Chapter 2

“Surely… there’s no need for a divorce.”

Lily lowered her head, afraid to look at me.

Fresh out of nursing school, she seemed terrified of ruining someone else’s marriage.

Her thin voice trembled.

“Those photos are just routine caregiving records… and a few everyday snapshots.”

I couldn’t remember the last time Evan and I had taken a photo together.

Had it been since illness left me gaunt?

Or since he’d become too busy to come home?

Maybe it was even earlier, when he started saying I was too clingy.

Evan took her hand and gave her a reassuring look.

Her expression suddenly changed.

“Evan, your hand is bleeding!”

Blood was still seeping from the back of his hand where his IV had been removed.

“We need to take care of that.”

She pulled him into the bathroom.

Through the half-open door, I heard running water mixed with soft laughter.

My phone vibrated. A new photo appeared in the album.

So he really had wanted me to find out sooner…

Evan had kept the album connected to our shared family cloud storage all along.

After tending to his hand, Lily was washing his body.

In the intimate photo, her hands brushed over every mole on his skin I knew by heart.

I pulled out my IV and let blood bead on my hand, staring blankly at the ceiling.

They came out an hour later.

Lily had changed out of her scrubs and into a short skirt.

She gave me an apologetic smile.

“Mrs. Whitmore, our movie’s about to start.”

“I’m borrowing Evan for two hours!”

Evan picked up his jacket and followed her without hesitation.

I caught his sleeve one last time, my voice shaking.

“Evan, my incision hurts… Could you please stay?”

He pried my fingers off one by one and left without looking back.

“You’re in a hospital. It’s not like you’ll die without me.”

The door slammed.

I sat on the bed without enough strength to stand.

A year earlier, one of Evan’s enemies had tried to poison him.

I’d been poisoned saving him, and my kidneys had failed.

“Claire, why would you do something so stupid?”

He had knelt beside my bed, his eyes red, and sworn an oath.

“I’ll never betray you. Not in this lifetime.”

“If I do, may I die a horrible death.”

His vow still echoed in my ears.

But the photos kept coming. Now they had captions.

In the dim movie theater, Lily’s fingers were laced through his.

“Dragged my CEO to the movies. He just can’t keep his hands to himself.”

Disgusted, I hurled my phone away.

The monitor let out a piercing alarm.

As they rushed me back into emergency surgery, I heard the doctor shouting angrily at the door.

“What upset her this badly? Where’s her family?”

By the time Evan arrived, I was out of danger.

He stood beside my bed, looking impatient.

“Did you have to pull this while I was watching a movie?”

Lily sounded annoyed, too.

“Mrs. Whitmore, it’s just a normal rejection episode.”

“I didn’t even get to see the ending.”

I yanked down the IV bottle and threw it at them.

“Get out!”

Rumors began spreading through the hospital.

“Poor Mr. Whitmore. He gave his wife a kidney, and now he has to put up with her going crazy every day.”

“Lily’s the real victim. She’s barely in her twenties, and that crazy woman targets her just because she’s pretty.”

The new nurses whispered outside my room before coming in to change my dressing.

I closed my eyes. I didn’t have the strength to defend myself.

They put down my medication and fled as if I were a monster.

After taking the pills, I broke out in a rash and struggled to breathe.

Evan grabbed the medication box and threw it at one nurse’s head.

“Who told you to give her this?”

“Don’t you know my wife is allergic?”

The two young nurses answered in trembling voices.

“We were just delivering it for Lily. She has a fever today.”

Evan’s heaving chest settled.

He crouched beside my bed, almost coaxing me.

“Let it go. Everyone makes mistakes. Don’t blame her.”

“She just graduated. She doesn’t know better. I’ll teach her.”

Enduring the burning itch all over my body, I spoke one word at a time.

“No need. I’ve already fired her.”