Chapter 1

I wanted to go back to my parents' place for Christmas.

But all the train tickets were sold out, and the price of plane tickets had skyrocketed.

My husband, who was worth dozens of millions, glanced at the ticket prices and exploded, "$1,300 for a single ticket? You enjoy your life with the kid all the time, and you can't even earn that much in a year.

"All you ever do is burn through my money."

To stop me from secretly buying a ticket, he snatched my phone, wallet, and car keys, and then locked me up at home.

My parents were on their way to visit me by bus, but the snowy, icy roads caused a terrible crash.

I didn't learn what happened until after they had passed away. By the time I got the news, it was already too late.

When I rushed back for the funeral, I saw a photo posted by one of my husband's female employees. It was a picture of the cash he'd given her as a Christmas gift.

$30,000 in cash.

I liked the post.

*****

On my way back from the cemetery, I only then realized that Jessica Frost, the female employee, had deleted the post.

Right after that, my husband, Frank Dawson, whom I'd been unable to reach for days, suddenly sent me a voice message.

He said, "Lily, are you out of your mind? Why did you add Jessica on social media? Are you spying on her or something?

"She's just a young girl posting about her Christmas gift. Why do you have to get involved? She got so scared that she came to me to explain herself, thinking you were mad at her.

"You'd better apologize to her right now, or don't even think about coming back home."

My heart ached with bitterness.

Every time Frank got upset over the years, he'd threaten me like this.

I used to bend over backwards, doing whatever it took to please him, just to keep him happy.

I loved him, so I never wanted to upset him or fight and ruin what we had.

Besides, we even had a pair of adorable twins, a boy and a girl.

But when I thought about the kids, my hands paused while typing. My eyes lingered on the words "Let's get a divorce" in the chat box, and for a moment, I just couldn't bring myself to hit send.

Suddenly, Frank sent another voice message.

The background was full of noise and distant voices. It sounded like he'd hit record by accident.

I could faintly hear my son and daughter talking in the background.

They said, "Mom just likes to eat, and she's so lazy. Jessica is so much better. Dad, can you buy her another sports car? I want her to take me out for a spin."

"Don't even mention that pain. See, Dad's so disgusted that he can't even eat..."

The voice cut off abruptly. I just stood there, stunned, holding my phone, until the driver spoke up and snapped me back to reality.

When I finally put my phone down, I saw that the voice message had just been deleted.

As I stared at the screen, I couldn't help but laugh.

All that pity I'd felt for the kids a moment ago now seemed ridiculous.

After we got married, Frank made it clear that I wasn't allowed to spend Christmas anywhere but his place.

"You married into our family, so you should celebrate Christmas with your husband's side," he'd always insist.

So every single year, my parents had no choice but to travel all the way to Rivergate City just to visit me.

Just as Christmas's preparations were getting underway, my mom let me know that my dad had broken his leg and couldn't travel. She asked me to come home for the holiday.

But the holiday travel rush had already started. All the train tickets were gone, and plane tickets were insanely expensive.

Even after searching everywhere, the cheapest ticket I could find was still over $1,300.

But Frank just frowned, pushed my hand away as I tried to book the ticket, and snapped at me.

He said, "Over $1,300 for a single ticket? You enjoy your life with the kid all the time, and you can't even earn that much in a year. All you ever do is burn through my money.

"You're married now. You should be spending the holiday here. It's just one year you won't see them. What, you think your parents are going to drop dead or something?"

With that, he snatched my phone, wallet, and car keys.

And as he was heading out the door, he made sure to lock me inside the house.

It wasn't until two days before Christmas that he finally came back with the kids and handed my phone and wallet over to me.

That was when I saw there were over a hundred missed calls and countless messages on my phone.

Most of them were from my sister, Janet.

I opened the latest message, and even through the screen, I could feel her disappointment.

Janet: [Lily, if you don't come back soon, you might miss seeing Mom and Dad one last time.]

I took an overnight bus and finally made it to the funeral home.

The air was thick with the sound of sobs and wailing.

When Janet saw me, she rushed over and slapped me hard across the face, tears streaming down her cheeks as she shouted.

"Are you dead or something? You didn't answer any of my calls or texts! If you hadn't been ignoring us, would Mom and Dad have ended up like this?" she cried.

I stumbled forward, and only then did I see the cuts and bruises covering my parents' faces and bodies.

Even though the mortician had tried their best, their chests still looked misshapen, and their limbs were twisted at unnatural angles.

I remembered that first call. My mom had dialed me right after the crash.

Maybe she wanted help, or maybe she just wanted to hear my voice one last time.

But I never got the chance to say anything to her before she was gone.

I tried calling Frank on every phone and device he owned, but none of them answered.

I even dialed the kids' smartwatches, but they didn't pick up either.

After the burial, Janet grabbed my dad's cane and lashed out at me with it.

"If all you care about is your husband, then just go back to his place. Don't ever come back!" Janet yelled.

I took the hits without resisting, then bowed and paid my respects to my parents. Only after that did I buy a ticket and return to Rivergate City.

After I got off the bus, I went straight to see my college roommate, Joanne Summers.

"Since you work as a prosecutor, you probably know a bunch of lawyers, right? I want a divorce," I said.

She stared at me for a long moment, trying to figure out if I was serious.

"Are you really sure about this? You love Frank so much. Won't you regret it?" she asked.

I let out a bitter laugh.

Yeah, I used to love Frank so deeply that I was willing to give up my whole career just to be a stay-at-home mom for our kids.

But now I finally got it. Not every love was a two-way street.