Luke flashed a charming smile and pulled my hand into his, his touch unnervingly intimate.

“Don’t worry,” he said smoothly. “I have such a wonderful wife. She’ll definitely make sure I have enough for the surgery.” He turned to me expectantly. “Right, honey?”

Two pairs of eyes, filled with quiet calculation, watched me closely. I returned their gaze with a warm, reassuring smile.

“Of course,” I said. “I’m already in touch with a realtor about selling the house. We should have the money soon.”

I glanced at Willow, noting how her posture eased. She had been holding her breath.

“My mom also borrowed money from our relatives. We’ve scraped together about $10,000.”

Both Willow and Luke sighed in relief.

“That’s great,” Willow exclaimed. “We only have three days left before the surgery. Everything’s finally coming together!” Willow said enthusiastically.

If it had been before, I might have thought she was genuinely worried about me, about my struggle to gather the money. After all, we had grown up together, practically sisters. But after overhearing their conversation in the stairwell, I knew better. When she said everything was coming together, she wasn’t talking about the surgery. She was talking about their plan.

I studied them as they laughed together, utterly at ease, as if nothing serious was happening in three days. Not a trace of anxiety about the surgery in sight. My grip tightened slightly, but I kept my tone light.

“Willow,” I said, “I need to take care of some legal paperwork for selling the house. That means I won’t be around much for the next two days. Can I ask you to keep an eye on Luke? You know I can’t afford a nurse and I don’t know anyone else in this hospital. You’re the only one I can—”

“Of course!” 

Willow answered before I even finished speaking. She bolted up from her seat with her eyes lit. She was so eager to agreed.

“Luke is your husband, which makes him like a brother to me. I’ll check in on him every thirty minutes. And when I’m not around, I’ll have the nurses keep an eye on him. Don’t worry. Just focus on selling the house and call me if you need anything.”

I pretended not to notice the excitement flickering in her eyes. Keeping my mask firmly in place, I thanked her enthusiastically before turning to leave the room.

But I didn’t go far.

I slipped into the corridor, waiting just beyond the bend where they wouldn’t see me. Ten minutes later, I crept back to the doorway, careful not to make a sound.

Just as I suspected—the room was filled with soft, breathless laughter.

“That idiot really didn’t suspect a thing,” Luke murmured. “She left the moment we complained about not having enough alone time. It’s like the universe is working to bring us together.”

Then, his tone shifted—low and teasing, thick with desire. “God, you don’t know how much I’ve missed you, baby. Since we finally have some time alone… how about we do something a little risky? There’s a bed here. Ever thought about doing it in a hospital?”

“Oh, you’re such a flirt,” Willow giggled. 

“You drive me crazy, baby,” Luke said again. 

“Alright, alright, but keep your voice down. We don’t want the nurses catching us. And be gentle. You know I’m on early pregnancy, the baby is fragile, I don’t want anything to happen to it.”

Then came the unmistakable sounds—lips meeting, clothing rustling.

My stomach twisted violently. I had to grip the wall to keep from collapsing. My vision blurred, my ears rang, but I forced myself to turn away before I did something reckless.

The betrayal was suffocating. I staggered down the hall, my hands trembling, my heart pounding so hard it hurt.

I wandered in a daze until I reached the nurses' station. There, I spotted a familiar face—a nurse I remembered from Willow’s past complaints. She’d mentioned her more than once, saying she was difficult to deal with.

Looking back now, that probably meant she was one of the few honest people in this hospital.

Using my concern for Luke as an excuse, I asked her to keep an eye on his condition while I was away.

She agreed without hesitation. She even refused a grand dollar bill I offered as a thank-you.

After exchanging numbers, I turned and walked away, Luke’s medical file clutched tightly in my hands.

They thought their plan was flawless. They thought they had accounted for everything. But they missed one crucial detail.

Luke wasn’t faking his illness.

He really was sick—just not with kidney failure. He had terminal liver cancer. When the first test result came out, I kept it from him, afraid the truth would break him. I had planned to inform the surgeon just before the procedure so they could reassess his treatment.

But now, after seeing his true colors, I make my own plan. 

I found a realtor and sold our house for far below market value. With Luke’s signed authorization, the deal was finalized on the spot.

The moment the money hit my account, I transferred every last cent to my mom, labeling it as financial support. My phone rang almost immediately.

“Sweetheart, did you send this by mistake?” she asked, her voice thick with confusion. “Aren’t you raising up money for Luke’s surgery? Why would you transfer everything to me?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll send it back to you. Or give me the hospital’s bank account, I’ll transfer the money straight to them so they can perform Luke's surgery as soon as possible,” my mother said, her voice thick with concern.

Mom had always been kind—just like me. And just like me, she had been fooled by Luke for years. I took a deep breath and told her everything that’s been going on with me, Luke and Willow.

Silence hung between us for a long moment before she let out a heavy sigh, disappointment laced in every word.

“How could he? I didn’t expect them to….” She paused, then said, “Well, never mind. Do what you think best for you, honey. I will always on your side.”

Then, after another moment of hesitation, she added, “If you’re worried about the money, I can hold onto it for you. Once you’re done handling the divorce, I’ll send it back.”

She spent a long time comforting me before finally hanging up.

I tilted my head back, staring at the sky. It was clear and bright, yet I felt nothing but heavy clouds looming over me.

This marriage needed to end. It had been over for a long time.

I called my lawyer and told him to prepare the divorce papers. With no assets to split, it’d be a clean break.

The nurse from the hospital had also sent me several messages, telling me that Willow had been staying in Luke’s hospital room almost the entire time. She had no idea what they could possibly be discussing for that long, but every time she checked in, they both looked visibly startled, their guilty expressions betraying them. It made the nurse certain that they had just been up to something.

I chuckled and sent back a quick thank-you.

By the time everything was arranged, night had fallen.

For the next two days, I stayed away from the hospital. And without me there, those two got real comfortable. Willow waltzed into Luke’s room in her white coat—but underneath, she wore nothing but sheer black lingerie. She stayed for an entire morning and when she finally walked out, her legs were shaking.

Even the nurses noticed something was off and subtly warned me multiple times, suggesting I come and take a look. But I decline. It wasn’t time to burn everything down just yet.

I wasn’t idle during those two days either. I spent every moment gathering evidence of Luke transferring money to Willow during our marriage so I could use it in court.

Then, the day of his surgery arrived. I still hadn’t paid a dime.

And, just as I expected, Luke lost his composure and started bombarding me with messages.

Luke: [Honey, where are you? is scheduled for this afternoon. Did you get the money together?]

Luke: [Why aren’t you answering? Did something go wrong with selling the house? Please don’t carry this burden alone. I’m here with you. If it doesn’t work out, we can just forget the surgery. My life isn’t worth that much—don’t make yourself suffer for me.]

Luke: [If I don’t make it, find yourself a good man and move on. I won’t blame you.]

I read the texts and let out a sharp, bitter laugh.

Oh, he was good. Really good.

This wasn’t some heartfelt farewell—he was trying to guilt-trip me into paying for his surgery.

Willow wasn’t nearly as composed. She started calling me nonstop, her voice breaking with panic. She said Luke was vomiting blood. Then she said he had fallen into a coma and wouldn’t wake up.

The hospital had already issued three critical condition notices and she had handled all of them for me. I responded calmly, telling her I was on my way. 

She exhaled in relief, probably thinking she’d won. But in the background, I could faintly hear Luke chuckling in satisfaction. 

Go ahead, laugh. After today, he wouldn’t have anything to laugh about.

Before heading to the hospital, I had hired a private investigator to dig into Luke and Willow’s transactions. What I found was an absolute goldmine.

By the time I arrived, the waiting area outside Luke’s room was packed. His mother had gathered the whole damn Rhodes Family like it was some kind of reunion.

The second they spotted me, they swarmed.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Luke’s mom gushed, grabbing my hands like I was some kind of saint. “You’ve been through so much. I just found out Luke was in the hospital—I can’t believe you’ve been shouldering this alone! We’re so lucky to have a daughter-in-law like you. The Rhodes Family is truly blessed.”

I raised a brow. Blessed? Oh, she had no idea what was coming.

Willow rushed up to me, her face tight with fake worry.

“You made it just in time!” she practically shouted. “The doctors said if we wait any longer, it’ll be too late! Hurry and pay the bill—I’ll go tell them to prep for surgery!”

The, Willow shot Luke’s mom a quick, almost imperceptible glance.

The older woman blinked, then—right on cue—her expression crumpled and the waterworks started.

Tears streamed down her face as she clutched my arm. “Please, Nova, save my son! You’re his wife! If you don’t help him, who will?”

Before I could react, she grabbed my hand and dragged me straight toward the payment window.

“Hurry and pay the bill! Luke is waiting for his surgery!”

The way she and Willow exchanged glances wasn’t lost on me. They were in on this together. No wonder she hadn’t shown up since Luke was admitted to the hospital. I used to think it was because Luke didn’t want his mother to worry. Now? Now I realized the three of them had planned this all along. They wanted to squeeze me and my mother dry.

I glanced around at the crowd of relatives who were eagerly waiting for me to pull out my wallet. I shrugged. “You want me to pay the bill? But…I don’t have the money. I couldn’t gather them on time.”

The room went dead silent for a beat—then my mother-in-law’s face twisted in shock and outrage. Her voice echoed down the hospital corridor.

“What? You don’t have the money? Nova, this isn’t time for joke!”

She looked me up and down like I’d lost my mind. “You’ve been out these past three days trying to sell the house for the surgery, haven’t you? Luke signed over his rights to you! That place was bought for a hundred grand! How could you say you don’t have money?”

The second she mentioned the house, the other relatives jumped in like a pack of wild dogs who smelled blood.

“Yeah! That house was one of the priciest properties in town when you bought it! Even if you undersold it, you should’ve gotten at least eleven or twelve grand!”

“Luke is your husband! How could you be hiding money from him? He needs this surgery to survive! Are you seriously saying you don’t have a dime?”

“Exactly! And what about the dowry? We gave you three grand when you two got married! Even if you didn’t sell the house, you should still have some of that money left, right?”

That was the final straw. When their mention dowry, my expression turned cold.

“Oh, so now you want to talk about the dowry?” I scoffed. “That money was supposed to be my security, right? But the moment we got married, Luke said his mom was sick and borrowed two grand back. Then there’s the hospital expenses from the last few days. The money’s long gone.”

I looked them all dead in the eye. “And that house? My family paid for most of it. What exactly are you trying to say? That I’m lying to you? I said I don’t have money. You can scream and cry all you want, but I don’t have it. So figure it out yourselves. If you can’t get the money together, then there won’t be a surgery. If he dies, well… that’s just how it is.”

The moment the words left my mouth, my mother-in-law’s expression twisted into something ugly. She raised her hand and slapped me across the face, hard enough that I staggered back a step.

“How dare you say something like that?!” she shrieked. “I was sick! My son spent money on my treatment—what’s wrong with that? Isn’t that his duty as my son? And now you’re blaming me?”

She was seething, her chest rising and falling in anger. “You two are husband and wife and you’re being this stingy over money? Fine! If you’re so worried, I’ll write you an IOU! I’ll pay you back every penny! But right now, my son is fighting for his life and you’re standing here playing games?”

My cheek throbbed from the slap, but inside, I felt nothing. Just an eerie calm.

“Call it whatever you want,” I said, my voice steady. “I told you—I don’t have the money. I came here today for one reason—to say my final goodbyes.”

Her eyes darted around and then, without warning, she collapsed onto the hospital floor, wailing at the top of her lungs.

“Oh, God, why did this happen to me? My daughter-in-law is leaving my son to die! She won’t pay for his surgery! She wants to stand here and watch him take his last breath! I’ve been cursed with the worst fate! My Rhodes Family must have done something terrible in a past life to deserve this heartless woman! Someone, tell me—what kind of monster would let her own husband die?!”

Her cries were so loud that people from nearby wards started gathering. They pointed at me, whispering among themselves. Some were less subtle, their voices dripping with judgment.

“How could you be so cold-hearted?” said a man to me. “That’s your husband in there, fighting for his life! How can you put a price on a human life?”

“Aren’t you ashamed? No matter what, he’s still your family! What’s more important—money or saving someone’s life?” A woman pointed at me.

“She looks so well put-together, but she’s heartless! God is watching, young lady. You’ll regret this one day!” And elderly woman scolded me.