Chapter 2

My ex-husband, Richard Peterson, and I divorced five years ago.

The reason was that he secretly lent my ten years of savings to his younger sister, Chloe, for her business without telling me.

In less than three months, Chloe blew through all my money.

Richard then secretly told Chloe that she didn’t have to pay it back, so they wouldn’t feel burdened.

At that time, my smoothie shop was forced to close because it lacked the working capital from that money.

I still clearly remember how he scolded me when I asked his sister for the money back.

“We’re married, so my sister is your sister. What’s wrong with spending some money on family? Why are you so selfish? Only thinking about yourself!”

“I’m the oldest in the family; it’s my responsibility to support my siblings. How can I ask for the money back now? Where would I put my face?”

“Yes, I know you’re upset, but we’re the older ones, aren’t we? We should suffer a little so our younger siblings can have a good life, right?”

So, I divorced him without hesitation.

Our son, Liam, lived with me, only visiting his dad for a few days during summer and winter breaks.

At first, everything was harmonious.

Later, Liam, for some reason, started finding fault with me every other day.

When I bought expensive grapes, he said I was wasting money.

When I had a late-night snack, he said I was extravagant.

Even when I bought him study materials, he said I had too much money and nowhere to spend it.

The day we moved into our new house, he flipped over a table full of food in front of my friends.

He screamed, asking me why I was moving.

Why I deserved to live in such a nice house.

I never understood. I tried every way to create good living conditions for him, so how could everything I did be wrong in his eyes?

Now I get it.

He could empathize with his dad but couldn’t empathize with me.

No matter what I did, as long as I was doing better than his dad, I was wrong.

I suddenly remembered when he found out the reason for my divorce, he said something dismissively.

“It’s just two hundred thousand, isn’t it? Aunt Chloe isn’t an outsider. Do you really need to make such a big deal out of it?”

Back then, I thought his dad had taught him that.

Now, it seems he and his dad are cut from the same cloth.

They both want to burn themselves out to light up others.

Unfortunately, I’m not that noble.