Chapter 2

"Elena, what are you doing!" Lucas stood frozen in place. "This was an expensive gift I bought for you!"

His face darkened. He kicked over the trash can.

In the next moment, he slapped me across the face.

I stared at the mirror, watching the handprint swell on my cheek. I was stunned.

He'd never spoken a harsh word to me, let alone hit me.

"Elena! You've lost your mind! For two months, I ate one burger a day to save up for that bag! And you ruin my effort like this? Do you even know how much that bag cost? Are you never satisfied?" Lucas's curses snapped me back to reality.

"Isn't it a fake? Can you swear before God that you bought a real one?"

My question caught him off guard. He stiffened, then puffed up with defiance. "Fine! I admit it's a fake! So what? It still cost me thousands of dollars, months of my salary. Who can tell when you carry it?"

I laughed coldly to myself.

For every holiday, even my birthday, he either claimed he was broke and couldn't afford a gift or gave me knockoff perfume or cheap clothes. I always brushed it off.

All I ever wanted was his heart.

But now I saw clearly. Someone who truly cared, even if poor, wouldn't deceive me like this.

"You're probably jealous of those whores at the bar with their designer bags, getting more and more vain." Lucas's gaze landed on the perfume bottle on my table, laced with contempt. "Elena, you're such a materialistic person. Tell me, did you steal that perfume?"

His words made me laugh with anger.

But years of good upbringing kept my last shred of restraint. "Lucas, I'm materialistic? I saw you at the bar yesterday. Where'd you get the money?"

Lucas raised an eyebrow. "You followed me?"

He put on a disappointed look. "I was with clients! For a contract! The company paid for everything! You think I wanted to go? I'm doing this for our home!"

One lie meant nothing he said could be trusted.

I smirked. "And the women on your arms, were they clients too? The two designer watches you gave out, were those client gifts?"

Lucas's face went pale in an instant.

He probably hadn't expected me to know so much. "They were the client's daughters! The watches were company gifts for clients! Elena, why is your mind so filthy? Are you questioning my loyalty to our relationship?"

His voice grew louder, his face red with anger. "I've done so much for you, and you're doubting me, spying on me! We're done!"

With a loud thud, he slammed the door and left.

His shouting was just a cover for his guilt.

I sneered and sent a few messages.

Soon, my phone buzzed.

It was my best friend Claire Anderson, who ran the world's largest private investigation business.

"Elena, the second Lucas left, he hopped into a stretch limousine and checked into the penthouse suite at a luxury hotel. I saw him change into a tailored suit and head to a wedding."

"A wedding?"

"Yeah, Anna, the heiress of the Vesterlon Group."

It was her!

When they broke up, Lucas told me her family looked down on him for being poor.

He moped around for so long, making my heart ache for him.

Now it all seemed like a joke.

"That jerk gifted a vineyard worth twenty million dollars."

I listened quietly.

Twenty million?

Lucas made a point of highlighting every penny he spent on me, even two hundred dollars.

I remembered him holding my hand, eyes full of affection, slipping a pull-tab ring onto my finger. "Babe, we can keep our wedding simple. I'll save two hundred bucks, and we'll have dinner with our parents. I can't afford a diamond ring, but my love is worth more than any diamond."

Two hundred dollars and a pull-tab ring.

If he was truly broke, that might have shown his heart.

If he had money, it was nothing but an insult.