“One hundred million dollars. Leave my son and never show your face in front of him again.”

My husband Ryan Hayes’s mother looked down at me from above as she spoke.

If it had been in the past, I would have told her that I loved Ryan and could never leave him.

But now, I simply smiled faintly and nodded.

“Fine, as you wish. I’ll leave in a week and never come back.”

I took the check and returned to the Beverly Hills mansion, where a banquet was already in full swing, the house in complete disarray.

Today was our fifth wedding anniversary, yet Ryan had brought home his young secretary again—under the excuse that she was here to “learn from me how to seduce men.”

In truth, from the day we got married, I had lost count of how many women there had already been.

Everyone was waiting to see me humiliated, and once again, I did not disappoint them—I announced that I wanted a divorce from Ryan.

Ryan burst out laughing, his voice laced with disdain and mockery.

“Evelyn Lane, how many times have you said you want a divorce? I’m tired of hearing it. Even more tired than listening to you moan in bed!”

I ignored him and turned to pack my suitcase.

The butler tried to stop me, but Ryan sneered coldly.

“Let her make a scene. In less than three days, she’ll come crawling back, tail between her legs.”

The crowd erupted in laughter once again, their words all mocking me for being manipulative and shameless.

Right in front of me, they placed a bet—ten million dollars—that I wouldn’t even make it through the night before coming back to Ryan, begging like a dog to be let in.

But what they didn’t know was that this was the hundredth time I had spoken of divorce—and it would be the last.

Because this time, I truly meant it. Someone was already arranged to pick me up seven days later.

——

Dragging my packed suitcase, I hadn’t even stepped out of the Beverly Hills mansion when my wrist was suddenly seized, the grip so tight it felt like my bones might shatter.

I was forced to look up, meeting Ryan Hayes’s drunken eyes.

“Evelyn Lane, trying to leave?” He yanked me toward the living room. The pain from my elbow slamming against the carved doorframe was nothing compared to the icy cruelty in his voice. “That dress you’re wearing—I bought it last month. The necklace on your neck—that was a gift from my mother. Everything you’ve eaten and worn these years came from the Hayes family. If you want to leave, leave it all behind.”

The living room instantly erupted in laughter.

His old buddy Jason Miller whistled with an arm around his date. “Ryan’s right! Some people really don’t know their place. Living off the Hayes family and still daring to throw a tantrum?”

His secretary Sophia Reed, teetering on ten-centimeter heels, sauntered up, her finger deliberately brushing my skirt as she spoke in a saccharine tone. “Don’t be upset, Evelyn. Your brother’s still in the hospital waiting for a bone marrow transplant. Without Ryan, where would you get the money to save him? If you really walk away, your brother will…”

Her words pierced me like needles, striking right at my softest spot.

Clenching my fists, I still managed to wrench free of Ryan’s grip. “Ryan, have you forgotten what we had back then?”

He sneered. “Forgot what? That when I lost my memory, you took advantage of the situation and latched onto me? Or that you used my money to support your sickly brother?”

Three years ago, on a stormy night, I found Ryan under a bridge in Queens. He was covered in blood, too weak to even open his eyes, muttering again and again, “Don’t take me to the hospital.”

He’d been shot. I risked my life against mafia pursuit to save him.

I took him back to my cheap apartment in Queens, New York, cleaned his wounds with iodine I bought, cooked instant noodles and always gave him the only egg, spent three months’ worth of wages to buy his medicine and nutrition, even sold the only painting my father had left behind just to keep him alive.

He held my frozen hands and whispered, “Evelyn, when I get better, I’ll make sure you live in a big house.”

It was in that dark apartment that we became lovers. On my birthday, Ryan even twisted a soda can tab into a crooked ring and said, “This is our wedding ring. One day, I’ll replace it with a real one.”

I gave a bitter laugh now. People claimed everything I wore and ate came from the Hayes family, but the soda-tab ring still sat on my finger, never replaced by a real one, not even a proper wedding band.

Now, his gaze on me was as cold as if I were a stranger. “That was my foolishness. Evelyn, did you really think I’d spend my life with a woman from some rundown apartment under a bridge? If it weren’t for the fact that you once took care of me, you’d never have stepped foot into the Hayes family.”

Sophia jumped in quickly, her tone syrupy. “Ryan’s just too soft-hearted. Some people get a taste of wealth and never want to let go. They really think they deserve to be Mrs. Hayes?” She tugged at my neckline and smirked. “Look at this dress. Such a shame it’s wasted on you—it should be worn by someone worthy of it.”

“Exactly,” Jason leaned closer, his gaze lewd as it roved over me. “If you really want to leave, strip off everything Ryan gave you. Walk out naked—that’s the only way you won’t owe him a thing.”

The whole hall burst into louder laughter, the sound slapping against my face like burning palms.

I looked at Ryan. He didn’t stop them. Instead, he lit a cigarette and said lightly, “They’re right. If you’ve got dignity, strip. Don’t make me think you were only with me for the perks. The Hayes family doesn’t keep gold diggers.”

“Gold digger?” I laughed bitterly. “When you were dying under that bridge, who dragged you back to an apartment? Who stayed up all night nursing your fevers? You said even if your memory returned, you’d still love me, that no status or wealth could keep us apart. Was that all a lie?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he looked away, blowing out a smoke ring. “I was foolish then. Now I’m the heir of the Hayes family. We were never from the same world. I’ve already stopped paying your brother’s medical bills. Dare to leave me now?”

The words struck me like ice water.

I feared Aaron’s medicine being cut off, but more than that, I feared a life like this.

My love was treated like trash. My dignity trampled at will.

I said nothing more. I reached for the zipper of my dress. The cold metal against my skin, mixed with all their watching eyes, felt like needles piercing my flesh.

“Well, she’s really stripping?” Jason mocked. Sophia whispered into Ryan’s ear, “She’s bluffing. Just wait, she’ll beg in a moment.”

The zipper slid to my waist, and the silk dress fell around my legs, exposing the old scar there—the one I got when I crashed my bike rushing to buy him fever medicine back when he’d lost his memory.

Ryan’s gaze dropped to the scar, and the cigarette trembled slightly between his fingers.

I unbuttoned the top of my blouse. My collarbone, once kissed countless times by him, was revealed. His friends’ breathing grew heavier. I was down to my last piece of clothing when Ryan suddenly rushed forward, yanking a cashmere coat off the sofa and wrapping it tightly around me. His voice shook with anger. “Enough! Evelyn, stop it! You’re shaming me!”

“Shaming you?” I shoved him back, the coat slipping off one shoulder. “Back when you said you loved me, wasn’t that shameful too?”

His lips parted, but no words came.

Ryan had the mansion doors locked. Wrapped in his coat, I sat frozen in a corner.

In a haze, I remembered a winter years ago, when I had the flu. He’d stayed by my bed, making hot cocoa, even warming my feet in his arms. He said, “Evelyn, I know you’re afraid of the cold. Every winter, I’ll keep your feet warm.”

But just three months ago, after I miscarried and lay in the hospital weak and shivering from blood loss, Ryan dragged me out to a ski resort because Sophia wanted to ski. I stumbled again and again on the slopes, my body breaking down further, leaving me in constant pain every time the weather turned cold.

“Evelyn, what are you daydreaming about?” Sophia strolled over with a glass of red wine, “accidentally” spilling it over me. “Oops, sorry! But it doesn’t matter, Ryan bought that coat anyway. If it’s dirty, he’ll just buy you another one.”

Her words had barely left her lips when she suddenly shrieked, clutching her neck. “My diamond necklace! The one Ryan gave me! It was here just now—I only stepped into the restroom, and now it’s gone!”

The room fell silent.

Sophia’s eyes swept toward me, full of provocation. “Just now, only Evelyn was packing her suitcase. Did you sneak it in while no one was looking? After all, with your brother needing money for surgery, you must be desperate.”

“I didn’t take it!” I shot to my feet.

“Who would believe you?” Jason chimed in instantly. “You’ve been after Ryan’s money from the start. Now that you’re leaving, of course you’d want one last score! Search her suitcase!”

Ryan frowned, glancing at my luggage. “Evelyn, open it. If you didn’t take it, I’ll clear your name.”

My heart sank. Hidden in the lining of that suitcase was a signed divorce agreement. Back when he first brought me to the Hayes family, he had handed it to me himself, his fingertips warm as he said, “Evelyn, I know you love your freedom. If one day you ever feel wronged, take this and leave—I’ll never stop you. But I’ll spend my life treating you well, never giving you a reason to use it.”

But now, he had long forgotten.

Terrified they would find it, I clutched the suitcase desperately. “You can’t search it!”

“Guilty conscience?” Sophia lunged for the case. “Ryan, look at her reaction—she definitely took it!”

Before I could explain, Ryan snatched the suitcase from me and unzipped it.

His friends crowded around, sneering at my clothes and belongings.

“Look at these rags—flea market trash, and she brought them into the Hayes family?”

“And what’s this piece of junk—oh, a soda tab ring?”

The soda can tab ring Ryan had once given me as an engagement token was tossed into the trash by Sophia.

I stared at Ryan, searching for a flicker of recognition, but his face remained cold.

Just as they were about to reach the lining, Sophia suddenly pulled out a necklace and shrieked, “Here it is! My necklace! Evelyn, how could you steal from me?”

It wasn’t hers. It was my mother’s keepsake: a silver necklace with a tiny crescent moon pendant.

I lunged forward and snatched it back. “This isn’t yours! It’s my mother’s!”

“You’re lying!” Sophia turned to Ryan with tears in her eyes. “When Ryan gave it to me, the pendant had a diamond. She must’ve pried it out!”

Ryan gripped my wrist, forcing me to look up. His voice was like ice. “Evelyn, return the necklace to Sophia.”

“It’s my mother’s keepsake!” I fought against him. “Ryan, you were there when my mother handed it to me on her deathbed! You said you’d help me keep it safe!”

He wouldn’t meet my eyes. He yanked the chain hard. With a snap, it broke, the silver moon falling to the ground.

Sophia stomped on it instantly—the delicate silver warped, the engravings shattered.

“You’re insane!” I shoved her.

She cried out and deliberately stumbled backward, crashing into the champagne tower.

Glasses shattered, red wine and ice splashing over me. Shards cut into my arm, blood instantly mixing with the wine as it ran down.

Ryan didn’t spare me a glance. He rushed to Sophia, holding her trembling body. His voice shook. “Sophia, are you okay? Are you hurt?” He called for the butler. “Get a doctor, now!”

His friends all swarmed to console Sophia. No one asked if I was hurt. No one cared about the ruined keepsake on the floor.

I crouched down, picking up the bent silver moon, my fingertips smeared with blood and wine.

The music in the mansion still played, but the last shred of hope in my heart shattered completely.

I couldn’t stay here any longer. All I needed was to buy back my father’s painting at the upcoming auction—then I’d take my brother and leave.

When I opened my eyes again, the sting of antiseptic filled my nose.

Mr. Brown, the butler, sat by my bed holding a thermos. “Ma’am, you fainted yesterday. I brought you here. This is your favorite oatmeal—eat it while it’s hot.”

I took it from him, my fingers icy. Brown was the only one in the Hayes family who still showed me kindness.

I pulled out my phone and opened the visa app. The status read: “Under review. Expected approval in three days.”

I had planned to wait for the visa, then take my brother and leave this suffocating city.

Suddenly, the door burst open. Ryan stormed in, his eyes bloodshot as he clutched my throat. His voice was savage, almost feral. “Sophia’s missing! Was it you? Did you kidnap her out of jealousy?”

“I didn’t…” My throat tightened under his grip, choking me.

“Didn’t?” He slammed me against the wall, shoving his phone in my face.

On the screen was Sophia’s bracelet, found in the mansion garden. “Who else but you would hurt her? Your brother’s still in the hospital. If you don’t hand Sophia over, I’ll pull the plug on his ventilator right now!”

“Don’t touch Aaron!” I struggled, but he was far too strong. He dragged me outside, shoved me into his car, and drove straight to an abandoned warehouse near Chicago.

In the center of the warehouse yawned a bottomless snake pit, the cold air hissing with serpentine sounds, making me tremble all over.

Ryan tied a rope around my waist and suspended me above the pit. If he let go, I would fall straight in.

“Tell me where Sophia is!” He slashed a lock of my hair with a knife. “If you don’t, I’ll feed you to the snakes!”

I stared at the writhing mass below, my mind going blank. I hadn’t kidnapped Sophia, but he wouldn’t believe me. Aaron was still in the hospital. I couldn’t die.

In desperation, I remembered Sophia once saying she liked to take photos at an old factory on the outskirts of Chicago. Through gritted teeth, I blurted out an address: “She’s… at the abandoned factory outside Chicago!”

Ryan immediately sent men to check.

Half an hour later, they returned with news. They had found Sophia there—lying on the ground, her abdomen wrapped in bloody bandages, her face pale as death.

Ryan rushed to scoop her into his arms. Sophia opened her eyes, pointed at me, and sobbed, “Ryan… it was her… Evelyn sent them. They kidnapped me and… they cut out my kidney!”

“What?” Ryan’s head snapped toward me, his eyes murderous.

He stormed back, slashing the rope that held me. I crashed to the ground, my bones splintering in pain.

He ground his foot onto my hand, his voice colder than ice. “Evelyn, you dared touch her kidney? Then I’ll take your brother’s in return!”

Before I could explain, he ordered me locked in the warehouse and carried Sophia to the hospital. I pounded the door, screaming, but no one came.

It was deep into the night when Brown slipped in, his eyes red. “Ma’am, Ryan… Ryan had your brother’s kidney taken out to give to Sophia.”

“What?” My vision went black. I nearly collapsed, but Brown caught me and shoved a medical report into my hands. On it was Aaron’s name. Diagnosis: “Acute renal failure, postoperative hemorrhage.”

I ran to the hospital like a madwoman. But at the ward entrance, guards stopped me.

Through the glass, I saw Ryan standing inside. Sophia lay in bed, her face glowing with health. And my brother… my brother was covered in tubes, barely breathing.

Ryan stepped out, his voice icy. “Evelyn, this is what you owed Sophia. If you dare touch her again, I’ll double it on your brother.”