After parting on bad terms with Lily at the hospital, Joshua was furious. He had someone leak Lily's bed photos online, then headed to the hotel where Ada was staying.
With the scandal blowing up, Ada had barricaded herself inside, too afraid to show her face. Joshua arrived with bags of her favorite snacks, and after coaxing her through the door for what felt like an eternity, she finally let him in.
The overnight storm had stripped away her usual radiance. Her eyes were swollen and red—a rain-battered rose, carrying a different kind of messy beauty.
"She still won't record a clarification video?" Ada's voice came out thick and nasal.
Joshua frowned, spotted the phone clutched in her hand, and snatched it away.
"I'm confiscating this. Leave it to me."
Ada fell silent for a long moment. She stared at his finely sculpted face, and felt something in her chest soften.
Suddenly, she didn't care about the online hate anymore. Let them call her a homewrecker, a manipulative snake, a scheming bitch. None of that mattered—as long as Joshua didn't believe it. As long as he stood by her, unconditionally, that was enough.
She yanked his tie, rose onto her toes, and kissed him.
Joshua stiffened. Lily's face flashed through his mind unbidden, but the soft, sticky warmth on his lips made it impossible to push Ada away.
Her hands wandered, lighting fires. Joshua's pupils trembled as heat pooled in his lower abdomen.
He grabbed the back of her head and took control.
Time blurred. When he finally released her, Ada was gasping for breath.
The room temperature had climbed. An intoxicating tension hung between them as they both fought to steady their breathing.
Ada smiled—radiant, devastating—a rose finally touched by sunlight. "You know, Joshua... I've liked you for a very, very long time."
"So let me truly have you. Just once. Please?"
She reached for his shirt buttons, her intentions unmistakable.
It was like a feather brushing against Joshua's heart—not quite ticklish, but enough to shatter his reason.
His hands found her waist. He bent down and claimed her lips again.
From the bedroom came the sound of fabric tearing and a muffled groan.
There was no stopping it now.
Lost in the moment, Joshua pressed kisses along the seven crimson marks on Ada's back.
His voice came out wrecked: "Ada... why is your waist so thin..."
Three hours later, it was over.
Joshua carried Ada to the bathroom and cleaned her up. One hand toweled off his damp hair while the other reached for his phone.
He'd silenced it earlier—wanting nothing to interrupt his descent into depravity with Ada.
The screen lit up. Lily had sent him over a dozen messages.
His fingers froze.
Something cold coiled in his chest. Panic, maybe.
He glanced at Ada, already passed out from exhaustion, and quietly got dressed. He left a note on the nightstand.
"We've crossed every line there was to cross. Let's end this here."
Deep down, Lily still weighed far heavier on his heart than Ada ever could.
He opened Lily's message thread.
What he saw stopped him dead.
Photos. Ada walking into a tattoo parlor.
And a video—Ada meeting with The Prophet. From three years ago.
A sickening realization formed in his mind.
He'd been set up.
Before he could process it, his phone rang. His father.
"Prepare a pair of jade bracelets worth fifty million as Lily's wedding gift."
"Ten days from now, you and I will attend her wedding together."
Joshua thought he'd heard wrong. He forced down the panic rising in his chest. "Dad, what are you talking about? Lily and I haven't officially gotten our marriage license yet. The last wedding was ruined, but it also let everyone in Capital City know how I feel about her. How could she possibly marry someone else!"
It was absurd.
But his father's next words made his heart lurch. "Lily didn't tell you she's marrying Sean James?"
