Ethan Vance threw the checkbook at my face, demanding I kneel and apologize to Mia Harper for the ninth time. "A hundred grand per bow." Calculating the remaining balance for my mother’s medical bills in my head, I kept my face completely blank and slammed my forehead against the floor ten times. The moment my fingers closed around the check, the System's voice pinged in my ear. "Congratulations, Host. You have accumulated the required funds. Would you like to initiate extraction from this world?" Feeling a wave of absolute liberation, I slumped onto the floor. Seeing me on the ground, Ethan sneered and tossed a sheer black lace dress at me. "Not enough?" "Then dance for us, darling. A striptease. Fifty grand a minute." The moment he finished speaking, Mia, leaning against his shoulder, let out a tearful giggle. The circle of trust-fund brats around them started jeering and throwing cash at me. "Look at her, Manhattan's biggest gold digger, Chloe Adams, selling her dignity again! Since Ethan’s paying out, I'll book the first ten minutes!" Watching the green bills flutter down around me, I let out a bleak laugh and took a step back. Then, right before Ethan's suddenly panicked eyes, I turned and threw myself off the yacht, plunging straight into the icy waters of the Hudson River. This time, the gold digger Chloe doesn't want your money anymore. 1 When I opened my eyes, Ethan immediately leaned over, closely inspecting me. "You're awake? Does anything hurt? Should I call the doctor?" At the same time, the System’s voice grumbled in my ear. "Host, you are way too impulsive!" "I just asked if you wanted to initiate extraction, I didn't say we could leave immediately! Detaching your consciousness from this body takes seven days." Fine. Seven days it is. Just enough time to say goodbye to the people in this world who actually matter. Ethan reached out and grabbed my hand. A second later, I yanked it away. Dead silence filled the hospital room. "Jumping into the river just like that? Your stunts are getting dramatic," he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "I won't hold it against you this time. Take the card." "Mia was terrified by your little stunt last night. She's in the hospital too. I need to go stay with her." A sleek, black Centurion card gleamed against the stark white hospital sheets. I offered a weak, exhausted smile. Of course. Even when I nearly died right in front of him, he still thought this was all just a negotiation tactic for more money. When I first arrived in this world on a mission, my goal was to earn three million dollars to pay for my mother's life-saving surgery back in my original reality. I actually hit that goal right before I married Ethan. I told the System to pay the hospital and planned to stay here, living out the rest of my life quietly by Ethan's side. But on our wedding night, the System apologetically informed me that the exchange rate between the two dimensions had plummeted to ten-to-one. I needed to raise thirty million, or my mother would die immediately. The very next morning, Ethan saw paparazzi photos of me hawking my own jewelry on the news. His face turned to ice. "Ethan, I can explain..." "Save it. Since I married you, whatever kind of person you are, I’ll accept it." He said it so casually, acting like he didn't care at all. I foolishly let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't until he started bringing women home that I understood what his "acceptance" actually looked like. From the guest bedroom, the sounds of a couple going at it echoed down the hall. "Ethan, you're so bad... aren't you afraid your wife will get mad?" Ethan's voice was utterly dismissive. "Mad? She's exactly the same kind of woman you are. What right does she have to be mad?" "Actually, she's much worse than you. After all, she scammed her way into the title of Mrs. Vance." I spent that entire night leaning against the wall in the hallway, crying until I had no tears left. From that day on, the name Chloe Vance became infamous in New York's elite circles. The rumor was that every time Ethan brought a woman home, he paid his wife a million dollars. If I laid out the condoms for them, that was a five-hundred-thousand-dollar bonus. If I personally held an umbrella and walked his mistresses to their Ubers in the rain, another three hundred thousand. Every single time, I shamelessly took the money. And every single time, Ethan's disgust for me deepened. But I still held onto a tiny shred of hope. I thought, if he just knew the truth, maybe he'd believe me. Until Mia Harper showed up. She was an Ivy League graduate, a self-proclaimed idealist. The young girl despised the way Ethan threw money at his problems, and mocked me for being a useless, parasitic gold digger. Yesterday on the yacht, after she "accidentally" stepped on and tore my couture gown, she pulled a thick stack of ten-dollar bills out of her beat-up tote bag and told me to count it. When I refused to count her petty cash, she clenched her fists, her eyes welling up with stubborn tears. "Mrs. Vance, what is this supposed to mean? Are you looking down on me?" "I'm not like you. I might not have money, but at least I have a spine." Ethan looked at her with pure, undisguised admiration. To coax a smile out of her, he physically forced me to my knees on the yacht's deck and ordered me to bow. "Chloe, don't you love money more than anything?" "Keep bowing until Mia laughs. If she's happy, I don't care how much it costs." My gaze drifted back to the black card on the bed. My face was completely devoid of emotion as I tossed it back at his chest. "Keep it." 2 Ethan's face darkened instantly. "Only women who are actually loved by their husbands get to throw tantrums." "Do you really think you have the right to give me attitude?" I gripped the blanket tightly, forcing out a smile that felt worse than sobbing. He always knew exactly where to twist the knife. He was right. I had no right. But what use does a dying person have for money? The hospital TV suddenly flashed to last night's local news. "Billionaire's Wife Takes a Midnight Swim: Highly Educated Mistress Plays the Ultimate Power Move." Ethan's brow furrowed, and he whipped out his phone. I, however, found the tabloids' dramatic headlines genuinely amusing. I let out a bitter chuckle looking at the paparazzi shot of me plunging into the water. Seeing my reaction, Ethan raised an eyebrow. "I should have known. Just another one of your tricks." "You put on this whole 'jumping into the river' spectacle just so you could tip off the press and slander Mia, didn't you?" "Chloe, risking your own life just to secure a slightly bigger payout... you really are the lowest of the low." He spun on his heel and stormed out of the hospital room. But I realized something surprising. My heart didn't ache the way it usually did. For my last seven days, I refused to waste any more tears on this drama. I texted Maya, asking her to meet me at the little coffee shop where Ethan and I had our very first date. I figured, since everything started here, it was only fitting that everything ended here too. Maya grabbed my hands across the table, her eyes red. "Chloe, how did you get this thin after only six months of marriage? Look, let's just go back to the West Coast. Leave the Vance family and all this toxic garbage behind." I shook my head and laid everything out for her—the System, the money, the imminent departure. She sat in stunned silence for several minutes, but ultimately, she chose to believe me. But a second later, Maya's eyes flared with pure, unadulterated rage. I followed her gaze. Right across the street, a trendy new artisan coffee shop was having its grand opening. The owner was Mia Harper. Ethan was standing right beside her, looking at her with an incredibly soft, indulgent expression. I should have been used to it. Last week it was a boutique clothing store. The week before that, a luxury pet spa. Whatever the girl wanted, Ethan personally bankrolled it. But why did they have to open this one right across the street from here... "That little homewrecker goes around telling everyone you're a gold digger, while she's literally having her life funded by your husband?! Oh, hell no. I'm going over there!" I scrambled to catch up with Maya. But I was too late. Ethan saw her coming and shoved her backward hard. "Chloe! Put your rabid dog on a leash!" Hearing that, my grip on Maya's hand tightened. Before I could even process what I was doing, I slapped Ethan Vance hard across the face. The world went dead silent. The only thing I felt was the stinging heat in my palm. "You're a parasite living off Ethan's money! What gives you the right to hit people?!" Mia pointed her finger right in my face, screaming. Her shrieking drew a massive crowd of onlookers. Ethan radiated dark, violent fury. Maya immediately stepped in front of me, shielding me. "Do you have any idea your wife suffers from severe anxiety and depression?! And it's all thanks to you and your little side piece! You practically drowned her yesterday, and now you want to hit her?!" I tugged at Maya's sleeve, just wanting to escape. As I turned, a strong hand clamped down on my arm. "Chloe... is what she said true?" Ethan's Adam's apple bobbed, his voice sounding strangely tight. Mia suddenly let out a bubbly laugh, stepping around Maya as if they were old friends. "Wow, what a coincidence, Chloe! I'm getting my master's in psychology. Why don't I give you a free evaluation?" Maya shoved her shoulder. "Who knows what kind of garbage you'd make up? Back off." Ethan's gaze shifted to Mia, his tone instantly turning protective and fond. "Mia is a graduate student at Columbia. She earned her place through hard work and intellect. You can trust her professional opinion." It was laughable. Why on earth would I trust his mistress? Mia tilted her head, putting on a perfectly rehearsed look of concern. "The thing is, the most obvious symptom of clinical depression is a total loss of the will to live." "But Chloe's survival instincts are incredibly strong. Especially her instinct to acquire wealth. That totally contradicts the diagnosis..." Ethan raised an eyebrow and let out a scoff. "Hah. She could lose everything in the world as long as she doesn't lose a dollar. Depression? Hilarious." "Chloe, you're pretty clever, getting your friend to put on this little theatrical performance. I almost fell for it." "Playing the tragic, misunderstood victim in the hospital, and now this? Tsk. You're really working overtime to keep my attention." My expression remained completely flat. Maya looked like she was going to pass out from pure rage. Ethan pulled Mia into his side, looking us up and down with mocking pity. "You and your friend should take some notes from Mia. Have your own ambitions and careers. Stop spending every waking hour scheming for a payout. Women need to value their self-respect." He guided the girl into his waiting Maybach and sped off. Maya stood on the sidewalk, screaming curses into the exhaust fumes. I sighed. "Come on, let it go. I'm leaving anyway. What's the point of arguing with them?" Maya burst into tears and threw her arms around me. "I swear to God, Chloe, after you leave, that bastard is going to regret this for the rest of his life!" 3 I had no idea if Ethan would regret it. I only knew that he didn't come home that night either. To bury the negative press surrounding Mia's little club incident, he organized a massive, high-profile charity street race, donating all the proceeds in Mia's name. But for some reason, while he was behind the wheel, my completely unbothered, indifferent face kept flashing in his mind. Chloe has been acting so strange these past few days... In that split second of distraction, his sports car slammed into a concrete barrier. He survived without major injuries, but photos of him instinctively shielding Mia during the crash went viral on Twitter and Instagram. The next morning, he wired me three million dollars. We had an established rule: every time he was caught by the paparazzi with another woman, I got a three-million-dollar "inconvenience fee." I used to desperately need that money, and he seemed to enjoy the transactional humiliation of our arrangement. I closed out of the news app, my thoughts drifting back to a long time ago. This was only the second time Ethan had ever street raced. The first time was for me. Back then, a rival syndicate of the Vance family had kidnapped me and dragged me up to a cabin in the Catskills. The Vance family had already arranged for professional fixers to deliver the ransom, but Ethan refused to wait. He insisted on going himself. The kidnappers had barricaded the mountain roads. Their real target was always Ethan. That night, he drove like a madman, ramming his car through the barricades. By the time we made it back to the Vance estate, he was battered and bleeding, looking like he'd been through a warzone. But I, sitting in the passenger seat, didn't have a single scratch on me. I sat by his bedside, taking care of him for seven days and seven nights. When Ethan finally woke up, the very first thing he did was look for me. He pulled me tightly into his arms, his voice hoarse. "Thank God my Chloe is safe. If they had touched you, I would have killed every last one of them." "If anything ever happened to you, I promise I wouldn't survive it." My heart had trembled, melting into absolute devotion. It was in that moment I decided I was going to stay by his side for the rest of my life. Now, years later, I stared at the three-million-dollar wire transfer notification on my phone... and hit "Decline." A second later, my phone started buzzing violently. I just powered it off and went to sleep. Five days left. The second thing I needed to do was say goodbye to Lily. She was the very first girl I sponsored when I moved to New York. Last month, she finally got her acceptance letter to NYU. The moment I walked through the doors of the youth center, I ran right into Ethan. He was holding Mia's hand, presenting an oversized novelty check from the street race to this exact facility. Wow. What a coincidence. A gentle breeze ruffled Mia's hair. She looked like an angel as she offered words of encouragement to the kids. "I'm here to help you today, but what I really hope is that you learn from my example. You have to rely on yourself to find your value in this world." The kids gathered around her, cheering and clapping. Ethan watched her, his eyes overflowing with adoration. But my eyes were fixed on what she was holding in her hand—the black Centurion card Ethan had tried to give me two days ago. Lily's eyes were red. "Chloe, why are you suddenly leaving?" "Back before you even married into the Vance family, you worked three jobs just to pay for my schooling. I haven't even had a chance to pay you back yet..." I reached out to ruffle Lily's hair, but before I could comfort her, a voice cut in. "Ethan, look! Isn't that your gold-digger wife? Ugh, she's stalking us again!" Ethan scowled and marched over to me, grabbing my arm and dragging me into a corner. He lowered his voice, his tone sharp. "Go home. Are you seriously throwing a jealous fit here?!" "Today is a big day for Mia. Do not cause a scene!" Lily was startled but quickly ran over to defend me. "Chloe is my sponsor! Excuse me, sir, but you need to show some respect!" Ethan froze. "Since when have you been sponsoring kids? Why didn't I know about this?" I answered flatly, "I started before we were married. I don't need to report every detail of my life to you." Ethan's face turned a darker shade of anger. "You're certainly generous when it comes to strangers." After a long pause, a look of realization dawned on his face, and he eyed me with suspicion. "I shouldn't be surprised. You've always been greedy. You want the glamorous title of a billionaire's wife, but you also want the saintly philanthropist image to go with it." "Did you bribe my secretary for my itinerary today, or did you just guess I'd be here from the news? Chloe, your little schemes are endless." Mia marched over, puffing out her cheeks in self-righteous anger. "Exactly, Mrs. Vance! True charity shouldn't be done for fame!" "Running all the way over here just to show off to Ethan... you're only making him look down on you even more!" They were living in their own delusional reality. I had completely lost the desire to explain myself. "Sure. Whatever you guys say." I checked my phone. It was getting late. Ethan grabbed Mia's hand and roughly shoved past me. "Let's see how long she can keep this act up." Watching them walk away, Lily looked incredibly confused. "Chloe, is that really your husband? Why would he say those things? Doesn't he know you're leaving?" My expression was calm. "Lily, as you grow up, I hope you develop the ability to see through the surface of things. Don't be fooled by appearances, and always protect your own heart." ... Ethan didn't come home for the next three days. My departure date was rapidly approaching. During those days, the only contact I had with him were the wire transfer notifications. As usual, I rejected every single one. In the early hours of my second-to-last day, my bedroom door was violently shoved open. A man reeking of scotch pinned me to the mattress and crushed his mouth against mine. Smack! "Ethan Vance, what the hell is wrong with you?!" 4 He forcefully gripped my jaw, his eyes terrifyingly bloodshot. "You won't take my money, and now you won't even let me kiss you, huh?" "Chloe, aren't you obsessed with money? What kind of game are you playing now? Or did you find yourself a new sugar daddy?" I shoved him away with all my strength, pulling a pillow against my chest to protect myself. "Why do you suddenly care what I do?" "You have your pure, morally superior little mistress. If you're horny, go find her. Don't come in here looking for a fight." Those words seemed to snap Ethan back to reality. He stopped struggling and stared intensely at my face, as if trying to decipher some hidden meaning. But the cold, detached look in my eyes only seemed to agitate him further. Something had fundamentally shifted. I fully expected him to storm out and head to Mia's apartment. But the next morning, I found him asleep on the living room sofa. He looked strangely peaceful. My phone rang, breaking the silence. I looked away and walked back to my room to answer it. "What's wrong, Maya?" "Chloe, I'm moving back to LA. That little bitch Mia used Ethan's name to threaten my boss. I got fired..." A heavy weight crashed down on my chest, making it hard to breathe. No matter how much I endured, my toxic marriage was still dragging my friends down with me. Maya tried her best to keep her voice light. "It's fine, honestly! I was thinking about moving back anyway. With you leaving, there's no point in me staying in this city..." After hanging up, I frantically opened my jewelry box and started emptying it. Thank God. I still had a few pieces of solid gold jewelry I hadn't pawned yet. Gold prices were high right now; the cash from these would be enough to cover Maya's living expenses for a few years. I found a pawn shop in Brooklyn, far away from the Upper East Side. But the second I walked through the door, I knew I had walked into a trap. Mia's voice drifted from behind me. "Ethan, you're just too naive. You actually believed this woman suddenly stopped caring about money." "See? A dog always goes back to its vomit. She's here pawning the jewelry you bought her." Her eyes gleamed like a hawk locked onto its prey. I slowly clenched my fists, my entire body shaking. This young girl, who constantly preached about her "moral purity," had gotten Maya fired, stalked me to a pawn shop, and orchestrated this entire confrontation! I tried, weakly, to explain. "Ethan didn't buy these. I saved up for them myself. And if you hadn't ruined my friend's life, I wouldn't have to pawn them..." Crash! The jewelry box was violently smacked out of my hands by an ice-cold Ethan. The gold chains and rings scattered across the dirty tile floor with a loud clatter. Swallowing every ounce of my pride, I dropped to my knees and desperately started gathering them up. I couldn't lose a single piece. Every ring was Maya's rent money. I already owed my friend too much. I couldn't let her suffer anymore. Ethan planted his expensive leather shoe down on one of the gold rings, staring down at me with absolute disgust. "Chloe, you are truly repulsive." "When you stopped taking my wire transfers, I actually thought you had changed. Playing hard to get to my face, while sneaking around pawning my gifts behind my back. If Mia hadn't warned me, I might have actually felt sorry for you." I didn't even look up. I just carefully handed the gold I had gathered to the pawnshop owner. "It's all 24-karat. Can you weigh it? I only want cash." "Anyone who buys her gold is declaring war on the Vance family!" The owner's hand froze awkwardly in mid-air. I looked up at Ethan in absolute disbelief. "Don't cross the line! I bought these with my own money!" Ethan leaned down, gripping my chin, his eyes completely devoid of warmth. "Chloe, do people like you even have 'personal property'? What do you have that wasn't paid for by me?" I let out a harsh, bitter laugh. Tears spilled over my lashes, completely out of my control. "If you don't trust me, why are we still doing this dance? We can just get a divorce." Divorce meant nothing to me now. But maybe I just wanted to hear his answer. Just how deeply did he hate me? Ethan's pupils contracted sharply, and his grip on my jaw loosened. Mia panicked. "Ethan, are you actually going to believe a woman who has done nothing but lie to you?" "If you believe her, then I'll leave! Let's just pretend I framed her today!" Ethan grabbed the girl's arm as she turned to run, pulling her close and resting his nose against her temple. He coaxed her gently. "Don't be silly. How could a sweet, innocent girl like you ever frame anyone?" When he looked back at me, his eyes had turned back to ice. "Notify every jeweler and pawn shop in the tri-state area. No one is to do business with Chloe Adams." After they left, I clutched the jewelry to my chest and walked for a very, very long time. I walked until my legs were completely numb, finally arriving outside Maya's apartment building. I handed her the gold and told her she'd have to find a way to pawn it herself. Maya accepted it through her tears. The final, heaviest stone in my heart was finally lifted. Tonight, after midnight, I would finally be free.
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