On our wedding day, desperate to pay for my mom’s emergency surgery, I made a demand to my fiancé: “Give me $500,000, or this wedding is off!” Caleb froze for a moment, but then quickly wired the $500,000 to me. That same night, drunk, he pinned me beneath him: ” gold-digger!” After we were married, he constantly cheated, cycling through countless lovers. When I tearfully confronted him, he just said: “What makes you any different from those bitches? Oh, I forgot, you’re more expensive! It cost me $500,000 just to get you into bed!” Later, when I proposed divorce, he sneered: “Name your price. How much do you want this time?” “Fifty thousand dollars?” “A hundred thousand?” “Or maybe one hundred fifty thousand?” His indifferent sneer echoed in my ears. I hadn’t even said anything. A young woman’s voice came through the phone: “Caleb, you casually donated five thousand dollars to a beggar on the street yesterday. Why are you so stingy with your own wife?” Caleb said with contempt, “Because some people only deserve that much.” Ever since I asked him for $500,000 on our wedding day. The love in Caleb’s eyes for me had vanished completely. I knew I was in the wrong and wanted to make things right. But. I cooked for him myself. His face was full of mockery: “How much do you want? Name your fee before I even take a bite. Let’s see if I can afford it.” Even during sex at night, he’d casually say, “How much for tonight? Give me a number.” Countless times, I tried to explain that I needed the money before our wedding because my mom had a sudden cerebral hemorrhage on our wedding day and needed emergency surgery. But he wouldn’t believe me. “You’d lie about your mom’s life for money. Skylar, I never knew you could be so twisted.” I endured a sharp stomach pain and said calmly: “I don’t want your money. I just want a divorce.” He didn’t know I was suffering from a gastroenteritis flare-up today, and I didn’t even have $200 for medical fees. Caleb still didn’t believe a word I said. A fresh wave of biting contempt washed over me. “Skylar, if you want to prove you’re not a gold-digger, pay me back the $500,000.” With that, he hung up the phone. His words kept swirling in my mind. Everyone thought I’d become a wealthy socialite after marrying him. But no one knew Caleb hadn’t given me a single dime since our wedding day. My old company couldn’t keep me because of my status as ‘Mrs. Hayes.’ After being let go, I tried interviewing elsewhere, but was subtly turned down for the same reason. In these three years. Every cent I used was money I’d saved from my previous job. And it had all gone to my mom’s medical bills and living expenses. Now I didn’t even have a hundred dollars on me. Where was I supposed to get $500,000 to pay Caleb back? I stood frozen in place, the medical bill clutched in my icy hands.
Caleb and I were a real-life fairytale. He was from the prominent Hayes family, the sole heir to their empire. My background was ordinary. And I had a chronically ill mother who needed constant care. Not long after Caleb and I started dating, I confided in him about my family situation. I thought he’d be like everyone else, backing away once he heard about my bedridden mom. But he didn’t. He just held my hand, his eyes filled with tenderness, and whispered, his voice trembling: “You must have been so tired all these years, right? I’ll be by your side from now on.” He told me: “Skylar, no matter where you go or what you do, don’t forget I’m always behind you.” Back then, many people said that meeting Caleb was the greatest fortune of my life. I thought so too. No one imagined then that a wedding I’d looked forward to with all my heart would not only brand me with an unshakeable ‘gold-digger’ label, but also shatter all his love for me. To this day, I still remember. After I got the money, I rushed to pay for my mom’s surgery. But my mom’s doctor, no longer looking urgent, told me gravely: “Ms. Miller, your mother is perfectly fine. Everything you just witnessed was a test from Mrs. Hayes. She wanted to see if you were truly worthy of being Mrs. Hayes.” “She asked me to tell you that she’s not entirely satisfied with your performance. If you want to secure your place as Mrs. Hayes, you have more work to do.” “Also, Mrs. Hayes will arrange a better medical team for your mother, but on one condition: she expects your absolute silence on this matter.” Because of Mrs. Hayes’s subtle and not-so-subtle threats, I couldn’t risk my mom’s life. No matter how much Caleb misunderstood me, I never told him the truth about what happened. But when I found out he was cheating, and there was a new, bright, beautiful girl by his side, I still went crazy and fought with him. I clutched his clothes, sobbing uncontrollably. Again and again, I humbly begged him: “Caleb, please, I’m begging you, stop treating me like this!” Facing my plea, his cold face showed not a flicker of emotion. He harshly pried my hands away, and said, word by word: “Skylar, the day you demanded money at our wedding, trampling on my family’s reputation, you died in my heart.” “Now, you’re just a woman I bought with money. What right do you have to make demands of me?” After that. He became even more brazen. The women by his side changed constantly. The sleeping pills in my nightstand. Bottle after bottle, they emptied during my sleepless nights. Now, I had no money for refills. I could only turn and head home. But when I reached the front door of the villa, I found it tightly shut, with no lights inside. I clutched my still aching stomach and struggled to press the doorbell. “Maria, are you there? Could you please open the door for me?” I gritted my teeth, shouting inside. The next moment. The butler’s cold, impersonal voice came through the intercom: “Mr. Hayes just set a curfew. No one is allowed in or out after 10 PM. That includes you, Mrs. Hayes.” “It’s 10:01 PM now, past curfew. Mrs. Hayes, please don’t make things difficult for us.”
I felt the meager seven dollars left in my pocket. A wave of sorrow washed over me. I slowly sat down on the steps of the main entrance, clutching my stomach. I hugged myself tightly, trying to find some warmth. Just then. I suddenly remembered my junior year of college. I missed my dorm’s curfew trying to rush back from my off-campus part-time job. Just when I felt helpless and didn’t know what to do, Caleb appeared before me like an angel, seemingly out of nowhere. He brought me back to this very mansion and gently told me: “Skylar, these doors are always open for you. This is your home, your place.” And now. I looked at the place that was once called home. But it felt incredibly strange. I sat outside the villa all night. When Maria, the housekeeper, woke up and opened the door, my limbs were already stiff and numb. “Mrs. Hayes, why didn’t you find somewhere to stay? Come in quickly before you catch a cold.” She anxiously took my hand. When she touched my icy palm, her heart skipped a beat. Her eyes held a hint of pity and sympathy. She didn’t say anything more. She hurried to the kitchen to make me ginger tea. In these three years. When I was despised and insulted by others, only Maria steadfastly believed in me. She told me: “You’re not a materialistic person. You must have had an unavoidable reason for what you did, I believe you.” Back then, the time we spent together was only a few visits before my wedding. But even she chose to believe me. While Caleb, who constantly proclaimed his love for me, still refused to believe me. It was truly laughable. I had Maria’s ginger tea and breakfast. Then I went to my room to wash up. Just as I was about to rest, I heard a woman’s clear, pleasant voice outside, sweetly flirting. “It’s all your fault, you wouldn’t stop last night, kept bothering me. My back is so sore now. My fault? Should I rub it for you?” Caleb’s familiar, deep voice drifted through the bedroom door. His slightly hoarse tone carried a distinct note of joyful laughter. Hearing his laughter, my mind felt a bit hazy. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen him smile. Suddenly, I spotted the divorce papers I’d prepared on the nightstand. I sat up, grabbed them, and walked out the door. Only to run straight into Caleb and his new fling, Brittany, passionately kissing in the hallway. His hand was already on her thigh. I moved my dry lips and whispered: “Sorry to interrupt you for a few minutes.” Caleb’s gaze, which had just been filled with tenderness, instantly turned piercingly cold when it landed on me. Brittany stood beside him, her back arrogantly straight, revealing the pale skin of her neck covered in suggestive red marks. “Mrs. Hayes, you’re actually home? I thought you missed curfew last night and had to find somewhere else to stay.” I didn’t pay attention to her provocation and cold mockery. I walked toward Caleb. “Here are the divorce papers I prepared. I’ll pay back the money I owe you, every last cent.” “You don’t even have a job. How do you plan to pay it back?” Caleb’s lips curled into a faint smile, but no genuine amusement reached his eyes. He knew. He knew I hadn’t had a job or income for three years. I suppressed the turmoil inside me. “How I pay it back is my business. You don’t need to worry about it.” Before Caleb could say anything, Brittany snatched the papers from my hand and scanned them. Then she burst into laughter. “Oh my God, Mrs. Hayes, there are so many typos! Where did you find such an unprofessional lawyer?”
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