Chapter 2: The Price of Her Love

Gina did not even realize it herself. She said Lincoln was being dramatic, but her eyes held nothing but indulgence.

Once, I was the one she worried about.

When I had a simple stomachache, she sat by my hospital bed all day and made me soup herself, burning her hands in the process.

Gina pulled out her phone. The next second, mine chimed.

Two hundred dollars was deposited into my account.

She smiled as she explained, "Lincoln likes to check up on me. If he finds out I gave you too much money privately, he'll get upset. Use this 200 to buy Anna some supplements and cheer her up, okay?"

I gripped my phone tightly. We were supposed to be the real couple, yet now I felt like some kind of criminal.

After a long moment, I laughed bitterly and transferred the money back to her.

She had been about to get out of the car, but her movement paused. She finally realized something was wrong and turned back to pat my hand.

"Nathan, I know you've been hurt, but if we want to destroy Lincoln, we have to let him have everything first. Only when he loses it all will it hurt enough to make things right."

However, the one who lost everything and felt devastated seemed to be me.

Last year, Lincoln joined the company and boldly declared he would reform the workplace. He made an example of me, the VP.

When I asked him to print documents, he said he was there to work, not run errands.

When I asked my assistant to get me coffee, he stepped forward and threw the coffee in my face, telling me to do my own work.

Later, when I was about to close a deal worth over a hundred million, he refused to hand over the company seal no matter what. He claimed I was transferring company assets.

The client got poached, and a month of sleepless nights went down the drain.

I mentioned it to Gina a few times, and she decided to defend me by setting up an elaborate trap. The plan was simple. She would build him up so high that the fall would destroy him.

In the beginning, whenever Gina praised Lincoln with that sarcastic tone, she would always wink at me knowingly.

I could not help but laugh along, playing my part in the act. I pretended to be crushed so Lincoln would feel even more triumphant. However, later, the act became more and more real.

The praise Gina gave Lincoln overflowed with genuine admiration. Her indifference and dismissiveness toward me no longer seemed fake.

A year ago, I lost my VP position.

A week ago, my sister had a heart attack after seeing her future sister-in-law buy a house for another man.

The surgery had a one hundred percent success rate, but because her useless brother could not scrape together the surgery fee, she died a horrible death.

Now, my girlfriend had fallen for someone else, and I had been too blind to see it coming.

Everything felt hollow.

"Gina, we should—"

The words "break up" had not yet left my mouth before her phone rang. The caller ID read "Lincoln Baby."

Gina opened the door and got out of the car, stepping away to answer it.

She used to never avoid me. She would even put it on speaker so I would not misunderstand.

After hanging up, she would mock Lincoln's arrogance and self-importance with me, swearing she would love only me for the rest of her life.

Now, she leaned against the car door, her fingers rubbing the hem of her clothes, her expression full of sweetness.

Then she cried out in surprise. "Your foot's still hurt. Don't come looking for me."

The next second, I saw a tall, thin figure limping toward us from the entrance to the underground garage. Gina rushed over to meet him and caught Lincoln in her arms.

Lincoln spotted me sitting in the passenger seat and flashed a cruel, triumphant smile. He quickened his pace and yanked me out of the car.

"Nathan, who said you could sit in Gina's car? What if you dirty the leather seats? Can you even afford to replace them? Or are you here to borrow more money? Leeching off your ex. Hmph, are you even a man?"

As if marking his territory, he reached into Gina's pocket with practiced ease, pulled out her phone and unlocked it.

I watched Gina stand beside him without stopping him. She had once told me that nobody else would ever have the right to touch her phone, because it held our private memories and conversations.

Now Lincoln handled it as though it belonged to him.

He scrolled through the screen until he found the transfer record. His lips curled into a mocking smile.

"Two hundred dollars? Gina, you really are too generous. What if he takes your money and runs away?"

Gina's gaze flickered toward me, but she said nothing.

I finally understood that the humiliation wasn't an unfortunate part of their plan. It had become my place in their lives.

And I was tired of pretending that it didn't hurt.