Chapter 1

In the doctor's office.

"Ms. Victoria Gonzalez, your cancer has spread to your liver. There's nothing we can do. Eat whatever you want, do whatever you want - don't leave any regrets."

"How long do I have?"

"Less than a month, I'd say."

Victoria walked out of the hospital, her face showing neither sadness nor joy as she pulled out her phone to call her husband, Martin Collins. She thought that even though they weren't in love, she should tell him she was dying.

The phone rang a few times, then was cut off.

She called again - she'd been blocked.

Victoria tried WhatsApp - also blocked.

Her heart grew more bitter. For a marriage to come to this - how sad, how pathetic.

Unwilling to give up, she bought a new SIM card and called Martin again.

This time, he answered quickly, "Who is this?"

"It's me." Victoria gripped her phone, biting her lip as the harsh wind cut across her face like a knife.

Martin's voice instantly turned cold and impatient, "To get my attention, you're even pulling tricks like changing numbers? Victoria, are you sick?"

Is this what a husband says to his dying wife?

Her eyes stung. Victoria's fingers gripping the phone turned white, her nose tingled, her eyes instantly moistened, "Martin, come home tonight. I need to tell you some—"

She thought she should tell Martin about her condition.

"Sign the divorce papers and I'll come back!"

But before Victoria could finish, Martin impatiently cut her off. His tone was so annoyed, as if they weren't husband and wife, but enemies!

Her throat tightened. Victoria wondered - if he knew right now that she had terminal cancer, would he be just a little bit nicer to her?

She was about to speak.

A woman's coquettish voice came through the phone, "Martin, come on, the wedding photographer is asking again."

Wedding photos?

They weren't even divorced yet, and Martin couldn't wait to take wedding photos with her best friend?

Did he think she was already dead?

She was indeed dying, but she was being killed by anger at this cheating couple.

Victoria's tears desperately welled up.

Anger, unwillingness, bitterness, madness churned in her throat. Victoria forced back her tears and threatened, "Midnight tonight. I want to see you."

"Getting bold, are we? You dare threaten me?" Martin's disdainful laugh came through the phone.

"It's not a threat. It's reasonable for me to ask my own husband to come home. Of course, you can choose to burn all bridges. But I'll drag Mia Wilson down with me." Victoria laughed bitterly in her rage.

"Victoria, don't regret this."

Martin threw out those words and coldly hung up.

Walking down the street, Victoria's tears finally broke free, sliding down from her eyes and streaming down her cheeks.

Passersby looked back at her like she was some kind of freak.

Thinking of the past, Victoria couldn't stop herself from breaking down and crying.

Martin had been an orphan from deep in the mountains. Victoria's father, Hayden Gonzalez, took pity on him and brought him back to the Gonzalez family to be Victoria's personal bodyguard.

The Gonzalez family paid for his education, taught him how to behave, gave him opportunities at the Gonzalez Group to pursue his ambitions.

They even married Victoria, the Gonzalez family's only precious daughter, to him.

After the marriage, Hayden's health declined and he developed dementia. The entire Gonzalez family fell completely into Martin's hands.

The first thing Martin did after taking over the Gonzalez family was ask for a divorce. The divorce agreement had extremely harsh terms - Victoria would leave with nothing.

Maybe she still had feelings for Martin, or maybe she couldn't accept how Martin suddenly turned on her after being so good to her. Victoria endured a whole year of cold treatment, stubbornly refusing to sign the divorce papers.

Before today, she had all the time in the world to wait for him to come around, to see his attitude change.

But now, diagnosed with terminal liver cancer with only a month to live, Victoria had to figure out the real reason for Martin's heartless betrayal.

Back home.

Victoria splashed cold water on her face. Her phone rang.

She picked it up and opened it - a photo popped up.

Sent by her best friend Mia.

A selfie from a hotel room. Mia's eyes were smiling, looking at the camera provocatively, wrapped in a bathrobe that - whether intentionally or not - revealed her ample cleavage.

Did they go have sex after taking wedding photos?

"Victoria, can you tell me your husband's size? He asked me to buy condoms and I don't know what size to get." Mia's WhatsApp voice message popped up. When Victoria played it, she heard this shameless question.