He Lost Me to His Best Friend novel Chapter 239

It was Sylvia Stetson.

She had been out shopping at the mall with Melanie Flynn and just happened to spot Scarlett and Julian walking into the baby boutique.

Ditching Melanie, she had instinctively followed them inside, lurking in the shadows.

Pretending to browse through baby clothes, she listened closely, catching every word of their conversation.

Seeing how gentle and attentive Julian was being to Scarlett—and how effortlessly he dropped a fortune on the most expensive play castle in the store for her daughter—the flames of fury within Sylvia raged out of control.

Jealousy twisted her beautiful features into an ugly scowl.

Just days ago, the media had been entirely consumed by the Croft Design Studio signing ceremony.

Seeing massive, high-res photos of Julian standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Scarlett splashed across the front page of every news outlet had already left Sylvia absolutely seething.

She had dragged Melanie to the mall specifically to burn off some of her frustration by maxing out credit cards.

But now, she was forced to watch Julian happily play house, escorting Scarlett around a baby store and spoiling her brat.

The vat of toxic jealousy inside Sylvia tipped over, burning through her veins like battery acid.

The thought that all the extravagant love and attention Julian used to shower on Caleb was now being handed directly to Scarlett's daughter drove her to the brink of insanity.

Suppressing the violent urge to march over and claw Scarlett's face off, Sylvia pulled out her phone, recorded a quick video of the two of them from behind, and immediately retreated to the luxury boutique she had just slipped out of.

Her mind was a chaotic mess of hatred.

Without a second thought, she uploaded the video to the private group chat Melanie had set up.

While it was true that Sylvia and Julian were divorced, Julian had neither publicly exposed the scandal nor revealed that Caleb wasn't his. In fact, he had slapped her with a terrifying ultimatum, forcing the divorce but walking away without a legal fight over the money.

Combined with the massive "secret stash" she had siphoned from his accounts over the years while controlling the family finances, Sylvia hadn't been left destitute. She was secretly walking away as a multi-millionaire.

Her parents didn't know the exact details, but Melanie—who had spent years partying on Sylvia's dime back in Country A—knew exactly how deep her pockets were.

Melanie was a selfish, arrogant gold-digger. Since she knew Sylvia was loaded, she felt fully entitled to use her as a personal ATM.

Sylvia never complained out loud, but she had grown incredibly sneaky. The moment they got anywhere near a cash register, she would suddenly "need to use the restroom" and vanish.

That was exactly how she had accidentally stumbled upon Scarlett and Julian.

She hadn't expected Melanie to publicly call her out on her cheap tactics right there in the group chat, leaving her completely humiliated.