Chapter 2

That night, Brandon finally returned home. He went straight to the study as usual to take care of some work. But even after a long while, Roxanne never made an appearance. She would usually be pulling out all the stops to try to seduce him, but she was unusually quiet tonight. With a frown, Brandon walked over to their shared bedroom. He opened the door only to find it empty, which he found rather strange. When he left the bedroom, he heard the housekeeper downstairs say, "Ma'am, welcome home." Roxanne nodded in greeting. While making her way upstairs, she happened to lock eyes with Brandon. "Where'd you go?" he asked in a calm voice. Roxanne scoffed inwardly. Had he ever been concerned about her whereabouts before? "I went to mail some stuff." She had gone to mail the divorce papers, and she had also set it up so that it would arrive at Brandon's on the very day she left. "It's a present for you. You'll find out in ten days," she said. Brandon scoffed. "You keep doing these baffling things. We see each other every day, so why do you need to mail anything? What nonsense," he huffed coldly before returning to the study. "Pretty soon, you won't have to see this ridiculous person anymore," Roxanne thought to herself. Indeed. He wouldn't need to see her every day anymore. She would leave in ten days, and he could finally get back together with Nicole, just as he wished. With that in mind, Roxanne returned to the bedroom to pack her suitcase. She didn't want to keep anything he had bought for her, including clothes and shoes. Even their one and only wedding photo was discarded into a box. When Brandon walked into the bedroom later and found the place empty, he couldn't help but frown. "What are you doing?" "Letting things go. I throw out the old stuff, so I can make space to buy new stuff," she explained. He picked up the framed wedding photo from the box and asked, "How're you going to buy a newer version of this?" Roxanne looked at him. "If I said I wanted to take a new set of official wedding photos, would you be willing to?" As their marriage was a secret, there had never been a public wedding. And even their simple wedding photo had been taken according to Nicole's demands. She had used her status as Brandon's stepmother as an excuse to become involved in everything. "You're fully aware of how our families are, so there's no way we can take public wedding photos," Brandon answered before tossing the photo frame back into the box. Roxanne's eyes dimmed. He glanced at her and suddenly added, "If you'd like to have another honeymoon, I can find some time for it." She looked up in slight disbelief. "Really?" He nodded. "I was preoccupied with work during our initial honeymoon, so consider this me making it up to you." However, before she could respond, his phone started ringing. It was Nicole's personal ringtone. He answered the phone, and Nicole's voice sounded. "Brandon, the auction's been moved up. Come over quickly. I'll wait for you." "Okay, I'll head over right now." After Brandon hung up the phone, he turned to Roxanne and said, "You'll have to have dinner by yourself tonight. I'm heading to an auction." Roxanne didn't respond as usual tonight, though. Instead, she said, "I want to go to the auction too. Let's go together." "This is to do with the Slewmans' business. Why would you want to go?" "I can keep your stepmother company. She's always alone, so she could use the company, right?" Brandon frowned. "If you want to come, then come." When she got into the car, Roxanne noticed that all the car's interior accessories had been switched to a purple set. Purple was her least favorite color, but it was Nicole's favorite. Brandon noticed her expression. "The original stuff was old, so I had them replaced recently." Roxanne merely smiled and said nothing. By the time the pair arrived at the auction, Nicole and the other members of the company were already in their seats. Brandon walked over and sat down beside her. The pair leaned into each other and whispered in each other's ears under the pretense of work, completely ignoring Roxanne, who was sitting to the side. During the break, a few wealthy men invited Roxanne into a private lounge. Roxanne had gone to answer a phone call then. She was in the middle of resigning from her job. When she walked past the private lounge, she heard one of the men inside teasing, "Aren't you lonely now that your husband is dead? You're so young. Are you able to handle those long, empty nights? How about we make you feel happy tonight? You like older men anyway, don't you?" Just as Nicole screamed, Roxanne saw Brandon's figure dash past her. He barged into the private lounge and grabbed hold of the older man who was harassing Nicole.