Chapter 1

The night before our wedding anniversary, Kevin walked into a hotel, hand-in-hand with his first love.

I dialed his number, but my thirteen-year-old son, Noah, answered instead.

"Dad's in an important business meeting. No outsiders allowed!"

Noah said coldly, then hung up.

That night, my husband and son decided to punish me. Their reason? I'd supposedly disrupted our 'family harmony'.

They locked me out on the wind-battered open-air balcony, forcing me to stand there all night.

I let the wind dry my tears.

The next day, despite my high fever, I handed him the divorce papers.

In the study.

Kevin didn't even lift an eyelid when he heard the word "divorce," still engrossed in his work.

I waited for him for an hour.

Just as I was about to collapse, he finally spoke:

"Elara, I just made you stand in the cold for a bit, and now you want a divorce?"

"You were in the wrong first. Don't you deserve to be punished?"

I opened my mouth.

For the first time, I suppressed the urge to defend myself.

I just said:

"Sign it."

Kevin calmly stated:

"I'll take custody of our son. You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

Seeing me shake my head, Kevin raised an eyebrow in surprise.

But to appear 'fair,' he called Noah into the study and asked him:

"Who do you want to live with after your mom and I divorce?"

Noah was truly Kevin's son, alright.

Not just in looks, but even the way he stared at me – the same arrogant, utterly indifferent gaze.

Noah said:

"My name is Hamilton, not Johnson."

In the past, hearing those words would have kept me up all night, crying until dawn.

But after last night.

Any maternal love I had for Noah had completely vanished.

I couldn't even bother to look at him, turning to walk into the bedroom.

For thirteen years of marriage, all my energy had been focused on taking care of Kevin and Noah's every need.

As a result, I had pitifully few personal belongings in this house.

I finished packing in less than ten minutes.

As I dragged my suitcase out of the room, Kevin was sitting on the sofa, checking the stock market.

Without turning his head, he said:

"Where are you going? I'll have the driver take you."

"No need."

I fought back the dizziness and discomfort from my fever, struggling towards the front door.

Just then, a golf ball flew from the second floor, hitting me hard on the back of the head.

The second floor was Noah's game room.

He always practiced indoor golf after finishing his homework.

Kevin and Noah exchanged a knowing glance – the kind that said, "She's just faking it again" – as I clutched my head, curling up on the floor.

They left me there, gasping for breath, for half an hour.

Finally, drenched in cold sweat, I crawled out of the Hamilton house and went to the hospital alone for an IV drip.

After my fever broke, I drowsily boarded a bus to the outskirts of town.

Two hours later, I arrived at Grandma Rose's house.

Overjoyed by my sudden appearance, Grandma Rose didn't ask a single question.

She just went straight into the kitchen and cooked me a big pot of mushroom soup.

When Noah was little, he loved mushroom soup just like me.

Sometimes, after eating too much, he'd whine and demand to be held.

Around six or seven, some kid in the Hamilton family told Noah:

"Mushrooms? Oh, those are just cheap, unsophisticated food. Only poor people eat them."

After that, Noah stopped letting me bring home the mushrooms Grandma Rose grew herself.

"Uh, uh."

I was eating too fast, clutching my chest, desperately trying to stop hiccuping.

Every wrinkle on Grandma Rose's face creased with laughter.

"Such a silly child."

To make it easier for me to eat, her shaky, wrinkled hands smoothed my tangled blonde hair and braided it into the pigtails I loved as a child.

That night, after years of insomnia, I finally had a peaceful night's sleep.

I knew I was finally home.

Two days later, I received a call from Kevin.

His voice was cold as he asked:

"Where's the suit I had custom-made in Italy last year?"

I instinctively told him the exact location and suggested he pair it with the tie in the far-left compartment of the drawer.

I heard the rustle of clothes from Kevin's end.