Chapter 1

On our wedding anniversary, the project I had spent three years working on finally held its launch conference. But my name had been replaced by that of the fake heiress, Cora Sutton.

Furious, I shot to my feet. The woman deliberately bumped into my shoulder and gave me a mocking smile.

“Gyna, Callan gave me your credit as a birthday gift. There’s no place for you on stage, so why are you getting up?”

I forced down my anger and turned to my husband. “Callan, you know how much this project means to me. Why did you do this?”

Hearing that, Callan calmly walked over to me, took my hand, and said softly, “Gyna, it’s just one project. There will be more in the future.”

“You’re talented, and you have my support. You have everything. But Cora is different. So can you give her the credit?”

His cold words struck deep into my heart, leaving a dull ache in my chest.

In our five years of marriage, this wasn’t the first time he had asked me to give in to her.

I once thought I could keep giving in, playing the gracious and understanding wife.

That was until half a month ago, when I caught them kissing passionately at the most famous couples’ restaurant in Belmont.

Callan had even given a necklace worth 45 million dollars at auction to the fake heiress I hated with all my heart.

At that moment, the joy I had felt after rushing back overnight just to celebrate his birthday was crushed. My heart quietly died with it.

But now, I pulled my hand away from his and said calmly and firmly, “No.”

The disbelief in his eyes was obvious. His voice turned cold.

“Gyna, are you really going to make yourself look petty over a name on a project?”

I lowered my eyes and gave a soft laugh. Why should I give in?

The moment I discovered he was cheating on me, I had already decided to leave.

And after this launch conference, there were only ten days left until I walked away.

I was done giving in.

I was done with this marriage too.

——

The room fell silent as everyone waited for my answer. Callan stood there with a cold expression, expecting me to give in what I always had.

I looked straight into his cold eyes and spoke calmly, “Call off the launch and give me back the credit for my work. Otherwise, I’ll sue her for stealing my work.”

Callan stared at me in disbelief. Even Cora looked surprised.

“Gyna, you’ll have plenty of projects in the future. Is it really necessary to take things this far?” Callan said.

His words only made me want to laugh.

In the future?

Everyone else might not know how much I had sacrificed for this project, but he did.

For three years, I had worked countless late nights, pouring my heart and soul into it. I had even worked myself sick enough to suffer internal bleeding. No one knew better than him how much this project meant to me.

When the project was first getting off the ground, he was the one who stood up for me despite everyone’s objections.

While others doubted me, he held my hand tightly and promised, “Gyna, I’ll make your dream a reality in Bellmont and prove your worth to everyone.”

Looking back on that promise now, it seemed almost laughable. Once again, I saw the truth clearly. Callan never loved me.

“I’m not making a scene. I just want what belongs to me.” My voice remained calm.

The moment our eyes met, his brows drew together and his hand slowly curled into a fist.

I knew that was always the first sign that Callan was about to lose his temper. But I ignored him and calmly looked away.

Suddenly, Cora wrapped her arm around mine, her voice trembling with tears.

“Gyna, I know you’ve resented me all these years. But everything has already been prepared, and there are so many reporters watching. If you make Callan stop the launch now, aren’t you putting him in a difficult position? Or are you trying to embarrass the whole Hawthorne family?”

“Are you really going to be this petty over a name on a project? I’ll pay you for it. Just tell me your price and stop making things difficult for Callan.”

She sounded pitiful as a tear rolled down her cheek.

I frowned and looked at her tearful face. Her tears always came so easily whenever she wanted to hurt me. And yet, Callan always fell for them.

I held out my hand, my voice calm and emotionless. “15 billion dollars. Pay me now.”

Cora suddenly took a step back.

Callan frowned and snapped at me, “Gyna, enough with this nonsense.”

I said nothing, my heart as still as water.

I wasn’t making a scene. If they wanted it so badly, they could simply pay for it.

Seeing that I remained silent, Cora pushed even further.

“Callan, don’t blame Gyna. She grew up poor in the slums, so it’s only natural that she cares so much about money…”

Hearing that, my anger flared again. I yanked my arm away, making her stumble backward.

Callan immediately caught her in his arms and pushed me away.

“Enough! What the hell is wrong with you today? Is a name on a project really worth all this?”

I looked at his worried expression and gave myself a bitter smile.

He had once loved me this passionately too. That was why I knew better than anyone that he had cheated on me and fallen out of love.

But I had already decided to stop loving him. There was no reason for my heart to hurt anymore.

As the argument unfolded, several reporters at the scene raised their cameras to capture everything. I had no intention of wasting my time arguing with them, so I pulled out my phone and dialed the police.

Before I could make the call, Cora suddenly slammed into me again, knocking my phone from my hand and sending it crashing to the floor.

“Gyna, hate me if you want. You’ve hated me all these years anyway. But you didn’t have to humiliate me in front of all these people. I’ll leave.”

Cora, her eyes red with tears, shouted at me in a hurt voice before breaking free and rushing out of the conference hall.

Callan immediately raised his hand to stop the launch. He ordered his bodyguards to clear the reporters from the venue, then turned to me, furious.

“You went too far this time. It’s just a project credit, yet you pushed her to this point.”

“If it weren’t for you, she wouldn’t have lost everything all these years.”

With that, he turned and hurried after her.

His cruel words echoed in my mind. I clenched my fists, a dull bitterness spreading through my chest.

The eighteen years Cora and I spent living each other’s lives were the hardest years of mine.

I was so poor that I had to dig through garbage for scraps to eat. I worked three jobs a day just to pay for my adoptive mother’s medical treatment.

If the nurse who had delivered us hadn’t been consumed by guilt for years and finally confessed what she had done, I never would have found my way back to the Sutton family.

But all these years, no one in the Sutton family had ever loved me except my late grandfather.

Everyone loved Cora. I got neither the life I should have had as the Sutton family’s daughter nor their love.

I slowly unclenched my fists, my heart finally at peace.

Thankfully, I no longer cared about the Sutton family or Callan. Leaving was already within reach.

Once the crowd had cleared out, one of my coworkers cautiously approached me.

“Gyna, you’ve upset Mr. Hawthorne. What if the project can’t launch in Bellmont? You’ve spent years working on this. Maybe you should apologize to him while you still can.”

I smiled faintly and shook my head.

“It won’t happen.”

If I couldn’t launch it here, I’d launch it in Ashford.

After all, there was someone waiting for me there.