“If you had any shame, you wouldn’t have caused my right ear to suffer lifelong hearing loss. If you had any shame, you wouldn’t have nearly caused my daughter to die before she was born!”

“Two years ago, I never truly settled things with you. Heaven must have pity, giving me another chance to deal with you!”

Heidi covered her face in shame, tears filling her eyes, not daring to speak.

Ezra’s brows tightened as he grabbed my wrist hard, his tone unhappy.

“That’s enough, Evie! In these two years, she has already suffered enough. You don’t need to keep pushing!”

“If it weren’t for you refusing to let it go when you had the upper hand back then, Heidi wouldn’t have been kicked out of the orchestra and ended up as a street vendor!”

“What happened back then has long been settled.”

Pressing and refusing to let go, those few words gave me a firm belief.

But back then, the one at fault had clearly been Heidi!

Two years ago, when I found out Ezra was cheating, I had returned early from an overseas performance, traveling through three countries just to celebrate his birthday with him, yet I saw him and Heidi kissing at Hamilton Harbour.

At that moment, without thinking, I struck them, even sending Heidi to the hospital, making our divorce known across Kansas.

I thought divorcing would make him turn back, but instead, he sank deeper, even giving me seventy percent of his shares just to remain with Heidi.

That evening, heavy rain poured in Kansas, and he stayed on his knees at the doorway, crying and begging me.

“Evie, I accept divorce, I give half of everything to you, I only ask you not to make trouble for Heidi.”

“Her life is very hard, but she and I truly love each other. These years, the care and time I gave you were already enough.”

But he forgot, during those years I stayed by his side to build his base, my life was also very hard, for him, I turned against my family and gave up everything.

Before the divorce papers were fully signed, both Heidi and I got into a kidnapping danger.

Ezra had many enemies in his past, even kidnapping, which needed another party to act, truly sad.

When she and I were forced to choose between life and death during a live broadcast seen across Kansas, everyone assumed he would choose me.

But he did the opposite, pointing at Heidi and saying firmly, “Save her, any amount of money is fine!”

I stared at him in shock and pain, breaking down as I cried, “Ezra, save me…”

My tears and despair could not make him change his mind.

He took Heidi and left without a glance back, as if I did not exist.

It was almost half a month before I was finally rescued.

In those dark days, the kidnappers beat me, burned my arm with cigarette ends, and my private photos were spread all over the internet.

He did not come to rescue me; even the kidnappers laughed and mocked me.

“Miss Russo chose the wrong man, ah, while you are being tortured, he is still traveling and relaxing with his mistress!”

When I was saved, if not for the hospital’s urgent call, Ezra would still be in Switzerland with her, speaking of love.

We had a child, and even after everything, she was still fortunate and strong enough to live.

For the sake of this child, he finally chose to end things with Heidi and return to my side.

Because of that kidnapping incident, everyone in Kansas learned that she was a mistress. After being removed from the orchestra, she vanished.

During these two years, I thought he no longer loved her, but when they met again after so long, he still lost control over himself for her.

I quietly looked at his cold face and softly spoke.

“Ezra, let’s get a divorce. I will let you two lovers be together.”

Hearing this, surprise and fear flashed through his eyes.

But soon, he scoffed. “Evie, all these years you keep using divorce to pressure me, but you never divorce.”

“We have a child, you and your father already broke ties long ago; besides me, you have no one to depend on.”

His words sounded very ridiculous; everyone in Kansas knew I loved him, knew my father did not agree for me to marry an illegitimate son, knew that to marry him, I endured ninety-nine family punishments and even cut ties with the Russo family.

But no one knew there was a deal between my father and me.

“Ten years, as long as he still loves you like before, I will give half of the family property to him.”

“If he betrays you, I want you to come back home and personally take back all his assets.”

Ezra, you were wrong. You really were about to lose me.

I wanted to keep arguing with him, but my daughter’s weak crying stopped me.

I calmly looked at them, got into the car, and drove away.

After going back home, I quickly booked a ticket for seven days later to fly to England.

Right after that, I directly called the lawyer.

“Attorney Harper, I want a divorce from him, the sooner the better.”

The person on the other side answered with full confidence.

“Miss Russo, do not worry when I take care of things. In seven days, you can get the divorce papers. I promise to make that trash lose everything, not even a single coin left.”

I ended the call, picked up a can of gasoline, and walked straight to the backyard, without any pause, as I lit the lighter and threw it into the field of flowers.

The fire covered my eyes.

The rose garden in the backyard had been brought from overseas at high cost when we married. Over the years, I carefully cared for them, like protecting the once-strong love between us.

But now, I no longer wanted anything connected to him.

When he returned late, he happened to see this scene.

The strong fire burned in front of him; at that moment, his eyes showed shock, and he even stepped forward, trying to put out the fire with his bare hands.

Seeing that the fire was too large and could not be saved, he turned and shouted at me in anger. “Are you crazy? Why did you burn it?”

I had feared he might realize I planned to go away, bringing trouble.

I made myself remain composed and faced him. “I suddenly got an idea, I want to grow sunflowers here, so I just burned it to turn it into fertilizer.”

After hearing that, he regained control and stayed calm, appearing unconcerned.

“As long as you enjoy it.”

I did not glance at him anymore, and as I moved to walk away, two warm and strong hands circled my waist.

“About what happened today, are you still upset?”

Why would I feel upset? Was someone who kept betraying really worth my anger?

I turned back, saw his beautiful peach blossom eyes, bringing up a memory.

“Evie, even if I lose everything, are you still willing to marry me?”

I smiled and pressed a kiss on the tear mark under his eye and said, “Even if you end up as a poor man with nothing, I still want to stay with you!”

His eyes looked certain, his expression honest as he made that promise to me.

“In this life and the next life, I won't hurt you. If I break it, I will surely die without a complete body!”

That promise felt too serious, falling on us who were still so young, we couldn't carry it.

He pulled out a gemstone necklace from his top pocket and softly set it into my hand.

“I don't think about anything else, I just want to live well with you.”

After saying that, he tried to touch my lips with his, but I moved away at once.

He said, “After divorce, don't talk about it again, Vera is still little, hearing this isn't good.”

Looking at that heavy necklace, my whole body turned stiff.

Three hours earlier, Heidi's Facebook page posted something new.

“A present from brother, said I went through a lot these years.”

“This type of ugly necklace only older women like, so he switched it for me to the latest bracelet, oh!”

Under it, many people cried out, and she almost immediately answered one message.

“It’s him. We meet again after being apart for so long.”

Back then, this account was where she shared updates about her love with Ezra. This account I secretly followed for two years had no new posts, but it suddenly posted today.

In the picture, the hand that was purposely shown, the right hand, belonged to Ezra.

Because the mark on his wrist came from when he hurt himself before to avoid ending things with me, this time the wedding ring was gone, only leaving light marks.

I moved gently and gave the necklace back to him.

“Ezra, since I was young until now, I haven’t worn necklaces.”

At that moment, he froze, his face showing a bit of discomfort.

When we were fifteen, the first present he gave me was a necklace, and I told him then.

“Sorry, I don’t like wearing necklaces.”

At that time, he said, “I’ll always remember, I’ll remember everything you like!”

Before he could say more, a call came in.

“Mr. Howard, Miss Trevino keeps yelling that she wants to die. Please come fast and check!”

Soon, I heard Heidi’s voice; she cried and screamed.

“I do not want to see him! I do not want to be a mistress. Why do they all push me to death!”

At that time, Ezra looked at me with doubt, wanting to speak to Heidi but stopping.

But soon he still chose.

“I go now, very soon!”

After the call finished, he quickly walked past me.

This sudden call made me feel a bit worried.

As expected, a message appeared on my phone.

[Old town fire, Heidi tried to burn the other woman alive, could it be done by the wife?]

[Past love not gone, making the wife unhappy, even starting a fire to kill?!]

Those two short lines had all pointed at me, even purposely showing the photos from that day in the old town, of me striking Heidi.

In a moment, online users exploded, all deciding that I had planned it.

Soon after, Ezra returned with great anger.

He acted out of control, grabbing my throat, shouting loudly.

“You can't stand her, so you have to push her to death to feel satisfied?”

I was held tight by him and couldn't breathe; my face turned red.

Seeing me struggle hard, he then woke up and let go of his hand.

I coughed a few times. “It isn't me. If it were me, back then I would've killed her!”

Ezra frowned, very unhappy with what I said.

“Stop. Did we not agree we do not talk about what happened before!”

Seeing him avoid the past, I instead felt it was both silly and sad.

She falsely accused me of cheating to get awards, led me to be hurt by extreme people online, caused my right ear to have lasting hearing loss, and made me forever unable to play the cello.

For a cello player to lose part of the sound, those painful days could not be spoken of.

Even his making up for my schizophrenia and helping her clear her suspicion could not be spoken of.

During that time, I tried so hard to get treatment, hoping to go back to the orchestra, but it all ended with one line, not to mention.

“Ezra, you still love her, right?”

My voice sounded very calm, but held many mixed feelings.

His body froze, as if he had not expected me to say that.

Then, he suddenly took my hand and softly said, “Evie, what’s done is done. Why keep holding onto it? Can’t we just live well together?”

I gently smiled and pulled my hand away.

“If you truly wanted to live well, you would not still have feelings for her, and you would not lose control again over her safety.”

“Ezra, you may fool others, but you cannot fool me.”

From the age of eight to twenty-eight, I had seen how he lost control because of love.

Once for me, and many times for Heidi.

When I was twenty, studying in England, I had acute gastroenteritis. I cried and called him.

“If you were here with me, it would be better.”

After a twelve-hour flight, he came to my side. When I had a high fever and fainted, his eyes turned red.

“I’m here, don’t fall asleep. I’ll stay with you.”

Later, he would worry over Heidi’s stomach pain during her period, stay by her bedside all night when she had a fever, and believe her tears when she said I made things hard for her…

In the end, he never lost control of me again, never panicked for me again.

“Let’s divorce. Like you once said, I’ll grant your wish.”

My words felt heavy, yet to him they were as light as air.

He smiled faintly with mockery. “Evie, you won’t divorce, for this family, for our daughter.”

“Between us, we have already gone beyond lovers; countless ties bind us tightly. You won’t be willing to divorce, because you love me deeply.”

I looked at his confident expression and felt it was absurd.

“What if this time, I truly mean it?”

Before I could hear his reply, a phone rang.

It was Heidi’s; if he no longer loved her, why, after so long, was his ringtone still her instrument recording?

Such poor skill, who else could it be but her?

I still remember when we argued about this. He had said, “Heidi’s playing isn’t that good, using it as a ringtone is just to acknowledge her, and even that you want to argue about?”

After the call finished, he nervously moved toward the door. I suddenly caught his sleeve without saying anything.

“Ezra, one last time, if you go see her today, we are totally over.”

He quickly pulled away from me and spoke in a strict voice.

“Stop it. Don’t cause problems; she is not feeling well right now. I’m going to check on her.”

“Why can’t you stop being jealous all the time? If you didn’t get someone to start that fire today, she wouldn’t be in the hospital!”

At last, the door slammed shut, and all I could hear around me was the wind.

After Ezra was unfaithful, I decided to forgive him. But over the past years, I spent every day and night hurting because of what he did. He kept thinking I was acting unfairly, always bringing up past issues, so starting now, let us fully separate.

Suddenly, my phone started to ring.

It was Attorney Harper calling, her voice a bit serious.

“Ms. Russo, Ezra has just taken the money from the trust fund account you created for your daughter.”

“Every amount has been moved into Heidi’s account.”

For her sake, Ezra even took this money illegally, which is really shameful.

After the call ended, I quickly called another number right away.

“Hello, I want to make a police report. Someone has committed fraud.”