Benedict Cole’s undercover mission had failed. Only his twin brother, David Cole, returned.

I was devastated, nearly driven to madness over losing my husband.

Holding Benedict’s police badge, I tried to slit my wrists nine times, but I was always rescued just in time.

As my consciousness faded on my tenth attempt, I overheard a conversation between my mother-in-law, Helen, and David.

“El has tried to commit suicide for you ten times now. How long are you going to keep this act up? This woman is head over heels for you. Just stop lying to her already!”

David’s expression hardened as he flatly refused.

“David took a bullet for me. It is only right that I take care of his wife.”

“El’s from the countryside. She’s tough. Once Melissa becomes pregnant and has a child to live for, only then can I reveal that I am actually Benedict.”

The bathtub was dyed red with my blood, but the pain in my heart was far greater than the sting of my wound.

It turned out that it had all been a lie, a deception meant only for me.

My grief-stricken suicide attempts for love were nothing short of a clown’s tragicomedy.

My mother-in-law, Helen, sighed.

“Your ‘death’ has destroyed her! She looked so pale these past few days, and she has lost so much weight. When she finds out the truth, she will never forgive you! Sweetheart, you two are legally married. There are other ways to repay your brother. Melissa still has me to look after her—”

Before Helen could finish persuading Benedict, he cut her off.

“Mom, you don’t get it, so stay out of it. El’s grief is temporary. I’ll get her the best doctors to treat her mental illness. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try electroshock therapy. Once we get her through this rough patch, the suffering will stop. When Melissa gets pregnant and everything is back on track, I’ll tell El the truth. El’s a sensible girl. She loves me too much to let me go. She’ll understand why I had to do this.”

The water in the bathtub rose past my nose. The pain in my chest was so intense that I struggled to breathe. I let go of Benedict’s police badge in my hand and watched it drift in the bloody tub. I knew his badge number by heart. However, at this moment, it felt like a cruel and piercing betrayal.

The shower head fell, and the loud crash brought Benedict running.

He frantically gathered me into his arms. His anxious attempts to bandage my wound made me feel dazed.

I called out softly, “Ben...”

Benedict stayed in character so well and only let out a soft sigh.

It killed any hope I had left.

“El, you’re doing it again. It’s me, David.”

He looked at me with a mix of frustration and reproach.

“Benedict is gone. Why do you keep doing this to yourself? Stop being so reckless. You’re soaked. Let me get you changed.”

As he spoke, his hands naturally moved to undo my buttons.

His familiar movement only made me more certain he was Benedict.

I pushed him away in despair, but he grasped my hands firmly, leaving no room for refusal.

“El, don’t make this difficult. If you get sick, how am I supposed to face Benedict?”

Unable to break free from his grip, I lay on the bed lifelessly as I allowed Benedict to manhandle me.

A deep sense of humiliation washed over me.

Tears slid silently down my cheeks. Benedict, however, mistook them for a sign that his reasoning was working.

Just as he was about to console me with earnest words, a noisy crowd of people suddenly emerged through the door.

Melissa had brought a group of friends home for a gathering.

The moment she saw Benedict sitting on the edge of my bed, her eyes instantly welled up with tears.

“Dear, what are you doing?”

Benedict immediately dropped the top he was holding and rushed to explain himself to her.

“El hurt her hand. She couldn’t get changed on her own, so she asked me to help her.”

I let out a startled cry and grabbed the blanket from the side of the bed to cover myself.

But someone had already taken a photo of me in my disheveled, exposed state.

With Benedict gone, the door clicked softly shut. I could hear their occasional muffled discussions.

“What’s with Melissa’s sister-in-law? Her husband just passed away, and she’s already throwing herself at the older brother. Tsk tsk tsk.”

“She looks desperate in this photo, doesn’t she?”

Benedict frowned. He was about to speak when Melissa called him into the room.

This house had poor soundproofing.

Just then, the headboard next to my bed began to shake violently from the commotion in the adjacent room.

“Dear, I’m jealous. Ah—”

“Easy, you’re going to break it. El might hear us.”

...

Their muffled moans and gasps continued.

I could not bear to listen anymore.

I stared at the wounds on my wrist. Every single one cut deep enough to reveal bone. I once believed these scars were proof of my love for Benedict.

Who would have known that the man I longed for day and night was living right beside me, hiding his identity and watching me spiral into madness?

After an unknown amount of time passed, Melissa walked into my bedroom. Her face was beaming with sweetness as she called me to get up for a meal. Dense hickeys could be seen across her neck. There was no question about what they had just been doing. And there was Benedict, who, during our years of marriage, had never once lifted a finger in the kitchen, effortlessly cooking a table full of dishes.

As he set the last plate down, something seemed to occur to him. “El, you don’t eat seafood, right?”

Before I could respond, Melissa smiled and placed a shrimp into my bowl.

“Dear, El is not a kid anymore. You can’t just let her be a picky eater.”

Benedict hesitated for a long moment but ultimately said nothing.

He knew I was allergic to seafood.

But since Melissa had spoken, he did not want to embarrass her in front of everyone.

Just as I calmly brought the shrimp to my mouth, Benedict inexplicably grew irritated.

He frowned and worriedly slid an empty plate toward me, as if signaling me to spit it out.

“If you can’t eat it, don’t force yourself. It’s not worth ruining your health over.”

Melissa gritted her teeth. She could barely conceal her resentment. Under the table, where no one could see, she viciously pinched my thigh.

I gasped in pain. Benedict was about to ask what was wrong, but Melissa called him away to fetch soup from the kitchen.

When the scalding hot soup arrived, Melissa suddenly grabbed my wrist and jerked backward. She staged the illusion that I had pushed her. Yet she was not brave enough to truly gamble with her own body. Instead, the entire bowl of soup splashed across my injured arm.

We both screamed at the same time.

Benedict glanced at me first, then lunged forward to support Melissa.

Before I could even regain my footing, Melissa wiped her tears and sobbed.

“It’s fine if you don’t want shrimp, El! Why go as far as pushing me?”

I never imagined that she could lie so brazenly.

Benedict’s face burned with rage. He stood protectively in front of Melissa.

“El, that’s going too far! Mel only meant well. How could you hurt her like this?”

The thick, scalding soup seeped through the gauze right into my open wound. Pus started oozing from the gash. The searing pain made me break out in a cold sweat, and I could only speak slowly.

“There are surveillance cameras. We can check the footage.”

A flicker of panic crossed Melissa’s face.

But Benedict scowled and told me to shut up.

“The evidence is right in front of us! You’re just stalling so Mel can’t get treated, aren’t you?”

I glanced at Melissa, who was completely unharmed. Being next to her, my disheveled state made me look like a hysterical shrew. I did not want to waste time defending myself, so I simply begged Benedict to take me to the hospital.

He shook off my hand and sneered, “Who exactly are you putting on this act for?

“If anything serious happens to Mel, I will never forgive you.”

With that, he roughly shoved me aside and escorted Melissa away.

I felt an overwhelming wave of pain. My vision darkened, and I lost consciousness.

When I came to, Benedict was shaking me awake.

He looked anxious. The moment he saw me wake up, he just grabbed me and dragged me along without any explanation.

Outside, it was raining cats and dogs. I ended up soaked to the bone. Sensing my resistance, he pulled me forward and quickly explained.

“Mel has a blood blister on her calf from the burn. You’re giving her skin for a graft.”

I sent him a stunned look and started struggling against his grip. Before I could utter a word, he slapped me hard across the face.

“El! How long are you going to keep this up?! Mel’s burn is your fault to begin with. How can you be so irresponsible? She’s a woman. How is she supposed to wear a skirt with such a scar on her leg?”

The next second, he roughly shoved me into the car.

As the door slammed shut, the sharp edge of the metal frame scraped against my calf. It left a vicious, gaping wound.

Benedict barely glanced at it before muttering that I was being dramatic.

At the hospital, the doctor looked at both me and Melissa with a troubled expression.

“We only have one dose of anesthetic left. Mrs. Cole’s wound isn’t that deep. Honestly, she might not even need the graft—”

Before he could finish, Benedict frowned and cut him off.

He shoved me forward forcefully. With an air of finality, he urged the doctor to begin the surgery.

“Give the anesthetic to Mel. If we skip the graft, what happens if it leaves a scar?”

With no anesthetic left for me, I had no choice but to endure as the doctor cut into my skin. I clutched the bedsheet beneath me, trembling from the pain.

Yet the hurt in my heart was far worse than that of my body.

Because Melissa’s wound was tiny, the surgery was over quickly.

In the hospital room, I looked down at myself, wrapped in bandages of all sizes. Five years of marriage, and all I had gotten in return was a husband who had betrayed me and a body covered in wounds. After hesitating for a long time, I pressed the call button next to a contact number that I had left untouched for years. It was my senior in academia.

“Peter, is there still an opening in the professor’s lab?”

There was a long silence on the other end before a gentle voice replied, “There is. I’ll come and get you, Ellora.”

The moment I heard that familiar voice, all the pent-up feelings of grief had been holding inside of me finally came rushing out.

Five years ago, I had slipped on a riverbank while fishing and fallen into the water.

Benedict was the one to save me. He fell in love with me at first sight, and we quickly embarked on a romantic relationship. For him, I had given up my true passion for scientific research.

So much time had passed. It was time to put an end to my sacrifices.

I was just looking at the flight information Peter had sent when my phone was suddenly snatched away.

Melissa looked at the phone screen with a mocking smirk.

“El, I’ll say this one good thing about you. At least you know when you’re not wanted. Can’t exactly stick around in a house where your husband is dead, can you? Please. Don’t play games with me. We’re both women. I know exactly what you’re doing. You’re trying to use David’s sympathy to string him along, aren’t you?”

She let out a cold laugh and tapped a diagnostic report against my cheek.

“A sister-in-law throwing herself at her brother-in-law? You’ve got some nerve being that shameless! Too bad for you, though. I’m pregnant now. David cares a lot about this child. Once the baby’s born, I’ll be happy to let you take a look. See if he resembles Benedict.”

My hands clenched into fists. I smiled bitterly.

“Sure. I’ll hold you to that.” I lifted my head and fixed my gaze on Melissa. Then I mouthed slowly, “One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. How pathetic.”

Clearly, she did not catch on. She just saw it as provocation. She stomped her heel and scoffed.

“You just wait!”

My phone pinged with another message from Peter. He had sent me an encrypted file.

[Ellora, the professor heard you’re willing to come back. He wants to know if you’re interested in this classified project. If you say yes, you’ll need to have your current identity wiped.]

The wind outside rustled the branches. Melissa’s discarded pregnancy test was swept into the trash can.

I agreed without hesitation.

If Benedict wanted to play dead, I should play the part of a wife who died out of love, too. With my ten previous suicide attempts on record, the motive was solid. No one would suspect a thing.

I smiled faintly.

I opened the encrypted file and registered myself with a new identity.

...

That evening, as a nurse was changing my bandages, Benedict walked in. He looked at the gauze wrapped around me, and a flicker of discomfort crossed his face.

Once the nurse was gone, he gently tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear.

“El, I know I overreacted the other day. But seeing that you’re okay now, I feel a lot better.”

I subtly shifted away from his touch.

Benedict froze for a moment but continued to say patiently, “Look, I’m the older brother. It’s not like I’m trying to play favorites with my own wife. But the truth is, this whole thing started with you. Just apologize to Mel, and we’ll all move on like nothing happened.”

I never imagined anyone could be so shameless.

Benedict, however, kept talking. His face radiated incomparable happiness as he said, “And on top of everything, Mel’s pregnant now. You’ve upset her so much that she can’t eat or sleep. Don’t you feel bad for that?”

I started crying and screamed at him to get out, but he held me tight instead. He had clearly already made up his mind.

“El, trust me. Once Mel has the baby, all of this will be behind us.”

I tried to resist.

The next second, Melissa walked in with two people in white lab coats. Instantly, I was pinned down beneath them.

A smug look flickered in Melissa’s gaze.

“Dear, did you see El just now? She’s clearly having another psychotic episode. The doctors you arranged are here now. Let them have a look at her.”

Before I could even speak, the two doctors slowly pulled down their masks.

My eyes flew wide open, and my body shook with overwhelming fear.

These two were Miles and Ethan Xanders. They had been my worst bullies back in high school! How could they possibly be the world’s top psychiatrists?

“Mr. Cole, your sister-in-law’s condition appears quite serious.”

“She needs... thorough treatment.”

Vengeance burned in both of their eyes. Their teeth were clenched as they spoke. I started trembling uncontrollably. I grabbed Benedict’s pant leg and held on for dear life. I looked up at him and shook my head frantically.

“No! They’re not doctors at all! Benedict, please! They’re the ones who used to bully me!”

Panic flickered in Benedict’s eyes, but he quickly convinced himself that my symptoms were causing me to mistake strangers for people I knew.

He exasperatedly pushed me away.

“El, you’re confusing me with Benedict again. You really are sick. Just go along with the treatment. I’ll come get you in a few days.”

After exchanging a few words with them, a hood was thrown over my head. I was then bundled into a van.

Before the vehicle could fully stop, I was kicked out and landed face-first in the dirt with a mouthful of grit and gravel.

When I opened my eyes again, I was surrounded by pitch-black darkness. The bullies flashed a cruel grin at me. Their gaze roamed over me with undisguised lechery. When I begged for mercy, one of them backhanded me across the face without hesitation.

“You little tramp! Weren’t you so eager to tattle back then? You got us expelled, and now you want to play innocent?”

I tried to run, only to find my ankle shackled by an iron chain.

I was already injured. I was hopelessly outnumbered.

“Look at you, now. All grown up and filled out just right. Ethan and I haven’t gotten laid in months. The two of us on one of you sounds like a fair deal, don’t you think?”

They then started touching me all over.

I fought back with all my strength. Just as the situation reached its critical moment, the iron door outside creaked open. Someone had used a key to open it.

...

Benedict and Melissa appeared in the doorway.

Still shaken, I scrambled frantically to hide in the corner.

Seeing me in this state, Benedict subconsciously frowned.

“Can this kind of treatment really work? Why are her feet chained up?”

Melissa noticed the concern in his eyes. Her hatred toward me intensified.

She spoke in a sweet, soft voice. “Dear, why are you second-guessing the doctor? I’m sure this is some kind of trauma response therapy.”

Benedict kept quiet. He then had someone bring in the electroshock equipment.

“You said you needed electroshock treatment. Here’s the machine.”

I saw the confusion on the two bullies’ faces and instantly realized that Melissa had switched the real doctors with these impostors.

“They’re not doctors. These aren’t the ones you hired!”

Benedict’s expression grew complicated. He started to step toward me, but Melissa feigned weakness and leaned against him.

“Dear, the air in here is so stuffy. The baby and I can barely breathe.”

Benedict stopped in his tracks immediately. He lifted her into his arms anxiously. His voice echoed through the empty warehouse as he said, “El, just cooperate with the treatment. Do what the doctors say.”

The heavy warehouse door clanged shut. Darkness swallowed the light. I shut my eyes and gave up. The bullies let out a cold laugh and dragged me toward the electroshock machine.

A powerful current ripped through my body. As I convulsed and screamed, they filmed the whole scene with their phones.

“Let’s sell this video to the auction house guys! We’re going to be rich!”

Time passed, but I could not tell how long; I simply lay limp on the floor, barely alive. The two goons exchanged a glance before their hands began to wander freely over my body again.

Suddenly, a plume of black smoke billowed out from the corner of the room.

“Fire! Fire!”

The two spun and fled. They left my ankle chain still locked in place.

Thick smoke filled my nostrils. As my consciousness faded, a figure appeared before me, silhouetted against the flames.