Chapter 1
My superstar husband always joked that ever since I got pregnant, I wasn't as sharp as I used to be.
He claimed I was stuck in a baby-brain fog for ages.
So, if I wanted to spend more than ten bucks, I would have to get his autograph for approval.
On a stormy night, my daughter Emily had a high fever and started having seizures.
I completely forgot about the rules of our secret marriage.
I barged into his wrap party.
I dropped to my knees, begging him for seven thousand dollars in cash to pay for Emily's medical bills.
But he shoved me hard into the mud.
"How many times do I have to say it? There's a process for spending money. If you can save her, do it. If not, just let her die!" he snapped.
I lifted my head from the muddy ground, completely humiliated.
And right then, on the giant screen downtown, I saw he'd just dropped 15 million on a trending announcement for himself and some rising starlet.
*****
Just as the 700 dollars for medical bills landed in my account, the doctor was taking the ventilator off Emily's face after a long night.
I stood frozen in the doorway, my mind completely blank.
I watched the nurse smooth out a white sheet over the bed.
She wrote down the time of death.
Lost in a daze, my phone buzzed in my hand.
Mechanically, I swiped to answer.
A sharp, middle-aged woman's voice cut through the line.
She began, her tone sharp. "Ms. Palmer, how many times do we have to go over the process? Do you not understand it?
"You need to notify finance the moment the money hits your account!
"I made the transfer over three minutes ago. Why haven't you confirmed receipt yet?
"And this expense form? The font is wrong, the formatting's all messed up, and the paper looks like it's been through a flood.
"How many times have you applied for medical expenses this month? Even if your kid is fragile, she wouldn't be in the hospital this often!
"Mr. Thornton specifically told us to let you know that, from now on, any medical expense requests will only be approved for one-tenth of the amount you ask for.
"If you don't stop making up stories, don't expect to see a single cent from him ever again!"
I watched as the gurney carrying Emily's body was wheeled further and further away.
It took me a long time to snap out of it.
My voice was calm as I spoke to the finance manager on the phone.
"Sorry for the trouble," I said.
"And could you ask Mr. Thornton to spare some time and come back so we can get divorced?" I added.
It'd been nine years since Stefan and I secretly got married.
Before all that, I was the ace agent who brought him into the industry.
Thanks to my maneuvering, he quickly rose to the top.
With my help, Stefan managed to outshine all the other rookies in less than two years.
When Stefan won his first Best Newcomer Award, he popped the question.
He asked me to marry him.
My brain was overwhelmed by emotions, and I couldn't think straight.
Without a second thought, I nodded and said yes.
From that moment on, I became the woman no one knew about, the secret wife hidden in the shadows behind Stefan, the superstar.
I always felt Stefan was the star I'd lifted to the heavens with my own hands.
So I thought it was only right to let the stage have him.
However, when did Stefan start to get tired of me?
I didn't even remember the details anymore.
All I remembered was clutching the test results I'd worked so hard for, wanting to give him a surprise at the set.
But instead, I stumbled upon him being all lovey-dovey with Kelly Maddox, the new starlet.
Before I could even ask what was going on, Stefan tore into me without warning.
He didn't give me a chance to explain. He just started yelling at me, not even letting me get a word in.
He called me a stalker.
He said my obsessive need to control him was suffocating.
Now that he was at the top, even the tiniest scandal could ruin him.
Hit by a tidal wave of Stefan's emotions, I clutched the pregnancy test results tightly in my hand.
"Stefan, I'm sorry," I said softly.
I said, "I was just so excited to find out I was pregnant. I wanted to share it with you right away..."
"Figures! The moment a woman gets pregnant, her brain turns into mush. Have a kid, and you'll be a total idiot," Stefan snapped.
"If you ever let someone mess with your head, everything I've worked for all these years could go up in smoke!" Stefan yelled.
So, Stefan jumped at the chance and took control of every bit of money I could touch.
He made sure I didn't have access to a single penny anymore.
He even set a rule that, from then on, if I wanted to spend more than ten bucks, I would have to get his autograph for approval.
I got the message.
Stefan did everything he could to keep me locked away in the villa where no one even knew we were married.
But all the time and emotion I'd poured into our marriage made me willingly trap myself in this invisible cage.
After exhausting myself with worry throughout the entire pregnancy, Emily was born unhealthy.
We were at the hospital almost every other day.
However, Stefan's reimbursements for Emily's medical bills were always late. Never once did he pay on time.
The day before, the whole city was hit by a torrential downpour.
Emily had another seizure from a high fever and slipped into a coma.
Because I couldn't pay off the outstanding bills, the hospital flat-out refused to start any emergency treatment.