Chapter 1

The third year of my marriage to Ethan Carter.

I found an organ donation agreement with a falsified name hidden in the secret compartment of his study.

The recipient’s name had been changed from my mother’s to Lily Carter’s.

Back then, my mother was on the verge of death from heart disease. After waiting so long, we had finally found a suitable donor heart.

But one second before the surgery, we were told the donation had been canceled.

My mother died in the end. When I was consumed by grief, Ethan was the one who helped me climb out of the darkness.

I never expected that everything he had done was for his precious little sister, Lily.

“My dearest Lily, I finally found a suitable heart for you.

“It belongs to someone else, but as long as it keeps you alive, I’m willing to silence my conscience and do whatever it takes.

“I’ll marry Ava Bennett and spend the rest of my life making up for my sins. You don’t need to blame yourself. Just live happily.

“My dearest Lily, it’s been three years since I married Ava, but I still love you.”

There were 999 letters kept with the agreement. Every word revealed the love Ethan had never been able to confess.

So the marriage I had been so proud of was nothing but a complete, carefully planned lie.

That was why I accepted the hospital’s offer to work overseas.

“Ava, your international assignment has been approved. Your visa came through too. You’ll leave next Monday.”

The hospital director sounded relieved over the phone. He had been encouraging us to work abroad for some time.

I held my phone and listened quietly. I thanked him softly without much emotion.

Then he asked, “But are you sure you don’t want to tell your husband?”

“I’m sure.” My voice was calm.

The director hesitated before saying, “You and your husband have always seemed very close. Is it really wise to keep something this important from him? Or… have you two been fighting lately?”

Fighting?

No. We had never fought.

Ethan was gentle and considerate. He never raised his voice at me.

He always gave in to me and tolerated my moods. He even made me believe that our love was unbreakable.

But the donation agreement and those letters had destroyed everything I thought I knew.

I took a deep breath and forced my voice to remain steady.

“We haven’t been fighting. It’s just that… I’m getting a divorce.”

There was silence on the other end. Then the director sighed quietly.

“All right. I respect your decision. But I still want to say this—if there’s any chance of saving your marriage, try not to take things this far…”

“Doctor, please.” I cut him off. I didn’t want to hear any more. “This is my decision. And I need you to keep it confidential. Don’t tell anyone, especially him.”

After hanging up, I stood there in a daze. The light from my phone screen slowly faded, as if my entire world were sinking into darkness with it.

At some point, tears blurred my vision.

I sniffed hard and shoved the divorce papers I had crumpled in my fist into the very back of the closet.

A soft touch brushed against my ankle.

I looked down and saw Muffin scratching at my pant leg. She tilted her head up at me and meowed.

“Muffin.” I crouched down and pulled her into my arms, burying my face in her soft fur. “Tell me… am I a complete failure?”

She gently licked my cheek. The damp touch made my nose sting, and my tears began falling all over again.

Muffin was a calico cat Ethan had brought home last year.

At the time, we had been arguing about whether to have children.

I wanted a baby. A child that belonged to both of us.

But he had never been willing.

In his gentle voice, he had persuaded me, “Ava, having a baby is so hard. I can’t bear to see you go through that. Besides, don’t we already have Muffin? She’s our baby, okay?”

I had believed him like an idiot. I had even been moved to tears by his tenderness.

Only now did I understand.

He hadn’t been trying to spare me pain. He hadn’t been against having children.

He simply didn’t want any woman but Lily to have his child.

My heart throbbed again and again, as if someone were cutting it apart with a dull knife.

All of Ethan’s tenderness and thoughtfulness had been nothing but a mask covering the truth.

There had only ever been one person in his heart.

Lily.

When I thought of that agreement and those letters, my fingers tightened until they went white. My nails dug into my palms, but I couldn’t feel a thing.

Muffin rubbed herself against my chest, trying to comfort me with her tiny body.

I stroked her fur and whispered, “Muffin, Mommy will be leaving soon.”

“Where are you going?”