"Madeline Simmons—isn't all your luck just because you married into the Morton family and have your husband to clean up your messes?"
Looking at his smug face, I closed my eyes for a moment.
Yeah.
Lucky.
I'm so damn lucky.
If I hadn't overheard what he said to my parents that day, maybe I would've stayed lucky forever.
I walked out of the Morton Group building and stopped at the base. Turned. Looked up at the landmark tower cutting through Graystone's skyline.
Ten years ago, before we married, the Morton family wasn't the richest in Graystone.
Back then, that title belonged to some crude real estate tycoon.
He wanted me.
Named me specifically—demanded the Simmons family hand me over.
My dad was about to agree.
But Zane knelt outside our house. Three days. Three nights. Until my dad finally relented and gave him two more years.
Two years to outmatch the richest man in the city? Nearly impossible.
I stayed up all night thinking. Then I sold the herbal medicine formula I'd spent years developing—fifty million dollars—and gave every cent to Zane.
He delivered.
In six months, he had the status to marry me.
It drizzled on our wedding day.
The cold, damp air made his knees—ruined from kneeling—ache so badly he could barely walk.
But he lifted me anyway. His face pale, his smile radiant.
"Madeline, from now on, I'll protect you. No one will ever bully you again."
That was the first time in my life someone treated me like I was precious.
So this is what it feels like to be loved.
But…
Could love that deep actually fade?
Like morning dew.
Like lightning.
Ten years later, I can barely find any trace of how Zane once loved me.
Only cheating. Betrayal. Lies.
The first time Zane cheated, I asked for a divorce.
The next day, creditors showed up at my parents' door.
Thirty million in debt.
Pay up, or they'd take my dad's hand.
My father—who had never liked me—knelt on the floor, clutching my hand, his hair gone white overnight.
"I'm old. One hand doesn't matter. Sweetheart, don't worry about me—just live your life. That's enough."
Zane swooped in like a hero.
"Honey, your formula gave me fifty million back then. This thirty million? I'll cover it."
"But I can't pay it all at once. Don't divorce me—let me pay it off monthly?"
Thirty million.
With his net worth, he could've written that check in his sleep.
This was blackmail. Pure and simple.
I agreed anyway.
He was still my dad.
Even if he'd treated me badly, when I was little he'd let me ride on his shoulders to watch fireworks and reach for stars.
The second time Zane cheated, I brought up divorce again.
The next day, my mom collapsed.
The Morton family's private medical team admitted her immediately.
Olivia was abroad for work, so caring for Mom fell entirely on me.
Zane stayed up through the nights by her bedside until his eyes were bloodshot. But he still held my hand, still whispered comfort:
"Honey, I'll take care of Mom. You need to rest—your health comes first."
In the midnight quiet of that hospital room, he held me close, his voice barely a murmur:
"Madeline, when you're old, I'll keep watch by your bed just like this. If you go first, I won't want to live either."
"You suffered so much growing up. God sent me to love you."
The divorce went nowhere.
For my parents. For that pathetic scrap of hope I still carried—that love could be real.
I endured his betrayals. Again and again.
Until the thirtieth time.
When his mistress showed up at my door and ground her heel into my face, I finally broke.
