Chapter 1: Divorce

Smack!

A crisp slap echoed through the bright living room.

"Get out!" Old Mrs. Longan pointed to the door. "You're a worthless woman and don't deserve to be in my Long family! Get out!"

Janet Wilson endured the pain on her face and took out an exquisite gift box from her bag.

"Mom, this is for me..."

"Get lost!" Old Mrs. Longan knocked over the gift box and gasped angrily.

Janet lowered her head. "I'll leave now. Please don't be angry."

"Hurry up and get out!" Old Mrs. Longan clutched her chest and collapsed onto the sofa, crying again. "I'm so unlucky that my son married such a woman just to spite me..."

Janet gritted her teeth, bowed her head, and walked outside.

"She's just a cheap car model. I feel dirty just looking at her..." Old Mrs. Longan continued to insult Janet as she left the house.

With tears in her eyes, Janet closed them tightly as she walked out of the house and got into her old car before driving away from the Longan family mansion.

Her face still burned with pain; she touched it gently only to find that it had already swollen up - not for the first time either.

Ever since she married Louis Longan four years ago, every year on Old Mrs. Longan's birthday, he would call Janet over only for him to slap her across the face once again...

"I'm used to it," Janet thought bitterly. She should be used to it by now. After all, that was the purpose of Louis spending five hundred thousand dollars to marry her.

As the car drove back home, Janet tended to the slap mark on her face and then busied herself with preparing dinner.

After finishing cooking, she sat at the table and waited. From seven in the evening until nine o'clock, Louis did not come back.

Janet remained calm and unsurprised as she dumped all of the untouched food into the trash can, cleaned up the table, washed up and went to bed.

The next day was no different. She woke up early, cleaned up the house, cooked meals and waited for someone who never showed up before throwing away any uneaten food. This had been her daily routine for four years.

But on this particular night while she slept soundly in bed, she suddenly woke up startled by a sturdy body approaching her.

Janet knew it was him so she tried hard to cooperate but when everything ended, Janet felt like a lifeless corpse lying there motionless.

Louis satisfied with himself got out of bed wrapping himself in a bathrobe before lighting a cigarette lazily at his floor-to-ceiling window.

Janet took a break and regained her strength before getting up to prepare a bath for him.

"Mr. Longan, the water is ready," she announced as she emerged from the bathroom.

Louis deep held a snow-white cigarette between his fingertips, and the red ember flickered in the warm light of the lamp. The air was filled with nicotine.

At first, Janet found it difficult to adjust to this smell, but after spending four years together day and night, she had become addicted to it like she had become addicted to Louis deep himself.

But this kind of feeling was not supposed to exist.

Louis deep gave her money in exchange for her body. They were only in a transactional relationship without any emotional entanglements allowed. This was a rule that Louis deep established from the beginning.

"Come here," he beckoned at her like calling a puppy.

Janet obediently walked over and whispered, "Mr. Longan."

Louis deep stared at Janet's still slightly swollen face with an inscrutable expression on his face. "Mom hit you again," he asked knowingly since he knew every time she went back home, she would get beaten up by her grandmother.

"It doesn't matter," Janet replied calmly. "You gave me so much money that taking one slap is nothing."

Louis deep nodded approvingly. "You are very obedient and sensible; I actually really like you."

Janet's heart skipped a beat not because of those words but because of the two words 'actually' which implied something else entirely different than what he said outrightly."

"We should separate," Louis said. "After the divorce, this house will be yours, and I'll give you an extra five million. Let's part on good terms."

Janet's throat went dry, and she couldn't speak.

Louis stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and spoke in a cold voice. "If we ever meet again, don't say you know me. Understand?"

Janet moved her tongue but it took her a while to finally say one word with difficulty: "Okay."