But Hannibal held onto the divorce agreement and refused to write.

He rubbed his eyes, sighed wearily and looked up at me.

“Stop it, okay, honey?”

His gaze fell on the swollen slap marks on my face and a hint of heartache crossed his features.

“I know you’ve been feeling cooped up at home and your mind’s wandering. We won’t hold it against you for what’s happened lately, okay?”

I simply continued, “Sign it now.”

My intransigence caused a sullen look on his face.

He clicked his tongue impatiently. “Stop your angry words. If you really divorce me, where can you go? Besides, if your parents knew, they’d be fussing with you again. Are you sure you can handle it?”

He half-smiled, as if mocking my presumption. I felt a chill run down my spine.

My mother, who favored sons over daughters, had been using me as a betrothal gift to buy my younger brother since I was born.

The year I graduated from college, she locked me up with a strange man, simply because he could give her 41,000 dollars.

That was enough money for my younger brother’s down payment.

I ran away from home and she and my father chased and beat me until Hannibal called the police to rescue me.

Later, after I married Hannibal, he secretly gave my parents 69,000 dollars as a warning to treat me better.

He also placed my younger brother in the security department of his company and gave him a decent job.

My profit-driven parents finally started to treat me kindly.

If they knew I’d left Hannibal, they’d break my legs and send me back to kowtow and apologize.

Or… they’d sell me to another widower to buy my younger brother a new car.

I felt a shudder run down my spine.

Hannibal, thinking he had me figured out, smiled and softened his voice. “Come on, stop it. You’re a stay-at-home mom who hasn’t worked in years. If you really leave me, how are you going to live? I was wrong not to take you to Miranda’s birthday party, but wasn’t I just worried you’d feel uncomfortable there? Next month, when I’m free, I’ll take you and our son to Disneyland, okay? You’ve been wanting to go for a while, haven’t you?”

Miranda came up from behind him and tried to persuade me.

“Yes, Regina, don’t overthink it. My birthday party is going to be livestreamed and hundreds of thousands of fans will be watching. You’ve never seen anything like this. What if you get nervous and embarrass yourself? If people gossip about you online, Hannibal will be heartbroken. He didn’t let you go because he wanted to protect you. How could you misunderstand his good intentions? You should apologize to Hannibal.”

She pulled Hughie into a hug. “Look, you scared the child. Don't be afraid, Hughie. I will have your mother apologize to you.”

My parents-in-law carefully examined Miranda’s face and body, worried that I had hurt her.

“She’s really outraged. Son, you can’t forgive her so easily. At least she has to kneel down and apologize to us and to Miranda as well! And she has to be punished to clean up Miranda’s house.”

Five people stood across from me, waited for me to bow my head and apologized as usual.

“I don’t want it,” I said calmly.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. Why should I apologize? Why should I be punished by you? If you’re so disgusted, I’ll have your son sign it right away. That way, you can let him marry your beloved Miranda as your daughter-in-law, right?”

Miranda returned five years after Hannibal and I were married.

As soon as she landed, she burst into tears and threw herself into Hannibal’s arms.

But at that time, I simply felt sorry for her, having an unfortunate marriage with a scumbag and having lost her child due to poor health.

So I often took Hughie and Hannibal with me to accompany her, fearing she might become overwhelmed.

But gradually, Hannibal and Hughie would leave me for Miranda.

They even gave her the key to their house and let her live in.

I objected and questioned, but all I got were a few impatient comments.

“Miranda is in a bad mood right now and her family is abroad. We are her family. Shouldn’t we let her live in our house and take good care of her? Miranda and I are childhood sweethearts. If we were related, we would have been together long ago. How could it be your turn to marry me?”

Seeing this, my parents-in-law no longer concealed their bias.

Miranda was their beloved, a glamorous internet celebrity.

Unconsciously, they compared her to me and found fault and resenting my unremarkable family and my status as a housewife. But I had a stellar education and a great job back then.

It was because Gary and Nancy, one with a broken bone and the other with a cerebral thrombosis and Hannibal’s company was in a financial crisis, that I was forced to resign and return home to take care of them.

Now, it had become the reason they resented my lack of independence.

Even Hughie, under Nancy’s brainwashing, constantly said, “I wish Miranda were my mom.”

He even secretly called her “Miranda Mommy” when I was not around.

So much so that many residents in the neighborhood, Hughie’s class teacher, my in-laws’ friends and Hannibal’s subordinates all mistake Miranda for the daughter-in-law of this family… She made them proud.

But back home, they enjoyed the daily cleaning, laundry and cooking that I was busy doing.

And then they found fault with my sincere efforts.

But why?

My phone rang a few times and I went to open the door. Outside stood the workers helping me move my luggage and neighbors who had heard the commotion and come out to watch.

I pointed to the already packed boxes and told them to move them.

My eyes fell on my parents-in-law’s medical records.

I was silent for a moment, then handed them to Miranda.

“Uncle and aunt need to go to the hospital for a checkup next week. I’ve already made an appointment. Remember to take them. Hughie needs to apply for school before he can start elementary school. You…”

“You’re saying all this, just to make yourself look important and get people to like you?” Nancy muttered.

I took a deep breath, dropped the medical records and walked out. “Wait a minute!” Gary suddenly said, pointing at my suitcases, “Since you’re so adamant about getting a divorce, leave our Chandler Family’s belongings behind.”

“That’s right!” Nancy also stepped forward to shove the movers. “You have all these boxes! Who knows if there might be something valuable hidden inside! Divorce is fine, but you can’t take anything my son bought!”

I looked at Hannibal.

“Is that what you mean?”

He turned his head and said, “If you just apologize and stop threatening divorce, I’ll pretend what happened today never happened.”

I sneered and Nancy had already overturned my suitcases.

Countless old clothes, washed to a pale white, tumbled out.

Also, there were a few gold bracelets and a safety lock. “Damn it, Regina, you bitch! You stole my bracelet! I’ll beat you to death!”

My son also came over and picked up the safety lock. “This is mine! Mom, you’re so mean! You stole Hughie’s things!”

Hughie burst into tears. Miranda said, “Regina, I don’t care if you take Hannibal’s things, but you can’t take the child’s things too.”

I sneered, “I bought all these things. What does Hannibal have to do with them?”

I pushed Nancy’s hand away and threw the gold and silver jewelry into my bag.

“You little bitch! Everyone, come and see! My daughter-in-law has been lazy and staying at home all day, relying on my son for support. Now she is trying to divorce him, taking his hard-earned money and stealing his jewelry! This is outrageous!”

The onlookers pointed and scorned me. “This daughter-in-law is so disgusting! Isn’t she just trying to rip off an honest family’s money?”

I sneered and pulled out my phone to show it. “Look carefully, I bought this bracelet six months ago with my own money. I also bought this safety lock with my own credit card! Of course, I’ll take the things I bought with my own money if I get divorced. Why should I leave them to you?”

Nancy rolled her eyes. “What do you mean by your money? You’re an unemployed housewife. Where does that come from? Your money is all given to you by my son! I’ve seen my son’s phone. He spends tens of thousands a month on his personal payments! And you dare to say it’s your money?”

I looked at Hannibal coldly. “Hannibal, honestly, tell your mother, have you ever given me your money? Do you spend your personal payments on me?”

“Of course…” Hannibal stopped mid-sentence, his face grim.

Yeah, he should have remembered that he hadn’t spent money on me in a long time.

When we first got married, he felt sorry for me because my parents had skimped on my life, so he gave me his paycheck to buy whatever I wanted. Later, my parents-in-law and I, both openly and covertly, took away his salary card several times.

But at that time, Hannibal still opened a 417 dollars bank account for me and let me use it secretly.

But a few days after Miranda returned, I suddenly discovered that payments were no longer working. I took Hannibal’s phone and found that another account had spent all the money on his card.

That account had an unlimited limit and the owner was Miranda.

I had a huge argument with Hannibal and forced him to close Miranda’s account.

Hysterically, tears welling up in my eyes, I asked him, “I’m your wife and you only gave me a 417 dollars limit. Who is Miranda to you? You opened a bank account with the highest limit!”

That night, Hannibal closed my account with a sullen face and slammed the door, leaving my parents-in-law with a cold look on their faces.

“If you think the limit is too low, then don’t use my money.”

For those two months, he took his parents and Miranda on vacation in Akso. Millions of dollars worth of lobsters and luxurious five-star hotels appeared on their social media feeds.

I sold my pre-wedding ring and jewelry, barely keeping Hughie from starving.

It wasn’t until Hughie fell ill and was hospitalized that the exorbitant surgery costs finally made me bow my head.

I kept calling, begging, apologizing and vowing never to spend Hannibal’s money again.

But all I got was a cold, blunt response from him. “It’s no use lying about your son. This time, I have to teach you a lesson, so you don’t become obsessed with money.”

I cried until all my tears dried up, begging shop owners one by one in the early morning light for a temporary job.

I never imagined this would become the catalyst for me to bravely leave the Chandler Family.