Chapter 2

When she opened her eyes again, she was in a hospital room. Outside the door, she could hear Jonathan's voice.

"It's handled. I pulled every trending post about last night. Selene won't see a thing."

"Sir, with all due respect, she's been eating ramen and clipping coupons for three years to support you. She's suffered enough. Even if you didn't trust her, doesn't that count as proof?"

"That time she was hypoglycemic and almost passed out, she still gave you her last portion of food. That woman loves you, boss. Don't break someone who actually loves you."

His assistant. Selene recognized the voice.

"You don't get it." Jonathan's tone hardened. "I thought she loved me too. Right up until I caught her taking my blood samples to a hospital. Cross-matching them with her brother's. The brother with leukemia. The moment I saw that paperwork, something in me died."

"All her kindness, all her love—it was so I'd be willing to donate bone marrow for her brother. I was a tool to her. Nothing more."

"But sir, her brother is dead."

The assistant wasn't backing down.

"Enough." Jonathan's voice went cold. "One more month, and the three-year test is over. If she makes it that long, then fine, I was wrong about her. I'll make it up to her. Generously."

Their voices weren't loud. But Selene caught every word.

She started shaking. Whatever strength she had left drained out of her into the mattress.

Three years. Three years of skipping meals so Jonathan could eat. Three years of wearing the same coat every winter. Three years without a single birthday gift worth keeping.

A year of cleaning Vivienne's mansion. She was worn out to the bone every single day. enduring all the cruel tricks Vivienne came up with each day, all just for tips.

And the whole time, every minute of every day, Jonathan had been lying. Not just faking poverty. Sleeping with another woman. Getting her pregnant.

All because Selene had once, when her little brother was dying, tried to see if Jonathan's blood was a match.

Three years ago, on his deathbed, her brother had used the last breath in his body to tell her, "Sis, your husband is a good man. Promise me you'll grow old together. Even if the marrow matches, my body could still reject it. I'm a black hole. Don't drag him down with me. Let me go. You'll be happier without me weighing you down."

Selene had sobbed over him until she had nothing left. She'd thought she'd carry her brother's blessing into the rest of her life with Jonathan. Build something good. Be happy. Now reality had a foot on her throat.

What had she been doing all this time? Living like a stray for what?

She'd loved Jonathan. Worshipped him. Thrown every shred of her pride away for him. And he'd been playing her like she was an idiot. While she went to work every day at the mansion of the woman carrying his baby. While she scrubbed Vivienne's bathrooms.

Selene bit down on her lip and pressed her face into the blanket. She cried without making a sound.

The voices at the door faded. Selene slowly lifted her head. Then she opened her laptop and replied to an email that had been sitting in her inbox for months.

Selene: [I accept. I'd like to take the offer.]

The art school overseas. The full scholarship she'd turned down to stay with Jonathan.

Now that the marriage had completely broken down, she didn't need to waste any energy on it anymore.

She scrolled to her contacts and found her lawyer.

Selene: [Please draft divorce papers. I want a clean split of any marital assets.]

Last, she opened the folder on her phone where she kept every medical record she'd ever collected about Jonathan.