I have porphyria. I can’t be exposed to sunlight. Even a moment under harsh rays causes my skin to blister and decay. For our three-year anniversary, Julian custom-ordered an umbrella for me. It was coated in black vinyl on the inside and painted with a constellation of stars. Until his first love, Chloe, moved back from Europe. During a hurricane warning on our island vacation, Julian abandoned me in a limestone cave. Half an hour later, he texted me: “The sun’s out. I left your umbrella on the beach up ahead. There’s no shade. Do you see it?” “Chloe is right. If I don’t force you out of your comfort zone, you’ll never have the courage to face the sun.” I ran out, fighting through agonizing pain, and finally reached the umbrella. When I opened it, I realized the black vinyl canopy had been slashed with dozens of holes. The blazing July sun instantly pierced through the ribs of the umbrella. My skin rapidly flushed, blistered, decayed, and began to bleed. Fighting off dizziness, I dialed Julian’s number. Over the phone, I heard Chloe’s delicate, mocking laugh. “Oh my god, did she actually go out and grab that shredded piece of trash?” “I bet Julian that if I ruined the umbrella and left it in the sun, you’d still cling to it like a lifeline.” Julian chuckled softly in agreement. “Let her be. A little sunburn never killed anyone.” I looked down at my blistering, weeping arm. When you place your life in the hands of someone who doesn’t love you, even breathing feels like a sin. I didn’t want this starry umbrella anymore. … I flagged down a taxi. The driver took one look at my condition and waved me off. “No, no way. I’m not taking you. You’re going to get blood all over my seats.” I pulled a few soaked hundred-dollar bills from my pocket and shoved them directly into his hand. “Triple the fare.” “Take me to Ocean Avenue.” He hesitated, but eventually unlocked the doors. Still, the disgust in his eyes was completely unfiltered. The moment I pushed open the front door of my house, my mom was sitting on the sofa, mending a shirt. Clatter. The sewing scissors dropped from her hands, hitting the floor. “Maya!” She practically crawled toward me, her legs giving out when she saw my bloody, ruined skin. She collapsed onto the floor. “My Maya… my baby…” “How did this happen?!” Sobbing, she scrambled to grab the first-aid kit. She used saline to flush my wounds. She carefully used scissors to cut away the fabric of my clothes that had fused with my decaying flesh. Every piece of fabric she peeled away took large chunks of dead skin with it. I bit down on the bedsheet as hard as I could. I didn’t make a single sound. But my mom’s hands were shaking so badly she could barely hold a cotton swab. With bloodshot eyes, she pulled out her phone and immediately called Julian. “Julian Vance.” “How the hell were you taking care of Maya?!” “Do you have any idea she almost burned to death out there?!” The other end of the line was silent for a second. When Julian spoke, his voice was perfectly calm. It even carried a trace of exasperated superiority. “Mrs. Hayes.” “The doctors have told us for years that her condition is mostly psychological.” “You can’t keep coddling her.” “Chloe was just trying to help her desensitize. She had good intentions.” “I made sure to leave her near a shaded area. She’s the one who ran out into the sun and got a little burned.” “Just put some aloe on it. Stop being so dramatic.” My mom was trembling with rage. Tears smashed against her phone screen. “A little burned?” “Her flesh is literally rotting off her body!” “You are a monster, Julian!” Julian’s tone immediately darkened. “Mrs. Hayes.” “I only call you that out of respect for the three years Maya and I have been together.” “If you’re going to be unreasonable and hysterical, then we have nothing left to talk about.” He hung up. Because of the extensive burns, I rapidly developed an acute infection. I fell into a feverish shock. In my delirium, I could feel my mother constantly wiping me down with cold towels to break the fever. I could feel her tears constantly dropping onto my face. In the early hours of the morning, the fever woke me up. My phone screen was glowing on the nightstand. I had a new text from Julian. “Your mom called and screamed at me.” “You went running to her to complain again, didn’t you?” “Did you put ointment on your sunburn?” “Stop throwing a tantrum.” “I’m doing this so you can live like a normal person.” “Chloe threw a bonfire party on the beach tonight. There’s no sun.” “Come over here, apologize to her, and we can put this whole thing behind us.” Apologize. He actually wanted me to apologize to the person who almost killed me. Numbly, I opened Instagram. A minute ago, Chloe had posted a photo dump. In the pictures, the sun was setting. Julian had draped his custom-tailored trench coat over Chloe’s shoulders and was looking down, carefully adjusting the collar to keep her warm. They were gazing deeply into each other’s eyes. The caption read: “He said the ocean breeze is too cold for a girl to handle.” In the comments, one of Julian’s frat brothers teased him: “Bro, you’re playing favorites! The rest of us are freezing out here.” Julian replied: “Obviously. If I don’t protect her, who will?” I stared at that reply. Slowly, I raised my uninjured left hand. I reached for the silver star necklace around my neck—the one Julian had clasped on me himself. I yanked it hard. Snap. The chain broke, the silver links slicing through the blisters on my collarbone. I threw it into the trash can, right on top of the bloody, ruined gauze. The next day at noon, the doorbell rang downstairs. Julian punched in the passcode and strode inside. He was carrying a cheap, generic tube of burn cream he had clearly just grabbed from a corner drugstore. When he saw me wrapped in gauze from head to toe, he frowned. A flash of disgust crossed his eyes. “Your mom really overreacts to everything.” “You just peeled a little skin. Why are you wrapped up like a mummy?” He walked over to the bed and reached out to ruffle my hair. I turned my head away, dodging his hand. His hand froze in mid-air. His expression instantly darkened. “Maya.” “There’s a limit to how long I’ll put up with this attitude.” “Chloe’s methods might have been a bit direct, but she did it to shock you out of your shell. Not only are you ungrateful, but you actually had your mother call and scream at me.” He tossed the cheap burn cream onto the nightstand. It landed with a soft smack. “You are coming to the beach party tonight.” “Chloe just moved back. She doesn’t have many friends here. If you don’t even show up to give her face, everyone’s going to think you’re petty and jealous.” “Be a good girl. Just make an appearance. Don’t make things difficult for me.” I looked at him quietly. I looked at the man I had loved deeply for three years, the man who used to protect me like I was made of fragile porcelain. The agonizing pain made my entire body tremble with every breath I took. But I used the last bit of my strength to speak, my voice perfectly calm. “Julian. Let’s break up.” Julian’s face turned completely thunderous. His eyes filled with the explosive rage of a man whose absolute authority had just been challenged. “Break up? Maya, are you out of your mind?!” “You’re threatening me with a breakup over something this trivial?!” “I told you, I am not going to be your crutch for the rest of your life! If you stay this sensitive and fragile, who the hell is ever going to put up with you?!” “I’m not threatening you…” I weakly tried to back away, but he had already lost his patience. He stepped forward and grabbed my wrist. “Let go… it hurts…” My vision went black from the pain. My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the floor. Cold sweat instantly soaked through the back of my shirt. But he didn’t let go. He stood towering over me, glaring down. “If it hurts, deal with it.” “You are going today whether you want to or not. I don’t cater to anyone’s tantrums.” “Even if I have to drag you there, you are going to apologize to Chloe!” I didn’t have the strength to fight back. I was forced into a loose, long-sleeved, high-necked sweater. Even though the fabric was loose, every time it brushed against my wounds, my entire body convulsed in agony. On the drive there, I curled up in the passenger seat, my face deathly pale. Julian floored the gas pedal, not bothering to spare me a single glance. The party was held at an open-air restaurant by the beach. It was true that there was no sun. But to set the “mood,” the entire venue was flooded with dense, vibrant purple lights. Ultraviolet lights. High-intensity UV blacklights. For someone with porphyria, UV blacklights are no different than standing under the blazing noon sun. They are equally lethal poison. Three years ago, when Julian was pursuing me, he memorized every single medical journal article about my condition. It was impossible that he didn’t know this. But he just kept a stony expression, half-dragging me toward the corner with the highest concentration of UV lights, shoving me into a chair. “You sit right here and think about your attitude.” “I’m going to cut the cake with Chloe. Maya, you better not cause a scene.” He turned and walked away. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t look back once. The second my skin absorbed the UV light, the sensation of being branded with a hot iron ripped through my body all over again. I tried to stand up to escape the lights. But Chloe walked over, holding two glasses of red wine. She was wearing a sexy, low-cut slip dress. In her hand, she was holding a blindingly bright UV glow stick. “Hey, Maya.” “Aren’t you hot wrapped up in all those layers?” She purposefully leaned in close. She pointed the UV glow stick directly at my cheek. The intense UV rays instantly pierced through my silk scarf. My flesh screamed, the agonizing burning sensation tearing through my nerves. “Ugh.” I let out a muffled groan of sheer agony. I blindly swung my arm, slapping the lethal glow stick away from my face. “Get away.” “Stay the hell away from me!” I barely even pushed her. But Chloe let out an incredibly theatrical, piercing scream. She threw herself backward onto the sand. “Ah!” The wine glasses shattered around her. “My ankle! I twisted my ankle!” Julian, who was walking over with two slices of cake, saw her fall. The color drained from his face. He didn’t even care about the cake. He tossed the plates into the sand. He sprinted toward us. To protect Chloe, who was sitting on the ground… He didn’t even think. He violently shoved me out of the way. “Maya, are you insane?!” “If you have a problem, take it out on me! What kind of pathetic coward bullies her?!” I still had a high fever and was incredibly weak. When he shoved me with that much force, I completely lost my balance. I fell backward, hard. Right behind me was a row of blazing hot, ground-level UV spotlights. Sizzle. The extreme heat of the bulb melted straight through my pants. The blisters on my calves burst open en masse. Flesh tore. Blood poured out. Blood and pus instantly soaked through the white fabric of my pants. As I slid to the ground, I dragged a horrifying, bloody smear across the floorboards. “It hurts…” I curled into a ball on the ground. Even the air I breathed tasted like copper. My entire body was shaking uncontrollably. The surrounding socialites and rich kids were all staring now in horror. “Oh my god, why is she bleeding so much?!” “It smells like burnt meat. That’s disgusting.” “Is it some kind of infectious disease? Gross.” Chloe hid in Julian’s arms, covering her mouth and pretending to be terrified. “Julian, I’m so scared.” “Maya looks terrifying.” Julian held Chloe tightly against his chest. He finally lowered his head to look at me. But in his eyes, there was nothing but endless disgust and rage. He ripped off his expensive jacket and draped it over Chloe, physically shielding her from the sight of me. As if even looking at me would contaminate her eyes. He stood towering over me, pointing a finger at my blood-soaked body. “There is no sun here.” “How long are you going to keep up this pathetic victim act?” “Using this kind of cheap trick because you’re jealous?” “Maya, you actually make me sick.” “Get the hell out of here before you embarrass yourself any further.” Not a single word of concern. Not a single question asking if I was in pain. Around me, everyone was either mocking me or watching like it was a reality show. I clamped my jaw shut. My mouth was flooded with the taste of my own blood. I didn’t shed a single tear. Using the very last ounce of strength I had, I gripped the metal leg of a nearby table. Inch by inch, I slowly pulled myself up from the pool of my own blood. I didn’t look at him. I didn’t say a single word in my own defense. When your heart dies, silence is the only thing left. I just dragged my ruined, bloody right leg behind me. Step by agonizing step. Leaving a long trail of blood, I walked away from the bright, noisy beach.

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After my husband, Liam, had an affair and came crawling back, my entire family turned into his personal surveillance network. When he went out to take out the trash, my dad trailed him and sent me a video: “He’s behaving. Didn’t even glance at his phone.” When he had meetings at his law firm, my mom dressed up as a janitor to sneak in: “No women within a ten-mile radius.” When he flew back from an international deposition, my best friend literally scanned him with a blacklight wand at the airport. “No stray hairs, no lipstick stains. Everything is crystal clear.” Everyone promised me that Liam’s heart belonged to me again. Even Liam himself knelt by my side of the bed every single night, swearing that for the rest of his life, he would only love me and our unborn child. Until my seventh month of pregnancy. Liam was supposedly on a business trip, so I went to my OB/GYN appointment alone. As I walked past the maternity ward, I accidentally spotted him. He was holding a newborn baby, passionately kissing the woman lying in the hospital bed. And standing right there, teary-eyed and circling the bed, were my parents and my best friend. I recognized the woman instantly. It was his former mistress, Chloe. When they saw me standing in the doorway, everyone panicked like they had just seen a ghost, instinctively moving to shield the baby. But I just calmly walked up to Liam and smoothed out his wrinkled collar. “The baby is cute. Looks like you.” “I’ll let you guys get back to it. I need to go home and do the laundry.” … Liam froze, pure panic flashing across his face. “Clara, listen to me…” “Do you have any clothes you need me to wash?” I interrupted, pointing at a pile of his pants and shirts on the sofa. His face turned deathly pale. He grabbed my hand desperately. “Clara, don’t do this. Just listen to me, let me explain.” “Do what?” I looked at him, a faint smile on my lips. “Isn’t it better if I don’t disturb you?” He shook his head, his voice trembling with cautious disbelief. “You’re… you’re not angry?” I knew exactly why he was so shocked. Six months ago, the day I caught him cheating with Chloe, I completely lost my mind. I printed out a thousand copies of their bed photos and plastered them all over the glass doors of his law firm. When he asked for a divorce, I stabbed him three times with a kitchen knife and then climbed up to the roof of our apartment building. That day, my parents and my best friend dragged a bleeding Liam up to the roof. They forced him to his knees, holding up my blood test results. “Clara, you’re pregnant! Please, just for the sake of the baby, forgive him this one time!” Back then, everyone thought I was a psycho. But now, I just stood there in silence, prying his fingers off my hand one by one. “There’s no need to be.” Suddenly, the baby in his arms started fussing, its sharp cries piercing my eardrums. My best friend, Sarah—the same girl who, just yesterday, had pressed her ear to my belly and squealed about being a godmother—rushed forward and shoved me hard. “If you have something to say, take it in the hall! Stop acting crazy, you’re going to scare the baby!” “Chloe didn’t even dare to book a private VIP suite because she was afraid of hurting your feelings! Do you have any idea how much she’s sacrificed?!” My parents, whose hair had supposedly turned gray overnight from worrying about my marriage, stepped in front of Chloe like bodyguards. “Clara, Chloe is a good girl. She doesn’t have any family here. She just gave birth, we had to be here for her.” Heavily pregnant, I was forced backward step by step by the people I loved most. I slammed into the doorframe, breaking out in a cold sweat from the sharp pain in my back. It took me a few seconds to catch my breath. “This is your business. I don’t care.” I gripped my lower back and turned to leave. But Chloe suddenly stumbled out of bed, her eyes red, and dropped to her knees right in front of me. “Clara, please don’t blame them! This is all my fault!” “My dad was trying to force me to move back to my hometown and marry some guy. Everyone was just trying to help me out. They suggested I have the baby and pretend I was already married to get him off my back…” “You were the one who helped me get out of that town. You sponsored my college tuition. I’ve never forgotten what I owe you. I swear, I would never try to steal your husband!” She was sobbing, but deep in her eyes, I could see a hidden, victorious smirk. A wave of intense nausea hit me. I instinctively yanked my arm away from her and leaned against the wall, dry heaving. “Chloe!” “Clara, you pushed her?! She just had a baby!” Sarah’s eyes went completely feral. She wound up and slapped me hard across the face. My cheek went numb instantly. Clutching my stomach, I opened my mouth to defend myself, but my parents aggressively shoved me out the door. “Just go home! Stop causing a scene!” SLAM. The heavy door was shut in my face. From inside, I could hear a chorus of soft, gentle voices coaxing and comforting Chloe. I was completely shut out. A crack of thunder echoed through the hospital corridor. The cold wind sweeping in through the open windows made me shiver. The door clicked open, and Liam chased after me, holding an umbrella. “Clara, it’s raining outside. I’ll drive you.” I didn’t reject the offer, and he visibly let out a sigh of relief. “The doctor said Chloe has medical issues. If she had aborted this baby, she would never be able to get pregnant again. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.” “But I swear to God, you are the only woman I love.” “As soon as she’s discharged, I’m sending her and the baby to Seattle. You will never have to see them again.” “I don’t care.” I turned around, pulled the wedding band off my ring finger, and dropped it at his feet. “Take it. Give it to her.” “Once my baby is born, we’re getting a divorce.” Liam tried to grab my arm to stop me. But Sarah called out from the room. “Liam, get back here! Chloe’s crying!” In the end, he left me standing there, dumping the umbrella into my hands. “I am not getting a divorce. Just take a cab home for now.” I opened the umbrella. There was a tear in the fabric, exactly like the massive, unfixable crack in our relationship. The cold rain leaked right through it. It wouldn’t kill me, but it was enough to freeze my heart completely. Once I got into a cab, I absentmindedly opened Instagram and saw Chloe had posted a new Reel. “The baby is finally here! It’s a little girl. My husband named her Lily.” My hand crushed the fabric of my dress. A tidal wave of grief flooded my chest, threatening to drown me. Lily. That was the exact name I had picked out for the baby I lost. Years ago, Liam’s law firm was targeted by some shady individuals who hired thugs to trash the office. I threw myself in front of him to protect him, and the beating I took caused me to miscarry. And now, he had taken that name and handed it over to his mistress. My trauma, the death of our first child—he had completely forgotten all of it. Tears blurred my vision as my trembling thumb scrolled further down her page. The day I was in a massive car accident and shattered my tibia, they sent me hundreds of “Get well soon!” texts… while they spent the entire night setting off fireworks with Chloe on the beach. The weeks I was violently ill from morning sickness, they ordered UberEats to send me soup… while they took Chloe on a seven-day European vacation to see the Northern Lights. The people who claimed they were “too busy with work” to come to my birthday dinner were actually having a romantic picnic under the stars with Chloe. There were over six hundred posts. I tortured myself by watching them over and over, until I was so numb I couldn’t shed a single tear. I had suspected it before, but I always held onto a tiny shred of delusional hope. Now, the truth was laid out right in front of my face. I had to accept the fact that they had been treating me like an absolute idiot. I reeled my thoughts back in, gently resting my hand on my stomach, taking a deep breath. “Don’t worry, baby. Mommy’s going to take you far away from here soon.” I took the cab straight to my parents’ house to grab my passport and birth certificate. I unlocked the front door. But what I saw was completely unfamiliar. All of my belongings had been cleared out. My old room had been completely renovated into a cozy, pastel-pink princess room. I reached out to touch a decorative seashell lamp on the desk, but a sharp, panicked voice stopped me. “Don’t touch that!” My parents were standing in the entryway holding grocery bags, glaring at me with open resentment. “Chloe doesn’t like people touching her things. She’ll be upset.” I looked at them. “Where is all my stuff?” “We put it in the storage unit.” “This is my bedroom.” My mom rolled her eyes and walked toward the kitchen. “Chloe is practically our adopted daughter. Are you seriously going to fight her over a room?” I was squished against the doorframe, my clothes sticking uncomfortably to my skin from the rain. Neither of them even asked if I was cold. A sharp sting hit the back of my nose, and my eyes filled with tears. “And what about me? Am I not your daughter anymore?” My mom didn’t even look up from unpacking the groceries. “How can you even compare yourself to Chloe? She is so sweet and considerate. Having her around me and your dad is like having a little ray of sunshine. Just looking at her makes me happy.” “Unlike you. You constantly walk around looking miserable, acting like the whole world owes you something.” She sighed heavily. “If you weren’t standing in the way, Chloe and Liam would have been married ages ago.” “They genuinely love each other. They’ve been hiding it for years just to spare your feelings, and you can’t even show a little understanding?” My own biological mother. Telling me to be understanding of my cheating husband and his mistress. I wiped my tears and let out a broken laugh. “Fine. Then from now on, she can be the one to take care of you.” “What are you throwing a fit about now? Where are you going?” my dad asked impatiently. “I’m moving to Chicago for work. I won’t be coming back.” After saying that, I pulled out my phone to check my final job offer from Chicago Memorial Hospital. Instead, I saw a rejection email sitting in my inbox: [Following a formal complaint, an internal investigation has concluded that you fabricated portions of your resume and have a history of accepting bribes and violating medical ethics. You have failed the background check and are permanently blacklisted from our hospital network.] My blood ran cold. I immediately dialed the hospital director. His voice was ice-cold on the other end. “I actually thought you were a promising candidate. I never expected you to forge your own medical publications.” “If Attorney Vance hadn’t personally brought us the evidence of your violations, we would have hired a fraud.” It was Liam… A blinding rage consumed me. Ignoring my parents’ protests, I stormed out of the house and drove straight back to the hospital. In the VIP suite, Liam was softly singing a lullaby to coax Chloe to sleep. I threw the door open so hard it banged against the wall, startling the baby in the bassinet into a loud wail. “Liam! How dare you maliciously report me to the hospital?!” “Being a surgeon has been my dream my entire life! You know exactly how much I sacrificed for that career!” He instinctively covered Chloe’s ears, glaring at me with intense annoyance. “Chicago Memorial only had one open slot this year. Chloe wanted it. It’s a good resume builder for her.” My fury, my devastation—it all meant absolutely nothing to him. I was so angry I couldn’t even breathe properly. I grabbed his shirt sleeve. “You need to call the hospital and clear this up right now, or I swear to God I will sue you for defamation!” “Try it.” He smiled faintly. “I guarantee you, there isn’t a single lawyer in this city who will take your case.” “We have plenty of money. You don’t need to work. Just stay home and focus on raising the baby.” I stared at him in utter shock as tears slid down my face. “I am going to hate you for the rest of my life…” Seeing the absolute heartbreak in my eyes, Liam’s expression finally softened. He reached out to wipe my tears. But Chloe suddenly slid out of bed and walked over. “Liam, let me talk to Clara.” She grabbed my arm, her manicured nails digging painfully into my skin. She leaned in and whispered in my ear: “Clara. Your parents, your best friend, your husband, and now your job. Every single thing you had belongs to me now.” “Did you really think it was just bad luck when those patients filed false malpractice reports and got you fired from your last hospital? Liam paid them to do it. He didn’t want you working at the same hospital where I was getting my prenatal care, in case you bumped into us.” “Just accept your reality. You will never, ever beat me.” “Shut your mouth!” My eyes went feral. I raised my hand to slap her, but my wrist was violently snatched mid-air. Liam gripped my arm, his jaw clenched in a furious warning. “Don’t you dare touch her.” He pulled Chloe behind him, shielding her with his body, and looked at me with eyes as cold as ice. “Get out.” I lifted my chin and aggressively wiped my tears away. “I’m going to show you today that there is absolutely nothing I’m afraid to do.” I went home, booted up my laptop, and compiled every single text message, hotel receipt, and explicit bed photo of Liam and Chloe into a 128-page PDF presentation. I posted the entire file into the comments section of all her viral social media videos. The internet exploded instantly. The file was shared thousands of times across every platform. Major news outlets started DMing me, asking for exclusive interviews. Before I could even reply to a single message, Liam burst through the front door. He ground his teeth together, practically lifting me off the ground by my shoulders. “Clara, are you trying to destroy Chloe?! There are reporters swarming the hospital!” “You are going to come with me right now and issue a public apology to clear her name!” “Why the hell should I apologize?!” I fought desperately to break his grip, but his fingers only dug in harder. His face was terrifyingly dark. “If you don’t do this, I promise you, when you go into labor, there won’t be a single doctor willing to deliver your baby.” I stared at him in pure disbelief, my heart cramping in agonizing pain. To protect Chloe, Liam was actually threatening my life and the life of our unborn child. I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. “Fine. I’ll go.” At the hospital, a massive crowd of journalists had swarmed the lobby, camera flashes going off like strobe lights. Chloe was huddled against Liam’s chest, playing the part of a terrified, fragile victim. I let out a cold laugh, grabbed a microphone from one of the reporters, and spoke clearly into it. “What made you think I was ever going to let a parasite off the hook?” “The rumors are completely true. Chloe is a homewrecker.” “I brought her out of a rural, dead-end town. I paid for her entire education. And in return, she slept with my husband and gave birth to his illegitimate child.” The entire lobby erupted in gasps. Chloe’s eyes instantly filled with tears. “Clara! You’ve been stalking my husband for years, and I put up with it! You drugged him, climbed into his bed, and got pregnant with his baby, and I still didn’t say anything! What more do you want from me?!” As she spoke, she pulled a marriage certificate out of her purse. It clearly displayed both her and Liam’s names. “I am Liam’s legal wife.” I looked up in utter shock, locking eyes with Liam, who immediately looked away, refusing to meet my gaze. Sarah stepped in front of Chloe, glaring at me defensively. “Clara, get your facts straight. You are the mistress trying to destroy their marriage!” My mom pulled a stack of medical records out of her bag and held them up for the cameras. “I’m so sorry, everyone. My daughter has severe psychiatric issues. She’s been obsessively stalking Liam for years. She drugged him to get pregnant and has caused Chloe so much emotional distress. As her mother, I sincerely apologize.” I stared at my mother in complete horror. The tears broke instantly. “Mom?! Are you crazy?! She’s the one who…” Before I could finish, Liam gestured to a group of doctors in white coats rushing over. They took the fake psychiatric evaluation from my mother, and without giving me a single second to defend myself, they jammed a needle full of sedatives into the side of my neck. As my vision faded to black, the last thing I saw was Liam and Chloe, their fingers tightly intertwined, leaning against each other. Neither of them even spared me a second glance.

Five years ago, Julian dove into the dark ocean to save my life, and never came up. For the next five years, I held onto his family’s shipping company with a death grip. I fought off his corporate enemies. I took care of his crew and his so-called brotherhood. But tonight, just as I was finally preparing to scatter his ashes into the sea, a brightly lit party yacht sailed into the harbor. Hanging off the side of the hull was a massive, blown-up engagement photo. The man in the photo was my fiancé, Julian—the man who was supposed to have died five years ago. And the woman he was holding in his arms was my best friend, Chloe. The girl I had personally rescued from human traffickers. I froze in place. The next second, Liam—the enforcer who had been my loyal shadow for a decade—pressed the cold barrel of a gun against the back of my head. “Maya,” he said quietly. “Don’t ruin Julian and Chloe’s happiness.” Julian stood on the upper deck, looking down at me with cold indifference. “Maya, for the past five years, you have suffocated me.” … The ocean breeze whipped up, carrying the heavy scent of salt and rot. The urn in my arms clattered against the iron railing with a dull thud. I looked up at him. “Julian. Say that again.” Julian tightened his grip around Chloe’s waist. He kept his voice low. “I’m alive.” “I didn’t die five years ago.” A sudden hush fell over the deck. Then, a few people looked away. Someone raised a champagne flute. Another hid a party popper behind their back. There were no gasps of shock. No bewildered questions. Julian’s old crew lined the red carpet, all dressed in celebratory formal wear. It was like they had been rehearsing this reunion for years. I let out a harsh laugh. “You all knew?” No one answered. I looked past Julian to his first mate. “Carter. Did you know too?” Carter lowered his head. “Miss Maya. Tonight is a good night for Mr. Vance.” I turned my gaze to Mrs. Higgins, the company’s head of accounting. “Mrs. Higgins. Five years ago, when the debt collectors were literally breaking down the doors of the Vance estate, I was the one who pulled strings to get your son safely out of the country.” Mrs. Higgins tightened her grip on her champagne glass. “Miss Maya, people have to look forward.” I clutched the urn tighter, my knuckles turning white against the sharp corners of the box. “Look forward?” “I held a vigil with his portrait for seven days, and you were all looking forward?” “I handed over three of my family’s cargo ships to appease his rivals, and you were looking forward?” “I forced the Hayes family ports to give Vance Shipping green lights for five years, and you were looking forward?” Julian frowned. “Maya, nobody asked you to do any of that.” The words hit like a slap across the surface of the water. Suddenly, the crashing of the waves sounded deafening. I stared at him. “Nobody asked me?” “When Vance Shipping was hours away from filing for bankruptcy, who got on their knees and begged me to stabilize the company?!” Someone in the crowd cleared their throat awkwardly. Julian’s expression turned frigid. “Don’t pin all of your sacrifices on me.” “As far as I was concerned, I was dead for five years.” “You chose to hold onto my ghost. That was your choice.” I nodded slowly. “Fine.” “My choice.” Chloe stepped forward, resting a hand on her slightly swollen stomach. She was wearing a stunning white evening gown, the train embroidered with a delicate constellation pattern. She lightly rested her fingers on Julian’s cuff. “Maya, please don’t blame Julian.” “These past five years have been incredibly hard for him too.” My eyes dropped to her stomach. Liam immediately stepped closer behind me, the muzzle of his gun digging harder into the base of my skull. “Maya, Chloe is pregnant.” “Do not take another step toward her.” Julian raised a hand. “Protect Chloe.” Two massive bodyguards immediately moved to block her from my sight. Chloe’s eyes welled with tears. “I know you hate me.” “But the baby is innocent.” I stared at the human wall protecting her. “When I dragged you out of that trafficker’s basement, you said you were innocent too.” Chloe bit her lip. “Maya, I’ve always remembered what you did for me.” “That’s exactly why I wanted to invite you tonight.” I burst out laughing. “Invite me?” Liam lowered the gun but remained planted firmly in front of Chloe. “Mr. Vance gave strict orders. We can’t let you cause a scene on the boat.” I slowly turned to look at him. “Liam. When you were seventeen, and the dock runners broke two of your ribs with a crowbar, who carried your bleeding body out of that warehouse?” Liam looked away. “Maya, let’s keep things separate.” “I owe you my life. I admit that.” “But you can’t use that debt like a knife against Julian and Chloe’s throats.” I pointed a shaking finger at Julian. “He faked his death to play me for a fool for five years.” “And you’re telling me not to hold a knife?” Liam’s voice hardened. “Julian just wanted to live an easier life.” “You controlled the company, you controlled the fleet, you controlled the crew. You even interrogated him about where he went after hours.” “Who could survive that?” The sharp thwack of a walking cane against the wooden deck broke the tension. Old Man Vance stepped out from the crowd of guests. His hair was mostly white, and a bright red boutonnière was pinned to his lapel. Seeing that red flower made my throat burn like I had swallowed battery acid. “Mr. Vance.” He sighed heavily. “Maya, just let it go.” “Julian and Chloe are having a baby.” “It’s time for the Vance family to have a fresh start.” I stared at him in disbelief. “You knew too?” The old man avoided my eyes. “I’m an old man. All I want is peace in my family.” I took a slow step toward him. Liam reached out to block me. I stopped. “Mr. Vance, the day we buried Julian’s empty casket, you were the one who held my arm as we walked through the cemetery.” “You looked at me and said, ‘Maya, the Vance family is relying on you now.’” The old man gripped his cane tighter. “The situation was different back then.” “Once Julian came back… I couldn’t exactly tear him and Chloe apart, could I?” My voice dropped to a harsh whisper. “So you just sat back and watched me visit an empty grave for five years?” The old man’s face stiffened. Chloe hurriedly interjected. “Mr. Vance is just trying to do what’s best for everyone.” “Maya, please don’t pressure an old man.” I snapped my head toward her. “Shut your mouth.” Julian’s voice cut through the air like ice. “Maya!” “You’re scaring her.” He held out a hand to his side. His assistant immediately placed a gold-embossed invitation in his palm. Julian set the invitation on the ship’s railing. The sea breeze caught the crimson cover, flipping it open. It proudly displayed his name, intertwined with Chloe’s. “The engagement banquet is the day after tomorrow.” “You will be there.” “And in front of all the press in the city, you are going to publicly give us your blessing.” I stared blankly at the invitation. “You want my blessing?” Julian crossed his arms. “You guarded the Vance family for five years. The whole city respects you.” “If you give us your blessing, the media won’t tear Chloe apart.” Chloe gently tugged on his hand. “Julian, don’t force Maya to do this.” He squeezed her hand back. “She owes you an explanation.” I looked around the deck, bathed in celebratory red lights. “I owe her an explanation?” Liam snatched the invitation from the railing and shoved it into my hand. “Maya. Don’t make this hard for everyone.” The sharp, gilded edge of the thick cardstock sliced my palm. A drop of my blood smeared right across Julian’s name. He glanced at it, not a single muscle in his face twitching. “Escort her off the ship.” Two security guards grabbed my arms. I violently wrenched myself out of their grip. “I can walk.” As I stepped off the gangway, the celebratory fireworks launched from the yacht, bursting in the sky behind me. Confetti rained down into the dark water. The ashes inside the urn grew heavy, saturated by the damp sea air. Early the next morning, I returned to the Moonfall. It was the yacht that was supposed to be my wedding venue. Five years ago, Julian promised we would get married on the ocean. I had personally picked out every single light fixture in the cabins. The brass bell hanging at the end of the corridor was an antique I had taken from my late mother’s belongings. Now, the hull was draped in massive floral wreaths. Right below the ship’s painted name, a brand-new banner was plastered: Celebrating the Engagement of Julian & Chloe. The deckhands were tearing down the light fixtures. A young crewman ripped down the white silk ribbons I had tied to the railing with my own hands. The silk fell straight into a puddle of engine oil on the dock. I called out to him. “Who told you to take those down?” The crewman turned to look at me, a pair of heavy shears still in his hand. “Miss Chloe said old things are bad luck.” I walked into the master cabin. The photo wall that used to display our nautical maps and sailing photos was gone. In its place was a massive engagement photo of Julian holding Chloe as they watched the sunrise. The adjoining room, where Julian and I had once fitted my wedding dress, had been painted a warm, buttery yellow. A little wooden sign hung on the door: Nursery. Chloe was standing inside, directing the maids on where to place the baby crib. “Put it by the window.” “Julian said he wants the baby to be able to see the ocean as soon as they wake up.” I stood in the doorway. “This is my room.” Chloe turned around, offering a soft, apologetic smile. “Maya, you’re here.” “Julian said we’re going to host the baby’s one-month milestone party on this ship.” “I had the staff pack up all your things.” I looked past her and saw a cardboard box shoved near the bed. Inside the box was a disorganized pile of my photo albums, my evening gowns, and the meticulous shipping route plans I had drafted for Julian over the years. A maid taped the box shut and moved to carry it out. I blocked her path. “Put it down.” The maid looked nervously at Chloe. Chloe spoke softly. “They’re all just old memories.” “Keeping them around will just make Julian uncomfortable.” I reached into the box and pulled out the photo album on top. The cover had been damaged by the packing tape. Tucked inside the pages was a handwritten card Julian had given me years ago. With the stars and sea as our witness, we will sail through the rest of our lives together. I pulled the card out. “If he’s uncomfortable, he can come tell me to my face.” Chloe stepped closer. As she raised her hand, the ring on her finger caught the light, flashing a brilliant emerald green. An emerald-cut diamond. The exact ring Julian had won at auction five years ago to propose to me. I stared at her hand. “Take it off.” Chloe immediately hid her hand behind her back. “Maya, Julian gave this to me.” “That is my ring.” Chloe’s eyes instantly welled with tears. “You always do this.” “You think everything in the world belongs to you.” “But Julian chose me.” I held out my hand. “Take. It. Off.” She took a step back. “Don’t pressure me.” “If you want it back so badly, tell Julian to come take it off himself.” Rapid footsteps echoed down the hallway behind me. Julian stormed into the cabin. His first instinct was to pull Chloe safely behind him. “Maya, what kind of tantrum are you throwing now?!” I held up the damaged photo album. “You ordered them to gut my wedding ship.” “To throw my belongings in the trash.” “To turn my room into a nursery.” “And you put my engagement ring on her finger.” Julian glanced dismissively at the cardboard box. “Old things are an eyesore.” “And I can give that ring to whoever I damn well please.” Chloe pressed herself against his arm. “Julian, please don’t yell at her.” Julian sneered. “She just can’t stand seeing you have a peaceful pregnancy.” I placed the photo album back into the box. “Alright.” “The maintenance funds for the Moonfall came out of my personal accounts.” “The renovations on this ship were paid for by the Hayes family.” “And the docking fees Vance Shipping racked up at my ports for the last five years? I’ll be collecting on all of it.” The cabin fell dead silent. Julian stared at me, his eyes narrowing. “You wouldn’t dare.” I pulled out my phone. “Carter. Tell the entire crew to halt all operations.” “Starting today, we are auditing every single cent Vance Shipping owes the Hayes family.” Carter’s hesitant voice came through the speaker. “Miss Maya… Mr. Vance is right here.” “Halt operations. If anyone touches another inch of this ship, I will personally see to it that they never work at another port in this city again.” Julian’s face went dangerously dark. He held out his hand to his assistant. The assistant handed him a tablet. Julian unlocked it and shoved the screen in my face. On the video feed, my younger brother, Leo, was strapped to a hospital bed. His wrists were bound with thick white restraints. The windows of the room were sealed shut with steel plates. Two massive bodyguards stood right outside his door. I crushed my phone in my grip. “Julian!” Julian’s voice was completely monotone. “Your brother’s condition is relapsing.” “The sanitarium said he needs isolated, high-security care.” “If you want to audit the company, fine.” “I’ll just tell them to change his ‘care’ methods.” In the video, one of the bodyguards leaned over and roughly pinned Leo’s shoulders to the bed. Leo was screaming, his mouth wide open, but the audio feed was muted. I lunged forward to grab the tablet. Liam sprinted through the doorway and clamped a vice-grip onto my wrist. “Maya! Calm down!” I violently ripped my arm free. “He’s my brother!” Julian casually turned off the tablet. “Revoke the work stoppage order.” “Show up to the engagement party in three days and give your speech.” “And Leo will be granted one visitation.” I stared at him in horror. “You’re using my sick brother as leverage just to legitimize your mistress?” Julian didn’t blink. “You forced my hand.” Chloe whispered from behind him, playing the victim perfectly. “Maya, Leo is already so sick. Please stop provoking Julian.” I shot her a lethal glare. “If you say my brother’s name again, I will rip your mouth off.” Julian stepped in front of her again. “Sign it.” His assistant handed me a legal document: Agreement to Defer Debt Collection. I stared at the piece of paper. “Sign it,” Julian repeated. “And you can go to the sanitarium this afternoon.” A pen was shoved into my hand. I scrawled my signature across the bottom line. Before the ink was even dry, Julian snatched the document away. “Escort Miss Hayes off the ship.”

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At my wedding reception, Liam’s female best friend complained that the traditional reception was boring and proposed a new game: “Tear the Dress.” “Everyone gets to rip a piece of fabric off the bride’s wedding dress! You name your price, and the groom has to buy it back!” “Then we’ll stitch all these ‘blessings’ into a new, unique dress!” Chloe grabbed my shoulder strap and ripped it off. I narrowly avoided exposing myself to the entire room. “Like this! I bid five thousand dollars!” Liam gave her an indulgent smile and took the piece of tulle from her hand. Chloe winked and mirrored a Venmo transfer onto the massive reception projector screen. “Chloe always knows how to party!” “If it’s true love, he’s gotta pay up!” Liam’s groomsmen and friends immediately started cheering and egging each other on. I clenched my fists. Just as I was about to refuse, Liam silenced me with a low whisper: “Chloe’s just making things fun. Don’t be a buzzkill.” I froze. When she strapped a balloon to her stomach, faked a pregnancy, and popped it right next to my ear when I tried to listen for a heartbeat—causing me temporary hearing loss—he said she was just “making things fun.” The night of our engagement party, when she purposefully left me blackout drunk on the sidewalk outside the club, he said she was just “making things fun.” In Liam’s eyes, everything Chloe did was fun. The hem of my dress was being fought over. People were tearing at the fabric. Someone waved a shredded piece of lace in the air, yelling excitedly: “Hurry! Thirty grand!” “If you transfer that money, the wedding is off,” I warned, my voice shaking. Liam frowned. “Everyone came here to celebrate us. Be a good girl. Don’t ruin the mood.” Chloe pouted her lips. “Exactly! You’re no fun.” The next second, the notification for a $30,000 transfer pinged over the speakers. Surrounded by the deafening noise of the crowd, I suddenly felt incredibly calm. She was right. This wasn’t fun anymore. 1 “Let the game officially begin!” As soon as Chloe excitedly made the announcement, the crowd swarmed me. I immediately grabbed the microphone. “DON’T TOUCH ME! THE WEDDING IS OFF!” But the microphone was dead. My warning was completely drowned out by the frenzied screams of the crowd. I looked at Liam in shock. He had signaled the DJ to cut my mic beforehand. He gave me a knowing smirk. He took two steps back, pulling Chloe behind him to protect her. And he let countless hands tear at my clothes. A sudden ringing started in my ears. Yesterday, my family and my actual friends had been tricked by Chloe into taking a boat to an isolated island off the coast, supposedly for a “surprise rehearsal dinner.” Right now, I was completely alone. Completely defenseless. All because she thought it was fun. Riiiiiip! Another massive chunk of my dress was torn away. I snapped back to reality, scrambling backward and screaming at the top of my lungs: “STOP! THE WEDDING IS CANCELED! I’M CALLING THE COPS!” The crowd fell silent for a split second. The people who were actively ripping my dress hesitated. “The bride is just joking around, guys! Whoever tore that last piece, come get your money!” Chloe wrapped her arm around Liam’s neck, practically hanging off him, waving enthusiastically at the crowd. Liam smirked, his eyes full of absolute indulgence for whatever Chloe wanted to do. The hesitant guest stepped forward. The sound of a Venmo notification pinged again. With that, the crowd descended on me once more, yelling and grabbing. Soon, I had backed into a wall. My screams were completely drowned out. Countless hands roamed over my body. Less and less fabric remained to cover my skin. “LIAM!” I let out a guttural scream, wrapping my arms around myself and curling into a ball on the floor. Through the gaps in the crowd, Liam looked at the pile of torn fabric next to him. His smile finally vanished. “That’s enough!” The crowd was like ants on a sugar cube; they weren’t going to stop that easily. “I SAID THAT’S ENOUGH!” The guests finally backed away, looking unsatisfied. Even the crinoline under my dress had been mostly shredded. “I didn’t manage to grab a piece before the older ladies got to it, but getting to cop a feel of such a gorgeous girl isn’t a bad consolation prize.” “Right? So soft and smooth. Rich guys definitely get the best perks…” “SHUT THE FK UP!” Liam ripped off his suit jacket. When he saw the red scratches on my arms and legs, his expression turned dark. “Didn’t I tell you all to know your limits?!” A wave of unease spread across the guests’ faces. A low murmur rippled through the crowd. Suddenly, Chloe let out a delicate sneeze. “The AC in here is freezing.” Liam paused. His attention instantly shifted away from me. He took his jacket and draped it gently over Chloe’s shoulders. I violently shivered, goosebumps breaking out all over my bare arms. “Don’t be gross, man. Do you see me as a girl or something?” Chloe made a show of trying to shrug off the jacket. Liam held it in place. “Just wear it.” Chloe gave a light huff. “Fine, Daddy accepts your offering. Good boy.” I took a deep, shuddering breath. I reached up, ripped one of the venue’s velvet drapes off the wall, wrapped it tightly around myself, and stood up. He grabbed my wrist. “Where are you going? The reception isn’t over.” I let out a cold laugh. “Do you honestly think there’s still a wedding to celebrate?” We locked eyes for a few intense seconds before he let go and chuckled. “True. Stitching the dress back together is going to take some time. Go back to the bridal suite and rest.” In that moment, a thousand words rushed to my tongue. Liam, we are done. But in the end, that was the only sentence that mattered. He opened his mouth, about to say something. “Liam! Come look at this pile! I don’t know how to put it together!” Chloe was standing in the middle of the shredded tulle, scratching her head. He smiled and shook his head fondly. “And you think I do?” The jacket draped over Chloe’s shoulders… And my ruined wedding dress… They were both custom-made by a reclusive, niche designer. Just because I had casually mentioned how much I loved the designer’s work, Liam had flown to Europe over a dozen times, practically begging the designer to come out of retirement. When the dress finally arrived, he treated it with more care than I did. He said it should become a family heirloom. Who knew it wouldn’t even survive the wedding day. Liam and Chloe crouched down together to look at the fabric. Suddenly, Chloe picked up a large piece of sheer tulle and threw it over Liam’s head. She lifted the veil, ducked underneath it with him, and pressed her nose against his. Liam froze, his eyes locked on hers. “No way, no way, is the big bad groom getting nervous?” “Don’t be gross,” Liam laughed, pulling the fabric off. Chloe tackled Liam to the floor, straddling him and tickling his ribs. “You dare call me gross?! You’re asking for it! See how I handle you!” They rolled around on the floor together, laughing. The guests had returned to their tables. The banquet hall was murmuring with gossip. “Rich people are wild. Hiring a bunch of actors to stage a fake wedding reception just because it’s ‘fun’?” “I don’t think so. The bride looked pretty serious to me.” “She was the only one taking it seriously. Did you see any of her family or friends here?” “The groom’s parents were hired actors, and the rest of us are basically extras from Craigslist.” “What kind of grudge do they have against the bride? What happened just now was basically assault.” I slammed the door to the bridal suite, shutting out the absurd, blindingly painful scene outside. When I sat down to take off my makeup, I finally realized my entire face was wet with tears. Chloe had been the one to do the traditional ‘blessing of the bridal bed’ ritual in the honeymoon suite. Now, I didn’t even want to touch the mattress. I changed into my regular clothes and pulled off my engagement ring. It wasn’t until I called the hospital and successfully bumped up my overseas surgical fellowship departure date that I finally felt like I could take a full breath. I still couldn’t reach any of my family or friends. Looking at the severe hurricane warning flashing on my phone screen, panic set in. I called 911. Then, I packed my bag and headed for the nearest marina. When the elevator doors opened, Liam and Chloe were standing right there. He frowned. “Chloe was right. You really did throw a fit and walk out.” Chloe rolled her eyes. “Ugh, women are so much drama.” Liam grabbed my wrist. “Listen to Chloe’s explanation.” She shrugged. “If you’re mad about Liam being late to the courthouse the day you two got your marriage license, then I have to say you have zero trust in him.” “Liam was super nervous the night before, so we watched some porn to help him relax.” “He and I are bros. We got in the mood, so we spent the night helping each other out. It’s totally normal. Stop being such a prude about it.” I didn’t respond, and she started looking annoyed. “I filmed those videos so Liam could see what genuine pleasure looks like on a girl’s face. So he wouldn’t just be faking it.” “Honestly, I did it for your benefit tonight.” “I didn’t plan on you ever seeing them.” When it finally clicked what they were talking about, a wave of pure revulsion hit me. I violently yanked my hand away from him. So that was why Liam was completely exhausted the next day and missed our courthouse appointment? He didn’t explain it then. He didn’t explain it later. He chose to explain it now? My skin crawled where he had touched me. I rubbed my wrist aggressively until it turned red. Liam’s face darkened. “Liam, the hurricane is about to hit. Where are my family and friends?” He paused, glancing at Chloe. “I sent a boat out for them.” “Don’t you think a bunch of people rowing back in a storm sounds fun?” Chloe casually glanced at her vibrating phone. “Oh? There’s a hurricane? Well, they better paddle fast.” My heart stopped. I lunged past them toward the lobby. I bumped into Chloe, making her stumble slightly. Before I could even step into the elevator, Liam grabbed me and yanked me backward. “Apologize to Chloe.” He gripped me incredibly hard, pointing at Chloe’s completely unharmed arm. I let out a muffled groan. Cold sweat broke out on my forehead. Liam froze. Following my gaze, he finally looked down at my hand. It was hanging limply. The wrist that had been twisted during the mob on the dance floor was now completely dislocated from his aggressive pull. He stopped breathing. “I didn’t mean to…” “Liam. Do you know what a surgeon’s most valuable asset is?” He didn’t answer. His lips turned white. Years ago, he had stepped in front of an enraged patient’s family member, taking a knife to the arm for me. He told me then: “As long as you’re safe. A surgeon’s hands are priceless.” After we started dating, he took over all the household chores. If it involved heavy lifting, he absolutely refused to let me do it. Because “a surgeon’s hands are priceless” and needed to be protected. “Clara, I’m going to treat you so well for the rest of our lives, you’ll never want to leave me.” Back then, I believed his promise. Until Chloe moved back to the States three months ago. My life had been turned upside down ever since. “Whatever, whatever. I’ve got thick skin. I won’t hold it against her.” Chloe waved her hand dismissively. I turned around and stepped into the elevator. Liam and Chloe followed me in. “The dress is stitched back together. Let’s finish the ceremony, then we’ll go pick them up. It’s not like your parents are out there anyway.” My parents died in a car crash the year I met Liam. “Liam, you’re only doing this because you know I don’t have parents to protect me.” He lowered his eyes and didn’t argue. He canceled the button for the parking garage and pressed the button for the banquet hall floor. I reached over, pressed the garage button again, and spoke with pure venom. “After you and Chloe paid a bunch of actors to assault me, do you honestly think I’m still going to marry you?” Liam snapped his head up. “You knew they were actors? Who told you?” He met my furious glare, closed his eyes, and let out a soft sigh. “My family refused to attend the wedding. I just didn’t want you to be disappointed by an empty room.” Chloe slapped Liam hard on the back. “My boy Liam practically disowned his own family to be with you.” I stared at him for a long time. This relationship was never supported by his wealthy family. We had stumbled through obstacle after obstacle to reach our wedding day. I couldn’t say Liam didn’t try. Because even I had been pessimistic. I hesitated for a long time before finally accepting his ring on his third proposal. That was the first time I ever saw Liam cry. “Clara, you can’t run away from me now.” He held my hand that entire day and never let go. “Liam. Send a professional rescue team right now to bring my family and friends back safely.” Do that, and I’ll consider whether or not I can ever forgive you. “No way! Liam and I made a bet. If they row back themselves, I win. If he calls for backup, he wins.” “If you make him call for backup, that’s cheating. That ruins the whole game.” Chloe, leaning her head on Liam’s shoulder, looked at me with deep annoyance. “You need to be a good sport. Just like the dress-tearing game. Liam paid for it, you didn’t lose anything.” She grumbled under her breath. “Calling it assault… I thought you were different from his last girlfriend. I thought you could take a joke.” “If you knew that Liam and I spent the other night doing a sensory deprivation game, sleeping naked in the same bed, you wouldn’t—” “Shut up,” Liam cut her off. Chloe scoffed and stopped talking. “Chloe knows her limits. You need to have some faith in them,” Liam said, avoiding my eyes. My heart went completely, irreversibly cold. “Be a good girl. Chloe planned all the reception games. Don’t waste her hard work.” Liam confiscated my cell phone and locked me inside the bridal suite. I borrowed the makeup artist’s phone. When I finally got through to the Coast Guard, I was informed that everyone on the isolated island had been evacuated. Fifteen people. My closest family and friends. Many were suffering from severe sunburns, illness, and sheer terror. The most severe case was my best friend, who had been bitten by a venomous insect while sleeping on the beach. She was three months pregnant. All of this happened just because Chloe thought it would show “true sincerity” if the bride’s family had to trek through the wilderness to attend the wedding. The rescue team had tried to call me after they were evacuated, but my phone was already turned off. The guilt and rage were impossible to suppress. It was my fault. I should have double-checked their transportation five times instead of trusting Liam. I pulled the shredded, ruined wedding dress on over my regular clothes. I had the makeup artist help me out of the room. I grabbed two open bottles of red wine from a catering cart. I marched straight up behind Liam and Chloe, who were sitting at the sweetheart table taking photos. I dumped both bottles over their heads, soaking them from scalp to toe. Chloe shrieked and jumped up. “ARE YOU INSANE?! THIS DRESS IS A LOANER HAUTE COUTURE! IT’S THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD!” “You dumped my pregnant best friend on a deserted island to get bitten by toxic bugs! I THINK YOU’RE THE INSANE ONE!” Chloe gasped for breath, turning to Liam. “Liam! Are you just going to sit there and let her assault your best friend?!” Liam looked like his patience had finally run out. “Clara, that is enough! You’re ruining our perfect wedding! Chloe has been nothing but nice to you!” I stared at Liam in absolute disbelief. “Did you hear what I just said? Maya is pregnant. She was left on an island overnight and bitten by toxic bugs.” Liam’s expression didn’t change. “Didn’t you say the Coast Guard got them?” “They don’t even know if her baby is going to survive!” My throat was raw. Liam’s tone was completely indifferent. “It’s not my kid. She just had bad luck. You can’t blame Chloe for that.” Looking at Liam, a bone-deep chill washed over me. When his entire family told him not to date me, Maya was the one who supported us. When Liam and I had horrible fights, Maya was the one who ran back and forth to help us communicate and clear up the misunderstandings. After I accepted his proposal, Liam said Maya was the MVP, and he would be grateful to her for the rest of his life. I guess his ‘rest of his life’ was incredibly short. I ripped off the shredded wedding dress and threw it at him. Liam’s face changed instantly. His eyes went red, and he grabbed me by the chin. “Clara, are you threatening me?” “You promised me you would never treat our marriage like a joke.” He shoved me away violently. I stumbled and fell to the floor. Liam turned and picked up two covered boxes from the main table. He took long, angry strides toward the massive decorative aquarium in the center of the banquet hall. The second I recognized the boxes, all the blood rushed to my head. Chloe grabbed me in a chokehold from behind as I tried to lunge forward. “I specifically had your parents’ urns dug up from the cemetery! I was going to give them to you as a surprise later.” “I thought it would be so funny to see your dead parents attend the wedding.” She clicked her tongue. “But you really pissed Liam off this time.” My throat was so tight I couldn’t speak. I could only desperately reach my hand out in a futile attempt to stop him. The same Liam who had knelt at my parents’ graves and sworn he would never break my heart… Was now throwing my parents’ remains into the one thing they feared most before they died in a submerged car crash: deep water. “Clara. You ruined our wedding.” Liam pulled out a pocket square and wiped his hands. “Now you know how it feels when something you care about gets destroyed.” My mouth hung open in a silent scream. I watched the water in the aquarium turn a murky, cloudy grey, frozen in place. “Alright, everyone out. The wedding is postponed.” The hired actors immediately scattered. Liam put a protective arm around Chloe to lead her out. “Take some time to think about what you did. The wedding is moved to three days from now. I won’t tolerate another tantrum like this.” I stood there for a very long time, until the lavishly decorated banquet hall was completely empty. I pulled out my phone and dialed a number that had called me dozens of times over the years. My voice was completely hoarse. “I agree to leave Liam. But I have one condition.”

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Eight years after my death, Liam bumped into our son selling trinkets under a highway overpass. It was the middle of a blizzard. My little boy’s face was beet-red from the cold, his tiny hands covered in painful chilblains. Furious, Liam grabbed Leo, roughly dusting the snow off his thin coat. “Where the hell is your mother? Letting you freeze out here all by yourself while she’s probably off enjoying herself? I’ve never seen such an irresponsible parent in my life!” Leo had absolutely no memory of this man. He answered timidly, “My mommy isn’t here anymore… Mister, are you going to buy something? I can give you a discount.” Consumed by his own anger, Liam completely missed the implication of Leo’s words. He let out a harsh, mocking laugh. “What, she’s still holding a grudge, so she’s purposely torturing my son to get back at me?” “If that’s how it is, you don’t need a mother like her anyway! Come with me. I’m taking you home!” Leo fought desperately to pull his arm free. “I don’t know you! Don’t you dare talk about my mommy like that! Let go, or I’m calling the cops!” Liam lost control, roaring at the top of his lungs. “I am your father! I’m your dad!” “Is this how Chloe raised you?! To disrespect your own flesh and blood?! How long is she going to keep this ridiculous grudge going?! Does she expect me to wait until she’s dead for this to end?!” My soul floated nearby, desperately trying to push my son out of his grasp. But my hands just passed straight through Leo’s body. I couldn’t help but smile bitterly. Liam, I’m not holding a grudge. I’m just… dead. 1 Leo burst into terrified tears at the sight of the screaming stranger. But Liam’s rage only escalated. The more he yelled, the angrier he got. “Look at the clothes you’re wearing! They’re basically rags! It’s ten degrees outside, and she lets you out in this?!” “What kind of mother is Chloe?! After the way she treats you, you’re still defending her?!” Leo reached up with his trembling, frozen hands to wipe his tears. Liam quickly grabbed his wrist, roughly shoving his sleeve up. “Why are your hands covered in chilblains?! Where the hell is Chloe?!” “When we got divorced, she fought tooth and nail for custody, and this is how she raises you?! What good is she?! She might as well be dead!” I floated around them in an absolute panic, trying to explain. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to take care of Leo. I just couldn’t. The coat Leo was wearing was already the thickest piece of clothing he owned. It was a hand-me-down from Mrs. Garcia’s kid from last year. But no matter how loud I screamed, they couldn’t hear a single word. Liam crouched down, wrapping his own expensive down jacket over my son’s shoulders. He patiently explained that he was his biological father. It took a long time for the shock to wear off before Leo finally processed it. “So… if I have a dad now, does that mean I don’t have to stay outside anymore?” Liam nodded firmly, taking Leo’s hand to leave. Mrs. Garcia had just finished dealing with a customer at the neighboring stall. Seeing a strange man dragging Leo away, she rushed over. “Who the hell do you think you are?! Trying to kidnap a kid in broad daylight?!” “Let him go right now, or I’m calling 911!” “Help! Somebody help! He’s taking the kid!” Liam’s expression turned incredibly dark. “This is my son!” Mrs. Garcia planted her hands firmly on her hips, her face turning purple with rage. “Oh, so you’re the cheating bastard who abandoned his wife and kid! How do you even have the nerve to show your face?!” “Leo doesn’t need you! Get out of here!” She reached out to pull Leo back, but Liam, standing at six-foot-two, easily blocked her. “Is that what Chloe told you?!” “She turns my son into a starving street urchin, and I’m supposed to just leave him here? Taking my kid back is my right as a father!” “Let’s see if the cops side with a random stranger or his biological dad!” Hearing him drag my name through the mud, Mrs. Garcia erupted. “Chloe is nothing like that!” “Then tell her to come out here and face me! Let’s see if she has the guts to look me in the eye! My son’s fingers are covered in frostbite. Does she even deserve to be called a mother?!” “It’s not that Chloe didn’t care! It’s just that she’s already—” Before she could finish, Liam scooped Leo up into his arms and walked swiftly away. “…She’s already dead…” Mrs. Garcia stared at his retreating back, letting out a long, heavy sigh. “Chloe… I did the best I could for him. Maybe this is just fate…” Her eyes grew red, and the tears she couldn’t hold back began to fall. I rushed over, frantically trying to wipe her tears away. My fingers phased right through her cheek. I gave a self-deprecating laugh. I keep forgetting that I’m not really here anymore. I know I have no right to blame her. She took care of Leo for eight years. She had gone above and beyond anything anyone could expect. Maybe Mrs. Garcia was right. Maybe this was fate. Without me, maybe Liam taking him in wasn’t the worst thing in the world. At least he wouldn’t freeze anymore… But I knew the kind of person living in Liam’s house… 2 Liam buckled Leo into the passenger seat. With the heat blasting, the interior of the luxury SUV felt like an entirely different universe from the blizzard outside. Leo looked around with wide-eyed wonder. He hadn’t been inside a car since the day he was born. A wave of intense guilt and regret washed over me. For the first time, I felt like maybe I shouldn’t have fought so hard for custody. I was too selfish. Sitting in the driver’s seat, Liam pulled a cigarette from his jacket. He brought it to his lips, but didn’t light it. He just smelled the tobacco before sliding it back into the pack. I was genuinely surprised. When I was pregnant with Leo, I begged him to quit smoking, but he absolutely refused. It seems eight years had changed him. I guess true love really does make people break their own rules. He pulled into an upscale, gated community. The massive house was brightly lit. The moment he walked through the door, Sophia, wearing a sheer silk nightgown, rushed over to greet him. “You’re home! Harper and I were just taking bets on whether you’d have to work late tonight.” Hearing the name Harper sent a sharp pang of sorrow through my chest. Before we got divorced, Liam and I had planned out names for our kids. Leo for a boy, Harper for a girl. Now, he had given that name to the daughter he had with Sophia. The young girl skipped into the room. Liam had clearly spared no expense raising her; she looked perfectly polished and confident. I barely recognized her. But the moment her eyes landed on Leo, her bright smile vanished. “Who is this?” “Honey, whose kid did you bring home?” Looking at Leo’s face—which was practically a carbon copy of mine—Sophia’s expression immediately shifted to poorly-concealed panic. “He wouldn’t happen to be Chloe’s…” “He is.” “I ran into him by accident at the farmer’s market. He was freezing. I was so angry I just brought him home. Please don’t be mad.” The flash of pure jealousy in Sophia’s eyes was gone in an instant, replaced by her usual, sickeningly sweet demeanor. “Of course not! Why would I be? Your son is my son.” “It’s just… Chloe fought so hard to take him away. If you brought him here without telling her, I’m just worried she’s going to cause a huge scene…” At the mere mention of my name, Liam’s temper flared. “A scene?! Let’s see her try it!” “Do you have any idea what kind of state he was in?! If I hadn’t brought him home, he wouldn’t have survived the winter!” Leo struggled to pull himself out from behind Liam’s leg. “My mommy isn’t like that! Don’t you say bad things about her!” My eyes immediately welled up with tears. Before he could finish his sentence, Leo suddenly lost his balance and stumbled sideways. I instinctively reached out to catch him, but my hands just went right through him. Liam caught him, pulling him close, and felt his forehead. “Damn it, he’s burning up. You guys go ahead and eat without me. I need to get him to the ER!” He grabbed his coat, fully prepared to head back out into the snow. Sophia grabbed his arm to stop him. “Don’t panic! We have children’s fever reducer in the medicine cabinet. Harper used it last time she was sick, and it worked really well.” “Thank you. You’re always so thoughtful. I wouldn’t know what to do without you.” Sophia forced a smile, practically grinding her teeth together. “Of course. We’re a family.” “But if Chloe realizes he’s missing—” “Don’t even say her name. As far as I’m concerned, Chloe can drop dead in the street. If she comes looking for a fight, she’ll get one!” I knew exactly why Sophia kept bringing me up. She didn’t want to keep Leo, and she wanted to make sure Liam’s opinion of me stayed as low as possible. But she really had nothing to worry about. I was a ghost. I couldn’t do anything. After drinking the medicine, Leo’s fever gradually broke. I hovered over his bed, too anxious to even blink. A suffocating tide of guilt and sorrow washed over me. Before I could even let out a sigh of relief, the bedroom door was pushed open. Harper, wearing a pink princess dress, skipped over to the bed. Leo slowly opened his eyes. Before he could even speak, the little girl raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face. “You’re the bastard child my dad had out of wedlock?! You smell so gross! When was the last time you took a bath?! Who told you you could sleep in my room?!” She grabbed a slipper from the floor and started viciously hitting Leo over the back with it. “Get out! You ugly freak, get out!” Leo was so weak he could barely speak. “I’m not a bastard…” “Dad said I’m his son… and the lady said no one was using this room…” The little girl planted her hands on her hips, looking down at him with supreme arrogance. “Who said no one was using it?! This is the room I keep my dolls in!” Harper yanked the blanket back, revealing an expensive porcelain doll resting on the pillow next to him. Leo’s eyes instantly filled with tears. “I’m sorry. I won’t sleep here. I’ll go right now.” As he tried to push himself up, Harper shoved him violently. He tumbled headfirst off the bed, crashing heavily onto the hardwood floor. Leo didn’t cry when he fell. He didn’t cry when he was called a bastard. But when he reached up and realized the necklace around his neck was gone, he completely broke down. “Where’s my necklace?! Give it back!” Harper dangled the silver chain in front of his face before casually tossing it out the open window into the snow. “What is this piece of garbage? I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing this! If you want it so badly, crawl out there and find it yourself!” “Your mom is a whre, and you’re just a bastard born to a whre! Your whole family is disgusting! Go die!” 3 Leo could handle all the abuse in the world, but he absolutely could not tolerate anyone insulting me. And inside that necklace… were my ashes. A sudden burst of adrenaline surged through his little body. He tackled Harper to the ground and slapped her across the face. I rushed forward, screaming in absolute panic. “Leo, don’t hit her! They’ll kick you out, and you won’t have anywhere to go!” “Mommy doesn’t care! Mommy is already dead, it doesn’t matter what she says!” But he couldn’t hear me. His small face was entirely consumed by rage. The moment the slap echoed through the room, the door flew open. Liam, seeing what had just happened, completely lost his mind. He lunged forward and kicked Leo squarely in the ribs, sending him flying across the room. “What the hell are you doing?! Harper is your sister! Who gave you the right to hit her?!” “Is this how Chloe raised you?!” Leo, already weakened by the fever, hit the wall hard. His face contorted in agony. “Mommy never taught me to hit people! She hit me first! She took my mommy’s stuff!” He was too young to know the word ‘ashes’. Mrs. Garcia had only told him it was the very last thing I had left him. Liam let out a cruel, barking laugh. “Her stuff? Why are you acting like she’s dead? Or does Chloe finally realize she deserves to be?” “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. No wonder she raised you to be a useless piece of trash!” Harper’s eyes darted around, and she immediately started wailing louder. “Daddy, am I going to be permanently scarred?! My face hurts so much…” Hearing that, Liam immediately turned and rushed downstairs. When he came back, he was holding the necklace. “You hit her over this?” “Well, let me make this very clear. Absolutely nothing belonging to Chloe is allowed in my house!” Leo screamed in terror. “NO!!!” But it was too late. Liam hurled the necklace against the wall with all his strength. The small glass vial shattered instantly, and the gray powder inside scattered across the floor. “That was my mommy… she’s already dead! Why… why did you have to take the only thing she left me?!” “I don’t want a dad anymore! I hate you!” Liam froze instantly, all the blood draining from his face. Sophia walked in right at that moment and caught the very end of Leo’s sentence. “Leo, how can you say something so horrible about your own mother?” “She didn’t do a good job taking care of you, but we don’t blame her for that. But you can’t just lie and say she’s dead! Don’t you know how much that hurts your dad?” Whatever shock Liam had just felt was instantly replaced by an overwhelming, volcanic rage at being lied to. He completely lost it, smashing everything within reach in the bedroom. “Why didn’t Chloe just die in a ditch somewhere?!” “How sick do you have to be to make up a lie like this, and teach your kid to say it to my face?! I must have been blind to ever marry her!” “Eight years ago she scammed me, and now she’s trying to scam me again! She’s completely hopeless!” The air in the room completely solidified. Outside the window, the blizzard raged on. Inside, it was dead silent. I closed my eyes in absolute despair. Eight years. I never imagined Liam still resented me this much. When I first got pregnant with Leo, the honeymoon phase of our marriage wasn’t even over yet. We were exactly like every other young, passionately in love couple. We wanted to travel the world together. Back then, Liam loved me more than anything. If I said look left, he wouldn’t dare look right. If I said I wanted to go to Milan, he’d immediately cancel our flights to Paris. A month after the wedding. Every morning when he woke up, the first thing he did was tell me he loved me. I used to tease him, asking how long he was going to keep saying it. And he would always kiss me, completely unbothered, swearing he would say it for the rest of his life. When we were at the peak of our romance, a positive pregnancy test changed everything. I couldn’t bear to cancel our honeymoon trip. He promised me that as soon as the baby was born, we would go on a huge family vacation. Back then, neither of us knew that would be the last moment of genuine warmth we would ever share. We flew back home and went straight to the biggest hospital in the city for my first prenatal checkup. While waiting in line, we accidentally ran into Sophia. That was when I found out the struggling college student I had sponsored for three years had become a nurse. I smiled and asked her how she was doing, if she was adjusting well to the job. Maybe I was too blinded by the joy of my pregnancy, but I didn’t notice the unmistakable look of infatuation in her eyes when she looked at Liam. When I went in for the ultrasound, she and Liam stayed in the waiting room. Using her position as a nurse, and claiming she wanted to “repay my kindness,” she got Liam’s number. She told him to text her if he ever had any questions about the pregnancy. At first, their conversations really were just him asking about obstetrics and prenatal care. But as the days went by, the tone shifted. They started texting each other about their daily lives. Sophia would complain about working overtime, or vent about difficult patients. And Liam stopped asking about me. He started checking in on her. He even initiated inside jokes, offering to buy “the beautiful nurse” boba tea to make up for the bad patients. By the time I realized something was wrong, Liam was out on the balcony smoking. My stomach was cramping with severe morning sickness. Ignoring the nausea, I walked out and snatched the cigarette from his mouth. I asked him if he could quit smoking for the baby. For his health, and for mine. That was the very first time he ever looked at me with open irritation. He told me I was being controlling. Those words completely shattered my pride. Like an absolute lunatic, I grabbed his phone and smashed it against the floor. The cracked screen was frozen on the last message Sophia had sent him. “A new movie just came out. Do you want to take your favorite nurse to see it? I finally perfected my IV technique today, I promise I won’t make you cry next time you get blood drawn!” With red eyes, I screamed at him. “If Sophia told you to quit smoking, would you do it?!” “If Sophia was the one who was pregnant right now instead of me, would you have already quit?!” His eyes turned bloodshot, and he matched my energy, violently sweeping the decorations off the living room table. “You are completely unreasonable! You’re acting like a psycho!” “The only reason I talk to Sophia is to make sure you and the baby are okay!” “I’ve told you the truth. Believe whatever you want!” That night, Liam didn’t come home. I went straight to the hospital to find him. 4 The nurses at the station told me Sophia hadn’t shown up for her shift. I lied, saying I was Sophia’s older sister, and managed to get her home address. When I knocked on the apartment door, Liam answered. He was wearing nothing but a towel. The bright red lipstick mark on his neck was the final snowflake that caused the avalanche. It was ten degrees below zero outside. I was wearing a thin maternity dress, but I couldn’t feel the cold. I stood in the hallway, screaming, cursing, and completely losing my mind. I raised my freezing, cracked hands and slapped him across the face, over and over again. By the time I stopped, my palms were covered in blood. And so was his face. I couldn’t tell if it was mine, or his. My incredibly messy, undignified breakdown was met with one cold, dismissive sentence: “Are you done throwing a tantrum?” “If you’re done, go home.” “The baby is sensitive right now. You can’t let yourself get this hysterical.” It was hilarious, really. The man who drove me completely insane was lecturing me about being too emotional. The father who was cheating on his pregnant wife was accusing me of not caring about our baby. I thought about leaving him. But I couldn’t let go. I loved him. I had loved him for so many years. I stupidly convinced myself that once the baby was born, we could go back to the way things were. But tragedy always strikes faster than hope. Eight months into the pregnancy, I started coughing up blood. The hospital ran a biopsy. Advanced lung cancer. Late stage. The doctors told me if I wanted to keep the baby, I would forfeit any chance of saving my own life. Panicking, I called Liam, begging him to tell me what to do. But when he heard the diagnosis over the phone, he just sighed. “Are you done acting yet?” “I’ve been sleeping at home for the past six months, what more do you want from me?” “Sophia said she saw you at the clinic. Your prenatal scans are perfectly normal.” “Chloe, I don’t want to make things ugly between us. I’ll say this one last time. Sophia and I are only going to see each other until the baby is born. Stop pushing me to break my promise to her.” Before I could even respond, he hung up on me. A minute later, Sophia texted me a photo of her and Liam, completely naked in bed together. Followed by a single text message: “He told me I’m the one he loves. You’re just a responsibility. Honestly, Chloe, are you really willing to spend the rest of your life tied to a man who doesn’t even love you?” Was I willing? Of course not. So I chose to keep the baby. I even childishly told myself that since we had loved each other so deeply once, maybe one day we would fall in love again. As for the cancer… I convinced myself that if I was strong enough, I could beat it. But reality quickly taught me I couldn’t. On the operating table, they issued three separate critical condition notices. The doctors couldn’t reach the baby’s father. I dragged myself up from the operating table and signed the consent forms myself. After I was discharged, I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream. I hired a lawyer and filed for divorce. I asked for absolutely nothing in the settlement. My only condition was full custody of my son. I won. Mostly because Sophia convinced Liam to let me have him. But I still lost everything else. The day I moved out, Liam looked at me with pure disgust. “You want to act tough? Fine! Have fun dying in the gutter, and don’t come crying to me when you realize nobody wants a pathological liar!” “You deserve to die alone, Chloe!” I didn’t argue. Because he was right. After that, I took my son and hit wall after wall. I worked three part-time jobs just to survive, until I finally coughed up blood and collapsed at a street vendor’s stall. Mrs. Garcia rushed me to the hospital. The doctor told me I had waited too long. The cancer had metastasized to my entire body. I only had a few days left. I knew Mrs. Garcia was a good person. Even though she barely made enough to get by, I entrusted Leo to her care. I was terrified of dying on the street and forcing someone else to pay for my body to be moved. I had no money. So, I spent my final days sitting right outside the doors of the local crematorium. Almost every grieving family that walked past asked me who I was waiting for. When I told them I was waiting to die, they cursed at me, calling me a psycho. Mrs. Garcia felt terrible for me. She brought Leo to see me one last time. I told her: “When I’m gone, just keep a tiny bit of my ashes and put them in a necklace for Leo. I want to stay with my son. I want to watch him grow up.” “As for the rest of it, just scatter it anywhere. As long as it’s free.” By then, I was nothing but skin and bones. Maybe God finally took pity on me. Right after I said those last two sentences, I took my final breath. My thoughts were violently ripped back to the present by my son’s agonizing scream. Leo had accidentally been hit by the sharp corner of a falling picture frame. Blood immediately gushed from his forehead. “My mommy wasn’t like that! She never lied to anyone! She didn’t…” Before he could finish, Leo passed out. Liam panicked, scooped his son up, and sprinted toward the hospital. I watched it all happen, my heart shattering into a million pieces, completely powerless to stop it. At the hospital, the attending doctor asked him what the child’s name was. “Leo! Just Leo!” The doctor froze, then slowly looked up. It was the exact same chief resident who had delivered my baby. “Is the mother’s name Chloe?” Liam looked confused, and visibly irritated by the question. “What does his mother have to do with this?! Just treat my son!” The doctor’s demeanor instantly shifted. His face darkened with absolute fury. “I knew it!” “When your wife was in labor, dying of stage four lung cancer, you were completely MIA! And now the kid ends up in my ER looking like this?! Did you do this to him?!” “I’ve been in medicine for decades, and I have never met a husband as despicable as you! You better pray she doesn’t crawl out of her grave and drag you down to hell with her!” Liam shot up from his chair, his face entirely drained of color. “What did you just say? Stage four lung cancer?”

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For the third year of my severe clinical depression, my parents still didn’t dare leave me alone. Three years ago, my adopted sister stole my photos to catfish a guy online, only for him to turn out to be a violent stalker. He mistook me for her and assaulted me. After the incident, my parents kicked my sister out of the house. My mom nailed every single window shut. For three years, I wasn’t allowed near them. My dad quit his job to stay home with me, locking up every knife in the kitchen. Until three years later, my sister returned holding a certificate in psychological counseling. She knelt on our front porch, sobbing, saying everything that happened back then was her fault. She claimed she had studied psychology relentlessly just so she could come back, cure me, and personally make amends. In the end, my parents let her back in. My sister told them that keeping the windows boarded up for three years was only making my depression worse. So, my mom pulled out the nails and pushed every window wide open. My dad unlocked the kitchen drawer and put the knives back on the counter. “You need to learn how to suppress those bad thoughts on your own,” he told me. Until the final session of my “exposure therapy.” My sister brought the man from three years ago back into our house and locked him in my bedroom with me. I slammed my fists against the door, screaming, begging them to let me out. Through the heavy wood, I heard my sister whisper: “Just let her get through this one last time, and everything will be fine.” My parents sighed. “Yeah.” “Once this is over, we can all finally move on.” With tears streaming down my face, I slowly lowered my hands from the door. I looked at the wide-open window and gave up all resistance. . The bedroom door finally clicked open. The man leisurely pulled his shirt on. Before leaving, he glanced back at me with a malicious smirk. “You caused such a dramatic scene back then, got me a ten-year sentence. But your parents ended up signing a forgiveness plea and paid a fortune to get me out early anyway.” “Looks like I took too good care of you three years ago. You still missed me enough to have me brought back.” He pinched the dark, purple bruises on my waist, his eyes narrowing in satisfaction. “I took some pictures for my buddies. They were practically drooling. Maybe I’ll bring them along next time.” With a loud laugh, he pushed the door open and left. The very next second, my parents burst into the room. The first thing my mom saw was me sitting on the edge of the bed. My clothes were torn, my exposed skin covered in fresh bruises and scratches. But I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream. I just stared blankly at the window she had personally opened for me. All the color instantly drained from my mom’s face. She rushed over to me, her voice trembling violently. “Chloe?” “Why… why are you so quiet?” I didn’t answer. Behind them, my sister suddenly clapped her hands together. “It worked!” She looked at my parents with absolute joy. “This proves the exposure therapy was effective!” “She can calmly face the trauma now! She’s accepted what happened!” “She’s cured!” My mom froze for two seconds. The sheer terror in her eyes slowly dissipated, replaced by a wave of ecstatic relief. “Really?” She let out a massive breath. “Thank God. We’ve been dragged down by you for three years…” Halfway through her sentence, she realized what she was saying and clamped her mouth shut. The room fell dead silent for a moment. My dad acted like he didn’t hear it. He patted my shoulder with a relieved smile. “It’s good that you’ve finally moved past it.” “Since you can face the past now, and your sister is the one who cured you, let’s just leave the past where it belongs.” He glanced at my sister, whose eyes were red. “She hurt you back then, but she saved you today. Let’s call it even.” “Nobody mentions what happened three years ago ever again.” “And you need to stop holding onto this grudge. Don’t make her live in guilt for the rest of her life.” I kept my eyes lowered, saying nothing. My sister’s eyes welled with tears. She bit her lip, looking at me timidly. “Chloe, you still haven’t forgiven me, have you?” “If it hurts you to look at me, I’ll leave right now.” “I’ll never come back. I’ll never show my face to you again.” She turned as if to walk away. My mom immediately panicked and grabbed her arm. “What nonsense are you talking about?!” My dad frowned and looked directly at me. “Chloe, we kicked her out of this house for three years because we were afraid seeing her would trigger you.” “She had no home to return to. She survived out there all alone for three years. Hasn’t she suffered enough?” “You’re cured now. What’s left that you can’t get over?” My mom squeezed my sister’s hand tightly and urged me: “Hurry up and tell your sister you don’t blame her anymore.” It felt like something in my chest was being slowly, methodically crushed to dust. I suddenly remembered three years ago. The night they kicked my adopted sister out, my mom held me and cried until morning. She told me: “We only adopted her so you’d have a companion. I never thought we’d raise a snake that would destroy my own flesh and blood.” “Chloe, I will never, ever forgive her.” My dad locked every knife in the house into a cabinet and said: “I need you to live, Chloe. I swear on my life, I will never let anyone hurt you again.” It turns out “never” only lasts three years. I slowly raised my head. My sister was waiting for my answer with red, tearful eyes. My parents were watching me nervously. As if, until I spoke the words, this family could never truly be whole again. I looked at them for a very long time. Finally, I forced a numb, empty smile. “Okay. I forgive you.” My sister burst into tears. My mom immediately pulled her into a tight hug. “I knew it!” “You two are sisters. There’s no hurdle you can’t cross together.” My dad finally laughed out loud. “That’s more like it.” “From now on, our family gets a fresh start.” A family. I looked down at the fading bruises on my wrists and said nothing. My mom cheerfully pulled open my closet. “Oh, by the way, today is actually your sister’s birthday.” “We were so worried about your mental state, we didn’t dare tell you.” She pulled out a dress and handed it to me, her tone as light and breezy as if the horrors of the past hour had never happened. “But everything’s fine now.” “Hurry up and get dressed.” “We’re going to celebrate her birthday tonight.” My entire body went rigid. The blood drained from my face. Three years ago, the event that destroyed my life was also a birthday party. Back then, I had just recently been found and brought back to my biological parents. After years of being lost, I was finally home. I had just gotten accepted into my dream university, secured a full-ride scholarship, and had an incredibly smart, handsome boyfriend everyone envied. I thought my life was just beginning. But on the night of my sister’s birthday, she secretly invited the man she had been online dating for months to the hotel party. And for those entire few months, she had been using my pictures. The moment the man arrived, he assumed I was the girl he had been talking to. He dragged me into a hotel room by force. When the guests finally found me, they saw a trashed hotel room and me, completely ruined. My sister stood in the crowd, her face pale, but she never said a word about the truth. So everyone assumed I had been sneaking around behind my boyfriend’s back, hooking up with a stranger. My boyfriend dumped me in front of everyone and moved out of the country shortly after. The rumors spread like wildfire across campus. The people who used to envy me started whispering behind my back. Even my professors looked at me differently. I couldn’t handle showing my face on campus anymore, so I eventually dropped out. It wasn’t until the situation completely exploded that my sister finally broke down and knelt in front of me. “Chloe, I’m so sorry.” “I felt so insecure and ugly compared to you, that’s why I used your photos. I just wanted to meet the guy I loved on the happiest day of my life. That’s why I invited him to the party.” “I swear I didn’t know he was a psychotic stalker. I didn’t know he would mistake you for me…” She sobbed, apologizing over and over again. But I just stared at her. Her simple “I didn’t know” had destroyed my college education, my first love, my reputation, and my entire future. Her apologies couldn’t buy any of it back. That night, I suffered a complete mental breakdown. My mom woke up in the middle of the night to find me sitting on the kitchen floor holding a butcher knife. She was so terrified she started screaming and crying. The next day, my dad threw my sister out of the house. They formally removed her from our family trust right in front of me. My mom held me, promising me over and over. “Chloe, she has nothing to do with this family anymore.” My dad said, with red eyes: “You’ll never have to see her again. You don’t have to be afraid anymore.” But now. Today, three years later. My mom was standing in front of me holding a dress, rushing me to attend my sister’s birthday party. Seeing me trembling uncontrollably, my mom’s smile finally faltered. She reached out to steady me. “Maybe we should just skip it today…” “No.” My sister immediately cut her off. She looked at my parents with absolute seriousness. “Chloe is only scared right now because her memories from three years ago haven’t fully faded.” “The more she avoids it, the worse it gets. She needs to be placed back into a similar environment. It’s a crucial part of exposure therapy.” My dad was silent for a moment before nodding. “She’s right.” “We’ve come this far. We can’t give up halfway.” Before I could even speak, they grabbed me by both arms and practically dragged me to the banquet hall. The moment the double doors were pushed open, the room erupted into cheers. “The birthday girl is finally here!” “Happy birthday!” “Here comes the star of the night!” Everyone was laughing, clapping, and cheering my sister’s name. But as I stood in the doorway and saw the faces in the room, my blood ran completely cold. This wasn’t just “a few close friends and family,” like my parents had told me. The room was packed with people from my old university. My former classmates. Even the people who had physically witnessed me being dragged out of that hotel room three years ago. I stopped breathing, instinctively stumbling backward. Right at that moment, the crowd parted. A man walked out from the center of the room. I froze. Liam. My first love. The boy who, three years ago, believed I had betrayed him and walked away without ever looking back. After three years, he looked older, more mature. He was so familiar I recognized him instantly, yet so distant it felt like I had never known him at all. Before I could even process what was happening, my sister picked up the skirt of her dress and flew into his arms like a butterfly. Liam wrapped his arm naturally around her waist. The crowd instantly erupted into teasing cheers. “You guys have been dating for three years, and you finally bring your girl out to meet us!” “What do you mean ‘girl’? After tonight, we’re gonna have to call her Mrs. Davis!” “Liam’s got the ring ready! Everyone knows he’s proposing tonight!” Dating for three years. My brain felt like it exploded. An unthinkable, horrific realization surfaced in my mind, the agony causing my body to violently twitch and spasm. Nestled in Liam’s arms, my sister smiled shyly at the crowd’s teasing, then let her eyes well up with tears. “Today is the happiest day of my life.” “Which is why I really want someone incredibly important to me to witness this.” She turned and looked directly at me. The color drained entirely from my face. “No…” But she was already walking briskly toward me, grabbing my wrist in a vice grip. I fought desperately to pull away, my legs turning to jelly, eventually collapsing onto the floor, curling into a ball. My sister kept pulling me. “Chloe, don’t be scared.” “These are all people you know.” She yanked me off the floor with surprising force, dragging me step by step into the center of the crowd. “It’s time you face them again.” The loud, festive banquet hall suddenly fell dead silent. Everyone finally got a clear look at my face. The next second. The smiles froze on everyone’s faces. Disgust, contempt, and unconcealed whispers rippled through the room. “How does she have the nerve to show her face here?” “After what she did three years ago, faking depression and threatening suicide to try and win Liam back… does she still think she has a chance with him?” I felt freezing cold. The voices buzzing in my ears sounded distant, but my chest felt like it was being crushed in a vice grip. My sister, eyes red and teary, walked up to me. “Chloe, I know about your history with Liam.” “But today, I really, truly want your blessing.” She choked back a sob. “If you personally give us your blessing, it’s the only way I’ll believe you’ve truly let go of the past. That you’re truly cured!” I opened my mouth. But my throat felt like it was cemented shut. I couldn’t force a single word out. Liam suddenly let out a cold scoff. “Forget it.” He looked at me with absolute, unfiltered disgust. “I don’t want a blessing from someone as filthy as her.” My head snapped up. Liam glared down at me, enunciating every word. “Honestly, I should be thanking you.” “If that incident hadn’t happened three years ago, I never would have seen your true colors, and I never would have met the woman I was truly meant to love.” He paused, as if he needed to see the knife twist in my chest to be satisfied. “You setting me free is the only reason I found my true soulmate.” The crowd erupted into wild cheers and applause. Right there, under the gaze of everyone who despised me, Liam dropped to one knee. The moment he opened the velvet ring box, my entire body went rigid. The ring… Three years ago, I had sat in the university library, sketching that exact design over and over in my notebook. A vine-like band, holding a single, delicate round diamond in the center. Liam had snatched my notebook back then, laughing as he said: “When we graduate, I’m going to have this custom-made. And I’m going to put it on your finger myself.” Now, he really had made it. And he was slipping it onto my sister’s ring finger. My sister sobbed and threw her arms around his neck while the entire room gave them a standing ovation. Suddenly, she pulled away and ran over to me, holding up her hand to show me the ring. “Chloe, look.” “Liam said this design is incredibly meaningful.” She threw her arms around me in a tight hug. “Thank you for letting us be together.” My body was as stiff as a board. The next second, she leaned her mouth right next to my ear. Her voice was so quiet only I could hear it. “Oh, by the way.” “Mom and Dad told you they kicked me out and I suffered for three years, right?” She let out a soft, mocking laugh. “They actually sent me to Europe the very next month. They paid my tuition, my rent, and gave me a massive allowance.” “My life has been absolutely amazing for the last three years.” My pupils shrank to pinpricks. My sister slowly, deliberately added one last detail. “And about that guy.” “Did you really think Mom and Dad had the power to get him out of prison that fast?” “Liam helped them.” “He was afraid you were going to use your trauma to keep harassing us. So he said you needed to be forced to face it one last time, so you’d be cured and finally leave us alone.” The very last thread of sanity in my brain violently snapped. I shoved her away with everything I had. My sister stumbled backward and collapsed onto the floor. She grabbed her stomach, her face turning chalk-white. “It hurts…” “Liam, my stomach hurts so much… our baby…” Liam’s face went completely pale. He sprinted over and scooped her into his arms. When he looked up at me, his eyes were burning with pure, murderous rage. “ARE YOU INSANE?!” “DIDN’T YOU KNOW SHE WAS PREGNANT?!” I stood frozen in place. My mom completely panicked. She rushed forward and slapped me across the face with all her strength. My head snapped to the side. “Your sister already apologized to you! Why can’t you just let it go?!” “Are you going to be happy when you finally kill her?!” The banquet hall exploded into chaos. “She is so evil.” “It’s her sister’s proposal day, and she just had to cause a scene.” The cruel, judgmental voices pressed in on me from every direction. Before Liam carried my sister out the door, he turned back and gave me one last look. It was a look of pure, terrifying hatred. But my vision was already blurring. The ringing in my ears was deafening. The faces of the people around me twisted into grotesque, blurry shapes. The birthday party three years ago. The birthday party today. Liam walking away. The ring on my sister’s finger. My body suddenly lost all function. I felt a rush of warm liquid slide down my legs. The chaotic noise of the room instantly died down. The entire crowd gasped in horror, covering their noses in disgust. I stood there in front of everyone, my body rigid, having lost complete control of my bladder. Even my final shred of dignity was gone. My vision went completely black, and I crashed heavily to the floor.

The night before our wedding, Liam suddenly sent me a text: [Pick a number between 1 and 365.] I picked 287. That was the exact number of days from the moment we first met to the day we officially started dating. The next second, he replied: [Then for the next 287 days, I’m going to completely ignore you.] I froze for a moment, thinking it was just a bad joke. Until the next day at the wedding venue. I stood there from early afternoon until midnight. My feet swelled until they turned purple, but he never showed up. In a panic, I finally told my family about the text message “game.” My mother listened, her eyes filling with deep disappointment. “Chloe, Liam is just trying to test your patience. Why couldn’t you just play along with him?” My father chimed in, nodding in agreement. “Liam is a good kid. Chloe, you need to seriously reflect on your behavior.” My younger brother shook his head in disgust. “God, you’re so useless, Clara.” Even my best friend, Maya, sighed heavily over the phone. “You have such an incredible man, and you can’t even hold onto him? You’re being so stupid.” Because of their words, I spiraled into a deep, agonizing state of self-doubt, eventually falling into severe clinical depression. On the 286th day of losing contact with Liam, I was hit by a semi-truck. I died on the street, still out looking for him. When my family went to the morgue to claim my body, my brother suddenly spoke up: “Mom… should we tell Liam that Clara died?” My mother’s eyes were completely red from crying. But the words that came out of her mouth made my soul shiver. “No. It’s bad luck.” “Maya just found out she’s pregnant with Liam’s baby. We can’t let this upset her.” …

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It was day thirty of the global tsunami that swallowed the city. When the only life raft finally approached, my husband prioritized saving his frail, chronically ill childhood sweetheart, pulling her onto the raft first. I was left to soak in the freezing, bone-chilling water for three days and three nights. Just as my lungs burned and I was on the verge of drowning, blinding stadium lights suddenly illuminated the space above me. As the massive waves receded, I realized I wasn’t in a flooded city at all. I was in a colossal, indoor wave pool. The next second, a booming voice echoed through the PA system: “Congratulations, Mr. Sterling! The Doomsday Truman Show just shattered world viewership records, raking in over $400 million!” High above, in a VIP viewing gallery, my husband, Liam Sterling, had his arm wrapped around his first love. He looked directly into the camera lens with a mocking sneer. “See that? Give her the illusion of the apocalypse, and even this arrogant, high-society heiress will fight like a rabid dog just to survive for me.” The woman nestled in his arms giggled playfully. “Liam, let her soak for a little while longer. I want to see her cry and beg.” Liam kissed her forehead affectionately. “Okay. She owes you this anyway. Who told her to force me to marry her, causing you years of severe depression?” “Listen up, everyone!” Liam commanded the crew. “The thirty-day punishment is still five minutes short. Without my explicit order, absolutely no one is allowed to pull her out. When the timer hits zero, then send in the medics.” So, the so-called apocalypse… was just an elaborate, meticulously produced reality show. I watched his back as he turned away, my consciousness fading into the dark water. He was waiting five minutes to call the medics. But he didn’t know I couldn’t last another five minutes. … When the freezing water rushed into my nasal cavity, I didn’t even have the strength to cough. The PA system was still blaring on a loop about the $400 million viewership record. Dozens of high-def broadcast cameras lined the edge of the pool. Every single lens was focused entirely on me. For the past thirty days, the collapsed skyscrapers, the corpses floating on the surface, the static-filled emergency broadcasts—it was all fake. The only thing that was real was my absolute terror. Three days ago, the “floodwaters” breached our shelter. Crew members, disguised as rescue workers, threw down a life raft that could only hold two people. Liam immediately lifted Maya, his childhood sweetheart, onto the raft. When it was my turn, the raft suddenly began to sink. “Clara, stay in the water for now.” He crouched by the edge of the raft, taking off his jacket and draping it over my soaking wet shoulders, his voice gentle. “Maya has a congenital heart defect; the freezing water could kill her. You’re strong. Just hold on a little longer, the next rescue boat will be here soon.” That jacket eventually washed away, and the rescue boat never came. For the first few hours, Liam held onto my hand from the raft. But when Maya said she was scared, he pushed my hand away, turned around, and wrapped his arms around her. I was shivering violently, begging him to let me onto the raft to rest for just ten minutes. He patted my wet hair condescendingly. “Clara, stop throwing a tantrum.” “If the raft sinks, all three of us die. Didn’t you always say how much you love me? Now that I’m asking you to endure a little hardship, you start complaining? You’re perfectly healthy, just hold on… help will be here any minute.” Sitting on the raft, wrapped in two thick thermal blankets, Maya looked down at me with red, teary eyes, pretending to plead for me. “Liam, maybe I should get in the water.” “Clara is a billionaire heiress. She’s never suffered like this. If something happens to her, the Hayes family will destroy you.” Liam’s face instantly darkened. “It’s the literal end of the world, and she’s still using her family’s money to force you to back down.” “Maya, you are far too kind. That’s why she’s bullied you all these years.” That night, he paddled the life raft further away. I was left clinging to a floating PVC pipe, soaking in the freezing water. Now I knew why. There was a massive wave machine hidden beneath the surface. Every thirty minutes, a massive swell would hit, violently flipping me over. Those waves weren’t the aftershocks of a tsunami. Every single time they hit, it was Liam personally pressing the control button. Footage from the control room showed a panicked production assistant rushing up to Liam, keeping his voice low. “Mr. Sterling, Clara’s vitals are dropping rapidly. Her heart rate monitor is showing critical anomalies…” Liam paused. In that fraction of a second, I actually had the pathetic, desperate hope that he would turn around. But Maya let out a small, delicate cough. His attention snapped immediately back to her. He took off his suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders. “It’s cold by the pool. Go wait in the VIP lounge.” Only after making sure she was comfortable did he cast a cold, indifferent glance toward the water. “Clara’s favorite trick is using her health to force me to compromise. There are four minutes left. One second less, and the punishment isn’t complete.” The PA turned pale, hesitating. “But the medical team said…” “Do you understand English?” Liam’s voice was completely calm, but the sheer authority in his tone made everyone in the room lower their heads. “She faked it for thirty days, and she’s going to act like she’s dying in the last thirty minutes just to manipulate me. Anyone who pulls her out early pays the breach-of-contract fee out of their own pocket.” The PA didn’t dare say another word, silently stepping back. In the top right corner of the massive broadcast screen, the countdown timer ticked to 3:59. My numbed fingers slowly slipped off the PVC pipe. As my body sank beneath the surface, Maya, standing high above on the viewing deck, suddenly turned around. She flashed a triumphant smile directly at me, slowly sliding the diamond ring Liam had bought her onto her ring finger. The water swallowed me completely. The suffocation didn’t last long. A few seconds later, my physical body was still sinking, but my soul floated lightly out of the water, hovering above the pool. The live chat on the massive jumbotron was scrolling at lightning speed. It was filled with cheering and mockery. They all thought it was scripted reality TV drama. “Is the spoiled heiress finally giving up?!” “The manipulative btch is playing dead again. Don’t fall for it, Liam!”* “She completely ruined Liam and Maya’s relationship! Who cares if she suffers a little bit now?!” Those comments were entirely based on the narrative Liam had fed them. On the very first day of the broadcast, he sat in front of the camera and claimed that I had used the Hayes family’s immense wealth and power to force him to abandon his first love and marry me. He said his betrayal caused Maya to fall into severe depression, leading to multiple suicide attempts. So, this apocalyptic Truman Show was my penance. I owed it to them. But the truth was… during a yacht explosion years ago, I was the one who dove into the burning wreckage, dragging an unconscious Liam into the ocean and pulling him to shore. My lungs filled with water. I ran a 104-degree fever and lay in the ICU for seven grueling days. When I woke up, he was sitting by my bed, his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep. “Clara, you saved my life. My life belongs to you now.” “If you’ll have me, I will spend the rest of my life taking care of you.” He was the one who proposed. But now, it had been twisted into me forcing him into marriage. Three minutes left on the clock. The production crew finally noticed I wasn’t resurfacing. A rescue diver strapped on an oxygen tank and rushed to the edge of the pool, but the director grabbed his arm. “Mr. Sterling hasn’t given the order! Nobody goes in the water!” “She was clinging to the pipe two minutes ago, how could she drown that fast? She’s definitely holding her breath down there, waiting for Mr. Sterling to panic.” A group of hired actors gathered around, laughing. Over the past thirty days, they had played doctors, refugees, rescue workers, and violent looters stealing supplies. On the eleventh day, a “looter” had snatched my essential daily medication. I dropped to my knees on the concrete, begging him to give it back. Liam was sitting comfortably in the control room, watching the monitors. He ordered the actor to throw my medication into a burning trash can. Afterward, he came over the PA system, his voice gentle and comforting. “Clara, no one is going to pity us in the apocalypse.” “These are hardships we have to survive. You need to learn how to be independent. When the Hayes family money is gone, even if I’m not around, you have to know how to survive on your own.” I had nodded vigorously, tears streaming down my face. For him, I promised myself I would be stronger. On the eighteenth day, Maya faked a high fever. There was only one fever-reducing pill left in our supplies. I was running a severe fever too, but Liam demanded I give the pill to her. I endured a 104-degree fever for two days straight with absolutely no medication. When Liam came to bring her hot water, he casually tossed half a moldy protein bar at me. “Eat something. Keep your strength up.” I was so touched my eyes welled with tears. But the very next second, Maya complained that the mold smelled gross. He immediately snatched the bar out of my hands and threw it in the trash. “Maya is sensitive to mold. You’ll just have to skip a meal.” I didn’t know back then that the green room right next door was stocked with a five-star catered buffet. Every single day, Liam personally peeled shrimp and served hot soup to Maya, while forcing me to gnaw on emergency rations for a month. The door to the VIP viewing deck opened again. Maya had changed into a pristine white designer dress, her hair perfectly curled by a stylist. Liam stood behind her, clasping a necklace around her throat. It was my grandmother’s heirloom necklace. Before the show started, he told me jewelry was useless in the apocalypse and forced me to hand it over so he could “trade it for food.” Now, it was Maya’s wrap-party gift. “Is it pretty?” she asked, intentionally stepping right into the camera’s frame, tracing the pendant. Liam leaned down and kissed her forehead. “It looks much better on you than it ever did on someone else.” One minute left on the clock. The lead physician of the medical team finally couldn’t take it anymore and sprinted into the control room. “Mr. Sterling! The underwater vitals monitor shows Clara has completely stopped breathing!” Liam’s eyes flickered slightly. But Maya suddenly clutched her chest, collapsing softly against him. “Liam… my chest hurts.” He didn’t spare another glance at the water. He scooped her up and rushed her toward the VIP lounge. As they passed the control board, Maya let her hand drop, secretly slamming her palm against the wave machine’s ‘Maximum Intensity’ button. A colossal, artificial tsunami erupted in the pool. The violent current caught my lifeless body at the bottom, slamming my head brutally against the solid concrete wall of the pool. Blood instantly blossomed from a massive gash on my temple. The crimson stain rapidly bloomed through the chlorinated water. Finally, someone realized something was horribly wrong. Dr. Chen, the lead physician, forcefully snatched a walkie-talkie from a crew member. “KILL THE MACHINES! DEPLOY THE RESCUE LADDERS NOW!” The director slammed his hand down on the console, blocking him. “There’s one minute left! Mr. Sterling said absolutely no one interferes with the broadcast!” “THAT IS A HUMAN LIFE!” Dr. Chen roared, his voice shaking with absolute rage. “Clara has been submerged in freezing water for over seventy hours! She’s suffering from extreme hypothermia, severe tissue maceration, and imminent organ failure! Her vitals just flatlined! She is likely already dead!” The live chat went dead silent for a fraction of a second. Then, the mockery surged back twice as hard. “LMAO, is the doctor an actor too? Give him an Oscar.” “The producers are just trying to milk more tears out of us.” “If Clara is actually dead, I’ll eat my own shoe.” The director stared at the skyrocketing viewership metrics, his eyes wide with greed. “The audience loves it, Mr. Sterling is happy, and we’ve hit three billion total views. This finale is going to pull in millions of dollars in ad revenue.” “She’s a spoiled billionaire. So she soaked in some water for a few days, who cares?” Dr. Chen violently shoved the director aside. During the scuffle, a young trauma nurse sprinted toward the rescue controls. Her finger had barely grazed the emergency stop button when two massive bodyguards yanked her backward. “Mr. Sterling hasn’t lifted the order.” “THE WOMAN DROWNING IN THAT POOL IS HIS WIFE!” the nurse screamed, sobbing hysterically. The bodyguard remained completely expressionless. “Mr. Sterling said there is no wife here. Only a contestant receiving her punishment.” My soul drifted outside the doors of the VIP lounge. Inside, Maya was lying comfortably on a plush velvet sofa. Her complexion was perfectly rosy; she didn’t look sick at all. Liam was kneeling on one knee in front of her, gently rubbing her hands between his to warm them up. “Does it still hurt?” he asked softly. “A little bit,” Maya pouted, leaning into his chest, biting her lip as fake tears welled in her eyes. “Liam, am I a terrible person? Clara is suffering in the freezing water, and I made you stay here with me.” “Don’t be ridiculous. She owes you this. A little punishment is nothing.” Liam reached up and wiped her tears away. “She owes you way more than thirty days.” “If she hadn’t forced her way into my life, you would have been Mrs. Sterling years ago. While you were suffering from severe depression for two years, she was living a life of luxury, stealing the spot that rightfully belonged to you.” On the coffee table sat a thick stack of medical files. I recognized them immediately. They were Maya’s clinical depression diagnoses. During our three years of marriage, anytime Maya felt sad, Liam would throw those medical records in my face to guilt-trip me. On the day of our wedding, she slit her wrists and was admitted to the hospital. Liam abandoned our massive wedding reception full of guests to sit by her hospital bed for three days. When he finally came home, he handed me a wilted bouquet of roses from a gas station. “We can redo the wedding reception anytime, Clara. A human life only happens once.” “You’ve always been so understanding. You aren’t going to hold a grudge against a sick girl, right?” On our first wedding anniversary, she swallowed a handful of vitamin C pills and called him, crying that she didn’t want to live anymore. Liam abandoned me at the Michelin-star restaurant and rushed to her apartment. He came home at 3 AM, casually handing me a crushed, cold slice of cake. “I saved this specifically for you. Stop being mad.” I found out later it was just a leftover slice from Maya’s apartment. It was this kind of dismissive, half-hearted affection that kept me trapped, constantly forgiving him, unable to walk away. The countdown timer hit the final thirty seconds. The PA system began booming the final countdown across the arena. Maya pushed herself up, leaning intimately close to Liam’s ear. “Liam, after her punishment is over… are you going to divorce her?” He was silent for a moment, his long fingers gently tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Clara loves me too much. She can’t live without me.” “Divorcing her would completely break her. Once you move into the Sterling estate, I’ll make sure you have the status you deserve. She’s just going to have to learn to accept the new arrangement.” Hearing this, a flash of deep resentment crossed Maya’s eyes. “Then what does that make me?” “You and Clara are completely different,” Liam coaxed her in a low, velvet voice. “Clara is just an obligation. You are the only woman I actually want to protect.” The PA system hit the ten-second mark. Taking advantage of the bodyguards being distracted, Dr. Chen lunged forward and slammed his fist onto the emergency stop button. The massive wave generators powered down. The mechanical rescue ladders plunged into the water. Two rescue divers hit the water instantly, pulling my lifeless body to the surface in seconds. Dr. Chen pressed two fingers against my carotid artery. His face went stark white. The next second, he violently ripped open the trauma kit, screaming at the top of his lungs: “NO PULSE! START CPR IMMEDIATELY!” They performed chest compressions for forty agonizing minutes. They injected six full doses of epinephrine. The defibrillator fired over and over again, sending massive electrical shocks through my chest, but my body just violently convulsed and slammed back onto the wet concrete. Hovering above the chaotic trauma bay, I watched Dr. Chen’s arms begin to shake from exhaustion. “CLEAR! SHOCK HER AGAIN!” The electricity ripped through my chest. My body arched upward and fell limp. The flatline on the EKG monitor didn’t even twitch. The trauma nurse collapsed to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. “Dr. Chen… her pupils are fixed and dilated. She’s gone.” Dr. Chen clenched his jaw so hard his teeth nearly cracked, refusing to stop chest compressions. Suddenly, the director’s furious, impatient voice echoed from the hallway outside the medical bay. “Have you resuscitated her yet?! The entire live stream is waiting for the big emotional husband-and-wife reconciliation scene!” “Mr. Sterling already wrote the script! Clara wakes up, cries, and begs for forgiveness, and then he graciously forgives her! Hurry it up, you’re holding up the wrap party!” Dr. Chen slowly stopped compressions. He turned around, staring at the director with dead, hollow eyes. “She’s dead. How the hell is she supposed to act out your script?” The smug, arrogant smile completely vanished from the director’s face. The medical bay plunged into absolute, terrifying silence. The nurse slowly pulled a stark white sheet over my face. Time of death: 8:37 PM. At that exact moment, the wrap party officially kicked off in the main banquet hall. A massive LED screen was playing a highlight reel of my most pathetic, degrading moments from the last thirty days. Guests stood around in designer clothes, sipping champagne and laughing at my misery. One actor was drunkenly mimicking how I had clung to Liam’s leg, begging him not to leave me behind on the raft. Others were showing off memes they had made of my face contorting in terror as I struggled to keep my head above the freezing water. Liam sat at the head of the VIP table. The sleeves of his bespoke dress shirt were rolled up to his elbows. He looked the picture of relaxed, victorious elegance. Maya was curled intimately in his lap, playfully swiping a dab of frosting onto the tip of his nose. “Liam, do you think Clara is going to be furious with me when she finally wakes up?” “She wouldn’t dare.” Liam caught her hand, gently kissing the frosting off her fingertip. “The Hayes family has already handed over half their corporate assets to me, and she’s obsessively in love with me. She’ll throw a tantrum for a few days, but all I have to do is coax her a little bit, and she’ll be fine.” “How are you going to coax her?” “I’ll just buy her some random piece of jewelry and take her to dinner,” he replied with a careless, arrogant smirk. “Clara is incredibly easy to manipulate. All I have to do is tell her I did it ‘for her own good,’ and she’ll believe whatever I say.” The surrounding guests erupted in sleazy, knowing laughter. Maya leaned in closer, pressing her chest against his arm. “Are you mad at me for extending her punishment by three days?” “The original contract was only supposed to keep her in the apocalyptic simulation for twenty-seven days. But I promised you a full thirty days.” Liam casually pinched her cheek. “A man keeps his promises.” So, the last three days I spent submerged in freezing water were a spontaneous addition made entirely by Maya. She wanted to see if I would willingly surrender the only life raft to them. So, Liam ordered the crew to weld the exits shut, raise the water level to its maximum, and drop the climate control system down to a lethal 53 degrees. Dr. Chen had explicitly warned him that prolonged exposure to those temperatures would result in death. Liam’s only response had been: “She was a varsity swimmer. She’s not that fragile.” The heavy double doors of the banquet hall were suddenly thrown violently open. Dr. Chen charged into the room, his white coat and bare hands completely covered in my blood. “LIAM STERLING!” The entire ballroom went dead silent. Liam frowned deeply, annoyed by the intrusion. “Who gave you permission to use my full name?” “Clara is dead.” Dr. Chen enunciated every single syllable with lethal clarity. “Cause of death: severe hypothermia and multiple organ failure. Resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.” Maya blinked innocently, then let out a sharp, mocking laugh. “Wow, you doctors really go all out for the script, don’t you? So dramatic!” Liam’s face turned to absolute ice. “Tell Clara her pathetic acting stops here. This isn’t going to work.” “If she thinks playing dead is going to force me to apologize, tell her she can stay lying on that gurney forever.” Dr. Chen slammed the official, signed death certificate onto the table. “Read it yourself!” Liam didn’t even reach for it. “Get out. If you bring any more of her pathetic little stunts to me before this party is over, you’re fired.” Just then, Liam’s personal assistant burst into the ballroom, stumbling and nearly falling flat on his face. He was clutching a second copy of the death certificate, bearing the official red seal of the coroner’s office. The assistant looked like a corpse. “Mr. Sterling… the medical examiner just finished the preliminary autopsy.” “Your wife is confirmed deceased. The Hayes family has been notified and is currently en route.” Liam shot up from his chair so violently he knocked his champagne glass over, soaking his own shirt. “Are you in on her psychotic little play, too?!” The assistant, his hands shaking violently, held the official document out. “Mr. Sterling… it’s real.” Liam aggressively snatched the paper from his hands. When his eyes scanned the name field, he was still radiating pure fury. But when his eyes finally locked onto the bold black letters reading Confirmed Deceased, his entire body went completely, terrifyingly rigid. The shattered champagne glass crunched under his expensive shoes.

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When I was ten years old, I suddenly gained the ability to see red strings connecting men and women. These invisible, undeniable red strings only linked people who had slept together. Over the years, two extra red strings sprouted from my father’s head. As a result, my mother went through multiple messy, agonizing divorce attempts. Because of this, when it came to choosing my own husband, absolute loyalty was my only non-negotiable trait. Ultimately, I chose Liam—a stoic, reserved man whose head was completely free of any red strings. The night before my wedding, my bridesmaids and I were playing a drinking game at my bachelorette party. The rules were simple: whoever lost had to hand their phone over and let everyone else snoop through it. When it was my maid of honor, Chloe’s turn, she clutched her phone to her chest, blushing and giggling. “Please don’t look at mine! He kept me up so late last night… there are pictures on here that are definitely not PG-13.” The girls teased her relentlessly. Her relationship had been incredibly secretive; she had been dating this mystery man for a while, but no one had ever met him. I was just about to smooth things over and let her off the hook, when I saw it. A bright red string extended from the top of Chloe’s head, cutting through the crowded room, and connecting directly to my fiancé, Liam. But last night, when Liam dropped me off at my apartment, his head was completely clean. Not even thirty minutes ago, he had texted me: [Clara, I’ve kept myself pure for you for twenty-five years. Tomorrow on our wedding night, I finally get to be yours. I love you!] I looked out the door at Liam, who was gazing at me with deep, affectionate eyes. Then I looked back at Chloe, whose face was flushed with the afterglow of recent intimacy. I raised my wine glass and gently clinked it against hers. “Chloe. Your boyfriend… his name doesn’t happen to be Liam, does it?” … Chloe jumped, spilling a few drops of wine onto her dress. A flash of pure panic crossed her eyes. “Who cares if his name is Liam or Ryan? A bet is a bet, hand over the phone!” Maya, one of my bridesmaids, reached out to grab it. Chloe dodged, laughing, and hid behind me. “You really can’t look! He has a terrible temper. If he finds out I showed you guys those pictures, he’s going to be so mad at me.” “Wow, so protective, huh?” Maya teased. “I have to be. He’s… well, he has a pretty high-profile job, so we want to keep our relationship under wraps for now.” As Chloe said this, her gaze drifted right over our heads, landing directly on Liam, who was standing near the doorway. The red string connecting the two of them was blindingly bright. Over the years, I had seen countless red strings cross and tangle, but I never in a million years thought I would see one attached to the man I was marrying tomorrow. “Clara, back me up here!” Chloe whined, tugging my sleeve. “He really made me promise not to show anyone.” I fought to suppress the violent trembling in my wrist. I set my wine glass down and forced a stiff smile. “I made the rules tonight. If you lose, you hand over the phone.” “Oooooh!” Maya slammed her hand on the table. “The bride has spoken!” Chloe froze for a second. She clearly hadn’t expected me to refuse her an easy out. Liam walked into the room, resting a warm, heavy hand on my shoulder. “Clara, stop messing around.” “You know Chloe is shy. You’re the bride, you shouldn’t be the one leading the charge to bully your maid of honor.” Chloe. He used to call her Miss Chloe when he was being polite. I looked down at the hand resting on my shoulder. Last night, this exact same hand had pulled my coat tight around me. He had hugged me over my clothes, whispering that he wanted to save every part of himself for our wedding night. In less than twenty-four hours, his very first red string had appeared. “I’m bullying her?” I asked. “When you get stubborn, who can stop you?” Liam chuckled, grabbing a glass of juice from the table and handing it to me. “Pre-wedding jitters are totally normal. Drink something sweet.” Chloe used the opportunity to step behind him, using him as a shield. “See? Liam always gets me. Clara, you shouldn’t be so harsh on him. A guy this great… what are you gonna do if you scare him away?” “Are you very concerned about whether or not my fiancé gets scared away?” “I’m concerned for you.” She covered her mouth to giggle. On her pinky finger sat a plain, unadorned silver ring. That ring… Liam had shown me the prototype sketch for it months ago. He had scrapped it, saying the lines were too basic and not good enough for me. Now, it sat perfectly on Chloe’s finger. The fit was flawless. While Chloe was distracted, Maya reached out, pinned Chloe’s hand down, and forced her thumb onto the phone to unlock it. “The more you hide it, the more we want to see it.” Maya swiped to the first photo and let out a low whistle. It was a side profile of Chloe. The corners of her eyes were flushed red. From her collarbone down, a trail of dark, unmistakable hickeys disappeared into the neckline of her shirt. “Wow…” Maya held the phone up for the rest of us to see. The second photo was an extreme close-up of two hands with their fingers tightly intertwined. The sexual tension was palpable. The man’s wrist was wearing a black-dial mechanical watch. On the bottom right corner of the watch face was a distinct scratch. I knew that scratch intimately. Liam had bumped his wrist against a shopping cart while we were grocery shopping together a year ago. My fingernails dug violently into my palms. Swiping further revealed their text messages. The contact name was saved as [L.V.]. The profile picture was a generic patch of green grass. The chat history was overflowing with daily “good mornings,” “goodnights,” and hours-long late-night phone calls. The earliest visible message was from a year ago. “Chloe, I literally can’t stop thinking about you.” “I miss you too, L.V. I dreamt about you last night. I dreamt you were holding me while I fell asleep.” My eyes caught a message from three months ago, and my breathing stopped. Chloe had texted, her tone whiny and cute: “The concert tonight was amazing, but when are we going to be able to hold hands in public like we did today?” L.V. replied with four words: “Soon. Wait for me.” Three months ago on that exact date, it was our seven-year anniversary. I had spent two hours doing my makeup and cooked an entire feast from scratch. I waited for him for five hours, only to get an apology text. “Work is insane tonight. Don’t wait up, just eat and go to bed.” “AHH!” Chloe screamed, snatching the phone out of Maya’s hand and jumping up. “You guys are so annoying! This is so embarrassing!” Covering her flushed face, she sprinted toward the stairwell. Less than two minutes after she left, Liam’s phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen and immediately locked it. “My mom wants me to go book two extra hotel rooms for some out-of-town relatives who just arrived. You girls have fun, but let my Clara get some sleep soon. She has to be up early for hair and makeup.” Liam leaned down and kissed my forehead while the room erupted in ‘awwws.’ After he left, I excused myself to use the restroom. As I walked past the stairwell, I heard Chloe’s voice echoing from the landing. “I thought you said we weren’t going to see each other tonight?” Liam answered, his voice hushed and thick with emotion: “I just missed you too much. I had to come see you.” “Well, you’ve seen me. Now go. We agreed, last night was the last time. We’re breaking up.” Chloe’s words were pushing him away, but her tone was incredibly soft and clingy. “Tomorrow is your wedding day. I don’t want Clara to suspect anything.” “You know how she is. She’s been terrified of cheating since she was a kid. She overthinks everything. Earlier, she even asked me if my boyfriend’s name was Liam.” Liam let out a low chuckle. “Oh, so you do know she’s terrified of being betrayed.” After a brief silence, the unmistakable sound of clothing rubbing together pressed against the heavy door. “Chloe, last night… I crossed a line.” “And?” “I have to marry Clara. I owe it to her.” Chloe’s breathing hitched. “Do you even love her?” “Yes.” He didn’t hesitate for a single second. “I’ve known she was the one since college. I put her name on the deed to the house, my paycheck goes to her account. I will never let her suffer in this marriage.” “Then what the hell am I?!” “I’m sorry. Blame it on me losing control. Blame it on me not being able to resist you.” Liam’s voice dropped lower. “Over the years at the firm, I got so used to you helping me out. When you were sad, you came to me. When I was stressed, you were the only one I could talk to. Last night, when you were crying and saying we could never see each other again… I couldn’t stop myself.” It sounded like Chloe weakly hit his chest. “If you love her so much, why are you here looking for me right now?!” “I miss you.” Those three words dropped into the air, as light as a sigh, but they brutally smashed the absolute trust I had built over seven years into a million pieces. I gripped the door handle, my knees buckling beneath me. So it was true. A person could clearly and consciously love me, while simultaneously and desperately missing another woman. He had guarded his absolute loyalty for twenty-five years, treating it like an invaluable gift he was saving to give me on our wedding day. But right before he handed it over, he tore open the packaging and let Chloe take it for a test drive. “Liam… after you get married tomorrow, are we really over?” “We have to be.” “Can you really let me go?” “Even if it kills me, I have to. Clara won’t tolerate a single grain of sand in her eye. If she finds out, she will never forgive me.” “She loves you so much, how could she ever leave you?” Liam chuckled softly. “You’re right. She would never leave me.” His absolute, arrogant certainty hurt far worse than the betrayal itself. “She’s spent the last six months agonizing over this wedding. The house is fully decorated. Both our families are flying in tomorrow. The thing she fears most in the world is embarrassing her mother. Even if she finds out, she’ll wait until after the wedding to deal with it.” Chloe choked on a sob. “What about me? Did you ever think about me?! I love you, but I have to stand there as her maid of honor and watch you marry her!” Chloe started crying. Liam spent a long time coaxing her, kissing her tears away. Finally, he whispered: “The passcode to the smart lock on the new house is her birthday. Go over there and wait for me. I swear I’ll make it up to you tonight.” “Are you insane?! She decorated that house herself!” “After tomorrow, I can never hold you like this again.” “What if she catches us?” “She’s staying at the hotel with the bridesmaids tonight. She won’t go to the house.” I heard the wet, heavy sound of a kiss. Then, Liam’s voice, raspy and dark: “Wait for me.” Hearing footsteps approaching, I quickly backed into a stall in the women’s restroom. Through the thin metal door, I heard Chloe walk in. She turned on the faucet and started happily humming a song into the mirror. At the same time, my phone screen lit up. [Clara, I’m not feeling great, so I headed home early. Please don’t be mad, I promise I’ll be there bright and early tomorrow to be your maid of honor!] I stared at that line of text, my lips twisting into a bitter smile. I replied: [Get some rest.] Half an hour later, I was sitting alone in the driver’s seat of my car in the hotel’s underground parking garage. A notification popped up at the top of my phone screen: Motion Detected: Living Room. It was the smart security camera I had installed in the new house. We had bought the house together, taking out a joint mortgage. After the renovations were finished, I was worried about break-ins, so I installed a camera in the living room. I hadn’t even had the chance to tell Liam about it yet. On the cloud storage live feed, Chloe didn’t look the least bit uncomfortable. She pulled a pair of men’s slippers out of the shoe cabinet, then navigated the kitchen with practiced ease to open the wine fridge. Twenty minutes later, Liam walked through the door. Chloe threw herself into his arms. “This is our last night. Do not bring up Clara.” “Chloe, don’t be a brat.” “You can’t even promise me that?” Liam hugged her from behind. “Fine. We won’t talk about her tonight.” They kissed passionately from the living room all the way down the hallway, the camera catching them right as they stopped in front of the master bedroom. Inside that bedroom, the bed was covered in the luxurious, crimson-red bridal bedding I had spent my entire afternoon meticulously ironing. On the wall hung our framed engagement photos, and on the nightstand sat the wedding gift he had bought for me. Now, all the love and care I had poured into that room was nothing more than the backdrop for their affair. The camera only covered the living room. But the red string had already spoiled the ending for me. Even though I had prepared myself mentally, seeing them making out on the screen still felt like a physical blow to the chest. My throat closed up, and I couldn’t breathe. The tears I had been fighting back finally broke, massive drops smashing onto the screen, distorting the blurry, intertwined silhouettes of the two people I trusted most. The screen went black, and I saw my own reflection in the dark glass. I was twenty-eight years old. The exact same age my mother was when she caught my father cheating. The only difference was… my mother chose to suffer in silence. I wasn’t going to. The evidence was on my phone, the security footage was backed up to the cloud. I wiped my tears, put the car in drive, and drove straight to my mother’s house. The second I saw my mom, the tears broke again. “Mom. The wedding tomorrow… I want to cancel it.” By 11:00 PM, my mother had just finished watching the security footage. Her fingers were trembling violently. “Clara, this video cuts off before they go into the bedroom.” “But yesterday, their red strings connected.” My mother’s head snapped up. “You saw it clearly?” “I saw it clearly.” When I was ten years old, I asked my mom why the man on the first floor and the woman across the hall on the third floor had a red string connecting their heads. I asked if it meant they were sleeping together. My mom slapped me across the face, thinking I had learned something vulgar and was making up sick lies. Six months later, when the two families ended up in court over a highly publicized, violent affair, she finally understood what I could see. From that day on, she made me swear to never tell anyone about my ability, warning me that it would only bring me trouble. She also knew exactly why I had refused to get married for so long. My mother closed her eyes, a look of profound pain crossing her face. “Why did it have to be the night before the wedding?” “It’s not just the night before. They’ve been having an emotional affair for a year or two. Last night was just the night they finally tied the knot, so to speak.” My mother was silent for a long moment. Then, she pulled out the guest list. “I’m going to start calling our relatives right now. As for his side of the family, you tell Liam to deal with them himself.” “Clara, you didn’t follow in my footsteps. I’ve got your back. I am so proud of you.” I dialed Liam’s number. It rang seven times before he sent me to voicemail. Five minutes later, he texted me. [Clara, are you back at the hotel?] [Go to sleep early, you have to be up at dawn for hair and makeup.] I stared at those fake, sickly-sweet words and replied with one question: [Where are you?] The typing bubble appeared and disappeared multiple times at the top of the screen. Two minutes later, he sent me a photo of the guest bedroom in our new house. [I got the relatives sorted out, but the hotel was totally overbooked. I decided to just crash in the guest room at the new house tonight.] He lied so flawlessly. So effortlessly. If it hadn’t been for that red string, if it hadn’t been for the living room camera, I probably would have spent all of tomorrow feeling guilty about how exhausted he must have been running errands for us. I didn’t argue. I just sent him a screenshot of the security camera feed. In the frame, Chloe’s dress was thrown carelessly over the arm of our new sofa. Then, I sent my final message: [From today on, you guys don’t have to hide anymore. The wedding tomorrow is officially canceled. Let’s try to leave each other with a shred of dignity.] Liam didn’t reply. One minute later on the live feed, the man sprinted out of the master bedroom, staring directly up at the camera lens in pure horror. Chloe, wearing my bridal robe, chased after him. “What do we do?! Did she see?!” Liam reached up and violently ripped the camera out of the wall. Right before the feed cut to black, I heard his voice, terrifyingly calm: “Don’t panic. I’ll handle it.” Early the next morning, as the sun was just beginning to rise, it became glaringly obvious that his idea of “handling it” was to physically force me to go through with the wedding. Liam sent a message to the groomsmen and bridal party group chat, claiming I had suddenly spiked a high fever and the traditional morning “door games” were canceled. His mother, flanked by over a dozen aggressive relatives, blockaded the door to my hotel suite. “Clara Hayes, you are coming downstairs today whether you like it or not!” “Backing out on the morning of the wedding is literally fraud!” “Clara, if you don’t walk out that door right now, I swear to God I will tell the entire city that you had a psychotic break before your wedding! Let’s see what man ever wants to marry you after that!” Liam stood in the hallway behind them, not lifting a single finger to stop his mother’s rampage. He just spoke to me through the locked door: “Clara, put on the dress. I’m taking you to the venue.” “Once we get through today, I will let you punish me however you want.” When my bridesmaids woke up and saw the text I sent them apologizing for canceling the wedding, they realized I wasn’t in the suite. They frantically ran around the hotel looking for me, only to run smack into Liam and his mother throwing a massive, screaming tantrum outside the bridal suite. They immediately covertly recorded the chaos and sent the videos to me. Watching the footage, my hands and feet turned to ice. I thought I had given him an easy out. I thought we could just break up quietly and go our separate ways. Instead, he chose absolute nuclear warfare. He was trying to use the immense social and financial weight of the Vance family to force me to swallow this disgusting betrayal and marry him anyway. I called Liam’s phone. “Stop harassing my bridesmaids. I will be at the hotel banquet hall at exactly 11:00 AM.” I opened my closet and pulled out a sleek, pitch-black evening gown—the one I had worn to a funeral last year. I grabbed a black veil fascinator to hide the dark circles under my eyes from not sleeping a wink. I took my mother, and we drove to the wedding venue. When Liam’s mother saw me walking in dressed entirely in black mourning clothes, her hand, which had been enthusiastically accepting wedding envelopes from guests, froze mid-air. Liam reached out to grab my hand. “Stop throwing a tantrum. I brought your wedding dress over here. Go to the bridal suite and get changed.” I dodged his hand. “Where’s Chloe?” “She’s not feeling well.” “What, did you keep her up too late last night?” Liam’s mother suddenly shoved me hard by the shoulder. “Watch your filthy mouth! Today is a joyous occasion, how dare you try to throw dirt on my son’s name?!” I stumbled backward, the small of my back slamming painfully into the sharp corner of the reception desk. My mother immediately lunged forward, shielding me. “You dare put your hands on my daughter?!” She was instantly blocked by Liam’s uncle and his older sister. “Your daughter is hell-bent on humiliating the Vance family today.” Liam’s mother pointed a vicious finger right at my nose. “You have two choices. You either walk down that aisle and marry him like a good girl, or you drop to your knees right now and apologize to every single guest the Vance family invited today.” Liam gently took my arm. “Mom, stop pushing her.” “Oh, so you’re still defending her?!” his mother shrieked in absolute fury. “She is my wife.” I let out a harsh, cold laugh, reminding him of reality. “We haven’t signed the marriage license yet. We have absolutely no legal relation to each other.” Liam’s grip on my arm tightened like a vice. “Clara, please, stop acting like this.” “I admit I made a mistake last night. After the wedding is over, I will compensate you for it.” “You still think I’m negotiating with you?” Liam stared at me, a flicker of genuine, baffling confusion in his eyes. “Are you seriously going to throw away seven years of our lives over one tiny mistake?” At that exact moment, the officiant’s booming, emotional voice echoed from inside the ballroom: “And now, please welcome our handsome groom!” The guests erupted into applause, and Liam, flashing a brilliant, flawless smile, walked through the double doors. Inside, the room was a dreamscape of soft spotlights and thousands of cascading flowers. The romantic swell of the wedding march filled the air as the officiant announced: “And now… please rise for our beautiful bride!” I stood there, dressed entirely in black like I was attending a funeral, staring at the wedding venue I had spent five years dreaming about. Chloe was standing off to the side of the stage in her bridesmaid dress. Her eyes were puffy and swollen, and she was still wearing that plain silver ring on her pinky. When she saw me walk in, the tears instantly started falling. “Clara… you finally made it.” “Last night I was just in a really bad place mentally, so I asked Liam to have a few drinks with me. You can’t misunderstand, I swear we didn’t do anything…” As she spoke, she reached out, pretending to adjust the train of the wedding dress I wasn’t wearing. The officiant signaled for the groom to come collect his bride. Liam smiled warmly, walking toward me like absolutely nothing was wrong, and dropped to one knee. I reached out, grabbed Chloe by the collar of her dress, and violently yanked her forward. With a sharp gasp, Chloe tripped and fell directly into Liam’s kneeling embrace. The entire ballroom gasped in shock. People exchanged wild, bewildered looks. I pulled out my phone, marched straight over to the AV control booth, plugged it in, and mirrored the security footage from the new house onto the massive projectors. When the video started playing on the jumbotron, the massive room fell dead silent. First, Chloe unlocked the door and walked in. Liam followed right behind her. The two of them passionately made out in the living room, Chloe’s bridesmaid dress dropping to the sofa. Still entangled, they stumbled down the hallway toward the master bedroom doors. The video cut to black right there. I turned around and grabbed a microphone. “Today’s wedding is officially canceled. Because last night, in the home we bought together, the groom slept with my maid of honor.” Chloe suddenly let out a shrill laugh. “You can’t even see the faces!” She pointed frantically at the blurry silhouettes on the screen. “It’s fake! Everyone, do not believe her!” “You can’t even see who that is! Clara majored in graphic design in college, she’s an expert at video editing! She used AI to fake this video so she’d have an excuse to back out of the wedding!” Liam’s boss stood up from the VIP table, looking stern. “Clara, this is a very serious accusation. You can’t just ruin a man’s life over a blurry, incomplete video clip.” Liam’s uncle slammed his hand on the table and stood up. “Exactly! You can’t even see the side profile! For all we know, the woman in that video is you!” Liam’s sister pointed an aggressive finger at me from across the room. “Exactly! What is wrong with this bride?! She fakes a sex tape to get out of the wedding? Did you just scam us for the ring money so you could run off?!” The accusations rained down on me from every direction. Liam walked up to me and held out his hand. “Delete the original video right now, and I won’t press charges for defamation.” His mother snatched a microphone from a nearby table. “Everyone heard that, right?! The Hayes family is deliberately slandering my son so they can back out of the wedding!” “I want the $50,000 engagement gift returned. Double.” “The Hayes family will also be paying for this entire banquet and all the floral arrangements.” “And she will issue a public apology, promising to never drag Liam’s name through the mud ever again.” I stared at Liam’s mother, and then at the sea of furious guests. Countless red strings extended from their heads, crossing and tangling in the air above them, forming a massive, filthy, sickening web. The uncle who just accused me of faking the video? His red string connected directly to the hotel’s catering manager. The sister who called me a scammer? Her red string stretched across three tables, tying her directly to her best friend’s husband. Even the mother, who was screaming so loudly about her son’s pure, untarnished reputation… had a red string shooting straight from her head to the VIP table. I yanked the microphone out of the officiant’s hand. “Since you refuse to believe the video evidence, let’s try verifying the truth a different way.” Liam’s mother sneered. “What other lies are you going to spin?” I raised my hand and pointed directly at the VIP table. “Let’s start with the affair between you… and Liam’s boss.”

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It was the last day of our family vacation. Dad went out to grab late-night snacks, and Mom was in the bathroom taking a shower. Suddenly, the hotel room door let out a sharp beep, and a strange man swiped a keycard and walked right in. He locked the door behind him and headed straight for the bathroom. I hid under the covers, absolutely terrified, sobbing as I dialed my dad’s number. “Daddy, come back! Hurry!” Dad sprinted all the way back to the hotel, bumping right into the man as he walked out of our room, casually pulling up his pants. The man even smiled and greeted my dad. “My bad, buddy. Walked into the wrong room.” The two of them got into a brutal fight in the hallway. The man pushed my dad down the concrete fire escape stairs, then fled the scene without a trace. The hotel claimed it was simply a system glitch—an extra keycard printed by mistake—and compensated us with $50,000. But my mom never spoke another word after that night. A year later, she passed away in a psychiatric facility. I was sent to live with my grandmother, haunted every single night by the sound of that electronic beep. From then on, my nightmares played on an endless loop: sometimes my phone call caused my dad’s death, sometimes not calling caused my mom’s. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the year I was seven. The front desk receptionist was smiling, handing two keycards across the counter to my dad. I stared dead at the encoder next to her computer keyboard. Resting on it was a third card, its green light still blinking. “Miss,” I pointed at it. “Who are you giving that third keycard to?” Chapter 1 The receptionist’s practiced, professional smile stiffened for a fraction of a second. She glanced down at the card I was pointing to, then casually covered it with her palm. “You’re mistaken, sweetie. This is just a dud card. The system glitched and didn’t write the information properly.” My dad looked down as well. “A dud?” “Yes, sir.” The receptionist smiled and slid the two real keycards into a paper sleeve. “Sir, you are booked in the family suite on the 17th floor. Your two cards are ready.” “Breakfast is from 7:00 to 10:00 AM in the second-floor dining room.” As she spoke, she tried to nonchalantly sweep the third card under her hand into the recycle bin next to her. “Don’t throw it away!” I let out a piercing scream and lunged across the counter, slamming my hands down over hers. I didn’t have much strength, but the sudden movement was startling. The receptionist jumped, and the guests lined up behind us began casting strange looks in our direction. My dad looked confused too. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” I just stared at that card. In my previous life, the police had investigated the hotel’s backend system. The hotel’s official explanation was a system malfunction. They claimed the receptionist accidentally encoded an extra keycard, which was later mistakenly picked up by another guest. That was how that man was able to swipe open our door. The hotel was willing to pay $50,000 in damages. But by then, my dad was dead, and my mom had lost her mind. My family was completely destroyed in an instant, yet everyone told me: “The hotel already paid the settlement. It was just a tragic accident.” But my family could never come back. “Daddy, take this card too.” The receptionist’s expression shifted. “Sir, this card is useless.” “If it’s a dud card and my kid wants to play with it, just let her have it.” “This…” The receptionist tried to pull her hand back, but I gripped her wrist with everything I had. “Didn’t you say it was useless?” “Why won’t you give it to me?” My dad finally sensed that something was off. He looked directly at the receptionist. “Since this is an extra keycard printed for our room, we should have the right to dispose of it, shouldn’t we?” The receptionist’s smile looked strained. My dad nodded. “Alright.” “Then destroy it right now, right in front of me.” The receptionist didn’t move. A few seconds passed before she managed a forced smile. “Of course.” She picked up the keycard and tapped it against the encoder machine next to the monitor. “There you go, sir. It’s completely wiped.” The machine flashed a red light. The receptionist casually tossed the card into the recycle bin, smiling brightly. “It’s completely useless now.” My dad patted my head. “Alright, you feel better now?” I didn’t answer. The events of my previous life were still vividly burned into my memory. I remembered exactly what the police had told me during the investigation: a red light simply meant an invalid operation. It did not mean the card was wiped. I shook my head frantically, looking up at my dad with tear-filled eyes. “Daddy, I don’t trust her. Let’s test it ourselves, please?” The receptionist froze entirely. “Test what?” I pointed at the recycle bin. “The third card.” All the color instantly drained from her face. Chapter 2 My dad looked at me for a few seconds. The sheer, soul-deep terror etched into my face helped him make a swift decision. “Take it out.” “Sir, I promise you, it’s already deactivated.” “Even better if it is.” My dad’s tone remained polite, but firm. “We’ll go up to the room and test it on the door.” “If it doesn’t open, I’ll personally apologize to you for my daughter’s unreasonable behavior.” The receptionist remained glued to the spot. The guests behind us were getting impatient, and another staff member walked over. “What’s going on here?” The receptionist rushed to explain, “Nothing, the little girl saw I grabbed an extra card by mistake and insisted on looking at it.” I immediately fired back. “You didn’t grab it by mistake. When you were encoding the cards, the machine beeped three times.” Her face completely stiffened. My dad turned to her. “You made three cards?” “I…” The hotel manager happened to step out of his office. After getting the gist of the situation, he quickly put on a smooth smile to play peacemaker. “It was likely just an employee error, sir. Sometimes guests in family suites request three cards, so she might have made an extra one out of habit.” The receptionist nodded eagerly. “Yes, I just encoded an extra one out of habit.” The story had changed. A minute ago, it was a “dud card the system misprinted.” Now, it was “encoded out of habit.” In my past life, they used these exact same slippery tactics to sweep everything under the rug. My dad’s expression slowly darkened. “Take it out.” The manager shot the receptionist a look, and she reluctantly fished the card out of the recycle bin. My dad took all three cards and clenched them in his fist. “Please show us to our room.” The manager’s smile faded a bit. “Sir, if you’re really that worried, we can simply encode new cards for you right now. There’s no need to…” “Test it.” My dad cut him off with two words. Three minutes later, we were standing on the 17th floor. My dad pulled out the first keycard and tapped it against the electronic lock. Beep. The green light flashed, and the door clicked open. He did the same with the second card. Finally, my dad pulled the door shut and held up the third card. The receptionist’s lips were completely devoid of color. My dad pressed the card against the lock. Beep. A crisp, electronic chime echoed in the hallway, the green light flashed, and the heavy door swung open. Dead silence fell over the corridor. The receptionist stared at the floor. Cold sweat beaded on the manager’s forehead, his practiced smile entirely gone. I stared unblinking at that open door. In my previous life, it was exactly this sound that signaled the beginning of our family’s nightmare. Late that night, around 11:00 PM, my dad went out to buy the barbecue skewers my mom had suddenly craved. I was on the bed watching cartoons, and my mom was in the shower. Then, the door let out that soft chime. Beep. I thought my dad had forgotten something, but when I looked up, I saw a completely strange man. In this life, I had finally caught the card that was never supposed to exist, right before that door could be swiped open by a predator for the first time. My dad didn’t yell or lose his temper. He simply pulled out his phone, snapped a photo of the three keycards in his hand, and calmly asked: “Now, would anyone like to explain this?” The receptionist looked ghastly pale, her voice cracking with a sob. “I… I really just made an extra one by accident, and I forgot to wipe it…” “Then why did you tell me it was a dud?” “I was afraid you’d misunderstand.” “Why didn’t you just hand it over to me?” “Hotel policy says we can’t casually give out…” “Then when I explicitly asked you to destroy it, why did you fake it?” The receptionist had absolutely nothing left to say. The manager quickly stepped in. “Sir, this is undeniably a grave error on our employee’s part. Tell you what—we will immediately move you to a different room, offer a complimentary upgrade to our executive suite, and waive your room charges for tonight entirely.” My head snapped up. It was happening again. Just like in my previous life. First, they claim it’s a system error. Then they offer free rooms, free breakfasts, and eventually, a $50,000 settlement. They always tried to throw money at the problem, but no one ever answered the most important question: How did that card end up in a stranger’s hands? Chapter 3 I grabbed my dad’s hand tightly. “We don’t want compensation.” The manager clearly wasn’t expecting that. I glared at him and asked, “Who was that third card for?” “Sweetie, it was just a careless mistake by the staff.” “Then why did she try to hide it?” The manager’s polite demeanor cracked. “No one was hiding anything.” I pointed a finger straight at the receptionist. “She slid the card right next to her keyboard to hide it.” The receptionist fired back immediately, “I just set it down there!” “Then why didn’t you give it to my dad?” “I…” She was speechless again. My dad had zero patience left. “I want to see the keycard encoding logs.” The manager’s face hardened. “That is internal hotel data, sir.” “Then we call the police.” My dad pulled out his phone. “Let the police look at it.” The receptionist’s head snapped up, her voice suddenly shrill and panicked. “Is that really necessary?! I made one extra keycard, and no one even took it! Do you seriously need to call the cops over this?!” My dad gave her a cold look. “I initially thought you just made a clumsy mistake. But looking at your reaction, I’d say it’s absolutely necessary.” She snapped her mouth shut. Left with no choice, the manager escorted us back to the lobby and opened the backend system. The screen displayed Room 1708. Total active keycards: 3. The creation times were mere seconds apart, and all three were logged under the same receptionist’s employee ID. There was no system glitch. The machine didn’t automatically spit out an extra card. Someone had manually, intentionally encoded three separate cards. My dad pointed at the screen. “You call this an accidental keystroke?” The receptionist’s face flushed bright red. “My finger slipped.” “If your finger slipped, why not just hand it over to me?” “I…” My dad stared her down. “Why hide it next to the keyboard?” The manager interrupted, “Sir, please calm down.” “I am completely calm.” My dad stated flatly. “I am only asking one question: Who was this card meant for?” No one answered. Right at that moment, the automatic sliding doors of the lobby glided open. A man in a black t-shirt walked in. He wasn’t carrying any luggage. His eyes were sharp, scanning the room, but he didn’t head for the front desk. Instead, he casually let his gaze sweep across the lobby. The moment I saw him, it felt like all the blood was drained from my body. In my previous life, I was too terrified to look at him when he entered the room, hiding deep under the covers. I only saw his face clearly after my dad ran back. When he walked out of our room, he was still zipping up his pants. Facing my dad in the hallway, he didn’t look panicked at all. He even smiled and said, “My bad, buddy. Walked into the wrong room.” And then they fought. I will never, ever forget the malicious look on his face when he shoved my dad down the stairs. It was this exact man. I buried my face in my dad’s chest, shaking like a leaf in the wind. “Daddy…” He looked down at me, but I could only point a trembling finger toward the man in the lobby and whisper, “I’m scared of him.” My dad followed my gaze. The man seemed to sense he was being watched and looked up. Our eyes met. He didn’t look away or act suspicious. Instead, he offered my dad a casual, polite nod, looking exactly like a complete stranger making accidental eye contact. Then, he didn’t approach the desk. He walked over to the lounge area on the far side of the lobby, sat down on a sofa, and pulled out his phone. It all looked incredibly normal, as if he were just a regular guest. My dad crouched down. “Do you know him, sweetie?” I shook my head. In this life, I certainly wasn’t supposed to know him. The manager glanced over as well. “That appears to be a guest, sir.” I suddenly asked, “What room is he staying in?” The manager frowned. “Guest privacy policies prevent me from disclosing that.” “Then you can at least tell me if he’s actually checked into this hotel.” The manager didn’t answer. Another receptionist nearby discreetly checked the system and hesitated before answering, “It looks like… no.” The lobby fell into a suffocating silence. The man remained on the sofa. No luggage, no attempt to check-in, not meeting anyone. He just sat there, waiting. I knew exactly what he was waiting for. He was waiting for the husband to leave. Waiting for the wife to be alone. Waiting for the perfect, vulnerable moment. Chapter 4 My dad looked at the receptionist. “Do you know him?” Her eyes darted nervously, refusing to look toward the lounge area, but she answered far too quickly. “No.” It was too fast. She hadn’t even paused to think. I stared at her. She kept her eyes glued to her desk, and the man on the sofa never once glanced in her direction. But the harder they tried to ignore each other, the more obvious it became. “Is that so?” My dad pulled out his phone and dialed 911. The manager’s face twisted in horror. “Sir, this was just a keycard encoding error! Just because some guy is sitting in our lobby doesn’t mean anything! Why are you calling the police?!” “Your hotel printed a third active keycard for my room. Your employee hid it from me, lied about it being a dud, and then lied about destroying it. And right now, there is an unregistered man loitering in your lobby.” The manager tried to protest, but the man on the sofa suddenly stood up. It seemed he realized the waiting game was over. He turned and started walking toward the exit. My dad’s instincts flared, and he took a step to pursue him. But the horrific imagery of my past life exploded in my brain. My dad lying in a pool of his own blood. That man’s terrifying, merciless face. I could not let my dad die chasing him! I wrapped my arms around my dad’s leg with every ounce of strength I had, screaming and sobbing hysterically. “Don’t chase him!” “Daddy, don’t go! Please, please don’t chase him!” My dad was frozen in his tracks by my agonizing cries. He looked down at my face, twisted in sheer terror, and finally stopped. The man quickly disappeared through the sliding doors. A few minutes later, the police arrived. The receptionist adamantly stuck to her story: she made an accidental keystroke, and she had absolutely no idea who the man in the lobby was. Since the man had already left, it seemed like the situation was going to hit a dead end—until the police demanded to see the lobby CCTV footage. They scrubbed the footage backward. At 5:14 PM, hours before we even arrived at the hotel, the man had come in. He didn’t check-in. He just walked up to the front desk and spoke for a few moments. Though there was no audio, the camera clearly showed the person he was speaking to was the exact same receptionist. They absolutely knew each other. The receptionist’s face drained of all color. The police officer glared at her. “You said you didn’t know him.” Her lips trembled. “He… he stayed at our hotel before.” “Staying here makes you friends?” “He comes by often.” “To do what?” “To visit a friend.” “What friend?” The receptionist couldn’t answer. The footage kept playing. The man stayed at the desk for less than two minutes before leaving. At 7:06 PM, our family walked into the hotel to check-in. The three keycards were printed consecutively. Two were handed to my dad. The third was slipped silently next to her keyboard. Nobody said a word, but the receptionist’s hands began to shake uncontrollably. “Is this your ‘accidental keystroke’?” the officer asked. Her lips moved uselessly a few times. “I… I forgot about it.” The police fast-forwarded the video. At 8:43 PM, the man returned to the hotel. He didn’t register at the desk, nor did he approach the receptionist. He just sat on the lobby sofa for over forty minutes. During that time, the receptionist glanced at him exactly six times. The seventh time was when my dad stepped out of the elevator. My dad had come down to buy water at the convenience store. When my dad walked past the lobby, the man on the sofa looked up. The receptionist looked up. They both simultaneously tracked my dad as he walked out the front doors. A bone-deep chill washed over me. In my past life, on the last day of our trip, my dad went out around 11:00 PM to buy late-night snacks. It was only after he left the building that the man swiped the card and entered our room. He didn’t just stumble into the wrong room by accident. He had been waiting. Waiting for the man of the room to leave. Chapter 5 My dad connected the dots too. His expression turned lethal. “So, you were waiting for me to step out?” The receptionist shook her head frantically. “No!” “Then why was he just sitting there?” “I don’t know!” “Then why, when I went to the convenience store, did you both stare at me as I left?” “It was a coincidence! Just a coincidence!” Her voice grew shrill and frantic, as if she were trying to convince herself rather than us. The police officer ordered her to hand over her phone. She took a sharp step backward. “Why should I?” In that instant, every eye in the lobby locked onto her. Realizing how guilty her reaction looked, she quickly scrambled to cover it up. “My phone is my private property.” The police didn’t forcibly seize it on the spot, but they officially ordered the hotel to secure and preserve all CCTV footage and backend server logs. My dad had no intention of staying another minute in this hotel. He told my mom to wait in the lobby with me while he went upstairs to pack our bags. I panicked immediately. “No, we’re all going together!” My mom looked confused. “Dad’s just going up to grab the suitcases.” I clutched my dad’s shirt in a death grip. “Together.” Seeing my panic, my dad didn’t ask questions. He took both of us up in the elevator with him. When the doors slid open on the 17th floor, a voice called out from down the hall. “Sir, wait a moment!” A cleaning lady pushing a housekeeping cart hurried over, holding a white paper keycard sleeve. “Did you drop this?” My dad took the sleeve. Printed on the front was our room number: 1708. But both of our keycards were safely in his pocket. He opened the sleeve. There was no keycard inside—only a small, folded piece of paper. He unfolded it. Two lines were scrawled across it. “Let me know when the guy leaves.” “Usual deal, unlocking it is on you.”

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