Chapter 1

My fiancée tied me to an operating table because her sponsored student’s father had terminal brain cancer.

"Aren't you supposed to be a surgical prodigy? Ethan only has his dad left in this world. You have to save him, no matter what!"

I shook my head and tried to explain. "It's useless. The cancer has already metastasized..."

Her eyes rimmed with red, my fiancée threw her arms around me, begging, "Just do it for me. Give it everything you have, please?"

In the end, I couldn't perform a miracle.

Watching the flatline on the heart monitor, Ethan slammed his fist into my face, shattering my nose.

"I know you hate me! But how could you murder my father? That was a human life!"

That night, Vivian dragged me down into the basement.

She ordered her men to sever the tendons in my wrists.

"Since these hands can't save anyone, you don't need them anymore."

Coughing up blood, I smiled weakly. "You'll regret this."

The night Ethan got poisoned, she walked in holding a scalpel.

"You still dared to touch him?"

She stomped her heel onto my wrist.

With her own hands and that scalpel, she shattered every single bone in my ten fingers, one by one.

I bit through my lip until it tore, but I didn't utter a sound.

"A monster like you doesn't deserve to be my fiancé."

"Stay down here and think about what you did."

She tossed the bloodied scalpel at my feet.

A month later, Vivian finally remembered I existed.

"Go check if he's learned his lesson. Bring him out to kneel and apologize to Ethan."

What she didn't know was that my body had already rotted away.

The couch was a complete mess as two bodies writhed together.

Flushed, Vivian gently pushed the man on top of her. "Ethan, let's go to the bedroom."

Ethan didn't move. Instead, he pressed down harder.

He chuckled into her ear. "Vivian, right here. I like it here."

Vivian paused for a second, then slowly wrapped her arms around his neck, giving herself over entirely.

Watching this unfold, my stomach churned with disgust.

It pulled me right back to the night of our engagement party.

Riding a buzz from the drinks, egged on by our friends, I had brought her to a hotel suite.

Swept up in the passion of the moment, I reached down to unbutton her blouse.

A sharp slap cracked across my face.

The burning sting snapped me instantly sober.

Tears streaming down her face, her voice trembled. "Is that what you think of me? Just some easy girl?"

I thought I had crossed a line and disrespected her.

I spent three months apologizing and groveling before she finally forgave me.

Only now did I understand.

She wasn't being modest or reserved.

She just never loved me enough.

On the couch, Ethan collapsed beside her, panting heavily.

Vivian snuggled against him, tracing circles on his chest.

Ethan took her chin, leaning in for a kiss, when the housekeeper's hesitant voice cut through the air.

"Ms. Lin."

Vivian frowned, annoyance flickering in her eyes at the interruption. "What is it?"

"Mr. Luke hasn't made a sound in seven days."

"He hasn't touched any of the food we brought down."

The housekeeper's voice grew fainter and fainter.

Vivian let out a cold sneer. "That bastard again. Does he really think a hunger strike will intimidate me?"

I thought being dead meant I wouldn't feel pain anymore.

Yet hearing those words still felt like a blade driving straight through my chest.

Vivian walked barefoot across the hardwood, the red marks across her skin stinging my eyes.

"Let's see what kind of game he's playing now."

Watching her walk toward the basement step by step, a sick sense of dark satisfaction bloomed inside me.

"Vivian, when you find out I'm dead, will you hurt? Will you cry?"

Just as her hand grabbed the doorknob and pushed the heavy door open a crack, arms slid around her waist from behind.

"Vivian, the office just called. There's an issue with the new contract."

Vivian instantly pulled her hand back.

Turning around, she gave the housekeeper a callous order. "Since he refuses to eat, stop bringing him food altogether."

"If he wants to die, let him die."

"Slam."

The door shut tight.

The basement plunged back into suffocating darkness.

My corpse was in there, cold and stiff for seven whole days.

Good.

Vivian, you got your wish.

I'm already dead.