“She’s married,” Julian said, his brow furrowed. “Until she’s divorced, you had better keep your mouth shut.”
Zeke grinned, saying, “Don’t worry. Who would I tell? But Maddox said she’s a virgin. So, did you verify?”
Julian’s head whipped around, his eyes as sharp as knives.
Zeke took a step back, whispering, “What? Can’t take a joke?”
“Don’t joke about her,” Julian said coldly.
“Alright,” Zeke said, a little intimidated but still cheeky. “Someone’s a bit sensitive. But if you’re so devoted, why would you get slapped?”
“Get out!”
Zeke got out. Julian was clearly in a bad mood after being slapped, and Zeke wasn’t going to stick around to be the target of his anger.
On his way down, he ran into Chase, who had been locked up, completely clueless about what was going on. Seeing Zeke, he rushed over, asking, “Mr. Croft! Have you seen Mr. Dixon?”
He couldn’t find Maddox anywhere, and Quinn wasn’t answering her phone.
Zeke looked at him with utter contempt. A man who could sell his own wife? What kind of man was that?
“No.”
“That’s strange,” Chase said. “Why did the party end so suddenly? Did something happen?”
He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Zeke just smiled, “Don’t ask so many questions. You should just go.”
He left the phrase “May God have mercy on you” unspoken.
After leaving the yacht, Quinn realized she had nowhere to go. The house she shared with Chase wasn’t a home. After what he had done, she couldn’t go back there. And she couldn’t face her parents like this.
The world felt so big, yet there was no place for her.
Finally, she called Lucy. The phone rang seven or eight times before she answered.
“Quinn! What’s wrong? Is something wrong?”
Quinn sniffled, “Lucy, where are you?”
“I’m still out of town on a business trip,” Lucy said, her voice full of concern. “Are you crying?”
A lump formed in Quinn’s throat.
“Quinn, what happened? Talk to me!” Lucy pleaded.
“Lucy, can I… can I stay at your place tonight?”
“Of course! Sure!” Lucy said quickly. “You know the code. Just go. Why are you even asking?”
“Okay.”
“Quinn, what happened? You have to tell me!”
“When you get back, okay?”
After a few more reassurances, Quinn hung up and got a taxi to Lucy’s apartment.
It was a cute loft, full of girly touches. There were even stuffed animals piled on the stairs.
Quinn had been here before. She took a shower and lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Her body ached in several places. But her pussy didn’t feel any different.
Quinn had no sex experience with men, but she knew the basics. If she and Julian had really had sex, wouldn’t she feel something there? Or were the books and novels all wrong? The first time was supposed to hurt, right?
She couldn’t remember anything.
Tears slid silently from the corners of her eyes. She had scrubbed every inch of her body in the shower, but what good did it do? She was tainted. Her first time had been with a stranger. How absurd.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t find the time to process what had happened; the truth was, she was actively refusing to let her mind go there.
Because it was Julian, a man so powerful.
What could she possibly do?
At this moment, her hatred for Chase burned even hotter than her feelings for Julian. Even if Chase didn’t love her, they had been married for three years. She had thought he cared for her, even a little, as a friend, a sister, or a family member.
But he had treated her like a pawn, a toy, a piece of trash to be thrown away.
She had been so naive, thinking her love and passion could warm his heart. Now she saw that she had not only wasted her love and three years of her life, but she had also been blind to the fact that he was a heartless, despicable monster.
In that moment, Quinn knew that her love for him was gone. All that was left was hatred and disgust. She didn’t want anything to do with him for another second.
She had to get a divorce.
Her phone rang again. She stared at it for a moment before picking it up. It was Chase. He had called several times, and she had ignored them all. She was afraid she would want to kill him. But now she realized that he wasn’t worth throwing her life away for. She had already wasted three years. She wouldn’t waste another second.
She answered.
Chase’s voice was a roar of fury.
“Quinn! You finally decided to answer your phone! Where the hell have you been?”
He couldn’t find Maddox, and he couldn’t reach Quinn, so he was starting to panic.
Quinn was completely disillusioned. Just hearing his voice made her sick. There was no point in even confronting him.
“Chase, let’s get a divorce,” she said. “Tomorrow morning. Eight o’clock. At the courthouse.”
“What are you talking about?” Chase barked and softened his tone. “Quinn, you were drunk. I took you to a room to rest, and then I couldn’t find you. Of course I was worried.”
“Took me to a room to rest? Or took me to another man’s bed?”
Quinn sat up, her voice rising to a shrill pitch despite her efforts to control it. She hadn’t wanted to confront him, but she was too hurt, too angry, too broken.
Chase’s guilt was palpable, but he clung to a sliver of hope.
“What do you mean, I took you to another man’s bed? What are you talking about? I would never do something like that!”
Quinn once again questioned her own judgment. How could she have fallen for a man like this? Not only was he despicable, but he was also a coward who wouldn’t even admit what he had done.
“You know what you did. You want me to get that man on the phone and have him tell you himself?”
At that, Chase panicked. Maddox was always good to women. If Quinn complained to him, would the promises he had made still hold? The most important thing now was to appease Quinn.
“Quinn, where are you? Let’s talk about this in person.”
“There’s nothing left for us to talk about,” Quinn said, her voice final. “Tomorrow morning, you see me at the courthouse.”
“Quinn! Listen to me. I was forced!”
Quinn took a deep breath, trying to suppress the despair in her heart.
“You admit it?”
She turned on her phone’s recording function.
Chase sighed, “Quinn, I had no choice. You know how powerful his family is. He pressured me. What could I do?”
“So you sent your own wife to his bed?”
“He threatened me! He said if I didn’t, he would ruin us! Quinn, it was just one night with him! Otherwise, we would have lost everything!”
How utterly absurd. It felt like a line from some cheesy, overwrought soap opera.
She could almost hear a dramatic voiceover, “He may have sacrificed her body, but it was all to save their future.”
Quinn’s heart had turned to ash. After he finished, she said simply, “Let’s get a divorce.”
“You still want a divorce? I had no choice! And anyway, even with what happened, I’m not going to hold it against you!”
“You’re not going to hold it against me?”
Quinn felt like she had just heard the world’s most pathetic joke.
“Chase, you are truly despicable. I was so blind to have ever loved you! From now on, you go your way, and I’ll go mine. Let’s get a divorce and never see each other again.”
For Chase, a divorce wasn’t out of the question. But Rosalie was involved, and that complicated things. What if Rosalie got angry with him? She wouldn’t be easy to win back.
He thought for a moment.
“Let me think about it. I’ll give you an answer in the morning.”
After hanging up, Quinn let out a bitter laugh.
She was a pathetic, tragic fool.
From now on, she would never live like this again.
Chase immediately contacted Rosalie.
Rosalie had received the comforters and posted a picture on her social media, which was flooded with comments like, “Such a sweet sisterly bond!” and “Your sister must treat you so well because you’re such a good sister to her.” The account with the “J” nickname had also liked the post and commented, “A beautiful and kind-hearted angel.”
Rosalie was planning to make her move on Julian in the next few days. If things went according to plan, her status was about to skyrocket.
When she was found, it had been a blessing. But she never imagined that her family had taken in another sister, one with no blood relation. In the years she was gone, Quinn had not only stolen her parents but had also gathered a circle of adoring friends. Rosalie couldn’t stand it.
She knew what it was like to suffer. She had tasted the bitterness of the world at a young age. Quinn, who should have been an orphan, had stolen the life that was rightfully hers.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.