Chapter 3

"What about my mother?" Alexia asked, her heart pounding.

But Casey had already hung up.

A sharp pain shot through her temple.

The next morning, the news of Gilbert and Hayden' s engagement was everywhere. Their smiling faces mocked her from every screen.

She walked into Mr. Thompson's office, her face a stony mask, and handed him her resignation letter.

"What is this?" he asked, bewildered. "You just started. You have the biggest story of your career!"

"I'm leaving the country," Alexia said, her voice flat.

Her colleagues crowded around, trying to change her mind, but her decision was made.

She wouldn't be seeing any of them again.

She booked a flight to Las Vegas.

The city of cheap thrills and quick mistakes. The city where Gilbert had bought her a fake dream.

She went straight to the Clark County Marriage Bureau.

The clerk looked at the marriage certificate she presented, then typed her name into the system.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," the clerk said, looking at her with pity. "This certificate is a forgery. It's not in our system."

Alexia snatched the paper back, her hands shaking. "That's impossible. We signed it right here."

"The certificate number is fake," the clerk said gently. "According to our records, on this date, three years ago, Gilbert Davis married a woman named Hayden Torres."

The floor seemed to drop out from under her.

Her legs gave out, and she would have collapsed if she hadn't grabbed the counter for support.

It was all a lie. From the very beginning.

He hadn't just found a substitute; he had orchestrated a completely fake marriage, a cruel piece of theater with her as the unsuspecting lead. While she was naively playing the part of his wife, he was legally bound to the woman she was impersonating.

The fake certificate slipped from her fingers, fluttering to the ground.

She remembered him giving her a pre-signed divorce agreement a year into their "marriage." He had called it a precaution, a way to protect her if his family ever found out.

She had been touched by his foresight, his supposed care for her.

Now she saw it for what it was: another layer of his sickening deception. He knew the marriage was fake. He knew she would never sign it because she loved him too much. It was a tool to keep her compliant, to ensure she never questioned her role.

She sank to the floor, gathering the worthless papers, and sobbed. She cried for the fool she had been, for the three years she had wasted, for the love she had given to a monster.

When she finally stumbled back to the apartment they shared, the one he had called their home, she found him sitting in the living room.

The table was set with her favorite dishes.

"Alexia," he said, standing up, his face a perfect picture of concern. "I was so worried. You weren't answering your phone."

He moved to embrace her, but she flinched away.

"I... I was just tired," she mumbled, avoiding his eyes. She couldn't let him see the truth in them. Not yet.

He tried to touch her forehead. "You feel warm. Are you sick?"

Again, she dodged his hand. "I just need to rest."

"Alright," he said, his voice laced with that fake tenderness she now despised. "I'll keep dinner warm for you."

She locked herself in the bedroom, her body trembling.

How could he be so good at this? The loving husband act. Had any of it been real? Had he ever, for a single moment, felt anything for her?

Or was it all just a performance?

She lay on the bed, her mind a maelstrom of pain and confusion. She needed answers. She needed to understand the depths of his betrayal.