Chapter 1

"Dr. Xanders, I want to live. Could you please extend the payment deadline for my medical bills?"

Dr. Lucas Xanders stared at me in shock. "The Belfort Group has assets worth billions. Mr. Belfort made it onto the list of wealthiest people years ago, and you're his wife. How could you be out of money?"

I let out a bitter chuckle. If I were still the Annabelle Lincoln of the past, Joseph Belfort would have spent his entire fortune to save me.

Yet, I betrayed him long ago.

Years ago, his father was swindled and left the family drowning in debt. He ran off with the last of their money, leaving behind an elderly mother and a child. His grandmother collapsed from the shock and was hospitalized. From then on, Joseph carried the weight of the entire family alone.

I was the only one by his side.

However, I was diagnosed with a hereditary disease. My mother begged me to break up with him, but I refused. I told her Joseph would never abandon me.

Yet, she said, "Do you want him to watch the person he loves most die before his eyes, just like you?"

How could I bear that?

I locked myself in a room, crying for days and nights, then finally told him it was over.

I told him his family was too messed up to give me a future and that I only liked wealthy people.

At the time, he didn't give up. So, I staged a scene with Edmund Brooks. When he came to beg me to get back together for the 99th time, he found me in bed with Edmund.

Later, he became successful, and the first thing he did was go to great lengths to marry me. I rejected him once, but he proposed again.

The whole city joined in, delivering flowers to my door. Even the billboards displayed his love for me, and drones flew over the city with declarations of love for many days. Everyone envied me.

Yet, he was only doing it to get revenge.

He threatened to bankrupt Edmund if I refused. He would also go after the people around me.

Everyone said he loved me to death and called me a fickle, heartless woman.

Only I knew the truth—he married me to get revenge.

Over the years, he brought countless women home. They would kiss, embrace, and do far more intimate things right in front of me.

I would only watch coldly, then quietly close the door.

He grew angry and once shoved me against the wall, demanding, "Don't you feel jealous at all?"

He didn't understand. I had been waiting to die.

Then, he brought home Yarra Quinton.

She looked exactly like me back then—the me who would never have betrayed him.

I knew then that he no longer loved me.

I told myself that was fine. I was dying soon anyway. Once I was gone, the pain would disappear with me.

I returned from the hospital and saw their clothes scattered on the doorstep.

It had always been like this, except now the woman was Yarra.

I packed my medical records and a will into a box. In this house, I'm probably as insignificant as the box itself.

The room was silent. It seemed their bout of intimacy had ended.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my emotions. I was preparing to enter and ask Joseph for some money.

In what used to be our marriage bed, only Yarra lay there now.

Her skin was exposed to the air, and the marks on her body were glaringly obvious.

"Are you looking for Joseph? He went out to buy egg tarts. I just casually mentioned it, and he rushed out immediately. You know how long the line is for those egg tarts. He used to do everything for you, but now you're just some leftover trash he hasn't thrown out of the house."

Joseph had always hated waiting in line.

For him to do something like that meant he must truly adore her.

Back when I loved a band, he saved up for six months just to buy me a ticket. When the sales booth opened, he lined up overnight to make sure he got one.

I saw the dark circles under his eyes and felt my heart ache for him. Yet, he had only smiled and said, "I hate waiting in line, but Anna, remember this: as long as you're happy, I'll do anything for you. In my eyes, you're always the exception."

His words echoed in my mind, but now, his heart belonged to someone else.

"He might take a while to come back. Do you want me to tell him anything?"

I was supposed to be the lady of this house, but in the end, it felt like I was the one who had intruded.

I forced myself to suppress the bitterness rising in my chest. "Tell him to give me 500 thousand dollars."

Yarra raised an eyebrow in surprise, then opened her phone, holding up an order.

"This is the dog tag Joseph bought for Coco a few days ago. It costs exactly 500 thousand dollars. You don't even have that much on you?"

It was laughable, really. The money spent on a dog's accessory was the same amount that could buy my life.