Chapter 1

At my engagement party, my childhood sweetheart gave my wedding ring to my stepsister. He did it to comfort her because of her depression.

I broke off the engagement immediately. Then, I married Gabriel, a senior from college who claimed he loved me more than life itself.

Our life after the wedding was sweet and full of love.

But then, our newborn daughter passed away suddenly. I discovered a horrifying truth. Gabriel had used my baby's heart to save the life of my stepsister's daughter.

I found his secret diary, hidden for years. Every single page was filled with my stepsister's name.

He never loved me. All that performed affection was just a way to use me to ensure my stepsister's lifelong happiness.

At that moment, I finally woke up.

I handed him the divorce papers. From then on, Gabriel and I were done for good.

I stroked my daughter's face on the tombstone over and over. Tears blurred my vision as I let them fall freely.

Gabriel sighed softly. He wiped my tears away, but his voice held a trace of impatient irritation.

"It was my fault for not taking better care of Annie. It was an accident, and I feel guilty too," he said.

"But crying here won't change anything. Annie is gone."

His words shattered my heart, which was already on the verge of a total breakdown.

"Gabriel, that was our daughter! She was only three months old! How can you say that? Do you even have a heart?"

In the face of my hysterical screaming, Gabriel's gentle expression turned cold.

"Claire, I have a career. Do you expect me to just throw my job away because of the baby?"

He raised his voice as if I were the one being unreasonable.

I stared at him, lost. I couldn't believe those words came from his mouth.

Gabriel and I had waited six years for this child.

His joy when he found out I was pregnant felt like it was only yesterday.

How could he be like this now?

Realizing he had been too harsh, Gabriel cleared his throat.

"Claire, we can have other children. Don't be so sad anymore."

He reached out to hug me, but I pulled away.

"Gabriel, I need to be alone. I need to calm down."

I kept my head down. My tears splashed onto the dirt. Gabriel's hand hung in the air, and he opened his mouth to say something else.

But a sudden phone call interrupted him.

"Fine, I'm coming right now," he said into the phone.

Gabriel hung up quickly. He gave me a look of disappointment. "There's an emergency at the office. I won't be home tonight. You should use the time to pull yourself together."

I watched his cold back as he walked away. The pain suppressed in my chest felt like erupting lava, turning me into ash.

I collapsed against the tombstone and sobbed until I couldn't breathe.

My marriage to Gabriel felt like a cheap soap opera.

He was the gentle senior who had a crush on me for years. I had a childhood sweetheart I was supposed to marry.

The year we graduated, Gabriel confessed to me and I rejected him. I thought we would never cross paths again.

Then came the engagement party. My fiancé put my ring on my stepsister's finger in front of everyone. To save my dignity, I canceled the wedding and became a runaway bride.

Gabriel appeared in my world right then, offering nothing but sincere love.

Out of spite and hurt, I married him the very next day.

During our six years of marriage, he never even let me step into the kitchen.

No matter how busy he was, he would show up the moment I called.

How could a man who supposedly loved me like that let our daughter suffocate while he was busy with work?

I went away for a trip, and when I came back, my baby was a pile of ashes.

I was wrong.

I was naive to think Gabriel was different from other men.

I was the one who killed my daughter by trusting him.

I stayed at the cemetery all night, shivering in the wind.

I looked at my empty phone screen and let out a bitter laugh.

What was I even expecting? Gabriel didn't even care about his own child because of work. Why would he remember me?