Chapter 5

Austin stood there, completely dumbfounded, holding his face.

Hailey’s panicked voice came through the phone speaker.

"Austin! Are you okay? Do you need me to bring you some ice?"

"Chloe, how can you be so violent?!"

"If you didn't want to share the drafts, you could have just said so! Why did you have to hit him?"

Under her gentle, caring tone, I was framed as the crazy, ungrateful villain.

Austin finally snapped out of it, letting out a cold sneer.

"I see. You don't want to get married at all."

"Break up? Fine! Let's see who else would want a single mother like you!"

He slammed the door and stormed out.

Shortly after, my lead assistant called, sounding frantic.

"Chloe! Our new fall design was just posted by another fashion brand! What is going on?"

My heart sank.

I clicked the link. Hailey's company had just released a sneak peek of their new collection.

It was my mother's design, copied pixel for pixel.

She claimed she would never steal, yet she immediately plagiarized my mother's final work.

Without a word, I opened my home security app to check the footage.

Only Austin had access to the physical drafts in my study.

To give them to Hailey, he had to have taken them from my desk.

But the security footage for the past three days was completely wiped clean.

I called Austin, my voice shaking with rage.

"You deleted the security footage? This is blatant plagiarism! How dare you enable her?!"

Austin was silent for a long moment before speaking.

"I gave her the drafts, but I didn't think she would copy them exactly."

"But this collection is crucial for her career. We can't expose her now."

"Chloe, can you just let this go? I promise I won't do it again."

"I'll buy that retirement cottage your mom wanted so badly as an apology."

I felt my heart being torn to shreds.

"It's too late, Austin. She passed away. Last night."

"While you only cared about your precious Hailey."

"What? Your mom... she was fine last month..."

I didn't want to hear another word. I hung up, letting the tears fall freely.

I immediately began searching online for a new apartment to rent, wanting to move Lily out as soon as possible.

On Tuesday afternoon, just as I was about to meet a real estate agent, Lily came running into the house.

She was crying so hard she could barely breathe, her knees scraped and bleeding.

"Daddy... Daddy didn't play with me at Field Day. He played with Mason instead."

"I fell down, and he just held Mason and laughed at me. He said I was clumsy!"

"Mommy... I don't want Daddy anymore!"

My heart broke into a million pieces. I hugged Lily, cleaning and bandaging her scraped knees.

"Okay, baby. If you don't want him, I don't want him either. It'll just be you and me from now on, okay?"

Lily sobbed, nodding.

"Okay..."

Suddenly, the front door was pushed open.

Mason ran in, his dirty sneakers leaving mud tracks all over the hardwood floor.

"Wow! This apartment is so big and cool! I love it!"

Hailey walked in slowly, a massive smug smile on her face.

"Nice decor. I love the sunroom. Austin, you really have great taste."

I stood up, holding Lily, staring coldly at Hailey.

"This is my home. Get the hell out."

When Austin first brought Hailey back, my only rule was that she was never allowed in our home.

Hailey didn't say a word, her smirk only widening.

Austin walked in behind her, looking at me with a heavy, cold gaze.

Then, he spoke.

"I gave this apartment to Hailey."

"It's her home now."

Hailey raised her chin.

"I won the Rookie Designer Award. Austin said he'd reward me with an apartment. I chose this one."

"I'll give you three days to pack up your kid and get out of my apartment."

Austin took Hailey and her son to a five-star steakhouse to celebrate.

After checking them into a luxury suite at the Ritz-Carlton, Austin drove back to our old apartment.

Even though he gave the apartment to Hailey, he had secretly bought a luxury Tudor-style villa for Chloe—the exact European style she had always dreamed of.

He was sure she would cry tears of joy when she found out.

But when he unlocked the door, the apartment was completely empty.

The only thing left behind was the diamond engagement ring Chloe had worn for years, tossed carelessly into the trash can.