Chapter 1

On our seventh wedding anniversary, I took an emergency call at the hospital that scarred me for life.

Two naked bodies were rushed into trauma bay, tangled together in a desperate, frantic embrace. It was my wife, Lorelei, and my best friend, Garrett.

According to the EMTs, their high-voltage bedroom toy had malfunctioned and electrocuted them mid-hookup, leaving them unconscious and fused together.

Looking at the sickening scene before me, my heart felt like it had been shredded by dull blades. A violent wave of nausea hit me, and I threw up right there in the hallway.

My phone buzzed in my pocket with a text Lorelei had sent thirty minutes earlier.

"Babe, are you really stuck pulling overtime again? I wanted to spend our anniversary with you."

"Come home early, okay? I'm waiting for you at home with an unforgettable surprise."

1 "Dr. Croft, are you alright?"

The scrub nurse looked at me with deep concern.

I pulled myself together and forced a ragged breath. "I'm not feeling well. I can't perform this procedure. Page Dr. Campbell to take over."

The nurse nodded quickly. "Right away, Dr. Croft."

Swallowing the bitter bile in my throat, I handed off the case and walked out of the hospital.

The moment I stepped inside my house, I collapsed onto the couch. I buried my face in my hands as my entire body shook uncontrollably.

Lorelei and I had been together for ten years and married for seven. I truly believed we were strong enough to beat the seven-year itch.

I never imagined she would hand me such a brutal surprise on our anniversary, shattering my world and snapping me out of my delusions.

She was no longer the pure, ethereal girl I fell in love with back in college. When she performed that contemporary ribbon dance at freshman orientation, she looked like an angel descending from heaven.

She captured the hearts of countless men back then, and she completely captivated mine.

I pursued her relentlessly, pouring my heart into winning her over until she finally said yes.

We dated for five beautiful years before tying the knot, going from college sweethearts to husband and wife in front of everyone who envied us.

After marriage, Lorelei wanted to start her own business, so I took a million dollars from my family savings to back her up.

Because I couldn't bear the thought of a long-distance marriage, I gave up a prestigious chief residency in the capital. I packed my bags and moved across the country to her city, bought a house, and bent over backward to fit into her social circle.

Yet as her startup expanded, the distance between us only grew wider.

She started looking down on me, complaining that I only knew how to read medical charts and treat patients. She constantly praised my best friend, Garrett, saying he was sharp, charming, and indispensable to her business.

The two of them grew closer by the day. Eventually, Garrett was granted a significant share of the company, effectively pushing me, the original founder, out of the inner circle.

I told myself it didn't matter because we were husband and wife, but Lorelei became a total stranger.

She began wearing heavy makeup, drinking heavily every night, and coming home at dawn, always claiming it was all for the sake of the business.

She told me that if I couldn't help her career, I at least shouldn't drag her down.

Worse, our intimacy became a chore. We went from passionate nights multiple times a week to once or twice a month.

Whenever I tried to reconnect with her, she would shove me away in annoyance. She would snap that she was exhausted from work and accuse me of only thinking with my lower half.

I genuinely believed she was overwhelmed by corporate stress. I constantly beat myself up for not being successful enough, hating that she had to grind so hard in the corporate world.

I never dreamed that she had already crawled into bed with my best friend.

I was such a pathetic fool, staying up late wondering if I had failed to give her enough love and understanding.

I thought finding out about their betrayal would make me lose my mind with rage, but a strange, terrifying calm washed over me instead.

I was so calm that when she walked through the front door the next morning, my voice didn't even waver.