Chapter 6: The Reckoning

Only a pure exchange of interests would make him accept.

She thought: get him first, then make him fall in love.

She told me, “Quinn, am I stupid? I forced him into a marriage alliance, wanted him to like me, but didn’t want him to be grateful, so I never let him see what I did.”

What did she do for Carter?

She talked her father out of trying to take over the Ellison family.

She took big risks, listing the benefits of the alliance under her father’s suspicious gaze.

Her dad grilled her. She shrugged: “I barely know the guy. It’s obvious, Dad—a strong Ellison family is worth more to us than a broken one.”

After they got engaged, their news made headlines. With the Avery family’s guarantee, the banks finally stopped pressing Carter.

But Carter, golden boy that he was, saw the engagement as nothing but blackmail.

So he was polite but distant, never close.

Sometimes they got along well, shared interests, even complained together about business.

Carter remembered all her holidays, and his assistant would send her expensive gifts on time.

They dined together, dated, enjoyed theater and dance, like any engaged couple.

But there was always a wall between them. Never lovers—just partners, doing what had to be done.

Until one day.

“In the first year of our engagement, I visited him at his company. He was working overtime, his assistant was there. They finished something, exchanged a knowing smile, and I saw Carter hug her. He let go quickly, but she blushed, looking at him with adoration.”

A year engaged. He’d never even held my hand. But he hugged her.

“So I stood there, watching that assistant smile at him, and told him I didn’t like her and wanted her fired.”

At that time, all his funds came from the Avery family, so he couldn’t refuse.

He asked why she wanted the assistant fired.

Lillian replied casually, “Because I don’t like her.”

Carter said nothing. The assistant, seeing his trouble, resigned.

He stared at Lillian for a long time, then sneered.

After that, things got colder. They barely spoke.

This time, Lillian felt pain because she had blacklisted a starlet who tried to seduce Carter.

The starlet begged him to ask Miss Avery to show mercy.

Actually, Carter wouldn’t have cared—he just used it as an excuse.

He questioned if she needed to be so ruthless.

He mocked her for her venomous heart.

I remembered that suffocating pain from when I woke up inside her.

Lillian looked at me in the mirror, smiling, but it was uglier than crying. Her tone was sincerely confused: “Quinn, I never used any tricks on him. Is it wrong to protect myself? Is it wrong to be prepared when someone tries to seduce my fiancé?”

She looked pained and asked, “Why did he say that about me? Was I wrong?”

You are not wrong.

Of course not.