friends. She would play the role of the delighted bride-to-be.

And somewhere across the city, Grace Chen would begin the treatment that would save her life, never knowing it had cost Olivia hers.