Chapter 1

The day I had my appendix out, my husband, Jackson, said he’d be there for me.

But by the time the surgery was over, he was still a no-show.

When I woke up from the anesthesia, I saw a text he’d sent two hours earlier.

“Zoe’s having a panic attack, I’m with her. Be there soon.”

I called his phone, only to hear his ex-girlfriend's voice in the background.

“Jackson, can you grab me a towel?”

Whenever I truly needed my husband, she was either having a depressive episode that required his company or a flare-up of her chronic illness that needed his care.

Between me and her, Jackson always chose her.

Without a second thought.

I hung up the phone, my face a mask of calm, and called a cab to my lawyer’s office.

I was done.

I wanted a divorce.

……

Back home, the sound of my own heavy footsteps echoed in the empty apartment.

I tossed the divorce papers onto the coffee table.

The cold, crisp document seemed to mock my ridiculous marriage.

That’s when Jackson’s FaceTime call came through.

He was on the screen, looking fresh and clean in a bathrobe, his expression completely composed.

You’d never guess he was the same man I’d just overheard playing house with another woman.

“Did the surgery start yet?” he asked breezily, as if he were just checking a box on his to-do list.

“It’s over,” I said, my voice flat, staring at the face I once loved more than anything.

“Wow, that was fast,” he said, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.

Then, as if remembering his script, he added, “Zoe was in a really bad way today, I couldn't just leave her, so…”

“So you couldn’t leave her, but you could leave me to lie on an operating table alone?”

“Who’s your wife, Jackson?!”

I cut him off, my voice dripping with a sarcasm I didn't know I had.

He looked stunned for a second, then his own voice rose.

“What are you talking about? Clara, Zoe and I are just friends!”

“‘Just friends’?”

“Jackson, are you really going to play dumb? Is this fun for you?”

I sighed, a wave of exhaustion washing over me, even more potent than the post-op weakness.

“Do ‘just friends’ hang out at her apartment while you’re in a bathrobe, fetching her towels?”

“Jackson, are you taking me for an idiot?”

“What are you trying to say? Zoe and I are just friends, her health is fragile, so I help take care of her. What’s the big deal?”

“Clara, can you please stop being so unreasonable!”

“I’m unreasonable?”

I shot up from the couch.

The sudden movement sent a sharp, stabbing pain through my abdomen, but I didn’t care.

“Where are you when I’m sick? It’s always the same story, you always have an excuse, and it’s always about Zoe being more important!”

The video feed wobbled, and then a woman in a silk slip dress squeezed into the frame.

“Clara, don’t be mad at Jackson, he was just worried about me…”

Zoe’s voice was so frail I almost believed her.

“I don’t have any family, you know? Jackson just has a soft spot for me… It’s all my fault, please don’t mind me.”

As she spoke, she shot me a look brimming with defiance, as if she were staking her claim.

“Oh, I don’t mind at all,” I said, a bitter smile twisting my lips.

“It’s truly touching. The exes getting back together. A match made in heaven.”

Jackson’s face clouded over instantly, his voice sharp with annoyance.

“Clara, cut the sarcasm! You know how sensitive Zoe is. What if this triggers her depression again?”

And then, he actually pulled Zoe into his arms, cradling her like she was some priceless treasure.

That’s when I noticed it.

Jackson was only wearing a bathrobe, clearly naked underneath.

And Zoe, she just settled right onto his lap.

The scene was so intimate it made me sick to my stomach.

I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms.

The physical pain was nothing, not even a fraction of the agony shattering my heart.

I had loved Jackson for ten years.

From a single, breathtaking moment when we were young.

To this, a landscape of scars and wounds.

I gave him everything, and this was my reward.

“Jackson, do you remember your parents?” I asked, my voice cold as ice.

On the screen, he flinched, his gaze darting away, unable to meet mine.

Of course he couldn’t look at me.

How could he?

Back when his family’s business collapsed.

When his father, ruined and in debt, had a massive heart attack and died.

When his mother suffered a stroke from the shock that left her needing constant care.

And his girlfriend at the time, Zoe, the one who swore she’d love him forever.

She didn't just abandon him when he needed her most.

She kicked him when he was down, cleaning out their joint bank account and disappearing with the last of his family's money.

During that dark time, I was the one who went against my family’s wishes, put my graduate program overseas on hold, and stuck by him and his ailing mother like a stray dog.

I was the one who worked two jobs, waiting tables until I gave myself a bleeding ulcer, just to pay for his tuition and living expenses.

I was the one who, in his deepest despair, gave him a reason to keep living.

Later, we got married, and he started a new company.

For four years of our marriage, Jackson’s hatred for Zoe never faded.

He worked relentlessly, building his company from the ground up.

His entire motivation was to one day get his revenge, to make her feel the same pain of losing everything.

Until a month ago, when a market downturn hit.

Jackson’s company weathered the storm and even thrived.

But Zoe’s company was completely wiped out.

That day, Zoe went to the roof of Jackson’s office building and threatened to jump.

Jackson threw everything aside and raced up there.

He got on his knees and begged her to live, telling her he’d do anything for her.