In the third year of her marriage, on the day Caleb Hampton’s older brother died, Sydney Wilson asked for a divorce.

Caleb frowned in confusion. “All because I took a slap for Penny?”

‘Penny. How affectionately he said her name,’ Sydney thought.

The truth was, Penelope Monroe was his sister-in-law.

Sydney smiled coldly. “Yeah. That’s why.”

Could a single slap really shatter a marriage? The red mark on Caleb’s face that night was hard to ignore. He had shielded Penelope so openly that even the Hampton family had been stunned. Only Sydney had not flinched.

Three days earlier, on their wedding anniversary…

Sydney had planned a surprise trip and taken a late-night flight to the city where Caleb worked. Instead of a warm reunion, she overheard him chatting with two friends.

“Caleb, man, I gotta say it. Running off every year on your anniversary? That’s cold. Sydney’s been nothing but good to you.”

Caleb, usually composed and gentlemanly, looked weary. “You think I want this? If I didn’t avoid her, she’d never believe I haven’t touched her all these years.”

“She…” One friend, clearly holding back, finally snapped. “You mean Penelope? Caleb, are you out of your damn mind? Are you gonna keep pining after her even if she’s got another kid on the way?”

He snorted. “And what about Sydney? You keep treating her like this. Aren’t you afraid Julian Sterling’s gonna come after you?”

“He won’t.” Caleb rubbed his fingers together calmly. “She married me. That was it for them. Julian’s had her blocked on WhatsApp for three years now.”

Outside the room, Sydney walked away quietly. Her steps were steady, but her fingers trembled almost imperceptibly.

She had suspected someone else. She had asked around, tried to find out who, but no one had said a word. She had guessed many possibilities but never thought it would be Penelope—the same “sister-in-law” she had greeted politely for three years.

‘God, how humiliating,’ she thought bitterly.

When Sydney left the club, the sky opened up. She did not react as the rain drenched her like a broken doll.

That night, she took a late flight back to Jouleston.

The moment she got home, she fell ill. She burned with fever for two days. Just as she started to recover, Lucas Hampton, Caleb’s older brother, had an accident.

…

A week later, Lucas’s funeral was held in Jouleston.

Sydney had barely slept two or three hours each night at the Hampton residence. After the funeral, as she stepped out of the cemetery, her body moved forward while her soul dragged behind.

Their driver waited at the gate.

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