Chapter 1

The day the doctor told me I was going to die because I couldn't afford any more treatments was the exact same day Ethan returned to the city.

He was now a massively successful billionaire, and he had finally brought his fiancée back to meet his parents.

When he saw me at the hospital, leaning on a crutch and gasping for air after every few steps, a cold sneer played on his lips.

"When you dumped me for five hundred thousand dollars back then, did you ever think karma would catch up to you like this?"

I looked at the mockery in his eyes and forced a faint smile.

"If I apologize and repent right now, would you give me another five hundred thousand?"

His face instantly darkened, and the look in his eyes became unreadably stormy.

Before he walked away, he left me with a cold sentence: "I'm getting married next month."

I nodded. "Congratulations. But I won't be attending."

After all, I probably wouldn't even survive until next month.

Not even ten minutes after Ethan left, my bank account received an anonymous wire transfer of five hundred thousand dollars.

The sender was anonymous, but I knew exactly who it was.

I stared at the long string of numbers for a very long time, my heart a tangled mess of conflicting emotions.

In the end, I used the money to pay my hospital bills, temporarily keeping my broken, decaying body alive.

Once the paperwork was done, I dragged my exhausted body back to my apartment.

Calling it a "home" was a stretch. It was just a tiny, rented studio. It was small, damp, and had a single north-facing window that never saw a speck of sunlight.

Just like my life. Ever since I made that decision five years ago, my world had been completely devoid of light.

I had just managed to drag myself onto the squeaky, worn-out sofa when there was a knock at the door.

The knocks were soft, hesitant.

I sighed. I could already guess who it was.

Struggling to stand up, I grabbed my crutch and opened the door. Ethan’s mother, Helena, was standing outside.

She was holding a fruit basket, a strained smile plastered on her face.

"Chloe, I came to see how you were doing."

As she spoke, her eyes couldn't help but sweep over my shabby apartment and the crutch in my hand.

A flicker of complicated emotion crossed her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a cold, detached calmness.

I stepped aside to let her in.

"Mrs. Vance, what are you doing here?"

She walked in, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, unable to find a decent place to sit.

Finally, at my gesture, she sat down on the only wooden chair in the room.

She kept her back perfectly straight, as if trying to distance herself from the poverty of my surroundings.

"Chloe, I know I shouldn't be bothering you."

She took a deep breath, her hands nervously clasping together. "But I really had no other choice today..."

I looked at her quietly, waiting for the lines I already knew were coming.

Five years ago, she did the exact same thing.

Right after I got my cancer diagnosis, when my entire world was collapsing, she burst into my hospital room.

Back then, the Vance family was on the brink of bankruptcy due to a massive investment failure.

The only thing that could save them was an injection of capital from the Lockharts, another corporate giant.

The only condition was for Ethan to marry their only daughter, Vivian Lockhart.

Ethan was fighting tooth and nail with his family for me. That was when Helena literally got down on her knees in front of me.

"Chloe, I beg you, let Ethan go! This is our family's last chance. He can't just think about himself!"

"I know you two love each other, but you're just an orphan. And besides, with your health right now..."

She stared at the medical report in my hand. She didn't finish her sentence, but her point was crystal clear.

"Please, just leave Ethan! How much do you need for your treatment? Five hundred thousand? A million? I’ll give it to you!"

"Just take the money, make up a reason to break up with him, make him hate you, and let him go abroad to save our family, okay?"

At that time, freshly diagnosed with cancer, my mind was a complete blank. The overwhelming fear and my agonizing love for Ethan were tearing me apart.

But looking at his mother, sobbing and practically begging on her knees...

Knowing Ethan might lose everything and ruin his entire family because of me... my heart bled.

I didn't take a single dime of her money. But I signed that fake agreement, stating I was leaving him voluntarily in exchange for cash.

Then, I put on a show, pretending to be a gold-digger who had fallen in love with someone else.

I still remember the look in Ethan’s eyes—the shock, the fury, the sense of ultimate betrayal.

He smashed the ceramic mug we made together, pointed at the door, and screamed at me to get out.

Shortly after, he followed his family's wishes and left the country with Vivian.

We hadn't seen each other for five years.