Author: Momo Chan

During the hurricane, I spent thirteen hours trapped in waist-deep, freezing mud before Gale’s lifted Dodge Ram finally cut through the storm. When it pulled up, the passenger seat wasn’t empty. Brianna, the fresh-out-of-college intern he’d been mentoring, was sitting inside. The emergency blanket and the single remaining evacuation spot that should have been mine were wrapped tightly around her shoulders. As I waded through the rushing water toward the truck, Brianna made a weak gesture toward the door handle. Gale immediately reached over and locked it shut from the inside. “It’s freezing out there, and she’s already soaked,” Gale’s voice was muffled through the glass, his expression stern as he cracked the window just an inch. “Look at the state of you—don’t open the door and let the cold draft in. You’ll give her hypothermia.” Years ago, I ruined my back and destroyed my health helping him build his company from a damp basement. Now, I was just the faded woman on the other end of the line whose distress calls he had declined thirteen times in a row. Gale cranked the truck’s heater on high for Brianna, reached out the cracked window, and tossed a broken umbrella down into the mud. “The water level’s dropping,” he said, his tone clipped with irritation. “Wade down the rest of the slope yourself. And drop the dead-eyed, tragic act.” I stared at the sheer disgust on his face, and a sudden, dark laugh caught in my throat. He seemed to have forgotten something fundamental. If I could pull him out of the gutter and raise him to the top of the world, I could tear him down just as easily. … The moment my fingers slipped off the truck’s wet bed rack, my fingernails were caked with dirt. Gale didn’t hit the brakes. The heavy tires churned through the murky floodwaters, splashing dark mud across my face. Through the tinted rear glass, Brianna turned to glance back at me. Her lips moved, framing an insincere “I’m sorry”, even as she pulled the fleece emergency blanket tighter around her neck. Over the rescue team’s portable comms unit, someone finally spoke up, his voice static-laced and uncomfortable. “Gale… Josie’s still back there. We’re really leaving her?” Gale’s reply was curt, devoid of warmth. “She can walk. We need to get Brianna down the mountain first. Her fever is spiking; she won’t survive the night up here.” Another team member chimed in, quieter this time. “But man… Josie’s been submerged in that runoff for thirteen hours.” The radio went silent for two agonizing seconds. Then Gale let out a brief, humorless laugh. “She’s not that fragile. Back when we were starting out, she worked construction sites in driving rain and hauled steel beams without complaining. Now she’s just throwing a dramatic fit because she wants attention.” I stood anchored in the rushing current, listening to those words over the lingering radio feedback. My body was shaking so violently from the cold that the sting of his words took a moment to sink in. I hadn’t complained back then because I trusted he would always turn around for me. The year his first venture failed and loan sharks cornered him in a derelict warehouse, I stepped in front of a steel pipe for him. The year he couldn’t make payroll, I sold the solid gold bangle my late mother had left me. And that brutal winter five years ago, when we couldn’t afford heating, he wrapped his only heavy parka around my shoulders and whispered, “Josie, even if the sky falls, I’ll hold it up over you first.” Now, the storm had shattered everything. And he was holding the sky up for someone else. I pulled the broken umbrella from the current. Two of the fiberglass ribs were snapped, hanging limp and useless against the rain. My phone had long since died from water damage. Left with no choice, I gripped the freezing steel guardrail and forced one foot in front of the other. The swift current battered my legs. My knee struck a submerged boulder, a sharp, blinding pain shooting up my spine that turned my vision white. “Josie!” A voice shouted over the roar of the gale. I turned my head through the blinding rain and saw a red rescue pickup parked halfway up the incline. The driver’s door slammed open, and a man in an all-weather jacket leaped down into the knee-deep water. It was Drew, one of the senior leads from Gale’s off-road club. He sprinted toward me, his face pale with alarm as he snapped a heavy carabiner and safety line onto my belt. “Are you out of your mind? Walking in a flash flood like this? You could be swept off the ridge!” I parted my lips, but my throat was so dry and raw I could barely rasp out a breath. “Gale said… the water wasn’t that deep.” Drew’s hands froze on the harness. He didn’t answer. Instead, he unzipped his heavy waterproof jacket and wrapped it around my shivering frame. “Get in the truck. Now.” I collapsed into the back seat of the pickup. As the blasting climate control hit my skin, my numb, frozen fingers flared with a agonizing, burning pain. Drew handed me a thermos of hot water. “You tried calling him? He wouldn’t pick up?” I stared down at the steam curling off the rim of the stainless-steel cup. “He picked up once.” Drew looked at me through the rearview mirror. “He told me to stop bothering him,” I said quietly. Silence descended inside the cab. Up front, the driver muttered a quiet, sharp curse under his breath before falling silent. I leaned my head back against the headrest, watching the rain slam against the roof, remembering the day Gale had driven his very first truck up to my apartment. It was a beat-up, second-hand Ford he bought right after our company secured its first round of funding. He had wiped down the passenger seat three times with his sleeve before opening the door for me, grinning like a kid who had just won the lottery. “This seat is yours, Josie. Always. Nobody else ever sits here.” Then Brianna joined the firm as a junior analyst. “She’s fresh out of college, Josie. She has no connections, no safety net—just like we were ten years ago,” he had told me. “Giving her a leg up doesn’t mean anything. Don’t be so paranoid.” I had believed him. I believed him right up until today, when I learned the hard truth: that seat didn’t belong to a person. It belonged to whoever he felt like protecting at any given moment. As the truck neared the county’s emergency staging center, the radio on Drew’s dashboard crackled to life. Brianna’s soft, timid voice filtered through the speaker. “Gale… please don’t be mad at Josie. She was probably just cold. I’m sure she stayed behind on purpose to make a point…” Gale’s voice was gentle, filled with a soothing warmth I hadn’t heard in years. “Don’t waste your energy thinking about her. Drink the ginger tea.” I closed my eyes. The hot thermos scorched my palms. I didn’t let go. When the pickup pulled to a halt, Drew turned around. “Let me walk you to the medical tent.” I shook my head. The staging area was a chaos of glaring halogen floodlights, mud-caked boots, and shouting volunteers. The moment my feet touched the ground, I saw Gale standing by the main entrance flap, holding a paper cup of hot soup. When his eyes landed on me, his eyebrows instantly knitted into a deep, irritated scowl. “Why were you in Drew’s truck?” I just looked at him. His tone grew sharper, laced with condescension. “Josie, do you really have to make every single crisis about yourself? Must everyone drop what they’re doing to cater to you?” I didn’t have the strength to argue. Drew stepped between us, his voice tight with barely suppressed anger. “Gale, she just came out of waist-deep runoff. She needs a medical evaluation.” Gale ignored Drew entirely, keeping his harsh gaze locked on me. “I asked you a question. Did you lose your voice?” Brianna stepped out from the main tent, draped in a fresh wool blanket. Her hair was completely dry, her pale face artfully sad. She reached out and lightly tugged on Gale’s sleeve. “Gale, please don’t fight. It’s my fault. Josie must have been terrified… She can have my cot in the medical bay. I’ll just sit outside on the bench.” The surrounding volunteers turned to look at us. Several of them recognized Gale—he was a major private donor for the regional rescue effort—and they knew Brianna as the young assistant he’d been bringing to every high-level dinner lately. When their eyes shifted to me, their expressions held a mixture of pity and uncomfortable judgment. I looked down at myself. Covered in slick, grey mud, my jeans torn at the knee, a jagged, bloody scratch trailing up my forearm where I’d scraped against the guardrail. I looked pathetic. Like a bitter woman starting a scene. Gale handed the soup to Brianna, then turned back to me, his voice cold and final. “Stop acting so dramatic. Space inside the tents is limited, and Brianna has a weak constitution. Is it really going to kill you to yield for once?” A dry, bitter laugh escaped my lips. My cracked skin split, and the faint, copper taste of blood seeped into my mouth. “I yielded the passenger seat. I yielded the emergency blanket. I yielded the rescue transport. And now I’m supposed to yield a hospital cot?” Gale’s face darkened. “Nobody forced you to be stuck up on that ridge! You’re the one who insisted on driving up to the mountain office to deliver those land-deed filings!” Those filings—the ones he had called me at six in the morning to demand. Because the hilltop project’s closing documents were missing the official corporate seal. “Josie, this deal is worth twenty million,” he had said on the phone, his voice urgent. “I can’t trust anyone else with these originals. I need you to bring them up.” I had driven straight into a Category 4 storm. Halfway up the pass, a rockslide took out the road, throwing my car into the drainage ditch. I had called him thirteen times while the water rose around my tires. He declined thirteen times. When he finally answered on the fourteenth attempt, before I could even tell him I was sinking, I heard Brianna crying in the background. “She’s panicked and trapped at the mountain lodge,” he had snapped at me. “Stop adding to the mess, Josie.” Those memories surged to the surface, but I swallowed them back down. Explaining was pointless. It wasn’t that he didn’t know. He simply didn’t care. I leaned against a nearby folding table, my knuckles turning white as I held myself upright. “Gale, I have a fever.” He froze for a fraction of a second. Before he could speak, Brianna let out two soft, fragile coughs. Gale’s attention snapped back to her instantly. He reached out, resting the back of his hand against her forehead. “Why are you still so cold?” I watched his hand. That hand used to check my temperature first. He used to know that I suffered from severe joint inflammation if I spent too long in the rain. He used to know that my knees couldn’t handle freezing water. Knowing didn’t mean caring anymore. A field nurse walked over and pressed a digital thermometer against my temple. It chimed quietly. “One hundred and two point five. Miss, sit down over here right now. We need to clean those cuts.” Hearing the temperature, Gale’s eyes flickered with a sudden beat of hesitation. He took a half-step toward me, but Brianna suddenly swayed on her feet, collapsing softly against his chest. “Gale… everything’s spinning…” He caught her instantly, wrapping his arm around her waist. “Medic! Check her first!” The nurse frowned, looking at her chart. “I checked her ten minutes ago. Her vitals and temperature are completely normal.” Brianna’s posture stiffened for a microsecond. Gale’s voice turned dangerous. “She said she’s dizzy. Are you going to take responsibility if she faints?” The nurse opened her mouth, stunned into silence by his hostility. A quiet, hollow laugh bubbled up in my chest. Drew took my arm, his voice low and urgent. “Don’t look at them. Come on.” I nodded slowly. As Drew guided me toward the adjacent medical tent, Brianna’s soft, breathless voice drifted over the noise of the storm. “Do you think Josie is going to be angry with me, Gale?” Gale’s response was immediate, dismissive. “Don’t worry about her. That’s just how she is. Give her a few days, and she’ll get over it.” My footsteps paused for a fraction of a second. “A few days.” So that was what my ten years of devotion amounted to—an annoyance with a predetermined expiration date. He assumed I would quiet down. He assumed I would endure it. He assumed I would always come back. Sitting on the edge of a metal cot, I watched quietly as the nurse carefully cut away the mud-soaked denim around my knee. The pain was sharp, but inside, I felt an uncanny, absolute calm. I turned to Drew. “Could I borrow your cell phone?” Drew handed it over without a word. I dialed a number I hadn’t called in nearly five years. When the line connected, my voice was so raspy I barely recognized it myself. “Dad… I want to come home.” My father sent his private detail through the storm overnight. By four in the morning, as soon as a single lane of the mountain highway was cleared of debris, a black Lincoln Navigator pulled up outside the staging area. As two security guards helped me toward the vehicle, Gale caught sight of us from across the lot. His expression shifted instantly from annoyance to sheer disbelief. “Josie! Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I didn’t turn around. He closed the distance in long, aggressive strides, slamming his hand against the frame of the passenger door before the guard could shut it. “What is this? Haven’t you pushed this drama far enough?” I lifted my eyes to look at him. “I’m going home.” He let out a sharp, incredulous laugh. “Your home is with me! What are you talking about?” My gaze dropped to his wrist. He was wearing the Patek Philippe watch I had bought him the day Vanguard Dynamics went public. Engraved on the casing back were four words: “Side by side, forever.” Right now, a streak of dried brown mud coated the polished platinum bezel—left behind when he had scooped Brianna into his arms. “Gale,” I said, my voice unnaturally steady. “We’re done. I’m leaving you.” He went entirely still. A second later, a dark, frustrated smirk pulled at his mouth. “Because I brought Brianna down first? Josie, you’re thirty-two years old, not twenty-two. Stop throwing tantrums and using breakups as a weapon.” I stared at him. Those words felt colder than the floodwaters I had spent thirteen hours standing in. Thirty-two. I had given him my twenties. I had weathered the damp basement apartments, the debt collectors, the ninety-hour work weeks, and the grueling climb until everyone in the industry called him “Mr. Elwin”. I gave him the best decade of my life. And in return, I was now the woman who was “too old” to have feelings. I reached out and slowly peeled his fingers off the doorframe. “It’s not a weapon, Gale. It’s a notification.” His face drained of color, replaced by a sudden, volatile coldness. “If you step into that car tonight, Josie, don’t you dare come crawling back later.” A short distance away, Brianna stood near the flap of the staging tent, watching us. There was a faint, triumphant gleam in her eyes that she didn’t bother to hide. “Josie, please don’t be impulsive,” she called out, her tone dripping with sweet concern. “Gale was just worried about my fever. Once you calm down, we can all sit down and talk like adults.” I didn’t give her a second glance. The driver pulled the door shut. As the heavy glass rolled up, Gale’s final words cut through the narrowing crack. “Walk away, and don’t ever ask me for anything again!” I leaned my head back against the leather seat and closed my eyes. I would never ask him for a single thing again. As the SUV pulled out of the muddy lot, Drew ran up from the command center, slipping a thick, sealed plastic envelope through the driver’s window. “Her personal items. We recovered them from her stranded vehicle.” Inside the pouch was my dead phone, the stamped land-deed contract, and a water-damaged red velvet box. I stared at the velvet box for a long time. Inside was a platinum men’s band. I had planned to give it to him on his upcoming birthday. Lately, he had been complaining about attending industry galas alone, complaining that investors kept asking about his marital status. I had thought: “Once this storm passes, I’ll tell him it’s time. Ten years is long enough. Let me be the one to ask.” Now, there was an answer. Just not the one I had planned for. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon when we reached my family’s estate in the suburbs. My mother was standing on the front porch in her robe, her eyes red and swollen. The moment she saw me limping up the steps, tears spilled down her cheeks. “Josie… my baby…” I opened my mouth, wanting to tell her I was fine. But the moment my foot hit the top step, my knees buckled, and everything went black. When I woke up, the sterile smell of antiseptic filled the air. I was in a private hospital room. My mother sat by the bedside, her eyes heavy and dark. My father stood near the floor-to-ceiling window, holding an unlit cigar between his fingers, his expression dark as thunder. Seeing me open my eyes, my father’s deep voice cut through the silence. “Did Elwin know about your chronic nerve damage in your joints?” I gave a faint nod. My mother let out a quiet sob. “The doctor said if you had stayed in that water another hour, you would have suffered permanent tissue damage in your right leg.” I looked down at the heavy bandages wrapping my knee. Truthfully, the pain had been there for a long time. It was just that in the early years, Gale would sit up with me at night, rubbing heating oil into my joints, boiling ginger water, and lifting me onto the sofa while whispering, “I’m sorry you have to suffer for my dream, Josie.” I had foolishly believed people didn’t change at their core. I was wrong. My father walked over to the bed and placed a thick, leather-bound binder on the nightstand. “The equity proxy agreement for your eighteen percent stake in Vanguard Dynamics—I still have the originals right here.” I stared at the documents, stunned. My father looked down at me, his gaze softening slightly. “Your mother was worried you’d give away everything for love back then. I insisted on holding the proxy in my firm’s vault.” My fingers trembled as I touched the thick paper. I hadn’t just walked away with a damaged body. I had an exit strategy. Before I could process it, the heavy oak door to the private room swung open. Gale stood in the doorway. He was wearing the same rumpled suit from yesterday, holding a paper bag from a high-end breakfast spot, his face lined with exhaustion. “Josie. We need to talk.” My father stepped forward, blocking his path entirely. “Mr. Elwin. Are we talking about civil damages for criminal negligence, or are we discussing the dissolution of your personal relationship?” Gale’s eyes darted past my father, locking onto me. “Josie… you’re getting your parents involved in our relationship now?” My mother let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “Our daughter nearly died in a flash flood because of your neglect. Do you think we’re going to sit back and say nothing?” Gale tightened his grip on the paper bag, his tone softening slightly into a defensive baritone. “Mrs. Marcus, I admit I didn’t handle the evacuation perfectly last night. But the situation on the ridge was chaotic. Brianna was in genuine danger.” I finally spoke up, my voice steady. “So dangerous that she was sitting in a heated truck with dry shoes?” Gale stiffened. Brianna peeked out from behind his shoulder, her eyes instantly brimming with tears. “Josie… please don’t be mad at Gale. I was terrified last night. He was just trying to help a colleague…” I looked past Gale, my gaze landing squarely on her face. “The mountain lodge where you were ‘trapped’ is less than half a mile from the county emergency center. The water on that lower road didn’t exceed six inches.” Her face went chalk white. Gale frowned, looking between us. “You had her background checked?” I let out a faint, humorless smile. “I didn’t have to. The county emergency response team published the sector map online hours ago.” Gale brushed it off as if he hadn’t heard me. “Josie, you’ve become incredibly vindictive.” My mother took a step forward, trembling with rage, but I reached out and gently laid my hand over hers. “Gale,” I said clearly. “I’ve already made myself understood. We are over.” He stared at me, then slammed the breakfast bag onto a side table. “I don’t accept that.” “It doesn’t require your permission.” His voice dropped into a low, desperate register. “Ten years, Josie. You don’t throw away a decade over a misunderstanding. I made a mistake last night, okay? I’ll make it up to you. Whatever you want—a new house, the ring, the wedding we deferred—we can do it all now.” I saw Brianna’s fingers instantly clench around the fabric of her blouse. I saw it. Gale didn’t. Or maybe he did, and simply didn’t care. He genuinely believed money and formal titles could mend every tear in a relationship—just like he used to believe love could overcome poverty. “What if I demand that you cut Brianna out of your company entirely?” I asked softly. “What if I demand you never see her again?” The room fell dead silent. Brianna’s tears overflowed instantly. “Josie… please don’t do this. I don’t have any family here… Gale has just been like an older brother to me…” Gale let out a heavy sigh, looking at me with disappointment. “Josie, don’t force me into making childish ultimatums.” I nodded slowly. “Understood.” His shoulders dropped slightly, assuming I had backed down. The next second, I reached into my bag, pulled out the water-damaged velvet box, and tossed it into the stainless-steel trash can beside the bed. The box hit the plastic liner with a dull, heavy thud. Gale’s face changed instantly. “What was that?” “Your birthday gift,” I replied evenly. “It was soaked in floodwater. It’s ruined.” He reached out to retrieve it, but I caught his sleeve. “It’s filthy, Gale. Leave it.” His chest rose and fell heavily as his breath hitched. “Josie… you really want to burn everything down?” I said nothing more. Outside the open door, heavy, hurried footsteps echoed down the tiled hallway. Drew appeared at the entrance, his face worn with exhaustion from the overnight rescue operation. “Gale, you need to hear this,” Drew said, his voice flat. Gale snapped, his patience entirely exhausted. “Not now, Drew. Out.” Drew didn’t move. He threw a cold, hard glance at Brianna. “Last night, when the secondary unit was preparing to head up the ridge toward Josie’s coordinates, Brianna called the central dispatch directly. She told them the upper pass was entirely clear and that no one was left up there, so the truck redirected straight to her lodge.” Brianna gasped, her voice cracking. “That’s a lie!” Drew pulled out his smartphone and tapped a file. “Dispatch logs record every incoming emergency call. It’s automated.” Gale’s face drained of every drop of color. From the phone’s speaker, Brianna’s sweet, anxious voice played clearly through the silent room: “‘There’s no one on the upper ridge road, it’s just an abandoned vehicle. Josie already walked down hours ago. Please come to the timber lodge first, I’m so scared…’” I closed my eyes. So it wasn’t just that Gale hadn’t come for me. Someone had actively closed the last door of escape behind me. Brianna burst into hysterical tears, grabbing Gale’s arm. “Gale, I didn’t mean to! I thought she had already left! I was so panicked… please believe me!” Gale looked down at her, his throat bobbing as he swallowed hard. I thought, for a split second, he might ask me if I was hurt. I thought he might feel a flicker of horror. Instead, after a long, agonized silence, he looked up and said quietly, “She’s young and easily frightened, Josie. She didn’t do it out of malice.” A terrible, suffocating quiet settled over the room. I looked at the man I had loved for ten years, and in that single moment, every remaining trace of pain vanished into complete, hollow nothingness. “Gale.” He looked up at me. I pulled the binder off the nightstand, flipped to the signature page of the equity proxy agreement, and signed my name in clear, dark ink. “As of today, I am revoking your proxy rights and formally asserting my eighteen percent founder stake in Vanguard Dynamics.” Gale’s pupils contracted to pinpricks. Before he could speak, the hospital door opened again. My father’s senior corporate attorney stepped inside, opening a crisp leather briefcase. “Mr. Elwin,” the attorney said smoothly. “We have a great deal to discuss.”

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At my husband’s promotion party, his colleagues cheered and hounded him to give his wife a kiss. My face flushed, and I lowered my gaze, waiting. The next second, Brandon leaned past me and pressed his lips firmly against my best friend’s forehead. He raised Amber’s hand into the air. “The person I owe everything to is Amber,” he announced into the microphone. “Walking this path together hasn’t been easy. She’s taken on so much for me.” I froze. The floor beneath my feet felt like it had dissolved, dropping me into an endless abyss. My phone buzzed in my hand with a delayed message from him. “Mistook her for you for a second. Don’t make a scene.” “I didn’t want Amber to feel awkward, so I just rolled with it.” When the party wrapped up, I swallowed the bile in my throat and headed toward the restroom. Before I could reach the door, a muffled gasp came from inside one of the stalls. “Brandon, stop… we can’t do this to Cassie…” “If she finds out what you said tonight, she’s going to be crushed.” Brandon’s lazy, teasing chuckle floated out, dripping with casual intimacy. “What’s there to worry about? I already sent her an excuse. Even if she throws a fit, it just shows how childish she is. A milestone moment like tonight? You’re the only one who belongs beside me.” It felt as though my body had been run over by a freight train. I closed my eyes tightly. To him, I had never been enough. If that was what they wanted, I would step aside and give it to them. … I took a deep breath and reached for the door handle. Before my fingers touched the brass, the door swung open from the inside. Brandon stepped out, looking flushed and thoroughly satisfied. There was no ambiguity about what had just happened. I dug my fingernails into my palms, staring past him into the stall. Amber was frantically buttoning her silk blouse, her voice trembling as she stammered, “Cassie… what are you doing here?” “I… it was just getting really hot in here. Please don’t misinterpret anything.” I looked at the faint red marks scattered across her collarbone and let out a cold, hollow laugh. “Hot? Is that what it is?” Brandon shifted his weight, stepping in front of her to block my view. His face flickered with a brief, uncomfortable shadow. “Why are you wandering around?” he snapped. “Stop embarrassing me in public.” I didn’t answer. I pushed past his shoulder and walked straight into the tight space. The cramped room was thick with the unmistakable scent of recent intimacy. My eyes caught the small trash can in the corner, where a freshly used condom sat right on top. Amber’s face drained of color. She lunged forward, grabbing my forearm. “Cassie, please don’t overthink this. Brandon and I… there’s nothing between us.” She turned to Brandon, throwing him a sharp, panicked look. “Say something! Explain it to Cassie!” I smiled faintly, lookingBrandon dead in the eye. “His promotion dinner ended less than twenty minutes ago. You two certainly couldn’t wait.” Brandon’s jaw tightened. He drew his shoulders back, his eyebrows pulling into a heavy scowl. “You’re seeing things. So what if I accidentally read the wrong name earlier? Are you going to be this paranoid over every little thing?” He looked completely composed, as if I were the one acting out of line. Before I could open my mouth, he had already taken Amber’s hand. “Amber is afraid of the dark. I’m driving her home.” He glanced at me. “Wait here for me—” He paused, then shifted his tone with a wave of his hand. “Forget it, it’s a hassle. Just call yourself an Uber.” My throat felt tight, constrained by an overwhelming dryness. “It’s two in the morning, Brandon. I’m your wife—” He didn’t wait for me to finish. He led Amber out the door without looking back. The venue was in a secluded area. I didn’t make it back to our house until six in the morning after struggling to get a ride. The moment I unlocked my phone, a notification popped up. Amber had posted an update a few minutes earlier. “With him around, I guess I get to stay a spoiled, helpless kid forever~” The attached photo showed her newly leased apartment under renovation. In the bottom right corner, a man’s hand was visible—a hand I knew better than my own. I looked up at our living room. When we were decorating this place years ago, no matter how much I begged him to participate, Brandon had refused to care. He had always said a house was just a place to sleep, that there was no need to make a fuss over it. The truth was, he just didn’t care to make a fuss for me. Another message from Amber chimed on my screen. “Cassie, do you think I should go with blue or yellow wallpaper for the bedroom?” I typed two words back. “Up to you.” I turned toward the kitchen to slice some fruit. My hand slipped on the cutting board, the blade nicking my index finger. Blood welled up instantly. Impulsively, I took a quick photo of the cut and posted it to my close-friends story. Sure enough, within three minutes, Brandon called. A small, foolish ripple formed in my chest. I picked up. Instead of concern, his loud, demanding voice echoed through the speaker. “Your best friend reached out to you out of goodwill, and you give her a two-word brush-off?” “Do you have any idea how sensitive she is? Saying ‘up to you’ is just going to make her overthink everything!” My voice turned cold. “And what does that have to do with you?” He choked on his words for a second, then snapped back, “She’s your best friend! What’s wrong with me showing a little concern?” I moved my lips slowly. “I cut my hand.” There was a brief pause on his end, almost like he was fulfilling a duty. “What happened now?” “The knife slipped.” Brandon’s tone relaxed back into a dismissive drawl. “It’s just a scratch. It’ll heal in five minutes. You always make a mountain out of a molehill.” I stared at the bleeding tip of my finger, saying nothing. Suddenly, a sharp scream from Amber pierced through the speaker, followed by Brandon’s panicked voice. “Amber just burned herself with hot water. I have to go.” The line went dead. I calmly cleaned the blood off my finger. He didn’t lack concern; he just didn’t care when it came to me. I took a shower, wanting to sleep, but my mind refused to shut off. Eventually, I got out of bed and began packing away everything in the house that belonged to our shared history. Brandon returned late in the afternoon. He walked into the living room, frowning when he saw the cardboard boxes at my feet. “What are you doing now?” “Clearing things out,” I said without looking up. He nodded indifferently. “Good. You should have thrown that stuff out long ago. It just takes up space.” I kept my head down, looking at the items in the box. The first was a navy blue scarf he had knitted for me by hand during our first winter together, back when he swore he would keep me warm for every winter to come. The second was his first love letter, filled with promise about the future we were going to build. The third was a jar of paper cranes he had folded by my bedside when I was sick, wishing me a long and healthy life. It turned out these things were only valuable when love was still alive. Without love, they were just clutter taking up space. When I didn’t reply, he turned and went into the home office. By evening, I had finished packing. I pulled out the divorce agreement I had prepared earlier, walked over, and knocked on his office door. I placed the paper quietly on his desk. “Sign this.” He didn’t even glance at the header. He picked up his pen and signed his name with a quick, practiced scribble—just as decisively as he had confessed his love to me under the cherry blossoms years ago. “Thank you.” I picked up the paper and turned to leave. “Wait.” Brandon suddenly called out behind me. “What… is this for, anyway?” My eyelids fluttered. My voice felt raspy. “It’s a div—” “Right, I get it,” he interrupted, pressing a hand to his temple. “You need money for a new bag, right?” “Just don’t waste it on useless designer junk that sits in the closet.” The paper in my hand crumpled slightly under my grip. When we were dating, he would have brought me the stars if he could. He gave me everything he had and still worried it wasn’t enough. Now, everything had changed. “Right. Understood.” There were so many things I could have said, but in the end, I realized none of it mattered anymore. He finally condescended to look up at me. Seeing my pale face, his tone softened slightly. “It’s not that I don’t want to buy things for you, or that I’m being stingy.” “It’s just that you don’t go to any events where you’d use that stuff. It’s a waste…” “You should learn from Amber. She never asks me for—” He seemed to realize what he was saying and cut himself off mid-sentence. I looked back at him. My hands and feet felt ice-cold, but my voice remained steady. “Yes. She never asks you for anything.” “Because you give her everything before she even has to ask.” He was the one who cleared out her online shopping cart while she was asleep and bragged about it online. He was the one who sent her thousands of dollars in cash transfers when he couldn’t make it back for her birthday. And when she complained about her job, he was the one who created an assistant position for her at his company so she could work right beside him. Whenever it came to me, we were “an old married couple who didn’t need grand gestures.” Spending money was “wasteful,” and at the office, we had to “keep our distance.” I had protested. I had fought with him over it. None of it had ever worked. I should have seen the truth a long time ago. I had simply chosen to lie to myself. Brandon leaned back in his chair, impatiently spinning a pen between his fingers. “See? Here you go again.” “You said it yourself, she’s your best friend. What’s wrong with me taking care of her a little bit?” “This whole thing…” I didn’t stay to listen to the rest. I turned around and walked out. A moment later, I heard his office door slam shut behind me. Through the wall, I could hear him on the phone with Amber, complaining irritably. “Her temper is out of control. I honestly can’t take it anymore.” “I just said two words to her, and she acts like this.” Amber’s voice came through soft and low, comforting him smoothly. “Alright, Brandon. Cassie’s just hurt because she’s been seeing us together so much lately. We need to give her some time. Don’t be so impatient with her.” “Amber, you’re the only one who gets me. Thank God I have you.” Then came the lower, softer sounds of playful murmuring that I knew all too well. I felt as though every ounce of energy had been drained from my body. I leaned against the hallway wall, closing my eyes tight. In that silence, I made up my mind. I was going to erase both of their names from my life, completely and permanently. I stopped overthinking. I sent out my resume to companies in other cities, wanting nothing more than to end this as quickly as possible. A few days later, around lunchtime, I cooked a small, simple meal just for myself. Brandon came downstairs casually, his eyes sweeping over me. He walked around the kitchen, looked at the empty counters, and stepped over to where I was sitting. “Where’s my lunch?” I chewed slowly, my eyes fixed on my plate. “I didn’t make any for you.” His voice dropped instantly, heavy with irritation. “Why not?” “You sit at home all day doing nothing, and now you’re too lazy to even cook a meal?” His fingers tapped aggressively against the table, his body tense. I knew he was angry. In the past, whether he came home on time or not, I would always prepare a full meal and wait for him. There had never been an exception. This time, I was done keeping the peace. “You can cook for yourself from now on.” Brandon let out a cold laugh. “Fine by me. Your cooking tastes terrible anyway.” He turned on his heel, went to the kitchen, and fried a bowl of rice for himself. Then he sat down heavily right across from me. Just as I stood up to leave, I saw him take a photo of his food and text it to Amber. “Babe, this is what I’m eating today. What about you?” “I miss you. I miss your cooking, too.” As he sent it, he cast a deliberate glance in my direction. My steps felt heavy, like I was dragging lead. He had done this so many times before—flirting with Amber right in front of me, making suggestive comments, running off to her place in the middle of the night. Every single time, I had been the one trying to fix things, compromising, giving in. Afterward, he would dismiss it casually, saying he was just doing it to provoke me. Yet between those excuses, they had done everything a betraying couple could do. I took a slow, deep breath, walked back to my room, and closed the door. My phone buzzed again. It was a text from Amber. “Cassie, Brandon’s just like that. Don’t be mad at him.” “You two have been married for so long. You should focus on making things work.” “I’ll give him a earful for you later, I promise.” Looking at the words pop up on my screen, I felt nothing but a hollow, bitter irony. “Give him an earful for me?” Amber replied immediately. “Of course! We’re best friends. I’m always on your side.” She attached a little gif of two animated figures holding hands. It was almost laughable. “When you two call each other husband and wife, did you remember I was your best friend?” I still remembered years ago, lying in bed late at night with Amber, whispering about our teenage dreams. Back then, we vowed to be best friends forever and promised that nothing would ever get between us. We had made promises, made pacts. My chest throbbed with a dull, persistent pain. The phone kept vibrating with incoming messages from Amber, but I stopped reading them. I walked back down to the kitchen and quietly washed my plate. Just as I turned to head upstairs, the front door burst open. Amber ran inside, throwing her arms around me and sobbing uncontrollably. “Cassie, I’m so sorry!” “Please don’t be mad at me, okay?” A wave of intense repulsion washed over me. I pushed her off with all my strength. “Don’t touch me.” Brandon came charging over, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her securely into his chest. His eyes locked onto mine, cold as ice. “Cassie, what the hell is wrong with you?” “Amber is your friend! She’s been worrying about you non-stop!” Looking at the two of them wrapped around each other, my fists clenched tightly at my sides. “Worrying about me?” “Worrying about whether my husband can last in bed?” “Or worrying about when my man is finally going to give her a home of her own?” Amber broke free from his grip and lunged forward to grab my hands. “No! That’s not true!” “I swear I won’t see him anymore! I’ll cut all contact with Brandon!” “It’s my fault, I just couldn’t handle being lonely…” “Don’t you feel disgusting?” I raised my hand, ready to slap her. Brandon reacted instantly. He stepped between us and threw his palm hard across my face. The impact cracked through the air. A sharp pain burst across my cheek, and I stumbled backward, slamming against the edge of the dining table. “How clean are you supposed to be?” he snarled, his voice ringing in my ears. “Amber is already drowning in guilt! We didn’t do anything right in front of your face. Can’t you just turn a blind eye and move on with your life?” My ears rang violently from the hit, but his words came through crystal clear, like rapid gunshot rounds. Then, Brandon seemed to snap back to reality. He stared at me, his gaze freezing on my bruised cheek, his stance suddenly hesitating. “You…” Amber kept crying beside him, clutching his arm. “Stop fighting… it’s all my fault.” “I won’t show my face here ever again!” She turned and ran out the front door. “Amber!” Without a second’s hesitation, Brandon sprinted out after her. I held onto the edge of the table, using the back of my hand to wipe the blood from the corner of my mouth. Whatever remained of our years together died with that single slap. Two days passed. The mark on my face faded significantly. Brandon hadn’t come back. If anything, his absence brought a strange sense of relief. On the second night, Amber sent me another text. “Cassie, I’m really sorry.” “Brandon and I slept together again.” “I really didn’t want to, I just couldn’t resist.” “You can hit me, you can scream at me, just please don’t ignore me. Don’t end our friendship.” She followed the text with several explicit photos taken in bed. I tapped on the images. Inside, my heart felt like a stagnant, rotten pool of water. Unmoved. I typed out a final response. “If you like him that much, you can have him.” After sending it, I blocked her number entirely. Just as I finished showering, Brandon called me. I let it ring out. A text arrived a moment later. “Coming back tomorrow morning.” “Is there anything you want? I’ll bring it home for you.” I ignored it. If I asked for anything, he would complain that it was a hassle and end up bringing home something completely irrelevant anyway. The next morning, I received an invitation for a job interview scheduled for that afternoon. I was gathered my coat and bag, ready to head out, when the front door unlocked. Brandon walked in holding a shopping bag, with Amber trailing right behind him, her eyes red and puffy. He stared at the purse in my hand and frowned. “Where are you going?” “I have an errand,” I said plainly. Brandon let out a dismissive snort, stepping forward to block the hallway. “What kind of errand could you possibly have?” “It’s almost lunchtime. Cook lunch first.” “I don’t have time.” I tried to step around them. Amber suddenly rushed forward, grabbing my arm. “Cassie, please don’t go. Are you still mad at me?” “I really just couldn’t control myself, I didn’t mean to…” As she tugged at me, the contents of my bag spilled all over the floor. I bent down to pick up my papers, but Amber stepped down hard on the printed sheets. Brandon leaned over and pulled the paper out from under her shoe. As he read the top header, his face darkened instantly. “You’re looking for a job?” “Yes.” I reached out to take my resume back. Amber shoved me away, her voice rising in panic. “No! You can’t!” “You haven’t worked in years! What kind of job could you possibly do now?” Brandon chimed in immediately. “Look at you. You’ve gained weight, you’re totally out of touch with the industry. What company would want you?” “Just stay home like you’re supposed to.” I watched as he tore my resume into shreds and tossed them into the trash bin. My breath caught in my throat. When we got married, he was the one who said he hated long-distance relationships, so I resigned from my high-paying corporate job in another state to become a full-time homemaker. If I hadn’t given up my career back then, I would have been at the top of my field by now. “I am going. You can’t stop me.” I shook off his arm and reached for the front door. Amber threw herself at me again, her fingers digging painfully into my arm. “No! I won’t let you!” “You have to stay home and cook! You can’t start doing your own thing!” “I finally managed to surpass you… you can’t go back out there!” A bitter laugh escaped my lips. “So that’s what you’re actually afraid of.” No wonder she had been such a passionate supporter of me becoming a housewife all those years ago. She just didn’t want to see me succeed. “Too bad. It’s not up to you.” I pushed past her with finality. Brandon stepped up, slamming the front door shut with a heavy thud. “Cassie, just drop it.” “Amber finally found her confidence at work. Don’t tear her down.” “Is it really so terrible to just stay home quietly?” “Yes, it is.” Before I could say another word, Amber panicked and shoved me hard from behind. I stumbled backward, losing my footing. The back of my head struck the sharp corner of the wooden side table with a sickening crack. The pain was blinding. Darkness swam across my vision. Through the haze, I felt someone forcing something down my throat, forcing me to swallow. I lost consciousness. When I finally opened my eyes, I was lying on the living room sofa. “Water…” The voice that came out of my mouth was a broken, horrific rasp—a horrific, gutteral whisper. My whole body shuddered. I sat up and looked at the two of them sitting nearby, casually eating fruit. “What… happened to my voice?” I choked out. Amber kept her head down, avoiding my eyes. Brandon took a bite of an apple, his eyes narrowing lazily. “What’s the big deal?” “Amber accidentally gave you the wrong medicine earlier. Your throat is a little hoarse, it’s not the end of the world.” A suffocation settled in my chest. I fought to keep the tears from falling. “Not a big deal?” Brandon turned to comfort Amber, entirely unbothered. “It’s just a voice. It’s not like you need it for anything important. As long as you can still speak, it’s fine.” Yet the very first time he met me years ago, he had stammmered while telling me how beautiful my voice sounded. I wanted to scream, to demand an answer, but Brandon grabbed Amber, claiming they had an urgent matter at the office. Before leaving, they locked the deadbolts from the outside. The windows were secured. I sat alone in the quiet house until night fell. Finally, With complete, icy calm, I picked up the lighter from the table. The flames caught quickly, roaring up the curtains and spreading across the living room. I stared blankly into the fire. “Cassie—!” Through a crack in the sealed window, I saw Brandon sprinting toward the house, his face pale, veins bulging on his neck as he stumbled through the front yard.

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By the time the rescue crew dragged me out of Sub-Level 3 beneath the flooded shopping complex, Denis was blowing out candles for his childhood best friend’s birthday. My phone screen was pitch-black, waterlogged beyond saving. Out of seventeen desperate emergency calls I had tried to make, only one message had received a reply. At two in the morning, his text had read: “Your GPS puts you at a hotel downtown. Stop making a scene.” When I woke up in the emergency room, the nurse dialed his number and put it on speaker. In the background, voices were singing “Happy Birthday.” “What does she want now?” Denis’s voice came through the speaker, tight with irritation. The nurse glanced at my soaked jacket, still dripping onto the floor, and fought to keep her tone steady. “Mr. Lawson, Tori Nicholas was trapped in the flooded basement at Northgate Plaza. She was just pulled out of critical condition.” Silence stretched across the line for a few seconds. Then Brooke’s soft voice drifted through: “Denis, she was definitely at the Regency downtown last night. I showed you her location on my phone myself.” Denis let out a heavy, disappointed sigh. “Tori, how much did you pay actors to pull off a stunt like this?” I reached over, pulled the IV needle from the back of my hand, and took the pen from the nurse’s hand. On the emergency intake form, I drew a thick, heavy line through the “Emergency Contact” box where Denis’s name sat. Stroke by stroke, pressing down hard. The black ink bled into the paper, blotting out the last place he held in my life. … The night before, I had gone to the shopping plaza to retrieve the engagement ring Denis had left in his backseat. Our families were meeting for dinner the next day. Earlier that afternoon, Denis had coaxed me with a soft smile: “After tomorrow, we’ll head straight to the courthouse to get our license.” Brooke had been sitting beside him, cradling a mug of hot cocoa. She’d looked up and asked, “Denis, once you’re married, are you going to stop caring about me?” Denis had laughed and ruffled her hair. I had set my half-empty coffee cup back on the table without a word. At ten that night, Denis called me. “The ring box is still in the backseat of my car. Grab it for me on your way home.” Outside, heavy rain lashed against the windows, and my phone buzzed with a flash-flood warning. “Let’s just get it tomorrow morning,” I said. Brooke’s voice chimed in over the speaker first. “It’s fine, Denis. I’ll walk down to the garage with you tomorrow.” Denis lowered his voice, his tone shifting into reprimand. “Tori, don’t throw a fit over something this small.” I didn’t argue. I put on a coat and went downstairs. The mall was already closed for the night, and the underground parking garage was dimly lit by a single row of emergency lights. Denis’s car was parked in the furthest corner of Sub-Level 3. The ring box sat in the backseat, carelessly shoved under a brown paper bag of roasted chestnuts that Brooke liked to eat. When I picked it up, a dusting of powdered sugar clung to my fingertips. My phone buzzed. It was a photo from Brooke. Denis was leaning over a table, lighting a birthday candle for her. Deep within the garage, a dull, heavy thud echoed through the concrete walls. The overhead lights flickered twice, and half the floor plunged into darkness. I turned to head toward the elevator lobby. As I reached the ramp leading up, the toe of my boot sank into water. A minute ago, it had been a thin sheen on the concrete. Now, it was surging over my ankles, thick with silt and debris, rushing deeper into the sub-level. I called Denis. The first call rang out. The second was sent straight to voicemail. I typed out a message with cold fingers. “B3 is flooding. The water is rising and I’m trapped. Can you come down here?” The loading wheel spun for what felt like an eternity before the message finally marked as sent. I let out a breath. A second later, his reply popped up: a single question mark. Followed immediately by a screenshot. A bright red pin on the map showed my location at a boutique hotel on the south side of town. Denis texted: “I thought you were at the mall?” I froze, opening my own map app right away. The screen lagged, freezing on the hotel address, while my cell signal dropped down to a single bar. “The GPS is wrong. I’m really in the B3 garage.” This time, the red exclamation mark appeared. Failed to send. My phone rang. Denis’s voice was icy. “Tori, where the hell are you?” I gripped the phone tightly. “The underground garage at Northgate. The water is rising fast. Call building management—I can’t get up the ramp.” A faint sob came through the line from Brooke’s side. “Denis, don’t be hard on her. Maybe… maybe she just cares about you too much to tell the truth.” My throat tightened. “Brooke, what are you trying to say?” Denis didn’t answer me. It sounded like he moved the phone away from his ear. “Don’t cry,” he murmured softly to her. The water was past my ankles now, swirling violently. “Denis!” I yelled. “I am not playing games. Get security down to B3 right now. I’m right next to your car.” Silence hung on the line for a few agonizing seconds. I heard the sound of a chair scraping against the floor, and for a split second, I thought he was coming for me. Then Brooke spoke up again, her voice trembling. “Denis, I sent you that photo earlier. Tori really was at the hotel tonight. I wouldn’t lie to you.” Denis’s breathing grew heavy and sharp. “Tori,” he said, his voice dropping into that dark, exhausted register he used whenever he thought I was being unreasonable. “Are you really doing this again? Threatening to break up with me just to get attention?” A wave of water rushed down the ramp, slamming into the tires of the nearby cars with a loud splash. I lifted the ring box high above my head, my fingernails digging into the velvet lining. “Just get me out of here first,” I begged, my voice cracking. “Once I’m out, you can check whatever you want.” Brooke called out softly in the background. “Denis… I’m scared.” When Denis spoke again, all warmth had drained from his tone. “Walk out of the hotel first, Tori.” The line went dead. I stood in the darkening basement, listening to the rapid dial tone against my ear. A moment later, a message popped up from Brooke. “Tori, stop making a scene. It’s my birthday.” I stared at the words, my fingers numb from the damp cold. The muddy water was creeping past my calves. I ignored Brooke and called Denis again. Busy signal. Busy signal. On the third try, he finally picked up. “Tori, are you ever going to stop?” I pressed the phone flat against my ear. “Denis, I’m not fighting with you. Call the mall management to send someone down to B3, or call emergency services right now.” I heard the sound of a car door shutting on his end. My heart lifted slightly. “Are you coming?” He didn’t answer. Brooke’s voice drifted over from the passenger side. “Denis, the hotel isn’t far from here. I’ll go with you. If it’s a misunderstanding, I’ll apologize to Tori myself.” A chill ran down my spine. “Why are you going to the hotel?” Denis said coldly, “You claimed the GPS was wrong, didn’t you? I’m going to see for myself.” “I am at the mall!” My voice echoed hollowly through the vast, empty concrete structure. The line went quiet for two seconds. I caught a slight break in his breathing. I seized that tiny flicker of hesitation. “Listen! Listen to the water! Can’t you hear it?” I lowered the phone toward the surface of the rushing water. The rain pouring down the entrance ramp hit the metal bodies of the cars like gravel. Denis said nothing. Then Brooke let out a quiet sob. “Denis… could she be running a faucet in a hotel bathroom to record that for you? I don’t want to doubt her, but remember the last time she used breaking up to scare you?” The last time. The time Denis skipped my father’s memorial service to take Brooke to the hospital for a minor stomach ache. I had brought up ending things back then. Now, coming out of Brooke’s mouth, it sounded as if I were a woman who routinely faked emergencies for leverage. Denis’s voice turned dangerously quiet. “Tori. Send a video call.” I opened the camera immediately. The screen showed only pitch darkness. The only thing visible was the faint green reflection of the emergency exit sign on the dark, churning water. I pointed the lens at Denis’s license plate, then at the ring box in my hand. The loading wheel spun continuously. “Failed to send.” My signal bars dropped from one to “No Service”. The water was at my knees now. I scrambled onto the running board of an adjacent SUV, reaching my arm as high into the air as I could. The screen flickered. A photo came through from Denis. In front of a hotel entrance, a woman with her head bowed was walking through the glass doors. Her back was turned to the camera, wearing a beige trench coat identical to mine. His caption read: “Is this you?” Staring at the image, a cold dread crept up my spine. Brooke had complimented that exact coat just this afternoon. I typed out a reply: “That isn’t me.” The moment it sent, Denis called back. His voice was colder than I had ever heard it. “How long are you going to keep lying to me?” I gritted my teeth, fighting back tears. “Check the license plates down here! Check the garage security cameras! I haven’t left B3!” “Enough!” he snapped, cutting me off. “It’s Brooke’s birthday. Did you really have to ruin it like this?” “Ruin it.” The water churned closer. An empty plastic bottle floated past, slamming hard against a concrete pillar with a loud crack. I shoved the ring box deep into the inner pocket of my coat and used both hands to pull at the heavy fire exit door beside the pillar. The water pressure against the other side held it shut. I slammed my shoulder against it twice, but the steel door didn’t budge an inch. On the phone, Brooke was still crying softly. “Denis, forget it. Let’s not celebrate anymore. It’s all my fault. If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t be this angry.” Denis’s tone softened as he comforted her. “It’s not your fault.” A bitter laugh escaped my throat. “Denis,” I said. “If I actually die down here tonight, will you still think it’s not her fault?” Silence fell complete and total over the line. After a long pause, he spoke. “Tori, don’t use death to manipulate me.” I closed my eyes. The freezing water soaked through my jeans, turning my knees completely numb. I made one final attempt. “I am in Sub-Level 3 of Northgate Plaza. If you send someone right now, there’s still time.” His reply was prompt and sharp: “Your location is at the hotel. What are you still performing for?” The call disconnected. When I tried to dial back, a gray banner popped up across the screen: “User unavailable.” My text messages refused to go through. I tapped on his profile picture. His feed had turned into a single horizontal line. Denis had blocked me. The garage returned to the singular sound of rushing water. I exited the app and dialed 911. No signal. I dialed again. Still no signal. The battery indicator in the upper right corner flashed red: 9%. Biting my lip, I climbed onto the roof of the SUV, holding the phone up toward the concrete ceiling. This time, the call connected. The dispatcher’s voice came through, fractured and faint. “Emergency… state your… location…” “Northgate Plaza… Sub-Level 3… B3… I’m trapped…” Before I could finish the sentence, the line dropped. Fearing the battery would die completely, I searched my contacts for the mall’s direct customer service hotline. I pressed call. It rang seven or eight times before a man picked up. “Northgate Customer Service, how can I help you?” I almost sobbed with relief. “Sub-Level 3 is flooded! I’m trapped down here in B3, please send someone down immediately!” The representative’s voice shifted instantly. “Ma’am, stay on the line. Can you see a license plate or a pillar number near you?” I leaned over the edge of the roof, straining my eyes in the dark. “B3… Section F… F17!” “Got it. We’re notifying property management and the fire department right now. Stay as high up as you can and do not touch any electrical boxes.” I heard the sound of footsteps scrambling on his end. In the distance, a faint horn echoed from above ground. I slammed my palm against the metal roof of the car. “I’m down here!” The sound was swallowed by the roaring water. The floodwaters had reached the door handles of the vehicle. I reached into my bag, pulled out the damp ring box, and tucked it into the inner lining of my jacket, right against my chest. The hard edge pressed against my ribs. The token of his promise to marry me felt colder than the water below. The phone buzzed again. It wasn’t Denis. It was an unknown number. I answered it immediately, ready to repeat my coordinates, but Brooke’s voice came through instead. “Tori, why aren’t you answering Denis’s calls?” My grip tightened around the phone. “How did you get this number?” She paused, her tone dropping into a gentle, innocent murmur. “The front desk looked up Denis’s number using his license plate. He’s driving, so he asked me to check on you first.” “Tell them to get down here. B3, Section F, F17.” “Tori…” Brooke let out a soft sigh. “Can you please stop doing this? Denis is already at the hotel. The front desk confirmed a woman in a beige trench coat walked in earlier.” I kept my voice low and steady. “That wasn’t me.” “But you do this every single time,” she whispered, as if afraid someone might overhear. “You know Denis is terrified of anything happening to you, so you use that to force him back to you.” “I just wanted him to stay with me until midnight for my birthday. Why couldn’t you give me just this one night?” The water reached my knees as I sat on the roof. Staring into the pitch-black ramp leading out, a sudden realization struck me. “Brooke… did you alter my location data?” The line went dead silent. Then, she let out a quiet chuckle. “Tori, do you hear yourself right now?” Before I could reply, a beep signaled an incoming call from the mall service desk. I switched lines. The representative sounded hesitant. “Miss Nicholas? Have you made it up safely?” My head throbbed violently. “No! I’m still in B3!” “Oh… because a lady just called our desk claiming to be your friend. She said you already reconnected with your boyfriend and that it was just a personal argument, so we didn’t need to send the team down.” “What was her name?” “She didn’t give a full name. She just said her last name was Crawford.” A surge of water slammed against the side of the car, rocking it slightly. The representative panicked. “Miss Nicholas? Are you still there?” I gripped the roof rack, forcing the words through my teeth. “I am still down here.” “Send them down now.” “She is lying to you.” Chaos erupted on the other end. Someone yelled in the background: “Don’t recall the B3 search team! Someone is still trapped down there!” Just as I felt a wave of relief, a harsh crackle of electricity hummed overhead. The entire row of emergency lights went dark at once. Total blackness enveloped the garage. My phone screen flickered with its final breath of light. Battery: 1%. From the direction of the security shutters, I heard a heavy, muffled banging sound. I opened my mouth to scream, but my throat could only produce a dry rasp. The freezing water was at my waist now. I pounded my fists against the roof of the SUV. Once. Twice. The noises from outside suddenly grew louder, clearer. “Over here! I heard something in Section F!” Flashlight beams sliced through the gaps in the metal shutters, the bright light piercing my eyes. When the shutters were pried open, a torrent of trapped water surged outward. Several figures in high-visibility rescue gear waded through the current toward me. A pair of hands grabbed my shoulders, holding me steady. “Ma’am! Stay awake, can you hear me?” I couldn’t nod. The rescue worker asked again, “What’s your name?” My lips moved feebly. “Tori… Nicholas…” When I woke up, the air was sharp with the smell of antiseptic. I was lying in an emergency observation room, an IV line inserted into the back of my hand. My wet coat hung over the foot of the bed, dripping slowly onto the floor. The nurse was hanging up a phone, a grim expression on her face. “Did you reach the emergency contact?” I asked softly. She nodded, handing me the intake form. “He said he’s on his way.” I looked down at the paper. “Denis Lawson” was written neatly in the designated box. I pulled out the IV needle and reached for the pen on the bedside table. At the bottom of the form, I crossed out Denis’s name with heavy, dark strokes. The nurse didn’t stop me. She simply pressed a piece of sterile gauze over the bleeding puncture mark on my hand. “Hold still,” she murmured gently. “It’s bleeding.” Half an hour later, Denis burst into the room. He was still wearing the black button-up shirt from Brooke’s birthday dinner, a smear of dried cake frosting near the cuff. When his eyes met mine, his footsteps halted abruptly. Then his eyes traveled to the clipboard hanging at the foot of my bed. In the emergency contact section, his name was completely obscured under a scrawl of black ink. “Tori…” I looked away, staring straight ahead. He stepped closer, his voice strained and hoarse. “You… you were really in B3?” The nurse let out a dry, humorless laugh. “The rescue logs and emergency admission records are right here. Would you like to double-check if she swam over from the hotel instead?” Denis’s face drained of color. He reached out, his hand trembling as he attempted to touch mine. I pulled my arm back beneath the blanket. His hand froze in midair. “I didn’t know,” he swallowed hard, his throat moving nervously. “Your GPS kept showing the hotel, and Brooke said she saw you there. I thought…” “You thought I was making a scene again?” I interrupted. His lips parted, but no sound came out. The door to the observation room swung open. The mall property manager walked in alongside a staff member, the hems of their trousers caked in wet mud. Seeing that I was conscious, the manager let out a long breath. “Miss Nicholas, I am so sorry. When we received your first call, we were already preparing to send the team down.” Denis snapped his head around. “First call?” The manager glanced at him. “Yes. But shortly after, a woman called our service desk back, saying Miss Nicholas had made it up safely and that it was just a couple’s quarrel.” Denis frowned, his eyebrows knitting together. “Who?” The manager pulled out a smartphone. “We just pulled the recording of that incoming call from the system.” I tightened my grip on the bedsheet. Denis stared at the phone, his voice barely a whisper. “Play it.” The manager tapped the screen. Static hissed through the speaker. A second later, Brooke’s voice echoed clearly through the quiet room.

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Whenever our family moved the livestock down to the winter pasture, my parents made sure my younger brother, Cody, had a detailed topographic map and a top-of-the-line satellite GPS watch strapped to his wrist. I was given nothing. I was expected to trek twenty miles on foot across hundreds of rolling, featureless hills, blind-searching for wherever they’d pitched camp. I used to quiet the ache in my chest by telling myself it was temporary. I just had to study hard, get into the county magnet school, and earn my way out. When the state entrance exam results came back, I ranked first in the entire county. But my mandatory health clearance forms were left behind at the old cabin. That was the day the blizzard slammed into the high plains. I got trapped in the whiteout, freezing and lost, and begged for help over the long-range CB radio. My mother’s voice came back through the static, sharp with irritation. “Maren, stop hogging the line! The signal’s terrible out here, and Cody’s trying to stream his online math class.” My father grabbed the receiver. “You’ve got eyes, don’t you? Look at the damn stars! You’re sixteen years old, how do you manage to get lost in open country?” I spent that night huddled in a drift of dry snow, shivering until my limbs went numb. By the time I made it to the county hospital, three of my toes were dead with frostbite and had to be amputated. I missed the mandatory medical checkup, and with it, my admission deadline. Two weeks later, I limped back to the new ranch house on crutches. My parents were huddled around the cast-iron stove, roasting prime beef ribs for Cody. My father looked up, his brow furrowed in annoyance. “Where the hell have you been running wild for two weeks? You knew the stalls were piling up—couldn’t be bothered to come back and shovel manure?” No one asked why I walked with a heavy, unnatural tilt. My dream of leaving the plains had been buried out in that storm, alongside the pieces of my feet left behind in the surgical trash. This land was too big, its horizon too wide, and I was finally realizing I would never find a home here. It was time to make my own way out. … I braced myself against the doorframe, my palm flat against the cold wood. Inside, Cody was trimming the charred, crispy edges off a beef rib and offering them to my mother. Darlene glanced at me, her mouth tightening into a thin line. “So you finally decided to show up. Smelling like a damn hospital, too. Shut the door, Maren. You’re letting all the heat out.” My father, Lyle, sliced off a thick piece of brisket and dropped it into Cody’s bowl. His voice was flat, dry as winter grass. “Where’d you run off to for half a month? Barn’s a disaster zone. You know better than to shirk your chores.” Cody held up a grease-stained bone, the screen on his blue Garmin watch flaring bright against his small wrist. “Why’re you walking like that, Maren? Mom said there’s no meat left for you anyway. Dad said if you aren’t here to work, you don’t count as part of dinner.” I swallowed hard, glancing down at my heavy winter boots. The nurse at the county clinic had sliced open the leather toe boxes so the thick, blood-crusted gauze could fit inside. The empty gaps where my toes used to be rubbed raw against the stiff leather. Every step felt like stepping on broken glass. My mother thrust a bare bone with a scrap of gristle toward me. “Here. Eat this, then go clear the snow off the porch. It’s freezing tonight, and I don’t want to hear you whining about the cold.” I didn’t take it. Lyle tapped the point of his skinning knife against the pine table. “Thump. Thump.” “Your mother offers you food and you stand there pouting? You’ve gone soft from those books, Maren. A girl with her head in the clouds always ends up getting dragged down by reality.” “I’m not hungry,” I said quietly. “I’ll go to the barn.” My mother’s shoulders visibly dropped, relief washing over her face as she turned to pour fresh milk into Cody’s water bottle. “See? Your sister knows how to be useful. Not like you, crying after two pages of homework.” Cody stuck out his tongue at me. “Hey, Maren, you’re doing my algebra tonight, right? Mrs. Gable said if I fail another test, she’s calling Dad.” Lyle chuckled, shaking his head fondly. “That’s what your sister’s good grades are for, son. She can score top of the county all day long, but at the end of the day, a girl can’t inherit a ranch.” My hand tightened around the smooth hickory handle of my crutch, the worn wood digging into the old calluses on my palm. I didn’t say a word. The afternoon the state test scores came out, I had run six miles back to the old cabin with my transcript clutched in my fist, my soles worn down to the rubber. I found my parents butchering a lamb to celebrate Cody getting a passing sixty on his middle school finals. My mother had taken my transcript with bloody hands, glanced at the bold “Number One in District” printed at the top, and used it to prop up the wobbly leg of the butcher block. “What good is a high score for a girl?” she’d muttered. “You’ll just marry a hand from the next county anyway. Better off learning to manage the herd.” By nightfall, the paper was translucent with tallow, my name dissolved in grease. My phone buzzed in my coat pocket. It was a text from Mrs. Porter, my guidance counselor from the county district: “Maren, I’m so sorry about the medical clearance deadline. With your scores, you belonged in the honors academy. How is your foot healing? I’m looking into a state-funded grant for special education track students and vocational stipends. Please don’t give up.” I stood in the shadow of the barn wall, reading the text twice. My fingers were too cold to type a reply. Cody snuck out behind the hay bales, pressing a greasy piece of lukewarm brisket into my palm. “Mom said I couldn’t save any for you,” he whispered, looking around guiltily. “Don’t tell.” I handed it back. “Eat it yourself.” He blinked, confused. “Since when do you not want the crispy edge? You used to fight me for it.” “I don’t want it anymore,” I said softly. I picked up the flathead shovel and began scraping frozen manure off the concrete floor, tossing it into the wheelbarrow. Every time I put weight on my right foot, a sharp, hot agony shot up my calf. The next morning, the sound of metal slamming against wood woke me. My mother slammed her heavy steel cash box onto the kitchen table, the quarters and dimes inside rattling like gravel. She held up a crumpled receipt from the county hospital, her voice rising to a shrill pitch. “There’s four hundred dollars missing from the feed fund! What did you do, steal from us to run off to the county clinic? What kind of girl goes to a hospital just because her feet got a little cold?” Lyle sat near the door, oiling his leather reins. He didn’t look up. “Maren, that money’s earmarked for Cody’s private tutoring when he moves to the city next year. Don’t be selfish.” I smoothed out the receipt on the counter. “Mrs. Porter paid that. The doctor took me in because the tissue was blackening. I didn’t touch your cash box.” My mother snatched the paper, her eyes skimming the red official stamp at the bottom. Her face turned blotchy with anger. “You let an outsider pay for your doctor’s bill? Do you have any idea how that makes us look? People will say we don’t take care of our own daughter!” “You didn’t,” I said simply. The room went dead silent. Cody stood near the doorway, his new blue wool scarf wrapped tight around his neck. He looked from me to my mother, his voice small. “Mom… did Maren really lose part of her foot?” Darlene glared at him. “Mind your business and get your coat on for school.” Lyle stood up, pulled the steel box toward him, and reset the combination lock with four sharp clicks. Then he unclipped a small brass key from his ring, threaded it through a piece of red paracord, and hung it around Cody’s neck. “From now on, Cody keeps the key,” Lyle announced, his tone clipped. “Saves us from people with light fingers making us look bad.” I stared at the red cord around my brother’s neck. It was always like this. When we moved pastures, the maps were folded neatly and tucked into Cody’s coat pocket. The GPS watch, the spare lithium batteries, the thermos of hot soup—all Cody’s. My directions had always been a single sentence thrown over my father’s shoulder: “Follow the fence line. You’ll find us.” My mother balled up the medical bill and threw it into the woodstove. The flames licked the edges, turning Mrs. Porter’s signature to black ash in seconds. “Your feet are fine enough to stand on. Don’t use a little frostbite to hold this family hostage. Your brother’s going places, Maren. You’re his sister—you don’t drag him down.” I leaned down to pull the charred scrap out, but the fire caught it fully, leaving nothing but smoke. Lyle clasped my mother’s wrist, stepping in with the heavy-handed authority of a man who thought he was being generous. “Alright, Darlene. If she didn’t steal it, drop it. Maren, wipe that sour look off your face. You don’t have to work the outdoor fences tomorrow. Just stay in the house and cook the meals.” Darlene scoffed. “Getting off easy if you ask me.” “What about the barn?” I asked. Lyle pushed the steel box into the top cabinet. “You stay put. Don’t go wandering into town making a scene.” Last winter, I came down with a fever so high the world turned into a white blur. A spring foal had slipped out of the pen during a draft, and my father had thrust the halter into my burning hands anyway, telling me to track it down by the frozen creek. When I brought the foal back, my boots soaked through with icy mud, my mother hadn’t checked my forehead. She had rubbed the foal’s belly, sighing with relief that the livestock hadn’t lost any weight. I hadn’t cried then, either. Cody touched the key at his throat, watching me carefully. “Maren… if your toes are gone, does that mean you can’t run fast enough to help me flush out rabbits anymore?” I looked at his clean, soft hands. “You can catch them yourself.” He pouted. “But I’m not fast enough.” My mother stuck her head out from the kitchen nook. “Don’t go corrupting your brother, Maren. He’s going to work an office job in the city someday. You just need to know how to roast meat and keep a fire going.” At dinner, I set down the stew, hot biscuits, and gravy. Lyle took one sip of the broth and frowned. “Needs salt. You spend two weeks in a hospital bed and forget how to season soup?” Darlene pushed her bowl back across the table. “Make another pot. Cody’s got midterms coming up, he can’t be eating bland food.” Cody looked like he wanted to say something, but he just tucked the key deeper inside his collar. I picked up the heavy cast-iron pot to carry it back to the stove. My weak right ankle gave out, sending a splash of boiling broth over the back of my hand. The skin blistered instantly. My mother didn’t look at my hand. She jumped up, staring at the braided wool rug under my feet. “That rug is brand new! You ruin it with grease, how are you going to pay for it?” I used the hem of my apron to wipe the floor clean. Late that night, while the house slept and the slow, rhythmic breathing of my family filtered through the heavy curtain divider, I used a small seam ripper to open the inner lining of my winter coat. Inside, I slipped the state grant application Mrs. Porter had mailed to me, along with my birth certificate. Then, stitch by painstaking stitch, I sowed the lining closed again. The next morning, Lyle was revving his snowmobile on the driveway when I walked out and held the interview notice in front of his handlebars. He glanced at the date, then swiped his leather-gloved hand to push the paper away. “The county district office is forty miles out. You think I’m driving a limping girl all that way for some pipe dream? Cody’s got a weekend off and wants to see the snowmobile races in town. Stop acting so bitter and needy.” Cody was sitting in the side sled, his GPS watch secured over his parka sleeve, his helmet tilted sideways. “Maren, I really want to go to the races! Can’t you just go to your thing later?” “The interview is at ten in the morning,” I said, my voice steady against the roar of the engine. “If I miss it, I lose the grant.” Darlene came out, handing Cody a hot thermos. She grabbed my shoulder, yanking my canvas shoulder bag down to check inside. “Stop making a fool of yourself in town. What district school wants a cripple? Stay home, work hard, and in two years we’ll find a decent ranch hand for you to marry. At least he’ll bring a couple of cows into the herd.” Lyle revved the engine again, his patience gone. “Feed the stock before noon. I’ll bring you back some fried bread from the track concession stand tonight.” I pulled my bag back over my shoulder. “Okay. Go ahead.” Darlene narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t go trying to walk out to the highway on your own. There’s no traffic out here. You fall in a ditch, nobody’s coming to dig you out.” I leaned on my wooden crutches and walked past the idling snowmobile. The track belt kicked up a spray of icy dirt, dusting the bottom of my trousers. Cody turned back, shouting over the engine noise, “Maren! Finish my English packet for me! I want to play on my tablet tonight!” I kept walking and didn’t look back. The trek to the main county highway was twelve miles long. The first four miles were narrow cattle trails, choked with packed snow; the rest was a rutted dirt road, frozen solid and split open by the frost. Every time the wooden tip of my crutch sank into the mud, I had to exert all my strength to pull it free before taking another step forward. By mile three, my right ankle was soaked. I could feel the hot, sticky dampness spreading through the thick gauze inside my boot. Fresh blood. My phone had no signal. I remembered when Cody was little and terrified of the wind howling against the timber walls. He used to drag his blanket into my narrow cot, shivering against my side. I had taught him his alphabet. I had taken the blow when a rogue steer charged the pen, leaving a scar across my shoulder. I had saved my stubby pencil leads so I could sharpen them perfectly for his small hands. “When I grow up, Maren,” he had promised me then, “I’m going to buy you the brightest watch in the world. So you never get lost.” Now, the brightest watch was strapped around his own wrist. A dusty green Ford pickup pulled up beside me just as I reached the asphalt of the county road. Mrs. Porter slammed the driver’s side door open, rushing toward me with a large steel thermos in her hands, her face pale. “Maren! What on earth are you doing walking out here alone? I called your house this morning and your mother told me you were throwing a tantrum and refused to get out of bed!” I braced my crutch against the gravel shoulder. “They went to the snowmobile races.” Mrs. Porter’s jaw tightened. Her lips trembled slightly, but she controlled herself, unscrewing the thermos and pressing hot tea into my cold hands. “Get in the truck. Right now. Your foot is bleeding through your leather, child. Why didn’t you say something?” I climbed into the passenger seat. My bloody boot heel left a dark smudge on her rubber floor mat. Mrs. Porter didn’t say another word. She just set her jaw, threw the truck into gear, and drove. We reached the district administration building ten minutes after the interviews had officially begun. Mrs. Porter guided me down the polished linoleum hallway. The administrator at the door frowned, checking his clipboard. “She’s late. Regulations say if a candidate misses the call window, they’re disqualified.” Mrs. Porter shoved my transcript and my hospital discharge summary into his hands. “She took first place in the entire county state assessment. She was trapped in a blizzard two weeks ago, and her family refused to drive her here today. She just walked four miles on a amputated foot to reach the highway. Give her five minutes.” The man looked down at the blood soaking through my boot tip. His eyes softened. “Go on in,” he whispered. “Good luck.” Inside, the panel of three evaluators looked up. The lead interviewer, a woman with graying hair and kind, sharp eyes, reviewed my file. “Maren, why are you applying for the state residential grant in special education? With your test scores, you could easily qualify for the top academic track in the capital.” I sat in the chair, resting my hands on my knees. Through the rough wool of my coat, my fingers traced the sewn edge where my application form had been hidden. “Because I want to go somewhere,” I said softly, “where I don’t need a satellite watch just to be worth finding.” The lead interviewer stopped her pen mid-sentence. Outside the frosted glass door, Mrs. Porter stood with red eyes, giving me a tiny, solemn nod. When the interview concluded, the district director called me back into the room. “Maren, your combined written score and interview ranked highest in the region. Your scholarship is approved. Full tuition, room, board, and medical rehabilitation grants. We’ve already arranged for a transport van to take you to the state capital tomorrow morning.” I took the official acceptance paper, stamped with a dark blue seal. The paper weighed almost nothing, but my hand trembled as I held it. It was nearly dusk by the time Mrs. Porter dropped me off near the ranch lane. The house was dark. Empty soda cans and paper wrappers from the race track concessions littered the kitchen counter. In the living room, sticking out from underneath the rug, was a glossy colored brochure. I leaned down and pulled it free. It was a real estate map for a new suburban housing development in the city school district. On the back, written in my mother’s unmistakable looping handwriting, was a note: “Celebration dinner for three at the steakhouse. Don’t tell Maren.” When my parents returned the next morning, my mother tossed a brass key onto the table. Her lips were freshly painted with bright red lipstick. “Your father and I are taking Cody into the city for a few days to see a doctor and take care of some business,” she said, not looking me in the eye. “You watch the two hundred head of sheep. Don’t skimp on the feed, and patch the leak in the barn roof. If I come back and find water damage, you’ll answer to me.” Lyle strapped a large leather travel bag onto the back of his truck. He caught my eye for a second, his expression hard. “Don’t go snooping around the house. And don’t call that guidance counselor again to embarrass us.” Cody sat in the back seat, kicking his heels against the door frame excitedly. “Maren! The city apartments have elevators! Mom said I won’t ever have to wear muddy boots to school again!” Darlene swatted his leg sharply. “Keep your mouth shut, Cody!” I looked at my mother. “What doctor are you taking him to?” She adjusted her wool scarf. “Cody’s eyes have been straining from his online classes. We’re getting him fitted for high-end prescription glasses. Just keep the fire burning and clean the pens. Got it?” “Got it,” I said. After the truck drove off, the ranch fell completely silent, save for the low bleating of the sheep in the pens. I dragged a wooden ladder to the side of the barn to fix the roof shingles. My bad foot kept slipping against the rungs. My crutch was propped against the barn wall below; a gust of wind knocked it over into the dirt. I hammered the roof nails in one by one, the vibration jarring all the way up my arm to my teeth. That evening, while sweeping out the living area, I found another slip of paper jammed under the sofa cushion. It was an official intent-to-purchase document for a three-bedroom townhome in the city. “Primary Applicant: Lyle Vance.” “Dependents: Darlene Vance, Cody Vance.” Attached to it was a printed itinerary: a downtown city tour, reservations at a high-end steakhouse, and an order form for Cody’s middle school graduation party. The menu listed prime rib, artisanal cakes, and sparkling cider. My name appeared nowhere on any of it. My phone chimed. It was Mrs. Porter. “Maren, the formal state paperwork came through. The State Special Education Academy in the capital has accepted your full boarding enrollment. They’ve already set up an appointment for you at the university medical center to check your foot. The state transit grant cleared—a mail truck driver will pick you up at the crossroads at six tomorrow morning.” I pressed the real estate paper flat against my lap. “Mrs. Porter… can I go alone? Without my parents’ signatures?” Mrs. Porter was quiet for a long moment. “Yes, Maren. You’re sixteen, and under the state educational hardship act, the academy can take legal guardianship for your schooling. I’ll meet you at the station to finalize the paperwork.” “Thank you, Mrs. Porter.” After hanging up, I brought out the small green notebook where I kept track of my odd jobs. Over the years, the money I’d earned embroidering wool blankets for local markets, shearing neighbor’s sheep during spring roundups, and the small cash prizes from district academic meets had all been handed over to my mother for ‘household expenses.’ I sat at the table and calculated every cent. I factored in the cost of the feed I’d tossed this week and subtracted my fair labor wage. When the math was done, there was a balance of one hundred and twenty dollars left in my favor. I took one hundred and twenty dollars from my secret stash under the floorboards, set it neatly on the pine table, and weighted it down with the front door key. At midnight, a voice message popped up in the family group chat. My mother’s voice came through, background noise from a loud city restaurant clinking in the background. “Maren, make sure you patch that roof right. And don’t you dare touch the dried beef in the pantry—that’s for Cody’s lunches. If we get back and see the sheep lost weight, your father’s going to take it out of your hide.” Lyle’s voice followed seconds later. “Listen to your mother. A girl shouldn’t be spending her time thinking about escaping. We raised you this far—don’t go thinking your wings are tough enough to fly off on your own.” Then came a photo from Cody. He was standing in a brightly lit, modern showroom apartment, his Garmin watch glowing on his wrist, my mother beaming beside him. His caption read: “Maren, I finally get my own bedroom!” I saved the photo to my phone, then took a high-resolution picture of the townhome purchase agreement. At dawn, the sky along the horizon turned a faint, icy gray. A heavy green Postal Service truck rumbled down the rutted dirt lane, its brakes squealing as it stopped near the gate. The driver rolled down his window. “You Maren? Mrs. Porter asked me to give you a lift into the county seat. Hop in.” I tossed my canvas bag—containing only two changes of clothes and my worn textbooks—into the cab, then pulled myself up using the door frame. Before closing the door, I looked back one last time. The small timber house sat dwarfed against the vast, empty expanse of the frozen plain. The windows were dark. The chimney was cold. It was a place of extinguished fires and silent neglect—a place I had spent years desperately trying to find my way back to, only to realize it had never been mine at all. The cold morning air bit at my cheeks, bringing a sharp sting to my eyes. The postal truck shifted gears, rolling forward. The ranch shrank into a tiny brown dot in the side mirror. I didn’t look back again.

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My childhood sweetheart always harbored a silent, ugly doubt about whether I was still “pure.” My best friend had screamed at him, slapped him across the face, and forced him to give me the grandest wedding money could buy. Everyone whispered that I was the most pitiable bride in the city. Yet, despite everything, I thought I was happy. Until the middle of our reception, when the massive LED screen scrolling live digital wishes displayed a single line: “If I cannot marry you in this life, I will wait for you in the next.” Before the room could even digest it, another message popped up under the spotlight: “Okay.” That was when I noticed my best friend, standing beside me in her bridesmaid dress, secretly slipping her phone behind her back—having just typed a single, decisive word. The bride my groom truly wanted to walk down the aisle was my best friend. … Before I completely lost my composure, Valerie put her phone away and took my hand, placing it gently into Trent’s palm. “Trent, I’m handing Mallory over to you,” she said, her voice tight with suppressed emotion. “If you ever treat her badly, I swear to God I’ll destroy you.” The second Trent’s fingers brushed against the rough, calloused skin of my palm, his brows twitched in subtle revulsion. A cold, sharp ache pierced my chest. He stood frozen on the altar, gazing at Valerie with an ache so naked, so agonizingly deep, that the surrounding guests began to whisper. Valerie bumped his shoulder hard with hers. “What are you staring at? Mal is waiting for you.” Only then did he snap back, scooping me up into his arms. “Let’s go,” he muttered flatly. “Okay,” I whispered, keeping my head down as tears quietly spilled over my lashes. In the back of the wedding limo, he looked at my ruined makeup and frowned, clearly annoyed by my apparent drama. But I knew the truth. He wasn’t annoyed by my tears; he was repulsed by the ten years I had been gone. Ten years ago, the night we submitted our college applications, I waited for Trent outside the amusement park, just as we had agreed. People were bustling past. I never imagined anything bad could happen—until someone struck the back of my head, and everything went black. When I woke up, I was trapped in a filthy, rotting bedroom in the middle of nowhere. Sitting at the edge of the bed was a heavy, slow-witted man staring at me with hollow, glassy eyes. No matter how hard I screamed, no matter how desperately I begged, he used his brutal, animal instincts to break me. It was a decade-long nightmare. Every time my memory drifted back to it, the pain tore through me all over again. My only stroke of luck was that he was infertile. When years passed without a pregnancy, he never listened to his mother’s demands to pass me off to his cousin just to produce an heir. By the time Valerie finally tracked me down and brought me back, I was no longer the star student bound for an Ivy League path. I was a broken woman with skin weathered from hard labor. But I had no children. Trent was disgusted by me. And truthfully, I was disgusted by myself. I had never intended to marry him. It was Trent who had crept into my bed in the middle of the night, kissing me with the frantic desperation of our youth, before burying his face against my collarbone, his voice trembling: “Mal, I’m so sorry.” “I don’t look down on you. I swear I don’t. It’s just… every time I think about how that bastard Roy hurt you, I want to kill him with my bare hands… Valerie and I became lawyers for you, Mal. We’re going to make him pay for every single second.” “Do you have any idea? After you vanished, I searched for you every single day. I prayed to God I could bring you home…” “I love you. Please, marry me.” The Trent I grew up with had never cried. Yet there he was, weeping at my feet, holding my shattered pieces together. I couldn’t say no. Only now did I finally understand: Trent had long since fallen in love with Valerie. He was only marrying me because Valerie was forcing his hand. When the limo came to a stop outside the venue, I wiped away my tears and spoke softly. “Trent… you should marry Valerie today. It’s fine. Really. We haven’t signed the legal papers at the courthouse yet. It’s not too late to fix this.” Trent’s tone snapped with impatience. “Are you really making a scene over a stupid digital message?” “I’m not making a scene,” I said, looking straight into his eyes. He finally realized my tears weren’t from the overwhelming joy of becoming his wife, but from a profound, quiet heartbreak. His expression softened, and he reached out to gently brush away a tear from my cheek. “Mal, stop overthinking things. I love you. Valerie and I haven’t crossed any lines—we’re just two soldiers who spent ten years in the trenches trying to bring you home. The only reason we haven’t filed the marriage certificate yet is because the lawsuit isn’t over. Your forced marriage to Roy hasn’t been legally annulled.” My voice shook. “Then let’s leave it. Legally, I’m still his wife anyway. We shouldn’t do this.” Trent’s eyes reddened. “Mallory! Don’t you dare talk about yourself like that! I love you! How many times do I have to say it for you to believe me?” “I believe you,” I whispered. I believed he loved the girl I was ten years ago. Trent lowered himself, his stance almost desperate. “Mal, please. Walk down these steps with me. Marry me. Let me take care of you for the rest of your life, okay?” Hearing him call me “Mal” for the first time in ten years paralyzed my ability to say no. Heart heavy, I let him guide me through the rest of the reception like a ghost moving through a play. When the party ended, he told me to get some rest. Exhausted body and soul, I washed up and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. Sometime in the dead of night, I was startled awake by the sound of hurried, hushed kissing. Then came Valerie’s strained, panicked whisper: “Trent, are you insane? Mal is right there on the bed! Get off me!” My horrifying suspicion was confirmed. Yet before grief could take hold, an overwhelming wave of humiliation washed over me. I lay rigid under the covers, barely breathing, terrified they would realize I was awake. Trent growled softly, “I’m not letting go!” Ignoring her feeble pushes, he kissed her deeply, greedily, before resting his forehead against hers. “Valerie, I did what you wanted! I married her! I’m going to spend the rest of my life taking care of her! What more do you want from me?” “I love you! I can’t control myself anymore!” Valerie kept her voice down, fighting to keep it steady. “You can only love Mallory. Even if you love someone else, it can never be me! Do you remember how your parents died in that car crash while looking for her? Mal has nobody left except the two of us! We cannot destroy her together!” “I know!” Trent sounded like a man unraveling. “That’s why I married her! That’s why I lie to her! But all I want is to love you!” Valerie grew eerily quiet. “Trent, you don’t love me. It’s just that over the last ten years, as we searched for her together, sharing the pain, the despair, and the faint glimpses of hope… you got used to me being by your side. The one you love is Mallory.” “I’ll say it one last time. Trent… in this lifetime, there is no us.” Trent completely snapped. In the dark, I heard the sharp tear of fabric. I heard Valerie’s stifled curse. The rustle moved from the couch to the floor. Finally, there was only Valerie’s soft, broken weeping. Trent sounded terrifyingly satisfied. “Valerie… tell me again that you don’t love me.” Valerie’s emotional armor shattered. “Fine! I love you! If Mallory weren’t my best friend, I would love you until the day I die! But she’s back now, Trent. Everything I said before doesn’t count anymore. If you ever treat her badly, I will end my life right in front of you!” My heart hurt so acutely I felt like I was dying, yet a strange, detached curiosity flickered inside me. I wondered what kind of promise Valerie had made to Trent during those ten years if I had never come back. Trent went still for a second, then began kissing her again, murmuring softly, “Valerie… as long as you stay alive, I’ll do anything you ask. But I have one condition.” “What?” “You spend one day a month with me. We do whatever I want—including sleeping together.” A sharp, violent slap echoed through the room. “Over my dead body!” Valerie hissed. “You married Mallory! You don’t get to betray her!” Trent’s voice turned icy, unbothered. “Every time I look at her, all I can think about is that she spent ten years with that monster. I can’t bring myself to touch her. You saw him at the preliminary hearing, didn’t you? Filthy, slow, probably carrying diseases… I can be her husband, but I will never lay a finger on her.” Valerie was shaking with rage. “Trent, you absolute bastard!” “You’re right!” he snapped. “I am a monster! If you won’t agree, I’ll just find another woman!” Valerie stammered, speechbound by fury. Trent softened his tone again, adopting a desperate, persuasive whisper. “Valerie… as long as we keep it from Mal, what’s the harm? Cheating with you is better than me sleeping with some random woman off the street. We’re the two most important people in her life. Us being together won’t hurt her—it’ll just make us treat her even better.” Valerie seemed to surrender to her fate. She didn’t say another word. When Trent moved to kiss her again, her voice sounded weak, stripped of all resistance. “Go to the study. I don’t want Mallory to hear.” Trent sounded ecstatic. “Okay!” As their hurried footsteps vanished down the hallway, I bolted into the ensuite bathroom, falling to my knees over the toilet, dry-heaving uncontrollably. When dawn broke, Trent still hadn’t returned to the bedroom. I picked up my phone and dialed a number. “As long as you can arrange a new identity and enrollment at an overseas university for me,” I said quietly, “I’ll agree to the tell-all interview.” By the thirtieth day of our marriage, Trent had taken me on no honeymoon. He barely tolerated sharing a bed with me, let alone showing any physical affection. Meanwhile, my best friend—carrying the lingering scent of his cologne—sat across from me, begging me not to do the interview. “Mal, why do you have to do an interview with Vanguard Media?” Valerie pleaded, her eyes red. “Their journalists are notoriously ruthless! You finally made it back home… please, don’t reopen those wounds…” Tears spilled down her cheeks as she spoke. She was genuinely breaking down for me. Thinking back on the past ten years—how she had lost sleep, lost weight, and practically crossed the entire country searching every rural corner for me—my heart ached with profound gratitude. I cared about her. I was deeply grateful to her. Part of me still loved her like a sister. Even so, I could not accept sharing my life with two people who were lying to me. Vanguard Media had a terrible reputation for sensationalism, but they had offered me a complete way out: an anonymous fresh start abroad. It was my only ticket to severing this toxic web. I pulled out a tissue and gently wiped Valerie’s tears. “Valerie, I know that with you and Trent here, I’ll never have to live through that nightmare again. I can handle a few harsh questions. Don’t worry about me.” Valerie opened her mouth, but before she could speak, the team from Vanguard Media arrived. She couldn’t say anything further. She stepped behind the camera setup, watching me with bloodshot eyes. “Ms. Crawford, you didn’t escape for ten years. Was it because you didn’t “want” to leave?” “Roy claimed you never refused to perform marital duties. Is that true?” “We heard you recently had a wedding with high-profile attorney Trent Vincent. Once the legal proceedings against Roy are finished, you plan to officially register your marriage. Do you honestly feel you’re still good enough for a man like him?” “I reviewed the reports from ten years ago. Your test scores were high enough for top-tier universities. But now… can you even write a coherent sentence?” … Without a single pleasantry, the four journalists bombarded me with questions designed to make my head spin. Valerie’s face flushed with anger. She was about to confront the producer when Trent walked in and yanked her away by her arm. In that split second, I caught the raw, consuming love in Trent’s eyes as he pulled her out of the room. I dug my fingernails deep into my palms to keep from breaking down. The lead male journalist didn’t let me off the hook. “Your fiancé seemed worried your friend would disrupt the interview, so he pulled her out. Looking at the way you’re watching them… do you suspect something?” “Off the record, Valerie is a successful attorney herself. She’s objectively a much better match for Trent. If they ended up falling for each other, would you step aside for them?” The female reporter beside him pulled on his sleeve, whispering that he was going too far. He ignored her, staring at me intently, demanding an answer. Suddenly, a profound sense of relief washed over me. “Yes,” I said smoothly. “I would.” All four journalists froze in shock. I took a deep, steadying breath and began answering the first question. “For ten years, I tried to escape every single day. The first time I ran, they caught me and beat me until I couldn’t walk. The second time, they beat me again… The tenth time I tried, they locked me in a pigsty for a month…” I forced myself to speak the sickening details of those ten years of hell. By the end, the four hardened journalists had tears in their eyes, while I sat there completely calm. The interview wrapped up early. All four of them apologized to me profusely. I shook my head, telling them it was fine—as long as Vanguard Media fulfilled their promise to get me out of the country. After seeing the crew out, I walked quietly toward the study—the room Trent had explicitly forbidden me to enter. Sure enough, muffled, desperate sounds echoed through the heavy door. That night, Trent had demanded Valerie spend one day a month with him. In reality, now that he had tasted what he wanted, he dragged her into that study whenever and wherever he could. The first time, he told me they were discussing a sensitive case involving client confidentiality that I shouldn’t hear. I had listened anyway. Over and over, I forced myself to absorb the harsh reality: Trent was head-over-heels in love with Valerie, body and soul. And Valerie, emotionally incapable of refusing him, let her guilt turn her into his secret mistress. If I walked away, the two people I loved most in the world could finally be happy. Halfway through their encounter, I walked back to the master bedroom with absolute stillness in my chest and began packing my bags. “Clatter.” My hand accidentally brushed against Trent’s suit jacket, knocking a pair of marriage certificates out of the inner pocket onto the floor. One fell face up. Embossed with the official state seal was a photo of Trent and Valerie. The registration date: “The day before I was rescued.” Trent held both certificates. Valerie had no idea. And Trent—the man I had loved for over a decade, the man who begged me to wait until my legal battle was over so we could register our marriage—had already been Valerie’s legal husband before I even set foot back in this city. Finally, I understood what promise Valerie had made to him if I never came back. Clearly, Valerie loved me more than she loved Trent. It was just her cruel misfortune that she had fallen in love with him anyway. I thought I had accepted reality. Yet hot tears still cascaded down my cheeks, splashing onto the photo of Trent and Valerie smiling side-by-side. Panicked, I placed the certificates back exactly where I found them. Then I ran into the bathroom, locking the door behind me as I gave in to dry-heaving and violent, body-racking sobs. I told myself: “This is the absolute last time I will ever cry for Trent and Valerie.” At the final trial, I stood in court as a key witness, tearing open my own scars in front of a packed room so that the man who ruined my life would receive his punishment. I supposed I owed Trent a shred of thanks for that much. He had made me believe he waited ten years for me, that he truly wanted to marry me, all while betraying me at every turn. But that betrayal had rebuilt my spine. Standing in that courtroom, I was no longer afraid of Roy, nor was I afraid of anything attached to him. When the judge read the guilty verdict, sentencing Roy to decades in maximum security, his mother lost her mind right in the gallery. She pointed a trembling finger at my face, screaming awful insults. “You worthless trash! Nobody wanted you! You stayed with my son willingly! You—” Before she could finish, a loud “crack” echoed through the courtroom. Valerie had rushed over and slapped the woman hard across the face. Valerie was shaking violently. “Shut your mouth! I won’t let you speak to Mallory like that!” Trent sprinted over to pull Valerie back, but the bailiffs were already escorting her out for disrupting the courtroom. I watched in panic—until I caught the glare Trent cast in my direction. It was a look of sharp, irritated blame: “Look at the trouble you’re causing Valerie.” A slice of agony tore through me. Never in my life had I felt so overwhelmingly certain that in this tragic little triangle, I was the unwanted third wheel. Roy’s mother tried to cause another scene, but when the judge announced that she, too, was being charged as an accomplice to human trafficking, she collapsed onto the bench, weeping and begging for mercy. It was useless. Every single person who had participated in my torture was going to prison. I walked out of the courthouse feeling lighter than I had in a decade. Valerie was waiting outside. She threw her arms around me, sobbing into my shoulder. “Mal… it’s finally over… it’s over… We can go back to how things used to be…” I whispered softly, “Can we really?” Valerie pulled back sharply, looking at me with frantic concern. “Mal, what’s wrong? Are you still upset by what that crazy woman said? Don’t listen to a word she said!” I gently shook my head. Trent stepped up beside us, still wearing his formal courtroom attire. He looked striking—far more handsome than the ideal lawyer I used to picture when we were teenagers. But he didn’t love me anymore. Instead of congratulating me on my freedom, he frowned at me with cold reprimand. “Mallory, can’t you try to be a little stronger? Do you have any idea that Valerie almost got detained just now because she hit that woman for you?” Valerie raised her hand, eyes wide. “Trent, stop talking!” Trent caught her wrist with practiced precision, his thumb instinctively stroking the soft skin of her inner wrist. It was a habit he used to have whenever he was close to me ten years ago. A violent shudder ran through Valerie. Her furious expression dissolved into something complex, tinged with a helpless, vulnerable tenderness. Trent stared down at her with unfiltered devotion. To completely sever the remaining threads in my heart, I forced myself to keep watching. “Valerie, I…” As if suddenly waking from a spell, Valerie yanked her hand out of Trent’s grip. She hurled a couple of harsh warnings at him, then turned back to me with exaggerated sweetness. “Mal, let’s get hot pot tonight, okay? That place we used to go to all the time in high school!” “To celebrate the bad guys getting what they deserve. To celebrate the first day of your new life.” I offered a faint, polite smile. “Sure.” “I just need to go home and change first. You two go ahead and grab a table.” Meeting Valerie’s anxious gaze, my smile deepened slightly. “Valerie, remember to order the tomato broth base for me.” Valerie nodded repeatedly. “I will! I promise!” Before the trial began that morning, I had already checked my luggage into a locker at the station. I was never going back to that house. I didn’t want to. After visiting my parents’ graves to say a quiet goodbye, I hailed a cab straight to the airport. Right before boarding, two text messages lit up my phone back-to-back. Valerie: [Mal, why aren’t you here yet? Did something happen on the way?] Trent: [Mallory, Valerie and I have been busting our asses for you for months. We finally have one night to relax—don’t ruin the mood for everyone.]

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “554442”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel

When I was six years old, I lost the hearing in both my ears. It was an accident—one that happened because I was trying to pull Holden Holloway out of the deep end of the neighborhood pool. Holden suffered from severe selective mutism back then, locked inside a quiet cage of his own making. After that day, the weight of his guilt proved so crushing that he resisted speaking altogether. He couldn’t even bring himself to say my name. To keep us from sinking into an awkward silence, my best friend, Lacey, was always there, filling the air with her endless chatter about her teenage romance troubles. “Callie, I swear, I’ve never met a guy who talks so much in my life,” she’d complain, tossing her hair with a dramatic sigh. “If we go out, he practically forces me to wear a jacket. He’s lectured me a thousand times about wearing short skirts on the bus.” She’d lean in, her cheeks flushed. “The other day, I casually mentioned I wanted to hear him sing, so he went and practiced in secret until his voice was completely raspy. He told me he wanted to give me the absolute best.” When Lacey got carried away, she never noticed that my hearing aid was resting on the nightstand, its battery dead. Catching my blank, uncomprehending stare, she’d tap my forehead with a teasing laugh. “You silly girl, Callie. If someone ever stole your boyfriend right out from under your nose and did terrible things right in your ear, you wouldn’t even hear it.” I didn’t understand what she meant back then. I just smiled along like an idiot. It wasn’t until the summer after high school graduation that I finally had the corrective surgery. I took off my hearing aids quietly, hiding the truth. I wanted to give Holden and Lacey a wonderful surprise at the joint birthday party Holden and I shared every year. During the tradition where we closed our eyes to make a wish over the candles, a low, familiar voice suddenly breathed softly near my right ear. It was Holden. “My first wish: may Lacey always be healthy and safe. My second wish: may Lacey get everything her heart desires.” He spoke ten birthday wishes into the quiet dark, but not a single one had anything to do with me. Until the very last one. “And my final wish… may Callie never hear clearly again. Just so Lacey and I can stay together for one second longer.” In that quiet, frozen moment, I opened my eyes. The realization hit me like a physical blow. In this cruel game of deaf and mute love, I was the very last person to find out the truth. … Holden had leaned right against my cheek when he murmured those final words. His tone was so serene, so practiced, as if the sentiment had rolled through his heart a thousand times before. It slipped past his lips as naturally as breathing. As soon as the candles were blown out, the classmates gathered around the table erupted into a chorus of teasing shouts. “I knew I wasn’t crazy! Holden and Lacey really are a item!” “Right? They’ve been so sweet lately. Holden barely talks to anyone, but when Lacey’s eating, he acts like a anxious mom, constantly telling her not to choke.” “It’s like he wants to look after her twenty-four hours a day. The amount of words he says to Lacey in a single afternoon could last him an entire year with Callie!” “If that isn’t true love, I don’t know what is!” A quieter voice piped up from the edge of the couch, hesitant. “Wait… what about Callie? Didn’t Holden use to…” “Oh, come on, what do you know?” someone else cut in, dismissing the thought instantly. “Holden only went along with that little deaf girl out of pity and gratitude. She saved his life once, remember?” “Like the saying goes: home is where the heart is. Just look at him—does Holden ever actually want to talk to her?” Perhaps because they assumed I couldn’t hear without my hearing aids, and because neither Holden nor Lacey stepped up to deny it, the chatter only grew louder and more reckless. For a long time, no one noticed how tightly I was gripping my hands in my lap. My knuckles were stark white, cold as ice, and my eyes burned with a terrible, unshed heat. Surrounded by their laughter, my mind drifted back to all those afternoons when Lacey sat on my bed, sharing her “relationship troubles.” She had complained about how overbearing her mysterious boyfriend was. How he insisted on bundling her up when it was chilly, how he limited how many iced coffees she could order in the summer. How he nagged her relentlessly about taking the bus in short skirts. Back then, I had only felt a gentle ache of envy. I envied her secret boyfriend for being nothing like Holden. Holden, whose mutism made him retreat from communication so entirely that he couldn’t even manage to utter my name once a week. Though we were supposed to be a couple, our daily interactions consisted entirely of my one-sided enthusiasm. No matter what story I shared, his only responses were a nod, a shake of his head, or a curt, hollow hum. I had wished a million times that he would say just one more word to me, show just a sliver of warmth. How foolish I had been. The gentle, attentive love I craved so desperately wasn’t something Holden lacked. He just hadn’t chosen to give it to me. Perhaps noticing how unnervingly still I sat, Holden finally shifted his gaze toward me. He looked at the cocktail glass in my hand—a drink I had picked up by mistake—and his brows knit into a familiar, stern line. He gave me a sharp, reprimanding glare. I knew that look. He was telling me not to touch things I couldn’t handle, warning me not to embarrass him by getting tipsy and becoming a hassle he’d have to deal with. In the past, I would have put the glass down immediately, eager to please. But tonight, a deep, unbearable bitterness pooled at the back of my throat, and I felt a sudden, desperate urge to distract myself. For the first time in my life, I pretended not to understand his unspoken order. I lifted the glass and took a tiny sip. It was a sweet fruit wine, but as it slid down my throat, it tasted entirely of ash. Holden’s face darkened instantly. He shot me a cold, disgusted glare before letting a single word slip through his teeth: “Drama.” My fingers tightened around the stem of the glass until the thin crystal trembled. A heavy suffocating weight lodged in my chest. As my boyfriend, he could have easily said, Don’t drink too much, it’s bad for you. But instead, all he had for me was a single, dismissive label. I couldn’t stop the quiet thread of sarcasm that laced my voice. “And if it were Lacey drinking it… would she be dramatic, too?” My soft question was swallowed up by the movement of his chair. Holden was already on his feet, walking right past me to intercept a classmate who was trying to hand Lacey a shot glass. “Lacey’s on her period and having bad cramps tonight,” Holden said, his voice firm as he smoothly took the glass from her. “She can’t drink cold alcohol. Stop pressuring her.” Without batting an eye, Holden tossed the drink back himself. Then he leaned down toward Lacey, his tone dropping into a soft, murmuring cadence I had never heard him use before. “Is it getting a bit chilly in here? I’ll go adjust the AC.” “Oh, and the pastries they served tonight are too sweet. I know you hate heavy sugar. I’ll head over to Mrs. Gordon’s bakery later and pick up those almond tarts you like.” Mrs. Gordon’s artisanal pastries were limited to fifty boxes a day. They used to be my absolute favorite; I had once woken up at five in the morning just to stand in line for them. Holden had bought them for me exactly once in our entire lives, and afterward, he had called me fussy and spoiled for making such a big deal out of a pastry. I had felt guilty and anxious about it for weeks. Yet Lacey hadn’t even mentioned them, and he was offering to go out of his way to bring them to her on a silver platter. Lacey gave his arm a playful, affectionate nudge, pouting slightly. “All right, all right, Mr. Nelson. Go sit back down with Callie—it’s her birthday today, too.” “Otherwise she’s going to end up crying later, and I really don’t want to spend our late-night date coaxing her back to a good mood.” Hearing her words, Holden frowned and cast a brief, reluctant glance in my direction. Only then did he walk back over and sit down on the edge of the leather sofa. I knew he wasn’t sitting beside me out of a desire to keep me company. It was simply because his severe alcohol allergy was already flaring up; faint red hives were blooming along the skin of his forearm, and he didn’t want Lacey to see them and worry. A strange, hollow amusement washed over me. Looking at them now, from every conceivable angle, they were the ones who looked like a real couple. I slowly finished the rest of the fruit wine, turned my head to look at his sharp profile, and spoke in a very quiet, very even voice. “Holden. Let’s break up.” My mother had told me once that love ought to make you happy. If it doesn’t, it isn’t worth holding onto. Right now, I was miserable. And so, I didn’t want this relationship anymore. Holden heard me, but he remained completely silent. He merely gave me a cool, unbothered look, as if watching a child throw a meaningless tantrum. It was just like last winter, when my mother had flown to a quiet wellness retreat in Finland to recover from a chronic illness. Left alone in our big, quiet house, I had woken up in the middle of the night from a terrifying nightmare. I had called Holden, trembling, wanting nothing more than to hear his voice, to have him keep me company for just a few minutes. He had stayed on the line in utter silence the entire time, offering not a single word of comfort, before finally uttering a cool critique: “Childish.” Hurt and terrified, I had impulsively brought up breaking up then, too. After a long pause, he had brushed it off with total indifference: “Callie, stop being ridiculous.” Now, he clearly assumed I was playing the exact same game. On the drive home, I pulled out my phone and sent a short text to my mother, explaining my decision. Once she replied with her gentle approval, I opened the college enrollment portal on my browser. With a few quick taps, I wiped out my previous choice and changed my university destination to Finland. Lacey happened to glance over from the backseat, catching sight of the final confirmation screen. Her expression flickered with something complex and hard to read. “Callie… are you really going to major in Computer Science at State University with us?” “I thought you loved fine arts? You’ve always been a bit slow with technical stuff, you know. If you can’t keep up with Holden and me, don’t expect us to tutor you every night.” I looked out the window at the passing streetlights, my tone perfectly flat. “I won’t need your tutoring.” I hadn’t selected State University at all. I was moving to Northern Europe, to enroll in one of the finest academies of fine arts in Scandinavia. If I was truly as foolish as she thought, then I would no longer force myself into majors—or relationships—that were never meant for me. When Holden dropped us off at my house, he instinctively turned to give me a parting instruction: “Lacey’s cramping tonight. Make sure you look after her.” It was the only long sentence he had spoken to me all day. And yet, it was still entirely about Lacey. I looked at him, my expression unreadable. “I’m not nearly as good at taking care of people as you are, Holden. I wouldn’t dream of taking your job.” Holden stiffened for a fraction of a second. A sharp, probing glint flashed across his dark eyes, and his voice dropped a few degrees colder. “What is that supposed to mean?” I curled my lips into a faint, bitter smile, opening my mouth to spell it out for him once and for all. Before I could speak, Lacey rushed out of the hallway barefoot, wrapping her arms around my elbow in a needy, coaxing gesture. “Oh, why are you two standing out here bickering? Just let Holden take care of it—I’m used to him by now anyway!” She giggled, resting her chin on my shoulder. “Callie, you aren’t being petty, are you? I’m really just riding on your coattails here, enjoying a bit of extra attention from my best friend’s guy. Don’t overthink it.” Before her voice had even fully faded, Holden had already bent down, picking up her discarded slip-on shoes and setting them neatly at her feet. “It’s cold out here. Don’t walk barefoot, you’ll catch a chill.” “Did you eat enough at the party? Should I drive across town to get those steamed buns you love?” The instinctual, gentle concern had poured out of him so naturally that it took him a second to realize I was standing right beside them. He broke off mid-sentence, catching himself. His eyes darted to my ears. Seeing that I wasn’t wearing my hearing aids, a visible wave of relief washed over his features. I let out a quiet, self-deprecating laugh, turned around, and walked into my room to pack my bags. Separated only by a thin drywall, they seemed entirely convinced that I couldn’t hear a thing. Lacey’s voice, thick with forced bravado and quiet tragedy, carried through the cracks of the door with crystal clarity. “Holden… stop frowning. As long as I get to be happy, I don’t care if we have to keep our love hidden underground for the rest of our lives.” Holden’s voice sounded heavy, weighed down by remorse. “But it isn’t fair to you.” Lacey let out a soft, bitter laugh. “Well, what choice do we have? She saved your life back then. Are you ever going to be able to shake her off? She’s my absolute best friend, Holden… I don’t want to destroy her either.” Whatever Holden murmured in response, I couldn’t hear anymore. Heavy tears finally spilled over my lashes, smashing against the wooden floor and making my hands tremble violently. I told myself this was the very last time I would ever allow myself to cry over them. Yet, through the blurry haze of my tears, memories kept flooding back. I remembered how Lacey had once stood in front of me, trembling with terror herself, to block a group of teenage bullies who were trying to rip off my hearing aids. To protect a deaf, timid girl, she had forced herself to transform from a quiet, introverted wallflower into a fierce, loud-mouthed protector. I remembered how she had turned back to me afterward, her face pale but her smile bright: “Callie, you stood up to those creepy neighbors for me and took them to court! I can be brave for you, too!” I remembered how Holden had bowed his head to his overbearing father—a man he despised—just to secure the top-tier medical clearance needed to fit me with my very first customized hearing aid. I remembered the soft, fiercely gentle look in his eyes when he gently slid the tiny device behind my ear. Why hadn’t anyone ever warned me? Why had my devotion—my twelve long years of enduring a world stripped of sound—turned into a weapon they used against me, a bitter hostage situation of ‘gratitude’ and ‘obligation’? It didn’t matter anymore. In three days, none of this would have anything to do with me. …… Perhaps because my unusual calm on the night of the party had unsettled him, Holden initiated one of his customary silent treatments over the next forty-eight hours. My heart didn’t even register a ripple. After all, our text history had always looked like this: I would send a picture of a cozy local diner, suggesting we try their house-special soup noodles next time. He would reply with a single Okay. There was never a next time. I would text him about a stray puppy I found in the alley, asking if we could shelter it together. He would reply a full twenty-four hours later with a cold Sure. By the time his text arrived, the puppy had already been struck by a passing car. Our normal routine was fundamentally indistinguishable from a cold war. Suddenly, my phone chimed on the desk. It was a link shared by Lacey in our three-person group chat. It directed to a verified creator profile on a popular audiobook app. Though she deleted the link almost instantly, I managed to catch the handle before it vanished. It was Holden’s account. The profile hosted over three hundred voice recordings, each one lasting at least half an hour. The content ranged from soft bedtime stories to motivational speeches for exams, to low, murmured love letters spoken into the dark. And every single track began with the exact same whispered name: “Lacey.” I remembered the week before final exams, when my anxiety was so severe I couldn’t sleep for days on end. I had begged him to record just a short audio clip, just to say You’ve got this, Callie. He had merely looked at me and said: “Hard work matters more than platitudes.” That sentence was six words long—two more than his usual limit—yet he had refused to give me a single second of comfort. I let the audio tracks play one after another into the quiet room, acting as a silent audience to the grand narrative of their secret love. When the last track finished, I took a screenshot of the creator page, posted it directly to my public social media feed, and attached a simple, three-word caption: So sweet, guys. Within seconds, my phone began to vibrate wildly. Missed calls from Lacey and Holden flooded the screen in a desperate, relentless stream. I found it almost funny. It seemed that only in moments like this could they muster such urgency for me. I ignored every single call. Following my mother’s advice, I listed my house with a local real estate agent, opting for a quick, under-market cash sale. Then, I scheduled a time with Holden’s mother to drop by their house and pick up a box of personal belongings my mother had left behind months ago. When I arrived at the Holloway residence, both Lacey and Holden were standing in the entryway. Holden’s mother, Mrs. Holloway, was standing by the stairs, her face pale with cold fury. “I saw the link Callie shared today, Holden,” Mrs. Holloway said, her voice shaking with suppressed anger. “What on earth is the meaning of this?” “You were the one who swore to me years ago that you would take care of Callie for the rest of your life to repay her. Now you’re recording love stories and pouring your heart out to her best friend? How am I supposed to look her mother in the eye?!” Holden stood with his head down, his posture stiff, his tone laced with a dark, bitter frustration. “You said it yourself, Mom—it was to repay her.” “It’s been twelve years! Do you have any idea how suffocating it is to know I’m bound to Callie for the rest of my life? Every single time I look at her, she reminds me that I owe her my life!” “But Lacey is different! When I’m with Lacey, I feel like I can actually breathe!” SLAP! A sharp crack echoed through the foyer. Holden’s head was knocked to the side. Mrs. Holloway’s hand remained suspended in the air, trembling violently as she looked at her son with pure, unadulterated disappointment. “How did I raise such a cowardly, ungrateful disgrace?” “Tell me right now—when are you cutting ties with Lacey?!” Holden wiped a thread of blood from the corner of his lip, letting out a cold, hollow laugh. “Whenever Callie’s ears get better. That’s when I’ll break it off.” Lacey’s voice joined in, trembling and close to tears. “But Holden… the specialists said Callie’s hearing might never recover. She might be like this forever.” Holden went completely still, falling silent. Everyone in the room understood the unspoken meaning behind his silence. He had no intention of ever letting Lacey go. A sudden, sharp numbness spread to the tips of my fingers. Looking at Holden standing so defensively in front of Lacey, my mind flashed back to a very different memory. I remembered the day I was being tormented by neighborhood kids, when no one in school wanted to sit next to the “deaf girl.” Holden had secretly begged Lacey to become my friend, offering her his favorite collector toys in exchange. I remembered when I was fifteen, after my father cheated on my mother and abandoned us without a dime. Holden had stayed by my side in the pouring rain for hours, gently wiping my tears away with his thumb. “It’s okay, Callie,” he had whispered into my damp hair. “You’ll always have me.” Because of those words, I had fallen completely, hopelessly in love with him. It took until today for me to realize the terrible truth. That wasn’t love. It was merely a heavy, agonizing sense of duty pressing down on his chest. And when a duty becomes too heavy, it rots into resentment. I took a deep breath and knocked firmly on the open front door. A wave of panic washed over every face in the foyer. I pretended not to notice a thing. Stepping inside, I picked up the small cardboard box Mrs. Holloway had already packed for me on the coffee table. Inside sat a dusty, worn notebook—the shared journal I had given Holden years ago. Because he hated speaking, I used to write down all my thoughts, my daily stories, my quiet joys, and hand it to him so he could read my heart. Looking at the thick layer of dust coating the cover, I finally understood. Someone who truly cares about you will fight through any obstacle to respond to your love. They won’t retreat into a stone wall of silence, locking you out of their world entirely. I offered Mrs. Holloway a polite, quiet thank you and turned to leave. Before I could take a step toward the porch, a firm hand clamped around my wrist. Holden stared down at me, his dark eyes searching my face with an intense, agonizing intensity. Beneath the tension, a fleeting flicker of deep guilt finally broke through his cold exterior. “Tomorrow,” he blurted out, his voice raspy. “Let’s go hike Mount Rainier tomorrow. It’s… it’s always been on your bucket list.” Perhaps because my silence was so absolute, so unnerving, he had abandoned his usual one-word answers. I stared at his hand on my wrist, then slowly nodded. It wasn’t because my heart had softened. I simply wanted to grant my youth one final, proper funeral. …… On the third day, we met at the base of the mountain trail. Lacey hovered beside me for a long time before finally gathering the courage to speak. “Callie… I never meant to hurt you, really. I was just worried Holden wouldn’t know how to take care of you properly in the future… so I let him ‘practice’ being a boyfriend with me first. Please don’t misunderstand.” I said nothing. My mind involuntarily replayed the memory of her leaning close to my ear when she thought I couldn’t hear, whispering about the secret gifts Holden had brought her. Holden saw the faint red rimming Lacey’s eyes, and a flash of fierce, protective agony swept across his face. He grabbed my wrist, his grip so tight it pinched, his voice carrying a dark warning: “Callie. Did you lose your mouth along with your hearing?” I pulled my wrist out of his grip with steady, quiet force, letting out a soft, distant, “Okay.” They seemed to believe I was still the same gullible fool I had always been, trusting whatever excuse they threw my way. Slowly, the tension in their shoulders eased, and the awkward atmosphere began to thaw. Halfway up the trail, Lacey began to lag behind, complaining of exhaustion. Holden promptly took her heavy backpack and slung it over his own shoulders. First, he acted as her human crutch; a few minutes later, he swept her up onto his back. It wasn’t until I had fallen a good thirty feet behind them that Holden bothered to turn his head. He dropped two short words over his shoulder: “Keep up.” I had once read in a travel journal that climbing a sacred mountain had the power to sever toxic bonds and align true soulmates. But watching the stark contrast in how Holden treated the two of us, I realized it had nothing to do with the mountain. It was always about the person. As I took another step, a sudden, searing pain shot through my left ear canal. It was a severe nerve spasm—a painful, violent side-effect of my recent surgery brought on by strenuous physical exertion. Cold sweat broke out across my forehead instantly. A muffled groan slipped past my lips, and my knees buckled, forcing me to lean heavily against a jagged boulder by the path. Holden paused and glanced back, his eyes narrowing as if evaluating whether I was staging a scene for attention. “What now?” I squeezed my eyes shut, clutching my head as I forced out a strained whisper. “My… my ears hurt…” Lacey’s soft, sorrowful voice immediately broke in from atop his back. “Callie, if you’re jealous that Holden’s carrying me, I can just walk down… You really don’t need to lie to us like this.” That single sentence wiped the tiny flicker of concern right out of Holden’s eyes, replacing it with deep, icy disgust. “I don’t know when you picked up these pathetic manipulation tactics, Callie,” he sneered, turning his back on me entirely. “If you love acting so much, you can stay right there and put on a show for yourself.” Without another word, their figures resumed their steady trek up the winding path. Neither of them looked back. Neither of them stopped. The very last spark of warmth in my heart scattered into the mountain breeze, cooling into ash. I didn’t keep climbing. I turned around, walked back down the mountain step by agonizing step, and headed straight to the airport, where I exchanged my ticket for the very next flight to Helsinki. …… Five hours later, Holden and Lacey finally reached the summit. Looking around at the crowded observation deck, Holden noticed that the quiet girl who usually trailed behind him was nowhere to be seen. His brows furrowed in annoyance. He pulled out his phone and fired off a message to our three-person group chat: Where are you? What kind of childish fit are you throwing now? I already had my father contact the top ENT specialist in the state. He’s coming to your house tomorrow morning for a full exam. Since you couldn’t even finish the hike, just find your own way back and stay home. I keep my promises. Once your hearing is completely cured, we can start over. Neither of them noticed that the member count in the top corner of the group chat had quietly dropped from three to two. The next morning, Holden arrived at my front porch alongside the specialist. He knocked on the heavy wooden door for several minutes, but no one answered. Just as Holden was pulling out his phone in mounting frustration, the door swung open, revealing an unfamiliar middle-aged woman looking at them with irritation. “Who are you people? Why do you keep banging on my door?” Holden froze for a second. “Where’s Callie? Who are you?” “We moved in yesterday!” the woman snapped, holding a moving box. “Callie is the landlord who sold us the house! What is wrong with you people?” The door slammed shut in his face. Holden stood on the welcome mat, completely dumbfounded, his mind spinning into chaos. Before he could process what was happening, the doctor standing beside him cleared his throat, his expression intensely complicated. “Mr. Holloway… if the girl you’re looking for is Callie Vincent, she’s actually my patient. But… her hearing was fully restored over a month ago.”

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Late at night, I was idly scrolling through my phone when a trending topic caught my eye. “Which is worse: winning the lottery and having the ticket expire, or never winning at all?” The top answer belonged to Serena, a lifestyle influencer with millions of followers. She wrote about how a relative’s child had broken a glass jar full of folded paper stars—a graduation gift from her high school crush of three years. She had spent the evening grieving the end of her youth, mourning how her past was being swept away into a trash can. Until she smoothed out one of the ruined paper stars and found words written inside: “Let’s be together. I’ve liked you for so long.” She posted a photo of the flattened paper stars spread across her desk, every single one covered in handwriting. “I’ve been in love with you for 921 days.” “When are you finally going to notice?” The comment section was in absolute frenzy. The internet was taking it harder than the actual people involved. “Are you both single right now? If yes, it hasn’t expired yet! Go get him!” “You were too young back then to make it work anyway. Now is the real right time!” I locked my screen. The display went dark. Beside me, Adam was fast asleep, his breathing steady and slow. Once the golden boy of our high school, he was now my husband. I stared at the sharp outline of his profile in the dark. If that shattered glass jar wasn’t the exact confession gift I had folded and given him all those years ago, maybe I would have shed a tear for their tragic, missed romance, too. … The long-dormant high school alumni group chat exploded. Even the classmates who hadn’t posted in years were suddenly popping up. “The ship I hailed in high school is actually real!” “I never knew Adam was such a romantic. Hiding a confession in paper stars? Unbelievable.” “Remember that track meet senior year? Adam finished the three-thousand-meter run, refused water from everyone, and walked straight over to the humanities section to find Serena.” “Yes! And that rainy afternoon when he walked her home under his umbrella? His whole left shoulder was soaked.” “What about the talent show sophomore year? Adam played the guitar and kept staring at her side of the auditorium the entire time. I knew something was up!” “I heard Adam only ever went to the humanities class reunion after graduation, even though he skipped our own class parties. Too bad Serena couldn’t make it that night…” I scrolled up, line by line. Memories were being picked apart, chewed over, and reimagined. Someone dropped a screenshot into the chat. Serena had just updated her status, and it was already blowing up: “Ten years lost. This time, I’m going to be brave.” The attached photo was a screenshot of an iMessage thread with a contact whose profile picture was a starry night sky. The message was brief: “Can we meet? I have something to tell you.” The reply was a single word: “Okay.” The group chat erupted into chaos. “A ten-year second-chance romance!” “They’re finally getting their happy ending.” “Looking at my snoring husband right now… my dead teenage memories are officially attacking me.” Then, someone asked the obvious: “Serena is single, right? What about Adam?” Someone tagged me directly. “@Betty, didn’t you and Adam grow up next door to each other? You must know if he’s married!” I didn’t reply. I backed out of the app, turned off my phone, and set it face down on the nightstand. Adam shifted in his sleep, his arm instinctively reaching out to rest across my waist. His palm was warm—a warmth that hadn’t changed in ten years. I closed my eyes, but my mind betrayed me, pulling up a memory of high school. I saw Adam and Serena sitting together in the library corner. They were sharing a pair of wired earbuds, one in his ear, one in hers, their heads almost touching. Adam was scribbling something on scrap paper, and Serena leaned in closer, the tips of her hair brushing the back of his hand. It was a quiet, intimate picture. So many years had passed, yet the memory remained impossibly sharp. Like a handful of tiny splinters buried under the skin. I thought I had plucked them out long ago, but reading that trending topic tonight made me realize they had simply grown into my flesh. The moment something pressed against them, the pain flared right back up. I didn’t drift off until just before dawn. When I woke up, Adam was already standing by the edge of the bed, adjusting his tie. Morning light filtered through the gap in the curtains, catching the hard angle of his jaw. Elegant, handsome, distant. The lingering bitterness from the night before seemed to soften slightly at the sight of his face. I propped myself up, intending to get out of bed to make him breakfast. He reached out and gently pressed a hand against my shoulder. “Stay in bed, Betty. I’ll just grab a breakfast sandwich on the way to the office.” His voice was low and smooth, holding the same gentle warmth it did every morning. I nodded and lay back down obediently. He walked toward the bedroom door, then paused on the threshold. “I have a late dinner with a client tonight. Don’t wait up.” “Okay.” The door clicked shut. I lay in the quiet room for a long time before the anomaly hit me. In five years of marriage, this was the first time he had ever left for work without kissing me goodbye. My head was a chaotic mess, so I invited my best friend, Keira, to dinner. After listening to me lay out my spiral of doubts, she scoffed and dismissively took a sip of her drink. “So what? That was ten years ago. Even if there was something between them back then, it’s ancient history. You’re his legal wife, Betty. You won.” I looked down, stirring my cold latte with a straw. To the rest of the world, Adam and I were childhood sweethearts who transitioned seamlessly from childhood neighbors to high school sweethearts to a dream wedding. Smooth, inevitable, perfect. But there were three years in the middle of our story—three years I had spent a decade trying to forget. During that time, Adam suddenly had secrets he wouldn’t share with me. The first time I really noticed Serena was at the track meet during our freshman year of high school. He had just finished the three-thousand-meter run, and I was standing near the finish line holding a bottle of water for him, just like I always did. I was about to step forward when Serena ran out from the humanities section and reached him first. She beamed up at him, saying something that made him smile. Then he took the water bottle from her hands and drank it down. That was the first time he had ever accepted a drink from another girl. I was disappointed back then, but I brushed it off quickly enough. After all, outside of that single bottle of water, he treated me exactly the same as always. Not long after, I was sweeping the hallway after school when I bumped into Serena doing her classroom chores. She leaned on her broom and struck up a casual conversation. “You and Adam are really close, aren’t you?” I didn’t know how to answer and was about to give her a polite, vague smile when the classroom door behind us swung open. Adam, who had been waiting for me so we could walk home together, stepped out. He looked slightly tense as he spoke. “Yeah, we grew up together. She’s like a brother to me.” That day, I lied and told him I had an errand to run. I fled, leaving him behind. I remember it was snowing heavily. Before I left the school grounds, I turned around and looked back. Far up on the second floor, Serena and Adam were standing side by side near the window at the end of the corridor. She was standing on tiptoe, reaching out to catch the snowflakes drifting inside. Adam stood behind her, slipping off his high school varsity jacket and placing it over her shoulders. On the left shoulder of that jacket was a tiny, goofy cartoon figure I had drawn with a blue ballpoint pen. Serena was dazzling, brilliant, and effortless. Back then, the only thing I had going for me was being the childhood friend of the school’s golden boy. My deep-seated inadequacy took root right then. I hid my feelings. For the rest of high school, I quietly pulled back, watching him stand next to someone else, pretending I didn’t care. Right before I moved abroad for college, I folded a jar of paper stars. Inside every single one, I wrote a secret wish. I slipped the jar into his desk on the last day of school, putting a quiet, painful period at the end of my years of unrequited love. When I returned home during the winter break of my sophomore year of college, I ran into Adam again. He was the one who asked, “Do you want to try dating?” I thought it was a second chance. I thought we were finally meeting halfway. Now, sitting in a dimly lit restaurant, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering: Was I just Adam settling for second best? On my drive home, I pulled up to a red light near a luxury downtown hotel and looked out the window. A man and a woman were walking out of the lobby side by side. The woman had a long grey wool coat draped over her shoulders. I recognized that coat. I had bought it at the airport during a business trip to Paris last month. It was tailored, structured, and expensive—it gave Adam an effortlessly refined look whenever he wore it. Now, it was resting on another woman’s shoulders. The light turned green. I gripped the steering wheel, my nails biting into my palms. I drove aimlessly around the city for hours, circling block after block, wiping away tears that kept refilling my eyes, until I finally stumbled back into my apartment. Adam was already home. He was standing on the balcony smoking, his profile bathed in the dim city light, looking inexplicably lost. Years ago, when his startup was going through a brutal patch, he would smoke a cigarette or two to take the edge off. But six months ago, when we decided to start trying for a baby, he had quit entirely. There were already three butts stubbed out in the glass ashtray beside him. I didn’t know what had disturbed him so deeply that he felt the need to light up again. “Adam…” I called his name. The words I wanted to ask died in my throat. I was terrified of hearing him admit it. And I was even more terrified that if he denied it, he would be lying to my face. He turned around, crushed out his cigarette, and walked over to me. He reached out and brushed his hand through my hair, a routine gesture of affection. “Why are you home so late?” “I was shopping and having dinner with Keira.” He nodded, asking no further questions. “Get some sleep. It’s late.” When I stepped out of the bathroom after washing up, Adam was on the balcony again, making a phone call. Through the thick glass sliding door, I couldn’t hear his words, but I knew his body language. He looked relaxed, soft, almost tender—an expression I knew all too well. When he came back into the bedroom, I closed my eyes and feigned sleep. He slid under the covers gently, careful not to wake me. But he didn’t pull me against his chest from behind, the way he usually did. In the middle of the night, his phone screen flashed in the dark. I silently reached over and picked it up. I talked myself through unlocking it a thousand times in my head. In the end, my fingers trembled, and I set it back down. Adam occupied almost every major memory of my life. I couldn’t even pin down the exact moment I had started relying on him, loving him. I was terrified that he had already changed the passcode—a passcode that was once my birthday. I didn’t have the courage to face whatever secrets were waiting behind that screen. The next morning, noticing how pale I looked, Adam offered to drive me to my gallery studio. As I reached over to fasten my seatbelt, my fingertips brushed against a hard object wedged in the gap between the passenger seat and the center console. I pried it out quietly. It was an earring. A delicate pearl drop, elegant and classic. It was not a style I ever wore. I squeezed it tightly in my fist, the thin metal hook pressing into my palm until it throbbed. After stepping out of the car, I stood under the harsh July sun, my hands shaking so violently I could barely hold my phone. I opened Serena’s public social media page. In her recent posts, the earrings she wore in almost every photo were identical to the one resting in my palm. It was mid-summer, the sun burning bright overhead, yet a bone-chilling cold washed through me. Over the next few days, I tried to numb myself with routine. I went to the gallery every day. I met with clients. I let Adam touch me, kiss me, pretend everything was fine. I even pretended not to notice when he quietly started using protection again. The cracks between us were everywhere now, wide and jagged. I knew it better than anyone, but I simply lacked the courage to be the one to shatter the illusion completely. I just hadn’t expected that even my self-deception wouldn’t last long. A stranger posted a photo online. It showed Serena and Adam walking into a luxury hotel together, side by side. The angle was intimate, the lighting cinematic. Shortly after, a screenshot surfaced in the comment section—a post Serena had shared and deleted within seconds. It was a photo of Adam standing in the hotel lobby, looking down at his phone. The caption read: “Reunited. He’s still the same boy from back then.” The internet exploded. Someone quickly recognized Adam. As the founder of a high-profile tech startup, his face wasn’t hard to find in business publications. Gossip blogs leaped on the story with dramatic headlines: “Top Influencer Serena Spotted at Hotel with Tech CEO: A Ten-Year Crush Finally Realized?” It didn’t take long for internet sleuths to figure out that Adam was married. Then, they found me. An independent art curator. A decent family background, but nothing extraordinary. The initial wave of public opinion took my side: “A married man stepping out?” “So Serena is a homewrecker!” But very quickly, the narrative took a bizarre, sinister turn. Serena’s massive, fiercely loyal fanbase launched a coordinated defense. “Serena obviously didn’t know he was married! She’s a victim too!” Even more people started rallying around the “star-crossed lovers” narrative. So what if he was married? This was true love, a tragic ten-year separation finally being rectified. A new rumor gained traction: “I heard his marriage was just an arrangement, purely business.” “They’re basically roommates with a legal contract.” Then, a post from an account claiming to be a former high school classmate went viral. The post was detailed and malicious: “Back in school, everyone knew Adam and Serena were the dream couple. Betty was just his pushy next-door neighbor who wouldn’t stop chasing him.” “I always wondered why Adam and Serena didn’t end up together after graduation. Now it makes sense. Someone obviously played dirty to keep them apart.” Screenshots of the post circulated like wildfire. The comments turned uniform: “My heart hurts for Serena.” “So the wife was the actual villain all along?” “Despicable.” My gallery studio’s public contact information was leaked. Funeral wreaths started arriving at my doorstep. A package arrived containing a plastic doll smeared with red paint, a thick needle plunged directly into its chest. Harassing calls rang night and day. When I picked up, voices spat vile insults: “Who do you think you are? You don’t deserve Adam!” “Serena and Adam belong together. You’re nothing!” My personal social media accounts were overrun. Every comment was a blade, striking repeatedly at the screen, striking at me. I deleted my public contact details and set my phone to reject unknown numbers. I hired private security to guard the studio. When the scandal peaked, Adam happened to be overseas on a business trip. He rushed back, landing two days later, and drove straight to our home. “There were other people at the hotel that day, Betty,” he explained, his eyes fixed on mine, urgency in his voice. “Serena is launching a media project and needed investors. She asked me to introduce her to a few people. We were waiting in the hotel lobby to have dinner with a venture capitalist. There were four or five people present—the photos were cropped.” He paused, taking a breath. “And the coat—she spilled coffee on her sweater, so I lent it to her.” He looked at me, his tone earnest. “Betty, I didn’t tell you because I thought it was nothing worth mentioning. I didn’t want you to overthink things or cause unnecessary drama.” I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream. I calmly reached into my pocket, pulled out the pearl drop earring, and set it on the table between us. Adam stared at it, confused. “I found this wedged in the passenger seat of your car. It’s Serena’s.” He froze for a fraction of a second. “I just gave her a ride. You have to believe me, Betty, that was the only time I saw her—” “Okay. I believe you,” I interrupted quietly. “Then post a public statement. Explain that you weren’t alone with her that day. State clearly that there is nothing personal between you two.” I looked up into his eyes. “And state that I never barged into your life, that whatever happened or didn’t happen between you and her in the past had nothing to do with me.” Adam frowned, a crease forming between his brows. “Publicly responding to internet rumors only gives them more fuel. Once the news cycle moves on, people will forget.” He hesitated before continuing. “Besides, Serena hasn’t made a statement yet. If I rush out to draw a line in the sand, it pushes her into the crosshairs to take the hit. How is she supposed to handle her career after that?” I stared at him, numb. My husband, facing a reality where his wife was being called a homewrecker, sent funeral wreaths, terrorized online, and risked having her career destroyed, was worried about how the instigator would survive the public fallout. And then he stood there, telling me to just endure it until it blew over. “Adam, I am the one being hurt right now,” I said softly. “Betty, I know this is unfair to you,” he said, taking a step closer. “But you’re my wife. You know who I am. What strangers say online doesn’t matter. We just need to focus on our life together.” I pulled at the corner of my mouth, a hollow smile forming. Tears threatened to spill, but I forced them back. What he failed to understand was that the blades thrown by the outside world were cutting into me, causing real, bleeding wounds. “Adam,” I said, my voice flatter and calmer than I ever thought possible. “Let’s get a divorce.”

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During our graduation trip, I slipped off a cliff edge and suffered a spinal injury that left my legs paralyzed. My boyfriend, Tim, held my hands by my hospital bed and swore, “From now on, I’ll be your legs.” Brooke, consumed by overwhelming guilt, enrolled in the same university, chose the same major, and moved into the same dorm room as me. “I’ll stay by your side forever,” she promised. That morning, as usual, Brooke set the breakfast Tim had ordered on my desk. “Eat it while it’s hot, Sadie.” I didn’t move. A savory breakfast bagel and an iced matcha latte—Brooke’s favorites. My stomach was far too fragile for cold drinks or heavy food in the morning. Right then, my phone buzzed with a text from Tim. “It’s supposed to pour today, and getting around in your wheelchair will be a nightmare. Let’s reschedule the movie for another time.” I started typing a reply, wanting to tell him I could make it. My nerves were finally showing signs of recovery; the physical therapist had urged me to practice walking every day. Before I could finish, Brooke reached over and snatched the 3D glasses off my desk. “Tim said he wanted to thank his ‘little co-caregiver’ for looking after you, so he asked me to go with him instead.” By the time I pulled my eyes away from my screen, Brooke had already slipped out the dorm door. A moment later, a notification popped up from my Favorites list on Instagram. In the photo, Brooke held a long-stemmed red rose, smiling brightly beside Tim. “A kid on the street said, “Mister, buy a rose for your pretty girlfriend,” so someone actually did.” Below the post was a notification that Tim had liked it. I tapped the heart icon, adding my own like. Then I cleared my text thread with him. From now on, I would walk my own path alone. … I had barely set my phone down when Tim called. “Sadie, don’t be upset. Brooke’s post didn’t mean anything—she just thought it was funny.” “When the movie’s over, we’ll bring you that blueberry cheesecake you love.” In the background, the theater pre-show music seeped through the speaker. This was the romance blockbuster everyone was talking about, the one I had stayed up until midnight to snag tickets for. “Tim, you’re remembering wrong,” I said, my voice entirely flat. “Brooke is the one who loves blueberry cheesecake. I’ve always preferred dark chocolate.” “Whatever, it’s all the same,” he brushed it off carelessly. “Look, the movie’s starting. I’ll come see you after, okay? Be good.” He hung up. “It’s all the same.” I had heard that phrase countless times over the past three months of freshman year. My eyes drifted to Brooke’s side of the room. Her desk was cluttered with gifts Tim had bought her as “tokens of appreciation” for taking care of me. I had identical copies of every single item tucked away in my closet. When Tim first started buying gifts for me and having Brooke bring them up to the room, he would bring a second set for her. Back then, I used to pretend to be jealous, pouting in front of him. He would kneel by my wheelchair, taking my hands in his. “I just want your roommate to pay a little extra attention to you. Hers is just a bonus—you’re the only one I really care about buying for.” Gradually, though, the gifts shifted to match Brooke’s tastes. And I became the afterthought. If I could just stand up, I wouldn’t need Brooke standing between us anymore. Gritting my teeth, I pushed off the desk with both arms, forcing my trembling body up. I leaned against the wall, taking agonizing, tiny shuffles forward. In my desperation, my foot caught a puddle of spilled water on the floor, and I crashed down hard onto the tile. At the hospital, Brooke knelt before my bed, her face a portrait of self-reproach. “Sadie, it’s all my fault for leaving the dorm… If I hadn’t left, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” Tim stood behind her, his brows pulled into a heavy frown as he glared down at me. “I told you we couldn’t do the movie because of the heavy rain. I explained it to you. Was it really necessary to hurt yourself on purpose just to make Brooke feel guilty?” My forehead was wrapped in thick gauze, and my arms were covered in raw, stinging scrapes. Neither of them offered a single word of genuine concern. Just performative remorse from one, and bitter impatience from the other. I looked at them quietly before speaking softly. “I was practicing walking and slipped. The doctor said my nerves are recovering. As long as I keep working at it, I’ll be able to stand on my own soon.” Brooke’s tears froze in her eyes, a flicker of cold reluctance passing through her gaze. Tim, meanwhile, looked strangely deflated. A bitter taste coated the back of my throat. I forced a faint smile. “Tim, let’s break up.” A sharp thud echoed through the room as the thermal bag in Tim’s hand dropped to the floor. A clear plastic container tumbled out, revealing a ruined, smashed piece of blueberry cheesecake. Tim’s brow furrowed, as if trying to process whether he had misheard me. Before he could speak, Brooke scrambled up. “Sadie, don’t say things you don’t mean! I only went to the movie with Tim so he could get a break.” “He rushes to the cafeteria every single day to get your meals, and he hauls your wheelchair up and down the stairs.” “It breaks my heart to see how exhausted he is. Please stop throwing tantrums, okay?” I stared at Brooke. We had grown up together, inseparable best friends. When kids bullied her, I fought them off. When her parents divorced and neglected her, I brought her home to my family, sharing my parents’ warmth with her. When her grades slipped, I stayed up late tutoring her. When she wanted a graduation trip, I used three years of saved allowance to take her. And now, she was trying to take my boyfriend. A sharp, suffocating pain clamped down on my chest. As she reached out toward me, I shoved her hand away with all the strength I had left. Tim lunged forward to catch Brooke as she stumbled back. In the chaos, Brooke’s swinging foot kicked my wheelchair, sending it toppling over. “Sadie! Just because of a movie, you’re getting physical with Brooke?!” Tim roared. “She gave up her dream college and her preferred major just to move here and take care of you! Where is your conscience?!” I lay on the floor, my vision blurring as I stared at the dark elastic hair tie wrapped around Tim’s wrist. My hair was cut in a short bob; I had no use for hair ties. That band on his wrist was for Brooke. Inside my head, something snapped—the last frayed tether of my sanity broke completely. I pointed at them, my voice cracking into a scream. “I have no conscience?!” “Brooke, you claim to care for me while behind my back you’re flirting with my boyfriend! Have you no shame?!” “And you, Tim—do you enjoy stepping out on me so much—” “Enough!” Tim snatched the smashed cake off the floor and hurled it directly at my face. He glared down at me, his eyes burning with rage. “Why couldn’t you have just died when you fell off that cliff?!” The moment the words left his mouth, he froze. I blinked slowly, cream mixing with the tears falling down my face. Panic instantly washed over his expression. He dropped down, his hands trembling as he tried to wipe the white mess from my skin. “Sadie… I didn’t mean that…” He lifted me off the floor and placed me back into my wheelchair. Brooke bit her lip, tugging on Tim’s sleeve, her voice dripping with choked vulnerability. “Sadie, I’m so sorry. I won’t ever contact Tim again.” She wiped her eyes and ran out of the room. Watching her retreat, Tim clenched his fists tightly. “Sadie, we both need to cool off.” He turned and chased after her, leaving me sitting alone in the middle of the room, covered in ruin. A passing nurse paused at the door, muttering under her breath, “What is wrong with her friend and her boyfriend? Leaving her stranded at the hospital alone on a night like this…” To anyone watching, “they” were the couple. Outside, the storm intensified. I waited by the hospital entrance, but ride-share apps showed no available drivers. It was past midnight when an unmarked, sketchy sedan finally pulled up to the curb. The driver stepped out into the rain, helping me into the passenger seat before folding my wheelchair into the trunk. He handed me a warm canned tea. “Drink something warm, kid. You shouldn’t be out alone at night. Where’s your family or your friends?” As he pulled his hand back, his fingers deliberately brushed across my chest. Terrified by the predatory gleam in his eyes, I lowered my head and frantically dialed Tim’s number. He declined every single call. One after another. Twelve calls in total. Desperate, I typed out a frantic text message and sent it. Tim’s reply came back instantly, cold and annoyed: “Sadie, aren’t you being childish? Is it really necessary to pull a lie like this just to get my attention? Go to sleep.” The driver caught sight of my screen, lunging across the seat to snatch my phone. “You’re not getting away from me now!” Looking out at the increasingly desolate stretch of road ahead, panic took over. I threw open the passenger door and threw myself out of the moving car. A bone-crushing impact slammed into me, and everything went black. When I woke up, agonizing pain locked my lungs. The doctor stood beside my bed, his face heavy with solemn regret. “Your legs were just beginning to show signs of nerve recovery, but this secondary trauma is severe. The diagnostic report isn’t good.” My voice shook uncontrollably. “Will… will I ever walk again?” The doctor hesitated. “We need to focus on immediate recovery first. Try not to lose hope.” The tiny spark of hope I had clung to was snuffed out completely. I held myself together just long enough for the police to finish taking my statement about the driver. Once they left, I pulled the blanket over my head and wept in total silence. Quiet footsteps echoed in the hallway outside, followed by hushed, strained voices. Through the narrow gap in the door, I saw Brooke, her eyes red and tear-stained. “Tim, it’s all my fault… Sadie almost died. The doctor said after this accident, she might never walk again.” Tim pulled her close, his eyes full of heartbreak. “Stop taking the blame for everything. This wasn’t your fault. She was just unlucky.” Brooke buried her face in his chest, sobbing softly. I was the one broken in the bed. Yet Brooke was the one being comforted. After Tim held her for a long time, they finally pushed the door open and walked in. Unwilling to look at them, I shut my eyes, pretending to be asleep. “Sadie, I know you’re awake,” Tim said quietly. He pulled an elegant box from his jacket pocket. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have dismissed what you said… it’s my fault you jumped out of that car.” “You always said you wanted this custom bracelet, right? I was going to surprise you for your birthday, but take it now as my apology.” I opened my eyes slowly. Brooke stepped forward, taking the box from Tim’s hand. She lifted the velvet lid and gently clasped the silver chain around my wrist. “Sadie, Tim stood in line all night just to get this for you.” Looking down at the bracelet, a small, fragile ache stirred in my heart—until my eyes caught the small metal tag hanging near the clasp. Engraved on the back were two initials: “B.K.” Brooke. Ignoring the tearing pain in my arms, I ripped the bracelet off and threw it straight at Tim’s face. “Take your damn bracelet and get out!” Tim’s face darkened instantly. “Sadie! What is wrong with you now?!” I fought against the choke in my throat. “Who was this bracelet actually meant for?! Are you blind, or can you just not read the name engraved on it?!” Brooke picked the chain up off the floor. A quick glint of satisfaction passed over her eyes, though her voice remained meek and innocent. “Sadie, it must be a mix-up. Tim probably just didn’t notice… Guys are careless like that. Don’t hold it against him.” That brand required customers to confirm custom text three separate times online before placing an order. It was no accident. Seeing the subtle lift at the corner of Brooke’s mouth, I let out a sharp, cold laugh. “Brooke, since you’re so thrilled, why don’t you put it on yourself?” Brooke’s lip trembled. “I didn’t mean…” “Fine! Don’t come crying to me when you regret this!” Tim snapped. He grabbed the bracelet from Brooke, fastened it tightly onto her wrist, and turned to glare at me with cold defiance. “Nobody owes you anything, Sadie!” He grabbed Brooke’s hand and walked out without looking back. Late that night, my phone screen lit up with a message from Brooke: “Haven’t you noticed how much happier Tim is when he’s with me? We actually have things to talk about.” “If I had met him first, I’m the one who would be with him right now.” “Sadie, you’ll probably never stand up again. You shouldn’t become a burden to him.” “So just hand him over to me, okay?” Below the text was a long video clip. The setting was a hotel room. Tim and Brooke were sitting on the edge of the bed drinking, with dozens of empty bottles scattered across the carpet. Halfway through the clip, Brooke suddenly shifted, framing Tim’s face in her hands, and pressed her lips against his. Tim went rigid for a second. Then, his hand moved to the back of her head, pulling her deeper into the kiss. They tumbled back onto the mattress together, wrapped around each other as the screen went black. The dark glass reflected my pale, hollow face. The next morning, Tim walked into my hospital room holding a fresh bouquet of flowers and a new jewelry box. “Sadie, can we stop fighting?” he said softly. “I took the bracelet back to the store and swapped it. The name is right this time.” I gave a bitter laugh and pulled up the video Brooke had sent me the night before, pressing play. “So is this how you compensate me out of guilt after betraying me?” The smile on Tim’s face froze. Panic flared in his eyes—a raw, frantic look I had never seen on him before. “Sadie, let me explain…” “We both drank way too much last night. It was a mistake, I swear. I’m sorry.” “We only kissed—nothing else happened!” Before I could speak, the room door was pushed open. Brooke stood in the doorway, her shoulders trembling, tears streaming down her face. She gave me a terrified look, then turned to Tim, her lips trembling. “Tim…” Tim quickly pulled a box of tissues off the bedside table and rushed to her. “What happened?” Brooke bit her lip, her voice thick with fear. “Someone made a post on the campus forum calling me a homewrecker. They uploaded a video of us at the hospital yesterday… Now everyone at school is harassing me.” “Tim, am I going to be expelled? My parents won’t pay for me to reapply… What am I going to do?” Tim took her phone, scanning the thread and the attached video clip. His dark eyes turned icy cold. “Sadie, you’ve gone way too far!” “What?” I asked. He turned the screen toward my face. The clip was recorded from the dash-cam mounted on my wheelchair. When I first lost the use of my legs, Tim had been worried about me being alone, so he installed the small camera on the frame himself. The footage automatically backed up to a shared cloud drive linked to both our phones. The safety precaution he had built for me was now the weapon he turned against me. He was convinced I had leaked it. I shook my head. “Tim, I didn’t post that thread.” He didn’t believe a word. He stared down at me with burning anger and utter disgust. “Sadie, I never knew you could be this vicious.” “Brooke lowered herself to wait on you like a maid out of guilt, and instead of showing an ounce of gratitude, you go online to ruin her reputation!” “Do you have any idea what a accusation like that does to a girl?! You’re trying to destroy her life!” Brooke sobbed softly into her hands. “Sadie… if ruining me makes you feel better, I won’t defend myself. You’re my best friend, after all…” Her meek surrender was gasoline on the fire. Tim swung his fist, slamming the bouquet off the table and onto the floor, stomping it into a crushed mess. “Sadie, your cruelty disgusts me.” “People have to take responsibility for what they do. I hope you don’t regret this.” I lowered my eyes, my fingertips trembling. A heavy weight sat in my chest, suffocating me until I could barely draw breath. I didn’t have to wait long to understand what Tim meant by those parting words. He made a public post on the university forum under his real name, declaring that Brooke was his legitimate girlfriend and denying any claims of infidelity. He wrote that his care for me had merely been a favor to help his girlfriend’s disabled friend. When classmates posted old photos of the two of us together, Tim replied that I had used my disability to manipulate and stalk him. Screenshots of the thread were leaked from the campus forum to TikTok and X. Content creators latched onto the drama for views. Within hours, my personal information was doxed. Strangers swarmed my social media accounts, bombing my phone with calls and texts: “You miserable cripple, trying to trap your friend’s boyfriend? You make me sick.” “No wonder your legs got crushed. Even God knew you were a terrible person and punished you!” “How did the university even admit someone so morally bankrupt? Hope you get kicked out!” Late one night, an unhinged stranger tracked down my hospital ward. He snuck into my room, crawling onto my bed before a night nurse heard the noise and stopped him. The situation spiraled out of control. When I received an email from my academic advisor strongly suggesting I withdraw from the university, the mountain of humiliation and helplessness finally crushed me. A sharp, stabbing pain spiked through my head. The heart monitor beside my bed began to beep erratically. My breath caught in my throat; the room started spinning violently. Medical staff burst through the door. “Get a doctor!” “We need a sedative, now!” As the heavy fog of the sedative gradually cleared, a long-buried memory rushed back into my mind. Falling off that cliff wasn’t an accident. The hands that had shoved me—and the face above them—became terrifyingly clear. With shaking fingers, I picked up my phone and dialed 911. “Operator? Someone tried to kill me…”

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My eight-year-old daughter was leaning against her hospital pillow, playing a game on my phone. I leaned in, and my eyes caught a trending viral post on the screen: “What’s the single dumbest woman you’ve ever met?” The top-voted comment read: “Probably my husband’s ex-wife. Her daughter has leukemia, and she’s working three shift jobs, living on tap water and stale bread, genuinely believing my husband is sleeping in a construction trailer on some remote job site, slaving away to earn money for the girl’s medical bills.” “In reality, he just dropped half a million dollars to rent out the entire theme park just to throw our son a birthday party.” “Two days ago, that woman posted on Facebook saying that as long as her daughter lives, any amount of suffering is worth it. I’m dying laughing.” Attached was a photo: a grand fireworks show lighting up the night sky, and the back of a man holding a little boy in his arms. My daughter pointed at the silver medallion hanging from the man’s neck and whispered, “Mommy… that looks just like Daddy’s.” The blood in my veins went ice cold. Today was my daughter’s birthday. It was also the final deadline the hospital had set for her life-saving treatment bill. My hands shook violently as I dialed my husband’s number. The phone rang for a long time before he finally picked up. His voice sounded raspy, heavy with exhaustion. “Honey, I’m still at the construction site laying concrete. I’m taking the night shift tonight so I can make an extra hundred bucks. It’s Lucy’s birthday—buy her a little cupcake first, okay? As soon as the contractor pays me out tomorrow, I’ll rush over to pay the hospital…” In the background, there was no sound of wind, no heavy machinery, no construction noise at all. There was only the booming voice of an event host shouting through a microphone: “Let’s all raise a glass and wish our little prince a very happy fifth birthday—!” I clamped my hand over my mouth, the tears spilling silently down my face. My daughter wasn’t running out of time because we couldn’t afford her treatment. Her biological father was taking the money meant for her life and using it to buy another woman’s child the world. … After the line went dead, I stood outside the hospital room for a long time, unable to move. Inside, Lucy had already fallen asleep. She had just finished another round of intense treatment earlier today. Her face was paper-white, so fragile she looked as though she might shatter at the lightest touch. Today was her eighth birthday. And it was the hard deadline for the hospital’s final overdue payment. Yet only an hour ago, she had tugged gently on my sleeve and whispered, “Mommy, it’s okay if the cake is really small. As long as Daddy comes back to blow out the candle with me.” I looked down at her small, frail frame, a hollow ache tearing through my chest. She didn’t know a thing. She didn’t know that the father she had spent the entire day waiting for was currently holding another woman’s son under a sky full of fireworks, playing the perfect husband and the perfect father. A nurse walked over and called my name softly. “Olivia, we can only hold off the accounting department until tomorrow morning at the very latest.” I nodded numbly. The nurse looked at me, a flicker of hesitation and pity in her eyes. “A woman came by earlier with a little boy. They stood outside your door for a while and left a cake. Said it was for the birthday girl.” My entire body went stiff. Beside the doorway sat an elegant cake box. Pressed underneath it was a small card. “Happy Birthday to the little star.” Below it, written in fine, delicate handwriting, was a second line. “Pity that not every child is born deserving of fireworks.” I crumpled the card into my palm, my fingernails digging so deep into my flesh that they drew blood. I didn’t feel a thing. Compared to everything I had endured over the past few years, what was a little physical pain? What truly bled was the realization that hit me in that quiet, terrible moment. Every single sleepless night my daughter and I had suffered through was nothing more than a joke. All those days I skipped meals, worked three jobs back-to-back, lived on tap water and cheap bread, sleeping standing up on the bus—to them, it was just free entertainment over afternoon tea. And my husband, who swore he was breaking his back on a dirt-filled construction site to save our daughter’s life, was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars throwing a lavish party for someone else’s child. I turned back to look at Lucy. Her sleep was fitful. She stirred slightly, her pale lips moving in a faint murmur. “Daddy…” That single word struck me like a blade through the ribs. I leaned over, pulled the thin blanket up around her shoulders, and spoke in a low, trembling voice. “Mommy is going to bring Daddy back.” By the time I reached the theme park, night had fallen completely. The parking lot was packed with luxury vehicles. A plush red carpet stretched all the way from the grand gates into the venue, lined with banners displaying the boy’s name. How extravagant. How generous. I stood at the perimeter, looking down at myself. A faded, washed-out jacket. A pair of worn jeans. Shoes with soles peeling at the edges. My hands still carried the faint, indelible scent of hospital antiseptic from wiping Lucy down earlier—a smell that no amount of scrubbing could ever wash away. Memories of the past few years rushed back in a suffocating wave. In the dead of summer, I had scrubbed dishes in the back kitchen of a restaurant, steam scalding my face until I could barely breathe. In the depths of winter, I washed vegetables outside a breakfast diner, my hands cracking open from the cold, agonizingly tender whenever the hot water touched them. I had never complained. I kept telling myself that once Lucy was cured, everything would be okay. Once Duke made enough money, everything would be okay. Once we got over this hurdle, life would finally turn around. Now I knew there was no ‘afterward.’ I slipped past the front gates by following a crew of catering staff carrying wrapped gifts. The venue was crowded, but I spotted Duke instantly. He was wearing a tailored charcoal suit, standing under the bright event lights. For a second, I almost didn’t recognize him. Because he wasn’t the Duke I knew. The man I knew was always complaining over the phone about how exhausted he was, how dusty the site was, how freezing the trailer got at night, begging me to hold on just a little longer until the next payout came through. The man standing before me showed no trace of hardship. He was down on one knee in front of a little boy, patiently adjusting a glittering birthday crown on the child’s head. The boy threw his arms around Duke’s neck, and Duke scooped him up seamlessly, kissing his cheek with tender affection. Laughter echoed around them. Guests joked about how much the birthday boy looked like his father. I stood a short distance away, my mind going completely blank. When Lucy was five, she ran a fever so high she became delirious, calling out for her father over and over. When I called Duke back then, he told me he was working on a high-rise scaffolding, that he couldn’t afford to be distracted, and told me to figure out a way to get her to a clinic myself. It wasn’t that he couldn’t be distracted. He simply refused to spare a single drop of his heart for Lucy. “Olivia?” I looked up to see a woman walking toward me. She wore an expensive designer dress, her makeup immaculate, her hair falling softly over her shoulders. In her hand, she held the little boy from earlier. She stopped in front of me, scanned me from head to toe, and then let out a soft, amused smile. It was a faint smile, but it hit me harder than a slap to the face. “You actually came.” I stared at her, my voice tight and raw. “You posted that thread? The cake at the hospital—that was you, too?” She chuckled quietly. “You deserved to know the truth, didn’t you?” “The truth.” She said it so casually, so effortlessly. I glared at her, my eyes burning. “My daughter is lying in a hospital bed waiting for money to stay alive. How could you do something like this?” She acted as if she had just heard the funniest thing in the world. Turning her head slightly toward Duke, she spoke with a calm that verged on sadistic. “Where a man chooses to spend his money, and who he chooses to give his time to—doesn’t that already tell you everything?” A sharp pain seized my chest. She was right. What was left to ask? The answer had been standing right in front of me all along. Just then, Duke turned and saw me. The easy, affectionate smile wiped off his face in an instant. He marched over, grabbing my wrist with enough force to crush the bone. “Who told you to come here?” I looked up at him, suddenly struck by how unfamiliar he seemed. So utterly unfamiliar. Even the way he looked at me was dripping with annoyance and guarded hostility—as if I weren’t the woman who had stood by him for eight years, not the mother of his child, but an embarrassing nuisance threatening to ruin his public dignity. “I thought you were at a construction site,” I said quietly. His expression flickered, but he quickly recovered, his tone turning cold and aggressive. “I’m entertaining clients. Do you really have to make a scene in a place like this?” “Entertaining clients.” I looked past his shoulder toward the massive LED screen on the main stage. A birthday tribute video was playing. Photos slid across the screen, one after another. The beach. Luxury shopping malls. Fine dining restaurants. Theme parks. Camping trips. Ski resorts in the mountains. Duke was in every single one of them. There were shots of him holding that boy, laughing freely, and photos of the three of them posed closely together like a picture-perfect family. While they were making those memories, I was sitting in a dark basement apartment holding a feverish Lucy through endless, sleepless nights. I was waiting until the end of the day at the farmer’s market to buy bruised, discounted vegetables just to save three dollars. I was sitting beside a hospital bed, staring at medical bills, terrified to let a single tear drop because I couldn’t afford to break down. And while I drowned, he was living a golden life beside another woman and another child. “This is what you call entertaining clients?” I asked, my throat tight with a burning ache. Duke didn’t answer. The woman behind him stepped forward, her voice smooth. “Olivia, why haven’t you figured it out yet? If he comes back to you, it’s out of charity. If he doesn’t, it’s his right. Who told your daughter to have such terrible luck?” I froze, the blood rushing to my head. “Terrible luck.” An eight-year-old girl was clinging to life by a thread, and this woman dismissed it with a wave of her hand, calling it ‘terrible luck.’ I looked at them, and in an instant, any lingering desire to hold onto my pride evaporated completely. “Today is my daughter’s birthday,” I heard myself say. My voice was quiet, but it trembled violently. “She’s in the hospital right now waiting for life-saving funds. And you spent half a million dollars putting on a fireworks show for this boy.” The moment the words left my mouth, a hush fell over the surrounding crowd. Heads turned. Conversations faltered. Duke cared about his image more than anything. Having his private dirt aired out in public made his face turn instantly thunderous. “Olivia, that’s enough! The kid getting sick is an unfortunate accident. I’m not God—I can’t magically cure her! You can’t expect me to let you drag me down for the rest of my life!” I stared at him, my heart turning to ice, degree by degree. “Drag you down?” I whispered. “She is your biological daughter.” Pushed past his patience, he leaned in and lowered his voice, his words dropping like icicles. “So what if she’s my daughter? Leukemia is a bottomless pit. You can throw millions in there and it’ll never be enough. I’m not going to ruin my entire life for a girl who might not even survive.” I stood there, frozen. A deafening ring buzzed in my ears. Right then, the little boy ran over, tugging on Duke’s pant leg. He looked up with wide, bright eyes. “Daddy, when are the fireworks starting?” Duke looked down at him, his harsh tone softening instantly. “Very soon, buddy. Daddy’s coming with you.” How absurd. My daughter was fighting for every breath, holding on just to blow out one birthday candle with him. And he was rushing off to watch fireworks with someone else’s child. I laughed. I laughed until tears spilled over my lashes. “So her life isn’t even worth a fireworks show to you.” Duke frowned, looking like he couldn’t be bothered to argue with me any longer. The woman stood beside him, letting out a soft, mocking laugh. Something inside me snapped. I turned toward the crowd of onlookers gathered around us. “The little girl lying in the hospital ICU right now is his biological child!” I shouted, my voice cutting through the venue. “This party tonight is being paid for with my daughter’s life!” The crowd erupted. Whispers, gasped reactions, the quiet click of phone cameras recording—it turned into an instant chaotic roar. Duke’s face paled, then flushed with rage. He lunged forward to grab me. He shoved me backward so hard I lost my footing. My foot caught the edge of the concrete steps, and I tumbled backward, crashing hard down the flight of stairs. When my lower back slammed into the iron railing at the bottom, agony exploded through my spine, blinding me for a second. I forced myself to look up at him. I wanted to see if there was even a fraction of a second where he looked terrified for me. Just a second. There was none. The little boy had started crying from the sudden commotion, and Duke immediately turned around to comfort him. As I lay on the cold ground, I heard his voice ring out, ice-cold and detached. “Get her out of here. Don’t let her ruin the night.” By the time someone dragged me up off the ground, the excruciating pain in my lower back made it impossible to stand. I ignored it. I frantically reached into my coat for my phone, wanting to pull up the video Lucy had recorded earlier. I wanted Duke to look at it—to look at the child he deemed ‘not worth it’ and see just how sensible and good she really was. Before I could grab it, a hand snatched the phone away. The woman stood over me, looking down with absolute disdain. She handed the phone directly to Duke. The screen happened to be paused on the video. In the clip, Lucy was wearing a paper birthday hat I had folded for her. Her face was tiny, her chin pointed, her eyes looking unnaturally large because of how much weight she had lost. She smiled sweetly into the camera. “Daddy, I turned eight today.” “Can you come back and blow out the candle with me?” “I was really good today. I didn’t even cry when they put the IV in.” “It’s okay if the cake is really small.” When she finished talking, she raised her thin hand and gave a gentle, tentative wave at the camera. As if she truly believed he was coming back. Watching the screen, tears flooded my eyes. She had practiced those words for an hour before recording. Because her breathing was so weak, she had to pause after every few words. We recorded it over and over, but she refused to complain or say it hurt. She was only afraid that she wouldn’t say it well enough—that her dad wouldn’t like it. Duke stared at the screen. For a brief second, his face went rigid. Only for a second. The woman lightly tapped his arm, whispering softly, “Noah was really scared just now.” Duke tossed the phone back into my lap, his tone cold and dismissive, as if he were looking at a ridiculous joke. “Stop using the child to manipulate me.” I sat frozen on the ground, my heart dying completely. She was his daughter. Even now, he still thought I was just trying to manipulate him. At that moment, my phone rang. It was the hospital. The nurse’s voice was trembling with urgency over the speaker. She said Lucy’s stats had plummeted unexpectedly. They needed to administer an emergency round of specialty medication immediately, or she wouldn’t make it through the night. My entire body locked up. “Won’t make it through the night.” Those words hit me like a sledgehammer, sending dark spots dancing across my vision. I scrambled to get up to run, but the moment I took a step, I froze. I turned back to Duke. In that moment, pride, resentment, dignity—none of it mattered anymore. I walked up to him and spoke in a voice that was almost a whisper, practically begging. “Can you please just give me a portion of the money you brought today? Just enough to save Lucy—just enough to get her through tonight.” “Duke, please. She’s really not going to make it.” He looked at me, his brow furrowed tightly, his patience visibly exhausted. “The money is already spent. I can’t just pull it back.” I grabbed his sleeve, holding on with everything I had. “Then lend it to me! Just a little bit—it’s enough! I’ll pay you back! I’ll take out loans, I’ll sell my blood, I’ll do whatever it takes! Just save her first!” One by one, he unclasped my fingers from his coat, his expression emotionless. “Didn’t the doctor tell you a long time ago that her chances were slim anyway?” “It’s a black hole, Olivia. A sick kid isn’t worth throwing all my money into.” Right then, the woman clutched her stomach, leaning into his chest with a soft wince, claiming she wasn’t feeling well. Duke’s expression shifted instantly. He wrapped an arm around her waist, calling out to his staff to pull the car around. I watched the scene unfold, a wave of sickening absurdity washing over me. My daughter was fighting for her life in an ICU, and he begrudged every dollar. This woman winced, and he looked as if the sky were falling. Duke seemed to remember I was still standing there. He cast a brief look over his shoulder. “Stop throwing a tantrum. Once I’m done wrapping things up here, I’ll give you a check.” I looked at him, my tears long dried. I turned and started walking away. Two steps in, the world spun wildly around me. The impact from falling down the stairs earlier, combined with the absolute limit of my physical and emotional endurance over the past eight hours, finally broke me. My legs buckled, and I collapsed heavily onto the hard pavement. Shouts of alarm broke out around me. Someone shouted to call an ambulance. Through the haze of my fading consciousness, I thought I saw Duke take a step toward me. But in the next second, the woman grabbed his wrist. And he stopped. As I lay on the freezing ground, my vision dimming, I heard his muffled voice speak to a security guard nearby. “Just take her to a local clinic. Don’t let her die here.” I closed my eyes, feeling an overwhelming, bone-deep exhaustion settle over me. It was so tiring. All these years, I had nearly destroyed myself trying to preserve a home for my daughter. In the end, all I had preserved was a punchline. Before my mind slipped completely into darkness, the screen of my phone, resting on the pavement a few inches away, lit up one last time. Displaying three words: [CRITICAL CONDITION NOTICE]

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The first time I found a men’s luxury watch wedged under the passenger seat of my fiancée’s car, her father called me directly. “Larry, son, you’re misunderstanding Jess,” he’d said, his voice dripping with easy paternal warmth. “That’s my watch. I dropped it when she picked me up for lunch yesterday.” The second time, it was a pair of movie ticket stubs for a midnight showing on a Tuesday when she was supposedly working late. Her best friend tagged me in our group chat before I could even ask: “Larry, don’t overthink it! I had Jess buy those for me on her app.” The third time, the fourth time… Every single time I picked up a stray piece of evidence, someone was always standing by, ready with a seamless explanation. Until the ninth time. I pulled a silk designer tie from the gap between her seats, holding it up in front of her face as she idled at a red light. “Whose is this, Jess?” Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel, a microscopic tremor passing through them before she smoothly tapped her car’s console to make a speaker call. “Hey, guys,” she said into the air. “Who left a tie in my car?” The call was answered immediately by my sister, Rachel, and my supposed best friend, Mark. “Jess? Oh, thank god!” Rachel’s voice boomed through the speakers. “Mark’s been tearing the house apart looking for that tie. But honestly, Larry, are you being paranoid again? What did we tell you at the dinner last week? If you keep making these ridiculous scenes, you two shouldn’t even get married.” Mark chimed in, chuckling dryly. “Seriously, Larry. Jess treats you like royalty, man. You’ve been acting completely out of line lately.” The line went dead. Jessica turned to me, her big brown eyes wide with practiced innocence. “Satisfied? Can you stop doubting me now?” She sighed, tapping her acrylic nails against the wheel. “This is the ninth time, Larry. If you’re going to throw a tantrum over every little thing, maybe we shouldn’t even bother with the wedding…” I looked at her—really looked at her—and smiled. “You’re right,” I interrupted softly. “Let’s not bother. The wedding is canceled.” What Jessica didn’t know was that the tie didn’t belong to some secret lover. And it certainly didn’t belong to Mark. I had bought it myself two days ago and dropped it beneath her seat. It was a bait line thrown into dark water, meant to catch every single person who was helping her cover up her affair. … “I’ve already called the venue and canceled the reservation,” I said, my tone as flat as a straight-line EKG. “You should probably let your family know.” Jessica slammed on the brakes, pulling hard onto the shoulder. “Larry, are you out of your mind?!” She spun in her seat, her face darkening. “What is wrong with you? You don’t even believe your own sister and your best friend now? You seriously need to see a shrink. Normal people don’t behave like this in a relationship.” She grabbed my arm, her knuckles white. “If you can’t even trust Rachel, how am I supposed to prove my innocence? What’s the point of getting married if there’s zero trust between us?” Before I could answer, her phone buzzed on the dashboard. The screen lit up with a caller ID that made her expression shift instantaneously. The harsh edge in her eyes vanished, replaced by an unmistakable, tender softness. “I have something urgent to deal with,” she said, her voice dropping back into that cool, patronizing tone. “Go home and calm down. I’ll pretend this conversation never happened.” She unlocked the doors, practically shoving me out into the humid evening air, before her black Mercedes roared away down the avenue. I stood on the curb for a second, feeling the cold wind bite through my shirt. Then I flagged down a yellow cab. Thirty minutes later, the GPS tracker I’d installed on her car led me to a high-end waterfront restaurant downtown. Through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, a party was in full swing—a lavish, opulent first-birthday celebration for a little boy. The room was packed with familiar faces. At the center of the room stood a handsome man holding a toddler. On his wrist was the exact luxury watch I’d found in Jessica’s car months ago. Fastened to his French cuffs were the obsidian cufflinks I’d picked out of her coat pocket three weeks back. When he turned to laugh at a joke, the light caught his face, and the last shred of my composure shattered into dust. “Justin Bradley.” A month ago, during a routine IV line change at the hospital where I worked as a general surgeon, a minor valve fault caused a brief backflow of blood in a patient. It caused zero harm, but Justin’s wealthy family used it as leverage, filing a massive formal complaint against me with the hospital board for “patient abuse.” During the confrontation in the administration office, Justin’s bodyguard had shoved me against a marble counter. My right wrist snapped on impact. My surgical license was temporarily suspended, my career put on ice pending an investigation. And right now, standing beside Justin, was my sister Rachel—the hotshot attorney who was supposedly burning the midnight oil fighting that lawsuit for me. She was laughing, cheerfully taking drinks on Justin’s behalf. Across the room was my best friend Mark—the man who claimed he had nearly gotten fired standing up to the hospital board for me. He was busy greeting guests, playing the perfect co-host for Justin’s event. And Jessica? Jessica was the punchline. “Jess, you’re late!” someone shouted from the head table. “Don’t you think you owe your husband a sweet welcome?” Without a second thought, Jessica wrapped her arms around Justin’s neck, leaning in to press a long, intimate kiss onto his lips as the room erupted into cheers and applause. It felt like a physical blow to the head, a white-hot flash of agony radiating through my skull. They weren’t just helping her cheat. “They were his family.” They were the ones who had blown that minor medical error out of proportion, ruined my reputation, and broken my hand—all to tear me down while keeping me completely in the dark. My phone vibrated in my pocket. An automated email notification from the hospital HR portal popped up: [Dr. Hall, your request for transfer to Oakridge Medical Center has been approved. Please report for your shift in three days.] I stared at the glowing screen, a dry, bitter laugh catching in my throat. “Good,” I thought. There was nothing left in this city worth saving anyway. In three days, I’d be gone, and Jessica, Rachel, and Mark would be a bad memory. I turned on my heel, ready to walk away from the nauseating display. But as I reached the sidewalk, the glass doors swung open behind me. “Dr. Hall?” Justin’s voice called out, surprisingly warm. “Are you here for Toby’s birthday party?” He trotted down the steps, catching up to me with an easy smile. “I thought you were still holding a grudge against us. Look, don’t blame my family for the lawsuit—they were just worried about me. Today’s a great day to put all that behind us. Come on, let me introduce you to everyone so we can clear the air!” He grabbed my arm—the left one, thankfully—and steered me back inside before I could pull away. “Hey, everyone! Look who made it!” Justin announced, his voice carrying over the music. The room fell dead silent. Jessica, Rachel, and Mark froze in place, the color draining from their faces like water down a drain. “This is my buddy Mark,” Justin said, pointing at my best friend. “He works in your hospital’s psych department. You guys have run into each other, right?” Mark’s eyes darted wildly. “Dr. Hall… nice to meet you,” he muttered, his voice stiff and completely detached, as if we were total strangers. Justin didn’t notice the tension and dragged me over to Rachel. “And this is my college bestie, Rachel. She’s the idiot lawyer who filed the complaint against you, but I gave her an earful already, so don’t hold it against her.” Rachel’s mouth opened and closed like a landed fish. “Larry…” she whispered, her voice swallowed by the hum of the room. Finally, Justin pulled me toward Jessica, slipping his arm around her waist. “And this is my wife, she’s—” “Jessica Morgan,” I interrupted smoothly, looking straight into her panic-stricken eyes. “The owner of this restaurant.” Justin blinked, looking between us. “Wait, you two know each other?” I smiled, stepping closer as Jessica flashed me a desperate, pleading look. “Of course we do. She’s my fiancée. We’ve been together for seven years, and up until an hour ago, we were planning our wedding.” I looked around the room, letting my voice carry. “She even bought me this restaurant for my twenty-sixth birthday. Remember, Jess? I said I wanted to sit by the water every day, and you handed me the deed the next morning. You told me you sold it six months ago to fix a company cash-flow issue… but I guess that was just another lie, wasn’t it?” “Dr. Hall, what the hell are you talking about?!” Justin’s face flushed red. “We got married a year ago! How could she be your fiancée?!” “Justin, let me explain—” Jessica stammered, reaching for him. My heart felt hollow, a barren wasteland. I felt no rage, only a cold, venomous clarity. I leaned in, laying out the truth piece by piece. “She has a surgical scar on her lower back—got it four years ago when an erratic patient tried to stab me, and she jumped in front of the blade. She wears a silver blessed medallion under her clothes—I hiked up to a mountain monastery in a snowstorm to get it for her when she was sick.” I looked Justin up and down. “So, congratulations. You’re the side piece she’s been keeping in the shadows.” “Larry, that is ENOUGH!” The three of them shouted in unison. Jessica stepped in front of Justin, shielding him with her body, her eyes suddenly icy cold. Mark took a step forward, his jaw tight, while Rachel glared at me as if “I” was the monster who had just broken into their home. “Is anything I said untrue?” I asked softly, sweeping my gaze over them. “Jessica, Mark, Rachel—are any of you brave enough to admit what you’ve done?” “Larry, Justin didn’t know anything about this!” Jessica snapped, her voice trembling with protective fury. “If you want to be mad, take it out on me! Don’t you dare talk to him like that!” Mark sneered, taking a menacing step closer. “Jess doesn’t love you anymore, Larry! She and Justin are the real deal now!” My own sister stepped up beside him, her words slicing into me without a trace of mercy. “Larry, now that you know, just let it go. Jess literally risked her life to give Justin that baby. No matter how much of a scene you make today, you can’t break up a real family.” The sheer audacity of it hit me like a physical blow. My hands began to shake violently. “So that gives you the right to destroy my career?” I whispered, my voice cracking under the weight of seven years of trust burning to ash. “That gives you the right to have someone break my hand?!” I stared at Justin, then at my sister, then at my best friend. “He’s a home-wrecker, and you two are his accomplices. Did I miss anything?” Before the last word left my mouth, a glass of ice water was thrown straight into my face. The freezing liquid drenched my hair and soaked through my shirt. “Snap out of it, Larry!” Mark yelled, grabbing my collar and yanking me toward the stairs. “You’re the one who got replaced! Get over it!” He dragged me up to the restaurant’s private second-floor lounge—a space that used to be our sanctuary. Back when I worked thirty-hour shifts at the trauma center, Jessica would bring me here, packing warm meals into thermal bags and setting up a massage chair so I could rest my aching back. I used to think those tiny, thoughtful gestures were proof of an unbreakable love. Now, the room had been completely gutted. It was a nursery. Cribs, changing tables, and stuffed animals covered every inch of the floor, erasing every single trace of the life we’d shared. “She loves Justin,” Mark growled, shoving me against the wall. “As for you? She only stayed because she felt obligated to you for curing her heart condition years ago.” I froze. “What are you talking about?” Mark didn’t answer. He just looked at me with a sickening expression of pity, pulled down a projector screen on the far wall, and clicked a remote. The screen lit up with hundreds of photos. Jessica and Justin skiing in Aspen. Jessica and Justin holding hands along the Amalfi Coast. Jessica and Justin laughing on a private boat in Venice. “They’ve been together for three years,” Mark said flatly, pointing at a central photo of a breathtaking wedding ceremony in the French countryside. “Last year, on your birthday? Jess wasn’t on a business trip. And Rachel and I weren’t on vacation. We all went to France for their wedding. We were there when the baby was born.” He stepped closer, leaning in. “Even that patient attack four years ago? Jess staged it. And we kept Justin’s identity from you because we knew if you found out who he was, you wouldn’t perform his father’s surgery with everything you had.” I stared at Mark, feeling like I was looking at a complete stranger. I remembered his wedding to my sister six months ago. I remembered how he’d handed the bouquet directly to Jessica and me, raising his glass to toast our future. He’d even pulled Jessica aside, threatening to “kick her ass” if she ever broke my heart. And all the while, he’d been orchestrating my downfall. A single tear slipped down my cheek, hot against my freezing skin. My heart didn’t just break; it ground itself down into fine powder. The door swung open, and Jessica walked in, followed by a pale, shaken Justin. “Larry…” Justin began. “What do you think you’re doing?” Jessica demanded, her voice tight with anxiety. I looked at them, my breath hitching once before a strange, eerie calm washed over me. I reached down to my left hand, slowly pulling off the platinum band I’d worn for three years. I took Justin’s hand and dropped the ring into his palm. “You can have her,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “I hope you three have a wonderful life together.” Mark and Rachel stood paralyzed in the corner. Jessica opened her mouth, her lips parting as if she wanted to say something, anything. But I didn’t care anymore. I turned my back on them and walked out into the night. The next morning, Jessica burst through the front door of our townhouse, her eyes wild after receiving an alert from her realtor that the property had been listed for immediate sale. She grabbed me by the shoulders, pulling me away from my half-packed suitcases. “Larry! Are you insane?! You’re selling our home?!” The months of suppressed rage finally broke through my cold exterior. I swung my hand back and slapped her across the face with everything I had left. “SLAP.” Her head snapped to the side, red marks blooming across her cheek. “Our home?” I spat, my voice dripping with disgust. “You have the nerve to use that word, Jessica? Did you have fun turning me into a fucking idiot for three years?” She didn’t get angry. Instead, she did what she always did whenever we had a fight—she softened her tone, stepping closer to put her hands on my chest. “Are you done?” she asked gently. “Did that get the anger out? Look, I know I lied, and I’m sorry. But we’ve been together for seven years, Larry. You can’t just throw us away over this.” She tried to rest her head against my shoulder. “My life belongs to you. You saved me. How could I ever truly abandon you?” I tried to push her off, but she wrapped her arms around my waist, holding on with suffocating strength. “Justin’s father was the vice chairman of my company,” she rushed out, her words desperate. “When he died, he begged me to take care of Justin. I made a mistake… I slept with him. I tried to end it, I swear! But Justin has severe separation anxiety—every time I mention breaking up, he hurts himself! I couldn’t just let him die!” She looked up at me, tears streaming down her face. “Larry, I never wanted to lose you. You and Justin… you’re both good men, and I care about both of you. Why can’t we just keep things the way they were? I’ll give you everything you want, I’ll be a perfect fiancée to you, and you can just pretend you don’t know about him. Please?” I felt a wave of profound nausea roll through my stomach. Seeing that I wasn’t responding, she assumed I was giving in. She squeezed my hand and headed toward the kitchen. “You haven’t eaten all day. I’ll make that slow-cooked beef stew you love.” She didn’t make it two steps. “BANG!” The front door was kicked off its frame, slamming against the wall. Rachel strode in, followed closely by Mark, whose face was contorted in a mask of pure rage. Before I could react, Mark lunged forward, his fist crashing into my jaw. I hit the floor hard, tasting blood instantly. “Larry! Where the fuck did you put Toby?!” Mark screamed, standing over me. Justin ran in right behind them, collapsing onto his knees beside my prone body. “Dr. Hall, please! I’m begging you, give my baby back! You can have Jessica, you can have everything, just don’t hurt my boy!” The domestic warmth in Jessica’s eyes vanished, replaced instantly by an ugly, lethal suspicion. “What did you say? Toby is missing?” “Justin took Toby for his shots an hour ago!” Rachel yelled, her eyes bloodshot. “Right after he paid at the clinic desk, someone snatched the stroller! Who else would kidnap a child out of revenge?!” Jessica turned to me, her face twisting into something terrifying. She lunged down, wrapping her fingers around my throat and squeezing with all her might. “Did you take him, Larry?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!” Air left my lungs in a desperate gasp. I clawed at her hands, my vision turning dark around the edges. “I… I didn’t… I’m a doctor… I would never…” “Please, Dr. Hall!” Justin sobbed on the floor, banging his head against the tile. “If anything happens to him, I’ll kill myself!” Jessica slammed my head back against the floor. “TELL US WHERE HE IS!” “I don’t have him!” I choked out. “Why won’t you listen to me?!” Rachel stepped forward, her face a mask of ruthless indifference. “Larry, if you don’t start talking right now, I’m calling the police and pressing kidnapping charges. You’ll spend the rest of your life in a cell.” When I kept shaking my head, Mark snapped completely. He dragged me by my collar into the back storage room, kicking the door shut behind us. He ripped open a medical storage kit on the shelf, grabbing a portable automated external defibrillator (AED) unit we kept in the house. “I trusted you, Larry!” Mark roared, slapping the adhesive pads onto my bare chest. “Toby is a baby! How could you do this?!” He knew about my intense, phobic terror of high-voltage electrical shocks—a lingering trauma from an accident during my residency. He knew exactly how to break me. “Are you going to tell me, or do I have to force it out of you?!” “I didn’t do it!” I screamed, tears spilling over my cheeks. “I didn’t take him!” “You brought this on yourself,” Mark muttered coldly. He pressed the charge button. A high-pitched whine filled the small room, followed by a violent, agonizing surge of electricity tearing through my chest cavity. My body arched off the floor like a snapped puppet before slamming back down. The back of my head struck the sharp corner of a wooden cabinet with a sickening “CRACK”. Bright white light exploded behind my eyes. Warm, thick blood began to pool beneath my neck, soaking into the hardwood floor. “Larry…?” Mark stammered, his hand hovering over the device, suddenly looking horrified. Before anyone could move, a phone rang loudly in the living room. Rachel answered it on speaker. “Mr. Travis? This is the police department. We found the baby! A confused elderly patient walked off with the stroller at the clinic. Please come to St. Jude’s Hospital immediately!” The tension in the house snapped instantly. A collective gasp of relief echoed from the hallway. Without a single glance back into the storage room, without checking if I was breathing, the four of them scrambled toward the front door, shouting with joy as they rushed out to get the child. Not one of them looked back. I lay in the dark, watching the crimson puddle expand beneath my head, listening to the silence of the empty house as my consciousness slowly slipped away. Hours later, the front door unlocked again. Jessica walked in, holding a container of beef stew she’d picked up from our favorite diner as a peace offering. But as she stepped into the foyer, her eyes fell on the dark, dried pool of blood leading from the storage room, and the shiny black USB drive resting quietly on the center console table. The container slipped from her fingers, crashing onto the floor.

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