Chapter 5

The next morning, Mary was packing her things to leave.

I supported myself against the wall, dragging my weak body to the servants' quarters. Before I reached the door, I heard Chloe's voice from inside.

"Search everything thoroughly. Don't let her steal anything that doesn't belong to her."

With a wave of her hand, two bodyguards immediately stepped forward and began tearing through Mary’s coat pockets.

Chloe stood by, her smile widening.

"Didn't you call me a home-wrecker last night?"

"Look at you now. You're so old, yet you have no dignity left."

Overwhelmed by anger and humiliation, Mary suddenly clutched her chest, gasping violently for air.

Seeing this, I instantly realized she was having a severe asthma attack. I forced myself to crawl forward, reaching for the inhaler that had fallen onto the floor.

But just as my fingers brushed the plastic canister, Chloe snatched it away.

"That's her medicine! Give it back to me!"

Chloe looked down at the small inhaler in her palm, then turned and walked out toward the garden.

I stumbled and crawled as I chased after her.

In the backyard garden, several of Ethan's hunting mastiffs were kept inside a fenced enclosure. Hearing the commotion, the large dogs immediately grew restless and began to growl.

Chloe raised her hand and casually tossed the inhaler over the fence.

The canister rolled into the dirt, and the dogs immediately surrounded it.

Chloe turned back, her smile innocent yet sadistic.

"Stella, don't you care about her the most?"

"Then go in there and get her medicine."

Without a single second of hesitation, I climbed over the fence and dropped into the enclosure.

Smelling the blood from my burned arm, the mastiffs immediately lunged at me.

I was dragged to the ground. My back slammed hard against the stone steps, and the pain made me almost lose consciousness.

Just when I thought I was going to be mauled to death, a furious roar echoed from behind.

"Back off!"

The dogs were quickly driven away.

Ethan rushed into the enclosure, scooped my blood-soaked body into his arms, and carried me out.

When I woke up again, I was lying in a hospital bed.

As soon as I opened my eyes, the nurse standing by my bed whispered gently, "Miss Rivers, please accept my condolences."

"The elderly lady, Mary... she was already gone by the time she arrived at the ER."

I stared at her blankly.

It took a long time for those words to register. When they did, I coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood.

The last person in this world who truly loved me was gone.

Sometime later, the door to my hospital room was pushed open again.

Marcus Sterling, Ethan's father, was wheeled in by his assistant.

He slid a document onto my overbed table, his voice completely indifferent.

"The divorce is finalized."

I mechanically reached out to take the papers.

On the very day I had woken up in this future, I had secretly sent the old pre-nuptial agreement to Marcus.

Marcus had never liked me anyway. He thought I was too stubborn and lacked the tolerance expected of a Sterling wife—meaning I couldn't accept my husband having other women.

So when he saw the agreement Ethan had signed ten years ago, he gladly helped me process the divorce behind Ethan's back.

"Ethan has his men stationed all over the hospital. You can't walk out of the front door."

"I've arranged a helicopter on the rooftop. Leave North City immediately before he finds out."

Clinging to my battered body, I silently followed Marcus’s men up to the helipad.

The wind was howling, whipping my hospital gown against my skin.

I took one last look at the city that had imprisoned me for ten years. There wasn't a single shred of regret in my eyes.

As the helicopter lifted into the air, I closed my eyes.

From this day forward, Ethan Sterling and I were finished.