Chapter 1

I walked home carrying two heavy bags filled with groceries I normally would never splurge on. My mind kept spinning, trying to figure out how to convince my husband to finally take his treatment seriously.

When I pushed the door open, I saw Wade Zeller sitting on the couch, his face dark and sickly.

My heart dropped. I thought he had already found out about his stomach cancer.

I was just about to tell him I had won a hundred million, that money would never be a problem for his treatment…

However, before I could speak, he looked up at me and asked in a flat tone, "I just got a call from your coworker. She said if you're not going back to work, you should go shopping with her. Yoana, did you get fired?"

In all six years of our marriage, I had never heard him speak to me in such a distant, unfamiliar tone.

I froze.

I was about to explain, but something in me suddenly shifted. I wanted to test him.

So I lowered my head, forcing my face into a look of defeat.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "I messed up badly on my last project. Not only did I lose my bonus, I didn't even get any severance."

The truth was the exact opposite.

I had done an amazing job. I got a hundred-thousand bonus, and my supervisor even promised to raise my monthly salary to thirty thousand.

I thought a lie that obvious would never fool Wade.

After all, he had seen how hard I worked on that project last month. On the day I finished it, I had even texted him.

He replied with just a few words: [You're amazing, honey!]

However, judging by the way his expression grew even darker, he completely believed I had been fired.

"Yoana, how can you be this stupid? You can't even keep a job?" Wade exploded, shooting to his feet and striding toward me.

Before I could react, his hand came down hard across my face.

The sharp crack echoed through the room, and in that instant, something inside me shattered along with it. My dignity.

"Wade, you hit me?!" I was shaking with rage.

We had dated for three years and been married for five, and not once had he ever laid a hand on me. We hardly even argued. Then, just because I "lost" my job, he thought he could treat me like that?

My eyes burned red as hurt and anger surged through me.

However, Wade looked completely justified. He pointed at the groceries in my hands and kept yelling,

"Are you out of your mind? You're unemployed, you can't make a single cent, and you're still buying expensive food like this? Are you trying to drag us both down?"

That was it.

I snapped.

I raised my hand and slapped him back.

The moment my hand landed, my mother-in-law, Ella Sanders, rushed out of the bedroom and immediately shielded her son.

The gentle, kind woman who used to speak to me so sweetly had completely changed. "Are you crazy? How dare you hit my son? No manners at all!"

I let out an icy laugh.

She had stood there silently while I was being slapped.

Of course. Like mother, like son.

All those expensive skincare products and supplements I had bought for her over the years… What a waste.

"I just lost a job, and this is how your family treats me? Can't I find another one?" My chest felt tight as I forced the words out.

Wade let out a mocking laugh. "Find another job? Yoana, you're already thirty-two. What company would want an old woman like you?"

Ella chimed in immediately.

"The older a woman gets, the less she's worth. Men only get more valuable with age. You don't even have a job now. You won't make any money in the future. And you expect my son to support you? And your sick daughter with that heart condition? Stop dreaming."

She paused, her tone turning even colder. "My son just got promoted. He's a department supervisor now. He makes 7,500 a month, and that's not even counting bonuses and performance pay."

Then she crossed her arms and looked at me with narrowed eyes. "I'll make it clear. Either you leave with some dignity, divorce my son, and take your daughter with you. Or we'll go through legal channels. Your choice."

She rolled her eyes and stood there with her hands on her hips, glaring at me.

Wade looked me up and down with a sneer, like he had already climbed to the top of the world.

"Yoana, why don't you get it? I'm a department supervisor now. Someone like you, an old, ugly working woman, isn't good enough for me anymore."

Looking at the identical greed and arrogance on their faces, my emotions slowly calmed down instead.

So that was it.

He had gotten a promotion and a raise, which explained why he was acting so arrogant.

Thank goodness I had never told them about the lottery. With the way they thought, they would have found a way to take every last cent from me, and by then, my daughter and I would have nowhere left to turn.

Then they wanted to force me into a divorce like that?

Not happening.

All those years, Wade had brainwashed me into using my salary for daily expenses and mortgage payments, while his income was saved.

Then I could see it clearly. That disgusting mother and son had been planning to drain me dry all along.

"Fine. We can divorce," I said calmly. "However, I want half of the savings. And half of the house."

Ella immediately lost her composure. "No way! In your dreams! All these years, it's my son who paid the mortgage, you……"

Before she could finish, my phone suddenly rang, and when I glanced at the screen, I saw it was the hospital.

Without hesitation, I answered.

However, the moment I did, the doctor's urgent voice came through, "Ms. Carter, you need to come to the hospital immediately. Thora has gone into sudden heart failure. She's being rushed into emergency treatment, but your account has no money left. You need to come and make a payment right away!"

"What? That's impossible. A few days ago I asked my husband to deposit thirty thousand……"

I turned to look at Wade. The panic in his eyes told me everything.

"You bastard. I'll deal with you when I get back!"

I hung up, grabbed my bag, and rushed out the door.