Chapter 2

I tried my birthday. Wrong.

Our wedding anniversary. Wrong.

Nancy's birthday. Wrong.

I even tried his favorite athlete's jersey number. Still wrong.

One last chance—the phone warned that another wrong entry would lock it.

On a whim, I remembered seven years ago when we first started dating, after getting drunk once, he'd called out a name: "Susan."

That was his first love, the campus beauty in college. I heard she later married a rich guy and moved abroad.

With trembling fingers, I entered that date I had secretly written in my diary and considered taboo—that woman's birthday.

"Click."

The screen unlocked.

In that instant, my heart went half cold, but it hadn't completely died.

Maybe it was just a coincidence? Maybe he just couldn't forget his old flame?

But the moment I opened his messages, all my illusions were shattered.

I remembered how Liam used to say I was vulgar, that I didn't understand romance.

Turns out, he saved all his romance for someone else.

I opened the conversation.

It was filled with explicit messages, and even many nude photos.

The most recent message was from half an hour before the accident.

Liam: "Baby, the final step is done. The money's already transferred to you. We can take this money and live happily ever after. That old hag is still at home making me dinner, haha."

The other person replied: "You're amazing! Once you get to the airport we'll meet up. Did you buy the tickets?"

Liam: "Bought them, leaving tonight. I've already cooked the company books, they won't find any loopholes. By the time Evelyn figures it out, we'll already be sunbathing in Vancouver."

My breathing became rapid, my chest felt like it had been struck by a sledgehammer.

That's right—that afternoon I was in the kitchen making his favorite borscht. To save two dollars, I'd even gone to three different markets to buy beef.

Turns out in his eyes, I was just an idiot.

My fingers scrolled up stiffly until I saw that transfer record.

Transfer to: Susan

Amount: Nineteen million dollars.

I suddenly wanted to laugh. I laughed until tears came out.

Liam ran a building materials business. Everyone said business had been tough these past two years.

Every month when I asked him for five thousand dollars for living expenses, he'd haggle with me endlessly, saying the company's cash flow was tight, telling me to be frugal.

To save money, I hadn't bought new clothes in two years. My skincare products were discounted Pond's from the supermarket.

Last month my mom needed heart bypass surgery, urgently needing fifty thousand dollars for the operation. I begged him, almost got on my knees.

What did he say then?

He frowned, looking impatient as he pushed me away: "Evelyn, it's not that I won't help, there's really no money. The company's accounts are all tied up, can't touch it. Figure it out yourself. Why don't you sell that gold bracelet?"

That gold bracelet was a keepsake my grandmother left me.

To save my mom, I sold it.

And he turned around and gave this woman named Susan nineteen million dollars!

Nineteen million!

That was our marital property!

That was the fortune I helped him build sleeping in basements, eating instant noodles, even drinking until I had stomach bleeding just to help him with business entertainment!

He not only betrayed our marriage, he was going to run off with all the money and throw me away like garbage!

That night, I didn't cry out loud.

I sat on the cold floor and backed up all the chat records, transfer receipts, and those disgusting photos from the phone to my cloud storage.

I looked at myself in the mirror—that sallow-faced woman with fine lines at the corners of her eyes.

Evelyn, you shouldn't cry.

If you cry now, you've truly lost.

Since Liam wanted to scheme against me even in death, I'll make sure he can't rest in peace even as a ghost!

"Hey! What are you spacing out for!"

My husband's brother, Marcus Walker, kicked me roughly, jolting me out of my memories.

He had a cigarette dangling from his mouth, looking completely slovenly—the kind of hoodlum Nancy had spoiled since childhood.

"Evelyn, now that Liam's gone, shouldn't you settle the funeral expenses? Also, the crematorium people are pressing for the cremation fee."