Tears streamed silently down Kelly’s cheeks, delicate and glistening like petals soaked in the rain. She looked fragile, heartbreakingly so.
Carter’s face was like ice. His cold, blade–sharp gaze landed on Sharon with cutting precision.
Kelly grabbed his arm in a panic. “Carter, it wasn’t Sharon’s fault. please don’t blame her. I just lost my balance…”
Theo rushed over, his voice full of worry. “Kelly, are you okay?”
Kelly forced a weak smile. “I’m fine…”
But before the words fully left her lips, she suddenly collapsed.
Without sparing Sharon another glance, Carter scooped Kelly into his arms and strode toward the car. Theo trailed after him, never once looking back.
Sharon stood frozen, watching the two of them walk away. Their retreating figures blurred slightly before her eyes. Her heart felt like it was trapped somewhere underneath an iced lake–cold, submerged, unreachable.
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, again and again, until her lungs steadied enough to move. Then, legs trembling, she turned and left.
Sharon had thought that since Xavier had paid her so much, his son Matty must be difficult to manage.
But after a single day together, she realized Matty was surprisingly easy.
He ate whatever he was given, without fuss. Quiet, obedient, never once making trouble. An angel, really.
That night, just after Sharon coaxed Matty to sleep and quietly closed the bedroom door behind her, her phone buzzed in her pocket.
She picked it up. On the other end, Wendy’s voice came through, urgent.
“Sharon, what are you doing right now? Have you seen the news?”
Sharon kept her voice low. “I just got Matty to sleep. What’s going on?”
“You’re trending!”
“Trending?” Sharon blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Someone dug up your identity… ugh, it’s too much to explain. Just look at the trending topics!”
Wendy hung up in a rush. Sharon, still a little skeptical, opened her phone and scrolled to the hot search list.
She’d always kept a low profile. Even though she’d been married to Carter for five years, they’d barely appeared together in public. Aside from a few of Carter’s acquaintances, hardly anyone in their circle even knew her.
How could she be trending?
Puzzled, she tapped into the top headline–highlighted in bold, blood–red characters.
It was her face.
[Digging into the life of the mysterious Mrs. Biggs–McKinzie’s secret past.]
Below the headline were several photos watermarked with “exclusive,” accompanied by long captions.
[Everyone knows about the famous Carter Biggs, and the unforgettable first love of his life–Kelly Walt, who only. returned from abroad.
Chapter 23
+25 BONUS
[But five years ago, Carter shocked everyone by suddenly rushing into marriage. At the time, no one knew why. Only recently has it come to light–he married because of a child.
[That woman, of course, was none other than his current wife, McKinzie.
[Sources say she used underhanded means to get into Carter’s bed, forcefully tearing him away from Kelly and driving Kelly out of the country.
[Now, with Kelly reportedly battling a terminal illness and returning to the country for treatment, McKinzie has grown even more jealous and petty–going so far as to curse Kelly and wish for her death.]
Beneath the text were several carefully selected images–photos showing Sharon seemingly pushing Kelly, while Kelly looked up at her with red eyes and a tearful, innocent expression, as if she were some delicate flower unfairly trampled.
Sharon clicked on the attached video.
The first thing that played was her own voice, loud and clear. “Well, I obviously can’t compare to your charm. Carter’s sister likes you. His friends adore you. Even Carter and Theo are bewitched by you. Seems even God prefers your type.”
Chapter 24
