Chapter 1

Fourteen years of marriage. I thought our days would drift by, peaceful and steady, but fate had a cruel twist in store.

Julian Thorne actually brought his first love, the one he had always pined for, into our home. And she was pregnant with his child.

He stood before me, his expression disturbingly calm, almost cold.

Yet his words were like a blade, stabbing directly into my heart: “Cassandra, I need a child. But don't overthink this. Nothing between us will change because of it. Everything will remain just as it was.”

Later, something happened that completely shattered me. Elara Jenkins, the woman who had loved me like her own daughter, was brutally pushed down the stairs by Veronica Reed.

She died on the spot.

My grief was overwhelming. I desperately yearned for Julian to give me justice, to punish the murderer severely.

But he only frowned, dismissing it with a casual wave: “Cassandra, she’s carrying my child. Just bear with it.” In that moment, my heart plummeted into an endless abyss.

And our little dog, Buddy, the one we adopted together. He was so adorable, so utterly dependent on us.

But he ended up cruelly served on our dinner table.

When I confronted Julian, he maintained that same indifferent demeanor, brushing me off with, “Cassandra, just hold on a little longer. Everything will be fine once the baby is born.”

However, even before the child arrived, something far more horrifying occurred. Julian actually tricked me into drinking a sterilization elixir.

He held me close, whispering in my ear, “Cassandra, I’ll love you forever. Believe me.” Those tender words, now sounded so fake, so utterly nauseating.

From that day on, I became a different person.

Each day, I acted docile and obedient. Whatever he asked, I never refused. He believed I had accepted my fate, that I would continue to endure everything with quiet submission.

Until one day, I silently blocked and deleted every single contact related to him.

I packed my bags and left that heartbreaking house without a backward glance, clean and gone, not a single shred of attachment remaining.

But I never imagined he wouldn't let me go. One rainy day, he appeared by my car, drenched to the bone, frantically banging on my window.

I slowly rolled it down. His eyes were bloodshot, his voice hoarse and desperate: “Cassandra, are you leaving me?”

I gazed at him quietly, my heart unmoving. Then I rolled up the window again and drove away, leaving him to cry alone in the rain.