After receiving his confident response, I hung up. I felt as if my heart had been hollowed out.

Everyone in the city knew that I changed careers to become a weather forecaster just so I could marry Cody.

My mother-in-law initially looked down on me, claiming a lawyer was just someone who makes a living with words.

Without a second thought, Cody made me a famous presenter. I received more awards than I could count.

But at the peak of my career, he orchestrated an artificial rain to please a nightclub hostess.

I fell from grace while he mockingly whispered in my ear, "Jealous? Don't be. I went to even greater lengths when I pursued you. Why can't I make other women smile too?"

I finally understood. Once I was his, I became something that he could trample at will.

That night, my boss urgently called me in.

I quickly prepared my script and was about to enter the studio when Sydney Swain approached me.

"Jenny, Cody wants me to try reporting the weather. You don’t mind, do you?"

She greedily eyed my script as if her victory was guaranteed.

I knew Cody would spoil Sydney, but reality was crueler than I imagined.

I smiled self-deprecatingly and let go of the script.

Cody sat in the control room, listening to Sydney's clumsy broadcast with interest, occasionally laughing out loud.

He couldn’t hide the affection in his eyes.

For the first time in my career, I sat on the sidelines.

Sydney even sent me to fetch drinks and write her scripts for her. It was utterly degrading.

The coworkers who looked down on me ridiculed me endlessly.

"Sydney already made her screen debut after arriving three days ago. So what if Jenny is the top presenter in the station? She still has to step aside for Sydney."

"Doesn't Jenny like snow? With Sydney here, I bet there won't be any snow this year."

"Let’s bet five hundred bucks on who will win the June Bacon-Bercey Award tomorrow. I bet on Sydney."

-

After the broadcast, Cody approached me with Sydney, all smiles.

"What do you think? Sydney did well, right? I told you she has great potential."

He couldn’t hide the pride in his voice.

I simply nodded and headed to the break room.

Cody frowned, gazing at my back as if wanting to say something.

The chorus of congratulations from others drew his attention back to Sydney.

Even after I locked the door, the raucous noise outside was still too loud to ignore.

I drank a cup of coffee to sober up. Suddenly, my phone buzzed. I had received an anonymous audio clip.

For some reason, I clicked play. I heard Sydney’s panicked and terrified voice.

"Cody, what do I do? Jenny's mother suddenly rushed out, and it was raining heavily... Please help me, Cody. I can disappear for a while. Just don’t let me go to prison. I beg you…"

My heart tightened. I held my breath, waiting for more.

The audio remained silent for at least three minutes, then Cody’s gentle yet cruel voice came through.

"This is a ticket to go abroad. Leave the rest to me."

Instantly, my hair stood on end, shock coursing through me.

The recording date was the same day my mother got into an accident.

Sydney was the culprit, and my husband was her accomplice.

I turned around unsteadily and found Cody standing right behind me.

"Are you investigating me?" His brows were deeply furrowed, his expression complex but devoid of guilt.

"So it's true?"

How I wished he would tell me that the audio was fake!

Cody avoided my eyes and remained silent.

The last bit of hope in my heart shattered.

As I was about to lose control, he suddenly hugged me, his soft voice uttering the cruelest words,

"Jenny, let bygones be bygones. Your mother is still alive. Sydney has a bright future ahead of her."

I stared at him in shock, feeling like a fish bone was stuck in my throat.

On that stormy night, I rushed to the scene of the accident and tried to charge past the barricades barefoot, but Cody restrained me in his arms.

He soothed me in a trembling voice, "Jenny, I'm here. It's okay. I'll catch the hit-and-run driver, I won't let him get away."

At the time, I was still holding a broken wine bottle. I swung it around in a frenzy, but all blows landed on him.

The rain washed away the blood, and he kept saying, "It's okay, it's okay…"

I naively thought Cody had brought the murderer to justice.

But his way of handling it was to buy Sydney a ticket abroad to hide and wait for the incident to cool off.

My blood ran cold, and I couldn't find my voice.

Just then, Sydney burst in, teary-eyed.

"Jenny, please stop using that audio clip to threaten me. I'm really scared of losing my job…"

As she spoke, she conspicuously showed her arms, eliciting gasps from onlookers.

Her arms were bruised and marked with knife wounds.

Cody's gaze betrayed his heartache, and when he looked at me, his eyes were filled with disappointment.

"Jenny, is this how you abuse Sydney behind my back? How could you?"

Those clumsy scars were nothing compared to my mother's life. They were nothing compared to three years of betrayal.

I laughed maniacally, not even bothering to explain.

"You're upset? Then let's divorce."

I handed him the divorce papers my senior sent me.

A hush fell over the crowd when they saw the words on the papers.

Cody glared at me, his eyes red with anger.

"Fine! If you want a divorce, I'll grant you your wish! I'll give you three days to regret it!"

He signed the papers with a flourish, shooting me an angry glare before walking away with Sydney in his arms.

Whispers of mockery came from behind me.

They were betting on when I would crawl back to Cody.

That night, Cody didn't return home. He went to various banquets with Sydney, helping her network with people in the industry.

He did the exact same thing when he made me famous years ago.

Cody had already booked the June Bacon-Bercey Award for Sydney, a newcomer who had only done one trial broadcast.

By doing so, he effortlessly embarrassed me.

He wanted me to know that without his backing, I was nothing.

While the TV was broadcasting Sydney's segment, I calmly packed my bags.

The next morning, a sudden call from the hospital jolted me awake:

"Is this Ms. Jenny Harper? Your mother… has gone missing."

My heart raced. Without thinking, I rushed to the award ceremony as fast as I could.

When I arrived, Cody was about to present the trophy to Sydney, who was clad in a custom-made luxury gown.

They looked like the perfect couple.

I appeared with no makeup and disheveled hair, incongruent with the solemn and elegant atmosphere.

Cody smiled on stage. He thought I regretted my decision already and had come to publicly beg for reconciliation.

Unfortunately, he was about to be disappointed.

Under the contemptuous gazes of the crowd, I approached Sydney with heavy steps, my eyes bloodshot.

"What did you do to my mother? Don't you dare touch her!"

My voice was trembling, and I looked frightening.

The crowd mocked and ridiculed me.

Cody felt embarrassed. He pushed me back harshly, causing me to stagger.

"Jenny, you're scaring Sydney!"

I stumbled off the stage, my insides almost shattering from the fall.

Cody unconsciously took a step forward, and Sydney quickly ran down the stage to help me up.

"Jenny, I have no idea what you're talking about. Stop embarrassing Cody."

The woman then pulled me closer and whispered in my ear, "How smart of you. You immediately figured out that it was me who took your mother away. Can you guess what I did to her?"

Sydney smiled brightly, but I was the only one who saw the vicious glint in her eyes.

Panicking, I couldn't hold back anymore. I grabbed her throat and squeezed hard.

"Give me back my mother, Sydney!"

The next second, a strong force yanked me away, and a slap hit my face.

Cody was trembling, his expression horrifying. "Jenny, I've had it with you. You would throw away your dignity for a trophy? Stop being so vain!"

In his eyes, I appeared wild and embarrassing.

But my mind was blank. All I could think about was my mother's safety.

In a moment of rage, I seized the trophy from Cody and charged at Sydney like a madwoman.

"AAH!"

However, the trophy hit Cody's back instead.

He pushed hard, and the trophy's sharp edge sliced across my face.

Blood stained the carpet as the trophy fell to the floor.

"Jenny, have you lost your mind?"

In his blind spot, Sydney shook a remote control at me.

It was a remote control for a bomb! There were only three minutes left on the countdown!

She took out a handkerchief to wipe away my blood, smiling provocatively and triumphantly at me. "Your mother is in the car outside, the same one that hit her and paralyzed her. I specifically bought it back."

In an instant, my world spun.

I staggered and made a run for the door, but Cody's bodyguards blocked my way.

From behind me, Cody growled like a demon.

"You think you can just run away after hurting her? Get back here and apologize on your knees!"

I felt as if the ticking bomb was pounding against my heart.

Tick-tock, tick-tock…

There was no time to hesitate. I dropped to my knees and knocked my forehead on the floor three times while glaring resentfully at the two of them.

Cody was stunned. He reached out to stop me.

But I had already sprinted towards the car outside without looking back.

Watching my desperate retreat, Cody's heart sank deeper and deeper.

Sydney pulled his attention back, saying, "The award ceremony is about to start."

"Yeah."

He hesitated and turned around, only to hear a loud boom behind him, followed by an onrush of heat…