Ficorpio
Chapter 1
I was Ethan Sterling’s obedient lackey.
When he confessed to the low-income scholarship student, I cheered him on.
When he took her on dates, I stood guard.
Then high school ended.
The scholarship student went abroad to pursue her dreams.
And I became Ethan Sterling’s Public Cover Girlfriend.
He told me that once she came back, I would step aside.
So I waited. And waited.
I went from girlfriend to fiancée, and from fiancée to almost-wife.
Finally, just before the wedding, Ethan flew overseas and brought the scholarship student home.
I slipped off my Engagement Ring and let out a long breath of relief.
Before I left, I even thoughtfully closed the door behind me.
When I learned that Ethan had arranged a private flight in the middle of the night, I wasn’t particularly surprised.
After all, it was Vivian Hart.
When my best friend heard, she exploded.
“You two are getting married! Has he lost his mind?”
He hadn’t.
Vivian Hart was now a rising star in the fashion world.
Plenty of people knew that she was also Ethan Sterling’s first love, The One Who Got Away.
A reporter had once asked Vivian to confirm it.
Vivian had replied, “It doesn’t matter who was whose first love. Everything I’ve achieved today came from my own efforts.”
“Please stop focusing on gossip and pay more attention to my work.”
But just last week, Vivian had suddenly been caught up in a Design Plagiarism scandal.
A dazzling evening gown.
Copied from an unknown amateur with no reputation in the industry.
The story grew bigger by the hour.
Vivian posted on her Social Media Profiles:
Are you trying to drive me to my death?
That morning, Ethan kept checking his phone during breakfast.
The day’s meeting concerned a new business partner. Ethan had casually promised to sign the deal over to my father, but when he failed to show, the vice president took the opportunity to sign with a relative’s company instead.
My father was so furious that he called me ten times to berate me.
I called Ethan. He didn’t answer.
When I called a third time, I got an automated message saying the phone had been turned off.
The next time I saw Ethan was at eleven that night.
He told me to go to one of the vacant houses he owned.
I had never been there before.
The moment I stepped through the gates, I saw a whole courtyard filled with Pink Roses.
They were the same flowers Ethan used to send Vivian.
On the day he confessed to her, the trunk of his Luxury Sports Car had been packed with pink roses—a dazzling, extravagant display.
The interior of the house wasn’t Ethan’s usual taste, either. He preferred that pretentious, icy minimalist style.
Chapter 2
This place, clearly, had been decorated according to Vivian’s preferences.
As I approached the bedroom, I heard a woman sobbing.
The scene was almost exactly what I had imagined.
A pale woman sat on the bed, crying so hard her whole face had crumpled. Wrist Bandages wrapped one of her arms.
A tall man stood beside the bed, looking helpless.
His usually crisp, perfectly pressed suit was now wrinkled beyond recognition. The only thing keeping him fashionable was a face handsome enough to rival a professional model’s.
I had no idea why Ethan had called me here.
Didn’t he have a delivery service?
He turned and saw me. His eyes seemed to brighten.
I knew that look far too well.
It was the same look he’d given me back in high school, when he and Vivian had been dating in the woods and nearly been caught by the school discipline director.
“Vivian is shy,” he’d said. “Take the blame for her.”
Whenever he didn’t know what gift to give Vivian, or didn’t know what he’d done to upset her, he would look at me the same way and expect me to come up with a solution.
I usually couldn’t think of anything particularly useful.
In the end, Vivian would throw both of us out.
She would curse Ethan for having nothing but money and call me his Romantic Doormat.
I’d wrinkle my nose and say, “I’m a sidekick. A sidekick. Why make it sound so awful?”
Ethan would laugh at that.
But in the end, Vivian still accepted his money.
She had dreamed of becoming a designer.
Back in high school, whenever Ethan gave her a birthday present, she would work for three months to repay him roughly what it had cost.
I was different. I accepted his gifts at lightning speed, practically hoping a little more would fall through his fingers.
Later, Vivian failed her college entrance exams.
She ran to the school rooftop and threatened to jump.
Ethan cried and begged her to come down, promising that he would make her dream a reality.
Then he sent her abroad.
The Sterling Family was wealthy. Not the richest family in the world, perhaps, but still far beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Without his family’s knowledge, Ethan accessed the Family Trust Fund he was entitled to use once he came of age.
He spent several million dollars sending Vivian to a prestigious university overseas.
To be honest, I had wondered whether Vivian had approached Ethan for his money.
Then I thought about it.
I had done the same thing.
A Romantic Doormat asked for nothing.
A loyal lackey charged an appearance fee.
That year, after the truth came out, Ethan Sterling was beaten bloody and forced into an arranged marriage.
Chapter 3
His grandfather had told him, “The woman you marry must come from a family worthy of ours.”
But Ethan refused to marry anyone except Vivian Hart.
So he came up with a terrible plan.
He took me to the staunchly traditional Edmund Sterling’s home and staged a scene for the household staff to discover: the two of us in bed together, supposedly exploring the mysteries of adulthood.
He dragged me toward the bed with desperate urgency.
I was terrified.
I had only just turned eighteen, and in my confusion, I thought he genuinely liked me.
A few minutes later, the bedroom door flew open with a bang.
The sight of the crowd gathered outside drained every trace of color from my face. I hurriedly pulled the blanket over myself, but the humiliation and shame still threatened to swallow me whole.
Then Ethan spoke, and his words hurt even more.
He announced triumphantly, “Claire Bennett is my girlfriend. She’s a daughter of the Bennett family.”
“She started it. She was the one who took off my T-shirt.”
I had always been smart.
If I hadn’t been, I would never have become the only child my father had brought home and acknowledged despite my being born outside his marriage.
I understood Ethan’s little scheme at once.
He wanted to use me as his public cover girlfriend.
More than that, he wanted to make Vivian seem even more virtuous and innocent by comparison.
Look, he was telling them. This is the well-bred daughter from the suitable family you chose for me.
Barely eighteen, and already behaving like this beneath an elder’s roof.
Sure enough, the moment we were alone, he said matter-of-factly, “Claire, you know who I really love.”
“When Vivian comes back, you’ll leave. Don’t worry. I’ll make it worth your while.”
A girl’s dignity meant nothing.
His love for Vivian meant everything.
So I traded my dignity for money.
I nodded.
Ethan was pleased.
“You’ve always been obedient,” he said with a sigh. “So easy to get rid of.”
And now, at last, the time had come for him to get rid of me.
No wonder.
No wonder Ethan Sterling had transferred $750,000 to me that morning.
I’d thought he wanted to celebrate our anniversary.
The day after tomorrow would mark five years since we’d started “dating.”
After accepting the money, I’d felt terribly guilty.
I hadn’t prepared anything, and I couldn’t exactly transfer the money back to him.
It wasn’t that I was unwilling to spend money on him. The man certainly didn’t need it.
Of course, I did hate to part with it.
So I’d carefully chosen a private dining room at an upscale restaurant and rented out the entire place. I’d even arranged for an anniversary slideshow to play during dinner.
I’d had several important projects on my hands, so I’d worked through the night to finish it.