Chapter 1
After my husband's business went bankrupt, I received a late-stage breast cancer diagnosis.
To raise money for treatment, I sold all my jewelry and clothes, and even borrowed $100,000.
When I returned home, I noticed a string of numbers had appeared above my husband's head.
Every time he spent money on another woman, the number above his head would increase by one.
As I watched the numbers above his head constantly increasing, I realized his bankruptcy was just a lie!
He had his arm around my cousin's shoulders, his face animated with excitement. "Don't worry, once that bitch is dead, I'll buy you a huge diamond ring!"
But what he didn't know was—
The one with breast cancer was him!
1
The moment I received the diagnosis notification, everything went black before my eyes.
My husband, in the prime of his life, had somehow contracted a rare form of male breast cancer!
The doctor solemnly advised, "Male breast cancer has an extremely high mortality rate. Immediate surgery offers the only hope for survival."
But my husband's business ventures had only seen losses in recent years, leaving us without the means to afford treatment.
Still, after years of marriage, I couldn't stand by and watch him die.
I stumbled out of the hospital in a daze. After much deliberation, I gathered my clothes and jewelry to sell at a secondhand store.
To my shock, the store clerk declared all my items were counterfeit!
"That's impossible. This is my wedding ring, 24-karat gold. It cost thousands of dollars!"
"And this is a classic Louis Vuitton piece, a wedding anniversary gift from my husband! I have the official receipt!"
I was stunned on the spot but, refusing to believe my husband would deceive me, I argued vehemently with the clerk.
The clerk wore an expression of weary familiarity. "These days, fakes come with the full package. We see cases like yours about eight hundred times a day."
Burning with shame under the mocking gazes of onlookers, I fled the scene.
At my wit's end, I called my father.
He responded with a sneer, "So you remember I'm your father now!"
Years ago, I had cut ties with my family to be with Damien, neglecting my filial duties as a daughter. Their resentment was understandable.
Mother snatched the phone, "Don't mind your dad, he's just stubborn!"
Then came a series of warm greetings. For the sake of their daughter, even though they were deeply hurt, they still transferred money to me.
Looking at the extra $100,000 in my bank account, I felt a mix of emotions.
I walked to the bank, planning to withdraw it for my husband's surgery.
Just as I stepped out, I saw my husband with his arm around my cousin Jade, walking right past me.
I noticed a string of numbers above his head and thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.
But when I saw him hand Jade $5,000, and the number above his head increased by $5,000, I realized what those numbers meant.
Yet last night, when I asked him for $1,000 for our daughter's tuition, he cried to me about how his investments hadn't paid off and he didn't have a penny.
"Honey, Daisy needs to pay her tuition tomorrow. Are you sure you can't get the money?"
I stood not far behind Damien and called him.
I watched as he held my cousin close, kissed her passionately like some domineering CEO, and then lazily said into the phone, "Darling, I really don't have any money. The funds haven't come back yet. I'm leading the guys to the company right now to demand our money back."
I watched as he led my cousin into a hotel.
"Well..." I was about to say something else.Damien snapped impatiently, "The signal's crap out here in the boonies! We'll talk when I get home." Then he hung up abruptly.
Like a glutton for punishment, I followed them to their hotel room.
I'd barely reached the stairwell when I heard the intimate sounds of a man and woman coming from inside.
The woman cooed in a sickeningly sweet voice, "Is she really about to kick the bucket?"
I clenched my fists so tight my nails dug into my palms, the searing pain nothing compared to what my husband said next.