Chapter 2

Julian’s cruelty hit me like a tidal wave, drowning out whatever sanity I had left.

I never knew he carried so much disgust inside him.

He was a complete stranger compared to the boy who once swore he’d rather die than lose me.

I swallowed the hot tears in my throat. "My disease flared up because of you, Julian."

Back when we started our tiny tech startup, I worked like a dog. By day, I pitched to cold clients in the rain; by night, I maxed out credit cards to buy dinners for investors, begging for a chance.

Most days, my stomach held nothing but cheap whiskey and leftover bread.

At our lowest, we couldn't even afford a sixty-dollar motel room. We got kicked out into the freezing winter night, almost sleeping under a bridge with the homeless.

I used to be an athlete. By the end of that year, walking up a flight of stairs left me gasping for air.

My body collapsed, and on the morning we were supposed to get married, I coughed up blood and ended up in the ICU.

Ten years of agony. Every single day bought with pain.

Julian rubbed his face in frustration, looking thoroughly disgusted.

"I knew you were going to bring that up again. I am so sick of hearing it..."

"Maya, I’m grateful to you! That’s why I’ve never even thought about divorcing you! Don't you get that?!"

"The clinic called me five minutes ago about the unpaid balance. If this whole tantrum is about money, cut the crap."

He pulled out his phone and transferred a million dollars straight to my account, raising an arrogant eyebrow.

"There. Satisfied? See? I still love you."

Love?

He thought betrayal could be wiped clean with a bank transfer?

A million screams caught in my throat, but my body had no strength left.

Staring at his conceited face, I whispered, "Don't you feel even a tiny shred of guilt?"

Julian grabbed my limp hand, his eyes softening into a practiced show of affection.

"Vivian has stage-four cancer, Maya. She doesn't have long to live anyway."

"I promise you, you’ll always be the only Mrs. Miller."

"Once you’re fully recovered, I’ll take you on a world tour. How does that sound?"

How did the man I adored for ten years turn into such rotting garbage?

A wave of violent nausea hit me. The pain I’d been suppressing tore through my chest, making my heart flutter erratically. I clamped a hand over my mouth, dry-heaving.

Before the blackness swallowed me whole, I felt the car accelerate, and Julian’s hand patted my back with patronizing comfort.

"Look at yourself, Maya. No one else in this world would ever want you."