Chapter 1

The night I received nude photos of my husband, Hector, with his female secretary, Kendall, I slit my wrists in our marital home.

Blood drenched my pristine white wedding dress, the stark crimson stain spreading across the fabric as my mother came rushing through the door.

In the ambulance, she trembled violently as she sobbed, "If you die, Mom won't go on living either!"

The next second, an out-of-control truck came crashing into us. The instant the ambulance overturned, my mother used her own body to shield me.

When I woke up, she was suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage and multiple severe injuries. The cost of saving her was over a million dollars.

Dragging my frail body out of the hospital bed, I rushed home and dug out a box of gold beads.

Every time there was an important occasion, Hector would give me one gold bead. He had once whispered tenderly in my ear that they would become my pregnancy fund, and that the gold beads also symbolized that our love was as unbreakable as gold.

I had treasured every single one and carefully collected ninety-nine of them.

But the moment I took them to a gold shop and the high-temperature torch was brought near them, all ninety-nine beads exploded like popcorn.

I stared in disbelief, my eyes widening.

Trembling, I frantically called Hector. "Hector, please! Give me one million dollars to save my mother!"

The moment the call connected, the man's impatient, mocking voice came through, mixed with the sound of music in the background.

"Beatrice, don't be so greedy. Aren't those gold beads I gave you worth several million?"

"But they're fake!" I cried.

"So what? You brought this on yourself. You're always lying. How was I supposed to know your mother was dying?"

Before I could answer, Kendall's soft laughter came from the other end.

"Beatrice, you photoshopped those bed photos of me and spread them around, claiming I'm the mistress. So I replaced your gold beads as a little harmless revenge. What's wrong with that?"

"Harmless? That's my mother's life—"

Before I could finish, the line went dead.

I hurriedly tried to call back, but two police officers walked in.

"Beatrice Hudson, you're suspected of creating and distributing fake obscene photographs and defaming Ms. Kendall Meyer's reputation. You'll need to come with us for an investigation."

I loudly denied everything, but they found the explicit photos of Hector and Kendall on my phone and handcuffed me before taking me to the police station.

That night, while I was in the detention center, a lawyer arrived with the devastating news that my mother had died.

"...Ms. Hudson, please live well. That was your mother's final wish."

I clutched my collar and collapsed to the floor, the pain so overwhelming that I forgot how to breathe.

Hector, I don't want your fake love anymore. But I won't let my mother's death be for nothing!

I grabbed the bars and forced myself back onto my feet before dialing a number.

"Professor, I'm willing to join the Orion Project. I have only one condition—make the Miranda Corporation disappear completely!"

……

It wasn't until seven days later that I was finally released.

I stumbled out of the detention center in a daze.

Hector was leaning against a Porsche by the roadside, impatience written all over his face. "I've been incredibly busy lately, so I didn't have time to bail you out."

"This was just a little lesson. If you bully Kendall again, seven days in detention will be the least of your problems. Beatrice, do you understand me?"

Seven days without a single word from him, and all I got in the end was a harsh reprimand.

I stared at him blankly. "Too busy? Busy taking care of Kendall, I suppose?"

"If you hadn't spread those filthy rumors, why would people have called Kendall a mistress?"

Hector flew into a rage. He reached out and grabbed my wrist—the very one I had slit.

His thumb pressed hard against the wound that had yet to heal, and I cried out in pain.

Only then did he notice the yellowing bandages wrapped around my wrist. His grip immediately loosened, and he frowned slightly.

"You were only locked up for a few days. How did you end up injured too? Does it hurt?"

I simply pulled my hand away, my voice devoid of emotion.

"First, I never spread anything. Second, whether those bed photos of you and Kendall are real or fake, you should know better than anyone."

Not long ago, when we registered our marriage, he had gotten down on one knee, tears in his eyes, and sworn that he would remain faithful to me for the rest of our lives.

I thought those tears and vows had been genuine. I never knew that, even then, he was already fooling around with his female secretary.

How could someone be this disgusting?

But I didn't care anymore.

All I wanted was to get my mother out of that cold morgue and leave him behind.

However, my words sent Hector into a fury.

"What the hell are you talking about? I've already told you—Kendall and I are nothing more than an employer and employee!"

An employer and employee who shared a bed. Technically, he wasn't wrong.

I had no strength left to argue about it, so I simply pulled out the divorce agreement the lawyer had prepared for me.

I slipped it among the other contracts and handed the documents to Hector.

"Sign these."

Hector gritted his teeth, his eyes falling on the documents in my hand. "What are these?"

He had always been cautious. He personally reviewed every document before signing anything.

Suppressing my nerves, I forced myself to remain calm and spoke. "I saw a few Chanel jewelry pieces I liked. Consider them compensation for keeping me locked up for seven days."

A flicker of guilt crossed his face. Even he knew he had gone too far this time. But the guilt quickly disappeared, replaced by a mocking smirk.

"Tsk. I knew it. Your mother's illness was just another lie. In the end, you were only trying to squeeze more money out of me."

Disappointment and anger flashed in his eyes as he snatched the documents from my hands.

"I honestly don't know how I ever married a gold-digging woman like you!"

My heart ached.

Five years ago, I had turned down an offer from a top-secret national agency and traveled far from home to be with him.

The first time his secretary, Kendall, met me, she pretended to accidentally push me down a flight of stairs.

I broke my leg and spent three months recovering. During that time, not only did he refuse to punish Kendall, he even took her abroad on a so-called "business trip."

On the night we registered our marriage, Hector abandoned me alone in our marital home because Kendall said she was "feeling sick with a fever."

I cried. I had fought with him. But he swore that there was nothing between them beyond work, and because I loved him, I believed him every time.

I never imagined my foolishness would end up costing my mother her life.

Hector flipped open the first page, about to skim through the contents, when his phone suddenly rang.

The name displayed on the screen stabbed straight through my eyes.

The woman who had replaced my gold beads and caused my mother's death—and my husband called her his "little wildcat."

Hector answered, and his voice softened instinctively.

Kendall's coy voice came through the phone. "Hector, I want to pick out a birthday present. Will you come with me?"

Hector's expression immediately relaxed. "Sure. Wait for me downstairs at the office."

After hanging up, he hurriedly signed the documents.

"I need to go back to the office and deal with something urgent. Go home by yourself."

Seconds later, the Porsche sped away.

I watched it disappear, then finally stopped hesitating. I contacted my lawyer and handed him the signed divorce agreement.

Then I called the hospital, preparing to claim my mother's body.

It felt as though my mouth had been stitched shut with a needle and thread. Even forcing out my mother's name made every breath hurt.

"Leila Hudson?"

"Wasn't her body already claimed by her daughter?"