From Love to Betrayal: You’re No Longer Worth Her

Chapter 1 Tamara Wesley’s heart wouldn’t stop thumping against her chest. She was shuddering deeply all over as well.

The moment she fell to her knees before Jared Fender, she instinctively clutched at his leg, sobbing and begging at his feet, holding on to the last shred of hope.

“Please, let go of my father. He’s the only family I have left!”

Jared cocked an eyebrow nonchalantly and placed a finger to his lips to shush her.

In the past, when Tamara was fast asleep, Jared was always worried that she’d wake up from the slightest noise, and he would also use this gesture to remind everyone around them to keep quiet and make as little noise as possible.

However, it was precisely this familiar gesture now that made Tamara shrink back in fear even more.

Jared’s lips curled up in a grin. However, his eyes were cold and icy like frost, sending a deep shiver down Tamara’s back.

“Tammy, just tell me where you hid Queenie.”

Tamara’s face was streaked with tears as she shook her head hard.

“I really don’t know where she is.”

Jared seemed to have lost all of his patience. He then smacked a stack of surveillance camera photos in Tamara’s face.

“So, you still want to lie to me? You’re the only one who has seen her lately!”

Tamara forced her sobs down, trying to explain things, but she saw Jared raising his hand in the air a little.

Then, the rope dangling Fred Wesley from the yacht’s bow was lowered by at least three feet.

Jared lifted Tamara’s chin with his hand, the one with their wedding ring still on his fourth finger, and said, “Tammy, one more minute.”

Tamara’s heart shook. She felt suffocated.

It was her birthday today. And Queenie Lambert had indeed come looking for her after the birthday banquet.

“Please tell your husband to stop bothering me! I have no interest in being the third wheel in your relationship!”

Then, without even waiting for Tamara to reply, Queenie turned on her heels and left.

Actually, Tamara had always known about Queenie’s existence, but this was the first time she’d ever seen her.

Jared had gone all out when he was pursuing Queenie in broad daylight. He’d gifted her fine jewelry, luxury cars, properties, and more. And it took the public less than a week to know that Jared was publicly pursuing Queenie Lambert, the wild and haughty daughter of a poor fisherman.

Tamara had tried getting someone to investigate Queenie’s background for her, but every time, Jared would hold her in his arms and tease her, saying, “Tammy, I’d be the laughingstock of the century if people in our circle knew that I was being loyal to only one woman.

“You’re the only person I’m truly in love with, Tammy. I’m just playing her like a game. She’s just a fun little challenge on the side.

“Don’t get jealous of her for no reason. Nobody will ever replace your position as my wife.”

Tamara had actually believed him back then. She even convinced herself many times after that that Jared was just fooling around with Queenie, nothing more.

However, it turned out that Jared thought Tamara had been so angry and jealous of Queenie that she’d driven her away herself.

Tamara was very sure that Queenie had planned her own disappearance, but nothing she said or tried explaining to Jared could get through to him.

He didn’t believe Tamara.

He even threatened her with Fred’s life, demanding that she tell him where she’d hidden Queenie.

Jared casually lit up his cigarette and started smoking like he had all the time in the world. The smoke from the cigarette immediately triggered Tamara’s asthma, and her face gradually turned as pale as a sheet.

She held her hands against her chest and started coughing and wheezing, her pale face quickly turning bright red this time.

Jared bent down to get closer to her. Then, he said, “30 seconds left, Tammy.”

The wind was starting to pick up, and the rope holding Fred to the yacht was starting to sway. He could fall at any second.

Jared waved his hand in the air again, and Fred dropped another three feet down in an upside-down position.

“No! Jared!” Tamara screamed, unable to stop herself.

Jared ignored the panic in Tamara’s eyes and started counting down.

“Ten, nine, eight…”

Tamara shuddered.

Back when she’d just started dating Jared, the elites from the upper-crust society often jeered at her and made fun of her to no end.

They’d tricked her into drinking a glass of pure lemon juice, then laughed at her for not knowing her manners and making an ugly face in public. They’d purposely splashed scathing hot coffee on her body, then “apologized” later by throwing wads of cash in her face to thoroughly humiliate her.

When Jared found out about it, he gave orders to round up every socialite who bullied her and tied them together in a bunch.

Then, he’d started counting down, just like he was now.

“If nobody is going to own up, then everyone will have the pleasure of descending into hell together.”

In the end, the socialites’ clothes got torn off as they huddled together in shock and fear, and their parents and guardians had to personally apologize to Tamara and beg for her forgiveness before he finally let them go.

Tamara knew that Jared wasn’t joking this time either.

If he were to raise his hand one more time, Fred would fall into the ocean, and his body would sink to its floor permanently.

The salty sea breeze felt like it was tearing Tamara apart. She screamed at the top of her lungs and lied to Jared for the first time in her life.

“It was me! I was jealous of her and I didn’t want to see her next to you! I was the one who forced her out of Gasteron so she would leave you forever!”

Jared seemed pleased with Tamara’s answer. He then carefully wiped away her tears with the back of his hand.

“See, Tammy, that wasn’t so hard, was it? You should have just said that earlier.

“Remember. You should always be as good as you are now for the rest of your life when you’re with me.

“Nobody will covet your place as Mrs. Fender. It’s yours forever. And I’ll come back to you once I’m done playing with her.”

The screaming confession earlier literally took up all of Tamara’s energy. She slumped to the floor in great exhaustion, listening passively to Jared’s words and nodding like a robot.

“As for today…”

Jared’s gaze shifted out to sea.

“This is your punishment for misbehaving.”

Tamara’s chest seized up as her eyes spotted the rope being severed.

Fred fell into the sea with a loud splash and disappeared underwater.

“Dad!”

Chapter 2 Tamara didn’t hesitate. She immediately climbed over the railing and jumped into the sea.

Amidst the roaring gale and crashing waves, she thought she then heard Jared’s emotionless voice, saying, “Fish her out two minutes later.

“And watch her. If anything happens to her, you’re all dead meat!”

Then, Jared turned and left without bothering to stay.

Tamara’s brutally slashed heart only finally stopped hurting when the sea finally sucked her in and dragged her under the surface.

She kept swimming out to the middle of the sea and finally caught up to the tied-up body that was thrown into the water—and realized that it had been a fake body after all. It was only then that she stopped panicking.

When she was finally pulled up from the sea, she was unconscious.

Somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness, she thought she heard Jared’s bodyguard, Baxter Simons, say, “Mr. Fender! We’ve found Ms. Lambert’s whereabouts. She’s just nearby, and about to leave for the sea!”

When Tamara finally came to, Queenie was busy throwing off Jared’s hand with an angry expression on her face.

“Your wife hates me! What’s the point of you looking for me anyway? Are you really going to help her tear me up into a million pieces and feed me to the sharks?”

It was yet another accusation out of nowhere. Tamara felt her heart drop as she looked at Jared, right next to her, hoping to see the tiniest bit of trust that he still had in her.

However, Jared’s eyes were on Queenie the entire time, and he never even glanced in Tamara’s direction once.

Tamara’s chest began to hurt. She gripped the blankets under her in a death grip.

“Since she made you unhappy, would it be better if I punished her for you?”

Before Tamara could even process what was happening, Jared immediately barked orders at Baxter, telling him to lock Tamara up in the basement where it was a pitch-black hell.

Tamara had claustrophobia and was scared of dark places as well. As soon as she was locked up in the basement, her breathing turned erratic and shallow.

Ever since getting together with Jared, he had always made sure to leave out a night light for her even when they went to bed at night. And if she wanted to use the toilet in the middle of the night, he would always tag along behind her.

He even forbade her from using the elevator at home.

“Tamara, I won’t let you face the darkness anymore.”

But now, he’d thrown her in the dark basement just for the sake of making another woman happy.

The fear ate into Tamara and spread throughout her body. She desperately scrambled over to the door, trying to escape the dark, but the darkness only followed her everywhere she went.

“Jared… Jared, let me out…”

Nobody answered except for her echo. Even the air around her was starting to feel like a vacuum.

Just before Tamara was about to pass out from her phobia, the door was finally opened.

Jared stood at the door, the light shining from behind him, while his figure was still enveloped in a dark shadow.

“Do you finally admit that you were wrong?” he asked, looking down at her condescendingly.

Tamara’s nails and fingers were a gory, bleeding mess from trying to grip the floor beneath her. She opened her mouth and said in a choked-up voice, “I was wrong…”

“So what did you do wrong?”

What had she done wrong? That was a good one. What had she actually done wrong?

“I was wrong for…”

The word “wrong” wrapped itself around her heart and nearly squeezed the life force out of her. She spat out a mouthful of blood on the ground.

However, Jared ignored the blood and just held Queenie’s hand, interlacing their fingers tightly together.

Suddenly, Tamara knew what she’d done wrong.

“I was wrong for meeting you in the first place!”

Jared stiffened. His hold on Queenie’s hand also tightened instinctively. It wasn’t until Queenie whined in pain that he carefully released her.

Tamara suddenly began to laugh. However, the more she laughed, the more her tears streamed down her face.

She recalled everything that had happened in the past, and everything felt like a slap to her face.

“I was wrong for falling in love with you. I was wrong for…even marrying you!”

Jared’s eyes turned dark. Just as he was about to say something, Tamara suddenly fainted and stopped moving.

He frowned hard. Just as he was about to pick Tamara up from the ground, someone next to him suddenly shrieked, “Ms. Lambert’s having a fever! Get the doctors!”

…

When Tamara finally regained consciousness, she heard the maids gossiping among themselves outside the door.

“I pity Mrs. Fender for turning out like this. Mr. Fender didn’t even care that she threw up blood and just went to check on Ms. Lambert’s temperature instead.”

“Haha, I knew it! From the moment she climbed into Mr. Fender’s bed, I knew that he’d eventually get sick of her and throw her aside. She’s just from a tiny, unknown family, after all.”

“Wanna bet when Mr. Fender’s going to divorce her and throw her out into the streets?”

A divorce?

Tamara blinked her dry and weary eyes and tried to ignore the annoying voices outside.

She suppressed the sharp pain in her chest and grabbed her phone from the bedside table.

Fred’s text message was still on the lockscreen. She tapped on it and read, “He’s not good to you. Are you still going to stay?

“I’ve told you before when he asked for your hand in marriage that you’re both not fit to be together, but you didn’t believe me.

“But I made him sign a prenup back then. If you’re the one to bring up divorce with him, he has no right to stop you at all.”

Before this incident, Tamara never doubted Jared’s love for her, and she also never dreamed of leaving him.

But today, she’d changed her mind.

“Dad, I want to leave now.”

Fred’s reply was quick and almost immediate.

“Alright.”

Fred then called her a while after, as if worried that she’d change her mind again.

“Are you sure that you want to leave?”

Tamara’s eyes were empty. She shivered hard, but she still replied in a determined voice, “I am.”

“I’ve got your flight ticket. It’s in 15 days’ time.”

Chapter 3 Just as Tamara hung up, the door was pushed open.

“Queenie is not feeling well. Come with me.”

Jared’s face was anxious and panicked as he barged into Tamara’s room. Without even waiting for her answer, he grabbed her by the hand and dragged her out.

Jared drove like a speeding madman. His grip on the steering wheel was so strong that his knuckles had turned white. It was obvious that he was extremely anxious.

Tamara gnawed on her lower lip as she recalled her moments with Jared in the past.

Once, at a colleague’s birthday party, she found out the hard way that the strawberry cake they ate had some stray pieces of mango in it.

The moment the rashes showed up on her arm, Jared had also picked her up and driven her to the nearest hospital at breakneck speed, just like he was doing now.

It had just been a tiny rash, but he’d been so worried about her that his eyes had turned red with anxiety.

But now, every emotion Jared felt was all for Queenie, and not for her anymore.

The bitterness spread in her chest. It wasn’t until she saw Queenie lying in her bed that Tamara finally snapped out of her daze.

She watched as Jared held on to Queenie’s hand with a deathly worried look on his face. Tamara fought to keep the bile down and asked, “What do you want me to do?”

“Aren’t you a nurse? Have you already forgotten about your occupation?”

Jared’s sudden accusation pierced right into Tamara’s heart.

After getting married, Jared forbade her from going to work again because he was “worried about her”. He had even resigned on her behalf.

Tamara’s hand curled slightly as she fought to keep her emotions down.

Queenie coughed again, with a hand over her mouth, and Jared’s icy face immediately turned concerned again.

“It’ll be fine. You just need an IV drip.”

Queenie gave Tamara a brief glance and struggled to free herself from Jared’s arms.

“Your wife is still here. Don’t act so intimate with me.”

Jared’s lips curled upward. He was obviously happy to hear those words coming from her mouth.

“What, are you jealous?”

They kept looking at each other flirtatiously, and Tamara felt as though she was going to suffocate from it.

Just as she was about to leave for a breath of fresh air, Jared grabbed her by the wrist and said, “Hurry up and give her the drip.

“Queenie hates going to the hospital and doesn’t like the family doctor. Don’t tell me that you’ve forgotten how to treat a patient!”

Tamara folded her arms on her chest and dug her nails deeply into her arms until the marks turned red and bloody. Finally, she managed to calm down and insert the IV drip for Queenie.

The tip of the needle had only just touched Queenie’s skin when she suddenly jerked her hand. The needle punctured through her skin at once, and blood began to trickle out.

Queenie’s eyes immediately turned red as she kept staring stubbornly at Jared.

“Did you purposely get your wife to humiliate me like this?”

A pained expression appeared briefly in Jared’s eyes. He hurriedly patted her on the back before turning to glare at Tamara with accusatory eyes.

“Tamara, apologize to Queenie at once.”

Tamara was shocked.

Back when she had still been working as a nurse, she’d once tried inserting an IV needle into a drunkard’s back of the hand. But because he kept struggling, the needle missed the mark twice.

The drunkard had then loudly demanded that she apologize to him.

Jared chuckled next to them and said, “You’re right. An apology is due.”

He then kicked the drunkard to the ground and said, “But it’s you who should be apologizing, not her!”

After that incident, Tamara had been very grateful toward him. However, she never thought that the same situation would happen again today, but Jared’s attitude toward her would have taken a 180-degree flip.

Tamara’s heart squeezed in pain. She could only try to defend herself. “It wasn’t my fault.”

Jared’s face turned icy at once. “Are you misbehaving again?”

“I did nothing wrong,” Tamara insisted through gritted teeth, upholding the last of her dignity.

Queenie suddenly began coughing her lungs out until her face turned as red as a beetroot. Jared tried to hold her, but she immediately shoved him away.

“I know what your wife is trying to say! She’s saying that I’m a homewrecker and deserved what I’m getting!

“Leave! Take your wife with you and get out of my sight!”

Jared’s eyes turned dark again. He grabbed Tamara’s wrist and warned her in a dangerous voice, “Apologize, now!”

The pain in Tamara’s chest intensified. She kept recalling Jared’s words from back then, when he’d promised her, “My Tamara will never have the need to apologize to anybody.”

Tamara bit her lip and shut her eyes, shaking her head defiantly. She was counting on Jared to remember the promise he had solemnly made to her last time. She was betting that he would finally believe her for once, and that he would remember what he said.

However, Jared’s face turned black. Then, he flung her to the ground by her wrist without any care in the world.

Tamara hit her head on the corner of the cupboard, and fresh blood spilled down from the corner of her eyes.

Jared didn’t feel a thing for her. He just threatened her again in an icy voice, “Since you’re unwilling to apologize, then I’ll get someone else to apologize on your behalf. Don’t you think that your dad’s getting a little too old now to have to keep cleaning up after your messes?”

The physical pain Tamara felt on her head was not as bad as the pain she felt in her chest. She felt blood surging up her throat, but she quickly suppressed it and got to her feet.

Then, she took a deep, apologetic bow, her dignity now smashed into smithereens, and said, “I apologize!”

Jared finally petted her on the head in satisfaction. “That’s a good girl.”

He then turned to look at Queenie. His eyes were smiling as he looked at her and said, “Since she’d already apologized, let’s not stay mad at her anymore, alright?”

Then, he turned to Tamara again and yelled, “Go get the aspirin now!”

The sudden change in Jared’s voice gave Tamara a huge shock. It only amplified the hollow feeling she felt in her chest.

Tamara robotically went to fetch the pills and a glass of water for Queenie, as if she were a living zombie with all the life sucked out of her.

After Queenie swallowed the pills, her breathing suddenly became ragged, and her face turned a bright tomato red. She grasped Jared’s hand and rasped, “The pills—something’s wrong with the pills!”

Jared’s face turned black once again as he sent Tamara flying to the floor with a powerful kick to her stomach.

“How dare you poison her! You’re such an evil, scheming woman! All because of jealousy?”

There was a sharp pain in Tamara’s abdomen. She lay on the ground, trying to defend herself, but she saw him beckoning Baxter over with eyes as cold as steel.

“Tie her up!”

By the time the rope was wrapped around her body, the pain in Tamara’s lower abdomen was so excruciating that she could barely even form a cohesive word anymore.

It hurt. Everything hurt. It hurt so terribly that her eyes were wet with unshed tears and she couldn’t stop herself from shuddering.

Just as she was about to yell for help, maybe from Jared, she suddenly caught sight of him slowly undressing Queenie in bed.

“Let me be your remedy, Queenie.”

Tamara thought that the pain finally went away as she watched them rolling in the sheets with each other.

Upon closer inspection, she realized that it still hurt. It hurt so badly, like her heart had been mercilessly dug out of her chest.

It wasn’t until she saw a large pool of blood trickling out from under her that it suddenly struck her.

She had been pregnant.

However, that tiny life, bearing both her and Jared’s blood, had been destroyed before it even had a chance to see the world.

The pain just intensified after that, and Tamara gradually began to lose consciousness.

Chapter 4 When Tamara opened her eyes again, she was already lying in a hospital bed, and her lower abdomen was still kind of hurting.

Meanwhile, Jared was standing right next to her with a solemn expression on his face as he stared at her.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Tamara suddenly found it hilarious. She’d also only just known then!

But even if that was the case, had it not been for Jared acting so mercilessly rough with her, she wouldn’t even have lost the baby!

As she thought about it, Tamara couldn’t stop her eyes from turning hot and damp with tears. She then just turned her head to the side expressionlessly, not wanting to look at Jared anymore.

Tamara’s emotionless reaction somehow made Jared feel slightly panicked. He went up to her and grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to meet his gaze.

“Tamara Wesley, you shouldn’t have acted so recklessly! If you never drugged Queenie on purpose, we would never have lost the baby!”

Just the mention of the baby felt like a massive boulder on Tamara’s heart. It suffocated her to the point that she could barely catch her breath.

She gripped the bedsheets under her, feeling her sanity starting to unravel. Just as she was about to reach her breaking point, Jared’s phone suddenly began ringing loudly.

It was a ringtone he’d specifically set for Queenie.

Tamara then bet that Jared would abandon her once more for Queenie, and she wasn’t disappointed.

As expected, Jared frowned lightly for a short while before quickly answering in a gentle voice, “I’m coming over right now.”

When he met Tamara’s gaze again, a hint of remorse flashed in his eyes, something very rarely seen. He even voluntarily explained things to her, which was a complete surprise.

“Queenie’s still under the influence of the drug. I need to keep watch over her. I’ll come back to you in a bit.

“We may have lost this baby, but we will still have more next time.”

Tamara stayed in the hospital for three whole days, and Jared never showed up at all. It was fine—they weren’t going to have a future together anymore.

After returning to Fender Mansion, Tamara didn’t purposely ask the maids about Jared, but she still managed to overhear their private conversations here and there.

“Ms. Lambert said that she wanted to see the sunrise, and Mr. Fender carried her on his back all the way up the tallest mountain with the best view just to catch it!”

“Mr. Fender also circled a part of the ocean on the map and told Ms. Lambert that this would be his wedding gift to her if they got married. He’s just waiting for her to say yes!”

“Ms. Lambert’s gaze just lingered a while longer on a massive diamond ring during an auction, and Mr. Fender actually bought it for her without hesitation!”

The staff in Fender Mansion all looked at Tamara with pity, empathy, or ridicule in their eyes, as if she deserved what she got. Tamara just pretended that she had never heard a thing from them.

She retrieved their wedding photos from the storeroom, where Jared had thrown them, and burned them all in the fire. Just as the fire was about to go out, Tamara then added the 99 love letters Jared wrote for her in the past into the smoldering fire.

The fire burned brightly as it ate up all of Tamara’s memories and emotions she used to harbor for Jared.

Just as she turned to leave, she was suddenly met with Queenie’s provocative stare.

“Are you planning to start a fire to try and get Mr. Fender’s attention and care?”

Tamara glanced at her briefly before her gaze locked onto a red mark on Queenie’s neck.

Tamara thought that she was already numb to it all, but the sight of the mark still made her heart squeeze in pain.

She shifted her gaze quietly and smiled very faintly. “You keep saying that you have no interest in being the third wheel to our relationship, but you seem very proud and happy about it right now.”

A cruel glint appeared in Queenie’s eyes. However, she soon raised her right hand and showed off the massive ring on her ring finger.

“Did you think you could still act all high and mighty forever? Jared has already asked me to marry him. I will be his lawfully wedded wife very soon.”

The diamond ring glinted brightly under the glow of the fire, and Tamara felt her heart sink into her stomach when she saw it.

She clenched her fists tightly and pressed her own wedding ring into her flesh, but she couldn’t feel the pain at all.

“You can have Jared. I don’t want him anymore.”

Just as the last of her sentences rolled off her tongue, Jared’s cold, booming voice could be heard from right behind them.

“You don’t want what anymore?”

Queenie no longer looked smug. Instead, she just stared at Jared as her eyes turned red.

“Jared, I told you many times before that I refuse to ruin your marriage. But your wife just called me a shameless homewrecker, and she even…”

Queenie then began to shake as she choked up on her words.

This was the first time Jared had ever seen Queenie looking at him like she needed him. He couldn’t help feeling smug and delighted at the thought of it.

He just liked the challenge and wanted to tame Queenie because of how proud and defiant she could be.

Jared held Queenie’s hand and tried to pull her into his arms, but she gritted her teeth and shoved him away.

“Don’t touch me!” she screamed. “It’s bad enough that your wife drugged me—she’s now even burned the only photo I have left of my dead mother! She’s trying to kill me!”

Since there were still some unburned parts of the 99 letters in the fire embers, they somehow became “proof” of what Queenie claimed to be the truth.

Jared lifted his eyes and looked at Tamara. However, he didn’t seem angry—rather he smiled at her and said, “It seems like you haven’t learned your lesson at all, Tamara.”

His gentle voice was even more bone-chilling than if he were to lose his temper.

“I did nothing of the sort,” Tamara said, but Jared didn’t even spare another glance at her anymore.

He just held Queenie in his arms and called Baxter over in a low voice.

“Bring Tamara’s mother’s portrait here!”

Tamara could feel the cold sweat on her forehead when she heard that. Her eyes widened in horror as her entire being filled with dread.

“Jared Fender! How dare you touch my mother’s portrait!”

She tried to run up to Baxter to stop him, but he firmly held her in place.

Jared then took the portrait and carelessly dropped it in the fire. The fire immediately ate the portrait up as bright orange flames shot high in the air.

“Tamara Wesley, this is your final warning. If you dare to hurt Queenie again, it’s going to be more than just a portrait that’s getting burned!”

Tamara’s body felt as though it had just been plunged into a tub of ice. Her ears began to ring, but she couldn’t hear a single thing.

Within moments, the portrait was already half-destroyed by the fire.

She immediately recalled how flames had also consumed her mother during her fire burial years ago. Her mother had been reduced to ashes, nothing more.

At once, Tamara’s eyes went wild as she fought against Baxter’s hold as if her life depended on it. Then, she ran straight into the fire to save the portrait.

The fire mercilessly licked at her skin and burned into her flesh, but Tamara didn’t seem to feel any of the pain. The only thing on her mind was to save her mother’s portrait.

It was her mother, for goodness’ sake! She had to save her mother!

Jared was shocked. This was the first time he’d ever seen Tamara lose control over herself like this. He found himself feeling sorry for her.

However, as he felt Queenie’s warmth still snuggled up against his frame, he quickly suppressed his emotions and gave Baxter a look.

Baxter then went to fish Tamara out of the flames.

“Are you finally going to behave yourself now, Tamara? As long as you stop provoking Queenie next time, I’ll set up another shrine for your mother if you want.”

That sounded like the biggest joke of the year to Tamara.

She threw her head back and began to laugh like a madwoman. As she continued laughing, she eventually realized that even her tears had completely dried up when she was in the depths of despair.

Tamara held a hand to her chest, where her heart had already been shredded into pieces, and looked at the cruel man before her with calm eyes.

“Let’s get a divorce, Jared Fender.”

Chapter 5 Jared’s face turned black. However, a short while later, his lips curled upward again as he chuckled out loud.

“You think you can leave me?”

“Why can’t I?” Tamara asked, her voice so soft she could barely be heard. “I will leave you, completely.”

She waited until Jared walked far away before turning around and hugging the pile of ashes back into her room.

Over the next few days, Jared didn’t show again, but Tamara didn’t care. Jared brought Queenie along as his companion to every high-profile event he attended, and allowed everyone to refer to her as “Mrs. Fender”.

However, Queenie’s demeanor remained cold and aloof as she refused to go along with Jared in public. “Your actual ‘Mrs. Fender’ is waiting for you to go home to her!”

The people around them felt their hearts jump into their mouths. Nobody ever dared to speak to Jared that way, not even Tamara. However, Jared didn’t seem angered but amused.

He tried to placate her little tantrum by bringing Queenie out to sea and personally making a pearl necklace for her. He brought her out to witness multiple sunsets and sunrises.

He even got an artist to draw their portraits and plastered them all over the billboards in the world, publicly declaring his love for Queenie.

When Tamara found out about it, she sent the prenup to her lawyer to take care of things.

It wasn’t until her lawyer told her that everything was set that Tamara finally heaved a sigh of relief.

That night, Tamara saw that Jared had purposely prepared a fireworks show for Queenie. The fireworks were bright and dazzling, lighting up the entire night sky like it was day.

She stood beneath the display and watched as the fireworks spelled out Queenie’s name.

Jared had always been very public and outlandish in his way of pursuit. Back when he was still pursuing Tamara, he had also set off fireworks in the same place for 99 nights in a row. And, every single show ended with the words, “I love you, Tamara.”

Now, the outlandish fireworks show was still the same as before, but the name it spelled out in the end had changed, just like the person he loved.

Tamara watched the entire show until the very last second. Then, when the surroundings finally turned quiet, she turned on her heels and left.

“Did you like the fireworks show?” Queenie asked, leaning against the doorframe and looking at Tamara with a provocative look. “Jared put in a lot of effort for the show.”

“It’s good,” Tamara replied quietly.

Queenie cocked an eyebrow and looked smug as she said, “I told him that fireworks made from ashes were the prettiest, so Jared borrowed your mother’s ashes for the show. I don’t think I’ve managed to thank her just yet.”

Tamara stiffened. She turned to look Queenie in the eyes and repeated, “My mother’s ashes?”

Queenie broke into a wide grin, waiting to watch Tamara break down and freak out over the realization.

However, Tamara didn’t react the way Queenie thought she would. Instead, she just chuckled softly and said, “Yeah, I won’t deny that these fireworks were made from ashes. But I’m sorry to disappoint you, because it was your mom who got blown up, not mine.”

Tamara’s light-hearted words seemed to strike Queenie right in the heart. She shuddered hard as her voice began to shake.

“What did you just say?”

Tamara’s lips curled upward slightly.

“You liked fireworks made from ashes, didn’t you? As soon as I caught wind of it, I assisted you by swapping my mother’s ashes with your mother’s. I bet she must be really proud to have brought up such a wonderful daughter like you, and she would have loved to be part of your love story with Jared too.

“Weren’t you so happy to see your mom blowing up in the sky?”

Queenie felt something snap in her head. She then threw herself at Tamara, screaming, “Die, bitch!”

As soon as she moved, Tamara quickly stepped aside, and Queenie immediately lost her balance. She fell to the g