On the day of my prenatal checkup, my husband abandoned me on the highway just to spend tens of millions bidding on his childhood sweetheart’s first night.

I cried and begged him not to leave.

But Ace Landry coldly pushed me away, saying, “There’s an emergency at the company. I’m sure you can handle the checkup on your own.”

The car door slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. Blood poured from between my legs.

I clutched my stomach and dialed his number, my voice trembling. “My stomach… it hurts so much…”

By the ninety-ninth call, he finally picked up, only to say with annoyance, “Still making things up? You’re fine. How could anything be wrong?”

Tears streamed down my face as I shook my head. “It’s not…”

But he hung up without hesitation. “Don’t be pathetic.”

When I opened my eyes again, I saw Faye Lennox’s Twitter post.

In the photo, a man’s back was covered in scratch marks. The kind lovers leave behind.

[Are all older men this amazing?]

Ace had commented underneath. [Still calling me an old man? Say it again, and we’ll go another round.]

His friends joined in. [Still, Bro Ace pulled it off, ten years of secret love, and he finally slept with the one he adored. That 30 million was worth every cent!]

I curled my lips in bitter resignation. So, she was the one Ace had loved all along.

——

A sharp pain twisted through my lower abdomen. Swallowing the grief in my chest, I typed a message to him. [Let’s get a divorce.]

He called immediately, his voice sharp and full of blame. “What’s wrong with you? Just because I didn’t go with you to the checkup, you want a divorce? Isn’t that a bit much?”

Back when he proposed, he had looked into my eyes and vowed, “Everly Dane, even if you grow old and ugly, I’ll still love you for the rest of my life.”

But now, his tone was filled with cruelty. “Look at yourself. That swollen belly. Have you ever looked in the mirror? Who would want you if you left me?”

“You’re over thirty and still so naive. Do you really think you’re still some young girl? I don’t have time for your childish games.”

I placed my hand on my now flat stomach.

While he lit a ceremonial lamp and spent the night wrapped in his first love’s arms, our child was already gone.

After hanging up the phone, I heard the nurses outside the ward chatting and laughing.

“Did you hear? The Lennox family went bankrupt. Faye auctioned off her first night to pay the debts. So many men rushed in to bid, but Young Master Ace stood up and shouted, ‘Light the lamp!’ Then he held her in his arms like a hero. So manly!”

“Oh my god, Young Master Ace is so romantic. I hope they really end up together!”

My heart clenched bitterly. If the man they were swooning over wasn’t my husband, maybe I could’ve wished them well, too.

Before Faye came back into his life, Ace had been gentle and thoughtful; there was always warm milk by my bedside, and his morning kisses never failed to wake me with a smile.

But after she returned, everything changed.

Every anniversary, she’d come up with some reason to drag Ace away.

Every date we planned, she would barge in with complaints about his lack of romance, ruining every single moment we tried to share.

At my birthday party, she deliberately tore my dress.

Knowing I was allergic to shrimp, she sent over seafood and left me hospitalized for days.

At first, Ace only said, “Faye’s just immature. Try to be patient.”

But the more I questioned him, the more irritated Ace became. “Faye and I are just good friends. You’re overthinking it.”

I stared at him, unwilling to back down. “Just good friends?”

His eyes turned cold. “Your mind is filthy.”

But what kind of “good friend” auctions off her first night… and ends up in his bed?

When I was finally discharged and returned home, the living room was in shambles.

Ace stepped out and froze at the sight of me.

“You’re back? Did the checkup go well?”

Before I could respond, he added casually, “Oh right, I forgot to mention. Faye’s family went bankrupt. Creditors are all over her. She’s just a young girl. I didn’t feel right letting her stay out there alone. So she’ll be living with us for now.”

From behind him, the girl peeked out with a sweet smile, sticking her tongue at me.

“Hi, Sister Everly.”

She wore his pajamas. Even the slippers on her feet were the couple's pair I had once carefully picked out for him.

I shot Ace a mocking look. He seemed startled, rushing to explain, “Faye forgot her own pajamas, so I just grabbed something for her. Randomly.”

Faye tilted her head, feigning innocence.

“Sister Everly, you don’t mind, right? Ace and I grew up together. Back then, we were so close we even wore the same pair of pants.”

Ace tried to scold her, but the indulgence in his tone was impossible to miss.

“Faye!”

Faye threw herself into his arms and playfully pinched his waist.

“Hmm, Sister Everly, look at him. He got married, and now he’s forgotten his childhood best friend.”

“Faye, stop messing around. Your sister-in-law is right here.”

Watching them flirt so openly, my chest tightened. A wave of nausea surged up from my stomach.

I rushed into the bathroom and vomited until the world spun around me.

But what caught my eye wasn’t just the dizziness. In the trash bin beside the sink, five or six used condom wrappers lay scattered. The sheer number spoke volumes about how wild last night must’ve been.

My hands curled into fists. My eyes stung hot and red.

Ace followed me in and lightly patted my back. “Morning sickness again? I’ll grab you some preserved plums...”

But when he turned around, his expression faltered. “We’re out of plums. I’ll get something else, okay?”

Out of plums? That couldn’t be. He knew how bad my nausea was. We always had them stocked. Always.

Faye pointed at the trash bin and said sweetly, “Sorry, Sister Everly, I suddenly craved something sour, so Brother Ace gave me all the preserved plums. You know I’m not like you delicate girls. I can gobble up a whole handful in one go.”

Then she threw a wounded glance at Ace. “Brother Ace, really? You knew Sister Everly was nauseous, and you still gave them all to me…”

She stepped closer and grabbed my hand, letting two delicate tears slip down her cheeks.

“If you’re upset, then blame me. It’s my fault. I was just being greedy.”

I yanked my hand away without a word.

Ace’s face darkened instantly. “What’s with that attitude? They’re just a few plums. You eat my food, wear my clothes, spend my money; what right do you have to throw a tantrum at Faye?”

My chest constricted, and a sharp pain shot through me again, the same place where they had scraped the child from my womb. I could barely breathe.

He had left me, left a pregnant woman stranded on the highway, without a single word. Yet now, just for pulling away from Faye’s hand, he looked at me like I was the villain.

Realizing he might have gone too far, Ace finally offered me a way out.

“Fine, you’re pregnant. I won’t hold it against you. Just apologize to Faye, and we’ll let this go.”

“Why should I?”

Why should I apologize for her eating the plums meant for me?

I asked with clenched teeth, the tightness in my chest spreading like a damp cotton ball, wet, heavy, and suffocating.

“Because you’re older. You should know better. Faye… she’s too soft-hearted. She can’t take even a hint of grievance.”

Ace knew I had claustrophobia. Yet he still locked me in the bathroom.

“If you don’t apologize, then stay here tonight. I’ll let you out once you’re ready to say sorry to Faye.”

Faye hesitated by the door. “But… locking Sister Everly in the bathroom doesn’t feel right?”

“Don’t worry about her. Petty old women like her need to learn their place.”

Suddenly, the bathroom light flickered, then snapped off. Darkness swallowed the tiny space.

I slammed my fists against the door, my voice cracking and my breath shallow.

“Ace… I was wrong… I know I was wrong… Please, let me out…”

But from the room next door came only the obscene echoes of their heated entanglement.

“Brother Ace, are you really this obsessed with my body? I can’t take it anymore…”

“I spent thirty million on you—you’d better make it worth my while, little minx…”

“Ah… Brother Ace…”

By the time morning light poured in through the window, Ace finally unlocked the bathroom door.

“Have you realized your mistake?”

I was curled up on the floor, eyes swollen, hands trembling like leaves in the wind.

He frowned. “It was just a little time alone in the bathroom. Why do you look like I tortured you?”

As a child, I had been kidnapped by thugs. They locked me in a dog cage for three days and nights, tormenting me to squeeze ransom from my parents.

Since then, I could never bear small, confined spaces alone.

When Ace first found out, he had held me tight and whispered, “Wife, I swear. I’ll never let you go through that again.”

But now, just to shield his little childhood sweetheart, he had locked me in the bathroom overnight.

“Since you’re awake, come have some breakfast. Even if you don’t feel like eating, don’t starve the baby growing inside you.”

I struggled to get up, only to find the dining table bare except for a plate of meatloaf, my most despised food.

I took a reluctant bite, cold and tough.

Faye, having just finished her warm scrambled eggs, beamed at me with a bright smile.

“Sister Everly, Brother Ace is amazing in the kitchen! I only mentioned I wanted a sandwich and some scrambled eggs, and he made them all himself.”

“I’m so jealous. You get to enjoy Brother Ace’s homemade breakfast every day; you’re really lucky!”

Ace’s face stiffened, and he muttered awkwardly, “I’m tied up with billion-dollar deals every day. When would I have time to play house?”

The words lodged painfully in my throat.

Throughout our marriage, Ace always claimed his hands were meant for signing billion-dollar deals, not for chopping vegetables or kitchen chores.

Even when I was burning with fever, he never once crossed into the kitchen, let alone made me scrambled eggs.

What I had never tasted or enjoyed came so effortlessly to Faye.

Perhaps feeling a twinge of guilt over last night, Ace suggested we go out for a candlelit dinner.

I thought maybe this was my chance to finally bring up the subject of divorce.

Once inside the car, my hand brushed against a pink lace nightgown.

Ace’s expression shifted instantly, but without missing a beat, he lied, “It’s a gift I got for you. Do you like it?”

I glanced at the suspicious, damp stains and smiled quietly.

Ace hurried to explain, “Faye saw it last time and said she’d never worn anything so feminine before, so I let her try it on. She spilled some water, don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad,” I cut him off, “Just tell me when we get there.”

He scrolled through several restaurant options, his brow furrowing as he stared at his phone in dissatisfaction.

It wasn’t until a message popped up from a contact saved as “Baby Faye” that Ace’s lips curved into a satisfied smile.

My eyes dimmed. We had known each other for ten years, yet he had never once given me a nickname, always using my full name. He said long-married couples didn’t need excessive affection.

But Faye was always the exception, forever his favorite.

Finally, we settled into a cozy restaurant.

Suddenly, Faye appeared, dragging along a stranger. “Wow! I told Brother Ace this afternoon to take you out on a date to make it up to you, and he followed through so fast! This place is totally my style, too!”

She shot me a sour smile. “Such a perfect, thoughtful man is rare, Sister Everly. I’m so jealous! Poor me, stuck going on blind dates to find someone…”