I Rented Out My Cheating Husband

After remarrying, I started renting out my husband Ethan Sterling.

When his first love, Melissa Parker, called him away from my side, I stopped crying and making scenes.

Instead, I started charging by the hour.

Daytime: 0-000,000 per hour. Nighttime: $200,000 per hour. Holidays: triple rate.

After three months of this arrangement, nearly $20 million appeared in my account.

He'd promised to help me pick out an evening gown, but Melissa called crying that she'd cut her finger while chopping vegetables.

Without looking up, I simply held out my payment QR code to him.

Late one night, when I spiked a high fever and Ethan was driving me to the hospital, his first love called saying the thunder was too loud and she couldn't sleep.

I skillfully pulled out an umbrella and asked Ethan to drop me off at the next intersection.

He hesitated, seemingly wanting to say something.

I just smiled. "Don't forget to transfer the money."

When it came time for our daughter Mia's routine hospital checkup, Melissa called again. "My son wants to go to the amusement park. I hope you can take him..."

After hanging up, Ethan turned around, about to crouch down and explain to our daughter.

Mia mimicked me, holding out her hand toward him.

"It's okay, Dad. Just send the money. Today should be triple rate."

Hearing this, the apologetic look on Ethan's face instantly vanished.

He stood up and pointed at our daughter, questioning me with righteous indignation.

"Charlotte Bennett, is this how you've been raising our child?"

I calmly pulled our daughter behind me.

"What's wrong with it? If she can't get love, at least she gets money. Better than meit took a divorce for me to learn that lesson."

Ethan was instantly speechless.

The phone rang again.

Melissa's son's voice came through.

"Uncle Ethan, hurry up! You promised to ride the Tiger Coaster with me a hundred times!"

My daughter gripped my clothes tightly.

Noticing her gesture, Ethan, for once, didn't immediately agree.

He reached out, wanting to pat our daughter's head.

"Be good. Today you go to the hospital with Mom first."

"After you get better, Dad will take you to the amusement park, okay?"

Our daughter dodged his hand, blinking her big eyes as she repeated, "It's okay, Dad. Just send me the money."

Ethan's expression completely darkened.

Before leaving, he threw out angrily, "Charlotte, you and your daughter can keep this up all you want!"

"Absolutely ridiculous!"

The front door slammed shut heavily, and my heart shook along with it.

My daughter tugged at my arm, holding up her phone watch to show me.

"Mom, Dad sent over so many zeros."

"Is this enough money for my surgery?"

Looking at my daughter's face, I held back my sobs and hugged her tightly.

"Yes. After your surgery, Mom will take you away from here."

While waiting for my daughter's examination, several push notifications popped up on my phone.

Paparazzi had secretly photographed Ethan and Melissa with her son at an amusement park.

The caption read: "Mr. Sterling spotted with new flame at amusement parkyoung child already calling him Dad!"

I enlarged the photo, looking at Ethan's relaxed, carefree smile.

I couldn't remember the last time he'd smiled like that in front of me and our daughter.

My hand trembled as I exited. When I refreshed, the post showed as deleted.

The next second, Ethan's call came through.

"Charlotte, don't be upset. That's just unscrupulous media making things up."

"I already paid to have all those articles taken down."

I paused, then realized he was talking about Oliver calling him Dad.

"I'm not upset. Kids say things without thinking."

"Since I've already rented you out to them, you should spend quality time with them."

Without waiting for his response, I hung up decisively.

My daughter's test results came back. The doctor said her condition was well-controlled.

Next month they could schedule the heart bypass surgery.

My whole body went weak, and I nearly collapsed to my knees.

When we divorced, Ethan had found the best lawyer to forcibly rule that I leave with nothing, just to teach me a lesson about Melissa and her son.

The very next day, my daughter was diagnosed with myocardial ischemia and was at constant risk of sudden cardiac death.

Because of Ethan's influence, not a single company dared hire me.

Not a single relative or friend was willing to lend me money.

Watching my daughter's condition deteriorate day by day, I finally bowed my head to Ethan.

And now, finally, my daughter was out of danger.

After confirming the surgery date, I also submitted applications to an agency for visas for me and my daughter.

A message from Ethan popped up.

"When are you coming home? I made your favorite dishes."

I didn't reply.

An hour later, I pushed open the front door.

Ethan was serving food to Melissa and her son.

The harmonious atmosphere made it seem like my daughter and I had mistakenly entered someone else's home.

"Charlotte..."

Ethan stood up abruptly, striding to the door to take my bag.

"Melissa's landlord suddenly sold the house and kicked them out."

"They couldn't find a place to stay on short notice. Do you think they could stay here temporarily..."

I didn't respond. I just watched as the servants moved my and my daughter's belongings, item by item, into the storage room.

Melissa spoke weakly, though her expression couldn't hide her smugness.

"Sorry, Charlotte. My health isn't great, so I can only stay in rooms with good lighting and ventilation. Ethan gave me the master bedroom."

My daughter's room had also been taken over by Oliver.

Her favorite doll had been thrown out by Oliver, its arms and legs broken off.

Ethan suddenly looked a bit guilty.

"Charlotte, if you don't agree, I can also find them another place..."

"I agree."

I held out my hand to him.

"The rent is the same as before, but the rental fee for living in my house and your companionship tax need to be calculated separately."

"Smack."

Ethan hurled my bag violently to the floor, his face dark as ink.

"Charlotte, have you lost your mind?"

"What kind of crazy talk is this in front of the children?"

I could only laugh coldly.

He was the one who brought another woman and her child into this house, yet he blamed me for being shameless for pointing it out.

Ethan pulled Melissa and her son toward the door.

As he passed me, he threw a bank card at my face.

"Five million! Is that enough?"

"Too proud to accept kindnessyou might as well just marry money!"

After the house finally quieted down, my daughter dabbed at my face with tissues, sniffling.

Only then did I realize the bank card had cut my cheek, drawing blood.

"Mom, it's all because I'm sick. That's why Dad treats you badly every day."

I held my daughter tightly.

"Mom's not upset. Once you're better after surgery, Mom will be happy..."

My daughter, who always insisted on bedtime stories from her father, fell asleep in my arms with tears still on her face.

Looking at her furrowed brow, my heart ached as if it had been run over.

When had our once happy family of three become like this?

Was it after Melissa's husband died, when Ethan went over night after night to comfort her, afraid she might do something drastic?

He went so frequently that paparazzi mistook his own home for an affair location.

Was it when Ethan worried that Oliver would be bullied at school for not having a father, and attended every single one of his parent-teacher conferences without fail?

He never missed Children's Day or birthday parties either.

This caused my daughter to be treated as a mistress's child, bullied relentlessly at school.

Was it when my daughter had her first heart attack and fainted, and I called Ethan countless times but the line was always busy?

When I finally rushed to the hospital, I was told all the doctors had been reassigned to treat Oliver's scraped knee.

My daughter's heart stopped three times. I bowed until my head bled before finally stopping a doctor who barely managed to save her life.

I took a deep breath and packed our belongings.

Holding my sleeping daughter, I left that unrecognizable home without any attachment.

After settling into our new place for a week, Ethan hadn't sent a single message.

But Melissa's messages kept coming.

All of them forwarded news reports about their outings, as if afraid I wouldn't see them.

Expressionless, I clicked them open. They'd gone to every place my daughter and I had wanted to visit.

Even the media outlet reporting on them was the same one that had covered my and Ethan's wedding of the century.

"Sorry, Charlotte. I told Ethan to pay the paparazzi to take down the news, but he insisted you have plenty of money."

"Since this started because of me, how about I sell the jewelry and bags Ethan bought me to help you take down the news?"

Melissa sneakily photographed the gifts Ethan had given her, trying to provoke me.

After all, in the past, seeing these things would have sent me rushing to Melissa's place to smash and shred everything.

Now I simply replied lightly, "I'd appreciate that."

Melissa's typing indicator showed for a long time, but no new message came.

Just when I thought they might finally quiet down, ten million dollars suddenly appeared in my account.

The moment I saw the note attached, all the blood in my body seemed to flow backward!

I stumbled to my mother's grave, where Ethan was directing workers to dig it up.

"Stop!!"

I threw myself forward, shoving the two workers aside hard, grabbing a hoe to guard my mother's grave.

Ethan pulled Melissa and her son behind him, sneering.

"Charlotte, didn't you say you'd rent out anything as long as I paid?"

"I already transferred the rental fee for your mother's burial plot. What scene are you making now?"

I was shaking with rage, even my jaw trembling.

"Ethan Sterling, are you even human?"

Ethan shrugged indifferently.

"I'm clearly following your rules. How does that make me inhuman?"

"Or is it that in your heart, every emotion is sacred except our marriage, which is so base it can be traded for money?"

My nails dug deep into my palms. I was so full of hate I barely felt the pain.

I couldn't understand how the man who once knelt at my mother's sickbed, swearing he'd never betray me for the rest of his life, could have become this.

Melissa held a framed photo of a deceased dog, tears streaming down her face.

"Forget it, Ethan. Even though Max was like family to Oliver and me, at the end of the day a pet is just a pet. It's not right to take Charlotte's mother's burial plot."

Seeing her tears, Ethan's voice turned ice cold.

"Charlotte, move aside."

I gritted my teeth. "In your dreams!"

He walked to my side, leaning down to whisper in my ear.

"Mia's surgery is next month. You'd better behave during this time."

My whole body went cold.

"Isn't Mia your daughter?"

"You're threatening me with your own daughter's life?"

Ethan tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear.

"Yes, but Oliver is also my biological son."

"The night before our wedding, Melissa came to reminisce with me. I drank too much and accidentally made a mistake..."

"You and Mia have money and status. You should be more understanding."

I was nearly drenched in cold sweat.

Images of my daughter collapsing from a heart attack flashed through my mind over and over.

I slowly lowered the hoe in my hands.

My legs felt like they were filled with lead as I stiffly stepped aside.

Oliver rushed right over. "Yay! The old hag made room for my Max!"

He yanked down the black and white photo from my mother's headstone and grabbed the urn, about to smash it!

"No!"

My mind went blank as I lunged forward.

To protect the urn, my head slammed hard into the headstone.

The world spun, and my vision turned blood red.

"Charlotte!"

Ethan rushed to help me up, his hands trembling as he tried to wipe the blood from my forehead.

"Does it hurt? Are you dizzy?"

I shoved him away and thrust the documents from my bag in his face.

"Your rental fee isn't enough."

"Sign it."

Seeing the words "Property Transfer Agreement" on the document, Ethan's face turned cold.

"Fine, Charlotte. Just fine!"

He pulled out a pen decisively and scrawled his signature across it.

Then he hurled both the pen and documents to the ground, sweeping Melissa and her son into his arms as he strode away.

The pen broke in half.

It was the gift I'd given him for our third anniversary.

The first document he'd signed with that pen was our marriage certificate.

I picked up the documents, pulling out the divorce agreement hidden behind the transfer contract.

Looking at the bold signature across it, I cried and laughed at the same time, clutching my mother's urn as I staggered to my feet.

Once my daughter's surgery was over, everything between us would be completely finished.

I barely made it to the day of the surgery. Watching my daughter being wheeled into the operating room, I let out a sigh of relief and knelt by the door, praying constantly.

I begged heaven to have mercy and let my daughter's surgery go smoothly.

But before the surgery was even over, another deposit notification popped up on my phone.

Before I could read the note, the operating room doors suddenly burst open.

The doctors, still wearing bloodied gloves, rushed out without even removing them.

My hands and feet went numb. I grabbed the last doctor's white coat desperately.

"My daughter's surgery isn't finished yet. Where are you going?"

I looked into the room. My daughter's chest cavity was already open.

The heart monitor showed only weak fluctuations.

The doctor struggled free from my grip.

"Mr. Sterling's son suddenly had an allergic reaction. Our entire hospital has been called to the emergency, so the surgery must be paused."

"You can't leave!"

My voice was thick with tears as I fumbled for my bank card with shaking hands.

"However much he's paying you, I'll pay double! Just finish my daughter's surgery!"

Afraid they'd think it wasn't enough, I pulled out my phone to transfer money immediately.

That's when I finally saw the note on that deposit notification.

It was Ethan's rental fee for the doctors.

"Ma'am, this isn't about money."

"We're afraid of losing our jobs."

No matter how much I begged, the doctors pried my fingers loose one by one and left.

My daughter lay alone on the operating table.

Just half an hour more and she would have had a new lease on life.

But now, because of her own father, she lay there with her chest open, waiting to die.

A message from Melissa popped up.

In the photo, Oliver only had a slight rash.

Yet the hospital room was surrounded by layers of doctors.

Ethan sat by the bed, feeding Oliver my daughter's favorite strawberry cake.

Melissa's tone was full of triumph.

"Charlotte, didn't you act so magnanimous, wanting only money, not people?"

"How does it feel watching your daughter die right in front of you?"

"If you hadn't remarried, I might have even given you some money."

"You can only blame yourself for being so presumptuousfor that certificate and that pitiful title, you've cost your daughter her life."

I nearly crushed my phone in my grip.

Time ticked by second by second. If this continued, when my daughter's anesthesia wore off, she'd be in agony.

I dialed Ethan's number over and over again.

Not once did he answer.

Watching my daughter's heartbeat line grow weaker and weaker, I opened my phone's video camera and cried into it.

"Melissa, I'll give Ethan to you. Please just let the doctors come back, okay?"

"I'll give you all the money he transferred to me too!"

"Once my daughter's surgery is done, I promise to disappear far away and never bother your family of three again!"

The moment I sent the video, Ethan's call came through.

As soon as I answered, he raged on the other end.

"Charlotte! I only called away two assistant doctors. What are you pretending for!"

"To frame Melissa, you don't even care about your own daughter's life?"

Melissa sobbed beside him.

"Ethan, it's all Oliver's fault for having an allergic reaction during Mia's surgery. That's why you couldn't stay by Charlotte's side."

Ethan had a sudden realization.

"Charlotte, is this performance to remind me I haven't paid you my rental fee?"

"You shouldn't be Mrs. Sterlingyou should change your name to Mrs. Money!"

The call was abruptly disconnected.

Along with the deposit notification came an avalanche of news reports.

"Mrs. Sterling Money-Obsessed: Husband and Daughter's Lives Both Available for Rent!"

"Unconscionable: Halted Daughter's Open-Heart Surgery Just to Film Framing Video for Money?"

With trembling hands, I dialed 911, trying to call doctors from another hospital.

But the ambulance was blocked by the swarm of media rushing to film.

I grabbed a surgical knife from nearby and swung it wildly.

Just to clear a path to survival for my daughter.

Meanwhile, Ethan was getting restless.

He kept clicking on the news reports, somewhat hesitant.

"Mia is still in surgery. Was I too harsh?"

Seeing Oliver bouncing energetically on the hospital bed, he still got up and headed toward the operating room.

When he arrived, the scene before him nearly brought him to his knees...