Chapter 4

It wasn’t until dusk settled and a biting cold set in that I staggered to my feet. Lily couldn’t be left without a resting place. So, I wiped my face and stumbled out of the cemetery.

I may not have any money left, but I had our marriage certificate. Since Howard cared about status and reputation more than anything else in this world, I took a cab straight to his corporate office.

The receptionist couldn’t stop me as I marched directly into the main office floor.

“Does anyone here know where Howard York went?”

My voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough to silence the entire office.

Someone recognized me and called out, “Mr. York is away on an out-of-town training assignment.”

I nodded and squeezed out a grim, hollow smile. “Right, Howard is always so busy. He’s so busy taking care of Jolene Foster that he couldn’t even make time to come home when his own daughter was killed in a hit-and-run. Some of you might not know this, but Miss Foster is a single mother going through a very difficult time. So my husband, Howard, has been catering to her hand and foot on behalf of the company and showering her with loads of cash.”

The previously bustling office immediately fell silent, and everyone’s gaze shifted to sympathy, disdain, and pure shock.

“Mrs. York, is this… Is this true?” a senior employee couldn’t help but ask.

“Every word,” I said, gritting my teeth as tears welled up in my eyes. “The doctors couldn’t save my daughter, and she passed away. I asked Howard for our savings so that I could lay our daughter to rest, but he put a strict limit on my bank card. Instead, all that money was spent on buying designer handbags and plane tickets to a luxury beach holiday for Miss Foster.”

With a loud thud, the door to one of the offices swung open. The HR manager, having overheard every detail of the conversation, walked out with an ashen face.

He probably never thought that Howard, who always seemed so smart and ambitious, could hide such a despicable face behind closed doors.

“Mrs. York, please try to stay calm,” the HR manager said as he pulled me into a private conference room away from prying eyes, his expression conflicted. “Look, the company was originally planning to issue last quarter’s bonus next month. I’m going to special-approve it and advance it to you right now.”

He tapped on his phone a few times. Moments later, a notification chime went off on my phone.

When I glanced at my screen, I was petrified.

[Bank Deposit Notification: +$20,000.00]

Twenty thousand dollars.

I stared fixedly at that string of numbers, feeling a bitter taste in my throat.

I remembered it vividly. At the end of last year, Howard brought home one thousand dollars, looking completely overwhelmed as he told me, “Babe, the company performed horribly this year. The bonus was only a few grand, and there might even be layoffs next year. You need to pinch every penny you can.”

To save a few pennies that winter, I suffered a miscarriage due to severe physical exhaustion.

To save twenty dollars on a cab fare, I took a three-and-a-half-hour bus ride for my medical follow-up, only to collapse on the bus from severe hemorrhaging.

To save on electricity, I spent my days leeching air conditioning at the public library and keeping the lights switched off at night as I worked on client proposals in the dark until my retina detached.

To supplement the household income, I worked three jobs a day—delivering food, tutoring, and taking freelance gigs—relentlessly grinding myself down into a neurotic, resentment-filled shell of a woman.

Trembling, I lifted my gaze to meet the manager’s eyes, my voice shaking. “Howard… How much does Howard actually make every month?”

The manager sighed, as if he couldn’t bring himself to keep it a secret anymore. “His base salary is fifteen thousand, plus project commissions and quarterly bonuses. On average… he brings home at least three hundred thousand dollars a year.”

Three hundred thousand dollars, and yet the total household allowance I received from him for the entire past year was under twenty thousand dollars.