David's voice message came through almost instantly, dripping with impatience:

[Saveline, what kind of stunt are you trying to pull this time? How many times do I have to tell you? I’m helping Lucia because it benefits me. My company invested a billion in The Legend of Diana, you were never capable of carrying the lead role. Stop making a scene.]

[Yeah, I was a little rough earlier, but that’s only because you wouldn’t listen. If you behave now, I promise you, you will always be my wife. Lucia will never compare to you.]

I stared at my phone, a bitter laugh escaping my lips.

David was certain that I wouldn’t bear to leave him, so he played his usual game by hurting me first, then offering a so-called "sweet" consolation.

"Miss Carter, why are you sitting on the floor?"

A nurse walked in, startled to see me collapsed there. She hurried over and helped me up.

"Miss Carter, congratulations. You’re pregnant."

The moment she handed me the report, my first instinct was to go straight to the obstetrics department and terminate the pregnancy.

These past few years, I had always wanted a child. I believed that a child would be the bond holding our marriage together. Every time I still harbored hope for David, I longed for a child even more.

But now, when I have completely given up on him, the child arrives at this moment.

For a brief second, I considered keeping the child and raising them alone. But deep down, I knew, I wanted my child to come into this world to experience happiness, not suffering. David would never let my child have a peaceful life.

The thought of my innocent child never seeing this world, taken away because I was helpless, felt like a knife through my heart.

Dizzy and unsteady, I made my way to the obstetrics and gynecology department.

But the doctor told me that my current condition was severe hypoglycemia. They were concerned that I might suffer from oxygen deprivation to the brain during the procedure. They advised me to go home and recover for two weeks before considering the surgery again.

I took a taxi home and looked at the cold, empty mansion, feeling waves of pain surging through my heart.

Once upon a time, I had been moved when David bought me this house.

What was once a love nest had now become a prison.

Before our marriage, David had suggested that, as public figures, we should keep our private lives as hidden as possible.

At his suggestion, we chose to have a secret marriage.

Many people in the entertainment industry lived in our neighborhood and since he and I usually walked separately and given that I was just a minor celebrity, there was no chance that the media would ever associate me with him.

Until late at night, David came back carrying a gift box.

Seeing me curled up on the sofa, his brows furrowed slightly.

"I bought you the latest Hermès bag. Stop throwing a tantrum."

He was always like this. He’d strike with one hand and offer a sweet with the other, convinced that my love for him was unbreakable.

As long as he gave me the slightest way out, he thought I’d gratefully scramble to take it.

Looking at the cherry blossom pink bag, I found it laughable.

He knew me best. I never liked anything pink.

Sure enough, my phone’s special notifications chimed. Lucia had posted an update:

"Straight men are so scary! Even though it's the latest Hermès, I really don’t like gaudy pink! Time to punish him, hmph!"

"So? Giving me this gaudy pink bag that Lucia doesn't like is her way of punishing you? Am I just a part of your game with her?"

David's originally handsome features instantly darkened with a layer of frost. "Can you stop acting like that?"

He walked over, sat down and gently reached out to brush away the stray strands of hair on my forehead.

His touch made me feel physically sick. I wasn’t sure if it was morning sickness or just pure disgust at the sight of him. I gagged and spat out a mouthful of sour bile, instinctively pushing him away.

"Saveline, are you insane? Are you done yet?"

Funny enough. He didn’t care that I was throwing up. He only cared that I had pushed him.

"Yes, I must be sick. I've been insulted by millions of comments, I don't dare turn on my phone and I still apologize. If that's not being sick, then what is?"

Even after being cursed at so harshly, my voice remained soft and petulant as I voiced my grievance.

I'd always been gentle and timid by nature. When others bullied me, I would simply avoid them.

I remembered being bullied by a girl who acted sweet but was actually manipulative.

Without hesitation, David stepped in front of me and said sharply, “You better jump and drown in the river. That way, people would still think it’s just a piece of trash!”

The manipulative girl ran off after being scolded and David gently pinched my nose, speaking softly, “You little weakling, what would you do without me? You’d get bullied too much.”

I never imagined that one day, David would stand against me.

My parents were in the business of mining raw diamonds. That year, the mine collapsed.

My parents were driven to suicide by public opinion, leaving me trapped in endless darkness.

I was taken in by our housekeeper, but it was David who stole his father’s antique collection worth over ten million dollars and sold it on the black market to get the money to set up a home for me and the housekeeper in another city.

As for David himself, he was beaten severely by his father and then kicked out of the family.

When I was broken and battered, he treated me like a treasure.

But now that all the hardships had passed, the man who once pulled me out of the abyss was the same one pushing me into another torment that devoured me from the inside out.

I closed my eyes, bit my lip and choked back my tears. “David, let’s at least keep some dignity for each other. Let’s end this on good terms and get a divorce.”

David frowned slightly, his voice laced with confusion. “Saveline, you’re really divorcing me over something this trivial? It’s just cyberbullying, haven’t you been through worse? When your parents killed all those people, weren’t the insults you got back then even harsher? You’ve already been through it once, haven’t you? Why are you still so sensitive? I really don’t get you.”

The people closest to you always knew where it hurt the most.

He knew better than anyone that my parents’ deaths were a pain I would never be able to face in this lifetime. Yet, at this moment, he tossed it at me so effortlessly, as if it was nothing.

"Get out! I don’t want to see you!"

With bloodshot eyes, I hurled a pillow at him.

"Shrew! Completely unreasonable."

Cursing under his breath, he grabbed the sakura pink bag and stormed out.

Not long after, Lucia posted a new update:

"My big straight man couldn’t even complete a simple little task. Girls, tell me, should I make him kneel on a washboard?"

David immediately replied: "Diana, have mercy!"

The comment section was flooded with people squealing about how sweet they were.

It seemed I really was just a piece in their game.

Love was supposed to be for both of us, but while I was still figuring out what went wrong, I had already been pushed from the main role in his story to just a background character.

It was just another cliché romance story, where the new lover laughed while the old one cried.

I wiped away my tears and unlocked my password-protected notebook.

Then, I dialed an international call across the ocean.

James was the CEO of the world’s largest diamond mining company.

Growing up alongside my father, I had learned a lot about raw diamond mining.

Even though my father had fallen from grace, his reputation in the industry remained formidable.

James admired my father, which was why he went to great lengths to find me and offered me a position at his company.

His company was based in Zenova State.

At the time, I was deeply in love with David and couldn’t bear to leave him.

Besides, I didn’t want to follow in my father’s footsteps, so I gave up the opportunity.

Right now, everything I once cherished regarded me as worthless. I had nothing left to hold me back.

With my ruined reputation, finding work in the entertainment industry, let alone any job in the country, would be nearly impossible.

Thinking about this made me uneasy. My heart pounded as I anxiously dialed the number.

When the call connected, I carefully asked, “Hello, is this Mr. James?”

There was a brief hesitation on the other end before a soft “Mm” came through, followed by silence.

His quietness made my palms sweat with nerves.

“I’m Lucas Carter’s daughter, Saveline Carter. Does your company still need a gemstone appraiser?”

I felt completely uncertain. I was terrified that if I only introduced myself as Saveline, he wouldn’t remember me and would just hang up. So, I had no choice but to bring up my father.

My body trembled with nervousness and my voice involuntarily choked up.

“It's okay, don’t cry.”

Unexpectedly, the voice on the other end was that of a gentle young man.

It sounded somewhat familiar, but it was definitely not the voice of the person who had given me the number that day.

“You… You’re not Mr. James? I’m sorry, I must have dialed the wrong number.”

My heart, which had been hanging in suspense, plummeted once again into the depths.

The person on the other end didn’t answer my question but instead said gently, “I’ll come pick you up.”

I was utterly confused. If he wasn’t James, why would he come to pick me up?

Sensing my silence, he added, “I’ve heard about what happened to you. I have a flight tonight. Let’s talk in person.”

With that, he hung up.

I was completely bewildered, knowing nothing about the identity of this person.

The only thing I was sure of was that he knew me. Maybe it was because of my father that he was willing to help me.

How ridiculous. Just to leave David, I had started to look forward to the arrival of a stranger I had never met.

The love I once depended on had now become the very thing I was desperate to escape from.

Two people who had once loved each other so deeply had now reached the point of mutual resentment. It was quite a pity.

Even though that person was only willing to help me out of respect for my father, at least I had a place to go.

For a brief moment, the heavy weight in my heart was lifted.

Now, all I had to do was wait for him to arrive and help me process my work visa.

While waiting for the visa, I could finalize my divorce.

With that plan in mind, I started packing my belongings.

Looking at the single suitcase before me, I couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

After ten years of marriage, everything I owned in this home could fit into just one suitcase.

I had made up my mind. I didn't want anything. As long as David agreed to sign the divorce papers without trouble, I was willing to leave with nothing. Even the house and car that he transferred to my name, I would give them up as well.

It wasn’t that I saw money as worthless or thought of myself as noble. It was just that David had once been the one who pulled me out of the abyss. He simply didn’t love me anymore; it wasn’t as if he had committed some unforgivable crime.

I still remembered that year, right after my parents' suicide. The widows of the miners who had died in the collapse gathered at my doorstep, holding banners and demanding that I die with them, saying that the Carter Family deserved to be wiped out.

It was David who hid me in the basement. Despite being so young, he stood tall like a man, looking at me with unwavering determination and saying, "Saveline, wait here. I'll take care of it and once it's done, I'll take you away."