For four years, I was a ghost in my own home, trapped in a loveless marriage to a man who despised me. The entire house smelled of lilies-the favorite flower of Hettie, his childhood sweetheart. The day she came back into his life, he tossed divorce papers at me. He demanded my family's company as his compensation and announced that Hettie was carrying his child. In a last, desperate attempt to hold on, I lied and told him I was pregnant, too. He just laughed and called me a pathetic liar. That night, he brought her to our home for dinner. He asked me not to wear my late mother's perfume because Hettie was allergic. He was asking me to erase the last piece of my mother for her. Then I saw it. Around Hettie's neck was the diamond necklace Brady had given me for our first anniversary. The doctors had already warned me that with my terminal illness, I didn't have much time left. That single, cruel act was the final blow. The last bit of love I had for the boy who once promised to protect me died completely. I walked over to the table and calmly signed the divorce papers. Then, I picked up my phone. "Darcy," I said to my lawyer, my voice steady. "I'm transferring all of my shares to Brady Kennedy. Make it effective immediately."
The scent of lilies filled the house.
It was a smell Karissa Simon had grown to hate. It clung to the curtains, the furniture, her clothes. It was the smell of Hettie Lindsey.
Brady Kennedy walked into the living room, his phone pressed to his ear. He didn't look at Karissa. He never did, not really.
Yes, of course, they're your favorite, he was saying, his voice low and soft, a tone he never used with her. "The whole house will be full of them."
Karissa felt her throat tighten. An old, familiar allergy, or maybe something else.
For four years, this house had been her gilded cage. Their marriage was a business merger, a cold transaction designed to save his family's pride and chain her to a man who despised her. She was a ghost here, haunting the grand staircase.
He hung up the phone. The silence that followed was colder than his voice had been.
I need you to sign these, Brady said. He tossed a manila folder onto the marble coffee table. It slid across the polished surface and stopped just at the edge.
Divorce Papers.
The words were printed in stark, black ink at the top of the page.
Karissa stared at them. She'd known this was coming. Ever since Hettie, his childhood sweetheart, had resurfaced two months ago, this moment had been hanging over them, a guillotine waiting to fall.
You got what you wanted, Karissa, he said, his voice flat. "Your family used this marriage to crush the Kennedys. Now, I'm taking back what's mine. The Simon Group will be my compensation."
She remembered a different Brady, a boy from her childhood, her brother's best friend, who promised to protect her always. That memory was the foundation of a love so deep it had become her life's sickness.
I won't sign, she said, her voice barely a whisper.
He finally looked at her. His eyes, the color of a stormy sea, were filled with a familiar, chilling contempt.
Don't be pathetic. Hettie is back. She's carrying my child.
Each word was a hammer blow.
Karissa's hand went to her stomach. A desperate, foolish plan had formed in her mind over the last few sleepless nights. A last-ditch lie.
I'm pregnant too, Brady.
He laughed. It was a short, ugly sound.
Do you think I'm a fool? We haven't shared a bed in three years. Stop this disgusting charade. You've always been a liar.
He picked up a vase of the freshly delivered lilies, inhaling their scent deeply, a smile touching his lips for the first time that evening. It was a smile for another woman.
That was the moment something inside her finally broke. The last thread of hope she had been clinging to for four years, for her entire life, snapped.
The pain in her chest was sharp, a physical ache the doctors had warned her about. She knew she didn't have much time left.
But he would never know that.
She would not be his burden. She would not be the reason he was pitied, the widower of a woman he never loved.
If he wanted freedom, she would give it to him.
All of it.
She walked to the table, picked up a pen, and signed her name on the divorce papers. Her hand was steady.
Then she picked up her phone. She scrolled to a number she hadn't called in months. Her lawyer, Darcy Dodson.
Darcy, Karissa said, her voice clear and calm. "Prepare the paperwork. I'm transferring all of my shares in the Simon Group to Brady Kennedy."
Karissa, what? Are you insane? After everything he's done?
It's a condition of the divorce, Karissa lied smoothly. "Just do it. And make it effective immediately."
She hung up before Darcy could argue.
She looked at Brady. He was staring at her, a flicker of surprise in his cold eyes. He hadn't expected it to be this easy.
She had given him everything. Her love, her youth, her company. And now, her future.
It was the only way to truly set him free. And herself.
Chapter 1 No.1
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Chapter 2 No.2
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Chapter 3 No.3
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Chapter 4 No.4
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Chapter 5 No.5
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Chapter 6 No.6
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Chapter 7 No.7
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Chapter 8 No.8
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Chapter 9 No.9
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Chapter 10 No.10
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Chapter 11 No.11
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Chapter 12 No.12
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Chapter 13 No.13
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Chapter 14 No.14
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Chapter 15 No.15
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Chapter 16 No.16
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Chapter 17 No.17
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Chapter 18 No.18
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Chapter 19 No.19
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Chapter 20 No.20
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Chapter 21 No.21
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Chapter 22 No.22
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Chapter 23 No.23
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Chapter 24 No.24
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Chapter 25 No.25
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Chapter 26 No.26
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