Chapter 1

On the third day after my C-section, the baby and I checked into the premium postpartum care center I'd reserved in advance.

Worried about the cost, I gently suggested to my husband Santiago that we could just hire a nanny to take care of the baby at home instead.

Santiago laughed and said:

"Don't bother."

"I withdrew this cash without going through the finance department. If Everett finds out, I won't be able to deal with her stubborn temper."

I froze. My heart felt like it had been pierced by a thorn—I couldn't pull it out, couldn't swallow it down. It just throbbed with a dull ache.

Every time Santiago spent money on me, he had to get approval from Everett, the new CFO at his company.

He called her his Minister of Finance.

But I never imagined that on the very night I checked into the postpartum center, Santiago's reservation would be hit with a full refund request.

Clinton, the center's manager, threatened and cornered, threw the refund receipt in my face and kicked the baby and me out into the rainy night.

That night, my incision became infected. I developed sepsis and a fever that wouldn't break.

I called Santiago crying for help, only to discover I'd been blocked.

As I lay in the emergency room with no one caring whether I lived or died, Everett posted a photo on Twitter from an auction.

In the picture, she nestled in Santiago's arms, smiling coyly:

"Without my approval, what does it matter that Mr. Santiago is worth hundreds of millions? He still doesn't dare spend half a cent without my say-so."

"I'd advise certain people not to be so possessive of other people's money. You just had a baby—where do you get the nerve to stay at a luxury postpartum center?"

Only then did I see clearly that Santiago hadn't just handed financial control to Everett—he'd also given her the power to hurt me.