Chapter 2

I didn't know how to explain myself.

After all, it was true that I hadn't visited Mom once in recent years.

After marrying Garrett, his expensive lifestyle forced me to work around the clock just to keep up with his spending habits.

Maisie and I used to be so close, and she had warned me countless times. "Nicole, Garrett isn't right for you. Leave him. You'd be better off spending your time visiting home."

Back then, I was so blinded by love that I only cared about staying by his side.

Now, harsh reality had finally shattered my illusions.

After screaming at me, Maisie collapsed from crying, and I quickly helped her into a recovery room.

Our father passed away early, making me the head of the family now. I had to pull myself together.

I unlocked my phone to contact the funeral home, only to see a text from Leila Ward.

We were high school classmates, so we still had each other's contact info.

"Nicole, thank you so much for the savings you worked so hard for all these years. It saved my mom's life. I posted on my feed, feel free to take a look."

Her words were dripping with malice and provocation.

My fingers tightened around the phone as I opened her profile.

She had posted a picture of her mother in the hospital bed. Garrett was sitting beside her, gently wiping her hands with a tender expression.

Her caption read: "Thank you, Garrett, for showing up just in time and saving my mom."

In five years of marriage, Garrett had never once treated my mother with such gentleness.

When we got married, my family was not wealthy, and he constantly complained that my mom offered us no financial support.

Because of that, he forbade me from visiting her, and he never visited her either.

He was so cold that he never even sent a simple holiday greeting to my family.

Now my mother was dead, and he had used my hard-earned money to save another woman's mother.

I despised my past self for ever obeying him.

I gripped my phone until my knuckles turned white, forcing down the burning rage.

Right now, giving my mother a proper funeral had to come first.