Chapter 2

When I opened my eyes again, the cold, stern voice of the judge echoed in my ears.

"Mrs. Stella Sterling, regarding your divorce petition against Mr. Ethan Sterling..."

I snapped my head up.

On the digital screen directly ahead of me, a line of bold text stared back at me:

[Plaintiff: Stella Rivers. Defendant: Ethan Sterling. Case: Divorce Petition.]

[Date: July 8, 2026.]

I froze in my seat, my fingertips turning ice-cold.

Just a moment ago, Ethan was dressed in his groom's tuxedo, standing in front of a hall full of guests, reaching his hand out to me across the crowd.

But in the blink of an eye, he had become the man I was fighting in court just to get away from!

Across the aisle, Ethan sat in the defendant's seat. He wore a crisp black suit, his eyes utterly cold and indifferent.

Whispers from the gallery drifted into my ears.

"Stella married him in such a lavish wedding back then. Who knew she'd end up abandoned by her husband?"

"I heard she insisted on divorcing Ethan, which caused the Rivers family to go bankrupt. Her father jumped from a building, her mother died of illness, and she herself went crazy for a few years."

My face drained of color.

In the next second, a flood of foreign, sharp, and painful memories rushed into my mind like a tidal wave.

So, in the third year of our marriage, Ethan had cheated on me with a college student named Chloe Bennett.

He didn't even bother to hide it. He openly brought Chloe back to the Sterling mansion.

Broken-hearted, I fled back to my parents' house and filed for divorce for the first time.

But Ethan refused.

He said, "Stella, I courted you for three years before I finally made you my wife. You don't get to just walk away."

I refused to turn back, and my family refused to bow down to him.

So, Ethan personally set a trap that bankrupted my family overnight.

Faced with hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, my father was forced to jump from the top floor of his office building.

The shock triggered a fatal heart attack in my mother. She passed away the very night she was rushed to the ER.

And I completely lost my mind under the weight of the endless grief.

Over the years, I had tried to divorce him again and again.

Including this trial, it was already the thirty-second time.

The rush of memories was too violent.

My vision went completely black, and I collapsed onto the floor.

When I woke up again, I was lying in the master bedroom of the Sterling mansion.

The night outside was pitch black, and only a single floor lamp lit the room.

Ethan sat by the edge of the bed, his voice completely flat.

"Stella, are you done throwing tantrums? You’ve dragged this into court thirty-two times. Aren't you embarrassed enough?"

My throat felt tight. "You think I'm the one who should be embarrassed?"

Ethan frowned slightly, as if I was being completely unreasonable.

"You knew what the Sterling family was like before you married me."

"My father kept four women by his side, and they all managed to live in peace."

"I only have you and Chloe. Why can't you just be satisfied?"

A sharp pain squeezed my heart.

I stared at the familiar yet strange face of the man in front of me. I suddenly remembered ten years ago, when Ethan had knelt in my parents' living room, his eyes red as he promised my mother and father:

"In this lifetime, I will only ever love Stella."

Yet now, he could casually ask me why I couldn't just accept another woman.

I let out a soft, bitter laugh.

Ethan’s eyes darkened. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing."

I slowly looked up, my voice so quiet it carried no emotion.

"I just realized how stupid I used to be."

Ethan stared at me.

But I lowered my eyes first, seemingly resigned to my fate.

"I won't fight you anymore."

The room fell dead silent for a moment.

Ethan's expression softened slightly. "You finally understand?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"No more divorces?"

"No more."

"What about Chloe?"

"Let her move in. Give her the second floor. I don't mind."

Ethan stood up, looking down at me from his towering height.

"Stella, you should have realized this a long time ago."

"The Sterling family isn't a place you can just enter and leave whenever you want."

"Remember, in this family, wives don't get divorces. The only way you leave is in a coffin."

With that, he turned and walked out.

I slowly sat up and pulled a crumpled piece of paper from under my pillow.

It was the pre-nuptial agreement he had personally signed before our wedding ten years ago.

Back then, he had held my hand, his voice incredibly tender:

"Stella, if there ever comes a day when I fail you, you can leave me at any time."

In this timeline, I had personally torn that paper to shreds during our first year of marriage.

But this copy had traveled with my twenty-year-old self from the wedding day ten years ago.