Chapter 63

Steve never missed giving me a gift, but he had never once shared a candlelight dinner with me. Every year, I would cook a feast and sit alone at the dining table, waiting for him to come home until late at night. When he came back, he didn't even take a sip of the wine. He would say that he was exhausted from work and go straight to bed after placing my gift down on the table. At some point, giving me gifts seemed to have become a task to Steve, nothing more. I had thought that this year's anniversary might be different, but he never came home that night. Neither Isabel nor Dorothy was home either. It made me understand that this year's wedding anniversary wouldn't be any different after all. At best, Steve would come back late, hand me that meaningless engagement gift, and call it a day. I was clearly too optimistic. It wasn't until noon that I saw that familiar purple sapphire necklace on Isabel's Instagram. Only then did I finally learn that Steve's willingness to be fleeced