Chapter 1

While I was signing the kidney-donation agreement behind Walter Gilbert's back, the app that monitored his condition suddenly went off.

【Heart rate spiking to 180!】

A second later, his watch auto-dialed my phone.

I pressed answer, and a woman's voice came through the other end.

"I don't want to be the other woman. Will the two of you get a divorce?"

Walter didn't answer, but his breathing kept getting heavier.

Every drop of blood in me froze in an instant, and I hung up before I could bear to hear whatever filth came next.

That night, Walter set a divorce agreement in front of me, and I signed it calmly.

"Your health isn't good. Remember to keep up with your dialysis on schedule……"

He cut me off impatiently.

"I've already found a kidney donor. No need for you to worry about it."

I nodded faintly and started to pack.

There was none of the scene he'd expected. Walter froze for half a second, and something like guilt seemed to rise in him.

"The house is yours. Every bit of the settlement you're owed, you'll get."

But what he didn't know was that the burden he was so desperate to be rid of carried the only kidney that could save him.

1.

The match between me and Walter had only come back last month.

His kidney failure was getting worse, and for all his wealth, a suitable donor still hadn't turned up.

I quietly went in for the typing without a word, and all six markers matched. The doctor said it was extraordinary luck.

As if the kidney had grown in me just for him.

The plan had been to sign the donation agreement, go straight through the admission paperwork, and only tell him once it was all locked in.

Thinking back now, thank God I hadn't said anything.

"If there's anything else you want, feel free to bring it up. After all, once we've divorced, I don't want people thinking Walter Gilbert treated you badly."

I pressed my lips together and shook my head.

For a woman with nothing much to her name, the assets he was giving me were more than enough to keep me comfortable for the rest of my life.

I handed the agreement back to Walter. Something startled flickered in his eyes, but for a long moment he didn't take it.

He'd left me plenty of room to fall apart.

But there wasn't a ripple on my face.

"Let's go to the civil records office next Monday. You have dialysis on Friday, and running back and forth would be too hard on your body."

My yielding, my willingness to let him go, finally cracked open that cold front he'd worn unchanged for years.

"You're in that much of a hurry?"

I met Walter's eyes without a trace of warmth.

"Aren't you the one who wants out?"

Because the way I saw it, clearing a spot for Abigail Cannon should have been the most urgent thing in the world to him.

My question left him without a word to say for a long while.

He looked at me almost as if it stung.

"Don't worry, the settlement you've offered is already more than enough."

"I won't make a scene, and I won't badmouth you behind your back. We were married once. Let's part on good terms."

I forced out a smile of relief.

It put Walter much more at ease, and his expression gradually returned to normal.

Because in his eyes, all my careful scheming to get close to him had only ever been about profit.

"Good, as long as you understand that."

Walter tossed his suit jacket carelessly aside.

Maybe he'd spent too much of his energy on Abigail Cannon earlier, because he dropped onto the bed and was asleep the moment he lay down.

I tiptoed off to the guest room. Since we were no longer husband and wife, there were boundaries to keep now.

To my surprise, that night I slept sweetly and completely at ease.

In the five years I'd been married to Walter, I never once slept soundly. Somewhere underneath it all, I was always afraid something would go wrong with his body.

Even a single mutter in his sleep would jolt me upright, and I'd carefully press the back of my hand to his forehead to check.

In a single night, I'd wake without meaning to, over and over, and only settle once I was sure his face showed nothing wrong.

But now, none of that was mine to worry about anymore.

When I woke the next morning, it was to the sound of Walter leaving.

It was almost as if he'd lingered at the door on purpose, waiting for me to wake.

"There's no rush on the paperwork."

"I won't be coming back after this. Take care of yourself."