Chapter 1 Picking Up the Mistress

Wanting to force me into a divorce, my scumbag of a husband, Grayson Rockwell, brought some people with him. They beat me up and made me end up in the emergency room.

However, when Grayson was on his way to pick up his mistress, he got into a car crash. When the doctor brought me his phone, I saw a call from his side piece. She sounded aggrieved as she asked why he wasn't there to pick her up yet.

I stopped the doctor from leaving and said, "Stop the surgery. He needs to pick his mistress up."

…

"Mrs. Rockwell, we've gotten the notice that your husband is in critical condition." The doctor looked nervous when he took me out of the emergency room.

He clumsily dumped Grayson's phone and ID documents into my arms. The phone started ringing at that moment.

The caller ID read "Babe".

"Grayson, when are you picking us up? Alex has been missing you."

Snorting, I hung up on Olivia Mendel. Then, I turned around and cut off the young doctor's attempt at comforting me.

"Can we stop the surgery? Looks like my husband has to pick up his mistress. He has no time for surgery."

The doctor clearly had never faced this situation. "Huh? But Mrs. Rockwell, this is about saving his life."

Of course, I knew, but I couldn't care less about Grayson's life. Why would I care for a good-for-nothing who got run over by a car?

My mother-in-law, Judith Ackerson, did not share my opinion. Bandaged and waiting for Grayson outside the emergency room, she growled at me, "You are an evil bitch! Grayson should have beaten you harder this morning!"

I ended up at the hospital for different reasons than Grayson and Judith. They had gotten into a car accident on their way to pick up Olivia, his mistress. But I was only here after Grayson's men beat me up at my home.

That explained Grayson's desperate move to get a divorce. It appeared that he wanted to marry Olivia.

I stepped back and easily dodged Judith's slap. I grabbed her wrist and slapped her twice on her face instead.

"How dare you curse at me? Just blame your loser son for being too weak to survive a car crash!"

Her eyes widened in disbelief. She huffed and puffed, provoked by my remarks.

I pointed at my bandaged forehead. "Stop staring at me like that! I'm having a headache. What if I lose my mind the next minute and remove Grayson's breathing tube?"

Fuming, Judith tried to lay a hand on me, but I wasn't about to take it silently. I gathered all my energy and slapped her.

The doctors and nurses hurriedly separated us. They couldn't afford to see another old lady sent into the surgery room when Grayson was still in surgery.

"You can always sleep on your marital arguments. Besides, your husband is still in the emergency room…"

"Yeah, young lady, you are too harsh."

Gritting my teeth, I retorted, "Yeah, sleep on it—that's what I'm doing! He showed up with a bunch of people to beat me up this morning just so he could marry his mistress! Serves him right to be run over by a car!"

Those who were trying to talk me out immediately shot Judith disdainful looks. They, too, agreed that Grayson deserved his fate.

The driver who caused the accident, James Lieberman, had been standing at the side in silence. Now, he started to punch the wall in anger, saying, "I can't believe I've run over such a massive dick! What rotten luck!"

Eyes shining in expectation, I went up and clasped his hands.

Shaking his hands, I said, "I apologize to you on my husband's behalf. He should have picked a better way to die—he shouldn't have gotten you involved in this and jinxed you."

James seemed taken aback by my enthusiasm. It took him a while to utter, "Um, ma'am, you're welcome…"

Judith's eyes rolled over, and she fainted from anger in the face of my unrestrained vitriol. The doctors looked at each other before quietly sending her for medical treatment.

The emergency room sign had been turned off at that moment. The surgeon removed his face mask to reveal a troubled expression.

With a grin, I held his hand happily. "Doctor, please do not blame yourself. You can't revive the dead. All that matters is you gave it your best."

The surgeon withdrew his hand from my grasp. "The patient has been saved."

Surprised at Grayson's will to live, I quietly withdrew my hand.

The surgeon added, "But we don't know if he'll ever wake up from the coma. His family needs to take good care of him…"

I turned around and left before the surgeon could finish his speech.

He tried to stop me. "Where are you going?"

"I'm off to pick up his mistress. She'll be taking care of him."

Chapter 2 Our First Face-off

I hopped into a cab and left the hospital. At the same time, Olivia wouldn't stop bombarding Grayson with texts.

I had known Olivia long before this.

Grayson and I met each other on a blind date. We never experienced any hot, passionate love, but we did share many happy and sweet moments.

I looked forward to marriage, honeymoon, and building a new family together—living a simple life as a small family of three.

However, my hopes were dashed when Olivia, Grayson's first love, returned to the country with a son she claimed to be his.

I must have been under a spell. Despite knowing that Grayson had other intentions about Olivia, I still prayed he could look after me and my unborn child.

Reality dawned on me when Grayson impatiently shoved me into a wall after he took a call from Olivia. Suffering from amniotic fluid embolism, I begged him to get me to the hospital, but he left me to fend for myself because he was in a hurry to taste the soup Olivia had made for him.

The ambulance finally arrived on that stormy night, but it was too late to save my unborn child. I could have lost my life as well if I had received medical attention any later.

After that, all Grayson said was, "Why did you kick up a fuss? See? You didn't die, after all! You're a loser who can't even protect her baby."

From then on, I realized that Grayson was a massive jerk. Knowing how much he wished to get back with Olivia, I would never bless him with a divorce. I'd spent the rest of my life feeling suffocated and depressed if a jerk like him could find happiness.

Thankfully, Grayson got his karmic retribution in no time.

…

I arrived at the restaurant according to the address in Olivia's text. I immediately spotted her, who was occasionally glancing at her phone with a frown.

Her young son obediently sat next to her. They looked like the perfect mother and son.

I marched over to Olivia, my head held high.

Her expression fell when she saw me. "Why are you here? How could you check Grayson's phone? Heidi Ross, Grayson wants to get a divorce from you. Can you stop pestering him?

"Have some dignity! And where's Grayson?"

Her rambling made my wound throb.

I pushed the kid, Alex, into the next seat and plopped down. He might look well-behaved, but he was now lunging at me.

He snapped at me, "You don't get to bully my mom!"

I leaned backward. Thus, he missed me and hit the table instead, sending the plates and glasses crashing onto the floor. That immediately drew the attention of the people around us.

"Heidi, this is between us adults. How could you take out your anger on a kid?" Tearing up, Olivia worriedly hugged Alex.

Alex buried his face into her arms while trembling. Behind everyone's back, he shot me a smirk.

Olivia wailed, "How can you hit a child? Don't you have basic empathy?"

The mother and son worked as a team. One could tell they had been doing this for a while.

A group of youngsters in the restaurant had stood up indignantly, ready to call the police on me.

I stood up and bent over to pat the tearful Olivia on her shoulder. Then, I dragged Alex out of her arms and slapped her.

"Oops, sorry. I forgot that I should be slapping the mistress instead."

Chapter 3 Grayson Is Yours

“You—"

After I slapped Olivia in the face, a young man sitting at the table behind us shot up in rage. That was all he could manage before he learned that Olivia was a mistress. Upon the revelation, he slowly sat down and took a sip of his coffee.

I tilted my head at him with a puzzled look.

He stared at the ceiling, looking flustered and murmuring, "Um, there was a bug on the table."

Olivia was taken aback by my action. Alex, however, responded fast. He clawed and kicked at me.

From another perspective, Alex was a great son to Olivia.

"All I want is for Alex to hang out more with his dad. Am I wrong for wanting that?" Olivia teared up and covered her face, looking fragile. Tears were about to fall out of her eyes.

She added, "By the way, Grayson is about to get a divorce from you. There's no love left between the two of you."

The onlookers seemed swayed by her absurd arguments.

I closed my eyes without engaging with her.

She clenched her jaw and removed all her jewelry. Then, she returned them to me. She even went as far as to pull out a bank card from her bag.

"I want and ask for nothing. Please let go of Grayson so that each of you can live well."

I recognized that rare emerald bracelet that Olivia took off from her wrist. I once saw it stored in Grayson's study.

Before this, I thought he had bought it as a gift for me. Only now did I know that it was meant for Olivia all along.

After I married Grayson, we worked hard and built wealth together. Didn't he use our marital wealth to buy that bracelet for Olivia?

I wasn't expecting anything else—I was only supposed to vent my anger on Olivia during this meetup, but of course, I totally welcomed Olivia returning part of my wealth to me.

I felt cathartic after slapping Olivia, but I put on a blank face, suppressing a smile as I stuffed everything into my bag.

Then, I hissed at her, "Stop making a scene in public. We should talk in the car."

Once Olivia and Alex were settled in the back seat, I immediately ordered the driver to get us to the bank.

Handing Olivia's bank card back to her, I instructed her, "Transfer the money to me."

She couldn't believe I was being serious.

"Will you agree to the divorce if I return the money to you?" She looked at me skeptically. She couldn't wrap her head around my attitude change regarding the divorce.

I pulled out the divorce papers that Grayson had handed to me that morning. The papers looked wrinkled, but it gave Olivia reassurance.

Once I checked and confirmed my account balance, I quietly handed the divorce papers to Olivia, who had just gotten out of the bank.

I said to her, "Call me anytime if you're unhappy with anything. I can give you ten more copies of those divorce papers."

In the meantime, I was gleeful about getting back an extra one million dollars.

So, I waved at Olivia with friendliness, telling her to join me in the car soon. After all, I had promised the doctor to get Olivia to the hospital so she could take care of that bastard.

Sitting in the back of the car, Olivia looked overjoyed. She occasionally kissed Alex on his cheek.

However, her happiness was shattered the moment she saw Grayson's horrific post-accident condition.

"Heidi, do you take me as a joke? How could you fool me with a guy who's bandaged from head to toe?" she snapped, confronting me angrily.

I looked at Grayson with amusement—he was bandaged all over, and his face was badly swollen. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his heart rate quickened for a few seconds on the ECG machine.

Shaking my head, I expressed my pity, "Too bad he's weak and fragile. But at least he's still alive. Just put up with him."

Olivia threw a tantrum, refusing to accept that it was Grayson in the bed. She accused me of lying to her and hiring someone to play Grayson.

To my glee, I saw the fleeting spike of Grayson's heart rate on the ECG machine.

Before Olivia could wrap up her rant, the door to the room suddenly flung open.

It was Judith in her patient robe. She looked at Olivia as though the latter was her hope. "Olivia, you're finally here! Don't worry. When Grayson wakes up, he'll divorce that shameless woman and throw you a grand wedding!"

Judith then clasped Olivia's hands in excitement before casting an eager glance at Alex. "Oh, is this my dear grandson? Come here. I'll give you a hug."

In Judith's joy, she did not notice the reluctance and distaste on Alex's face. She was too absorbed in her own world, while Olivia looked livid and fearful.

Olivia's eyes occasionally drifted to the mummy-like man in bed. Finally, she asked me for confirmation in disbelief, "Is that man who's permanently crippled from the waist down… really Grayson?"

His heart rate spiked on the ECG monitor, which beeped nonstop. Before I could answer, a group of doctors swooped in and kicked us out of the room.

"Mr. Rockwell is in critical condition. We're performing first aid on him."

I gave Olivia a thumbs-up for her timely, effective remark.

In the middle of the chaos, I quietly slid out of the hospital. I was curious to see if the "true love" between that bastard and Olivia could withstand the test of his car accident.

Chapter 4 A Confrontation at the Police Station

When I was still trapped in my marriage to Grayson, my mood would often be dragged down. However, Grayson's car accident was a reminder that God was fair and just.

Instead of giving myself a hard time, I decided to enjoy my life in the future.

There were three celebratory milestones in a person's life—a promotion, an increase in wealth, and the death of a spouse.

Of course, I wanted to treat myself to something nice. I visited a bar immediately on that day and paid for the service of some male escorts, who cheered me up with their sweet talk. Perhaps I should think of opening a similar business when I had the time.

But my happiness was short-lived. Two days later, Judith showed up at my door with Olivia in tow.

Hands on her waist, she cursed me out with various demeaning adjectives, "You little bitch! Get out right now, you shameless jinx!"

Through the security camera in the corridor, I noticed a fresh scratch wound on Olivia's face. It seemed that Judith held a grudge against Olivia after what Olivia had said about Grayson at the hospital that day.

Judging by the depth of the wound, Judith probably scratched Olivia really hard.

As Judith's cursing went on, my neighbors quietly opened their doors to spectate.

"You little bitch! Not only did you not care for your husband after his car accident, but you even were out having fun all night! Are you that keen to find a new lover?"

I did not answer the door. Instead, I talked to them through the intercom, "I've signed the divorce agreement, and I personally handed it to your future daughter-in-law. I'll call the cops if you continue slandering me."

Judith was taken aback, as she was in the dark about the divorce agreement.

Olivia haltingly brushed it off and continued attacking me with other excuses, exclaiming, "Shut up! Give me back the money you've scammed from me!"

I nonchalantly scratched my ear while standing at the door. "You transferred that money to me willingly. How could you say I scammed you?"

"You—That's a fraud!" Olivia angrily kicked the door.

"Am I scamming you? I bet you're just upset because Grayson is crippled, and you're no longer guaranteed a comfortable life."

I never believed Olivia was really in love with Grayson and willing to stay with him through thick and thin.

Olivia's expression stiffened. She knew she couldn't allow me to go on.

With that in mind, she turned around to talk to Judith and fuel the fire. "Grayson just mentioned divorce to Heidi this morning. He immediately got into a car accident in the afternoon. Heidi might be the mastermind!"

I was baffled by Olivia's logic, but Judith believed in Olivia's words without a doubt.

"I had a suspicion from the start!" Judith slapped her thigh and started to wail. "Oh, God, all Grayson ever did was hit you! Is it really that serious? Why did you overreact by getting him into a car accident, you evil witch?"

Judith and Olivia played off each other, their increasingly loud moans attracting the attention of residents from other floors and the apartment security.

"You wicked woman! You're a psycho—a murderer!" While crying, Judith put on a dramatic act by banging her head against the wall to earn sympathy.