I'm down with a 104-degree fever, so I want to apply for sick leave. But my wife, Nadine Sullivan's assistant, Terrence Lowell, denies my leave and forces me to take on an overtime shift.

"Ms. Sullivan has gone on a trip to a tropical island with her 18th lover. So, I'm the one calling the shots at the company for the time being.

"You're not allowed to leave the company without my permission."

Terrence makes my life difficult on purpose just so he can kiss up to Nadine. That's how he becomes her 19th lover.

Unwilling to accept this fact, I call Nadine on the spot.

But she says to me coldly, "Terrence's word is good as mine. It's just an overtime shift; what else can happen to you? You're so dramatic, Barry."

Disappointment surges into my heart at that moment. "Let's get a divorce."

Nadine just smiles mockingly. "Do you even have the guts to divorce me, Barry Thorpe? All you do is cause trouble nowadays! Don't forget that you still need me to pay for your mom's hospital bills every month!"

As soon as the call is over, Terrence starts a poll in the company's group chat.

"Barry has brought up divorce again. Do you think he'll go through with it or no?"

Nadine quickly votes "no".

But what she doesn't know is that I've already made all preparations to leave her for real.

When everyone heard that I was filing for divorce, the usually silent company group chat erupted into chaos.

"Even if pigs could fly, Barry Thorpe would never file for divorce."

"He always does this every time to get Ms. Sullivan's attention. How childish."

"He's living off his wife, yet he still has the nerve to act up every day. Without Ms. Sullivan, he'd be starving on the streets. Hahaha!"

Everyone in the group voted that the divorce was fake.

Pleased with the outcome, Nadine Sullivan immediately transferred money to everyone in the group.

After thanking her for the money, my colleagues continued mocking me.

I let out a self-deprecating laugh before voting for "Yes, He's Filing For Divorce".

Then I sent a message to the group. "I've already hired a lawyer to draft the divorce papers."

With that, I exited the group chat.

Nadine immediately sent me a message. "What's the meaning of this? Are you trying to embarrass me on purpose? Believe it or not, I could stop paying for your mom's medical bills."

"Go right ahead."

Over the past eight years, Nadine had used this to keep me under her control. She refused to pay me a single cent in salary and even made me eat leftovers and spoiled food in front of everyone.

Nadine even had me select gifts for her lover and forced me to watch them get intimate.

I lived in an unfinished room, slept on cardboard, and was always trying to please Nadine. I was walking on eggshells every day, and I'd had enough of this kind of life.

It was a good thing I managed to secure a major order last week, even at the cost of stomach bleeding. Nadine even promised me a 30,000-dollar bonus in front of everyone, which would be enough to cover my mom's surgery.

Another company even reached out to me with a solid offer and a decent salary.

My head was pounding badly. I packed up my things, ready to leave, but Terrence Lowell stopped me.

"Who said you could leave?"

"Here's my resignation letter," I said flatly.

Terrence reached for the document and tore it to shreds.

"You don't have to make things hard on purpose. I can help you become Nadine's 19th lover."

While coughing, I pulled a notebook out of the drawer. "I have all of Nadine's preferences listed here."

Whenever Nadine took on a new lover, she would expect me to brief them about her. I even named the notebook "100 Ways to Make Nadine Sullivan Happy".

Terrence snatched the notebook from me, but he still refused to let me go. Instead, he started a video call in the company group chat.

In an instant, all my colleagues, including Nadine, joined the call.

Nadine lay on her stomach on the beach as her 18th lover rubbed sunscreen over her body. She even let him run his hands over her intimate areas.

"Ms. Sullivan!

"Not only did Barry not do his work earlier, but he also tore up company documents. He shouted that he was resigning and even called you and me bastards. I really don't know what to do with him. What should I do?" Terrence complained, feigning hurt.

Terrence already had the notebook, but he still wasn't satisfied. He even tried to make something up and pin it on me so he could help Nadine get back at me.

I already had a pounding headache and was so angry that I almost fainted. I could only hold onto the office desk for support.

Before I could even explain, Nadine snorted. "Since he refuses to take orders, he needs to be punished. Everyone, how do you think we should teach him a lesson?"

The group chat blew up again.

"Didn't he say he had a fever? Let's help bring his temperature down. We'll pour ice water on him."

"Yes, I agree!" Everyone was in favor of that idea, even Nadine.

Terrence quickly had security bring in ten buckets of ice water.

"Nadine… I really have a fever…" At that point, I barely even had the strength to speak.

"Still pretending? Do you think I don't know you well enough?" Nadine stared at me with disdain.

But when had she ever understood what I had gone through? How helpless I had felt? My pain?

What happened back then had made her despise me, but I hadn't even meant for that to happen.

Ice-cold water hit me, snapping me out of my thoughts. It was so cold that I started shivering.

Their laughter rang in my ears, but it wasn't even over yet. Nadine ordered them to keep pouring bucket after bucket of water over me.

Nadine's face lit up with joy. In her excitement, she pulled her 18th lover into her arms and kissed him passionately.

I finally couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed. My forehead slammed into the coffee table, and blood immediately started streaming down my face.

Before I lost consciousness, I seemed to hear Nadine yell anxiously, "Terrence, what are you waiting for? Take him to the hospital now! If anything happens to him, I'll make you pay for it!"

…

When I came to, the first person I saw was Nadine.

"What a drama king. You get sick so easily. You're just like your bedridden mother. You both deserve it! I can't believe I'm married to you."

Nadine folded her arms across her chest, her gaze filled with intense disgust.

Eight years ago, I was only the son of the Sullivans' housekeeper. I had just received a job offer from an international corporation when Nadine's parents made a public announcement that I would be their future son-in-law.

However, Nadine's parents had done so without her permission.

Ever since then, she believed my mother and I had manipulated her parents. No matter how much I tried to explain myself, it was useless.

One night, after drinking too much, I woke up to find myself in the same bed as Nadine. At that point, it was a done deal. We had no choice but to get married.

Nadine insisted on uncovering the truth, and my mother, who was seriously ill, confessed on her own. She said she had come up with that plan because she was afraid Nadine would look down on me.

I still remembered how Nadine kicked me to the ground that day, shouting furiously, "Barry, we were already dating in secret, and I really admired your talent.

"I even thought of marrying you! I can't believe you and your mother came up with such a shameless, despicable scheme to make me marry you! Damn you two! You deserve the worst!"

That was also the first night Nadine brought home her first lover. She even forced me to wait on them as they took a bath together. Later, I had to wait outside and hear them get intimate.

But deep down, I never believed Mom could ever do such a thing. After all, she had an excellent reputation. She raised me alone and was a frugal, hardworking woman. She never pursued wealth or status.

Mom always told me that a peaceful life was more than enough. She had also repeatedly turned down Mr. Sullivan's attempts to arrange a marriage alliance, insisting that Nadine's wishes should come first.

Still, Nadine refused to consider any of this.

"I'll let you have your freedom again," I said after a brief pause.

"Come on. Everyone knows you're just my lapdog. You're always trying to cling to me."

With a snort, Nadine clapped her hands. "Oh, right. Let me introduce you to my new lover."

As she spoke, she lifted her chin proudly. She was showing off.

In the past, I would have been shaking with anger, but I was already used to it by now.

Terrence immediately walked into the hospital room, smiling. He pulled Nadine into his arms and lowered his head to kiss her. Their lips met in a deep, lingering kiss.

I had seen stuff like that way too many times and was already numb to it.

There was a knock on the door, and an elegant, poised woman walked in, interrupting Terrence and Nadine's passionate kiss.

"Ms. Keller," I called out.

"Jessica? What brings you here?" Nadine narrowed her eyes slightly, displeasure flickering across her face.

"I'm here to deliver the divorce papers," Jessica Keller replied flatly.

"What?" Nadine was taken aback for a moment. Then, her expression turned cold.

I took the divorce papers from Jessica and said with a smile, "Thank you. I'll treat you another time."

"No problem."

Jessica reached out to touch my forehead before smiling faintly. "I'm glad your fever has gone down. Call me anytime you need help. Remember—you're not alone."

Once Jessica was gone, Nadine glared at me and said mockingly, "Oh? Now you want to live off Jessica? I thought you two were a little too close back in college.

"But a guy like you? At most, she'd just mess around with you."

I wasn't in the mood to argue with Nadine and handed her the divorce papers instead, saying, "Sign the papers. Let's set each other free."

I often argued with Nadine at first, and later even started compromising and trying to please her. I had done all that, hoping she would come to her senses soon. I wanted her to treat our marriage like it actually mattered and give me some time to find out the truth.

But it backfired. Nadine only escalated things further, trampling on my dignity repeatedly.

I was utterly exhausted now.

I didn't expect Nadine to tear the divorce papers to pieces and throw them in my face. "You'll always be mine! You don't get to belong to anyone else!"

She had Terrence take me to the car first, while she went to complete the paperwork to discharge me from the hospital.

At first, Terrence did as he was told. Once we were in the car, he slapped me.

"You bastard! Just seeing your face pisses me off!"

Terrence was no different from Nadine's 18 other lovers. They had always humiliated me for no reason.

I hated myself for being so useless. After living like a coward for eight years, I was finally ready to leave Nadine.

"I'm going to sleep with your wife tonight. You excited? Are you looking forward to it? Hey, answer me!"

Terrence was about to slap me again when Nadine walked downstairs, her heels clicking on the floor.

His eyes darted, and he suddenly leaned back, tumbling out of the car. He immediately put on a shocking expression, asking, "Barry, I was only trying to help you into the car? Why did you have to push me?"

Nadine rushed over to help Terrence up before yanking me out of the car.

"You're disgusting! How could you bully Terrence while I was gone? In that case, you're sleeping outside tonight!" Nadine snapped.

I smiled bitterly, not offering any explanation. After all, stuff like this had happened far too often.

Nadine's first lover had once accused me of splashing boiling water on him. The truth was, the water was cold.

Nadine didn't care about anything else and immediately started beating me up, forcing me to apologize to him.

Nadine's second lover claimed I had deliberately stepped on his shoes, so she made me lick them as punishment.

She even forced me to eat an entire packet of salt because her third lover accused me of putting too much salt in his food, which landed me in the hospital.

Nadine's fourth lover made a mistake at work, causing a major order to fall apart, and he pinned the blame on me.

She didn't bother to get the facts straight. She just forced me to apologize in person and even reprimanded me in public.

There were so many incidents like this that I couldn't finish telling them all in one night.

At the very beginning, I tried to explain myself and even swore on my life that I hadn't done any of those things, but it was all in vain.

Perhaps the truth didn't matter to Nadine at all.

"Oh, it's raining. You should stay out here in the rain and reflect on what you've done!"

Nadine kicked me hard, got into the car with Terrence, and drove off. The exhaust fumes hit my face.

The rain started getting heavier, lashing down on me, leaving me drenched and disheveled.

I heard a honk, and a car suddenly pulled up next to me. It was Jessica.

Without caring about getting wet, she hurriedly got out of the car and helped me in. Then, she asked, "Do you want to go home? Or…"

"I want to see my mom," I replied. I never wanted to return to the so-called home I shared with Nadine for the rest of my life.

As soon as I arrived at the heart center where Mom had been admitted, I happened to run into her attending doctor. I quickly greeted him before asking about her surgery, but he simply rolled his eyes at me.

"I've never seen someone so heartless! You actually asked us to cancel the surgery so you could gamble the money away."

I froze for a moment. Then I quickly said, "I've already signed the surgery consent form. I even transferred money into the card linked to the medical bills. Why would I cancel her surgery?"

Frowning, the doctor said, "According to the plan, the surgery was set for yesterday. Since there wasn't enough money in your account, I gave you a call, but you told us to cancel the surgery because you were going to Alasia to gamble big."

What?

Startled, I quickly pulled out my phone and realized it was powered off. After turning it on, I realized that three days had passed since I lost consciousness, yet the battery was still at 50%.

That meant someone had been using my phone during that time. They had impersonated me while communicating with the hospital.

"Then how's my mom doing?" At that moment, I started shaking from head to toe.

The doctor sighed. "She passed away this morning. I called you, but you didn't pick up. Her body's in the morgue."

My mind went completely blank, and I collapsed on the spot. Still, I made myself get up and dashed toward the morgue.

Seeing Mom's lifeless body, I couldn't hold back my tears.

I immediately called Nadine and interrogated her. "Didn't you say you already paid out the bonus? Why haven't I received it?"

It wasn't Nadine who replied, but Terrence.

"I withheld your bonus. I'll give it to you later, depending on your performance." Terrence let out a chuckle.

"You… I needed the bonus for my mom's surgery!" I roared.

"Oh?" Terrence sounded unconcerned. "I thought I'd help you cancel the surgery. That's why you don't need the money anymore."

"So it was you…" I was so angry that I started trembling and even coughed up blood.

"I mean, what else can I do? Bullying you is the best way to make Nadine happy." Terrence burst out laughing instead.

Then I heard Nadine's voice from the other end. "Terrence, who's on the phone?"

"It's Barry. He's asking for his bonus, but I told him his performance lately has been unacceptable. That's why I withheld it for now," Terrence replied calmly.

"Well done! Tell him if he wants the bonus, he has to stay outside all night. Otherwise, not only will I cancel the bonus, but I'll also stop paying for his mom's medical bills," Nadine said with a playful smile.

"Did you hear that, Barry? You have to stay outside all night!" Terrence exclaimed in delight.

The next moment, Terrence and Nadine were locked in each other's arms, kissing passionately as they fell onto the bed. I then heard their ragged breathing through the phone.

What a shameless pair.

After ending the call, I took Mom's hand and said, "Mom, I'm so sorry…"

I cried all night, and Jessica stayed by my side the entire time.

The next morning, I went to the police station to file a report before asking Jessica to handle my divorce proceedings. Then I went home to make the arrangements for Mom's funeral.