Chapter: 3 .o."Millie, you're getting clever," he said, a flicker of irritation in his voice. "You know need your consent to go through with it. Are you thinking of using it to get under my skin?"Millie didn't answer. She just stared at the white wall, watching how their shadows stretched. Brandon put out his cigarette and said no more, pulling on his clothes quickly and storming out. He didn't stop to consider how she felt. Nor did he pause to acknowledge how humiliating or painful his request was. He knew she couldn't leave him. He was utterly sure about that. The door slammed shut behind him. And just like that, Millie was alone. She sat motionless by the bed, staring at the door as if it might open again. Her phone buzzed beside her. A message lit up the screen. She picked up the phone..m. It was from a familiar number. "He came to see me again."The text came with a photo. Brandon's face was captured in the reflection of a glass door, a soft smile playing on his lips, eyes warm in a way Millie had never seen. She froze. Then, slowly, she scrolled upward through the previous messages. "He said he has feelings for me.""Rainy nights aren't lonely for me because he's here with me. What about you?""The one who isn't loved is truly the other woman. Millie, you were never his first choice; you were just the one he settled for. He sees beauty the way do, shares my taste in things, and he loves me."The messages continued that way, proving Brandon's betrayal. The man who had always treated her with distance these past seven years had apparently mastered tenderness for someone else. Millie kept scrolling until she reached the very first message. "You should know who am. Do you like the flowers in your living room today? sent them. He said they were beautiful."Of course, Millie knew who it was...oVivian Simpson, the famous floral designer known for filling her wealthy clients grand villas and lavish parties with carefully and beautifully arranged blooms..wr.cMillie had shown Brandon the messages before. He'd brushed them off and said there was no proof they were from Vivian. He had even said maybe Millie sent them herself just to stir trouble. Most of the messages didn't have pictures, and the few that did were vaguetaken from afar, hard to pin down. But not today's. Today's was clear.