Chapter 1

It was blazingly hot in Aceville City. The daytime temperature was close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

Aubrey Jacomb drove the BMW 7 Series her in-laws had loaned her into Haven Villas. She headed straight for her in-laws’ mansion.

Ten minutes later, Aubrey stopped at the gates of a huge mansion and honked. Someone came to open the gates for her and she drove right in.

“Madam Aubrey?”

The household staff who opened the door quickly called out to Aubrey. Aubrey stopped the car and rolled down her window. She stuck her head out to meet the staff who called her. It was Lindsay Evans.

“Madam Aubrey, Mr. Samson, Madam Amara, and Madam Lorelei are here. Mr. Randell has also brought Ms. Stowe back with him.”

The “Ms. Stowe” Lindsay mentioned was Randell Cohen’s first love, Juniper Stowe. And if Randell brought her to the Cohen residence, that meant Aubrey was in a precarious situation.

Hearing this, Aubrey’s expression changed. She gripped the steering wheel a little harder and took a few deep breaths. Then, she answered, “Got it. Thanks for letting me know, Lindsay.”

Aubrey started up the car again and drove in. She parked at the mansion door. After calming herself down for a few minutes inside the car, Aubrey then grabbed her handbag, pulled her keys out of the ignition, and got out of the driver’s seat.

As soon as she got out of the car, a wave of heat washed over her. Aubrey was on the slightly chubbier side with a larger build, which meant she was afraid of the heat. She hurriedly made her way into the door.

It had been lively in the mansion before Aubrey’s arrival. People were happily chatting and laughing away in the living room. However, when they saw Aubrey enter, everyone fell silent. Nobody spoke as they all stared at her.

“Grandma, Samson, Amara, Randell,” Aubrey greeted one by one. There was a polite smile on her rather chubby face. “You’re all back. Let me go and get lunch ready.”

Without waiting for an answer, she then hurried into the kitchen to start preparing lunch for everyone.

Randell had once told her that she had to learn to cook because she liked eating. As soon as Aubrey married Randell, she had since been in charge of preparing all of his meals.

In reality, Aubrey hadn’t known how to cook before she married Randell. But after marrying into the family and being forced into the kitchen for the past three years, she knew how to make many mean dishes now.

However, Randell had never once eaten anything that Aubrey made. In fact, he had never eaten any of his meals at home before.

Randell never liked Aubrey. He only married her because he was repaying Aubrey’s father on his grandfather’s behalf.

Three years ago, Randell’s grandfather, Grant Cohen, had gotten into an accident on his way home. Grant’s car had fallen into the river, and Aubrey’s father, Jeremy Jacomb, happened to witness it while passing by. He immediately jumped into the river to rescue them.

After saving Grant and the driver, unfortunately, Jeremy was too weak to swim to the shore and sank to the bottom of the river.

When help finally arrived, they managed to bring Jeremy out of the water. However, there were no signs of life in him anymore. As a result, Aubrey lost her father.

Her parents had always had a close bond. After Jeremy passed away, Aubrey’s mother, Betty Mayor, also died from heartbreak a short while later. The only people left behind were Aubrey, her little brother who was ten years younger than her, and her grandfather in his 70s.

As a form of gratitude, the Cohens had then forced Randell, who’d just broken up with his ex-girlfriend, to marry Aubrey. She had only been 23 years old then.

The Jacombs had come from the countryside. Although they owned a house in the city, they were still far behind the Cohens, who had billions of dollars’ worth of assets and properties under their name. In short, Randell had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Randell’s and Aubrey’s backgrounds were worlds apart. Hence, their marriage was doomed to fail from the very start.

The person Randell was deeply in love with was his girlfriend and first love, Juniper. Even though he’d been married to Aubrey for three years, he had never even met her eyes before.

Aubrey liked food. She loved eating and could also eat a lot in one sitting. And ever since marrying into the Cohen family, she hadn’t needed to do any proper physical work, which only led to her gaining more and more weight each day.

Randell had never liked Aubrey. But now that she had become plumper than before, Randell hated her even more.

Half a year ago, Grant passed away from an illness. Juniper had also returned home from abroad, and Randell finally felt as if he was alive again. He would leave his home early in the morning and return home very late at night. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Aubrey knew why he did it, but she couldn’t do anything about it. Even though on paper, she was married to Randell for three years, they were nothing more than strangers with a label forcefully slapped onto them.

“You don’t have to make lunch anymore, Aubrey. Come here. I have something to tell you,” Randell said in a low voice. He then beckoned Aubrey over with his hand.

Aubrey felt nervous. “You don’t need me to prepare lunch for you? Have you eaten, then? I haven’t had anything to eat yet. I just cam