Chapter 12

Joy Valentine was dead.

She chose the most final way to leave this world.

The water in the bathtub was stained a shocking red.

She lay quietly inside, the wound on her wrist horrifying to behold.

Even more shocking was that she had taken her father, who was in a vegetative state, with her.

The creditors were banging on the door, demanding she repay her debts.

There was no response from inside.

They broke down the door, only to be rendered speechless by the scene before them.

Joy had already stopped breathing.

Her father lay on the bed in the bedroom, having been given a large dose of sleeping pills by her beforehand.

The media caught wind of the story and rushed to report on this horrifying tragedy.

Journalists used the sharpest words to depict her unfilial behavior.

Soon, someone tracked down Jenny Valentine.

When the cameras turned to Jenny, she frantically shielded her face with her hands.

"What does this have to do with me?" Her voice was shrill and piercing. "It's all my sister's fault for not seeing people clearly!"

"She gambled away the family fortune! Wasn't it enough that she killed our mother? Now she's taken our father too!"

She roughly pushed the reporters aside, her face twisted in anger.

"Stop looking for me! I don't have such a family!"

The police notified me to come and claim Joy's belongings.

I had expected to find many traces of Felix Laurent.

Surprisingly, there was nothing related to him among her possessions.

After the project collapsed, she must have completely given up on her first love.

In a small box, I found things that belonged to me.

Every gift I had given her was carefully preserved.

Photos from our travels were neatly arranged.

I heard that when she took her last breath, she was still clutching her wedding ring.

Perhaps everything she said to me that day was true.

She didn't really want a divorce; she was just spoiled by her nature.

She was waiting for me to bow my head first, to force me to admit my mistakes.

She had indeed fallen for me, but she couldn't let go of her obsession with her first love.

I threw everything into the fire.

The flames consumed every bit of the past.

In my life, the name Joy Valentine was completely erased.

This relationship taught me self-respect and self-love.

From now on, I will never sacrifice my dignity for anyone.

To be loved, one must first love oneself.

If you don't even cherish yourself, how can you expect others to?

My ill-fated relationship with Joy ends here.

I have never regretted the decision to divorce.