Chapter 1

All because my wife said she had no nice fabric to make clothes with.

I started shining shoes every day after my shift at the steel mill.

Later, she quit my mill job on my behalf without asking me. She said she hated seeing me work so hard.

But that day, her first love came to my stand. He planted his foot on my shoulder and said with a grin,

“Thanks to Emily getting me that job at the mill, things are finally looking up.”

I looked up at his clothes and froze. They were made from the expensive fabric I had bought my wife—the fabric that had cost me my entire paycheck.

Later, a businessman whose shoes I shined invited me to work with him in Chicago.

I agreed without a moment’s hesitation.

My wife, who had been standing beside me apologizing, suddenly fell silent and stared at me in disbelief.

“Well, Daniel, don’t you look sharp!”

“Where did you buy that fabric? I’d love to have an outfit made for my son.”

A neighbor spotted Daniel Brooks and couldn’t take her eyes off his clothes.

Daniel beamed and answered cheerfully,

“I couldn’t tell you. Emily made this for me. I think it looks great, too.”

The neighbor couldn’t resist teasing him.

“I’m jealous. You two have been close since you were kids. I always thought you’d end up married!”

Then she remembered I was there and hurried to correct herself.

“Just kidding, Ethan. Don’t take it personally!”

“I’d better get going. We’ll catch up another day!”

As she walked away, I knocked Daniel’s foot off my shoulder and said irritably,

“I’m closing for the day. Find someone else.”

Even after I got home, Daniel’s taunts kept replaying in my head.

Bang!

I slammed the front door to vent my anger.

Emily Parker flinched on her wooden chair.

She slowly walked over to me, looking confused.

“Ethan, what’s wrong?”

“Why did you pack up so early? Did those thugs bother you again?”

A bitter laugh escaped me.

I still remembered the day I was shining shoes in town.

A few thugs had stuck their feet in front of me without so much as a greeting. They ordered me to clean their shoes and not leave a single speck of dirt.

Once I got a good look at their faces, I recognized them as the town’s notorious deadbeats.

I waved them away and said I wasn’t taking any more customers.

They took it as an insult and started beating me.

They left me barely conscious, my blood splattered across the ground.

Plenty of people stood around watching. Not one stepped forward to help—including my wife.

She stood beside Daniel, clutching the hem of his jacket as she warned him quietly,

“Let’s stay out of it. Those guys are trouble. I don’t want you getting dragged into this.”

Then she pulled Daniel away without looking back.

Thinking about it now, I felt like a fool.

I had once treasured her more than anything. Even holding her in my hands never seemed safe enough.

When I heard there were muggers in town, I started taking her to work and bringing her home every day, rain or shine.

And her?

While her own husband was being beaten half to death, she worried about another man.

At that moment, the heart that had loved her for fourteen years finally died.

I walked around her and went into the kitchen. She followed me and reached for the spatula in my hand.

“You’ve had a bad day. Let me cook.”

I said flatly,

“How many times have you even stepped into this kitchen? Do you know how to cook?”

Emily withdrew her hand.

Sounding a little angry, she asked,

“What is wrong with you today?”

I glanced at her and said heavily,

“Daniel came to my stand today.”

“You used the fabric I gave you to make his clothes, didn’t you?”