I was washing dishes while eight months pregnant when I suddenly received the news that my husband, who had disabled legs, was caught for speeding.

My husband was sitting in the interrogation room, smiled and said to me, “It's a medical miracle. I just got into the sports car of my dreams and my legs are healed. Your cousin Garcia can testify to this.”

He then continued, “Oh, I can help you with the housework too in the future. I'll go out to work and when the baby is born, we can live in harmony as a family. How wonderful it will be.”

I laughed too and made an appointment for an induced abortion.

Goodbye, cage!

Goodbye, bastard!

***

When I got home from the hospital, Javier Valentin was sitting on the sofa, crossing his legs and eating sunflower seeds.

The shells were scattered all over the ground.

There were still dishes on the dining table that had not been cleared away in the morning.

“Have you received your salary? Can you buy me a new computer?” Javier asked with a smile.

He acted as if nothing had happened, seemingly forgetting about being caught for speeding yesterday and thought I believed that ridiculous excuse.

I rolled my eyes at Javier. "It seems, even with perfectly normal hands and feet, you still can’t figure out how to earn a living, let alone clean the house."

Javier blinked in surprise, very confused by my reaction. Because that was the first time I confronted him.

When Javier failed in his investment and broke his leg by jumping off a building, I gave up the opportunity to work abroad, helped him pay off his debts and married him.

In the past five years, I had never asked him to do even a little bit of housework and I had never lost my temper with him once.

Because I had to take care of him, my work was restricted and I had to work part-time, five jobs a day.

Even when I was eight months pregnant, I still had to wash dishes with a big belly. So, after a few hours, my waist almost broke.

I never complained about being tired and thought it was all worth it, but I did not expect Javier to be a liar.

He was cheating on his wife.

It was a pity that all my five years of hard work had been wasted.

Thinking of that, my nose felt sore and my eyes turned red.

“What kind of man would do housework? Besides, I'm looking for a job,” Javier explained with a smile, without a trace of guilt on his face.

At that time, my cousin, Garcia Parker, pushed the door open and walked in, followed by several of Javier's bad friends.

Javier's face turned serious, he cleared his throat and ordered me, “Bitch, stop dawdling, clean up the house quickly and then go to the kitchen to cook for us.”

“Remember to make it less spicy and don't add cilantro. Garcia doesn't like it,” he said while winking at Garcia.

Garcia gave a thumbs up and praised, “Brother-in-law, you are so thoughtful. It is a blessing for my cousin to marry you.”

Seeing the hypocritical look of that couple, I felt furious.

Before, Javier used my money to rent a sports car and took Garcia for a race.

Not only that, they also kissed passionately in the car and it was all captured by surveillance cameras.

If the police had not reminded me, I would still be in the dark.

Several people sat on the sofa, more casually than at home.

Javier saw me standing still and immediately frowned, raising his voice, “Hey, bitch, are you deaf? Didn't you hear what I just said?”

“I'm very tired today, so I'll clean up and do it myself. The six of you can always get a pair of hands together,” I replied coldly.

“You!”

Javier's eyes widened. He did not expect me to be so rebellious today. 

Immediately, his face turned furious. He grabbed the plate on the table and threw it at me.

“You stinky bitch, I think you deserve to be punished.”

He did not notice that there was a fruit knife on the plate.

The plate and the leftovers hit me hard in the face, making me look like half a trash can.

Fortunately, the fruit knife flew and did not hit my face, but instead cut my arm.

Blood gushed out wildly. It felt like my heart was bleeding.

“Ouch! It's bleeding.” Garcia pretended to be nervous, but a playful smile hung on the corner of her mouth.

“Hmph, as long as she doesn’t die, it’s fine! When it comes to handling a woman, you can’t afford to go soft; otherwise, it’ll just cause a bigger mess,” Javier said firmly.

Several people laughed together, praising Javier's excellent family status and looked at me as if I were a dog.

A strong sense of humiliation spread in my heart. It almost suffocated me, so I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my flesh.

My cousin stood up and pretended to be a good person at that moment. “Forget it, forget it. My cousin is still pregnant. If something happens to her out of anger, it will be terrible.”

One of their friends chimed in, “Garcia, you are just too kind, that's why you are always bullied outside.”

Javier looked at Garcia with a doting look on his face, then glanced at me with disgust and said, “I get angry just by looking at you! Forget it, let's go out and have a party.”

He walked away with a few others in a swagger, not caring at all about the bleeding arm I had.

Finally, I went to the nearest clinic to bandage my wound myself. Fortunately, the wound was not deep and did not require stitches. 

However, when the doctor saw that I was pregnant, he could not help but ask, “Where is your husband? Doesn't he take care of you? If you injure your arm today and it accidentally hits your belly someday, the consequences could be serious.”

“He... is dead,” I said indifferently.

With Javier's character, he was useless except for sucking my money. Was it not the same as being dead?

“Oh, I am sorry.” The doctor was stunned for a moment, then his eyes gradually became sympathetic as he looked at me. 

He prescribed me a box of anti-inflammatory drugs and gave me a few more instructions.

As I was paying, I accidentally scrolled to my WhatsApp Story and suddenly saw a post from my cousin.

She, Javier and others held a party in a villa filled with fruits and seafood.

But I seemed to have seen the environment of the villa before, especially the words “God Rewards Hard Work” hanging on the wall, which looks the most familiar.

I watched the video repeatedly and finally confirmed that it was Javier’s former home.

He told me that he was completely bankrupt, penniless and owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages. So, I helped pay it off bit by bit.

But how was he having a party in his old villa then?

Only one possible answer that made sense, that Javier was not completely bankrupt.

It was terrifying when I thought about it!

I just felt a chill on my spine, a pain in my heart and a dizzy head.

If the doctor had not held me up, I would have fainted on the spot.

What kind of monster did I marry?

Two years of love. Married for five years. I gave him all with all my heart.

It was not worth it, totally not worth it.

I returned home in a daze, not wanting to eat or take a shower and curled up in bed.

At night, Javier came back drunk, climbed onto the bed, hugged me and asked in my ear, “My dear, is your arm seriously injured?”

“So you knew I was injured?” I asked back coldly.

"Hey, didn’t we agree on this before? Men handle the outside world and women take care of the inside. If you don’t respect that, I’ll lose my temper for sure. How else can I keep my friends from laughing at me?"

Javier sighed, reached his hand into my nightgown and stroked my belly.

I just found it funny and took his dirty hand away with disgust.

What did it mean that men work outside and women work inside?

In the past, I was the only one who took care of everything at home and outside. Javier was lazy and only cared about enjoying himself all day long.

He doesn't have any sense of manliness at all.

I should have seen that he was a liar.

“Good days will come once my son is born, haha."

Javier suddenly laughed.

I thought to myself, ‘Javier, these are your good days, right? Then I will be in trouble. You will kick me out and I will have no place to live.’

I thought Javier would continue to say something, but he fell into a deep sleep in just a few seconds.

Taking the opportunity, I secretly took his mobile phone and collected various pieces of evidence to pave a way out for myself.

I suddenly discovered that Javier had two WhatsApp accounts, one of which was very normal and serious.

But the other WhatsApp account was quite different. Javier’s note for Garcia was ‘My dear wife.’

The chat records between the two were particularly explicit.

[Javier: My dear wife, I am so lonely and want you so much.]

[Garcia: Honey, look at my new Balenciaga stockings. I'll wear them to see you this afternoon, okay?]

Similar conversations filled the screen. There were also many explicit photos.

In addition, there were multiple transfers from Javier to Garcia, all perfectly aligning with the times Javier came to me asking for money. 

Each time, he fabricated excuses, claiming his parents were sick, his friends needed help, or his nephew could not afford school fees. 

I foolishly believed him and handed over the money, only for it to end up funding Garcia’s lavish lifestyle.

Poor me.

I endured hunger and hardship for that money, living off burgers and coke for every meal, not even daring to splurge on a slice of cheese.

I had not even bought new clothes in several years.

Then, I opened Javier’s friend group and their latest chat history was discussing me.

[If you ask me, Felicia is really a fool. She has been kept in the dark for so many years and didn't realize that Javier was pretending to be disabled.]

[That's because Javier is a good actor.]

[It was just a trick of self-torture to control Felicia for five years. Otherwise, Felicia would have been living happily abroad long ago.]

In addition to the gossip of my friends, Javier was also showing off how he had used the torture trick to deceive me.

How to suck my money, how to play with my feelings. 

He even said that I was as naughty as a dog in bed and liked being whipped.

Before I read all of it, I was so angry that I burst into tears.

It turned out that Javier deliberately ruined my life.

It turned out that he had been having an affair with Garcia five years ago, but Garcia was afraid of pain and did not want to have a baby.

So, she used me to do it for her.

But, I did not want to be a tool anymore.

From that moment on, I would live only for myself.

Since I could not sleep anymore that night, I cut up all the clothes I prepared for my child, smashed all the toys and bottles I bought.

The next morning, Javier suddenly had the urge to buy breakfast. So, I also took the opportunity to pack up all my things. 

But, when I was about to throw them into the mobile trash bin outside, Javier came back.

“What are you throwing away in all those big and small bags?” Javier asked puzzledly.

“Nothing, just some unwanted stuff."

Before I could finish my words, a broken milk bottle suddenly fell out.

Javier was stunned and frowned. “Is it included?" 

“I accidentally broke it and want to replace it with a new one,” I directly explained.

“I see.” Javier nodded slightly, without giving it much thought and then said with a smile, “I bought you some salad with chicken breast and healthy fruit juice. Let’s eat it.”

He wanted to appease me.

It was ridiculous to think about it.

From the chat records, when Garcia was angry, Javier gave her a red envelope of several hundred dollars. He had even bought bags worth ten thousand dollars.

However, he coaxed me into buying only a caesar salad bowl and the fruit he chose on juice were the ones I did not really like.

“Honey, why do you only eat? Drink it too.”

After Javier gave the fruit juice in front of me, he saw that I did not move and was immediately puzzled. 

He slapped his forehead and said, “Oh, I forgot you are allergic to mango.”