The first thing that greeted me after I woke up was a tight slap to the cheek.

Mom then yelled at me in disappointment, "You idiot! How dare you ask for a divorce from the Stallones? Don't you know that our family business relies heavily on the partnership with them? It's your honor to be able to marry someone of status!

"I swear to god, if you ever dare to bring up divorce again, I'll break both your legs so that you'll never be able to leave!"

The pain in my cheek spread like fire. However, the tears that dropped from my eyes were as cold as ice. I glared at the woman who had given birth to me and felt the fury boiling in my chest.

"I will divorce him."

Mom was stunned. Then, she grabbed her purse and started hitting me even harder than before.

"You stubborn bitch! You're so useless that you can't even stop Corbin from going back to that bitch, Ingrid! It's already good enough that he was willing to marry you in the first place! How dare you still want to divorce him? How dare you? How could you!"

I felt my body growing numb. I just grabbed onto the sheets even harder.

I had always sought my parents' validation ever since I was little. If I did things the way they wanted me to, then I would get praised for a short while. However, if I did something wrong in their eyes, then they would berate me and beat me up.

Gradually, I realized that in their eyes, I was nothing but a tool for them to gain benefits for the family. I would never have married Corbin if I hadn't listened to them in the first place.

I didn't want Ricky or Micky to end up being like me. That was why I held myself back and made compromises in all the years of my marriage to Corbin.

But now, I was done with it. I didn't want to do that anymore.

I gritted my teeth and didn't make another sound. I told myself that I didn't care who tried to stop me—I was determined to divorce Corbin and leave this place behind for good.

Corbin brought the twins into my ward and stood at the foot of my bed, looking cold and distant. Then, his parents, Tyson Stallone and Patricia Waters, followed him in.

Mom immediately went up to them and started buttering them up, promising them that I would never bring up the topic of divorce ever again.

Tyson and Patricia just made a few perfunctory remarks, telling me to stop acting up and to always look at the bigger picture, before leaving.

Ricky and Micky then each grabbed a marker and started doodling all over my face and body.

Ricky said, "You made Ingy sad! She won't even come and play with us anymore! You're horrible! Do you really think you're that great? I only want Daddy to kiss Ingy! We'll be a happy family without you!"

Micky then said, "I'm going to draw ugly poop on your face to punish you! You ruined Daddy and Ingy's relationship! I hate you! You're a poopy Mommy!

"You don't even know how much Daddy loves Ingy now. His phone is full of Ingy's photos! And he'll always cook for her when she's hungry, massage her shoulders when she's tired, and cheer her up when she's sad!

"Mommy is the worst! Get out of the way! You made us unable to see Ingy anymore!"

I didn't even need a mirror to know how terrible I looked.

Meanwhile, Corbin seemed to have known all along that things would end up like this. He was unexceptionally calm when he finally spoke.

"This is fun, isn't it? You finally look as ridiculous as you behave. Oh, do you regret it now? If you really divorce me, your family will fall into ruin. So, stop acting like a clown and—"

"I'm divorcing you." I didn't have any energy in my limbs, and the back of my head was still throbbing in pain, but my voice was firm and steady. "I swear that I'll divorce you, Corbin Stallone."

Corbin just scoffed mockingly and pinched my swollen red cheek. "Are you fucking done yet? Consider this a warning. Don't act all stubborn just for the sake of your dignity. You want a divorce from me? Over my fucking dead body!"

I bit into his wrist, forcing him to release me. He hissed aloud in pain. "Skylar Greene! I'm going to bankrupt your family before the end of tomorrow!"

I didn't back down and fought back. "Do it! But I'll still go through with the divorce!"

Corbin couldn't care less. He just said, "I'm looking forward to it."

Then, he left with the twins.

Corbin never showed his face anymore.

However, I kept getting updates about them while I was recovering in the hospital. Corbin had basically let Ingrid stay at our home indefinitely under the guise of needing Ingrid to take care of the twins for him.

They brought the twins to many places. They watched the sunset at the beach, went on the merry-go-round at the amusement park, and even caught a weekend flight to a tropical country to feed bananas to elephants.

They kept documenting their happy moments as a family.

Corbin even purposely learned how to handwash Ingrid's expensive yet delicate clothes, went to flower arrangement classes to craft bouquets for her, wore the ugly tie Ingrid knotted for him to work, ate her burnt food and praised it like it came from a Michelin-starred restaurant, and basically told her how gifted she was at everything she did.

It was everything I had ever hoped for. I had wanted that life, but Ingrid got everything I wanted without even having to lift a finger. Well, maybe not without lifting a finger.

She had designed an eight-bit music box for him and placed four tiny figurines on the merry-go-round model inside it. Each figurine was modelled after them in real life.

As soon as the design hit the shelves, the music boxes were sold out in seconds because of all the hype it generated. Stallone Group was the biggest client, purchasing ten thousand units of the toy in one go.

That wasn't all. Corbin felt sorry for everything Ingrid was doing for them. He told her not to worry about chores and stuff because I would get them done as soon as I went home anyway.

However, I wasn't going back anymore.

Corbin didn't need me to cook and clean, do the laundry, and watch the kids for him. He just needed a full-time nanny.

Even when he didn't need the nanny because he used to have me, he still never spared even a single ounce of love for me in return.

Everyone and everything had let me down. I didn't want to be a daughter, a wife, or a mother anymore. I just wanted to be myself.

I looked at the digital copy of the divorce papers in my phone that Corbin had signed, feeling as though I finally had a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel.

I responded with, "Thanks," and bought the next flight ticket to take me out of here.

After determining that my body had recovered enough, I asked to be discharged earlier. Yet, as the time neared for my flight, my phone suddenly started getting bombarded by angry text messages from Mom.

I felt as though I could hear her angry voice in my head as she sent me angry, vulgar text messages that actually hurt to look at.

"You fucking ungrateful bitch! Answer the fucking phone!"

"What did you do to make the Stallones agree to divorce you, you fucking ingrate!"

Calmly, I turned off my phone, retrieved the SIM card, and threw it into the trash. Then, I closed my eyes and answered her in my head, "Guess."

However, I didn't care whether Mom would eventually guess correctly or not. And even if Corbin found out about my disappearance earlier than expected, I couldn't care less about what they thought anymore.

Whatever it was, I wasn't letting them have their way any longer.