I Walked Away And He Lost His Mind (Zephyra and Steven) novel Chapter 211

I took his phone. A steamy video was at the top of the trending list. A woman with bare shoulders had her arms wrapped around a shirtless man’s neck as they kissed passionately.

The image was blurry, and the faces were pixelated, but the headline was glaring: “Aether Studio CEO Mr. Lancaster’s Secret Wife Caught in Steamy Car Tryst with Muscular Man—Cheating Scandal Confirmed.”

I was stunned.

Wow. It had probably been less than two hours since I gave the video to the reporter. I knew Steven would find out quickly, but I never expected it to blow up this fast.

If I had known it would be this effective, I would have released it myself. Maybe I could have even started a livestreaming business and made a fortune. I’d heard you could earn more doing that than I could in a hundred years as a designer. I was envious.

My mind wandered to moneymaking schemes, but a glance at Steven’s increasingly thunderous expression snapped me back to reality. I smiled sweetly at him.

“I did. Isn’t the headline catchy? Look at the numbers—it’s the number one trending topic.”

Steven’s voice was low and rough. “Zephyra.”

His tone was laced with fury, his narrowed eyes glinting with a dangerous light.

“That woman in the video isn’t you. Why did you do this?”

Oh, crap.

The smile froze on my face. I looked down at the grainy video, which I had painstakingly selected and edited for two days to make it as blurry as possible. How could he tell it wasn’t me with just a glance?

“Do you have X-ray vision or something? How can you possibly tell that’s not me?”

I pushed his phone back into his hand and forced a smile. “Yes. Being married to you for only a year has felt like a lifetime. I’ve had more unhappy days than I can count. I’ve thought about it, and forcing two people like us to stay together will only turn us into bitter enemies. You don’t like me, and being with you makes me miserable.”

“You should be grateful that I’m so desperate to leave now. If I waited a few more years, until you were ready to give some other girl a home, I could have squeezed you for a much larger settlement. Divorcing now is the cheaper option for you.”

In our past life, he had asked for a divorce in the fifth year, offering me ten million and a hundred-million-dollar mansion. If I could have held out that long in this life, I would have been set for retirement.

What a pity. In my past life, I was a fool who wanted the man, not the money. Now, I’d rather give up the money just to be free of him sooner.

It was a shame, really. Neither life had turned out perfectly.

He stared at my face, his lips parting in what looked like a prelude to a furious laugh.