Billionaire Wife's Old Flame

"The pendant doesn't matter. Rachel, is your hand all right?"

In the next instant, he snatched up his bag and bolted for the door.

"Rachel, don't touch it! Wait for me. I'll be home right away!"

I reached out and grabbed his arm. "What pendant? Was it the one I gave you?"

My eyes brimmed with desperation, but Steve had no patience for my emotions. "Don't ask so much!"

With that, he dashed into the pouring rain without sparing me a glance.

Memories of that pendant surged in my mind, and I looked at him with a gaze turned ice-cold.

He flipped open the box.

Inside lay the emerald pendant my adoptive parents had left me—our token of love. But now it was shattered into eight pieces, beyond repair.

Steve cleared his throat softly, as if only then remembering that Rachel had broken the pendant long ago. He reached for my hand with practiced ease.

"Cassidy, it's just a pendant. If you come back with me, I'll buy you ten more to replace it."

And that was it—that's how he'd always treated me, like a wild weed no one bothered to care about.

I slipped my hand free, my voice calm and detached.

"No need. Since I was never your chosen target, don't waste any more time on me."

The truth was, the day Steve ran off with Rachel and left me at the altar, I had already given up on him.

Now, all I wanted was for him to stay as far from my life as possible.

But life rarely grants such wishes.

Just then, a cold voice cut through the rain behind us. "Steve, what are you doing?"

It was Rachel.

The moment she appeared, Steve forgot me entirely.

"Rachel, why are you here? Aren't you feeling unwell?"

He stripped off his coat and draped it over her shoulders.

The scene that had once pierced me to the bone replayed before my eyes, yet my heart felt utterly numb.

Not hers. The instant she saw it was me beside him, Rachel's face darkened. She answered his questions, but her eyes never left me. They burned with hatred.

"I heard the richest man in the city, Lawrence Becker, lives nearby. I thought I'd try my luck and see if he might be willing to help you."

At her words, warmth flickered across Steve's gaze.

"After all these years, you're still the one who understands me best."

The sight turned my stomach. I turned to leave, but Steve pulled me back, placing me squarely before her.

"Rachel, you should go home. I'll wait here for Lawrence. Since Cassidy's here, I'll take her back later. She can look after you from now on."

"Perfect." Rachel's smile widened, her eyes sliding to me. "Cassidy has always been good at serving others. With her around, I'll feel much more at ease."

After all these years, she still knew exactly how to twist the knife.

Humiliation burned hot across my face, but Steve only mistook it for jealousy.

"Enough. Stop nitpicking. Giving you a job is more than generous. If Rachel weren't so frail right now, my family wouldn't need another maid."

I laughed coldly. "Go ahead then. But Lawrence Becker will never invest in your company."

I'd long known the Spencer family had been in decline under Steve's management. They were desperately looking for investors now. What I hadn't expected was that they would dare set their sights on my husband.