3: 3

In the end I was driven to death right there in that bed, and the very next day Leslie couldn't wait to bring her in.

Every time I thought about it, the anger wouldn't die down.

The moment the guests caught the gossip, they perked up and turned, one after another, to look at us.

A model couple on one side, a golden newlywed pair on the other, and now this kind of dirty secret spilling out.

"Mercedes! I won't let you slander her like this. Apologize to her."

Leslie clamped down on my wrist and stared at me, as if he'd kill me if I refused. It was the first time I'd ever seen him this angry, and a single tear slipped from the corner of my eye.

"Slander her? Do you dare pull up your chat history with her and show everyone?"

The host of the party stepped in to smooth things over, everyone laughed it off, and the moment passed.

But everyone understood perfectly well. After the way Leslie had just flared up, there was no way nothing was going on.

"So much for loving his wife. I'd say that's all an act, too. Leslie was about ready to hit someone just now."

"Men are all the same. Eating from one bowl while eyeing the pot. And here I thought he was a decent man. Disgusting."

They murmured among themselves, and I couldn't be bothered to keep up the act. My face went cold and I drank quite a lot. Leslie watched me the whole time, but he kept his face hard and wouldn't take a single step closer.

I'd just drunk on top of that outburst, and now my stomach was cramping badly, cold sweat breaking out over my whole body.

I leaned against the glass door by the roadside, feeling as if countless insects were gnawing at every bone in my body.

Someone nearby saw me and started to come help, but Leslie stopped them.

"Leave her. She's just making a scene. Let her go home on her own and see what she gets out of it."

He turned his head away and wouldn't look at me again, certain I was doing this on purpose.

I didn't even have the strength to laugh. Hearing him say it, everyone assumed I was just throwing a fit, and they went back to the party, leaving the two of us to talk things out.

He was only ever like this with me.

I let out a long sigh, remembering how in my past life I'd fallen ill at home, run a fever for days, and in the end still had to call the ambulance myself. Yet the first thing out of Leslie's mouth when he saw me was to demand why I hadn't cooked any porridge, leaving Julia hungry for a whole day.

"Julia's stomach has been bad lately. She said your porridge is good, that's the only reason she asked you to make it, and you go and blow her off like this."

My face had been ghastly pale back then, and still I'd forced myself up to cook porridge for them, and in the end I never even got a thank-you.

Thinking of it, my tears slid down again. Inside, all was warmth and chatter. Julia knocked over a cup by accident, and Leslie rushed straight over to check on her, terrified she'd been scalded, a whole crowd of them fussing over her.

I used to keep hoping Leslie would see me, would ache for me. Now I understood. Nothing was as reliable as myself. If I'd really waited for him to come save me, I'd have died many times over by now.

"Hello, William Weiss, could you come pick me up over here at The Lexington Hotel?"

By the time Leslie remembered me and found the entrance empty, a flash of panic went through him. He never used to vanish so suddenly, and lately he'd become terribly unfamiliar, strange.

"Where's Mercedes?"

He couldn't spare a thought for Julia, still talking beside him, and grabbed a friend's arm. The man looked at him, baffled, and asked wasn't it Leslie himself who'd told them all to mind their own business.

His face turned ugly. He snatched up his coat and made for the door, deaf to the shouts behind him.

But when he got home, all that faced him was a cold, empty apartment.

No one had come back at all.

"Mercedes!"

4: 4

I rested at home for several days before I felt any better. Thank God I was rushed to the hospital in time, or it might have left lasting damage.

Thinking of all the ailments I'd carried in my past life, I gave a bitter little smile and nodded to myself.

While I was at it, I needed to hurry through the divorce with Leslie Heath and move my things out of that place.

I really had lost my mind back then. I'd moved in with him two whole months early, and volunteered to take on all the housework myself.

Even when my in-laws made things hard for me, I'd told myself it was their way of testing me.

So stupid.

By the time I reached the Heath residence, the whole family was inside having a lively dinner, and Julia Finch was right there among them.

I paused. That was right, today was the old man's seventieth birthday.

So the whole family had invited Julia over, yet no one had bothered to tell me, the daughter-in-law.

I gave a cold laugh, turned, and went up the stairs to my room to pack.

"Mercy, come down and eat with us."

Julia blinked those innocent eyes of hers, sitting beside Leslie as if she were the lady of this house. I didn't answer her, and I wasn't about to waste my anger on her either.

Leslie was still sulking, unwilling to say a word, downing a glass of liquor with a black look on his face.

My mother-in-law rolled her eyes and deliberately raised her voice for me to hear.

"Let her throw her tantrum, see how far it gets her! Petty little thing, aren't you? A man can't even have one friend?"

I stopped what I was doing and looked down at the woman.

"Then tomorrow I'll invite Florence Lawrence over to our house for tea."

Florence Lawrence was my father-in-law's ex-girlfriend. The moment she heard it, my mother-in-law shot up from her seat and started cursing me for having no shame.

"Mercedes Butler! Are you done making a scene?"

Leslie finally lost his patience and stood, seeming to give me a chance, waiting for me to apologize. My mother-in-law had already dissolved into tears, throwing herself into Julia's arms and sobbing until she could barely breathe.

Now I was the villain. How funny.

I walked out dragging my suitcase, and they all stared at me in disbelief, unable to imagine I would actually go through with the divorce.

"Don't forget, the Butler family belongs to your brother now. There's no place for you there. Where else could you go besides our home?"

Leslie came to my side, deliberately using this to hold over me.

I couldn't stop laughing inside. I really did know his family too well.

I'd been ground down by them for twenty years. How could I be stupid enough to walk the same road again?

Right on cue, my assistant came in just then. He pushed open the Heath family's door and respectfully handed me a folder.

"Ms. Butler, the meeting with Wanfield Holdings is about to start. We need you there to sign."

I nodded, pushed past Leslie, and walked out the Heath family's door without looking back.

"I forgot to mention. I took back the inheritance a long time ago. As for you Heaths, you'd better pray for yourselves."

The moment I finished, every face in the room changed.