Chapter 14
Jax didn’t rage. Instead, he seemed to deflate, all emotion draining from him as he faced a cruel reality: I hadn’t chosen him.
I’d always been drawn to someone who bore a striking resemblance to him, someone who had effortlessly achieved everything he’d desperately chased.
Someone he’d been a substitute for from the very beginning.
Jax crumpled the lease agreement in his fist, lips pressed tight.
“So what?” he scoffed, trying to mask his turmoil. “It’s ancient history; it means nothing.”
Then he turned to leave without looking back.
But at the doorway, his legs gave out, and he collapsed.
Jax, just as his manager had wanted, completely crashed and burned in this episode.
Everyone believed he was heartbroken, consumed by a love that landed him in the hospital.
His “love–struck breakdown” shot to the top of Twitter’s trending topics.
When Jax regained consciousness, I was packing my bags at the hotel.
He looked around, finding Vivienne at his bedside, but not me.
“Where’s my wife?” he asked weakly, his voice carrying a faint, desperate hope.
Vivienne, trembling with fury, slapped him repeatedly, her voice echoing through the room.
The reality show was put on indefinite hold.
Vivienne visited me once.
Even though she had won Jax, she still needed to assert her dominance over me, as if my existence was the only thing anchoring her lově.
He was tiring of her mood swings, and she was wearing thin from his indifference.
They were becoming what Jax and I had been.
10:21
The Ice Prince’s Love Prescription: I’m Your Remedy to Forget Your Ex
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Once the passion faded, they’d face the same problems I had.
In her naiveté, Vivienne had thought she’d be different, but she wasn’t.
She knew this.
That’s why, from the show to real life, she’d always tried to tear me down; first on the plane, then again and again, feeding off my pain to validate her choices.
But now, sitting across from me, her emotions barely contained, all that remained were cold eyes and trembling hands.
“Why aren’t you angry anymore?” she asked hoarsely.
I didn’t respond, just stood to leave.
She laughed, bitter and self–deprecating. “Let me tell you a secret.”
Her marriage to Caspian had been a lie.
She’d always thought she could win him over.
After all, he owed her family an enormous debt.
If her father hadn’t pulled him out of that eight–hundred–dollar rental, he’d probably still be nothing living in squalor.
She’d thought he would at least be obsessed with her.
Because Caspian had spent his life chasing Rome, and she’d been born into it.
But he wasn’t.
“I thought someone like him wouldn’t know how to love,” she said softly. “But do you know what I
discovered after we married? Every single password of his was 207. At first, I thought it was
someone’s birthday, then I realized – it was that dump’s door number. He was always thinking about his lowest points, and the person he truly loved. How ridiculous is that?”
I suddenly found myself with plenty of free time.
I quickly secured a visa, packed my bags, and headed to the airport. While watching a show in the lounge, Jax appeared beside me, dressed in black, looking disheveled.
“We need to talk,” he said roughly.
Your F
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The blue sky reflected against the floor through the vast terminal windows.
He’d lost weight, dressed all in black, with a faint unhealed scar on his forehead. He looked wrecked.
“What was your real reason for going on that show?” he asked rhetorically. “It wasn’t to win me back, was it? It was to see him. I was nothing but a stand–in, right?”
I stayed silent, watching the boarding time tick closer.
“Daisy, do you enjoy playing with people’s feelings? Was it fun making a fool of me?” His voice dripped with anger and bitterness.
I cut him off coldly, “What feelings? You cheated, then claimed you were madly in love with Vivienne. You dragged me onto a show just to humiliate me. I was only giving you a taste of your own medicine. If I was still that lovesick Daisy who was just like you, would you have listened if I’d asked you all this? You’re the one who said, ‘Some people deserve to be betrayed,‘ Jax.”
It was time to board. I turned toward the gate.
Just before switching off my phone, I received a text from Jax:
“I will ruin you both.”
