Shattered Dreams: When Love Becomes a Nightmare

As I furiously gripped the stack of evidence of my wife's affair, searching the medicine cabinet for heart pills, my phone rang.

It was a call from Damien Conway, Liana's father. Over these past few years of marriage, whenever he called me, it was never for anything good.

He still hadn't repaid the 20 thousand dollars he borrowed from me last time. What was worse, when I married Liana, I gave them 360 thousand dollars as a wedding gift, and according to our local customs, they were supposed to return 88 thousand dollars to serve as Liana's gift. However, Damien dragged me into a small room and privately suggested not giving Liana the gift she deserved. He said Liana's younger brother, Kylan Conway, had been detained in some underground casino and couldn't get out, and they needed tens of thousands to ransom him.

Without the 88 thousand dollars, it wouldn't be enough.

I shouldered this burden alone and didn't tell Liana. 88 thousand dollars wasn't a lot, and I couldn't lose my wife over money.

I hadn't expected that after that, they seemed to have gotten a taste for it and gradually took more money from me, thinking they had found a sucker.

And why not? I was such a fool. The men of the Conway family saw me as an ATM, and Liana saw me as a landlord they could live with for free. She didn't even love me.

I answered the phone, and before I could say anything, the voice on the other end appeared, "Kolton, why did it take so long for you to pick up the phone?"