Chapter 4

I stumbled to my mother's grave, where Ethan was directing workers to dig it up.

"Stop!!"

I threw myself forward, shoving the two workers aside hard, grabbing a hoe to guard my mother's grave.

Ethan pulled Melissa and her son behind him, sneering.

"Charlotte, didn't you say you'd rent out anything as long as I paid?"

"I already transferred the rental fee for your mother's burial plot. What scene are you making now?"

I was shaking with rage, even my jaw trembling.

"Ethan Sterling, are you even human?"

Ethan shrugged indifferently.

"I'm clearly following your rules. How does that make me inhuman?"

"Or is it that in your heart, every emotion is sacred except our marriage, which is so base it can be traded for money?"

My nails dug deep into my palms. I was so full of hate I barely felt the pain.

I couldn't understand how the man who once knelt at my mother's sickbed, swearing he'd never betray me for the rest of his life, could have become this.

Melissa held a framed photo of a deceased dog, tears streaming down her face.

"Forget it, Ethan. Even though Max was like family to Oliver and me, at the end of the day a pet is just a pet. It's not right to take Charlotte's mother's burial plot."

Seeing her tears, Ethan's voice turned ice cold.

"Charlotte, move aside."

I gritted my teeth. "In your dreams!"

He walked to my side, leaning down to whisper in my ear.

"Mia's surgery is next month. You'd better behave during this time."

My whole body went cold.

"Isn't Mia your daughter?"

"You're threatening me with your own daughter's life?"

Ethan tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear.

"Yes, but Oliver is also my biological son."

"The night before our wedding, Melissa came to reminisce with me. I drank too much and accidentally made a mistake..."

"You and Mia have money and status. You should be more understanding."

I was nearly drenched in cold sweat.

Images of my daughter collapsing from a heart attack flashed through my mind over and over.

I slowly lowered the hoe in my hands.

My legs felt like they were filled with lead as I stiffly stepped aside.

Oliver rushed right over. "Yay! The old hag made room for my Max!"

He yanked down the black and white photo from my mother's headstone and grabbed the urn, about to smash it!

"No!"

My mind went blank as I lunged forward.

To protect the urn, my head slammed hard into the headstone.

The world spun, and my vision turned blood red.

"Charlotte!"

Ethan rushed to help me up, his hands trembling as he tried to wipe the blood from my forehead.

"Does it hurt? Are you dizzy?"

I shoved him away and thrust the documents from my bag in his face.

"Your rental fee isn't enough."

"Sign it."

Seeing the words "Property Transfer Agreement" on the document, Ethan's face turned cold.

"Fine, Charlotte. Just fine!"

He pulled out a pen decisively and scrawled his signature across it.

Then he hurled both the pen and documents to the ground, sweeping Melissa and her son into his arms as he strode away.

The pen broke in half.

It was the gift I'd given him for our third anniversary.

The first document he'd signed with that pen was our marriage certificate.

I picked up the documents, pulling out the divorce agreement hidden behind the transfer contract.

Looking at the bold signature across it, I cried and laughed at the same time, clutching my mother's urn as I staggered to my feet.

Once my daughter's surgery was over, everything between us would be completely finished.

I barely made it to the day of the surgery. Watching my daughter being wheeled into the operating room, I let out a sigh of relief and knelt by the door, praying constantly.

I begged heaven to have mercy and let my daughter's surgery go smoothly.

But before the surgery was even over, another deposit notification popped up on my phone.

Before I could read the note, the operating room doors suddenly burst open.

The doctors, still wearing bloodied gloves, rushed out without even removing them.

My hands and feet went numb. I grabbed the last doctor's white coat desperately.

"My daughter's surgery isn't finished yet. Where are you going?"