A vicious crack echoed through the marble hall. White hot pain exploded across my face. My head snapped to the side. My ears rang with a high pitched whine that drowned out everything else. Warm copper flooded my mouth as blood erupted from my nose.

I turned back slowly, my cheek already swelling. Leo's hand was still raised, trembling in the air like he was deciding whether to strike me again. His eyes were cold and merciless.

"You pathetic, delusional bitch," his voice dripped with hatred that could melt steel. "Pretending to be Roberta Alfred? Have you completely lost your mind?"

Before I could draw breath, his fingers dug into my face, forcing me to look at him. Fresh pain shot through my already throbbing cheek as he squeezed.

"Are you this desperate? Is this jealous of Lydia?" Spittle hit my face as he snarled. "You'd go this far to humiliate yourself?"

Everyone watched in stunned silence as he shoved me with savage force. I stumbled backward, my weakened legs barely catching me before I hit the ground again.

Without missing a beat, Leo spun toward Lydia and slammed her against the marble pillar. His mouth crashed down on hers desperately.

Right in front of me. Right in front of everyone. My cheeks burned as I watched my husband devour another woman ten feet away.

Lydia melted into him, her legs wrapping around his waist like she was marking territory. Her fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer.

The ballroom erupted in whispers, but everything sounded far away, like I was underwater.

Over his shoulder, Lydia's eyes found mine. They glittered with triumph. Her lips were swollen from his kisses, curved into a smirk even as he kissed her neck.

One of Leo's friends cleared his throat loudly. "Leo, don't you think your wife will be furious watching you make out with another woman in her presence?"

Leo tore his mouth away from Lydia, his lips still glistening. He threw a mocking glance at me, his eyes dancing with cruel amusement.

"What better way to teach this pathetic woman a lesson?" His words hit like acid.

"But I didn't..." I started.

"SILENCE!" His voice echoed through the hall, bouncing off the marble walls.

My legs gave out. The world tilted sideways as his hatred washed over me like molten lava.

"The only way I'm taking you back is if you kneel and apologize to Lydia for the scene you caused." He stared at me with pure disgust. "Beg her forgiveness."

He lifted Lydia as if she weighed nothing and walked toward the VIP lounge, whispering something in her ear that made her giggle.

The crowd gradually returned to their interrupted conversations, acting as if the spectacle had never happened. As if I didn't exist.

I stayed curled up in a corner, away from prying eyes. My body shook uncontrollably as I waited for Mr. Davis to arrive.

But something more devastating was happening. Sharp pain shot through my abdomen, right where they'd harvested my kidney. I looked down and saw blood seeping through my dress, staining the fabric dark red.

The doctor's words rang in my ears like a death knell. "Miss Elena, any trauma to that area can lead to severe complications. Internal bleeding. Organ damage. You could lose your ability to have children. Something far worse could happen to your reproductive system."

Panic clawed at my throat as I struggled to stand. My legs wouldn't cooperate. The room spun violently.

I had wanted to stay, to prove to Leo that I was invited, that I was Roberta Alfred. But I couldn't stand anymore. The pain was too intense.

I needed help. Now.

Relief flooded through me as the emergency unit came into view through the glass doors. I could see Dr. McCall inside, the doctor I'd hired personally to oversee my care.

He would save me. He had to.

I stretched my bloodied hand toward the door, salvation just inches away.

Something hard and unforgiving struck me from behind. The base of my skull exploded with pain.

My vision shattered like broken glass.

Then everything went black.

+±+++++

The smell of antiseptic and decay dragged me back to consciousness. My body trembled uncontrollably. Every nerve screamed in agony. I tried to sit up, but pain lanced through my skull.

Where was I?

The room was dark, lit only by a dim overhead light that flickered occasionally. As my eyes adjusted, shapes came into focus.

White sheets. Bodies underneath them.

Oh God.

A scream built in my throat, but came out as a whimper. I crawled toward what looked like a door, my legs barely holding me as I pulled myself upright. Blood dripped from my head, pooling on the floor beneath me.

"Hello! Can someone please help me?" I banged my fist against the metal door. The sound echoed in the small space.

"You stupid wench!" The voice that came from outside made my blood freeze solid.

"Lydia?" My voice shook. "What's happening? Where am I?"

Her laughter was pure evil, echoing through the door. "You're in the morgue, you pathetic fool!"

My heart stopped.

The morgue. Those shapes under white sheets weren't sleeping patients.

They were corpses.

Terror crashed over me in waves. I stumbled backward, away from the bodies, my back hitting the cold wall.

"Lydia, please let me out," I begged, hating the desperation in my voice. "I need a doctor. I'm bleeding badly."

"Oh, you won't be needing treatment." Her voice was light, almost cheerful. "You're going to die anyway."

The casual way she spoke about my death made everything inside me freeze.

"I locked you in there so you can get used to being with dead people," she giggled. "You should have died in that fire. But someone had to play hero and save you. Still pisses me off."

My entire world crumbled to dust.

Leo had lied about saving me in the fire. Every tear he'd cried. Every worried look. Every moment of fake concern. All of it had been lies.

"You can have him, Lydia," my voice broke completely. "I don't want him anymore. Just please, open the door."

Tears streamed down my face, mixing with the blood from my head wound.

"I hope you rot in there and die," Lydia said sweetly. "Goodbye, Elena."

Her footsteps faded away, leaving me trapped with corpses in the dark.

I screamed until my voice gave out. Pounded on the door until my fists were bloody. But no one came.

My strength drained away as darkness swallowed me again. The cold from the refrigerated room seeped into my bones.

This was it. This was how I would die. Alone in a morgue, surrounded by the dead..

++++++

All through the night, Leo never bothered to look for me. Instead, security footage would later show him intensifying his romance with Lydia right there in the hospital corridor, not caring if anyone saw them.

"You keep tempting me, you little tease," Leo growled as he tore at Lydia's dress.

"Leo!" Lydia gasped as she unbuckled his belt.

"You've been begging for this all night," he smirked, pressing her against the wall.

The sounds of their passion filled the corridor. Moans. Gasps. The rhythmic thud of bodies against the wall.

"You feel so good," Leo groaned.

"Yes, harder," Lydia cried out. "Don't stop."

Their voices carried through the empty hallway, a soundtrack to my suffering just floors below.

++++++

The next morning, a morgue attendant found me. I was unconscious on the cold floor, lying in a pool of my own blood.

"Oh my God," he breathed, immediately calling for help. "We need a gurney! Someone's been locked in here!"

++++

The doctor stood beside my bed, his expression carved from stone.

"Miss Elena," he paused, choosing his words carefully. "I'm so sorry, but due to the severity of the internal bleeding and the trauma to your abdominal cavity, we had no choice. We had to perform an emergency hysterectomy."

The words didn't make sense at first. They bounced around in my head like rocks in a tumbler.

Hysterectomy.

"What does that mean?" I whispered, even though I knew. I just needed him to say it differently. To tell me I'd misunderstood.

"We had to remove your uterus," he said gently. "The damage was too extensive. If we hadn't operated immediately, you would have died from internal bleeding."

My heart stopped beating.

"You arrived too late. The injuries were severe." He sighed heavily. "I'm so sorry, but you'll never be able to conceive. You can't carry a child."

My entire world shattered into a million pieces that could never be put back together.

Not only had they stolen my kidney. Now they'd taken my future. My dreams of being a mother. The family I'd always wanted.

Everything.

+++++

Two days later, I was finally discharged. Leo never visited once. At the house, I moved like a ghost through rooms that no longer felt like home. I gathered my things methodically. Clothes. Documents. The few pieces of jewelry I'd designed for myself.

I spread the divorce papers across the kitchen counter. Next to them, I laid out copies of the insurance documents and a flash drive containing the recording of Lydia confessing she'd never been sick.

Five years. I'd given this man five years of my life. Tears blurred my vision as I signed the papers with a shaking hand.

My phone buzzed. A text from Leo.

"Get ready. You're getting discharged today. I'll pick you up at 3."

Terror gripped me. He didn't know I'd already left the hospital. He was planning something.

I wiped my tears and pulled up the airline app. The next flight to Litsville left in four hours.

I booked it immediately.

When I arrived at the airport, I pulled out my phone one last time. I blocked Leo's number, watching his contact disappear from my screen.

As I was about to destroy my SIM card, another message came through.

From Lydia.

"Since you stubbornly refuse to die, we're coming to put an end to your life tonight. See you soon."

I crushed the SIM card under my heel, grinding it into the airport floor the same way she'd crushed my hand with her heel.

As the plane lifted into the sky, something cold and dangerous settled deep within my chest.

The broken, naive Elena was dead. She'd died in that morgue, surrounded by corpses.

But I would be back.

And when I returned, they would beg for mercy, the same mercy they'd never shown me.

Mercy was a luxury now.

And I could no longer afford to give it to anyone..

The plane touched down in Litsville with a gentle thud. I stepped onto familiar ground for the first time in five years. Fresh air swept through me, breathing new hope into my battered existence.

But my breathing hitched when my phone buzzed. All the air left my lungs. My chest tightened as I stared at the notification on the screen.

A popular celebrity blogger had posted a picture of Lydia and Leo from yesterday's gala. They were wrapped in each other's arms, looking picture perfect together.

The caption read: "CEO Leo Crane and his beautiful wife Lydia. A vision of love and elegance."

I stared at the screen, frozen.

Comments flooded in within seconds.

"You two are so perfect together!"

"This is what true love looks like!"

"Couple goals!"

"I wish I had what they have!"

Each comment was a knife to my heart.

My fingers hovered over the screen, trembling. Tears burned my eyes. I felt my knees weakening. Then I looked at their faces again. Leo's smile. Lydia's victorious smirk.

I deleted the notification with shaking hands.

If they could erase me from their lives so easily, I would erase them from my screen. From my mind. From my heart.

For the first time in weeks, I took a deep breath. The weight crushing my chest lifted slightly. I felt lighter.

Free.

"Elena?"

I looked up, my heart still racing from the emotional storm I had just weathered.

A tall figure stood a few feet away. Dark hair perfectly styled. Sharp jawline. A grin that felt like coming home.

My breath caught in my throat. "Ray?"

His grin widened. He closed the distance between us in three long strides and suddenly I was wrapped in his arms.

"I missed you, little sis," he said, his voice cracking with emotion. His hand ruffled my hair the way he used to during our childhood.

Tears spilled down my cheeks. I'd forgotten what it felt like to be held by someone who actually cared. Someone who wasn't calculating how to use me.

"Careful there. You're going to crush her," another voice said. Deep and commanding.

I pulled back from Ray's embrace and turned.

A man stood beside my brother. Tall, impeccably dressed in a tailored black suit that screamed wealth and power. Ocean blue eyes met mine. Sharp. Intense.

Something shifted in my chest. An unfamiliar feeling that scared me.

Ray stepped back, still grinning. "Elena, this is Anthony George. CEO of George Group. My best friend."

Anthony extended his hand. "Good to finally meet you, Elena."

The moment our fingers touched, heat spread through me. Slow and unwelcome.

I pulled back quickly, warmth flooding my cheeks. "Thank you for coming."

"Welcome home," his voice wrapped around me like a promise I hadn't asked for.

Ray wrapped an arm around my shoulder, grounding me in the present. "Ready to see Mom and Dad?"

I nodded, emotion clogging my throat. "Ready."

++++++

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Leo stood outside Elena's room.

"Mrs. Crane specifically asked not to be disturbed," the nurse blocked his path, her expression firm.

Leo sneered, his lips curling with disgust. "She caused a scene yesterday, embarrassed herself in front of everyone, and now she suddenly needs rest?" He pushed past the nurse. "Get out of my way."

He turned to the doctor standing nearby. "Is Lydia cleared for discharge?"

"Yes, Mr. Crane. Miss Lydia is completely healthy now."

Leo's face softened instantly. "Good. Let's go home then."

+++++++

Leo pushed open the front door of the Crane villa. Lydia stepped inside, looking around with barely concealed excitement. The house was exactly as she'd always imagined it. Spacious. Elegant. Expensive.

"I'm scared of sleeping by myself," she murmured, examining her fingernails with fake shyness.

Leo pulled her close, his voice dropping low. "You'll be staying in the master bedroom with me from now on. Elena can move to the guest room downstairs when she gets back. I'm sure she won't have a problem with it."

"Are you sure Elena will be fine with this?" Lydia asked, her voice dripping with false concern. "I don't want to cause problems between you two."

"You're the only one that matters to me," Leo cut her off sharply. "Once she's back, she'll renovate the bedroom to your taste, apologize to you for yesterday's tantrum, and beg for your forgiveness. I'll make sure of it."

Lydia's lips curled into a slow, satisfied smirk. Leo's phone rang. Unknown number. He answered. "Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Crane. This is Luxe Yacht calling. We wanted to follow up on the cancellation of your order. The Sovereign 450 yacht at a cost of eight million dollars. If there's an issue with the specifications, we can make adjustments..."

Leo's blood turned to ice. "What cancellation?"

"The order was placed by Mrs. Elena Crane three weeks ago as a gift. But she called yesterday to cancel it and requested a full refund."

Everything blurred.

Elena had ordered the yacht. The Sovereign 450. The one he'd dreamed about for five years. Three weeks ago.

If she'd been planning this gift three weeks ago, that meant...

The resort. Their anniversary. The fire.

His mind raced backward. What if she'd been there to surprise him? What if she'd seen him abandon her in the flames to run to Lydia?

"I... I have to go," he hung up, his hands shaking.

"What's wrong?" Lydia appeared in the doorway, concerned.

"I need to check on Elena." His voice came out tight, strained.

As he drove back to the hospital, his mind spun with possibilities. Each one  worse than the last. What if Elena knew? What if she'd seen everything?

No. She couldn't know. She was too trusting. Too naive.

But the yacht cancellation...

He pressed harder on the accelerator.

Minutes later, Leo burst through the hospital doors. He rushed to Elena's room and threw open the door.

The bed was occupied. The blanket rose and fell gently with breathing. Relief flooded through him for half a second. He grabbed the blanket and yanked it back.

A pillow stared up at him, arranged to look like a person.

"No." The word came out strangled.

He spun around, searching the room frantically. The closet was empty. The bathroom was empty. Her belongings were gone.

He grabbed his phone with trembling fingers and called her number.

The call wouldn't connect.

He tried again. Same result.

He started typing frantically. "Elena, where are you?"

"I'm ready to forgive you if you come home now."

Message failed to send. He tried calling again. Nothing. Realization hit him like a freight train. Elena had blocked him.

He called his security team, his voice shaking. "Find her. I don't care what it takes. Find my wife. Now!"

His fingers wouldn't stop trembling.

Then he saw it.

A package on the bedside table. Small. Wrapped in brown paper. His name is written on it in Elena's handwriting. His blood ran cold. Panic clawed at his throat as he tore the wrapping off.

Inside was a sealed plastic bag. A blood-seeping item was wrapped careful inside.

Rotten. Metallic. Death.

The stench exploded through the room, suffocating everything.

Leo staggered backward, bile rising in his throat. His face drained of all colors.

The bag slipped from his hands and hit the floor with a wet, obscene thud.

"What the hell happened to her?" His voice cracked as he stared at the package.

His temple was trembling and his body shaken.

What had he done?