Chapter 1

My wife was one of the top hypnotherapists in the country.

When her first love ran over and killed my mother while driving without a license,

she hypnotized me just to save him from prison, trying to make me forget the whole thing forever.

"Your mother's death had nothing to do with Tristan. She brought it on herself."

To celebrate after pulling it off, she took him on a month-long trip around the world.

When they returned, what awaited them was a court summons.

Completely heartbroken, I demanded a divorce.

Instead, she fell to her knees before me like a madwoman, eyes bloodshot, weeping that she was wrong.

I knelt on the cold ground, clutching the framed photo of my mother to my chest.

Following the funeral director's solemn instructions, I pressed my forehead against the floor over and over again, feeling as if my heart were being snapped in two.

Even now, I couldn't believe it. The woman who used to grill steaks and wait for me to come home every single day was now reduced to a small urn of ashes.

My mind dragged me back to yesterday—the last time I saw her alive. She had tubes running all through her body. She gripped my hand tightly, her voice weak and trembling.

"Sean, don't cry... Mom has to go. You'll be all on your own now. Take good care of yourself, okay? Don't worry about me. Your dad is waiting for me on the other side."

I held her freezing hand, my lips shaking so hard I couldn't form words.

In the end, all I could do was watch helplessly as the line on the heart monitor went completely flat.

Meanwhile, Tristan Vance, the monster who killed her, had long since fled the scene. He had merely glanced through the ICU doors for a second before swaggering away.

My mother's final smile played on a loop in my head.

I stayed on my knees for a long time, until the sharp buzz of my phone shattered the dead silence.

When I answered, Chloe's voice came through the line.

"Hey, Sean. Tristan's hungry. He really wants those beef noodles from downtown, but it's out of delivery range. Go pick up two orders and bring them to our hotel!"

Before I could even speak, she hung up on me.

Chloe was as arrogant as ever. She treated my devotion like an entitlement, utterly convinced I would never dare say no to her.

I looked down at the explicit photo Tristan had sent me this morning. Chloe was lying naked in his arms, her collarbone and chest covered in dark hickeys, while Tristan gave the camera a smug, provocative smirk.

A bitter laugh escaped my throat, aching so much it burned.

Wiping the tears from the corner of my eyes, I gripped the phone tightly.

I couldn't understand how Chloe could be so heartless.

Worse, I never imagined she would treat my mother's life like dirt, all for the sake of the man who had abandoned her years ago.

Yesterday, the moment the accident happened, Chloe received a call from Tristan and rushed to the scene.

Yet all she did was comfort the shaken Tristan, arguing with the first responders and desperately trying to prove that the crash wasn't entirely his fault.

By the time the police called me and I raced over, the pool of blood beneath my mother was already starting to dry. Her vital signs were barely there.

Hysterical, I screamed at Chloe, asking why she hadn't called 911 immediately. But she just shoved my hands away in disgust.

"God, can you stop being so annoying? It was just a minor fender bender! What's the big deal? Tristan was terrified! Of course I had to calm him down first!"

In our five years of marriage, my mother had treated Chloe like her own daughter. In her heart, Chloe came before even me, her only son.

Yet here she was, letting my mother bleed out just to soothe her precious first love's nerves.

Later, at the police's insistence, Tristan and Chloe rode in the ambulance to the hospital with my mother.

While the doctors fought to save her life, Tristan and Chloe sat lazily on the waiting room bench, playing mobile games together.

After a few minutes, Tristan whined that he was hungry. Without even glancing in my direction, Chloe grabbed his hand to leave.

I dropped to my knees, practically begging her.

"Please, Chloe. Mom always loved you like her own flesh and blood. Can't you just stay here with me?"

Unable to shake me off, Chloe raised her hand and slapped me hard across the face.

"Are you done lying? Read the room, Sean! Are you seriously jealous of Tristan right now? He already told me he wasn't even going twenty miles an hour. He wouldn't have even hurt a stray dog! What could possibly be wrong with your mother?!"

With that, she linked her arm through Tristan's and strutted away.

"Just you wait! I swear I'll make sure Tristan rots in prison!"

I knelt there numbly, too drained to even cry, staring blankly as they walked away hand in hand and vanished from sight.

Anyone with a working brain could have seen the crumpled hood of the car and known how catastrophic the impact was.

Chloe only said those things because she chose to blind herself, desperate to shield Tristan.

They had barely stepped out of the hospital when the ICU doors swung open. The doctor delivered the news: they couldn't save her, and I needed to prepare for her funeral.