Chapter 1

On the day of my emergency surgery, my husband promised he would be by my side. Yet by the time the procedure was over, he was nowhere to be found.

Groggy from the anesthesia, I checked my phone and saw a text from him sent two hours earlier: “Sadie has a stomach flare-up. I am taking care of her, but I will be there soon.”

I dialed his number immediately. But instead of Heath, his ex-girlfriend answered: “Heath, babe, could you hand me a bath towel?”

Every single time I needed my husband, Sadie was either spiraling into a breakdown or having a sudden health crisis. And without fail, Heath chose her over me every single time.

I hung up in absolute silence. Then, I hailed a cab and headed straight to my lawyer’s office.

I was exhausted. I was done. I wanted a divorce.

1.

When I finally got back to our apartment, the empty rooms echoed with my heavy, dragging steps.

I tossed the divorce papers onto the coffee table. The crisp white document felt cold, mocking the absolute joke my marriage had become.

Right then, Heath’s FaceTime call popped up on my screen. He looked fresh and completely composed, casually lounging in a plush bathrobe.

It was as if he had not just been cozying up with another woman on the phone an hour ago.

“Did your surgery start yet?” he asked breezily, treating my life-and-death ordeal like a routine chore.

“It is already over,” I replied coldly, staring at the face I once loved with all my heart.

“Oh, that was fast,” he muttered, surprised. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he added, “Sadie was in terrible shape today. I just could not leave her alone, so…”

“So you could not leave her, but you had no problem leaving your own wife alone on an operating table?” I cut him off, venom dripping from every word. “Who the hell is your wife, Heath?”

He paused on the screen, his voice rising in irritation. “What are you talking about? Sadie and I are just friends!”

“Just friends?” I let out a bitter, exhausted sigh. The physical weakness from the surgery was instantly swallowed by overwhelming disgust.

“Do ‘just friends’ hang out in bathrobes while you fetch her bath towels? Heath, do you take me for a complete idiot?”

“What are you trying to say? Sadie is sick, and I was just helping her out!”

“Wren, can you stop making a damn scene out of nothing?”

“I am making a scene?” I shot up from the couch.

A sharp, searing pain tore through my lower abdomen, but the fury burning in my chest drowned it out.

“Where were you when I was in the hospital? It is always the same excuses. Sadie is always your number one priority!”

“Do ‘just friends’ hang around in bathrobes while you hand her towels? Do you think I am stupid?”

Suddenly, the camera shifted. A woman wearing a silky camisole nightgown leaned into the frame.

“Wren, please do not blame Heath. He was just worried about me…” Sadie’s voice was breathy and fragile.

“I do not have any family left, and Heath just felt bad for me. It is all my fault. Please do not be mad at him.”

She looked at me through the screen, her eyes gleaming with subtle triumph.

“Oh, I am not mad at all,” I said, curling my lips into a mocking smirk. “What a touching reunion between exes. You two truly deserve each other.”

Heath’s expression darkened instantly, his voice dripping with annoyance. “Wren, drop the sarcastic attitude! Sadie is fragile right now. What if her depression gets triggered?”

With that, he pulled Sadie right into his chest, holding her like a precious treasure.

That was when I noticed his bathrobe was loosely tied, exposing his bare chest underneath. And Sadie settled right onto his lap, rubbing against him in a display so sickeningly intimate it turned my stomach.

I dug my nails deep into my palms. Yet the physical sting could not compare to the shattering pain in my heart.

I had loved Heath for ten years. From our college days to this bloody mess, I had sacrificed everything for him, only to be tossed aside like trash.

“Heath, do you even remember your parents?” I asked, my voice chillingly calm.

The man on the screen froze. His eyes darted away, completely unable to look me in the eye.

Of course he could not look at me.

Years ago, his family went completely bankrupt.

His father committed suicide to escape the loan sharks, and his mother cried until she lost her eyesight completely from the trauma.

And Sadie, the woman who swore she would love him forever, did not just abandon him at his lowest. She cleaned out the last bit of cash his family had and left him to rot.

Back then, I defied my own family and put my studies abroad on hold. I stayed by his side like a loyal dog, nursing his blind mother and keeping him from falling apart.

I worked multiple jobs around the clock, coughing up blood from exhaustion just to pay for his living expenses and legal debts.

I was the one who pulled him out of the abyss and gave him a reason to live.

After we got married, he rebuilt his company from scratch.

For four years, Heath’s hatred for Sadie never lessened for a single day.

He worked like a maniac to expand his firm, all so he could one day make Sadie taste the ruin she had brought upon him.

Until a month ago, when a financial crisis hit the market.

Heath’s firm thrived, while Sadie’s venture went completely broke.

That day, Sadie climbed to the rooftop of Heath’s corporate building, threatening to jump.

Heath raced up the stairs like a madman, threw himself on his knees, and begged her to live, swearing he would do anything for her.