Chapter 1

On our tenth wedding anniversary, I waited for Jasper Haverford in the restaurant for three hours until I got the news that he was going on a temporary business trip.

On my way home, I encountered a viaduct collapse.

As I crawled out with my bloody legs, I saw Jasper fall into a panic.

He squeezed through the chaotic crowd and was running past me towards the girl in front.

"I'm sorry. I'm late."he comforted her gently. " Don't be afraid, I will protect you!"

Then, the girl was carried by him in his arms as he strode away without even noticing me, who was just a few inches away from him.

The siren of an ambulance whizzed by.

I was carried onto the stretcher in a daze, my mind a little blank.

However, my heart sank when the conversation of the medical personnel reached my ear.

"Some people really go too far! There are so many seriously injured patients here, but he insisted on using this emergency ambulance only for that woman with minor injuries! Isn't this a waste of public resources?" said a nurse.

A doctor said, "Shush, that's Jasper, the richest man in Azureville. Rumors say that he loves his wife so much. Now, we have witnessed it."

"Yeah. You can tell how much he loves his wife by his nervous and pitiful look! I wish my husband could treat me like that," said another doctor.

Hearing that, I felt like something struck my head.

The tremendous pain made it hard for me to breathe, and I couldn't suppress the bloody smell in my throat.

I couldn't help but vomit blood.

"Miss, are you okay?" The doctors and the nurses gave me first aid anxiously. "Hold on, we'll be at the hospital soon!"

I barely pulled myself together and tried to open my eyes.

From such a short instance, Jasper growled at the same time, "Doctor, she's feeling unwell! Go over and give her a full body check now!"

"But Mr. Haverford..." before the doctor could finish his words, Jasper grabbed him by the collar with threat. "They are all injured, so why do you treat them differently? If anything happens to her, will you bear the consequences?"

His unreasonable request caused the crowd around me to disperse immediately, and only a nurse named Sophia held my hand.

"Hold on, don't be nervous. Let me call your family and tell them to wait at the hospital first, okay?" she dialed the number tagged with darling on my phone.

A cell phone suddenly rang not far away.

I tried to fix my eyes on the "loving couple".

Although Jasper turned his back to me, I could fully imagine his expression.

He must have been so nervous, distressed, and devoted to the one he was so affectionate with.

Meanwhile, his phone was totally ignored after ringing several times.

"Why can't it get through?" Sophia pressed the keyboard on my phone anxiously. "Your husband's phone is switched off now. What an unreliable man at this critical moment!"

I smiled self-mockingly in my heart after hearing her complaints.

In fact, he was nothing but the most unfailing man in the world now.

He was just a few inches away from me and soundly cared for another woman without even spotting any trace of me, though.

He was so preoccupied with carrying his new love into the ambulance and attempting to lure my EMT away for her, manifesting how caring and heartbroken he was towards that girl.

To me, he was indeed so unreliable that he wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

For our ten-year marriage, he chose to be with another woman at such a life-threatening moment.

I asked myself, "Mia Sinclair, can you wake up from the dream where he pretends to love you now?"

Soon, I was pushed into the emergency room.

"Ms. Sinclair." Sophia sounded like weeping. "Besides your husband, can you contact another person, maybe your family? We can't perform surgery on you without your family's agreement."

I keep myself awake. "I can sign the paper myself."

As I wrote down my name, I heard the nurse's discussions in a low voice.

"Now you know you have to think twice before getting married. Take Mrs. Haverford as an example. Mr. Haverford just acted like if she was about to die when she just scraped her leg. Meanwhile, the patient in front of us even needs to sign the consent for surgery herself..."

I fell into a deep sleep as the surgery began.

Subconsciously, I tried to refresh some beautiful moments between Jasper and I but never succeeded.

All I could recall was his impatient censure.

His blames echoed in my mind. "Come on, Mia, are you serious? Do you really want me to wear these ridiculous cuff-links with this suit?

"Mia, why do you always get on my mother's nerves?

"Why are you here? I will have a meeting five minutes later and don't have time to eat whatever in that lunchbox you brought here!

"Don't you ever touch my phone from now on, Mia!"

The cracking sound of my phone falling apart suddenly woke me up.

"You are finally awake, Ms. Sinclair." Sophia adjusted the IV drip and said, "The operation was successful. The steel bar that penetrated your leg has been removed. It will be a little painful after the anesthesia wears off."

"Your phone was seriously broken, and you couldn't contact your husband now. I can help you contact another family of yours to take care of you here," she added.

As soon as she finished speaking, someone argued on the other side of the curtain in the ward.

"Why don't you agree to move to the VIP room? Do you have to live in this ward with others?" Jasper said.

"I... I don't want to be privileged. I'm not the only one who's hurt. It makes me comfortable if I stay in this general ward. Jasper, please don't be mad..." his new love, Evelyn Groves, said in an artificial pity.

"Alright, alright... Evelyn, I can compromise in terms of the ward, but you have to listen to whatever the doctor says, okay?" he said.

He continued, "Your feet have such deep scratches. I will ask a top team of doctors to evaluate your injuries and treat you."

My mind got blank after hearing their conversation.

I had a buzzing sound in my ears, hindering me from hearing whatever Sophia said.

Tears flowed out of control like a dam breaking.

Jasper, you hurt me so much.

The pain from the accident was nothing compared to this moment.

When he put on the wedding ring for me, he swore, "I will never let you down for my entire life, Mia."

In just ten years, he inflicted the pain of slow slicing on me with his own hands.

Chapter 2

I encountered Jasper because I dramatically saved his life.

He accidentally fell into the water while participating in an activity at the orphanage, and I rescued him.

As he regained his consciousness after receiving my artificial respiration, I saw his ears turned red.

"May I have your name?" he asked.

Instead of answering his question, I pointed at the warning sign impatiently. "You can't go to this area in case you would make other people lose their lives because of saving you."

Later,He would sit with me at a roadside stall and eat instant noodles.

He would volunteer with me and serve dishes in the restaurant with me.

On my birthday, he would try all the means to bake a cake for me, even though it looked really ugly.

So, on the fourth birthday I spent with him, I burst into tears and asked whether he could celebrate my birthday with me for the rest of my life when he came out of the kitchen with a cake on his scalded hands.

He was so surprised and joyful that he could hardly hold the cake.

"Mia, you, you agree to be my girlfriend?" he held me in his arms. "I will celebrate your birthday every year and make different cakes for you. Mia, I will treat you well for the rest of my life, believe me."

What a beautiful and touching oath, Jasper.

I trapped myself in this cage for ten years.

Though the evidence of your betrayal me had surfaced a long time ago, I couldn't help but exculpate you with ridiculous excuses.

Until this time, I couldn't fool myself with such an evident and cruel truth.

I hired a caregiver, a top nutritionist and a chef to take care of me before I recovered.

The next day, I moved to a VIP ward.

As I passed by the bed next to me in a wheelchair, I took a casual glance at Evelyn.

She was the new intern in the Haverford Group, Evelyn Groves.

Twirling her hair, she said to her phone in an artificially cute tone, "But I just want to eat these, darling. Can you tell the cook, please?"

The food she argued to let Jasper prepare for her was something my cook just made for me.

It seemed that she would even steal my taste to compete for Jasper.

I only felt bored and left.

Apart from its high price, the VIP ward was far superior than the general one.

With the fine temperature and humidity, I finally had a good sleep.

The next morning, before I could take a sip of the chicken soup, someone knocked on my door.

Sophia, who stayed with me when I was seriously injured on the viaduct, walked in with a viaduct face.

"Ms. Sinclair, the Inpatient management office made a mistake. This ward was booked by another patient," she said.

I was drinking my soup in silence when there was another knock on the door.

The young chef came in and apologized to me, "I'm sorry, Ms. Sinclair, I have to resign."

"Someone offered ten times the salary. I'm really sorry," he added.

Maybe being terrified by my cold glance, the chef explained in a hurry, "Ms. Sinclair, it's not only because of the money. She is Mrs. Haverford, and I... I dare not defy her order."

Pushing open the door of the general ward, I found Evelyn was carefully unwrapping her gift.

It was a pink diamond bracelet.

The gladness in her eyes was brighter than diamonds, and she sent a voice message to Jasper: [Thank you for remembering my birthday, I love you.]

Evelyn: [I also like the VIP room and chef you prepared for me. Thank you for the birthday gift.]

I was a little dazed.

At the beginning of our marriage, Jasper would prepare special and thoughtful gifts for me on my birthday every year.

In addition to cakes, there were also diamond earrings, brooches, necklaces and hair accessories.

I looked down at my wrist.

The bracelet that I had been wearing all the time was now lost in the accident.

I suddenly recalled the birthday when he helped me put on the bracelet.

He swore sincerely to me, "Mia, I will be with you until the last moment of my life. This bracelet was evidence of my love for you."

Now, his love had gone with the bracelet.

Evelyn seemed to have suddenly noticed me, turned around and blinked. "Hello, how can I help you?"

The moment our eyes met, I realized that she knew me.

Although she had worn a perfect disguise, I could still sense her direct hostility.

"I heard that you wanted my VIP ward and chef, Ms. Groves. I came here to tell you that I don't agree."

Curling her lips in disdain, she said, "Sorry, but I can't help that. I have already paid for those things. I must stay in the VIP ward and be served by the very chef who used to work for you."

"I'm sorry. I won't give up either the ward or the cook," I said.

"Well, that's impossible!" she retorted.

Her confident look somehow amused me, and I laughed at her.

"Ms. Groves, I suggest you stay a little low-profile since you stole the title of Mrs. Haverford from Jasper's real wife," I said.

Everyone in the ward was startled to hear this news and began to gossip, which irritated Evelyn so much that she was about to burst into tears.

I continued, "I'm Mrs. Haverford, and I don't think you're qualified to act pretentiously in front of me right now."

I stood up with the help of the wheelchair and slapped her.

Suddenly, someone pulled me from behind so hard that my wound due to the heavy blow cracked and soon stained the bandage with blood.

In my blurred vision, I saw Jasper quickly walk towards the weeping Evelyn and give a cold order to his assistant, "Tobias, are you blind? Take this crazy woman out of Evelyn's ward now!"

I felt that the world was spinning and fell to the ground.

Sophia cried and protected me from getting hurt by Jasper's man again. "Mr. Haverford, I will take Ms. Sinclair out."

She must have been so freaked out by his demeanor and worried that my wounds would be worsened if I continued defying his will.

Indeed, Jasper was terrifying when he lost his temper.

In the second year of our marriage, I was bullied at a party.

He ordered that the girl who bullied me should not be given any chance, and eventually, the girl quit the entertainment industry.

In the third year of our marriage, I was kidnapped.

It only took him a week to bankrupt the person who plotted the kidnap.

As time went by, the person he wanted to guard had changed.

With the mood he's in now, I don't know what we're going to go through this time.

I managed to stand up with the help of Sophia.

However, Tobias was so stunned that he took a step back when he saw who I was.

Jasper said, "Do you need me to teach you how to teach this woman a lesson, Tobias?

"If she doesn’t know how to speak well, teach her how to speak like a person brought up in decency.

Also, break her hand and see if she dares to mock others at will in the future.”

It turned out that offending Evelyn would result in such a terrible consequence.

But the next second, Jasper threw her out of his arms and looked at me in extreme disbelief.

Fixing his eyes on my injured legs, he tried to say something but couldn't even make a sound in the end...