Chapter 1

Three years of marriage, and no matter what I did, I could never get Julian to touch me—even though he suffered from severe touch starvation.

All because his first love, Yvonne, supposedly died in a car crash after an argument over our arranged marriage. He pinned the entire blame on me, harboring a venomous hatred toward me ever since.

During a family dinner at the Sterling estate, the elders spiked both our drinks and locked us in a suite together.

Consuming with heat, I begged him to hold me. Instead, he coldly shoved me into a tub of ice-cold water, locked the door from the outside, and walked away.

The winter chill soaked down to my bones, freezing my heart along with it.

When the drug finally wore off, I wrapped myself in a blanket and confronted him. He merely glanced at me with utter indifference:

"Someone as callous about human life as you has no right to question me."

Yet the very next day at the gynecology clinic, Yvonne appeared before my eyes, back from the dead. She arched an eyebrow and sneered:

"Julian took the drug too. But he endured hours of agony just to come find me instead of laying a finger on you. You're quite the failure as Mrs. Sterling, aren't you?"

...

I froze, staring at her in sheer disbelief. "Yvonne? Aren't you..."

Yvonne crossed her arms, looking down at me like I was dirt. "Dead? Is that what you were going to say?"

"Sorry to disappoint you. I was lucky enough to be saved, and I've been living just fine. Julian and I have been together for quite some time now."

My hands clenched into tight fists, a suffocating bitterness rising in my throat.

I choked out the words: "When... when did Julian find out?"

A mocking smirk spread across Yvonne's lips, dripping with triumph.

"Julian found out two years ago."

"Surprised? Every single night you spent alone in that cold bed, Julian was with me."

"The man you could never tempt, no matter how hard you tried, has been clinging to me day and night. Tell me, Chloe, how does that feel?"

It felt like a boulder was crushing my chest. I let out a dry, self-deprecating laugh.

So I was the only fool kept in the dark.

I couldn't bear to imagine how Julian must have viewed me over the past two years, watching me desperately bend over backward to please him.

I couldn't bear to imagine how he must have laughed about it with Yvonne behind closed doors.

Fighting back the trembling in my body, I forced down the tears of humiliation.

Just then, a nurse stepped over. "Mrs. Sterling, the doctor is ready for you."

Like someone fleeing a disaster, I grabbed my bag and followed the nurse.

Before I took more than a few steps, Yvonne's voice drifted from behind:

"Chloe, enjoy your last days as Mrs. Sterling. After all, if I decide to take my spot back, how much longer do you think you can last?"

I turned back and saw the venomous, gloating smile on her face.

My heart tightened. Turning around, I quickened my pace.

After the examination, the doctor informed me that an old condition, compounded by being soaked in freezing water all night, had caused severe pelvic inflammation and hypothermic shock to my body.

Not only would it be extremely difficult for me to conceive, but it would also take years of recovery just to restore my health.

A bitter smile touched my lips.

Julian had never touched me anyway. What difference did my fertility make?

When I returned home, I put a pot of restorative soup on the stove.

Just as I took out a bowl, my phone buzzed with a text from Julian.

[Bring two orders of beef ravioli and corn cakes from Four Seasons Deli to my office.]

Julian often demanded that I deliver food to his office—sometimes dessert from the west side, sometimes pastries from the east.

There were plenty of delivery services, yet he always insisted I bring it myself.

And Four Seasons Deli was all the way on the north end of the city, completely opposite from the Sterling Group headquarters in the south.

My heart sank, but I wrapped myself in a thick winter coat and drove out anyway.

The deli was packed, and the evening rush hour traffic was brutal. By the time I arrived at his company, the food was already lukewarm.

I dropped the bag off at the assistant's desk to have her take it in, exactly as Julian had strictly ordered.

Back in my car, however, I realized I had left the box of corn cakes behind.

I had to run back up.

This time, the front desk was empty. Fearing the food would get too cold to eat, I pushed open his office door myself.