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621words
The apartment is nicely decorated, clean, with a cozy wooden style.
From appliances to cartoon rugs, Lily picked everything, and I paid.
No matter how hard things were, I made sure Lily never felt like she was missing out.
Yet Emily walks in and criticizes.
Of course—she and Nathan live in a 5,000-square-foot villa. This must feel cramped.
I threw the tea in the trash and pulled Lily close.
"Lily, go to your room and find the birthday gift Daddy hid, okay?"
She bounds off, thrilled.
My smile vanished as I glared at Emily.
"This place? Who was just begging to stay here? You don't even have this place now. What right do you have to judge me?"
Emily quickly changed her tone. She stopped acting like a bankrupt person and dropped her "CEO" attitude.
She sat on the sofa, looking a bit uncomfortable.
"You misunderstood. Why aren't you living in the house I gave you?"
I'm completely lost.
"What house?"
When we got divorced, I left with one suitcase and three-month-old Lily.
The little money I had came from selling my parents' watch.
Emily frowned.
"James, you gave me a child. Even if I didn't love you, I wouldn't neglect my own flesh and blood."
"I had my secretary, Clara, buy you a house and leave a hefty settlement. You didn't take it?"
House? Settlement?
This is news to me.
But I catch on fast."I didn't take a thing. Are you so bankrupt you're trying to scam me?"
Emily's eyes narrowed. She looked regretful.
"James, I'd rather beg on the streets than scam you. You're the person I've wronged the most."
Our past was like a soap opera.
I'm the orphan of the man who saved Emily's father's life.
When I was eight, the Harpers took me in.
Mr.Harper doted on me, and Mrs. Harper loved my gentle nature.
Emily, two years older, treated me like a little brother.
She'd chase off bullies, take me to beautiful places, introduce me to animals, and help me heal from losing my parents.
I buried my crush in my diary:
James loves Emily. Will Emily ever love James?
In my senior year of college, I got an answer.
Emily proposed to me.
Overjoyed she felt the same. I naively got a marriage license for $2.
I didn't know Mr. Harper had given me 10% of the company as a dowry but made Emily start from the bottom at the company.
She didn't marry me for love—she married me for a better life and career.
After we got married, I was in love.
I cooked for her, ironed her clothes, and picked her up from business dinners.
But after Lily was born, she cheated on me with Nathan, a charming intern who was half a year older than me.
She said Nathan understood her better, he was her soulmate and true love.
She called what she felt for me was just a familial duty.
Mr. Harper, who was smart, saw through Nathan's cunning facade and banned him from the family.
Emily devised a compromise.
She didn't want to divorce me because she wanted to keep her parents happy. So, she kept me around but gave Nathan all the benefits of a partner, except the title.
It was ten days after Lily's birth.
Always pliable to Emily, I grabbed a fruit knife and stabbed myself without hesitation.
Marrying her was my youthful folly, my lovesick stupidity.
Her cheating and treating me like a nanny made me feel like it was all my fault.
But I'd rather die than let her ruin my daughter.
Blood pooled.
Emily froze, panicked and guilty.
Her trembling hands pressed my wound.
"James, don't die."
