Ashes of Our Vows: My Ex-Husband's Bitter Regret

In the two years after I married Daniel Carter, my explicit photos had gone viral nine times, and Daniel had been taken into custody ten times.

Because every time his mistress, Emily Morgan, was unhappy, she would leak my explicit photos all over the internet.

I, Claire Parker, never let it slide. I reported every shady business Daniel was involved in and personally sent him behind bars.

That lasted until an unexpected kidnapping. I took a bullet for him, one aimed straight at his heart, and he shielded me beneath his body, taking the brunt of the explosion for me.

After we survived, the man who had always been so cold-blooded knelt before me, his voice hoarse beyond recognition.

"Honey, let's leave the drama behind. I just want a peaceful life with you."

Right in front of me, he ordered his men to send his mistress out of Northhaven and never let her appear before him again.

In the third year after we reconciled, I carried my eight-month pregnant belly and brought him lunch.

But on the way there, I was hit by a car. The hospital issued three critical condition notices, yet they still could not save the baby.

Daniel rushed over, but he did not even spare me a glance. Instead, he pulled the woman who had hit me and her child into his arms, soothing her in a low voice.

"Don't be scared. I'll protect you and the child."

Only then did I realize that the woman who had hit me was the very mistress he had sent away three years ago.

When I demanded an explanation, Daniel brushed it off as if it were nothing.

"She didn't do it on purpose. Don't take it out on her and her son. You can have a baby another time."

At that moment, I finally understood. They had gotten back together long ago.

I looked at him and nodded.

"Don't worry, this will never happen again."

......

"Claire, are you ever going to stop?"

Daniel followed the nurse into the ward, his anger barely held in check.

I had just been wheeled out of surgery, tubes still attached to my body, and even breathing felt painfully tight.

Yet he could not even be bothered to look at me.

"Why are you putting on this act? Every time, you agree so easily, then turn around and go after Emily again."

I did hate Daniel for cheating on me, but I had never once gone after Emily.

Daniel, however, had already decided that I must have been bullying her.

Every single time, without asking what had actually happened, he would snap, "Claire, are you ever going to stop? Emily is timid and gentle. She isn't a shrew like you."

I pressed a hand against my still-aching waist and forced the words out with difficulty.

"Can you get the facts straight for once? Your mistress was the one who hit me with her car. You never ask anything. You just decide I'm the one making trouble for her."

Daniel frowned. "Do you have to make it sound so ugly? Emily didn't do it on purpose. She had a child in the car. Of course she might panic a little behind the wheel. That's normal. You're the one making this into a big deal. What do you gain from clinging to one small mistake and blowing it up?"

My throat tightened before I could say a word.

Then, as if something had suddenly occurred to him, he said cruelly, "No wonder you couldn't keep any of your babies. This is your karma."

A sharp ringing filled my ears. I grabbed the cup on the table and hurled it at his head.

"Daniel, do you really not know whose fault it is that we lost our babies?"

The hospital room fell silent in an instant.

Daniel gave an awkward cough.

When Daniel and I had first gotten married, we had once been sweet together for a while.

I had once dreamed of having a child that belonged to both of us.

The first time I got pregnant was when his company had been cornered by its business rivals.

I felt sorry for him, so I helped him handle the tedious work and coordinate with people for him.

It was not until I collapsed from exhaustion at the company and was taken to the hospital that I learned I had been pregnant.

But the baby did not survive.

The second time I got pregnant was when I first found out about Emily, his mistress.

Daniel and I had a terrible fight.

The emotional shock caused me to miscarry.

I looked at Daniel, my voice growing hoarser with every word. "Tell me, which of those two times had nothing to do with you?"

Daniel seemed to remember those things too, and guilt flickered briefly across his face.

"Yes. I admit I was partly responsible."

He paused, but the next words out of his mouth cut deeper than any blade.

"But are you saying you did nothing wrong? You knew you were pregnant, yet you still failed to control your emotions and worked yourself until you passed out. Claire, the person you should blame most is yourself."

It felt as though my heart had been struck by a blunt weapon. His self-righteous accusations were so absurd they were almost laughable.

He was clearly the one who had done wrong, yet to escape responsibility, he blamed me for not staying calm after discovering my husband's affair.

I tugged at the corner of my mouth. "So what are you going to blame me for this time? For not dodging fast enough with an eight-month pregnant belly when your mistress drove straight at me? Or should I apologize because my blood scared her?"

Daniel was enraged by my sarcasm, but when he saw how lifeless I looked, he stopped short.

"Claire, that's not what I meant." He turned his head away guiltily. "It was just an accident. From now on, you can raise Emily's child as your own. Consider it a form of compensation."

I stared at him in disbelief. He actually thought letting me raise his illegitimate child was compensation?

At that moment, I finally saw him for who he was. He had never cared about me, and he had never cared about my children either.

"I don't need your so-called compensation!" I nearly screamed.

Seeing how emotional I was, Daniel frowned, his tone impatient. "Claire, get your emotions under control. Why are you making such a scene? You can't have children anyway. Just treat this child as your own."

I stared at him and said each word clearly. "Daniel, I am not raising your mistress's bastard child."

Daniel acted as if he had not heard me at all, completely lost in his own delusion.

"From now on, the three of us can still be a family. I'll also talk to Emily and ask her to be more understanding. She won't fight you over anything. If you hadn't kept holding on to this, things between us would never have gotten this bad. Claire, we've only been back together for three years," Daniel sighed, sounding deeply wounded. "Can't you cherish what we have?"

Even though I had witnessed Daniel's shamelessness countless times, his words still made my heart ache.

But this time, I did not break down hysterically. I only spoke calmly. "Daniel, let's get divorced."

I lifted a hand and motioned to the secretary behind me.

"The divorce agreement has already been drafted."

The secretary stepped forward and handed the document to him.

"All you need to do is sign it."

Daniel's gaze fell on the agreement, and his expression darkened at once.

The next second, he raised his hand sharply and tore the papers into shreds, scattering them across the floor.

"Claire, enough. Don't take this too far."

He paused, as if forcing his emotions back down.

"You're emotional right now, so I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Rest properly in the hospital. We'll talk when you've calmed down."

With that, he turned and left.

Watching his back, I said firmly, "Daniel, I want a divorce! If you won't sign, I'll see you in court!"

Daniel walked even faster, his steps almost hurried.

The ward fell silent again. I closed my eyes, and tears slipped from the corners.

Between the car accident and the miscarriage, I spent nearly a month in the hospital before the doctor finally allowed me to leave.

During that entire month, Daniel did not visit me once.

By the time I returned to the mansion Daniel and I shared, the sky had already begun to darken.

The lights in the living room were on, and I could faintly hear Daniel talking with one of his friends inside.

"I heard Claire wants to divorce you?"

Daniel leaned against the sofa, a cigarette between his fingers, his tone indifferent. "She found out I'm with Emily again, so now she's making a fuss about divorce."

"Apologize to Claire properly. She'll forgive you."

Daniel's voice rose sharply. "She's the one who should apologize to me! We've been doing well these past three years. She's the one being petty and ruining what we had."

His friend asked again, "What if Claire insists on leaving?"

"She won't." Daniel sounded certain. "What we have survived life and death. It won't fall apart that easily. Besides, our families' interests are still tied together."

Daniel and I had been brought together through a business marriage arranged by our grandparents' generation.

I had not resisted it. At the beginning, I had even thought that perhaps we could build real feelings over time.

But not long after the wedding, I found out that Daniel had been keeping a mistress.

He had even leaked my explicit photos on purpose just to please her, turning me into a laughingstock across the internet.

I refused to back down. I reported his shady businesses directly and sent him behind bars.

Each fight became uglier than the last, and the rift between us grew deeper and deeper.

"Daniel, if you don't want a divorce, why did you get back together with Emily? You even had a child with her."

Daniel fell silent for a long while before saying lazily, "After so many years with Claire, of course there are times when things get tiring. And Emily was standing naked right in front of me. Any man would have lost control."

Rage surged from my chest straight to my head, and I almost lost control and shoved the door open.

But in the next second, I stopped myself.

Since Daniel no longer even bothered to hide the fact that he had a mistress and an illegitimate child, what would confronting him change?

It would only waste my energy.

I took a deep breath, turned around, and left.

After returning to the apartment I had bought before the marriage, I began investigating the evidence from the car accident.

Fortunately, there was traffic camera footage from the intersection.

I had my staff retrieve the footage immediately, then handed it to my legal team to organize the evidence and prepare a lawsuit against Emily.

But before we could formally file the case, my lawyer contacted me with the news that the crucial footage had been deleted.

I rushed straight to Daniel's office, unable to keep the anger out of my voice.

"Did you delete the footage?"

He did not deny it. He did not even look up.

He simply closed the file in front of him, his voice cold and flat. "Give up. Even with the footage, you wouldn't win. I've already hired the best legal team in Northhaven for Emily. They've never lost a case."

"If you don't withdraw the lawsuit, I can't promise I won't countersue you for framing Emily."

My breath caught, as if something had lodged itself in my chest.

He let out a soft sigh, his tone easing as if indulging a child. "Withdraw the case, Claire. Let's end it here. We can go back to living the way we used to. Don't push this to the point where it can't be fixed."

Anger burned through me.

"That was a life, our child! How can you be this calm? You watched our baby die and still defended her! All I'm doing is making Emily pay for what she did."

Daniel flicked his hand, sending the file to the floor. "If you won't take the easy way, then I'll go all the way with you!"

After saying that, he pressed the intercom and called in the secretary outside. "Escort her out."

The secretary came in, polite on the surface but firm as she ushered me out of the office.

Before leaving, I shot Daniel a glare, my teeth clenched. "Daniel, I'm not giving up."

Soon, my lawyers and I reorganized the evidence and filed the lawsuit.

On the day of the hearing, Daniel arrived with Emily by his side.

When he saw me, he instinctively stepped forward as if to question me.

I ignored them completely and walked straight into the courthouse.

Daniel froze for a moment, his expression darkening. Then, as if to provoke me, he wrapped an arm around Emily's waist and raised his voice deliberately.

"Emily, don't be scared. She has no evidence. I've hired the best legal team for you. She won't win."

I didn't respond.

Once the hearing began, my lawyer presented the most direct piece of evidence.

Daniel probably hadn't expected that I still had footage from that day.

After the accident, my car had been sent to an auto repair shop.

The dashcam had recorded everything in full. The evidence was undeniable.

The legal team Daniel hired was indeed formidable, their arguments airtight.

But my lawyers were no less capable.

The team I had hired was led by my best friend Sophie Miller, a core group made up mostly of her former classmates, all graduates of the finest law school.

When she took the case, she had only said one thing. "Don't worry. I won't let you lose."

Round after round of examination brought the truth into the open.

In the end, faced with irrefutable evidence, Emily lost the case.

Though Daniel's legal team managed to keep her out of prison, she was still ordered to pay substantial damages.

By the time we walked out of the courthouse, night had fallen.

Shadows from the trees flickered across Daniel's face, obscuring his expression.

Before leaving, Daniel stood beneath the tree, his face hidden in shifting light and shadow. "This time, I slipped up. You won't get another chance like this."

With that, he didn't linger. He turned and left, his arm around Emily.

I didn't bother with them. Instead, I had my staff deliver the verdict and the full dashcam footage to my media company.

Overnight, major media platforms across Northhaven began reporting on the case.

Social media, financial pages, even street news screens were quickly set ablaze with the story.

Public opinion spread like an explosion.

Daniel and Emily were pushed straight into the eye of the storm.

The Carter Group was shaken, and its stock price dropped.

I returned to my apartment, about to check the news and comments on my phone.

I had just unlocked the screen when a call from my staff came in before I could even open the news app.

"Ms. Parker, something's wrong! There's been a fire near the media district!"

He paused, as if struggling to continue.

"The fire broke out in the building where your media company is located. The flames are massive. The entire building is almost engulfed. And we just got word... your lawyer friend is still inside!"