People in our circle told the same joke at every gathering.

"Jason's wife can't give him children, so she sends women to his bed every day. I wish the hag at my house had that kind of sense."

They had no idea that my mother-in-law, Kate, was the one who had found those women and used my name to send them in.

The first time, Jason Gibson threw the woman out and had a terrible fight with me.

Afterward, he spent over ten million dollars on jewelry to make it up to me at the auction house.

The second time it happened, he had barely touched her hand when he threw up. Then, he fought with me again.

Afterward, he bought an estate and told me I would be the only woman by his side.

-

That was until the tenth woman.

This time, he shut the bedroom door and did not come out all night.

We stopped fighting.

We stopped speaking.

Everyone thought I would do anything to secure my place in the Gibson family and hang on to them for the rest of my life.

But when I finally took out the divorce agreement, no one believed it.

Not even Jason himself.

After the innocently sweet girl, Sylvia Brown, followed Jason into the bedroom, I sat alone on the living room sofa and listened to the sensual sounds from behind the door all night.

At dawn, when the skies were just starting to light up, Jason came out of the room shirtless. The smell of intimacy slipped through the crack in the door, and it made my stomach churn.

He stopped in front of me and coldly asked, "Are you satisfied now?"

I raised my eyes and looked at him. "I think you're the one who's satisfied."

His temper flared. "You keep on finding women for me every day. I don't think you're trying to give me an heir. I think you're just sick of me after a decade of marriage. Fine. I'll give you what you want. I won't touch you again from now on! When Sylvia wakes up, drive her back to her campus."

I stood up and forced the tremor to stop in my voice before asking one last question. "Do you love her?"

"Yes, I love her! But don't worry. You'll always be my wife. Have someone clean out a guest room tomorrow. You'll move in there, and she'll stay with me in the master bedroom." Then, he went straight into the bathroom.

As the shower was turned on, tears rolled down my cheeks.

When we had nothing a decade ago, he had held my hand and stood with me before his mother, who had opposed our marriage. He had also spoken with the same conviction. "I love her! I'll only ever love her in this life!"

Now, the love that had once belonged only to me had finally been given to someone else.

After daybreak, I did not drive Sylvia back to campus. I went to a law firm instead.

As the lawyer and I went through our marital assets, I realized in sadness that even after our ten years of marriage, I still had nothing.

Everything Jason had given me was in his name. Even the company he had started after I sold my family heirlooms did not have a single share under my name. The only thing I had was the one hundred thousand in pocket money deposited on time every month, but even that account belonged to him.

By noon, I took the divorce papers to the company to see Jason. His brows furrowed together, and he threw the papers onto the desk. "Clara, why didn't I realize that you were this greedy? As long as you remain my wife, the villa and properties I gifted you are yours. But once we separate, you can forget about taking any of it!"

My heart sank. I never realized how big the difference was between being loved and not being loved. When Jason loved me, the whole world was mine to do as I wanted. When he stopped loving me, he would not even let me breathe freely.

I did not want to argue with Jason anymore, so I took out the second agreement and said, "This one says I'll leave with nothing and only take my personal belongings. Sign it."

Jason slammed his hand on the desk and stood up. "Do you want to get away from me that badly?"

Suddenly, his phone rang. He answered it, and his face turned pale.

The next second, he slapped me before I even knew what was going on, and blood seeped from the corner of my mouth.

"Didn't I tell you to drive Sylvia back to her campus?! Why did you have to go draft some damn divorce agreement? She got into a car accident! You're so useless! After all these years, what have you ever done besides staying home and living off me? Fine. You want a divorce, right? Let's do it, then!"

He signed the agreement that left me with nothing and threw it in my face. "Come with me to the hospital and apologize to Sylvia!"

Then, he dragged me out of the office like an animal.

-

The moment we entered the hospital room, Sylvia started crying. She showed Jason her slightly red wrist, her eyes full of pain. "Jason, it hurts so much."

He gently blew on her wrist. "It won't hurt after I blow on it."

Watching them, I thought of the time Jason and I had sold ice cream from a street stall.

Snow had filled the sky, and my hands had ached from the cold. He had warmed them with his breath just as gently. "It won't hurt after I blow on them."

My eyes reddened at the memory, and my heart started to ache, too.

But Jason simply glared at me as he yelled, "You still have the nerve to cry? This is all your fault! Apologize to Sylvia now!"

I stood my ground. "No."

He picked something up from the bedside table and hurled it at my head. The heavy metal object struck me, and blood ran down my forehead. He still yelled at me and said, "I must have spoiled you rotten all these years! You don't even have basic manners anymore! When you do something wrong, you apologize!"

Sylvia cried out as she grabbed his hand. "Jason, don't. Clara will get angry. We still have to live under the same roof. I'm not worried about myself, but I don't want anything to happen to the baby in me."

My heart dropped.

I thought they just met.

I did not expect them to already have a child.

Jason's eyes lit up. "That's wonderful, Sylvia. You've done a great service for my family!"

Then, he stood and kicked the back of my knee. I lost my balance and dropped to one knee. "Apologize!"

I forced myself back up, but he kicked me down again.

Then, his cold voice sounded beside my ear. "Have you forgotten that Lily is also in this hospital?"

Lily was my younger sister.

As he spoke, he took out his phone and made a call. "Stop all of Lily's medical payments and throw her out of the hospital..."

I panicked and grabbed his leg. "No! Jason, do you have any conscience left?!"

"I'll give you three seconds. If you don't apologize, Lily dies!" He kicked me in the chest in disgust, and I knocked my head on the floor.

"Three, two..."

I immediately turned to Sylvia and said, "All of this is my fault! Please forgive me!"

Tears and blood covered my face. When I raised my head, even Jason froze for a moment. Then, he crouched and wiped my face with a tissue. "Enough. Take good care of Sylvia from now on."

I then reminded him, "Jason, we'll be getting our divorce certificate in thirty days."

The warmth on Jason's face disappeared immediately as I reminded him about the divorce, and it was replaced by contempt. "You're a housewife in your thirties. You haven't worked in a decade. Do you really want to end up begging on the street? Everyone knows that even if every couple in the world got divorced, you'd never leave me. Besides, isn't this what you wanted? For me to have a child?

"Go see Lily. I want some time alone with Sylvia."

Later, I walked into Lily's hospital ward like a walking corpse. I started crying as I looked at her thin face.

Our parents had died young. Lily, who was three years younger than me, was the only family I had left. The first year after Jason founded his company, a wealthy heir assaulted her. I called the police without hesitation, but Jason stopped me.

He said the man had promised to invest a huge sum in his company, enough to change its fate. "Even if this goes to court, nothing will happen to him with his family's influence. Lily's reputation will be ruined, too."

In the end, I gave in.

But Lily broke completely. She jumped from the sixth floor and had been in a coma ever since.

Jason had arranged for her to stay in the best hospital, keeping her alive until now. That had always been the responsibility he was supposed to bear. I had never expected him and his mother to use Lily against me.

That was because his mother had threatened me with Lily, too.

"If you tell anyone I'm the one sending these women to Jason, I'll have someone pull Lily's oxygen tube! You can't even give Jason an heir! You forced me to do this!"

Their words were like knives, stabbing deeper and deeper into my heart.

I asked out loud, "Lily, will you leave with me?"

-

The doctor said Sylvia was about a month pregnant, but the pregnancy was unstable, so she needed to stay in the hospital for a few days.

Jason stayed with her day and night.

I finally had a chance to breathe.

I went home, took the few pieces of jewelry I had left, and sold them.

Over the years, Jason had told everyone in our circle how many expensive jewels he had bought for me, but his mother had taken almost all of them. She said I rarely socialized anyway, so there was no need for me to keep so many valuables at home.

As for the card Jason gave me for my monthly pocket money, his mother checked every penny I spent. That was why I could not touch that money now.

With the money from the jewelry sales, I contacted a nursing home in a small town near my hometown. After the divorce, I planned to take Lily there with me. Then, I rented a small apartment near the hospital.

There were still many days before we could get the divorce certificate. There was no way I could live under the same roof as Sylvia.

When I returned to the villa to pack, I took down our enormous wedding photo. Then, a document envelope fell from behind it.

Confused, I opened it. The papers inside had already yellowed with age.

It was a consent form for a liver transplant. My name was clearly signed on it, but the recipient was the son of a powerful official.

I collapsed to the floor, completely stunned.

Eight years ago, Jason had suddenly developed liver disease and needed a transplant. I happened to be a match, so I had the surgery without hesitation.

After I left the hospital, his company seemed to have turned itself around and grown rapidly. I had thought that maybe the gods had finally seen our hard work and decided to favor us for once.

I had never expected all of it to be bought with my liver.

The man I had loved for more than a decade had been plotting against me every step of the way.

Just as I was crumbling, my phone rang. It was a wealthy woman I had gotten to know for Jason's career's sake.