chapter 1

On our third wedding anniversary, instead of love and happiness, I was greeted with a carefully planned scam.

Charles showed up with that woman by his side, his eyes cold and unfamiliar. He said, "Who are you? Do we know each other?"

In a car accident, he had conveniently forgotten about me.

What's ridiculous is that the woman in his arms pulled out a marriage certificate, telling me that they were the legal couple.

And the one in my hand was just a fake certificate Charles forged three years ago to deceive me.

Three years of marriage, what a joke.

I didn't cry, just calmly took off the ring from my ring finger and walked away.

But little did he know, I went straight to the city hall and married the man sitting in a wheelchair, the one he mocked as "useless."

...

Today was our third wedding anniversary. The clock on the wall was pointing to midnight, and Charles still hadn't returned.

I took out my phone, wanting to call him, but the screen lit up, still showing the afternoon news update.

"Astor Corporation's CEO, Charles Astor, had a car accident this morning. Thankfully, everyone emerged without serious injuries. Traffic conditions..."

My heart tightened at that moment, I immediately dialed his number. The phone rang for a long time before he answered, "Charles, how are you? The news said you..."

"Who are you?"

His cold and unfamiliar voice came from the other end of the line, and my heart skipped a beat.

"Charles, it's me, Elizabeth."

"I don't know you."

He coldly hung up the phone.

I stood there in a daze, unable to process it for a moment. I finally snapped out of it after a while, and decided to change and go find him at the hospital.

Just as I was about to leave, I heard the sound of the villa's door lock. I quickly walked over.

The door opened, and it wasn't just him who came in. By his side stood a woman with delicate makeup, Margaret Thompson, her hand intimately linked with Charles's arm.

My gaze was fixed on their intertwined position, my heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, making it hard to breathe.

"Charles..."

My voice trembled.

Charles looked at me as if I were a complete stranger, "The doctor said I injured my brain in the accident, I've forgotten some people and things."

His voice was colder than on the phone, "Who is this?"

He looked at Margaret, then pointed at me, looking puzzled.

Margaret smiled softly, but her eyes carried a victorious contempt, "Charles, she's Elizabeth, a subordinate you used to... sponsor."

I looked at Charles in disbelief, hoping he would refute her words, but he didn't.

He just nodded faintly, his eyes looking at me with a hint of scrutiny.

"Miss Elizabeth, thank you for taking care of the house for me. Now that I'm back, you can leave."

His words, each one, felt like a needle piercing my heart.

I looked at him, the man I had loved for three years.

There was no ripple on his handsome face, as if everything between us had really disappeared with that car accident.

My hands and feet turned cold, anger and betrayal flooding over me like a tide.

I almost shouted, "Charles, look clearly, I am Elizabeth, your wife!"

"Wife?"

Margaret acted like she heard the biggest joke ever, laughing exaggeratedly. She took out a marriage certificate from her bag and flaunted it in front of me, "Miss Morgan, take a good look. This is Mrs. Astor's marriage certificate."

On it, there was a photo of Charles and Margaret, glaring and mocking.

The registration date was today, my mind went blank, "Impossible... we got married three years ago!"

I rushed into the bedroom, took out our marriage certificate from the drawer.

Margaret took the certificate from my hand, opened it lightly, and then chuckled, "Elizabeth, you don't really think this is real, do you?"

Her words exploded in my heart like thunder, "Three years ago, when Charles went to the city hall with you, it was just a show."

"The marriage certificate in your hand is a fake he had someone make, just to fool you, a technician, into willingly working for his company."

"You actually believed it?"

"For the past three years, you were just a mistress he kept here, a plaything he could discard at any time."

"Now that I'm back, you should leave too."

Fake certificate...

Mistress...

Plaything...

Every word felt like a heavy hammer, smashing my dignity to pieces.

Three years of marriage, three years of dedication, turned out to be a complete scam.

I was a fool, a puppet dancing at his will, what a joke.

Despair and humiliation engulfed me in an instant.

Charles and Margaret stood there, their faces showing undisguised contempt and mockery, as if they were enjoying watching an ant struggling under their feet.

They were waiting for me to break down, to cry out, to beg without dignity.

But I didn't.

All emotions, at the peak moment, turned into silence.

My heart... was already dead.

It wouldn't hurt anymore.

I watched them, my eyes calm like a dead pond, then I raised my hand and slowly, knuckle by knuckle, took off the ring on my finger.

It was Charles who put it on me three years ago, saying it was an eternal promise.

Now it just seems like the highest level of irony.

I threw the ring on the dining table, where it landed with the food that had already gone cold, just like our love that had long since died.

"Charles." I took a deep breath and calmly said, "I wish you both a happy marriage."

After that, I didn't look at them again, I turned around and left the beautiful prison that had trapped me for three years.

I heard Margaret's disdainful snort from behind, "Quite gutsy, I wonder how you'll survive without Charles."

I didn't look back.

As I walked out of the villa gate, the cold winter wind blew on my face, it was cold.

But I didn't go home, I took out my phone and dialed a number.

"Hey, I'm ready, we can get married now."

A deep voice came from the other end of the phone, "Okay, I'll be waiting for you."

I hung up the phone, hailed a taxi, and said, "To the city hall."