“How dare you question me? You sent all that money—weren’t you just trading on your looks? Now you’re old and useless, no one wants you. So you crawl back to leech off me? Who knows what diseases you caught?”

Ethan sneered as he blocked my door. Samantha nestled in his arms.

Even this house—he mocked—was the one I’d paid off monthly for seven years!

A family of leeches, draining me dry.

For seven years, I scraped and saved just to get him the best targeted therapies.

I turned down every opportunity from my boss,

and what did I get in return? Insults.

“Give me back every cent I earned! Let’s get a divorce! Get out of the house I bought!” I shouted, trembling with fury.

“Divorce? Never! This is Samantha’s critical moment! I’ve invested so much in her concert—I won’t let negative press ruin it!”

He lunged at me and dragged me inside while I was off guard.

Ignoring my struggle, he locked me in the guest room:

“You’ll stay here quietly for a few days! I’ll have someone bring your meals.”

“Once Samantha’s solo concert is done, we’ll divorce. But remember—I, Ethan, only have one wife: Samantha! If you breathe a word about this to anyone, don’t expect a single coin!”

“You’re an illegal. Even if I kill you, no one will know. Stay obedient...”

His voice was cold, like a demon’s whisper.

“Let me out! Ethan, you’ll die for this! How could you treat me like this?” I screamed, pounding the door until my palms bled.

All I heard was the door being locked from outside, then silence.

I took out my phone and searched for Samantha.

It was my fault—I’d trusted Ethan too much. I thought they had long cut ties.

But what I saw hit me like lightning.

For seven years, the money I’d earned had been used to groom Samantha.

She went from a second-rate cellist to a third-rate “artist.”

Their carefully curated “loving couple” image fooled everyone—no one even knew I existed.

Grief and helplessness crushed me—until the phone rang again and again, snapping me back.

“Rachel, why aren’t you picking up? Are you crying? Did that bastard hurt you?” My boss’s voice came through.

Hearing his familiar tone, I finally broke down and cried out all my pain.

Bang!

Something shattered on his end of the call.

“Send me your location—I’ll fly there right now! Don’t be afraid!” he said, barely controlling his rage.

“That piece of trash! I knew he was no good! I thought you'd leave that loser ages ago!”

“I can’t believe he’s this disgusting! Damn it—I should’ve investigated him earlier!”

He blamed himself repeatedly. His words of promise brought me a sliver of calm.

Seven years—

I hadn’t done what Ethan accused me of. I never sold myself.

When I was smuggled abroad, traffickers almost got me.

I escaped with my life.

As an undocumented migrant, I could only do cheap labor and finish work at dawn.

That’s when I found Julian—on the brink of death.

I saved him, and with no one else to trust, he hired me as his personal assistant and became my boss.

Knowing I was supporting a man back home,

he paid me a high salary and secretly saved the rest for me.

After he recovered and defeated his enemies,

I chose to resign.

He warned me again and again: a man who lets a woman support him is never worth it. But I was blinded by love.

He finally accepted my decision—and gave me all the bonuses I’d earned.

He even transferred shares of a cultural company in America to me.

“Call me anytime. Whenever you need me. This will always be your home,” he said.

I didn’t expect his words to come true so soon.

In all the years I was with Ethan, we had countless arguments because of Samantha.

Whenever she needed him, he always showed up, claiming it was just as a friend.

Even on the day he proposed to me, Samantha called, and he rushed off, leaving me alone—I even put the ring on myself.

After I went abroad, Ethan stopped answering my video calls and replied to my messages less and less. Every time he messaged me first, it was always to ask for money—each time under a different pretext.

I naively believed he was suffering from illness and didn’t want me to see how haggard he had become.

The room reeked of a woman’s perfume, thick and cloying—it made me want to vomit.

I curled up in a corner, exhausted from travel, jet lag, and having just broken down in front of my boss.

It felt like all my strength had been drained. I couldn’t hold on any longer and eventually passed out in a daze.

Just before dawn, the door suddenly swung open.

The light was so bright I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

Ethan stormed in, grabbed my collar, lifted me off the ground, and flung me onto the bed!

I shrank back, pressing against the headboard to put space between us: “Let me go! You scumbag, what do you want?!”

In horror, I clutched my T-shirt tightly.

Then Samantha appeared behind him, wearing a burgundy evening gown. She looked at me with disgust, then clung to Ethan’s arm and said coyly:

“Darling, you scared me! Don’t be afraid—Ethan was only with you for the inheritance your parents left you. He never liked you, and he’ll never touch you!”

“Touch her? As if! She’s old and ugly. There’s no way I’d want her!”

“If I hadn’t needed the money for studying abroad, and she wasn’t so gullible, how could I have endured the shame of marrying her? Don’t worry, babe. I’ll talk to her. Go get some rest.”

Faced with her mockery, Ethan quickly showed his loyalty and kissed her cheek tenderly.

The blows kept coming—one after another.

So this whole relationship had been a setup from the start!

Ethan never loved me! I was just his ATM to support another woman!

All those chance meetings, those heartfelt words, were really just his sacrifices for his so-called first love.

And I believed it all—I sold my property to pay for his “treatment,” fled overseas, hid from place to place, and nearly died several times.

When I left, Ethan cried while hugging me, trembling as he repeated sweet nothings.

He told me again and again that when I came back and he was well again, we would have a wonderful future together.

Those lies sustained me for seven long years!

“Once I squeezed out the little money your parents left you, I planned to divorce you.”

“I didn’t expect Samantha to get pregnant. I need a lot of money to raise a child.”

Samantha walked off, her waist swaying as she left.

Ethan sat across from me and said this all without blinking.

To me, it felt like being stabbed a thousand times.

“I was really broke then—don’t blame me! I’ll give you two million after the divorce, and we’ll call it even,” Ethan said as he handed me a document.

“Don’t get any illusions about me. I never had feelings for you. And now, after being passed around overseas, there's no chance of anything between us.”

I had no strength left to argue. This liar had the nerve to pretend to be reasonable.

He kept throwing mud at me, and all I wanted was to get my money and walk away.

The document clearly stated: Divorce Agreement.

I quickly signed my name.

“I’m done!” I stood up and tried to leave. If I stayed one second longer, I might rip it up in a rage.

But Ethan blocked the door.

“You can’t leave yet. Samantha has finally made progress after so many years—we can’t risk that now.”

“Just stay here and don’t stir up trouble.”

“Several major agencies are interested in signing Samantha. The divorce agreement will only be finalized after her next two performances.”

“When the two million is transferred, we’ll be even. Samantha’s career can’t be tainted by your dirty money!”

As he spoke, he even covered his nose, like I carried some foul disease.

Dirty money.

He’d already decided that I’d spent these years abroad doing something disgraceful.

I had no interest in explaining. I just wanted to leave this repulsive place.

“Move! What you’re doing is illegal! I won’t tell anyone, okay? Let me just visit my parents’ graves, and I’ll go back abroad!”

There’s nothing here left to keep me.

“No! I won’t let anyone threaten Samantha!”

Ethan shoved me back onto the bed, turned, and locked the door behind him as he left.

“You’re not going anywhere until Samantha’s performances are over! Behave yourself, or I won’t give you a cent!”

No one responded, no matter how hard I pounded on the door.

Once again, I was under house arrest.

I didn’t make a scene this time—I was simply too exhausted.

Still, I snapped a photo of the signed divorce agreement, with Ethan’s signature clearly visible.

Even if he changed his mind, once my boss arrived, he’d take care of everything for me.

All I had to do now was wait—wait for Julian to come and save me, and wait for the agreed divorce date to arrive.

The next day, I woke up weak with hunger. I hadn’t eaten or drunk anything all day. I was so famished that black spots danced in my vision.

“Open the door! I want food!”

I banged on the door for what felt like forever until I finally heard shuffling outside.

When it opened, a disgusting stench slammed into my face.

“Hey, is she really okay?”

Two homeless men stared at me, eyes greedy and mouths drooling, slowly inching toward me.

“What are you doing?! Get away from me! Come any closer and I’ll call the police!” I yelled, pulling out my phone.

In truth, the battery had already died.

Samantha finally emerged from behind them.

She sneered, stormed over, snatched my phone, slammed it to the floor, and crushed it under her heel.

“Relax! My husband already gave her two million. The fee’s paid—you can do whatever you want! Call the cops? Go ahead!”

She pinched her nose, visibly disgusted by the men’s stench, but stood there, watching as they leered and crept toward me.

“Samantha, are you insane?!”

“House arrest is illegal! That two million is mine—I earned it! I deserve it!”

“I was being kind by not fighting back—I’ve paid far more than two million!”

She ignored everything I said, so I shouted as loud as I could:

“Ethan! If you’re a man, come out! Don’t hide behind a woman! You shameless coward!”

One of the men lunged toward my bed. Both reached for me at once, their filthy hands groping as their sour breath hit my face.

Drool dripped onto my chest. My voice began to tremble with fear.

Samantha had completely shed her mask from the night before.

“Your money? Isn’t that the money you spent to support a man? And now you want it back? You think there’s no cost to that?”

“You say it’s illegal? I’ll cry to everyone that you came back from abroad with a dirty disease and tried to extort money from me. Let’s see who they believe—me, an artist, or you, a filthy slut!”

With arms folded, she looked down at me smugly and barked at the men:

“What are you waiting for? She’s been with old foreign men all these years—this is just her playing hard to get!”

“Do a good job! What are you staring at me for? Want me to take her clothes off for you? Useless trash! If you can’t do it, get lost. There’s a whole line of hobos waiting outside!”

The two men, hearing this, grew frantic.

They had only slipped into this wealthy neighborhood hoping for a lucky break—now they couldn’t believe their fortune.

“What are you scared of, bro? No one’s gonna know. She’s the one who asked for this!”

Grinning wickedly, they rushed toward me again. Even on a normal day, I wouldn’t be able to fight off two grown men—let alone when I was starving and dizzy.

Satisfied, Samantha closed the door behind her.

“Take your time. Ethan won’t be home tonight. Sister, enjoy your two-million-dollar service…”

The foul stench overwhelmed me. I scrambled backward, trying to vanish into the corner.

My resistance only made them more excited.

My thin coat tore apart.

I fought with everything I had.