Chapter 1

"I’m not going to be your mistress. If you want to get married, tell your wife to be the mistress instead."

This was the last text message I saw on Marcus Vance’s phone before I died.

Only then did I finally understand why my reputation had dragged from "medical genius" to "the whore who slept her way to the top."

All because Marcus wanted to marry the daughter of the hospital's Vice President.

He tricked me onto the examination table and opened my cervix with a cold metal speculum.

Then, he turned to the medical students watching the demonstration and said:

"Only patients with an incredibly promiscuous lifestyle would have a cervix looking this damaged."

The examination room instantly filled with snickers and the sound of pens scratching on notepads.

From that day on, my reputation as a loose woman spread like wildfire throughout the hospital.

The coveted Attending position—which I had earned after pulling grueling night shifts for a whole year—was handed directly to Amber Sterling.

The two of them stole my research papers and became the golden couple of the medical world.

They sued me for plagiarism, forcing me to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. No hospital would ever hire me again.

Ultimately, I died of severe depression in a trashy, rented studio apartment.

No one even came to claim my body.

When I opened my eyes again.

I was crying on my knees on my parents' porch, banging on the door.

"Dad, Mom, I was so wrong. Please, please forgive me."

Today was my fifth wedding anniversary with Marcus.

But I was lying on the cold examination table, listening to his diagnosis.

"Only someone with an incredibly promiscuous lifestyle would leave a wound like this."

Marcus said it coldly as he quickly pulled the speculum out of me.

He had no expression.

It was as if he was just declaring a simple fact: I was a whore.

The medical students watching the demo looked down at me with pure disgust.

The sound of whispering and laughing rang in my ears.

Amber stood extremely close to Marcus, wearing a brilliant smile. "I actually saw Chloe staying at Dr. Pendelton's house late into the night a couple of days ago."

Amber’s comment sealed my fate in everyone's eyes.

I ignored the discomfort in my lower body and watched them coldly.

In my past life.

Marcus had sweet-talked me all night, convincing me to get a routine gynecological exam.

It was all a trap. He wanted to use this public exam to ruin my reputation, clearing the path for Amber.

He didn't want Amber to be called a homewrecker when she stepped out with him.

Marcus threw my clothes back onto my body like they were trash. Then, Amber wrapped her arm around his, and they walked out of the room.

The whispers from the students didn't stop.

"Poor Dr. Vance. Having such a disgusting, cheating wife."

"If I were him, I’d divorce her instantly and marry Amber. At least she has class."

"Exactly. Dr. Vance is a genius surgeon and a research star. He deserves way better."

I dressed myself and walked out of the clinic. When I checked the schedule for the month, it was filled with night shifts again.

Ever since Marcus promoted to Deputy Chief of Surgery, he had used his power to give Amber a free pass.

He dumped every single night shift onto me.

Meanwhile, Amber only worked half-days and spent her afternoons drinking tea and shopping.

I was so busy I didn't even have time to eat.

Marcus walked into the breakroom and set a lunchbox down in front of Amber.

He cooed at her like she was a child. "I made this myself. Taste it."

The lunchbox was filled with beautifully prepared steak and veggies.

The other nurses gasped in envy.

"That looks way better than the cafeteria food. I'm so jealous!"

I stood in the corner, chewing on a cold, soggy turkey wrap.

Looking at Marcus, I realized how pathetic my past devotion had been.

Marcus was a surgeon, and like all surgeons, he treated his hands like gold.

At home, I never let him touch a single chore.

I cooked every meal for him, making sure he always had a warm lunch.

Those hands had never cooked a single meal for me. Yet, for Amber, he spent hours preparing gourmet dishes.

Before I could even finish my wrap, I was called to Marcus's office.

Marcus looked at me, his eyes filled with impatience. "The Attending position has been given to Amber."

I swallowed the bitterness in my throat. "On what grounds? I worked night shifts for six months straight just for this promotion. Amber did nothing. Why does she get it?"

Marcus sneered. "I’ve shielded you too much from reality. On what grounds? On the grounds that her father is the Vice President of this hospital. You studied hard for ten years, Chloe, but you just didn't get lucky with your birth."

Tears pricked my eyes.

Marcus looked down on me now because I didn't have a powerful medical family.

But who funded his eight years of medical school? It was me. I took the small allowance my parents gave me and split it in half for him.

By the end of every month, my pockets were completely empty. I didn't dare tell my parents, so I took on part-time jobs.

I went to class by day, handed out flyers by night, and wrote my thesis in the early hours of the morning.

I would rather drink tap water and eat plain bread than see Marcus suffer.

We walked through hell hand-in-hand for eight years. And in return, I got a divorce agreement.

Seeing my red eyes, Marcus softened slightly. "We've been married for five years, Chloe. Let's just go our separate ways and chase our own futures."

I let out a cold laugh. Now that he had climbed onto the Vice President's daughter, he was acting like a saint in front of me.

I signed my name on the divorce papers without hesitation.

"I’ll give you the divorce. But what's mine is mine. I will not hand my promotion to anyone else."

Marcus chuckled, as if he had heard a joke. "You've really gone stupid from reading too many books."

This was exactly how it went in my past life. I walked out of the hospital with the divorce papers, and then the rumors started, my research was stolen, and my career was destroyed...

But this time, I would not be so pathetic.

I called an Uber and went straight to the house I hadn't visited in years.

I rang the doorbell and fell to my knees.

"Dad, Mom... I’m so sorry."