Chapter 1

Our third anniversary. I waited all night. But my husband was with his lover, protecting her baby.

He forced me, pregnant, to apologize to his mistress and called me cruel.

They forced me to down seven glasses of liquor. Before I passed out from vomiting blood, I told him.

"The child in my belly was killed by your own hands. Are you satisfied now?"

He knelt and begged for forgiveness like a madman.

But he didn't know that I had already taken the check his mother gave me and flown to a world without him.

This time, I would make sure he regretted it for the rest of his life.

Natalie's POV

The clock hand slowly slid past midnight.

I sat at the empty dining table, staring at the completely melted ice cream cake in front of me.

Today was our third wedding anniversary.

It was also the day Ethan promised that no matter how busy he was, he would rush home to be with me.

But he broke his promise.

Outside the window, thunder and lightning raged. Lightning split the pitch-black sky, illuminating the villa's pale walls in a blinding flash.

I took out my phone. The screen was completely empty. Not a single message. Not one missed call.

I took a deep breath and dialed the number I knew by heart.

The phone rang for a long time before someone answered.

"Hello."

The man's voice carried a trace of fatigue and impatience.

"Ethan, when are you coming home? I'm still waiting for you."

I tried to keep my voice steady, but my fingers nervously twisted the corner of my clothes.

There was two seconds of silence on the other end.

Then, a delicate female voice suddenly came through, tinged with a suppressed sob.

"Ethan... I'm scared..."

My heart sank suddenly, as if plunging into a bottomless ice cellar.

Vivian.

It was Vivian again.

"Natalie,"

Ethan's tone instantly turned cold, carrying an unquestionable commanding tone.

"Something happened with Vivian. She's been afraid of thunder since childhood, and today she's very emotionally unstable. I'm not coming home tonight. Go to bed early."

"But today is our-"

"Natalie!"

He raised his voice and cut me off.

"Vivian can't be left alone right now. Can't you be understanding? It's just an anniversary. We'll have plenty of time to make it up later. Stop being so unreasonable!"

Unreasonable?

I forced a bitter smile, my eyes burning.

In three years of marriage, whenever Vivian made one phone call, even if it was the middle of the night, even if Ethan had a high fever, he would push me away without hesitation and rush to that woman.

"Ethan, I'm only going to ask you one thing."

I bit down hard on my lower lip, tasting blood.

"If you don't go out today, will you actually die?"

"What are you going crazy about?"

Ethan was clearly angry.

"Vivian has severe depression. If she does something foolish, can you take responsibility? Natalie, when did you become so vicious!"

The call was mercilessly disconnected.

I stared blankly at the darkened screen, and tears finally broke through like a dam.

Vicious?

I just wanted my own husband to stay home on our third anniversary and eat a piece of cake with me.

And that made me vicious?

I stood up and walked to the dining room trash can. I took the cake I'd spent all afternoon making by hand, the one that had burned my hand when I unmolded it, and threw it in, plate and all.

Cream splattered everywhere, just like my three year marriage, falling apart into something unrecognizable.

At two in the morning, the rain fell even harder.

My head felt like it was splitting, and my stomach churned with waves of pain.

I already had a stomach condition. Today, waiting for Ethan, I hadn't had a drop of water since noon.

I fumbled to get my stomach medicine from the drawer, only to find the bottle had long been empty.

Pain.

Piercing pain.

I curled up on the sofa, cold sweat soaking through my thin nightgown.

I wanted to call Ethan, but thinking of his earlier word "vicious," my fingertips froze.

With trembling hands, I called my assistant Jake.

Half an hour later, Jake arrived with an umbrella and took me, nearly unconscious from pain, to the hospital.

By the time I was hooked up to an IV, dawn had already broken.

The emergency room corridor was cold and deserted, with only the pungent smell of disinfectant making me want to vomit.

I leaned against the hospital bed, watching the IV drip down drop by drop, my eyes vacant.

"Miss Davis, you really can't keep putting off this stomach condition. You need to eat on time. Where's your family? Why are you here alone?"

When the nurse came to change my medication, she couldn't help but ask.

"He's... busy."

I lowered my eyes.

Just then, urgent footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor.

I instinctively looked up, but the moment I saw who it was, my blood instantly froze.

Ethan.

He wore the same trench coat he'd had on when he left last night. In his arms, he carefully cradled a woman.

The woman buried her face deep in his chest, wearing his suit jacket draped over her.

"Doctor! Where's the doctor? She slit her wrists!"

Ethan's voice carried unprecedented panic and loss of control.

This was an Ethan I had never seen.

Even when we got married and he read his vows, he had only looked indifferent.

But now, for Vivian, even his voice was trembling.

The two rushed past my hospital room. Ethan's gaze was locked on the person in his arms. He didn't even glance sideways.

I stared at that retreating figure, feeling the stabbing pain in my stomach spread to my heart.

It hurt so much that even breathing became a luxury.