Chapter 2

Evan stared at me, wide-eyed, as if he hadn’t understood what I meant.

I ignored him and went straight to the bedroom to pack.

I owned so little it was almost pathetic. The closet was packed with Adrian’s custom suits, and any one of them cost more than half a year’s worth of the bargain clothes I wore.

In the mirror, the woman looking back at me had dull skin, tired eyes, and shadows that no amount of sleep could hide.

There was nothing left of the girl in the white dress who used to turn heads on campus.

I gave a bitter smile.

Enough.

From now on, I was going to live for myself.

I had just reached for my wedding ring when the door was shoved open.

Adrian stormed in. The second he saw the packed suitcase, his pupils tightened.

Then anger flooded his face.

“Vanessa, what the hell is wrong with you?

“What kind of nonsense were you saying in front of Evan? Telling him to call another woman Mom? Do you even know how to be a mother?”

His righteous tone almost made me laugh.

I didn’t know how to be a mother?

Back then, to give birth to his son, I nearly bled out on the operating table.

When the anesthesia failed and the pain made me bite down so hard I almost cracked my teeth, I still begged the doctors to save the baby first.

When Evan was little and had a seizure from fever in the middle of the night, I ran across half the city in a thin coat with him in my arms, searching for an emergency room. I was shaking from the cold, but I never loosened my grip.

And now, because I ate one of his eggs, he wanted the police to arrest me.

Because of a few words from an outsider, he believed his own mother was lazy, sick on purpose, and pretending to be pitiful.

The child I had nearly died to bring into the world had chosen to protect the woman who treated me like an eyesore.

I let out a cold laugh.

“You’re right. I don’t deserve to be his mother.

“So I’m making room for someone who does.”

The anger on Adrian’s face seemed to falter. For the first time, I saw a flash of panic in his eyes.

Before he could speak, Sophie walked in carrying Evan.

The moment she saw my suitcase, she frowned with a gentle, concerned expression.

“Vanessa, why are you being so ungrateful?

“Mr. Cole has money and status, and Evan is such a sweet child. Do you know how many women would kill for a life like this?

“Because of your little tantrum today, Mr. Cole had to suspend an international meeting and rush home. That delay could cost millions. You’re a housewife. How would you understand what really matters?”

Her gaze flicked to the wedding ring on my hand, and she gave a soft laugh.

“Besides, you’re still wearing the ring. You’re not really leaving. Stop making Mr. Cole angry.”

Evan suddenly threw himself into Adrian’s arms and burst into tears.

“Dad, she’s bad. I want Ms. Blake to be my mom.”

The panic in Adrian’s eyes vanished.

He pointed at me and shouted, “Vanessa, enough.”

“Keep this up, and you won’t like what happens.”

I looked at the three of them, standing there like one perfect little family, and laughed.

“No need to threaten me.

“Adrian, I want a divorce.”

“A divorce?”

Adrian looked as if he had heard the funniest thing in the world. His eyes filled with contempt.

“Vanessa, has staying home all these years rotted your brain?

“In the past ten years, aside from washing socks and making noodles, what else have you done?

“Where would you go without me? Dig through market trash? Sit on the curb and beg?”

He paused, then seemed to remember something, and his smile grew even crueler.

“Oh, right. You probably don’t even know where the airport entrance is.

“Whenever you went anywhere, I drove you. You don’t even know how to swipe a subway card, and you think you can leave by yourself?”

My fingers tightened around my phone until they turned pale.

For one brief moment, I really did panic.

Back when I lived with the Sterling family, I either flew on my father’s private jet or had a driver waiting for me. I never had to carry my own suitcase.

After I married Adrian, he said a woman didn’t need to show her face in public.

So I locked myself inside this house. I rarely even went to the supermarket near the neighborhood by myself.

Just then, my phone vibrated.

A text from my father appeared on the screen.

[My sweet girl, I’ll come get you myself tonight and bring you home.]

The light from the screen fell across my face, and the panic inside me disappeared.

Adrian didn’t notice. He was still scolding me.

“I’m taking Evan to school. Stay home and think about what you’ve done.

“Stop filling your head with nonsense. When I get back tonight, dinner had better be on the table.

“If you can’t even do that much, what kind of wife are you?”

After venting his anger, Adrian swept out with Sophie and Evan.

Not long after, my father’s car pulled up in front of the villa.