“I can handle it myself. So, can you wait for me?”

Upon receiving an unhesitating affirmative reply from the other side, I lowered my head, barely touching my lips, when Vivian suddenly barged in without a sound.

“Ethan, who are you hiding in here talking to on the phone?”

I swiftly ended the call, then calmly met her gaze. “A friend.”

A friend? What kind of friend would need to hide from their wife to make a phone call?

Vivian sneered, about to speak and question me, but at that moment, a sudden, thunderous sound rang out from outside the window.

At the sound, Vivian immediately strode toward the VIP ward.

Ever since we got married, whenever she would leave me behind to comfort Jason, who was scared of the thunder, I would throw a fit and refuse to let him go.

But now, halfway down the hall, the woman suddenly realized I hadn’t chased after her. A strange, sour feeling surged in her chest, causing her to instinctively furrow her brows.

However, she didn’t think much of it and simply assumed I was being unexpectedly well-behaved.

As a reward, when I was discharged from the hospital the next day, she wasted no time in dragging me to the shopping mall, allowing me to follow behind her and Jason like a lapdog, accompanying them as they went shopping.

Even though all the sales girls in the mall knew I was Vivian’s legal husband, when they saw her clinging intimately to Jason, they still obsequiously handed the shopping bags to me, thanking me for “honoring” their store with my presence.

As I staggered from the weight of the bags and fell down the escalator, Vivian was in the baby store with Jason, picking out children’s items.

When Jason hesitated between pink or blue, she fondly pulled out her black card and bought out the entire store.

Just as I, battered and disheveled, walked into the store, I heard the shop assistant say to Jason with heartfelt admiration.

“Mr. Woods, you’re so lucky to have such a wonderful wife. The baby’s not even born yet and it already has the most loving mother in the world.”

Staring at the little star-patterned hair tie around my wrist, I suddenly recalled that day when our daughter, Yura, was rushed into the ER with acute meningitis.

I had called Vivian 199 times. Her phone was on, yet she didn’t answer even once.

Inside the emergency room, our daughter whispered to me, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s, “Daddy, I won’t sneak milk candies anymore.”

I cried as I gently stroked her face. “Why would you say that, baby?”

“Because… Mommy must be mad if I wasn’t obedient… That’s why she doesn’t want to come see me. Dad… I’m sorry… I'm such a useless child. I couldn’t help you get Mommy’s love.”

As my daughter lay dying, I knelt with no dignity at the doorstep of Jason’s apartment, begging him to let Vivian come with me to the hospital just for a moment.

What I got instead was Jason summoning bodyguards to pin me to the ground and slap me over and over.

By the time the doctor called to say my daughter had passed, Vivian had just woken up and slowly opened the door.

She looked at my swollen face, too bruised to form words and said indifferently, "I told you not to bother Jason. This is the price you pay for not behaving yourself."

Snapping out of my thoughts, I dropped all the shopping bags and turned to leave. But Vivian coldly grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the luxury watch store on the top floor.

"Ethan, haven’t you always been whining about wanting a watch?"

Watching her grip my wrist and casually start picking out watches for me, Jason quietly clenched his jaw.

He squeezed in between Vivian and me, wrapped his arm around her waist and gave me a mocking smile.

"Ethan, if it weren't for your selfless kidney donation, my body might’ve already collapsed. Vivian, how about we treat Ethan to a nice dinner tonight to show our thanks?"

Vivian gently helped Jason smooth out his bangs with a tender look in her eyes. "My precious Jason, whatever you say goes. I’ll listen to everything you want."

Thinking about the documents I’d left near the villa, I didn’t turn down Jason’s invitation.

On the way home, sitting in the front passenger seat, I clearly heard Vivian and Jason in the back, indulging in their passions.

While stoking the flames of lust, Jason chuckled mischievously and teased Vivian’s growing appetite. "Vivian, could you be a little more mindful of the situation? What if Ethan up front finds out?"

Vivian bit Jason’s ear with a low laugh, all while sneaking glances at me several times through the rearview mirror.

When she noticed that I was completely ignoring them and just playing on my phone, the same sense of irritation that had gripped her last night outside the bathroom door returned, when she overheard me whispering to someone else.

"Ethan, get me a tissue."

She stopped what she was doing and deliberately held her wet hands in front of me.

Without changing expression, I handed her a tissue and was about to go back to my mobile game to pass the time when I heard Vivian’s displeased voice ask me what I was looking at.

Before I could respond, she suddenly snatched my phone.

"Ethan, why did your lock screen change?"

She noticed the family photo of the three of us, which had been there for years, had inexplicably been replaced by a random system image.

For some reason, her face darkened.

Seeing that I had no intention of answering, Vivian coldly threw the phone back at me.

When the car reached halfway up the mountain, Jason suddenly said he wanted to return to the office.

In response, Vivian directly shoved me out of the car and coldly ordered me to go back to the villa first and prepare dinner for Jason.

Two hours later, with my heels rubbed raw, I finally retrieved my documents at the villa entrance.

Just as I was about to leave, a battered delivery truck suddenly appeared.

Two burly men jumped out and, without giving me a chance to resist, forcibly abducted me.

Inside a desolate mining site, barely clinging to life, I saw Jason, his eyes full of mockery.

He viciously ground my hand beneath his expensive leather shoe, but failed to get a single cry of pain out of me.

Jason curled his lips in hatred and sneered. “Ethan, why are you so damned pathetic?”

“We already have a child together and yet you cling to Vivian like a damn fly, acting pitiful, fishing for sympathy, as if she’d really take care of a useless wreck like you for the rest of your life.”

“What a joke. No matter how hard you try to seduce her, the only man she truly loves… is me. You pathetic bastard! What the hell are you smirking about?”

“I’m laughing at how you’re looking for trouble for no reason. All that effort is for nothing.”

Infuriated by my cold, disdainful attitude, Jason slapped me hard across the face twice. Then, smiling with a twisted glint in his eyes, he said, “Ethan, I bet you still don’t know why your daughter suddenly fell ill and died, do you? On her birthday, I joked with her. I told her: if she was brave enough to eat an entire snot worm, her beloved mommy would come home right away and blow out the birthday candles with her.”

"I really didn’t expect your daughter to be dumb enough to actually do it. While she was in agony from the stomach pain, she secretly called Vivian behind your back. But Vivian, just to enjoy a movie with me, didn’t even care. She told the girl to behave and go to sleep, then hung up.”

In a sudden burst of fury, I grabbed Jason by the neck, using every ounce of strength I had to drag him toward the depths of the mine, toward the area rigged with explosives.

As Jason screamed for help, his two thugs rushed over and began to beat me savagely, raining punches and kicks on me.

In the chaos, someone accidentally stepped on the detonator and the decaying mine exploded with a thunderous roar, shaking like an earthquake.

Amid the rumbling collapse, I heard a voice pierce through the dust and debris.

“Ethan!”

It was Vivian.

The next thing I heard was the sound of police officers trying to stop her.

"Miss Moon! You can't go in! This mine is about to collapse!"

"I don't care! Let go of me! I need to find Ethan!"

Ignoring their warnings, she dashed into the mine and before long, she found me.

Before she could even show any signs of relief, she heard Jason's desperate cry.

"Vivian, my leg..."

The moment she saw Jason, all her attention shifted to him. Her eyes filled with concern as she rushed to his side. "Jason! How did you end up here?"

With tears in her eyes, she gently helped him up, not even sparing a glance in my direction and without hesitation, she left me behind.

Two hours later...

After confirming that Jason was not seriously injured, she returned to the collapsed mine. She asked everyone, but no one knew where I had gone.

At the private VIP lounge at the No. 1 helipad.

I had just finished my shower when Vivian's call came in. I was busy drying my hair and didn't have the time to answer.

Then, she sent a message.

[Don't throw a childish tantrum. No one is going to pamper you. By the way, Jason's sunglasses were left on my bedside table. You must bring them to the airport by 4 PM this afternoon.]

I didn’t reply and directly blocked her.

From now on, there would be no place for Vivian in my world.

The next day, at the airport boarding gate.

"Vivian, do you not want to go with me to relax and watch the game anymore?"

Seeing Jason's eyes filled with hidden grievance, Vivian curled her lips into a smile and gently squeezed his hand, soothing him. "How could that be, Jason? Aren't we already waiting for the boarding?"

"But you've been looking around restlessly and you seem really upset. Vivian, if you really don't want to go, I can go by myself."

Jason took a step back, pouting.

He had expected the woman to reassure him again, promising that she would go with him. But this time, Vivian pursed her lips, thought for a few seconds and then softly said, "Alright, you fly ahead first. Once I'm done with some work at the company, I'll come join you."

In fact, the recent company matters didn’t require her to stay behind at all.

Vivian couldn't explain why she suddenly didn't want to go on vacation.

Was it because I was sulking with her?

No, that couldn't be it.

In her heart, I had always been just a stand-in for Jason. How could she neglect the true love of her life for someone so insignificant like me?

Seeing Jason staring at her in surprise, Vivian gave him a perfunctory kiss on the forehead, repeatedly assuring him that once she finished her work, she would immediately fly over to accompany him to the game.

After watching Jason board the plane, she coldly dialed the home landline, asking the servant, "Is Jason still asleep? It's already this late, you need to wake him up and tell him to come to the company to meet me."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line before the servant nervously answered, “Mr. Chow didn't come back at all last night."

Upon hearing this, Vivian was first stunned, then let out a cold laugh. "Very well, since he doesn't want to come back, delete his fingerprints from the password lock. Remember to notify everyone. Without my permission, no one is allowed to let him in."

After hanging up the phone, Vivian returned to the company, her expression unchanged as she threw herself into work.

Five days later, late at night.

After finishing a key project, the woman hurriedly returned home, only to see a man sleeping on the large bed in the bedroom.

"You like to act so high and mighty, throwing tantrums at me, right? Just a few days and you can't resist..." She grabbed his wrist and pulled him up. But before Vivian could finish her sentence, she was stunned by the man's face.

"Jason... why are youhere?"