Chapter 3

I never imagined I'd marry Marcus Sterling.

No particular reason, just simply didn't dare to.

When we were teenagers, we attended the same international high school.

But the financial disparity between our families was immense.

I still remember the Sterling estate at its peak.

In a prestigious area of the city, the private road leading up to their mansion alone took a full eight minutes to drive, and their gardens were easily ten times the size of ours, complete with a dedicated enclosure for blue peacocks.

High-profile guests and dignitaries were constantly coming and going.

My parents had to pull strings through multiple connections just to get an invitation to a Sterling family gala.

Marcus was so dazzling, and I was merely a backdrop in his circle of friends.

Yet, prosperity inevitably leads to decline.

That year, during my sophomore year, a major financial scandal hit, and regulators launched a sweeping crackdown on related industries.

Overnight, the Sterling family's properties and funds were frozen, and Mr. Sterling Sr. was imprisoned for white-collar crimes.

Former friends and relatives vanished like fair-weather birds.

Soon after, Marcus's mother also died of depression.

Just when everyone was avoiding him like the plague.

I sold my eighteenth birthday gift from my aunt—a limited-edition designer bag.

I scraped together three hundred thousand dollars to cover his overseas tuition fees.

He was astonished.

I smiled and told him:

"I applied to the same university as you."

"So, we'll still be classmates."

The unspoken implication was that I could help him in the future.

But teenage boys' pride is sky-high.

With red eyes and a stubborn chin, he said:

"I'll pay you back."

Subsequently, he cobbled together some other small loans, and managed to work part-time and study his way through university.

Oh, and he didn't even forget to date me during that time.

The year we graduated, he actually managed to save up three hundred thousand dollars and repaid me, with interest.

Unfortunately, after repaying the money, Marcus Sterling had nothing left.

He knew he wanted to marry me.

My parents, naturally, disagreed.

But Marcus was very smart.

Though his family had fallen from grace, the taste and insight from his early privileged life remained.

He knew how to appreciate wine, play golf, was impeccably polite in daily life, and shrewdly decisive in business.

He secured several major clients for my dad's company through various business dealings and networking events.

Later, my dad reluctantly agreed to our marriage but still refused to relinquish control.

Even when he fell ill, company control remained firmly in my hands.

He was like a shrewd patriarch, only willing to see Marcus as his most capable, yet utterly replaceable, employee.

The turning point came when I became pregnant.