Chapter 2

The crowd around me started to murmur. My question hung in the air, a stark contrast to the celebratory mood. People turned to look at me, their expressions shifting from admiration for Scarlett to annoyance and disdain for me.

"Who is that guy?" someone whispered loudly.

"Probably some crazy fan. Get some security."

On stage, Scarlett' s brief flash of panic was gone as quickly as it came. She composed herself, her face becoming a mask of confusion and pity. Jake Peterson stepped forward, putting a protective arm around her. He looked down at me with a condescending smirk.

"Sir, I think you're mistaken," Jake said smoothly into the microphone. "You're disrupting a private event. Please leave before we have to call security."

He was playing the part of the noble protector, the innocent man defending his family from a madman. The crowd ate it up, nodding in agreement.

But I wasn't looking at him. My eyes were locked on Scarlett.

"Scarlett, answer me," I insisted, my voice getting louder. "What are you doing? Who is this man? Lily is standing right here."

I gestured to our daughter, who was hiding behind my legs, her small hands clutching my pants. The cameras zoomed in, capturing her frightened face.

Scarlett finally looked at me directly. There was no recognition in her eyes, only a cold dismissal.

"I have no idea who you are," she said, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "You're clearly confused. Security, please escort this man and the child out. He's scaring my son."

She pulled Jake and his son closer, a perfect picture of a threatened family. The crowd gasped, their murmurs turning into open hostility toward me.

"Get him out of here!"

"He's a pyscho! Bringing a kid into it, how sick!"

"Poor Scarlett, having to deal with creeps like this."

The host was frantically signaling for guards. The humiliation was suffocating. She had not just disowned me; she had erased me. In front of the world, she had declared that I, her husband, and Lily, her daughter, did not exist.

As the guards started moving toward me, Scarlett' s eyes met mine again. For a split second, the mask slipped. I saw the cold, calculating woman I was just beginning to understand. Her lips barely moved, but I saw the two words she formed, meant only for me.

"The clause."

My mind raced. The pre-nuptial agreement. There was a "reconciliation clause" she had insisted on. It stated that in the event of a public dispute or scandal caused by either party, the other would be entitled to a massive financial settlement. She was trying to manipulate me, to silence me with the threat of financial ruin. She thought our marriage was a business contract she could leverage.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out. A text from an unsaved number, but I knew who it was.

Ethan, don't be stupid. This is for the show. It' s for my career. Play along. You know what the agreement says. Don't make a scene and we can talk about this later. This is our chance to be set for life.

Her words were a confession and a threat wrapped in one. She wasn't just faking a family for a reality show; she was using my company' s resources, my money, to fund this charade, all while holding a legal knife to my throat. The pain in my chest, the hot sting of betrayal, suddenly cooled into something hard and unyielding.

I looked from the text message back to her on the stage. She was smiling at the crowd, accepting their sympathy, while Jake stood beside her, looking triumphant. They were partners in this deceit.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. It was quiet, but it was real.

Talk about it later? Play along?

No.

There would be no later. There would be no playing along. She had made her choice. She had chosen fame over family, a lie over love. She had publicly disowned her own child for a TV show.

She had crossed a line that could never be uncrossed.

I put my phone away. The guards were getting closer. The crowd was jeering. But I was no longer humiliated. I was no longer heartbroken.

I was resolved.

She wanted a scene? I would give her a war. I would burn her fake world to the ground.