Chapter 1

I broke up with my boyfriend when he was at his absolute rock bottom.

Years later, he became a billionaire and forced me into a marriage I never wanted.

Everyone says I’m the luckiest girl in the world for being his first love, the one who got away.

But I know the truth―this is his ultimate revenge.

He found a woman who looks just like me and brings her home every single night.

He forces me to watch them together, treating me like nothing more than their personal maid.

I never say a word, and I never fight back.

Mainly because I know I’m already dying.

What I didn’t expect was that I would take my final breath right under his surgical blade.

1

The strawberry shortcake on the table had already begun to melt.

I checked my phone one last time.

Still no reply from my husband, Silas Sterling.

He was always busy, a man of high demand.

The hospital needed him because he was a world-class cardiothoracic surgeon.

When he wasn’t saving lives, he was busy coddling his little sweetheart.

There was simply no time left in his schedule for his wife.

The only thing I could do was curl up in bed and try to ignore the pain.

I rarely bothered him, and he made it clear he didn’t want me reaching out.

But he had no idea that today was my very last birthday.

I was sick―fatally sick.

It was the kind of illness that left no room for hope, and I was nearing the finish line.

After hesitating for a long time, I finally dialed his number.

Silas picked up after several rings, his voice cold and sharp.

“Lacey is having another depressive episode. Get your ass down to the lawyer’s office. We’re signing the divorce papers.”

Lacey Lane was the woman he kept.

She was the replacement he found because she looked exactly like a younger version of me.

Silas was in a rush because Lacey was prone to dramatic outbursts.

She claimed her only dream in life was to be his wife.

If she couldn’t have him, she threatened to end it all.

Silas couldn’t bear to see his little darling suffer for even a second.

He wanted a divorce immediately, claiming it was just an act to keep Lacey stable.

He promised we would remarry once she was feeling better.

“Her condition is critical. She can’t wait, so move fast!” Silas snapped.

He was so worried about her that he completely forgot it was my birthday.

A bitter taste filled my mouth.

People called Lacey my replacement, but in reality, she was the one he truly cherished.

They had been intimate for years before he ever came back to marry me.

When Silas finally made me his wife, the world praised him for his loyalty.

They thought he was a romantic who never forgot his first love.

Only I knew the truth―he married me just to humiliate me.

He used Lacey as a weapon to punish me for our past.

I knew all of this, yet I still chose to walk down that aisle.

I needed the money.

Back then, my older brother, Ben, was in the final stages of his life.

His life had been nothing but hardship, and the money Silas offered bought him comfort.

It bought him and the woman he loved a little more time together.

I closed my eyes, feeling the weight of the world.

“Silas, this is my last birthday. There won’t be another one.”

I took a shaky breath. “You aren’t coming home, and now you want a divorce?”

He let out a cold, sharp laugh through the phone.

“What do you mean, your last birthday? As far as I’m concerned, our last birthday was six years ago!”

My body physically recoiled, and my heart felt like it had been hollowed out.

He was talking about the day we broke up.

I had chosen the cruelest way possible to shatter him.

I waited until the moment he was presenting me with a birthday cake to tell him it was over.