Chapter 1 Cancer
“Ms. Xander, the results are back. Mid-stage stomach cancer. Are you sure you don’t want to tell your family?”
“No need.”
Stepping out of the hospital, the hot wind hit her face.
Tracy Xander slipped the medical report into her bag, her face pale.
In the third year of her marriage to Chandler Gaunt, he cheated. And she got cancer.
What a lousy script life handed her.
But Tracy was afraid of death. Especially after realizing she’d driven herself into cancer over a man who couldn’t even keep it in his pants, in this moment, she finally understood.
Like sand slipping through your fingers—just let it go.
After planning everything carefully, Tracy drove to the office.
At her desk, she gathered a stack of documents and headed for the seventeenth-floor office.
She knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Tracy pushed the door open.
“What is it?”
The man lifted his head, his dark eyes gazing at her with intensity.
Chandler Gaunt had a face anyone would envy. His features were sharp and strong. Years in the business world had stripped away his youthful naivety, leaving behind the maturity, steadiness, and authority of a man at the top.
Tracy handed over the stack of papers, her tone gentle. “These are from last week’s health check. The hospital courier dropped them off. They need your signature.”
She placed the reports in front of Chandler, even uncapped the pen and set it in his hand.
Chandler rubbed his forehead, weary. Without looking, he picked up the pen and signed.
“Next time, don’t bother me with small things like this.”
“Okay.” Tracy accepted easily, tucking the papers back away.
As she turned, her eyes caught the edge of a white skirt poking out from under the wide office desk.
She recognized that skirt. It belonged to her stepsister, Yvonne Xander.
Tracy lowered her gaze, hiding the ridicule in her eyes, and walked out in steady strides.
A few seconds later, she heard the faint click of the door locking.
So eager?
Her heart sank straight to the bottom of the lake, smothered by the cold water until she could hardly breathe.
Lowering her head, she pulled out the last two sheets from the stack in her hands.
If Chandler had only looked closer, he would have seen that hidden among those pages wasn’t just her mid-stage stomach cancer report, but also, on the very last page…
A divorce agreement.
Tracy had known Chandler since she was five years old. That was the year her father cheated and her mother filed for divorce.
Her two older brothers went with her father, while she was placed in her mother’s custody.
Afterward, the mistress moved in with her illegitimate daughter, Yvonne, and took her mother’s place.
Tracy and her mom moved away, and it was then that she met the boy next door—Chandler.
They had grown up together. Chandler had once fought for her so fiercely that he broke three ribs.
Whenever she was sick, he was heartbroken for her.
His social media was filled with nothing but pictures of her.
He was the one who swore to love her for a lifetime, yet he was the one who betrayed her first.
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
