On my 18th birthday, my biological father sold me into an illegal underground racing circuit to pay off his debt.

Ethan Carter agreed to their race challenge to keep me alive.

After the race, he stood there in a daze, his hands trembling.

But he still pulled me tightly into his arms.

“Sophia, don’t be afraid.”

“From now on, you’re free.”

From that day on, Ethan and I drifted from place to place.

We were always hungry, barely clothed against the cold.

Watching me grow thinner and weaker, Ethan gritted his teeth and joined a professional racing team.

Within six months, he became a star driver, basking in glory.

To ease my worries, Ethan publicly announced to the world that I was his wife.

But after we married, when I went to visit him at the track, I saw a strange girl wearing my racing suit, sitting in the passenger seat that belonged only to me.

I yanked the girl out, stripped her down, and threw her onto the street.

Ethan wrapped a blanket around her and said coldly:

“She’s not like you. She’s clean.”

I let out a bitter laugh, then set fire to the very race car he had bought when proposing to me.

“It disgusts me. The car, and you.”

I threw the divorce agreement at him.

“Sign it.”

Ethan’s face darkened, his cold eyes fixed on me.

“Sophia, stop making a scene.”

I ignored him and said stubbornly:

“I said sign it.”

“Otherwise, burning the car will be the least of what I do.”

Ethan was about to reply when the team manager called him over.

In the past, Ethan would never have left without first coaxing me.

But this time, he left in a hurry, leaving behind only:

“We’ll talk about it when we get home.”

The empty practice track was soon filled only with employees putting out the fire—

and Olivia Lane, staring back at me.

After Ethan left, the timid look on Olivia’s face turned mocking.

“You just now figured out my relationship with Ethan? You’re pretty slow.”

She opened her phone, shoving her social media feed in my face.

“Let me tell you the truth—Ethan hasn’t loved you for a long time!”

“All those days he didn’t come home? He was with me.”

Post after post, from spring to winter—

they had spent almost every day together for a year.

All the things Ethan had once promised me but never did,

Olivia had enjoyed them all.

Compared to Ethan and me, they looked more like a “married couple.”

A pair of shameless adulterers!

Furious, I slapped Olivia across the face.

“You really feel proud of being a homewrecker?”

Olivia was stunned, tears filling her eyes instantly.

She looked like a fragile white flower battered by a storm, about to break.

“Sophia!”

Ethan rushed over, protectively pulling Olivia behind him.

I stood silently, staring at Ethan, my eyes never leaving him.

Tears welled up but I clenched my fists so hard that my nails dug into my palm—

the pain reminding me not to cry.

Ethan saw my defiance and sighed.

He slowly stepped closer, but his tone was no longer gentle—there was distance in it:

“I promise you, I’ll keep my distance from Olivia.”

“She won’t show up in front of you again, okay?”

I bit my lip, forcing back my tears.

But Ethan didn’t even notice—he was too busy signaling to Olivia.

She took a step forward, trying to get closer to Ethan,

but his look forced her to back off, clutching her blanket as she left reluctantly.

Watching Olivia walk away, making sure I couldn’t hurt her,

Ethan finally turned to look at me.

He glanced at my swollen hand.

Instead of holding it as he usually would, he only frowned and said flatly:

“You really need to work on that bad temper of yours.”

I sneered at him.

“What, feeling sorry for the woman you love now?”

Ethan exhaled, as if resigning himself.

“Sophia, I’ve told you so many times—Olivia is just an employee.”

“A completely ordinary employee. You don’t have to make such a big deal out of it.”

He took a step forward and gently held my hand.

“Stop this. Let’s go home.”

After more than ten years together, I had grown used to Ethan always being there.

I had always thought that we were bound to each other,

that neither of us could live without the other.

But now, when I looked up into his deep eyes,

there was no tender smile anymore—

only faint displeasure hidden behind his furrowed brows.

I let out a short laugh.

Then I slapped him across the face.

“Enough. I’m disgusted by this act.”

Ethan kept his word—

Olivia was expelled from the racing team,

and his assistant was replaced by a man.

But I could still smell an unfamiliar perfume on Ethan’s clothes.

New cute trinkets and plush toys kept appearing in his car.

Even when Olivia wasn’t in sight,

I could still feel her presence everywhere.

I ripped the trinkets down and threw them in front of Ethan.

“This is how you ‘handled’ it?”

Ethan chuckled softly, crushing out his cigarette without even looking at me.

“She’s avoiding you. What more do you want?”

His detached tone made it sound as though all the hardships we had survived together

were nothing more than an irrelevant footnote in his story.

“What more do I want?”

I looked at him coldly.

The air between us was frozen in silence

until his phone kept pinging with message alerts.

He frowned at me after checking them.

“Do you really have to go this far?”

“She’s an orphan. She doesn’t have many options for work.”

“You’ve ruined her job. How is she supposed to live?”

I laughed coldly.

“Isn’t she living off you?”

“Three-thousand-dollar dresses, fifty-thousand-dollar jewelry, a seven-million-dollar mansion.”

“Ethan, how come I never noticed you were this generous with employees?”

He sighed again and started explaining patiently.

“Olivia is an orphan. When she came to me, she was starving, skin and bones.”

“Seeing her reminded me of you back then—so small and pitiful.”

“Anyone would have pity. I couldn’t just let her die.”

I found it laughable.

The man who once treated me as his most precious treasure

was now using me as an excuse to justify another woman.

“If you cheated, just admit it. Don’t pretend you’re some savior.”

“Sign the divorce papers. Stop wasting my time.”

I shoved the divorce agreement toward him.

Ethan only glanced at it, unmoved.

“Sophia, divorcing over something so small—it’s not worth it.”

Not worth it.

Cheating wasn’t worth divorcing over.

Even being openly provoked by the mistress wasn’t worth it.

I let out a cold laugh.

Then slapped Ethan hard across the face.

“Every cent you spent on her came out of our marital assets.”

“If you don’t sign the divorce agreement, I’ll go ask her for it myself.”

“Do you think she can pay me back after just losing her job?”

Ethan roared my name in fury.

“Sophia Carter, don’t you dare!”

His icy hand clamped down on my wrist, nearly breaking it.

I was forced to raise my chin, staring back into his furious dark eyes.

The corner of my mouth lifted in a mocking smile.

“Why wouldn’t I dare?”

“What’s mine doesn’t get taken by anyone.”

“Except for the things that are already dirty.”

Ethan was shaking with rage.

Before he could speak, his phone rang.

It was Olivia’s special ringtone.

He flung my hand away and answered in a hurry.

Olivia’s soft, whiny voice came through the receiver.

“Ethan, my landlord is here giving me trouble. I’m scared. Can you come help me?”

His face grew grim.

He grabbed his jacket and rushed out—

not once looking back at me.

After that day, Ethan completely disappeared from my life.

When I went to the racing team to look for him,

they all gave me the same answer:

“Sophia, we don’t know where Ethan went. We can’t reach him either.”

“If you hear from him, you have to tell us right away!”

As long as the divorce wasn’t settled,

I felt as though a boulder was pressing down on my chest.

As I was leaving, I overheard voices in the bathroom.

“Why keep it a secret from Sophia? She came here looking for him. Must be urgent.”

“You don’t get it. Olivia’s upset, so Ethan took her on a trip. He won’t be back anytime soon.”

“If you reveal where he is, Sophia will blow up—and then we’ll all be in trouble.”

I froze in my tracks.

Of course. I should have known.

In a world where information spreads so easily,

there was only one reason a man couldn’t be found—

he was hiding on purpose.

A man’s love belongs to whomever he spends his time and money on.

And clearly, Ethan’s love belonged to Olivia.

But I didn’t care anymore.

Because I no longer needed his love.

I put our marital home up for sale

and rented a secure apartment on the west side of Los Angeles.

While unpacking in my new place,

a prenatal checkup report fell out of my folder.

The date on it—

the same day I had caught Ethan and Olivia together.

I had been so excited to share the news with him.

But instead, I had walked in on him flirting with another woman.

He had even laid a hand on me.

To this day, he still didn’t know about the baby.

When Ethan finally called me again, it was a week later.

The first thing I heard was his angry voice:

“Sophia, are you insane?”

“You sold our house without even asking me! I don’t even have a place to live now—are you happy?!”

“We’re adults! Stop throwing tantrums like a child. It’s exhausting!”

I listened silently, without arguing back.

Hearing Ethan’s disgust and frustration with me firsthand—

it hurt.

How could it not?

The man I had once loved so deeply

had become a stranger almost overnight.

I no longer searched for the reason why.