Chapter 1

On the way home, I felt completely numb, as if I’d lost my soul.

I didn’t have children yet. I hadn’t been able to care for my parents in their old age or see them through their final years. There were still so many things I hadn’t had the chance to do.

Why had my wife delayed my treatment?

Why had I been struck by this disease when I was still so young?

I was furious and ready to confront my wife, but she wasn’t home.

With nowhere to vent my anger, I could only curl up on the stairwell and smoke one cigarette after another. It wasn’t until the floor was littered with cigarette butts that I finally managed to calm down.

“Where are you, sweetheart? When are you coming home?”

My wife, Emily Whitaker, hesitated on the phone.

“You’re back from your business trip? It’s my best friend’s birthday today. I’ll be home late tonight.”

Since marrying Emily, she’d stayed home for years while we tried to start a family.

To give my wife and our future children a better life, I traveled for work at least twenty days every month.

Worried that she’d get bored at home, I always encouraged her to go shopping and spend time with her friends. She also made a habit of telling me where she was going.

Until today, I’d always believed I was happily married.

“Have fun tonight, sweetheart.”

I did my best to keep my voice from sounding too tense.

After hanging up, I immediately contacted a security company and had them install hidden cameras throughout the house.

Not long afterward, Emily sent me a photo of her dinner as usual.

I zoomed in again and again until I finally noticed something in the reflection of a stainless-steel spoon.

There was a man’s face.

One blow after another had left my mind reeling.

Late that night, Emily quietly came home and leaned over me, whispering into my ear.

“Honey, are you asleep?”

I pretended to be fast asleep, even letting out a soft snore.

She gave a quiet snort before turning around and flirting with the man on the phone.

“Don’t worry. He’s sleeping like a log. We could do it right in front of him, and he wouldn’t know.”

The man on the other end chuckled.

“If that’s true, maybe I’ll actually come over. He came home unexpectedly today, so I didn’t get to enjoy myself.”

My breathing hitched, and I almost couldn’t keep pretending.

Emily quickly lowered her voice.

“Oh, you idiot. I’m only teasing. Just be patient.

“Besides, I’ve already transferred your cancer to him. It’s been six months, so he might already be in the middle or late stage.

“He won’t have much longer to live. Once he’s gone, I’ll get my hands on my parents’ assets, too. We’ll have plenty of good years ahead of us.”

She giggled as she walked into the bathroom.

“I’ll give you something to look at. Consider it my way of making it up to you.”

I didn’t open my eyes until I heard the steady sound of water running in the bathroom.

So it was true.

Cancer really could be transferred.

I didn’t gamble, drink heavily, or abuse my wife. I handed over my entire monthly salary of forty to fifty thousand dollars and had never done anything to betray her.

Yet she’d not only cheated on me but had also plotted to kill me for the sake of her lover.

If I hadn’t happened to obtain that strange charm, I might have lost control and stormed out, killed the adulterous woman, and then killed her lover.

But they weren’t worth throwing my life away for.

If they could transfer the cancer, so could I.

Once I’d made up my mind, I swallowed the metallic taste of blood in my mouth and continued pretending to sleep.

It wasn’t until well into the night, after I was certain Emily had fallen asleep, that I finally climbed out of bed.

Moving as quietly as possible, I took her phone.

But no matter what I tried, I couldn’t unlock it.

Then I suddenly remembered the photo she’d sent me that evening.

I quickly found the numbers in the picture. They were most likely her lover’s date of birth.

I tried them.

The phone unlocked.

It was filled with photos of Emily and her lover together, including intimate pictures of the two of them.

She’d even arranged to meet him for sex on the day we got married while still wearing her wedding dress.

No wonder she was always checking my phone while never letting me touch hers.

I glanced at Emily’s curvy figure and felt nothing but disgust.

I quickly began working through her phone.

Since she loved playing games in secret, I’d play along.

Once I transferred the cancer out of my body, I’d give her a taste of her own game.