Chapter 3The Price of a Delayed Train

As if trying to teach me a lesson...

Ethan never came home again.

I didn't care.

I handled my mother's funeral alone.

My mother was an only child. My grandparents had passed away long ago, and we had no other relatives. Everything was kept simple.

After everything was done, I went home to pack my bags.

I didn't expect that right after I stepped through the door, the keypad lock chimed again.

The moment I locked eyes with Chloe.

I was still a little incredulous.

"How did you get in here?"

She even had the passcode to my house?

Since when?

Did Ethan give it to her?

Or, during those days and nights when I was running to the hospital taking care of my mom, had he already moved this woman in? Sleeping in our bed?

Thinking of those possible scenes...

I felt a moment of nausea.

"Oh, Mrs. Sterling is home?"

Chloe smirked, her red lips curling.

She walked in with practiced ease, acting as if she were the lady of the house:

"Mr. Sterling left a jacket behind, I'm just here to grab it. I'm used to just walking right in, I forgot you might be home. You don't mind, do you?"

Before I could answer, she seemed to remember something and let out an "Oh":

"I almost forgot. You're a full-time housewife, with no work to keep you busy. Aside from holing up at home, you really don't have anywhere else to go."

After she finished speaking, she turned and strutted into the bedroom in her stilettos.

Soon, she came out carrying Ethan's clothes.

Seeing that I was calmly watering the plants, completely ignoring her behavior, it was like a punch landing on cotton. Her face instantly darkened:

"Some people spend all day guarding a few pathetic plants, unable to hold onto their man's heart, not even having a decent career. What a pathetic way to live! Wouldn't you agree, sister?"

I put down the watering can, looked at her, and chuckled.

"Career? You mean being a sugar baby whose only job is to warm someone's bed?"

I clapped my hands loudly: "Well, I guess it takes skill to lick a sugar daddy until he's comfortable enough to hand you a job, right?"

Back when I got Chloe fired from her job...

Ethan turned around and hired her as his secretary, which was undoubtedly a harsh slap in the face to me.

Chloe's face instantly flushed bright red. She pointed at me, her voice shrill:

"It's still better than being a piece of trash like you! Even with a degree from a top university, you're still blacklisted by the entire industry. Olivia, tell me, who in this entire city would dare to hire you?"

My face went pale.

What Chloe said was the truth.

The day I found out Ethan was cheating, I had brought up divorce.

The very next day, I lost my job.

To pay for my mother's medical bills, I also thought about starting my own business.

But the reality was, any project I was involved in would eventually fall through, or even inexplicably blow up, leaving me with piles of debt.

Over time, no one in the entire industry dared to hire me, let alone anything else.

Until that day, when I broke down again because I couldn't afford my mother's medical bills, Ethan looked at me and smiled. He said: "Olivia, this is your punishment for bringing up divorce. Be a good Mrs. Sterling, and what could you possibly lack?"

From that day on.

I never dared to think about it again.

It was also from then on.

That I realized how cold-blooded this man truly was.

He could use his power to severely punish the thugs who used to bully me.

And he could use the same methods, without breaking a sweat, to crush an ordinary person like me into the mud.