Chapter 2

Sophia Bennett POV

The clock on the wall pointed to midnight.

My third wedding anniversary with Ethan Whitmore ended just like that, in a deathly silent wait.

The French dinner I had prepared with such care had long gone cold on the table, and the candles in the holders had burned out, leaving only a puddle of hardened wax.

At last, the front door made the soft beep of a fingerprint lock opening.

Ethan Whitmore walked in carrying the chill of early fall, and his well-tailored black suit still carried the faint scent of hospital disinfectant.

I didn’t ask where he had been and simply stood up quietly, carrying the cold dishes into the kitchen. “You’re back. I’ll heat up the food.”

“No need.” Ethan’s voice was low, with a trace of exhaustion.

He walked to the dining table, did not look at the dishes I had prepared so carefully, and instead took a thin document from his briefcase and pushed it in front of me.

Under the cold white light of the living room, I clearly saw the bold black words on the cover, Divorce Agreement.

I froze in place, and my mind went blank for a brief moment.

“What does this mean?” I heard my own voice trembling.

Ethan looked straight into my eyes, his gaze deep but without a trace of warmth. “Vanessa Bennett is back.”

Vanessa Bennett.

That name was like a poison-coated needle, stabbing hard into my heart.

Vanessa was my half sister and also Ethan Whitmore’s childhood sweetheart and first love.

Three years ago, Vanessa left without a word on the eve of her engagement to Ethan in order to chase her so-called freedom, then flew far away.

For the sake of their reputation, the Whitmore family forced the Bennett family to hand over another daughter as a replacement.

That was how I became Vanessa’s stand-in and married Ethan Whitmore.

For these three years, I hid every sharp edge of myself and did my best to be the perfect Mrs. Whitmore.

I thought more than a thousand days and nights of companionship would eventually warm this stone.

But now, Vanessa was back.

“She has severe depression, complicated by serious heart failure.” Ethan’s tone was cold and brooked no argument. “The doctors said she has at most half a year left.”

I stared hard at the divorce agreement, my nails almost digging into my palm. “So what? She’s sick, so you’re going to use my marriage as her treatment?”

“Sophia, calm down.” Ethan frowned, as if he was displeased by my questioning. “Vanessa’s mental state is extremely fragile right now. Her only obsession is that she never got to marry me back then. If we don’t satisfy her, she could kill herself at any time.”

“This is only a divorce agreement in name.” His tone softened, as if he was granting me some kind of mercy. “We’ll get divorced first, then I’ll hold a wedding with her and stay with her through these final six months. When she’s gone, we’ll remarry.”

“Remarry?” It was as if I had heard the world’s biggest joke, and my eyes instantly turned red. “Ethan Whitmore, what do you take me for? Some object you can summon and dismiss whenever you want?”

“Your Bennett family owed me from the start!” Ethan’s patience ran out, and his voice rose sharply. “If Vanessa hadn’t run away from the wedding, you never would have had the chance to become Mrs. Whitmore! You’ve enjoyed everything the Whitmore family’s resources and status brought you for these three years, and now that Vanessa is about to die, you can’t even endure this little bit of grievance?”

My whole body went cold, as if I had fallen into an ice cellar.

For these three years, I stayed by his side through the hardest power struggle at Whitmore Group, drank at business dinners until my stomach bled to help him, and went an entire month without a proper night’s sleep to care for him when he broke bones in a car accident.

In the end, in his eyes, I had only been “enjoying the Whitmore family’s resources.”

“What if I don’t sign?” I gritted my teeth and asked each word clearly.

Ethan looked down at me from above, and his gaze was so unfamiliar it was terrifying. “Sophia, don’t force me to use other methods. You’re a smart woman, so you should know the consequences of angering me. Sign it, and I’ll give you enough compensation for these six months. The position of Mrs. Whitmore will still be yours in the end.”

After saying that, he did not look at me again and turned toward the guest room, slamming the door shut.

I stood alone in the empty living room, looking at the divorce agreement on the table.

The edge of the paper was sharp, cutting my eyes until they stung.

So it turned out that not loving someone simply meant not loving them.

Even if I dug out my heart and held it in front of him, it still could not compare to a single tear Vanessa shed.