Chapter 1

I loved him for ten years, but I accidentally witnessed my husband Ethan and a female streamer making out in the elevator.

When I confronted him with red-rimmed eyes, he said:

"I still love you, but you're old and boring now."

Ethan turned and pulled his mistress close:

"Sophie is young, and... she looks a bit like you. That's proof enough that I still love you."

I was infuriated by his absurd logic.

So in his eyes, cheating was his way of showing devotion to me.

I immediately posted photos of him and his mistress cheating online.

But Ethan locked me in the basement and forced me to kneel and apologize to Sophie.

I continued to fight back, and he continued to force me to apologize.

Until the tenth time, when Ethan once again forced me to publicly clear things up for that female streamer.

I pulled out the divorce papers and chose to compromise.

Charlotte POV

When Ethan once again forced me to publicly clear things up for that female streamer.

I chose to compromise.

His hand paused slightly while adjusting his tie. After a long moment, he smirked:

"What, being so obedient this time?"

"Did you finally realize that making a scene is useless, so you're trying a new tactic?"

I opened Ins and spoke calmly:

"No, I just don't want to keep entangling anymore."

After a long silence, Ethan picked up the car keys from the table.

Leaning against the entrance, he said unhurriedly:

"Actually, there's no rush."

"It's mainly because Sophie is in a critical period for the Golden Microphone Award selection."

"You always use the title of Mrs. Walker to pressure her. It's really annoying."

I didn't answer. Word by word.

I seriously posted the tenth clarification statement in five years on that account with only a few hundred followers.

Admitting I was being unreasonable, admitting Sophie and Ethan were just a simple boss-subordinate relationship.

After posting, I said:

"Don't worry, it won't happen again."

Ethan's figure paused slightly, as if thinking about something.

A moment later, he straightened up, his voice carrying a barely perceptible irritation:

"That's for the best."

"Otherwise... you know the consequences."

My body trembled involuntarily.

Last time I refused to compromise and went to the TV station to confront him.

I was directly mocked on Sophie's live show as a crazy woman with extreme control issues.

Afterward, her millions of fans dug up my gallery address and splashed paint on it for three whole days.

When he heard about my gallery going bankrupt.

Ethan was just like this, watching me break down with complete calm.

Then he raised an eyebrow and dropped a line:

"Charlotte, have you learned your lesson?"

How strange. It was so humiliating and hopeless at the time.

But thinking back on it now.

My heart felt nothing.

As the door closed, Ethan left.

He was rushing to celebrate with his new love.

I had no time for sadness. With trembling hands, I opened my phone messages.

Two messages popped up on the screen.

One from the bank: [Your supplementary card has been unfrozen.]

The other from the emergency room ten minutes ago:

[Ms. Harper, if the surgery fee isn't paid soon, the ICU equipment will be adjusted according to procedure if further delayed.]

I stared at those words, my fingertips cold.

I took a deep breath and quickly transferred all the newly unfrozen money into the hospital account.

Watching the successful transfer screen, I collapsed onto the cold floor.

That clarification post on Ins was the only bargaining chip I had to keep Grandma alive.

As long as the money arrived, the equipment wouldn't be removed, and Grandma could hold on until surgery day.

I lifted the back of my hand to wipe the cold sweat from my forehead, my gaze falling on the critical condition notice the caregiver had just sent.

The red danger character stung my eyes.

Only then did I realize.

I could finally let go of this relationship.

On the TV screen.

Sophie was hosting "Metropolitan Observer," the number one rated show nationwide, smiling with intellectual elegance.

She gradually overlapped with the memory of that timid intern who used to follow me calling me Ms. Harper.

Ethan had one thing right.

Sophie was indeed in a critical period for the Golden Microphone Award selection.

Those rumors about her being a homewrecker not only didn't affect her.

Instead, her team used them for publicity. A few lines she said on the show about daring to love and hate were clipped into short videos and spread everywhere. Fans praised her as a clear-headed, independent strong female lead.

But the first time I discovered Ethan's change of heart.

It came from Sophie actively crossing boundaries.

At that time, in Ethan's study, I saw Sophie's late-night makeup test photos she'd sent him.

During that period, all the socialite wives I knew were advising me.

Advising me to be magnanimous.

But I hated that Ethan betrayed our vows.

Hated that he forgot who stayed up late writing business proposals for him until she had a stomach bleed during his most difficult startup days.

Yet he himself took a substitute who looked a bit like my younger self, thriving in high society.

I was unwilling and refused to compromise.

Until that time, I confronted him with the contract for the multi-million dollar mansion he'd given Sophie.

The matter blew up big. To protect Sophie's public image.

Ethan decisively chose to suppress the news and locked me in the villa for a whole week.

At that time, the entire finance section was praising the Walker Group CEO's business empire.

I was so provoked I went crazy, screaming at Ethan when he came home.

Ethan patiently let Sophie leave first, which made me break down even more.

I threw that property deed with Sophie's name on it in his face, calling him an immoral bastard.

In the end, he said coldly:

"Yes! I am keeping her, so what? If you can't take it, then get lost!"

When those words landed, both he and I froze.

But in the end, I was the first to speak.

I became even more hysterical than before.

"Why should I be the one to leave?!"

"Why should I fulfill you and that bitch?!"

"Ethan Walker, you owe me for life! You and her should be condemned forever!!!"