Chapter 2
Edward and I had been married to seal a business alliance.
Seven years ago, he and his father came to our house to formally ask for my hand.
I'd been head over heels for him ever since childhood. The warmth in his eyes when he told me he loved me that day turned everything into something straight out of a dream.
For the first six months after our wedding, we were genuinely happy.
Then came his birthday, and everything fell apart.
I spent the whole day cooking, filling the table with his favorite dishes, waiting for him to get home.
When he finally stumbled through the door late that night, he reeked of booze.
He looked absolutely destroyed, carrying a heavy despair I'd never seen on him before.
He stumbled over to the table and, with one violent sweep of his arm, sent every single plate crashing to the floor.
I stood frozen, staring at him in shock.
Before I could react, his hand wrapped around my throat, his face contorted in fury.
His voice was thick with hatred and resentment. "I married you! Why did you still force Grace out of the country?
"Why couldn't you leave her alone? Why?"
The gentle man I thought I knew had turned into a complete lunatic.
I stared at him, completely lost. "Eddie, what are you talking about?"
His face twisted in pain, his eyes burning with enough rage to rip me to shreds.
"You teamed up with my family to kick me out of the Bennett Group," he spat. "You drove my mom to a heart attack and landed her in the hospital.
"And then you froze our accounts. You did all that to force me to dump Grace and marry you, didn't you?"
I had no idea what he was talking about, but the awful truth finally clicked.
"So, Grace is the one you actually love?" I mumbled.
Edward kept his hand clamped around my throat, silent as the grave.
All the love I'd held for him, once a blazing wildfire, had slowly turned to ice, sealing my heart cold.
I looked at him, my voice quivering. "So you never loved me. You didn't want this marriage at all?"
Under the harsh overhead lights, his gaze was stone-cold.
"Love you? No. I wish you were dead. I wish you all were dead!"
The words hit me like a physical blow.
It took me ages to process the brutal reality of my life.
I stared at him for a long time, forcing my voice to remain calm. "Edward, I'm not that kind of person. And my mother would never stoop that low, either."
Sure, I had been in love with him for years.
But I wasn't stupid, and I wasn't about to throw away my dignity for someone who didn't love me back.
My mom had taught me early on: I can't force something that isn't meant to be.
Edward shoved me away and slammed the door on his way out.
After that night, peace was a luxury we never had again.
*****
I woke to the sterile smell of a hospital room, bright sunlight flooding the space.
My mom was sitting right beside me, dark circles bruising the skin under her swollen, bloodshot eyes.
She had always been the tough one.
For as long as I could remember, her makeup had been immaculate. But right now, her mascara was smudged, her usual composure shattered.
The moment she saw me stir, she grabbed my hand, holding on tightly.
"Lauren, did Edward do something to you?" she asked.
My eyes stung with tears, but I forced a smile and shook my head. "No, Mom. Of course not."
Anger flashed in her eyes. "Don't lie to me.
"If I hadn't stopped by your house yesterday, you would have been lying there unconscious with nobody the wiser.
"There was shattered porcelain all over the floor. Did you two have a fight?"
Images of last night rushed back: the chaos, the shattered cups, and my medical report on the floor.
Panic flared in my chest.
All these years, my mom and I had only had each other.
If she found out about the brain cancer, it would destroy her.
But I soon forced myself to stay calm.
Judging by her reaction, she must have been too frantic rushing me to the ER to notice the paper on the floor.
The tight knot in my chest loosened a bit.
I managed a smile and said, "Mom, it was a terrible migraine, that's all.
"I got dizzy when I walked through the door and accidentally knocked the cups off the table."
I unlocked my phone, pulled up an old lab report from a past cold, and showed it to her.
She glanced at the screen, then stared at me, her silence stretching on.
Guilt gnawed at me, but I maintained my calm face.
As the seconds ticked by, dread crept in. I couldn't shake the feeling that she knew I was hiding something.
Then, thankfully, her phone rang.
After hanging up, she stood up, looking tense and worried.
"There's an emergency at the office, Lauren. Are you going to be okay?" she asked.
She had spent years running the business entirely on her own, carrying a massive weight on her shoulders.
"Go, Mom. Take care of it," I urged. "It's not a big deal, and the doctors and nurses are here if I need anything."
She hesitated, then nodded. "I'll come back later. Call me the second you need anything."
I watched her rush out the door.
A nagging sense of unease settled in my stomach.
With my brain cancer at a terminal stage, my remaining days were a ticking clock. Nobody could tell me exactly how much time I had left.
I needed to get my affairs in order, and fast.
I dialed my childhood friend, Charles Goodman, and asked him to help me draft a will.
He was a lawyer, making him the perfect person for the job.
*****
In under thirty minutes, Charles burst into the room, breathless and disheveled.
The moment his eyes landed on me in the hospital bed, he froze.
Disbelief laced his tone. "Lauren, what happened? You look terrible."
I knew I'd been shedding weight lately.
I had dropped more than ten pounds over the last two weeks alone.
Charles sat down beside my bed and let out a heavy sigh.
"Lauren, why do you keep doing this to yourself?" he said. "This endless standoff is only destroying you."
He knew how toxic things had gotten between Edward and me.
"Call it quits," he said, his eyes full of pity. "Let me handle the divorce. I'll take him to court for you."
This time, I didn't push back.
I simply nodded. "Okay. Let's do it."
Charles froze, completely thrown off by how easily I agreed.
He was right. Before, I was dragging things out purely out of spite.
Edward and I had been dead to each other for years, and neither of us wanted to stay in this marriage.
But pride kept us locked in a stalemate. Neither was willing to back down or be the first to call it quits.
It wasn't like we hadn't brought up divorce during our explosive fights.
But Edward always claimed I was the scheming villain who tore him away from his precious Grace.
Because of that, he insisted I walk away with absolutely nothing.
He demanded my family bear all the financial losses to dissolve the joint projects between the Bennetts and the Sinclairs.
I refused to agree to those ridiculous terms.
If anyone deserved to leave with nothing, it was him.
He needed to surrender every perk he gained by marrying me, including his fancy title as the CEO of the Bennett Group.
Then he and Grace could live out their passionate, broke-ass romance.
Naturally, neither of us would budge, so we always hit a wall.
For seven years, we did nothing but make each other miserable.
But now, I couldn't stand the thought of dying with the title of Edward's wife.
The very idea made my skin crawl.
I laid out my plan to Charles. "The Bennetts are powerful. Taking Edward to court isn't going to get me anywhere.
"But his father and grandfather are reasonable.
"I need you to help me get solid proof of his affair."
Charles nodded. "Getting proof of infidelity will give you leverage when we split the assets."
"I don't care about the money.
"My mom has plenty of assets she could never burn through.
"I want the Bennetts to see that Edward blew up this marriage.
"It's the only way to keep them from targeting my mom once I'm gone."
Charles frowned. "Maybe your mom doesn't need it, but you do.
"Lauren, you're young. You've got a long life ahead of you. Since when does anyone turn down money?"
A bitter smile touched my lips.
They were so cracked and dry that the metallic taste of blood seeped onto my tongue.
"Not me," I whispered. "I won't be around to spend it."
After seven years of fighting tooth and nail, I wanted nothing more than to sever ties cleanly and walk away for good.