I even found her a more professional cosmetic hospital afterward, but all they did was slightly improve her existing foundations.

I never expected her best friend Rachel to go for that surgery and end up blowing up online. Many casting directors invited her to join their movies.

In comparison, Chloe could only maintain a small fanbase by following some healthy eating trends. Every day when I went home, she would scold me over the dinner table.

“It's all your fault! If you hadn't stopped me, I'd be famous by now! The three of us wouldn't have to live in this tiny apartment.

“You're always so risk-averse and paranoid about everything! The world out there isn't that dangerous. Do you think you're all that because you're a doctor? You only got into the hospital because of my father.”

I was furious, but I glanced at my daughter, her head buried in her food, and suppressed my rage. “You'll only see the side effects of the surgery after some time. It's early days yet.”

Chloe clicked her tongue and slammed her hand on the table. “Everyone will become old and ugly someday! I just want to earn money with my good looks now!”

She then turned her ire onto our daughter. “And you! I wouldn't have aged so quickly if I didn't have you! All you did was bring me misery.”

There were complications during the labor back then. Chloe had spent an entire day delivering Ellie.

After they left the hospital, I hired a nanny so that Chloe could focus on recovering. She never changed a single diaper, and nowadays she did not attend any parent-child conferences at Ellie’s school either.

All she ever did every day was scroll through countless TikTok videos and then copy the trends. She did not even mind when people called her a copycat.

I knew since then that my daughter and I meant nothing to her.

As expected, she soon started asking me for more money.

I smirked inwardly. This lifetime, I chose to respect her decision — but I would not give her a single cent.

“I'll withdraw the money from the bank in the afternoon. By the way, Mom and Dad called yesterday. They asked you not to contact them recently, because the investigators are closing in.”

Chloe scoffed. “They deserve it even if they died. They embezzled so much money but didn't give me a single dollar! Then they had the nerve to run away abroad, leaving me here.”

I comforted her for a bit and then lied that I was tired from the surgeries today, retiring to my room.

I had told her parents the same thing. They were terrified of being arrested, so they would not contact us for half a year at least.

Even as I closed the room door, I could feel her excited gaze trained on me.

I knew she had an even bigger “surprise” waiting for me.

In my previous life, Chloe pretended to give up after I persuaded her. That night, she invited Rachel to a bar, planning to swindle some men there and earn the money she needed for the surgery. However, her victim's wife caught her in the act.

By the time I got there, the fight had been over. Chloe sat on the bed, her expression twisted in agony. Her eyes were red and there were scratches on her face. She sobbed at me, “Honey, believe me, the wine was drugged! I just went drinking for a change of mood. I have no idea what happened after I drank the wine…

“Forgive me this time, please? If you don't believe me, you can test the wine for drugs.”

She swore on her life. That time, I had asked my friend for a favor and tested the wine overnight. As expected, the results showed there were sleeping pills in the wine.

Of course I forgave her after that. Even up till my death, I never once considered she was the one who put the pills there to drug the man.

In my previous life, I even felt bad for her after the incident. I comforted her and signed her up for the most expensive overseas tour package so she could get over the trauma.

My actions cost me and my daughter our lives.

This time, I would not interfere anymore. Instead, I was going to use this opportunity to thoroughly muddy the waters.

As I expected, Chloe crept out of the room with her things at midnight.

I sat in the living room for a while, then I locked the door and took a cab to the address on my phone.

In my previous life, the other man's wife had just found them at this point in time. They were probably still engaged in a heated fight.

I arrived to see the room door wide open, a huge hullabaloo unfolding inside. Someone even threw a piece of clothing at my head.

“You loser! You married into my family, and you still dared to cheat on me?! With such an lowly woman, too! Are you that desperate?!”

The woman slapped her husband over and over again, but he just took the beating in a daze, as though he was still half-asleep.

“Honey! Honey, listen to me. I can explain…” Chloe grabbed her clothes in a panic and tried to approach me, but she was so flustered that she fell from the bed, completely naked.

I saw the bags under her eyes and understood. The man was obviously not capable of doing anything right now, so she had to do the bulk of the work.

The woman scrutinized me up and down before ordering her subordinates to carry her husband away. Before she left, she gave me a mocking look. “Your wife is ruthless, I'll give her that. She even dared to drug a man.”

Chloe did not have time to distort the truth. The man's condition made the truth obvious for all to see.

After the man, his wife, and their posse left, the room fell silent.

Chloe was the first to give in to the pressure. She covered her body with the sheets and sat next to me, giving the exact same excuse she gave in my previous life.

I listened to her quietly. Perhaps it was the air-conditioning on full blast, but I could see the goosebumps all over her arms. At the same time, a sweat had broken out on her forehead due to her anxiety.

Eventually, she could not stand the silence anymore. She stood up, ran to the coffee table, and picked up the fruit knife, placing it over her wrist.

I took a step forward, staring at her trembling hand. So she was scared of dying, too?

Did she ever stop to think if my daughter and I were scared when she burned us to death in the previous life?

Recalling the agony of being burned all over and my daughter's anguished screams, I turned my gaze away coldly.

“Let's get divorced. I get Ellie and the house, and you get the thirty thousand dollars I promised you.” My voice was emotionless to my own ears.

Chloe stared at me in disbelief for a second before accusing me angrily, “What do you mean by that? Are you trying to throw me away after using me? Don't forget, you're the one who begged me to marry you! I'm the one who got you your current position as head of your department!

“Don't even think about abandoning me! So what if I cheated? You come home late every night! Can't a woman have needs?”

I broke free from her grip with a look of disgust, taking one step back to put some distance between us.

Although I had experienced the same thing once before, I still feel repulsed to see it happen again.

“I got into the hospital back then because my teacher requested for me by name. Did you think I'd never find out after your father escaped overseas?

“Also, I would never have had anything to do with you if you didn't get pregnant back then, much less marry you.”

It was not easy for me to go to university, having come out of an orphanage. To make it worse, I majored in medicine, one of the most difficult fields.

During my five years in medical school, I never dated anyone. I spent all my time in the library, at my part-time job, and in my dorm. On the contrary, Chloe was a famous heiress. I would see her surrounded by her lackeys, slacking off in every corner of the campus.

We came from completely different worlds, but we ended up having a one-night stand after a party one day. That was when Ellie was conceived.

Soon after that, we got married. Even after I finished my specialization and found a job at the hospital, I always assumed Chloe's father was the one who got me hired through his connections.

However, Chloe always knew her father never mentioned anything to the hospital.

Her dazed expression made me feel a bit better. While she was still caught off-guard, I turned and left the room.