Chapter 2Not Your Backup Bride

By the time the news of our divorce reached my parents, we had already signed the papers.

Carter didn't mistreat me. He gave me half of his assets.

My parents summoned me home in the middle of the night.

They interrogated me like a criminal, demanding to know how I could be so cruel as to take half of Carter's fortune.

"Maya, is this how we raised you? Did you only marry him for the Vance family's money?"

Serena stood to the side on her crutches, shedding tears.

"Maya, are you blaming me? Are you mad that I came back and took Carter away from you..."

Before she could finish, my parents cut her off.

"Carter was supposed to be your husband anyway! If you hadn't been so stubborn about running away, you and Carter would have kids running around by now."

Serena loved Carter, but she loved ballet more.

Shortly after accepting Carter's proposal, she received an offer from a world-renowned ballet company in Europe.

She dumped Carter without hesitation and flew across the world.

For three years, she practically cut all contact with him.

Until that one night, when Carter received an international call.

He had been leaning against my shoulder, trying to catch his breath.

He answered the phone right in front of me.

Because we were so close, I clearly heard the tearful female voice on the other end.

Carter froze.

One second... five seconds... ten seconds...

It took a full thirty seconds for Carter to react. He quickly grabbed a robe and hurried out of the room.

Carter didn't come back that night.

The next day, I found out from my parents that Serena had been in an accident during a performance and shattered her leg.

Carter personally flew out to bring her back.

Even though she was staying at my parents' house, Carter handled everything related to her personally.

Because of this, my parents even sat me down to "counsel" me.

"Don't take it to heart. Your sister can never dance again. She's devastated, and Carter is the only one who can comfort her right now."

My parents had favored Serena since we were little.

She was beautiful, had great grades, and was incredibly talented at singing and dancing.

I, on the other hand, was just a bookworm—boring, and terrible at sweet-talking.

Everyone revolved around the injured Serena.

Including my husband.

He gradually lost all patience with me.

One evening, he promised to pick me up, but left me waiting in the pouring rain for two hours.

I got soaked and came down with a high fever.

Carter had no choice but to leave Serena and come to the hospital to take care of me.

But my mother believed it was just a manipulative trick to force Carter to come home.

She screamed at me hysterically: "Because you dragged Carter away, your sister almost did something unthinkable last night!"

"You are a perfectly healthy person! Why do you have to compete with a disabled woman?"

I looked at her in disbelief. "But... Carter is my husband."

"So what? This marriage belonged to her in the first place! You stole her husband!"

But back then, she was the one who begged me to marry him.

Before Serena went abroad, she came to me, trying to convince me to marry Carter.

"Maya, I know you like him. Isn't this a great opportunity?"

"Let's keep the wealth in the family. You don't want Carter ending up with some other woman, do you?"

I kept my head down, staying silent.

Serena got anxious. "Are you really just going to watch our family go bankrupt?"

"I'm begging you, Maya. Or... are you worried I'll come back and fight you for him?"

My expression shifted slightly.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't worry. Once I go abroad, I won't ever contact him again. I swear!"

For the first three years, she actually kept her word.

But in the end, she forgot the vow she had made.