Chapter 2
Ivy glanced at her Rolex and put on this whole understanding act:
“Mr. Cullen, that Ritz–Carlton suite you booked for tonight? It’s about to expire. I’ll just cancel it…”
Jaxon cleared his throat and coldly invited me along, claiming it was an anniversary suite he’d booked for me.
I couldn’t help but ask: “Seven years of marriage and you still don’t know hotel sheets make me break out in hives?”
Jaxon’s face suddenly darkened. He yanked open the Cullinan’s door and snapped:
“Whatever! Your call!”
Then he waited for Ivy to climb into the passenger seat and sped off.
I let out a bitter laugh and didn’t bother watching them leave.
Coldly pulled out my phone and bought myself a plane ticket for three days out.
Three days to say goodbye to seven years. More than enough.
Back home, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter–every platform was buzzing with people gushing over mine and Jaxon’s “fairy tale romance.
Tons of users were sharing stories about how Jaxon spoiled me.
[The year Cullen Corp went public, Jaxon’s mom thought Harley wasn’t good enough–no background, no money. She kept pushing Jaxon to marry some socialite instead.
Jaxon liquidated everything he could and gave it all to Harley.
Put the two biggest properties under her name and set up a trust fund for her.]
I remembered that.
He’d held me tight and sworn: “Even if I gave you everything, it still wouldn’t be enough.”
Back then, his love was real–something you could actually hold onto.
[After Harley joined Cullen Corp, she’d pull all–nighters and developed severe neck problems.
Jaxon dropped serious cash on this therapeutic neck chair and put it right in his CEO office.
Everyone knew it was Harley’s–they called it the ‘Queen’s Throne.‘]
I remembered that too.
But that’s exactly where everything started going to hell…
Two years ago, coworkers saw Ivy constantly lounging in that chair, giggling and chatting with Jaxon. They told me about it.
When I brought it up with Jaxon, he just/seemed confused: “It’s just a massage chair. I didn’t even notice she was sitting there. If it bugs you, I’ll tell her to stop.”
I stared at the chair’s settings–someone had changed all the body measurements. I never used it again.
But I didn’t realize then that this showed how he’d started making special exceptions for her.
0128
Our Vows Were Lies, But Your Revenge Will Be Very Real
$1.29
Chapter 2
Until one night when Jaxon came home late, his collar wrinkled and tangled with long hair that definitely wasn’t mine.
Clutching that shirt, I felt like all my blood was flowing backward.
I ended up hugging the toilet, puking my guts out.
Jaxon got on his knees and swore nothing happened–he’d just taken “the kid” to see the moonlight at St. George Island State Park.
I cried until I was shaking, asking him over and over: Why? Why had he become this person? Where was the old him?
At eighteen, he got beaten up defending me from some stalker.
At nineteen, he worked three jobs every damn day just to save up for my birthday presents.
At twenty, his first startup crashed and burned. Drowning in debt, he tried to break up with me, choking up as he talked about how ashamed he was of dragging me down.
I’d comforted him then: Don’t give up. People who love you are willing to catch you when you fall. This time, let me chase you..
My tears dripped onto his shirt as he promised it wouldn’t happen again.
But it wasn’t until paparazzi caught Jaxon and Ivy leaving a hotel together that I finally got it–from the moment he first took her side, I’d stopped being Jaxon’s lover. I was just Mrs. Cullen for show.
That’s when I stopped having breakdowns. Stopped crying and demanding answers. Instead, I went ice cold.
My first thought was protecting the company’s stock price.
So I copied Ivy’s outfit and did damage control for Jaxon.
From that day on, for two whole years, Ivy was like a thorn stuck in my throat, wedged between me and Jaxon.
Sometimes I’d see paparazzi shots of him grinning ear to ear, and I’d suddenly remember how he’d smiled just like that asking me: “Harley, once I learn this song, can I use it to propose?”
But time erased my lover’s smile, leaving only something ugly behind.
fifty–fifty. I closed the app, done with dwelling on a past I couldn’t get back. Called my lawyer instead and had him catalog all the properties under my name. Sell everything. And draft up a divorce/agreement splitting all marital as
Seven years of marriage. Building something from nothing alongside Jaxon.
On my way out, I was taking everything that was rightfully mine.
Not leaving a damn thing behind.
