On my son Lucas Edwards's birthday, he had only one wish: for us, his family, to go to Disneyland. However, things became difficult because my husband, Alexander Edwards, never cared for me or our son.

The most infuriating part was that I had to beg him endlessly before he finally agreed.

The night before we were supposed to go to the happiest place on earth, Alexander was nowhere to be found. And right then, Lucas died with his wish unfulfilled.

I don't know how I managed it all, but I found myself handling the funeral alone, only to discover a photo of my husband on Cassandra Collins's Instagram post.

"I told him I wanted to see the snow, and he did everything for me to see it."

Even after seeing that, I maintained my composure, but at that moment, I made my decision. I packed my belongings without shedding a tear.

Who would have thought that after everything, Alexander would beg me not to go?

***

It wasn't surprising that Alexander would drop everything for Cassandra. I had never been his priority, never the exception. To him, I was just someone desperate for his attention, a notion he never let go of. How could I possibly compare to the woman he always loved?

That day, I returned from the cemetery to our villa, the place that was supposed to be our marital home. Yet, Alexander rarely set foot here. It was more of a shared residence with my son, Lucas.

The echoes of Lucas’s laughter, his tiny footprints, and the remnants of his toys were everywhere. Each memory of my son was a dagger to my heart, and I wept bitterly as I began clearing away the traces of our life together. Every remembrance of Lucas and me had to go, or I would drown in my grief.

As I dragged my suitcase downstairs, I ran into Alexander. He was carrying Cassandra into the house, his face etched with concern. He brushed past me, treating me like a stranger under the same roof. His eyes never even glanced my way. I had grown accustomed to this. With Cassandra around, I was invisible to him.

Upon seeing the suitcase at my feet, Alexander stopped in his tracks. His voice was devoid of emotion. "Natalie Collins, another one of your dramatic stunts?"

Meanwhile, Cassandra, clinging affectionately to Alexander's neck, looked up at me with a smirk. "Natalie, I twisted my ankle, and since Alexander said it's close by, he brought me here to take care of it. You don't mind, do you?"

It was just a twisted ankle. I watched as Alexander gently settled her on the sofa and then fetched an ice pack to soothe her foot. He treated her as if she were made of glass.

I remember a time when I had a car accident and broke my leg. I needed a family member's signature for surgery, so I reached out to Alexander. His response was cold and detached, "A broken leg isn't life or death. Why bother me?"

It felt like a cruel joke, especially when I recalled how he had dismissed me in my time of real need.

Yet, it seemed like my husband couldn't be bothered to tend after his wife. Why would he? When everything was just a deal for him. We were just in this marriage to appease our parents. We were just here to get our inheritance.

Alexander, surprisingly, didn't want me to leave. As the CEO of both Gourmet Ventures International, their family company, and Prestige Hotels & Resorts, my family's legacy, he had a reputation to uphold. He assumed leadership roles in our companies, claiming it was his duty as the man.

But why should I stay in this sham of a marriage? We had the grandest wedding imaginable, yet he refused to register the papers to make our marriage legal.

From that moment on, the presence and absence of love were glaringly apparent.

"Alexander, look," I finally said, summoning the strength to confront him. "You have the inheritance already. You're successful. What more do you want from me? I'm giving you your freedom back!"

Standing in the same room with him made me feel physically ill. He seemed to think my actions were just a ploy to gain his attention.

Alexander, without even looking up, scoffed, "What now? Changing your tactics? You can't threaten me with your son, so now you're using yourself as leverage?"

A year ago, our son Lucas was diagnosed with brain cancer. He'd received countless critical illness notices since then. I recalled how desperately Lucas had called out for a glimpse of his father, but Alexander never visited him. He thought I was using Lucas to gain sympathy and manipulate him. After almost a decade of shared life, this was how little he thought of me.

I wiped away my tears. "Think what you want. I'm leaving."

I began to leave with my luggage when Cassandra interjected, "Alexander, I heard you planned to take Lucas to Disneyland. You didn't cancel that for the mountain trip with me, did you? Natalie is upset..."

Alexander replied soothingly, "Don't worry, there are priorities. We can go to Disneyland anytime, but once the snow melts, we won't be able to see it like this."

Hearing this, I scoffed coldly. Ignoring them, I dragged my suitcase out.

Alexander seemed to sense something was off. He rushed forward and grabbed my hand, his voice laced with frustration. "It's the middle of the night, and you insist on leaving?"

He saw my swollen eyes and paused. "Is missing a trip to Disneyland really worth crying over like this?"

My eyes must have been crying themselves raw, for I saw a hint of pity in his gaze. "Let me clear my schedule next month, and I'll take Lucas then, okay?"

Next month? What next month did Lucas have? If only he cared a bit more about our son, he wouldn't say such foolish things.

I pulled my hand away. "No need!"

Alexander stared at his empty palm, momentarily stunned. He never expected the person who used to cling to him would now avoid him like the plague.

Snapping back to reality, he tried to catch up, but Cassandra grabbed his arm. "Alexander, it's all my fault. Even though I knew Lucas was faking his illness, I shouldn't have competed with a child for your attention. Now it's made Natalie angry at me."

Faking... faking illness? My mind went blank. By the time I snapped back to reality, I had already slapped Cassandra across the face!

Alexander's face, initially tinged with guilt, shifted instantly. He positioned Cassandra protectively behind him and eyed me warily. "Natalie, what are you doing? She's your sister!"

I glared at Cassandra. "You'd better watch your mouth."

However, Cassandra, looking hurt, pleaded, "Alexander, don't let me come between you two. If my sister won't admit that Lucas is faking his illness, I'll just drop it."

Upon hearing that, my brow furrowed as I turned to Alexander. "You think Lucas is faking it too?"

But, he just remained silent. Looking around, he noticed Lucas was nowhere to be seen. With a calm tone, Alexander asked, "Where did you take him this time?"

Of course! Of course, he clearly didn't believe me. If only he would come home, he'd see the table covered in medications and medical records. Yet, he never did.

I remember when Lucas knew he didn't have much time left. He wanted one last family trip to Disneyland. Just to make my son happy, I had begged Alexander, even going so far as to kneel before him. In the end, I clung to his pants, promising that this would be the last time I would ever bother him. I was willing to set him free.

At that moment, he looked down at me, slightly stunned. His eyes filled with both joy and complexity. "You mean that?"

"Yes," I murmured, closing my eyes as tears streamed down. God knew how much I loathed him since then. If only I could undo what I did in the past, our families would never have arranged a marriage between us.

Years ago, I found him in the streets near my ballet class. Little did I know, he was being chased by his kidnappers. Since then, the Edwards family owed us because I saved the life of their heir. My family, the Collins family, and the Edwards family became friends. We always had shared dinners and celebrations. We even merged our subsidiary companies. It came to the point where we always saw each other.

Yet it seemed like Alexander didn't clearly remember the day he was kidnapped because he was just a kid and probably traumatized. Until now, he believed that Cassandra was his savior. I was hurt because no matter how hard I tried to tell him that was not the case, he would never believe me.

"Stop it. Cassy saved me! You're so damn annoying," I can still remember his words to this day.

I loved him, even though we were teenagers back then. That was why I tried to gain even a little bit of his attention, but even before, his eyes were always set on Cassandra. From being his savior, he had grown to like my sister too. And that was probably why, when our parents set us up in a marriage, he was so angry.

"This is bullshit! They won't give us our inheritance? The company is supposed to be mine!" He was so angry that he pushed everything off his desk.

His eyes drifted to me. "And you, you didn't even bother to say no!"

"You know I didn't have a say in this either, right?" I tried to defend myself.

But since then, he hated me even more. I thought he would like me somehow because we were always together, but that was just wishful thinking.

Until one day, he told me his plan to fool our parents. "Fine. Let's attend that damn wedding ceremony. We'll fool them that we're married but we will never register our marriage. I'll just present them fake documents."

We would marry each other but never register it. It was as if I was just his wife before the eyes of our parents and the company, but I would never have his heart.

Why didn't I think further ahead in the past? Why didn't I tell my parents I would rather die than marry him? Why did I even love this man?

Now, even though he was my husband and we had a child, he only ever cared about Cassandra.

Damn it. Why wouldn't he spend one last moment with Lucas? It was one thing for him not to love me, but Lucas was his son too. How could he be so heartless towards his own child?