Chapter 2

When I got home and opened the door, I saw Jessica with the kids, all of them drawing together.

Frank came out of the laundry room, looking a bit awkward. He never did housework, but now he was holding a freshly washed pair of women's panties.

He looked at Jessica uncertainly. "I'm not sure if I washed them clean enough. This is my first time doing laundry."

Jessica flashed him a bright, sunny smile.

She said, "Thanks, Frank. You were so careful. I'm sure they're spotless."

Our son and daughter snuggled up to Jessica, one on each side, and started praising their dad together, "Dad's so awesome!"

Then they pulled Jessica along, insisting she take them downstairs to play.

As soon as they turned around, they saw me standing at the door.

Their faces instantly went cold, like they were blaming me for showing up out of nowhere.

Sure enough, my daughter rolled her eyes and turned away.

My son pouted and muttered, "Gold-digger. Why'd you come back? You're just ruining the holiday for everyone."

Jessica, meanwhile, flashed a sickly sweet smile and strutted over to greet me, acting like she ran the place.

She said, "Lily, you're back. You know, with you gone these past few days, Frank and the kids felt bored, so I came over to hang out with them."

If this had been before, my face would've dropped right away.

We had a home theater, a playroom, and even a mini amusement park in the house.

How could they possibly be bored?

But now, I just nodded and said sincerely, "Thanks for helping out. Really appreciate it."

Frank frowned, marched over, and stepped in front of Jessica, blocking me like he was her bodyguard.

He said, "What are you trying to say? You vanished for days without a word. If Jessica hadn't been here, the kids and I would've had a terrible holiday."

I gave Jessica a faint smile and said, "Since you're so good at looking after them, maybe you should be the one spending the holidays with them from now on."

And with that, I went to my room to start packing.

I pushed open the bedroom door and just stood there, stunned.

There was a set of women's pajamas lying on the bed, and they definitely weren't mine.

Frank trailed in after me, looking sheepish. "Jessica just borrowed the bathroom. I mean, you weren't home, so when the sheets got dirty, there was no one to change them."

As he kept talking, he got even more self-righteous.

He said, "So your parents got into a car accident. That's not a big deal. Did you really have to ditch your husband and kids just for that? It's nothing, but you act like it's the end of the world.

"Look at Jessica, she's always got a positive attitude, no matter what happens."

When he saw me stuffing clothes into my suitcase, Frank marched over and planted his foot right on top of it, his voice cold as ice.

He said, "Did you not hear me? So you wanna run away from home, huh? We still haven't settled the whole spying-on-Jessica thing.

"Apologize to her first, and then you can mess around with your pathetic junk."

Since I came back so soon, he probably just assumed my parents were fine.

Honestly, I thought the way he talked down to me would tear me apart.

But after my heart broke for good, nothing could hurt me anymore.

I looked at Jessica, who came in after me, and said coolly, "Sorry, Ms. Frost."

Jessica smirked, barely bothering to hide how pleased and provocative she felt.

She said, "No worries, Lily. I totally understand. Oh, and by the way, you still haven't had any turkey for Christmas, right?"

She went to the kitchen and came back with a plate of turkey.

As she walked over, some car keys fell to the floor from her pocket. That brand? Even the cheapest model went for a few million.

Millions of dollars. That would've been enough for me to charter a private jet to see my parents.

Jessica said, "Frank made my favorite flavor for me. Since you grew up in a poor village, I bet you've never tasted anything this fancy, huh? Go on, try one."

The turkey was practically disintegrated, left out since Christmas Eve, and now reeking of something foul.

It was the kind of thing we'd toss straight into the trash, but she handed it to me like she was doing me a favor.

It felt like she was telling me, "You're nothing but a gold-digger. Trash is all you're worth."

My chest ached so much that I could barely get the words out. "Thanks, but I don't eat turkey."

But the next second, someone hurled a handful of foul-smelling turkey right at me.

My son yelled angrily, "Jessica was nice enough to bring you turkey, and you won't even eat them?"

My daughter didn't say a word. She just silently chucked the turkey at my head.

Frank never let me hire a babysitter or a housekeeper, always claiming they'd end up abusing the kids.

So I quit my job, right when I was about to get promoted, and raised both kids from the time they were babies until they started kindergarten.

They were both born premature, so they were always sickly and super sensitive to everything.

The hydrolyzed formula was crazy expensive, but Frank just thought I was making it up, trying to pocket some extra cash.

It wasn't until the kids ended up in the hospital from an allergic reaction that he finally believed me. But even then, all he did was blame me for having weak genes, saying our kids were sick because of me.

Before the kids turned one, I was lucky if I got two or three hours of sleep a night. I was constantly holding one baby after another, never getting a break.

All that stress left me with migraines and arthritis, and I'd lost count of how many painkillers I'd popped just to get through the day.

Whenever one of them got sick, it was like a domino effect. Both kids would go down at once. I couldn't rest at all and just had to keep an eye on them 24/7.

But Frank would always say right in front of the kids that I only cared about enjoying myself and never really looked after them. He said that was why they kept getting sick and having allergies.

Over time, the kids started to believe it, too. In their eyes, I was just some worthless gold-digger who only cared about money and living a good life.

I used to think that when they got older, they'd know what was right and wrong.

But looking at them now, they were just like Frank. All selfish brats, every last one of them.