I longed for death but my wife begged me to stay.

When the impoverished campus beauty confessed to my buddy for the tenth time, he pointed at me:

Mason's poor too. You two would be a perfect match.

She looked at me.

Her lifeless eyes suddenly lit up.

Ten years later, she soared to success. The first thing she did was thank me for my decade of companionship.

Everyone knew she loved me to the bone.

Until she saw my buddy at a banquet, forcing a smile as he poured drinks for others.

Turns out, his rich heiress wife had gone bankrupt and committed suicide.

She handed me divorce papers:

"If you weren't occupying this position, he could have come to me."

We had our first fight in ten years.

She froze my bank accounts. I'd rather die than sign the divorce papers.

Until Dad was critically ill, and she wouldn't pay a single cent.

I watched helplessly as Dad died.

Mom shoved me to the ground, sobbing:

"Why did you fight with her! If you hadn't fought, your dad would've been cured! The one who shouldn't have died is dead, and the one who should be dead is still alive!"

My sister stared at me with red eyes too.

My five-year-old son tugged at my sleeve, crying:

"Where's Grandpa? Where is he? Why didn't Daddy save Grandpa?"

That night, she looked at me mockingly:

"How much longer are you going to cling to this position?"

I handed her the signed papers.

I won't cling anymore.

I'm going to find Dad.

**1**

When I pushed the signed papers in front of her, she froze.

"So obedient this time?"

"Yes."

She leaned closer to me. "What are you plotting? Might as well say it."

"I'm going to find my dad."

Lila Shaw smiled. "What, transferring your uncle to another hospital?"

I froze.

I looked at her in some surprise.

"Your uncle's condition can only be treated at the hospital I recommended. If you go find him, where are you transferring him to?"

She... didn't know Dad was already dead.

A bitter smile flashed across my face.

"That's none of your concern."

With that, I stood up and dragged over the suitcase I'd packed long ago.

I didn't have much. One suitcase couldn't even be filled.

After fighting with her for so long, almost everything I owned of value had been sold.

But it still wasn't enough to cover Dad's surgery costs.

Maybe Mom was right.

I was the one who killed him.

I should go atone for it.

I opened the door. Suddenly, my shoulder was grabbed.

She pinned me against the wall by the throat.

"Playing hard to get?"

Lila Shaw looked at me:

"You refused to sign before no matter what. Now you're so obedient.

"What are you planning to do to Ethan once you walk out that door?"

Always like this.

She always assumed the worst of me.

Before, I would smash things around the house to remind her that I was her husband of nearly ten years.

But now, I actually laughed:

"Strangle me then. Perfectwidowhood will automatically dissolve our marriage."

Her hand recoiled as if burned.

She looked at me in disbelief for a moment.

Seeing I had no intention of dodging.

She spat out "psycho."

And turned to leave.

I found a rental apartment.

I'd saved up a lot of sleeping pills.

Finish them all, and I could leave quietly.

I looked at the gray, bare branches outside the window.

Smiled a little.

Opened the pill bottle.

A huge crash.

My hand shook.

The bottle fell to the ground, pills scattered everywhere.

Lila Shaw gripped my arm tightly.

A cold smile on her lips:

"So that's why you signed the papers so obedientlyyou wanted to kill Ethan!

"Someone! Take him away!"

Before I could explain, I was forcibly dragged away.

The car stopped in an empty lot in the suburbs. I was pulled out.

Thrown in front of Ethan White.

His arms and legs were covered in wounds.

He looked at me with red eyes:

"Mason Turner, I may have fallen on hard times, but I still have morals!

"I never thought of destroying your family. Why did you have me kidnapped and humiliated?

"If Lila hadn't arrived in time, those animals you hired would've killed me by now!"

Looking at those people I didn't recognize at all, I said coldly:

"I didn't."

"Still denying it?"

Lila Shaw gripped my chin. "These people all confessed you hired them. What, could Ethan have staged this himself?"

Ethan White quickly exchanged a glance with those thugs.

They suddenly burst into tears:

"Sir! Are you really going to deny knowing us!"

"Yeah, sir! You said you'd take responsibility if anything happened!"

"You said Mr. White was selling himself, that we didn't need to worry about consequences! If we'd known he was someone Ms. Shaw cared about, we wouldn't have dared even with a hundred times the courage!"

Ethan White's eyes reddened, as if he'd suffered the greatest humiliation.

Lila Shaw's hand gripping my chin nearly crushed my bones:

"Keep being stubborn, and you can forget about your father's medical expenses forever!"

I looked at her with red eyes.

Suddenly smiled:

"Father? He's already gone! What medical expenses?"

Lila Shaw's pupils contracted sharply.

The next second, a slap landed hard on my face:

"Now you'll say anything just to be contrary!"

Ethan White suddenly spoke:

"Mason, even though you and Lila have some conflicts, she's never taken it out on your uncle. Even I, an outsider, know that Lila has a special medical account for your uncle. She deposits hundreds of thousands every month."

**2**

I froze.

Looked up at Lila Shaw.

Her expression was ice-cold, same as always.

How could someone like this possibly give Dad hundreds of thousands in medical expenses every month?

If that were true, how could Dad have died!

They're all lying to me.

Using a fictitious account to threaten me into divorce.

All lying to me...

Lila Shaw said coldly:

"Even now, you still refuse to admit it?"

I took a deep breath. "What do you want me to do?"

"Kneel down and apologize to him."

"Hey, that's not necesswe used to be broth"

Before Ethan White could stop me, I'd already knelt down and kowtowed respectfully:

"I'm sorry."

Lila Shaw looked at me in disbelief.

I stood up.

Dusted off my knees:

"If there's nothing else, I'll be going."

The pills scattered on the rental floorI haven't taken them yet.

"Stop."

A knife was placed on the table.

Lila Shaw said coldly: "Ethan suffered so much because of you. An apology isn't enough."

I turned around.

She sneered: "However many cuts he took, you take the same."

Ethan White covered the scrape on his arm and frowned.

"Fine."

Perfect. No other way to die anyway.

I picked up the knife.

Stabbed it hard toward my own heart.

"Mason Turner!"

A hand gripped the hand holding my knife with all its strength.

Lila Shaw fought desperately against my force.

I stared at her.

The knife tip moved two inches closer to my heart.

"Mason Turner!!"

I gripped the knife handle.

She gripped my hand.

But couldn't overcome my strength.

"If you want your child thrown into an orphanage, go ahead and stab that knife in now!"

I froze.

"Mason Turner, I won't raise that bastard."

I opened my mouth.

Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth. "You..."

She interrupted me:

"If you really want to die, take that bastard with you.

"Looking at that face so much like yours makes me sick!"

Right...

Lila Shaw hates me.

So little Beau... she'd hate him too...

If I die, no one will really take care of Beau.

Maybe Lila Shaw would even get people to bully him...

The knife was yanked out abruptly.

I coughed up blood, staggered, and was caught by her.

Before losing consciousness, I heard her shouting sternly:

"Ambulance! Call an ambulance!"

When I woke again, I was lying in a VIP hospital room.

Lila Shaw looked at me with a cold smile:

"Your methods are getting more sophisticated.

"Even threatening death is performed so realistically."

I looked at her.

She gave a mocking smile. "Ethan was right. You really should be an actor."

She left.

I lay alone in the bed.

Staring at the white ceiling.

Covering my heart.

That afternoon, I knocked on my sister's door.

Dad's portrait still sat on the table.

Seeing it was me, she moved to close the door immediately.

I stuck a hand in the gap.

"Stella, I'm here to ask you for something."

My sister turned her head away, refusing to look at me.

I entered the room.

She sat on the sofa and lit a cigarette.

She didn't smoke or drink.

After Dad died, she started both.

"I'm sorry, Stella. I should have listened to you from the start."

She exhaled a smoke ring. Said nothing.

"I shouldn't have been unwilling to give up those ten years. I shouldn't have fought with you and Mom over Lila Shaw. I should have listened to you from the beginning and given Lila Shaw's husband position to Ethan White.

"I'm sorry..."

My sister laughed coldly:

"Is sorry useful? Can sorry bring Dad back?"

I choked up.

She looked at me:

"It's because you were always single-mindedly jealous that Mom died!"

She spat out the last few words through gritted teeth:

"How did I end up with a brother like you!"

I lowered my head, trembling as I spoke:

"But Stella... I'm begging you, take care of Beau."

She froze.

"Lila Shaw won't take care of him. She'll soon have children with someone else.

"I'm not asking you to treat him like your own child.

"At least don't let him be bullied."

My sister stared at me, then suddenly laughed coldly:

"What, playing the guilt card?"

I said nothing.

"Having a father like you is Beau's born misfortune."

"Stella, I'm begging you."

"Get out."

"Stella..."

"Get out!"

An ashtray smashed at my feet:

"Get out! Don't dirty Dad's eyes by being here!"

I turned around.

Dad's portrait was on the table.

Looking at me kindly with a smile.

I knelt down.

Kowtowed deeply.

Turned around.

Knelt before my sister again and kowtowed:

"Stella, I'm begging you."

Without waiting for her shocked look, I turned and strode away.

**3**

Walking out the door, already in the car.

My sister's voice came from the doorway:

"Don't ever come back! Die wherever you want to die! Don't say you're my brother! The Turner family doesn't have a brother like you!"

I gripped the steering wheel, my eyes uncontrollably stinging.

It doesn't matter if I get scolded.

I know.

In the end, Stella won't abandon Beau.

I started the car.

And drove away.

The sleeping pills sat quietly on the table.

I lay on the bed in the rental apartment.

Set up a timed message for the landlord.

To be sent after twenty-four hours.

Asking him to help me contact the funeral home.

Selling my last few luxury items could get me over two hundred thousand.

Not enough for Dad's surgery.

But enough to compensate the landlord for his losses.

After doing all this, I fed the pills to myself.

The door was suddenly kicked open.

My throat was grabbed.

I involuntarily threw up.

My chin was gripped by Lila Shaw.

Her eyes were red:

"What did you do! What did you and your father do to Ethan!!"

Lila Shaw had never lost control like this.

Even in the past when we fought endlessly over divorce papers.

She'd just give me a cold smile and say:

"Fine, then we'll drag this out. Let's see who can outlast whom."

I'd never seen her so furious.

Still confused, Ethan White appeared at the door.

The performance costume he'd been wearing was now replaced by haute couture.

But it was torn and tattered.

Blood at the corner of his mouth.

He rushed up like a madman.

Punched me hard in the face:

"How can you be so vicious!

"Won't you and your father be satisfied until you've destroyed me!"

I looked at him blankly.

His chest heaved violently:

"I told you, I have morals. I would never destroy your marriage with Lila!

"We were brothers once. How could you be so depraved as to have your father send me a message, trick me into going to the hospital to see him.

"Then have a bunch of animals treat me like a dog and take pictures of me!"

I laughed.

As expected.

Framing me again.

But I'm so tired.

Too tired to explain.

Ethan White gritted his teeth, trembling:

"If Lila hadn't found me, those photos would be all over the internet by now!"

"What a coincidence."

I didn't even lift my eyelids:

"Every time I supposedly frame you, Lila Shaw shows up right on time."

He froze.

I smiled and looked up:

"Just like you arranged it all in advance."

"Bang!"

A hand shoved me hard.

The back of my head hit the wall.

Lila Shaw furiously threw a stack of photos in my face:

"You're saying Ethan used this method to humiliate himself just to compete with you!"

In the photos, Ethan White's face was covered in injuries, his eyes panicked.

Countless hands forcing him to look at the camera.

His eyes full of humiliation and tears.

At first glance, it was indeed very pitiful.

But looking closer, the angles and composition of these photos were too refined.

Like someone had written a script in advance.

Under the blanket, my hand gripped the sleeping pills I hadn't finished.

I sneered:

"Not bad photography. Could be used as artistic portraits."

"You!"

Ethan White was stunned.

I looked at Lila Shaw:

"What exactly do you want, Ms. Shaw?

"Beat me up or put me in prison? Either way, hurry up. I still have things to do."

Lila Shaw's fists trembled slightly.

"That would be too easy on you."

A dozen burly men walked in from the door.

"Naturally, we should give you a taste of your own medicine!"

I froze.

Cameras were set up in no time.

Lila Shaw gave cold instructions at the door:

"However you bullied Ethan, do the same to him! However you photographed Ethan, photograph him the same way!"

With that, the door was closed.

Before I could make a sound.

My mouth was covered.

**4**

Ethan White's photos were carefully designed.

But my photos were truly humiliating.

In no time, a hundred photos were taken.

My face was covered in punch marks, blood at the corner of my mouth.

Lying on the bed, eyes vacant.

Lila Shaw checked those photos.

Took away the negatives.

Revealed a mocking expression.

She came to my bedside and leaned down:

"Tell me, if your father saw you doing this kind of work on the side, would he just drop dead on the spot?"

I stared at the ceiling, saying nothing.

She sneered.

Stood up.

Called her subordinate:

"Prepare the car. We're going to the hospital to see the old man."

"Yes!"

She walked away.

From under the blanket, my hand came out.

The sleeping pillsI could finally take them.

Dad, I'm coming to apologize to you.

I'm sorry. Please don't hate me.

At that moment, Lila Shaw was going downstairs.

Her subordinate called again:

"Ms. Shaw! This is bad! The hospital says the old man passed away a month ago!"

"What did you say?"

Lila Shaw frowned.

Suddenly thought of something.

Turned around in panic.

"Mason Turner! You're pulling this trick again!"

She burst through the door.

Sleeping pills scattered on the floor.

I lay on blood-soaked sheets, eyes already closed.

"Mason Turner!!"

"Mason!"

Lila Shaw rushed over. Blood still trickled from the corner of my mouth.

She looked at the scattered pills on the floor.

Her eyes turned red:

"Mason! Don't scare me! What are you trying to do!"

I felt my hand being gripped tightly.

Lila Shaw's voice trembled slightly:

"Mason, I wasn't really going to send out your photos. I was just trying to scare you! You wouldn't take your photos public, would you?

"Those photos are all destroyed. I never intended to show them to your uncle either! Please, don't die, please..."

But I couldn't respond anymore.

Slowly closed my eyes.

Lila Shaw watched as I was pushed into the emergency room.

She stood there listlessly.

Still clutching my phone.

The phone was stopped on my message draft page.

She looked down.

The screen still had blood on it.

Asking the landlord to help contact a funeral home?

All luxury items as compensation to the landlord?

What is this...

Lila Shaw's hands trembled slightly.

Mason... had already thought about suicide this early?!

No, wait...

Remembering the subordinate's phone call, she immediately called back:

"Go check what's really going on with the old man!"

Soon, she saw the empty hospital room.

Her eyes turned red.

"When the old man passed, we tried to contact you, but you never answered. In the end, it was the gentleman who claimed the body."

She never answered?

Lila Shaw thought she'd heard wrong.

Took out her phone.

There were no calls from the hospital at all!

"Impossible. We called! Check your call history if you don't believe us!"

"No need."

Lila Shaw's voice turned cold.

Her phone password was set by Ethan White.

If someone tampered with the call history, it could only be him...

She went to Ethan White's residence.

As soon as she opened the door, Ethan White rushed to hug her:

"Lila! I was just about to find you!

"Just now I saw someone lurking around my place again, similar to those people last time. Is Mason trying to hurt me again?"

Lila Shaw looked at him coldly.

Said nothing.

"Lila?"

Ethan White slowly released her.

"Done with the act?"

"Lila, I don't know what you're talking about?"

"Why is there no record of the hospital's call?"

Ethan White's breath caught.

"I... I don't know."

"Still lying!"

She suddenly grabbed Ethan White by the throat:

"The medical account I set up for the old manwhy is there no balance!

"Why every month when I transfer money, do you simultaneously have an extra sum of assets in your name!

"Whose pocket did the money really go into!"