Chapter 1

I used to think Theodore Foster and I were each other’s everything.

Twenty years as childhood sweethearts, seven years in a marriage forged through hardship—we went from having nothing to building a fortune worth hundreds of billions together.

But I never imagined that after he made it big, I would be kicked out of the game by one cold divorce certificate.

My parents and my child all became sacrifices to this love.

So I let everything go and left the country to start over. But Theodore Foster, why are you crying?

Nancy Davis POV

When I pushed open the doors of the Civil Affairs Bureau, I was still thinking that maybe I was just overreacting.

The message from that unknown number was too absurd—“You still don’t know, do you? Your husband divorced you.”

Theodore Foster and I had grown up together. We had been married for seven years. How could I not know what kind of person he was?

And yet, that ridiculous sentence kept echoing in my heart. I stood in front of the counter and hesitated for a long time before asking the clerk to check my marital status for me.

“Hello. Could you please check my marital status?”

The clerk looked up at me, her gaze a little strange. Then she tapped on the keyboard and paused for a few seconds.

“Ma’am, you are currently divorced. The divorce was finalized a week ago.”

My eyes flew wide. My legs went weak beneath me, and I had to grip the counter to steady myself. What that unknown number said was actually true? Theodore Foster had divorced me behind my back?

Unwilling to give up, I gave her his ID number and asked her to check.

“Could you please check Theodore Foster’s marital status as well? His ID number is xxxxxxxxx.”

The clerk glanced at me, probably finding the name familiar. After all, Theodore Foster was considered a major figure in River City.

After typing a few times, the clerk gave a brief reply. “Mr. Foster is married.”

“Married? To whom?” The moment I heard that, I fell apart.

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you. That is a citizen’s personal privacy.”

He divorced me, then married someone else. Who was it? When did it happen?

I walked out of the Civil Affairs Bureau, and a cold chill ran over me.

I took out my phone and sent three words to that unknown number: “Who are you?”

My hands were shaking so badly that it took me several tries to send it.

The other party did not reply.

I called Theodore Foster again. It rang for a long time, but no one answered.

For a moment, I felt completely lost, so I just kept walking down the road.

Ahead was a large banyan grove, the place where, when I was young, I had dreamed countless times of holding my wedding.

Without realizing it, I walked toward it. Theodore Foster and I had been married for seven years, but we had never had a wedding.

Back then, we had gotten married in a hurry. We had just started our business and were dirt poor.

Theodore Foster had wanted a wedding, but to save him money, I refused.

Later, when we had money, Theodore Foster became so busy he could barely split himself in two, and the wedding kept getting pushed back again and again.

I had drawn a wedding design, and it had always been kept in the drawer of his office desk. He had promised me he would hold it, but year after year, he never fulfilled that promise.

That banyan grove was especially lively today.

White and pale pink cascading flowers hung down everywhere, like smoke, like mist.

Warm golden sunlight filtered through the gaps in the trees, scattering bright specks across the moss-covered ground.

Crystal bead curtains swayed gently between the crowns of the trees.

Everything looked dreamlike.

But the scene was so familiar it made me unable to breathe.

Because this wedding design was exactly the same as the one I had made for my own wedding!

Who had used my design?

My gaze involuntarily turned toward the guests seated among the trees. Not far away, there were indeed a few figures I recognized—they were Theodore Foster’s friends.

So, one of Theodore Foster’s friends was getting married and had used my wedding design?

Would Theodore Foster come today, then?

But he had clearly told me that he was on a business trip to Ocean City these two days.

Why did he lie to me?

My heart sank lower and lower, as if I had reached some dangerous edge, and one more step forward would be a bottomless abyss.

I hid behind a huge banyan tree, my eyes sweeping over the wedding venue as I searched for Theodore Foster.

Very soon, I saw the groom onstage.

The groom had his back to me. His suit was crisp, his posture tall and straight. The moment he turned around, all the blood in my body went cold.

It was Theodore Foster. It was Theodore Foster, who was supposed to be on a business trip in Ocean City. It was my husband, Theodore Foster, whom I had known for more than twenty years and been married to for seven!

Not only had Theodore Foster divorced me behind my back, he had also used my design to hold a wedding with someone else!

My heart instantly sank to the very bottom of the abyss, and all the blood in my body seemed to stop flowing.

I had imagined countless times what Theodore Foster would look like standing on a wedding stage in formalwear.

Today, I finally saw it. But he was someone else’s groom.

Tears clouded my eyes. Anger and grievance surged over me all at once.

I saw the man onstage take out his phone, frown at the screen for a moment, and finally hang up the call.

When I called again, the man was completely unaware.

He had put his phone on silent.

It was as if my world had been muted too.

My thoughts drifted back to the past.

Theodore Foster and I were neighbors when we were little.

Theodore Foster’s father died young, and his mother was addicted to gambling. When Theodore Foster was a child, no one took care of him.

It was my parents who brought him into our home, gave him clothes to wear, and made sure he had enough to eat.

The two of us grew up together.

In high school, we became each other’s first love and got into the same university.

I still remember the day we reported to campus. He hugged me excitedly and said he would only love me for the rest of his life.

After graduating from university, Theodore Foster started his business. He was so busy he neglected meals and ruined his stomach.

When my parents found out, their hearts ached for him, so they often cooked meals and delivered them to his company.

Once, my father got into a car accident on the way to deliver dinner to him.

Before my father passed away, to put the old man’s heart at ease, Theodore Foster insisted on registering a marriage with me.

Right in front of me, he knelt by my father’s hospital bed and told my father not to worry. He said that as long as he was there, I would always be the happiest person in the world.

Because of that, I had always believed in Theodore Foster without question.

We were lovers, family, and the people who trusted each other most.

I thought Theodore Foster would love me for the rest of my life.

I never imagined his promise would only be valid for seven years.

The wedding officially began, and a burst of orchestral music pulled me back from my thoughts.

The bride walked over slowly in a luxurious haute couture wedding dress.

I knew her. She was Sophie Scott.

She was also the daughter of Scott Group, Theodore Foster’s biggest business partner.

I tugged at the corners of my lips, forcing out an expression that looked half like a smile and half like a sob.

So it was her.

Ever since Theodore Foster began working with the Scotts two years ago, he had come home later and later and taken more and more business trips.

I had thought it was because of work, so I never asked.

I never imagined the two of them had already gone from business partners to life partners.

Not far away, the voices of Theodore Foster’s friends drifted over:

“Man, Sophie Scott and Theodore Foster really are a better match.”

“Exactly. One is a well-bred heiress, the other is a billionaire CEO. They’re well-matched in status. Nancy Davis is just a housewife, after all. She isn’t good enough for Mr. Foster.”

“Don’t say that in front of Mr. Foster. Mr. Foster said Nancy Davis’s family did him a great kindness, and Nancy Davis will always be the person closest and dearest to him.”

I almost laughed out loud, but inside, I was drowning in grief.

What a wonderful “closest and dearest person.”

The person closest and dearest to me turned me from his lawful wife into the shameful other woman!

The wedding continued. The officiant was reading the vows.

I could not listen anymore. I turned around and dragged myself away.

Theodore Foster, since you betrayed me, I won’t want you anymore either.