Edmund and I exchanged a glance before I stood up.

“You go back to work. I’ll take a look.”

I stepped outside and saw the commotion. Bodyguards had blocked a familiar figure at the door. Stephen, to his credit, had some skill; he’d managed to track down my new address in no time. I walked toward the entrance. When he caught sight of me, he froze.

Two months had passed, and I was no longer the Victoria he remembered. In the twilight, I approached, my figure no longer weighed down by fatigue but lit with fire and grace. My face, once dull, now glowed with spirit and elegance. He didn’t recognize me at first.

“Is… is that you, Victoria?”

His voice trembled. “How did you become so much more beautiful?”

I sneered. “Slaving away in misery dulls a woman. A good life brings back her shine.”

Faced with this vibrant, radiant version of me, Stephen’s face twisted with regret and flooded with emotion. He began to plead.

“Victoria, I was blinded. I was wrong. I never should’ve gotten involved with Eleanor. I won’t lay a finger on her again. Victoria, I didn’t even realize it, I’ve fallen hopelessly in love with you. Please, come back to me.”

I stood still, arms folded, utterly unmoved.

Then he stammered, “I don’t blame you for giving the shares to Edmund. Really, as long as you come back, I don’t care about anything else.”

I remained silent, my cold, detached expression mirroring the one he used to wear so often. I was simply returning the favor he had so generously given me in the past.

Even with that blank stare, he still tried to plead, clinging to the past.

“Do you remember our thirtieth anniversary? I’ll make it up to you for the time I wasted, for the love I failed to give…”

I finally sighed, shook my head, and looked at the man who never knew how to cherish me.

“What’s gone is gone. My love fell into the darkest place because of your betrayal. You wounded me too deeply; I will never, ever forgive you.”

When I needed him most, he vanished. And now that I no longer needed him, he suddenly remembered what love was. How laughable.

“You should leave now, Stephen. Just seeing you brings back pain. Did you ever notice? There were barely any sweet memories between us. You gave your love—all of it—to Eleanor.”

“And look at me now, away from you, I’m doing just fine.”

He clutched his face in disbelief. “Not even a shred of happiness left? We loved each other so much…”

I shook my head. It was I who loved him. That love was never returned. Even that love had long sunk into darkness, from the car crash to him keeping her in his basement, toasting in a hotel room with another woman to locking me in the hotel room. No, the rot started even earlier, when he forgot every meaningful date, when he left me over and over again, always for her. I avoided the hand he reached out and turned to the bodyguards.

“Keep your eyes sharp. No one with the surname Mortimer gets in.”

Faced with my coldness, Stephen’s face twisted in anguish. He let out a bitter laugh, then finally turned to leave. As he stepped away, he saw me walking back inside, where Edmund stood waiting with a glass of juice. Edmund’s gaze passed through me and locked onto Stephen, a victorious smile curling faintly at the corner of his lips. At that moment, Stephen’s face turned from pale to an impossible shade of red. His eyes bulged with fury as he shouted toward the door, “Edmund, what the hell are you doing here?!”

He had no idea Edmund was the one who picked me up. No idea we’d been seeing each other often. No clue he’d been the one hiding me all this time. Watching him now, stomping and seething with jealousy, I nearly laughed. Did he ever once think about how I felt all those years he clung to Eleanor?

“And, truth be told, there was nothing between Edmund and me.”

But the way Stephen reacted, you’d think he caught us in bed. A wicked sense of revenge bloomed in my chest. I grabbed Edmund’s wrist; leaned in, and kissed him on the cheek. Edmund froze.

I turned to Stephen. “Edmund is my current partner. Isn’t it obvious? Why else would he be here?”

The moment those words left my lips, Stephen snapped. He charged forward, fists flying, only to be dropped instantly by a single punch from the bodyguard.

“No… No way. You love me. Not this bastard, not that adulterer…”

The bodyguards didn’t hold back. One after another, their fists rained down until his face was swollen beyond recognition. Even lying there, broken and breathless, he kept muttering to himself, clinging to delusions like lifelines.

“Come on. Let’s go in. Don’t waste your energy on him,” I said, pulling Edmund into the house and slamming the door behind us. Inside, I caught sight of Edmund’s flushed face and suddenly recalled what I’d done just moments earlier. An awkward silence stretched between us.

I cleared my throat, mumbling, “I hope you don’t mind… It was just to spite him. In the heat of the moment…”

“Don’t mind?”

Edmund stepped forward, cornering me with that tall, imposing frame of his.

“You used me like that and thought you could just walk away?”

I sensed trouble and immediately said, “Sorry…”

But his voice dropped low, hoarse, burning, “I don’t want an apology. So can you kiss me back?”

“No…” I started, then caught the flicker of disappointment in his eyes, those eyes that had never once forced me, never crossed a line, no matter how bold he was outside. Guilt tugged at my chest. At last, I gave in. “No tongue.”

The moment the words left my mouth, a scorching kiss crashed onto my lips. The heat radiating from this mature man completely consumed me.

“Mmm, stop—”

But all my protests were devoured by Edmund. For the first time, he ignored my resistance. His arms locked around my waist, his burning tongue tangling with mine, stealing my breath and sending a tremor down my spine, something Stephen had never managed to do. We kissed against the wall, long and deep, until a sudden ringtone jolted me back to reality. I gasped and pushed Edmund away, eyes wide. An unfamiliar number flashed on the screen. Curious, I answered. Then came that voice, sharp, venomous. Eleanor.

“Bitch! Why haven’t you disappeared yet?” she spat, dripping with scorn. Her tone dropped, low and menacing. “I’ll be the new madam of Mortimer Group. You’ll be nothing.”

I had no idea how she got my number. But honestly, I didn’t care.

“Be my guest. I’m already divorced from Stephen. If picking up trash is your thing, take all you want. I’m done playing childish games with you.”

“What did you say?!”

Calling her a garbage picker must have stung. Her voice shot up in fury. But I ended the call before she could scream any louder.

“This woman just doesn’t know when to quit,” Edmund muttered coldly. His gaze turned sharp, dark with the urge to storm out and deal with Eleanor himself.

The heat between us fizzled. I awkwardly tugged my clothes back into place.

“I need to revise the show’s proposal. You should go home and get some rest.”

The doctor had said my foot would be fully healed in half a month. It was time to focus.

But as I turned away, Edmund grabbed my wrist. “Can’t I stay here tonight?”