Vincent stared at me with a cold, threatening look.

"Charlene, who gave you the confidence to say something like that? You're spending my money! If you weren't with me, where would you go?"

I opened my mouth to speak.

In these ten years, I had barely spent a cent of his money.

He said he wanted me to stay home and wait for him, so I found a remote part-time job that let me do just that.

Most of our expenses over the years were covered with the money I earned.

I hadn't even gotten the chance to refute when there was a knock on the door.

I couldn't be bothered to respond to his aggressive tone as I took the cake from the delivery guy.

Vincent glanced over with a cold expression, then froze.

"Tenth anniversary?"

Today was our ten-year anniversary.

I had started planning things days ago—figuring out how we'd spend the day, putting together a menu, and ordering a cake.

I had really been looking forward to our first decade together.

Pressing his lips together, Vincent took the cake from my hands.

"Work's been a lot lately. When I'm free, we'll go out to buy a dress and some jewelry."

He set the cake aside and reached for my hand, trying to pull me to sit with him on the couch.

"Charlene, stop dwelling on all this petty stuff. Emily's just like a sister to me. Nothing's going on between us."

Like a sister?

I still remembered our one-year anniversary.

That day, he went out drinking with his friends. He had too much, and I went to pick him up.

One of them asked him, "Are you really fine with giving up like this?"

Vincent replied, "Emily said she only sees me as a brother. If that's the case, Charlene's the best option."

Back then, I naively believed I could win his heart.

But now, I realized the ending was decided long ago.

At least I was lucky enough to still have the courage to walk away.

"It's fine. Go deal with your work," I said.

Vincent paused, looking at me in surprise.

He was already used to me giving in and compromising, so he didn't think I'd make a fuss.

He thought this would all blow over, and we'd sit down to eat the cake together.

"Come on. Let's eat the cake."

This was actually the first time we'd ever sat together on our anniversary.

Before, I used to wish more than anything that he'd just come home and be with me.

But now, all I wanted to do was cut him off completely and chase after a life that was truly mine.

I came out of the kitchen, ready to cut the cake.

However, I was suddenly alone in the room.

The cake I had left on the table was gone.

Vincent had left so suddenly, but still remembered to take the cake with him.

He didn't even bother to change his shoes.

I sat down and took out my phone.

Sure enough, Emily had just updated her social media.

"My period suddenly came, and I was craving something sweet. My knight brought me cake in five minutes!"

In the photo was the very cake I had bought.

Vincent had even liked the post.

I left a comment. "Enjoy the cake."

A moment later, my phone lit up. It was a voice message from Vincent.

"Come downstairs for a bit. Emily's not feeling well. I'm taking her out to get some medicine. Make her a bowl of ginger soup, and remember to take the ginger pieces out. Hurry up."

I listened to Vincent's voice message, a little dazed.

In the past, whenever I cooked something with ginger in it, he would scold me endlessly for it, saying that someone like me would be fired even if I were a live-in maid.

It turned out that he wasn't the one who couldn't eat ginger.

I tossed my phone aside, not planning to respond. But after a moment, I decided to go down and take a look anyway.

Vincent was gently massaging Emily's lower abdomen.

The second he saw me, his face darkened.

"Took you long enough. I asked you to come down, not drag your feet. I really don't know what you're even good for."

Emily reached out, placing her hand over his lips gently.

"Vince, don't say that. It was my fault for asking you to come here."

"Alright, enough. Emily needs you. Why are you still standing there? Go make the soup! If you're going to keep being so petty, then we'll cancel the wedding!"

He threw those words at me and walked out with Emily in his arms.

I tugged at the corner of my mouth, letting out a cold laugh.

"Well, canceling the wedding with a scumbag is a win for me."

After they were gone, I looked around the apartment.

Clothes were scattered all over the living room.

On the couch, there was a set of clearly used lingerie, still damp with visible stains.

I forced myself to suppress the nausea rising in my chest.

So, this was what Vincent meant by being busy with work.

He had indeed been busy, just not at the company, but in Emily's bed.

The entire place was decorated with luxury in mind.

Even the couch was a high-end designer piece, and the purse casually thrown on the table was from an international brand.

I still remember a few days ago, when I reminded Vincent our tenth anniversary was coming up, he assumed I was trying to ask for a gift.

He pointed his finger at me in annoyance. "Tenth year anniversary? Why do you still want to celebrate stuff like this? You're not young anymore. Just cook something at home and be done with it. Stop daydreaming. We're about to get married, so we need to save money. No one acts like you, you know?"

I wasn't young anymore, but both of us had come from our youth together.

As for Emily, she wasn't just young and beautiful, but she was also the one he had always wanted but could never have. She was his true love.

Quietly, I recorded everything in this place on video and backed it up to cloud storage.

Then, I went home and started packing my things.

I dated Vincent for ten years. Looking back, I didn't think he ever really gave me anything.

He said this apartment was to give me a "home", but it never belonged to me.

In the end, I left quietly.

All the clothes and jewelry were things I bought myself with my own money. Yet, he accused me of being materialistic.

Suddenly, it hit me. This relationship really wasn't worth it.

He prepared lavish, expensive gifts for Emily.

But when I packed up to leave, everything I took with me was something I had bought for myself.

Once my suitcase was packed, I messaged my childhood best friend, who was living abroad.

She called me back instantly.

Holding back my tears, I uttered, "Madison, I regret everything. I shouldn't have trusted him. I want to start over. I want to leave this place."

Madison Stewart cursed me out for a bit, then moved on to cursing Vincent.

I finally had an outlet to pour out all the pain I had been bottling up.

Back then, Madison used to scold me for being blinded by love. She told me I would regret it one day, but I just wouldn't listen.

I remembered the look in her eyes when she left for abroad—she was so angry and disappointed in me.

"I've booked you a flight. Pack your stuff and get over here."

With that, Madison hung up.

I stared at my phone, and tears finally spilled.

These ten years were finally coming to an end.

Early the next morning, Vincent still hadn't come back.

He hadn't texted me once.

I casually shoved my phone into my bag, called a cab, and headed to my dad's place. I was planning to take back the things Madison had given me before.

Maybe my dad had already heard something because the moment I got out of the car, I saw him standing there.

When he saw me alone with a suitcase in hand, his brows furrowed, his face full of anger.

He was looking around, trying to see if Vincent had come with me.

But why would Vincent come with me when he didn't even like this place?

Vincent looked down on men like my dad, but really, he was no different himself.

"You still haven't apologized to Vincent?"

"I won't apologize, and I'm not marrying him."

The moment I said that, my dad kicked me.

With a loud crash, I hit the ground, my arm slamming hard against the curb.

Just like he used to beat my mom, he started kicking me over and over again, drawing a crowd of onlookers.

Then, he grabbed the suitcase next to him and slammed it down on me.

"You're a woman, so act like one! No matter what, you should know how to obey your man! Vincent even liking you is pure dumb luck. You're just like your dead mother, always walking around with that pathetic face of yours!

"You have no value. Anyway, you're getting married soon, so go back and apologize to Vincent. Make things right. If not, don't bother calling yourself my daughter anymore!"

A gust of wind blew by, and I mentally traveled back in time.

My dad finally stopped hitting me. But he still stood at the door, blocking me from going inside.

"I threw all your stuff away a long time ago! Go back. Don't come back here until you're married!"

What he threw out wasn't just a few things. It was everything good that had ever belonged to me.

My tears hit the ground one by one.

All I wanted was to take back the only things that were truly mine.

I crouched on the ground, burying my face in my blood-streaked hands.

A black luxury car pulled up in front of the house.

Vincent stepped out and walked over to me.

He reached out and yanked my arm hard, pulling me to my feet.

"It hurts, doesn't it? You should've realized this a long time ago. Besides being with me, you can go nowhere. Even your own dad doesn't want you. You have no choice but to come back with me. Take care of Emily like you should, and our wedding will still go on."

He shoved me into the car and slammed the door shut.

The car was filled with traces of Emily everywhere.

I looked back toward the house. The front door had long been shut.

I once believed Vincent was my destined one, the person who would help me forget the hurt from my family.

But I forgot that if someone pulled me out of the abyss, I would only find myself staring into another one.

He was never my salvation.

I should take back my love for him.

If I left him, I'd live a better, brand-new life.

While I sat in silence, Vincent's phone kept chiming nonstop.

"Vince, where did you go? Didn't you say you'd be back soon? They're asking me when we'll get married. Hurry back and explain to them! I don't know what to say."

Vincent cleared his throat awkwardly and quickly turned off his phone, as if to cover it up.

He looked as though he wanted to say something as he hesitated for a moment before finally opening his mouth.

"Charlene, there's a company annual party today. You should come."

In the past few years, Vincent would never invite me to events like this.

He barely even let me set foot in his company.

If he got busy, I had to go through his assistant just to reach him.

So, it was rare for him to ask me to attend the company's annual party with him.

"Alright," I slowly responded after a while as I ran my fingers through my hair.

My clothes were still stained and couldn't be cleaned, but I followed Vincent anyway to meet his colleagues.

Vincent walked in silence ahead of me the whole way.

We didn't exchange another word.

It was clear he didn't want anyone to know our relationship.

The moment Emily saw me, her face turned pale with anger.

I walked over and saw Vincent holding her gently in his arms, comforting her in a low voice, "I don't like her. I just want her to see how pathetic she is. After today, she'll understand her place. She'll only be worse off without me."

Even as I felt those blatant, judgmental stares falling on me, my heart stayed strangely calm.

Maybe I'd been neglected and mocked so many times that I just didn't care anymore.

I asked the hotel staff for a glass of hot water before sitting down and sipping on it.

Just then, a flight reminder came through. It was the ticket Madison bought me.

It said my boarding time was 1:00 pm tomorrow. The system reminded me to arrive at the airport early.

I hadn't even finished reading the message when Vincent's voice sounded behind me.

I hadn't even noticed when he walked over.

"That's a boarding reminder. Where are you going?"