Chapter 2

Chloe had an answer for the cufflinks. "Oh, those? Liam gave them to the whole team. A bonus for landing the new project." Her explanation was smooth, practiced. For a fragile moment, I let myself believe her. I wanted to believe her. The alternative was too devastating to consider. But the relief was short-lived, a thin-ice hope that cracked under the weight of new evidence.

A few days later, I had to drop off some documents she'd forgotten at her office. Her assistant let me into her glass-walled room. It was sleek, impersonal, a reflection of the woman she had become. And there, on the corner of her desk, was a tie. It was a deep silk blue, not a color I'd ever seen her buy for me. It was draped over a gift box from the same luxury brand as the cufflinks. It wasn't a corporate gift. It was personal.

I was staring at it, the fabric a glaring testament to my denial, when the door opened. Liam Hayes walked in, not with the stride of a boss visiting a subordinate, but with the easy familiarity of someone entering his own space.

"Chloe, I was thinking we could grab lunch at-" He stopped when he saw me. "Oh. Miller. What are you doing here?"

"I'm her husband," I said, the words tasting like ash.

Chloe' s reaction was what sealed it. She flinched, a small, almost imperceptible movement. Her smile became tight, her posture rigid. "Ethan was just dropping something off. Liam, this is my husband, Ethan."

The way she said "husband" felt like an apology to him. The way she looked at Liam-with a mixture of anxiety and a deep, unnerving intimacy-was a look she hadn't given me in years. He gave me a dismissive nod, his eyes cold and assessing, before turning his full, charismatic attention back to Chloe. The air between them crackled with a secret language I was not privy to.

I left her office without another word. The elevator ride down felt like a freefall. My hands were shaking, and a cold sweat broke out on my forehead. The pristine lobby of the OmniCorp building seemed to mock me with its success, a success built on the back of my stolen dreams. The world outside was gray and unforgiving, the city noise a dull roar in my ears. I felt completely hollowed out.

Driving back to the studio, flashes of the past year assaulted me. Chloe' s late nights at the "office." Her sudden, expensive new tastes. The way she would angle her phone away from me when a text came in. All the small, red flags I had willfully ignored, all the little lies I had swallowed to keep the peace, now arranged themselves into a horrifying, undeniable picture. As I parked, my phone rang again. It was my lawyer.

"Ethan, the plagiarism suit from OmniCorp is official. They're filing an injunction to halt all development and sales of 'Aetheria'. And they're suing for damages. We're talking millions."

The ground fell out from under me. This wasn't just a business problem. This was a coordinated attack, and the person sleeping next to me every night was holding the knife.