Chapter 1

My father was seriously ill and needed constant care, so I wanted to bring him home to look after him.

But my husband, who had severe germophobia, insisted that my father be sent to a hospital for alcohol sterilization, claiming my father carried germs.

After the sterilization was done, his housekeeper deliberately delayed the process and refused to approve it promptly.

In the end, my father never even moved into that house before he passed away.

When I was arranging my father's funeral, my husband was off enjoying a trip to Kinsloran with the housekeeper's family. He even thoughtfully made sure they had a place to stay.

My father had to go through all these procedures, but they didn't have to.

This time, I didn't confront him. I just chose to walk away.

*****

Wyatt Kingsley didn't show up at my father's funeral.

Fuming with anger, I went through every single funeral ritual, then rushed home, ready to confront Wyatt. But when I walked in, I saw him laughing and chatting with a bunch of strangers.

My arrival made the whole room go quiet for a second.

Wyatt frowned at me, his eyes full of disgust. "Wren, did you forget the rules again? You're filthy. Why did you come in without disinfecting yourself first? Don't you know I'm a neat freak?

"You broke the rules. You're not allowed to stay here for a week. Get out."

I didn't respond. My eyes landed on the group hanging around Wyatt.

They looked like they didn't care at all, snacking and making a mess right in the living room.

Wyatt didn't bat an eye at their behavior; he was too busy finding fault with me.

Daisy Amberley, the housekeeper, hurried over to smooth things out for me. "Mr. Kingsley, maybe Ms. Radcliffe just had a rough day and slipped up on the rules."

She sounded like she was sticking up for me, but really, she was just pointing out that I didn't care about Wyatt's precious rules.

Wyatt snatched up an apple and chucked it at me. "As if she has anything important going on. Rules are rules. My house, my rules. Wren, get out."

I'd seen that look Wyatt always gave me more times than I could count.

But with those people right there as a contrast, it stung way more than usual.

It turned out that his neat freak ways only kicked in when it was me.

I was just another face to him, never anything special.

Whether he loved me or not, it couldn't be clearer.

I finally saw the truth.

I didn't dare to love him anymore. "I'll grab my stuff and leave right away."

This place wasn't my home, so of course, I was not sticking around.

I packed up my stuff, grabbed my suitcase, and headed downstairs.

Wyatt pinched his nose in disgust, glaring at me. "Wren, next Monday, make sure you do the process with Daisy. If you don't pass, you can't come home.

"You know I'm a neat freak, and you still come here looking like this just to disgust me. If you don't seriously reflect this time, don't bother coming back ever again."

With that, he turned and walked away.

I watched his back as he left, quietly muttering to myself, "There's no future for us anymore."

I once suggested we move into the house I'd bought for us.

But Wyatt said he was a total clean freak; he could only live in the Kingsley family home, nowhere else.

So I ended up just going along with whatever he wanted.

Every time I went home to take care of my dad for a while, I had to go through a whole month-long routine just to get back inside the Kingsley place.

For that entire month, I had to stay at a spot Wyatt picked out and wipe myself down with alcohol every day.

Every step had to pass Daisy's inspection, and if she found anything off, I had to go back to square one.

Back then, I thought his extreme cleanliness was a deep-seated obsession, something that couldn't be fixed.

I didn't want him to struggle, so I chose to accommodate him.

But reality slapped me hard.

It turned out that his so-called cleanliness only applied to certain people.

My dad got really sick and needed someone to look after him around the clock.

I wanted to have him close so I could take care of him, but knowing how Wyatt was about his cleanliness, I never even considered bringing my dad to the Kingsley place.

Wyatt had a bunch of properties, so I just wanted to pick the one nearest to the hospital to set my dad up.

Even when I offered up the house I'd bought for our marriage as a trade, he still shot me down.

He couldn't stand the thought of anyone with germs moving into his place, so he made me go to the Kingsley family's private hospital for a full-body alcohol scrub.

I did everything by the book, just the way he demanded.

But Daisy always managed to find something off, no matter how hard I tried.

I went through the whole routine again and again, but my dad never set foot in that house, not even once, before he died.

When my dad passed away, I told Wyatt, hoping he'd come with me for my father's final farewell.

I called him a dozen times, but he never picked up, not once.

With my last family member gone and Wyatt's indifference staring me in the face, it felt like everything I'd done all these years was nothing but a cruel joke, one I'd been telling myself, and now the world was laughing at me for it.