Carl’s childhood sweetheart, Jocelyn, lost a party game and picked Truth or Dare. Blindfolded, she drove and accidentally dragged a random pedestrian for 500 meters. My mother, coming home from her night shift, was the one she dragged to her death.

My father, a senior lawyer, had just filed the lawsuit when he was exposed for forcing witnesses to lie and he was immediately flooded with online hate.

Dazed and trying to avoid reporters, he ran into the road and was hit by a car, barely surviving. I kept going back and forth between the police station and the hospital, trying to get justice for my parents.

But within a day, my personal information was exposed online and I became the target of everyone’s anger.

And the one behind it all was my husband of two years, Carl—the man who once vowed to protect me forever.

At the hospital stairwell, the door was slightly open. As I was about to push it, I heard laughter from inside.

“Carl, you faked evidence to frame your father-in-law and blocked the experts from treating him, just to force your wife to sign the forgiveness letter. You destroyed her whole family. Aren’t you afraid she’ll come after you?”

“Jocelyn, you saved me, so I have to protect you. As for Camelia, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to her.” He paused, his voice steady.

I stood outside the door, my heart stabbing with pain, almost making it hard to breathe. So it really was him who pushed my father to this point. To my husband, ten years together and two years of marriage meant nothing compared to one act of saving his life. Since he and Jocelyn shared a life-saving bond, then fine. I would give him what he wanted.

……

“You want me to help you get a divorce? If Carl finds out, he’ll kill me. Everyone knows you’re the one he truly loves. He even gave up his inheritance to the Wagner Family to marry you…” Oliver adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, sounding disapproving.

I slowly lifted my head, my eyes completely blank.

“I know you’re hurting,” Oliver said carefully. “Jocelyn is only using the fact that she saved Carl. Even if he protects her, he can’t truly replace you with her. So why insist on this divorce?”

Why? The word felt like another stab to my already broken heart. Three months ago, Jocelyn, blindfolded in her car, hit my mother as she was coming home from her night shift and dragged her to her death.

I begged Carl to help me get justice and make the killer pay. He just looked at me coldly and said, “Jocelyn didn’t mean to. It was just an accident.”

He then watched my father, desperate for help, get pushed into the road by the false-testimony scandal he created. Now my father lay in the ICU, barely alive.

In the end, he even threatened to pull the specialists and stop my father’s medication to force me to sign a document.

“Sign the letter of understanding,” he said coldly. “This is the last dose of the important medicine. If you sign, he’ll get it right away and I’ll handle the bad press. If you don’t…” He looked at the unstable numbers on the monitor. “Your father might not survive the night.”

I looked at him, a deep cold spreading through my heart. For the first time, the man I’d loved for ten years felt like a stranger, cold and frightening.

I remembered our wedding day, when he knelt and said, “Camelia, no matter what happens, I’ll love and cherish you for the rest of my life.”

I remembered before my dad’s accident, he gently wiped my tears and said, “Don’t be afraid, I’m here.”

But now, his promise of “I’m here for you” had become a betrayal that destroyed my family. His vow of a lifetime together was really just him repaying another woman at the cost of my pain.

Seeing Dad’s weakening heartbeat on the monitor, a deep despair washed over me. “I’ll sign,” I said with difficulty, my hand shaking as I picked up the pen.

I gave up seeking justice and agreed it was just an accident. After writing the last word, I felt completely drained. “Can you give my dad his medicine and call a doctor?”

“Yes…” Relief finally showed in Carl’s eyes.

Just as he was about to speak, a nurse burst in, panicked. “Mr. Wagner! Miss Simon has slit her wrists!”

Carl’s face changed instantly and he rushed out with the nurse.

“Carl!” I grabbed his arm. “You can’t leave. You just promised to save my dad.”

He pushed me away and told the nurse, “Get some interns to deal with it!”

I watched him walk away and, using the last of my strength, asked in a shaking voice, “Carl… between me and her, who do you choose?”

He stopped for a moment but didn’t look back. “She can’t be hurt.”

My last hope broke. I slid down the wall, feeling a cold emptiness open in my chest. I remembered the first time I met Jocelyn in our newlywed home. She wore a white dress, hid shyly behind Carl and gently called me Camelia.

Carl put his arm around her and smiled. “This is Jocelyn,” he said. “She grew up with me. She’s like a sister to me.”

Later, this “sister” was everywhere. When Jocelyn got sick, Carl left me on our honeymoon and flew back to Linkon overnight.

When Jocelyn had problems at work, Carl used his connections to fix them. Even on our rare trips together, one call from her and he would stay on the balcony talking to her late into the night.

I complained, but Carl always gave the same excuse: “Jocelyn saved my life. Without her, I would’ve died in a car accident when I was ten. I’m just repaying a life-saving debt.”

So his life-saving debt ended up costing my whole family their lives. Pulling myself out of the memories, the dull pain in my chest was still there.

I looked at Oliver and said calmly, “Don’t try to convince me anymore. I’ve made up my mind.”

Seeing my empty eyes, Oliver held back everything he wanted to say.

After filing the divorce papers, I went back to the hospital where I worked, went to HR and turned in my resignation.

I remembered when I started my internship here, Carl had gotten into a car accident caused by a business rival and was hospitalized with paralysis in both legs.

Back then, he was irritable and refused treatment. I stayed with him day and night, comforting him, helping him through rehab and watching him stand again.

When he chased after me, I turned him down because our social statuses were too different. He knelt and promised he would never betray me in this lifetime.

His sincerity back then made me let go of all my worries. Now, looking back, it feels painfully ironic.

My colleague stared at me in surprise. “Camelia, you were doing great. Why are you suddenly quitting?”

“Some places only make you feel worse the longer you stay,” I said calmly.

After packing my few things, I went to the elevator. The doors opened in the inpatient department—a twist of fate.

Carl stood at the door, holding Jocelyn, her wrist heavily bandaged. She looked pale and leaned weakly on him. Seeing me, Carl’s brows furrowed. “What are you doing here?” He instinctively pulled Jocelyn closer.

Jocelyn looked up, tears in her eyes, her voice trembling. “Camelia, I’m sorry. I know you hate me. I killed Auntie… but I didn’t mean to…”

She touched the bandages on her wrist. “You can hit me, scold me, I’ll take it… but please don’t blame Carl. He did it for me too.”

Watching her act, my stomach turned. Carl’s eyes went cold as he glared at me. “Camelia, Jocelyn already tried to atone by attempting suicide. What more do you want? Do you need her to die before you’re satisfied?”

Atonement? My mother was alive and my father is barely hanging on, yet she thinks hurting herself once can wipe everything away?

My heart felt frozen; hurting so much that I went numb. I didn’t want to deal with them, so I turned away and went to my father’s room. He was still unconscious, kept alive by the machines.

A little later, the door opened. Carl entered, arm in arm with Jocelyn. She held a phone showing a live stream. “Everyone, I know there have been many rumors about me,” Jocelyn said, tears in her voice. “I feel guilty. Even though Camelia misunderstands me, her father was hurt and hospitalized and I’m heartbroken too…”

As she spoke, she showed the camera my unconscious father in the hospital bed. “I heard Uncle Rowan caused a big scandal with perjury and now…”

“Shut up!” I jumped up and snatched her phone. “Get out!”

Jocelyn gasped, tears forming. “I was just telling the truth. Why did you hit me?”

I lifted my hand to slap her, but a strong grip held my wrist.

“Camelia! Haven’t you done enough?!” Carl yanked my hand away.

Surprised, I fell back, hitting my forehead hard on the hospital bed railing.

A sharp pain hit me and blood ran down my forehead. Carl saw it, looked shocked and instinctively reached out.

“Carl, my wrist hurts so much…” Jocelyn groaned, grabbing his arm tightly at just the right moment.

Carl froze, looked at Jocelyn’s bandaged wrist, then at me and finally bent down to lift her, leaving the ward without a glance back.

I collapsed to the floor, blood and tears mixing on my forehead. Only when the nurse rushed over to bandage me did I start to come out of my numb despair.

Wiping my tears, I took out my phone and called a number from Stellis. “Drake,” I said, my voice calm but desperate. “You said you’d grant me any request if I left Carl, right?”

I paused, then said clearly, “In one month, help me destroy Carl’s company.”

Drake was silent for a moment, then laughed softly. “Camelia, are you really ready to let go of the man you’ve loved for ten years?”

“Yes.”

“Fine, one month is enough to bring him down. But since you chose me this time, I won’t let him go again.”

After hanging up, I remembered Drake’s once caring and persistent face. He had said Carl couldn’t protect me.

At the time, I thought it was a joke, but now it felt real. Without delay, I took care of my father and dragged my tired body back to the villa.

I opened the door and was hit by a strong perfume smell. In the living room, the maid was hanging Jocelyn’s photo on the wall and my carefully chosen limited-edition handbag was carelessly left on the coffee table.

I opened the door and was hit by a strong perfume smell. In the living room, the maid was hanging Jocelyn’s photo on the wall and my carefully chosen limited-edition handbag was carelessly left on the coffee table.

The maids paused, looking at each other, unsure of what to say.

Carl came down the stairs with Jocelyn in my pajamas. “I asked them to move these. It’s not safe for Jocelyn outside,” he said. “I’m worried.”

So he was worried and she wanted to intrude, even take my bedroom? I looked at him, too tired to ask anything.

Jocelyn spoke shyly, “Camelia, I’ll just sleep in the guest room…”

“No need,” Carl cut her off, looking at me coldly. “The master bedroom is for Jocelyn. You’ll sleep in the guest room.”

Before I could speak, Jocelyn looked at me gently. “Camelia, I’m a little hungry. Carl said you cook well. Could you make me some noodles?”

Carl looked at me too, his eyes commanding. “Go now.”

A sharp, heavy pain hit my chest. My mother had just died, my father was in the ICU and my husband wanted me to cook noodles for the woman who killed my mother.

I forced a faint smile. “No!”

His face darkened. “Camelia, are you not listening to me?!”

I pulled my hand back slowly. “Carl, I’m your wife, not your servant.”

I didn’t want to stay another second. I went upstairs to grab some personal items, but when I opened the bedroom door, I almost froze.

When I came downstairs, I saw Jocelyn in the living room holding a photo frame; it was the last family photo of me with my parents.

“Who gave you permission to touch that!” I shouted as I ran down the stairs.

Seeing me, she seemed startled. Her hand slipped and the photo frame fell, shattering loudly.

“I’m sorry, Camelia! I didn’t mean to!” Jocelyn cried, crouching to pick up the pieces, but glass cut her finger and it started bleeding.

“Jocelyn!” Carl rushed forward and pulled her up. He checked her fingers anxiously, then looked up, his eyes full of rage.

“Camelia, you can’t even tolerate her? You threw things to scare her and even hurt her!”

“I threw them? Carl, are you blind?”

“Enough!” Carl cut me off, his eyes full of disappointment and disgust. “I saw everything clearly!”

He told the butler, who had run over at his voice, “Take her upstairs. She isn’t allowed out of the guest room without my permission. She needs to reflect on her actions!”

I watched him hold Jocelyn, comforting her, while she secretly gave me a cruel, victorious smile.

A wave of despair and hatred hit me. I didn’t resist as the servants led me out of the living room.

Carl, is this your idea of making it up to me for the rest of your life?