Chapter 3

The property manager treated Neville with respect because Neville wanted to catch me right after I came back.

To do that, he secretly installed a surveillance camera right outside my door.

To get the property management's approval, he bought every other apartment on this floor except mine.

But Neville never lived in those places. They were completely empty. He always preferred staying in the apartment we had after we got married.

He kept torturing himself, staring again and again at all the reminders of me left behind in our wedding home.

During the first month after I left, he kept lying to himself, "I don't love Polly. It's better that she's gone. I can raise the kid on my own. If we stayed together, we'd keep hurting each other."

But soon, he couldn't sleep at night. Every night, he'd be hugging the blanket I used to sleep with, mumbling to himself, "Polly, please come back, okay?

"Honey, as long as you come back, we'll get back together right away. I don't care about all the resentment anymore.

"I don't want anything else. I want the three of us to be together."

All these years, Neville searched every corner of the capital for me, turning the city upside down again and again.

He sent people out far and wide, but no one ever managed to track me down.

Whenever my name came up at a friend's gathering, he'd drink himself into a stupor that night.

That was why his mother, Vania Knowles, secretly took Eloise and abandoned her in a trash bin, hoping that would make Neville forget about me.

Vania believed that as long as Eloise, who carried my blood, disappeared, Neville would eventually forget about me.

Neville was obsessed with work. When he learned Eloise was missing, he put up a three-million-dollar reward and got the whole city involved in searching for Eloise.

Vania never saw that coming.

When Neville finally found Eloise, filthy and reeking, he hugged her tightly. For the first time ever, he spoke to Vania with real severity.

He said, "If you ever dare to hurt Eloise again, I'll sever all ties with you."

There was absolute determination in his eyes. He wasn't joking. He was dead serious.

From then on, Vania finally realized that Eloise and I were the bottom line for Neville.

Afraid she'd lose her wealthy lifestyle if Neville cut her off, she gave in and kept her distance from Eloise.

But ignoring what Neville wanted, she started matchmaking for him, picking out a bride and planning his wedding behind his back.

Without Neville knowing, she went around telling everyone he was about to get engaged to the heiress of the Cole family.

I was completely torn, not knowing what to do, so I went to see Rhea.

I was struggling with the decision. "Rhea, should I compromise for my daughter?"

Rhea let out a sigh and said, "I respect whatever you decide, but the Doyle family's debts keep piling up with interest.

"There's no way we can ever pay them off. Having you marry into the Cole family is the only way left for us to clear what we owe.

"But if you want to give that up for your daughter, I totally understand. She's your child, after all.

"But you already gave up your daughter once for your dad. Are you really going to keep sacrificing yourself for her again?

"You've always put everyone else first. I hope, for once, you'll think about what you want."

The marriage alliance between the scarred eldest son of the Cole family and me was all thanks to Rhea.

Back when I was learning medicine in the mountains with my mentor, the elderly head of the Cole family happened to visit the church to pray.

He suddenly fell ill, and I was the one who saved him.

The head of the Cole family valued my medical skills and thought I was a perfect match for his eldest son.

The Cole family were willing to offer 150 million dollars as a gift for Ferdinand Cole to marry me.

That 150 million would be enough to pay off all the debts left behind after the Doyle Group went bankrupt.

Once the debts were cleared, Rhea and I wouldn't have to live in constant fear anymore.

We were always worried that debt collectors might show up at our door and beat us up.

Rhea and I used to clash, but now we bonded over our shared struggles. She knew exactly how tough things had been for me all these years.

When I was living up in the mountains, she'd often ask visitors to the church to bring me warm clothes and food.

Gradually, we became friends who would sometimes catch up over the phone.

Now, she was telling me to finally put myself first. That massive debt was like a mountain pressing down on me and Rhea, threatening to crush us at any moment.

Marrying Ferdinand really was the only real choice I had left.

I thought it over and decided that before making any decisions, I should at least meet Ferdinand and hear what he had to say.

Our engagement was an arrangement made by our families. We'd never even met in person.

If he had a problem with the fact that I'd been married before and had a daughter, and didn't want to go through with the marriage, then I would have nothing to stress about.

I could walk away from all the debt, give up the marriage and even my freedom, and choose my daughter instead.

If he agreed to marry me, I wondered if he would help me fight for custody of my daughter.