Chapter 2

For Chloe's sake, he gave me hell over and over.

When Chloe pushed him to divorce me, he even came up with the idea of a fake divorce.

To be honest, I had wanted out of this marriage a long time ago.

My dad was the one who refused to let me leave.

His terminal cancer weighed heavily on my heart.

I just wanted his final days on earth to be peaceful, so I compromised again and again.

Today, I was done compromising.

My dad had passed away three days ago, and Julian hadn't even bothered to show up.

"Let's go! What are you standing there for? Getting cold feet?" Chloe glared at me viciously.

Snapping back to reality, I watched Julian holding her intimately.

"Sign the papers first. Then we'll go to the courthouse."

Seeing my deadpan face, Julian’s expression darkened. He pulled me aside and hissed:

"Are you serious? You know I'm only doing this to keep Chloe calm!"

"Chloe, did you hear that? He still wants a fake divorce!"

I shoved Julian back with all my strength.

Screw that. I'm not playing along anymore.

Julian, I don't owe you a damn thing.

"You..."

Julian shook with fury. "Don't you regret this."

Without even glancing at the agreement, he signed his name on the line.

We went straight to the courthouse to file.

Stepping out of the courthouse, before Julian could utter a word, I put on a frosty smile:

"Now we just wait for the final decree. Don't go backing out halfway because you can't bear to let me go."

I said it purely to trigger Chloe.

Sure enough, the second the words left my lips, she burst into tears.

"Julian, do you still care about her that much?!"

"No, I don't! You're the only one I care about."

Desperate to console Chloe, Julian didn't even have time to argue with me.

I turned and walked away, feeling lighter than air.

Stepping back into the house where Julian and I had lived for years, a pang of heartache still hit me.

This place was supposed to be our baby.

Speaking of babies, I really had Chloe to thank.

If it hadn't been for her psychotic antics, our first child wouldn't have been ripped away when it was barely an embryo.

I still remembered our first year of marriage.

I loved kids. When I found out I was pregnant, I was over the moon.

Julian was thrilled, too.

During that period, he took care of everything for me. I felt like the luckiest woman alive.

Then suddenly, sharp abdominal cramps tore through me.

I called Julian frantically, begging him to rush home and take me to the ER.

Julian promised he was on his way, but he never came.

By the time I lost the baby, he was nowhere in sight.

I called my doctor, only to find out that my miscarriage symptoms were caused by abortion pills slipped into my food.

When Julian finally showed up, I slapped him across the face.

"Was it you?! Why?!"

Julian dropped to his knees, begging. "I'm sorry, babe, I had no choice! Chloe found out you were pregnant and slit her wrists! She was going to kill herself! I was desperate... We can have more kids later, okay? We'll have another one, I swear!"

That was the first time we truly broke.

I never imagined Julian could sink so low. He went to my dad and told him I wanted a divorce.

My dad’s condition was already fragile. The shock sent him straight into the ICU.

Julian knelt before me and swore: "I swear, this is the last time."

Later, when my dad stabilized and was moved to a regular room, I hid the truth about the baby to protect his health.

I just reassured him: "Dad, Julian and I are fine. Don't worry."

From that day on, I completely stopped caring about whatever went on between Julian and Chloe.