Chapter 3

• I shook my head, fingers holding the hem of my dress tightly, his gaze fixed on my collarbone, as if recalling something.
• Maddox suddenly reached out, fingertips pressing against my shoulder, rubbing over the fabric as if checking whether something was intact.
• "Champagne splashed on your neckline." he withdrew his hand, acting as if nothing had happened.
• But I knew for sure he was confirming whether the lingerie was true.
• I gestured to ask him: What's going on?
• Maddox didn’t understand sign language, so I pulled out my phone and typed a message for him to read.
• "Maddox!" Clara's voice suddenly rang out. She clung to his arm like a snake. “Some men from the Energy Department have been waiting for you for half an hour."
• The tension built by that threatening phone call instantly collapsed under her words.
• He didn’t even glance at the words on my phone. Instead, he took Clara’s arm and walked away.
• I clenched my phone in my bag, and Maddox's secretary, Susan, walked over, her tone disdainful, "Why are you so clueless? He asked you to go back on your own."
• Go back on my own? But I didn’t even know where his car was. Or maybe his car was already carrying Clara.
• Still, I couldn’t stay at the banquet any longer. I turned and left the hotel, taking a taxi home.
• The heavy rain beat against the car window, and the taxi abruptly stopped in front of the villa.
• As I opened the car door, the glaring headlights tore through the rain - Maddox's Rolls-Royce had just parked, and Clara was getting out of the passenger seat.
• Maddox opened a black umbrella. Clara slipped under it, the lace hem of her skirt brushing against his trousers.
• She tiptoed close to his ear and said something, her hand sliding into his suit pocket. Under the shadow of the umbrella, their lips were nearly touching.
• I suddenly felt a lump in my throat. Only after they walked into the house that belonged to me and Maddox did I push open the taxi door and get out.
• The rain drenched my clothes and hair, but I didn’t feel the cold.
• I honestly didn’t understand why Maddox loved another woman but refused to divorce me.
• But that only showed that, to him, status and position mattered more than love.
• I walked into the house, drenched, and just happened to see Maddox coming out of the guest room.
• "There are guests in the house; you'd better tidy yourself up."
• His tone was cold, but I couldn't help but smile. He was being picky with me because of Clara.
• I gestured, "Just focus on your lover. It's none of your business what I do!"
• Whether he understood or not, I turned and went upstairs, back to my room.
• I stood under the shower, letting the hot water run over me, the warmth slowly wrapping around my body.
• As the water fell across my face, I thought of everything that had happened today. I couldn’t tell if it was shower water or tears.
• After a long shower, I finally calmed down and stepped out of the bathroom.
• As I dried myself with a towel, my eyes fell on the birthmark near my heart, a butterfly-shaped mark on my chest. I froze for a moment.
• I rushed out to grab my phone, opened the photos, and saw not only my underwear captured, but also that birthmark.
• So, he recognized me. Was it because of the underwear, or because of my birthmark?
• But we hadn’t lived together for the past two years, let alone made love. How did he know?
• I heard footsteps at the door. There was only Maddox and me at home. Was it him?
• In an instant, I grabbed a towel to cover myself, and Maddox walked in. The smell of whiskey mixed with the wind, his suit still on, a few buttons of his shirt undone, his sharp, masculine scent surrounding me.
• He walked toward me step by step. I could only sit on the bed, quietly hiding my phone under the blanket.
• Why didn’t he stay with his lover and come to me instead?
• Maddox’s gaze dropped to my chest again. My heart raced, uneasy, wanting to pull the towel tighter, but I tugged the corner by mistake. The cold air brushed my bare skin, and his eyes locked on the birthmark.
• His fingertip suddenly pressed against the mole on the edge, slowly caressing along the raised line.
• The temperature of his fingertip was unusually hot, tracing along the butterfly contour, his eyes serious, as if thinking about something.
• I shrank back, gesturing to him, asking, "Is there something wrong? I haven't showered yet."
• Even though I knew he couldn’t understand sign language, at least it broke his actions.
• Maddox finally looked up at me, with a cloud of emotions in his eyes that I couldn't decipher, his fingers moving up my chest, touching the spot where I had scraped my skin.
• "How did this happen?"
• I winced at the sting, shoved his hand away, but lost my balance and fell back. He caught me by the knees, my whole body falling into his arms.
• The birthmark pressed against his rapidly beating heart, the frequency making my heart tremble.
• At such closeness, I was nervous and restless, but I knew he was only checking the mark.
• I pushed Maddox away and gestured for him to leave.
• Then I rushed into the bathroom. Only when I heard his footsteps fade did I breathe out, sinking weakly into the bathtub.
• I hugged my knees, helpless, knowing that if I wanted a divorce, I could only rely on myself.
• That phone was my only way out.
• Maddox’s POV
• Rain hammered against the car windows, and Clara’s strong perfume made my temples ache.
• She leaned over. "Maddox, how about coming to my place tonight? Your dumb wife doesn't know how to take care of a man..."
• "Shut up, Clara." My voice was cold as ice. "My marriage is none of your business. If I hear the word ‘divorce’ from your mouth again, you know the consequences."
• The car pulled into the driveway of the villa, where a taxi was parked in front.
• A slender figure was getting out of the car. It was Selina.
• She was soaked through, like a baby bird abandoned in a storm.
• I immediately opened the car door, lifted an umbrella, and the cold rain quickly soaked my shoulders.
• Clara rushed out too, her hand sliding restlessly into my suit pocket. Under the umbrella, her lips nearly brushed my jaw.
• "Maddox, I'm so cold..."
• Suddenly, I felt disgusted and irritated at her.
• And there stood Selina, standing behind the curtain of rain. I couldn’t see her expression clearly, but her sorrow and despair made my heart ache a lot.
• I almost roughly pushed Clara's hand out of my pocket, my voice filled with restrained anger. "Clara, as an important partner in this project, you'd better know your boundaries. If you don’t want to catch a cold, go inside."
• When we reached the living room, I saw Selina completely soaked.
• "There are guests at home, you'd better clean yourself up." My tone was cold, yet God knew how much I wanted to pull her into my arms, dry her hair, and ask how she ended up like that.
• But I couldn't.
• In the deep waters of the Torres family, dangers lurked everywhere. The industry my father left was a great fortune, but also a deadly poison.
• I had come this far by wearing a colder disguise than ice and having a heart harder than iron.
• Any weakness would drag me down.
• And Selina, she was my greatest weakness.
• Two years ago, Luna had run away on the eve of her wedding, pushing both families and the crucial energy project to the edge of collapse.
• Meanwhile, Rose pushed Selina, who was as quiet as a shadow, in front of me.
• At the wedding, she wore an ill-fitting wedding dress, and in that moment, I saw the guilt that dragged her into this quagmire.
• The cold three-year contract was the only protection I could give her.
• I told her she only needed to be an invisible wife, and after three years, I would let her go.
• I deliberately pushed her away with the most indifferent and hurtful attitude, extinguishing the faint light in her eyes with my own hands.
• I wanted her to stay safely in the "cage," even if she hated me; it was better than being exposed to the eyes of those wolves and tigers.
• But now, she had faced a danger like never before.
• That anonymous call, which I first thought was a joke, had slowly pulled me into reality.
• The photo shattered my last bit of doubt.
• Yet when I pressed for answers, the call was cut short.
• I clenched the phone tightly, anger and cold fear violently swirling in my chest.
• ...No, I couldn’t stay passive anymore.
• I had to act. I had to keep her somewhere... where I could see her, right under my eyes.
• The thought became clear, the Energy Department’s cooperation was about to begin, and the chief secretary’s seat was vacant. It was the perfect excuse.
• I immediately dialed the HR director's direct line, with a cold and hard voice, "Inform Selina that she is to be transferred to my chief secretary effective immediately. Report to the HR department tomorrow."
• After hanging up the phone, I leaned back wearily in the chair, closing my eyes.
• But her butterfly-shaped birthmark near her heart still lingered on my mind.
• The shape and warmth of that mark had already, unknowingly, left its tremor deeply imprinted in my chest.