Jamie POV:

My eyes widened in disbelief. The world seemed to slow down, the sound fading to a dull buzz. "Elijah, no…" The words were a choked whisper.

He didn't even look at me. He just gave a curt nod to the bodyguards.

One of the men stepped forward. His face was impassive as he grabbed my chin, his grip like a vise. I tried to pull away, but I was as helpless as a doll in his massive hand.

He twisted.

A sickening crack echoed in the small bathroom, followed by a wave of white-hot, blinding pain that exploded behind my eyes. I felt my jawbone shift, dislocate. A scream tore at my throat but was trapped, unable to escape. My vision went black for a second, and I sagged against the wall, the agony so intense it was surreal.

Through the haze of pain, I saw Elijah turn away, his arm still wrapped around Kiley, leading her out of the room as if nothing had happened. He didn't spare me a single glance.

The next two days were a living hell. My jaw was a source of constant, throbbing agony. I couldn't speak. I couldn't eat. I could only sip water through a straw, each swallow sending a fresh spike of pain through my head.

And Elijah made sure I was present for every moment of his idyllic life with Kiley. I was forced to sit in the living room while they watched movies, her head on his lap. I was forced to sit at the dining table while he fed her, piece by piece, from his own plate.

The physical pain was nothing compared to the humiliation. I was a ghost at their feast, a silent monument to his cruelty.

Then, just as suddenly as it had been inflicted, the punishment ended. It was Kiley's birthday, and Elijah had plans. He had a doctor come to the house to reset my jaw. The procedure was excruciating, but the relief of being able to close my mouth properly was immense.

"You will plan Kiley's birthday party," Elijah told me that morning, his voice cold and clipped. "It will be perfect. If she is anything less than ecstatic, I will make you wish your jaw was still broken."

I nodded, a hollowed-out shell of a person. I spent the day directing caterers and florists, my movements robotic. The garden was transformed into a fairy-tale wonderland, twinkling with lights and filled with the scent of a thousand roses.

The party was a lavish affair. Elijah was the perfect host, the devoted lover. He gifted Kiley a diamond bracelet that cost more than my childhood home. He held her as they cut a towering cake. He led her in a slow dance under the stars, his eyes never leaving her face.

I stood in the shadows, a forgotten relic. The pain in my heart had become a dull, constant ache. It was too tired to break anymore. I watched them, and I remembered my own twenty-first birthday. Elijah and Corine had thrown me a surprise party in this very garden. He had held me just like that, whispering promises of forever in my ear.

"Forever," I murmured to the darkness. What a fragile, foolish word.

"Enjoying the show?"

I turned. Kiley stood there, a glass of champagne in her hand, a malicious smile playing on her lips. "I don't see a gift," she said, her eyes scanning me up and down. "Surely you brought something for the birthday girl."

I dropped my gaze. "I didn't prepare anything."

Her eyes narrowed, then lit up as they fixed on the thin silver chain around my neck. It was a simple locket, the last thing my mother gave me before she died. "I like that," she declared, pointing a perfectly manicured finger. "I'll take that as my present."

My hand flew to my neck, clutching the locket protectively. "No," I said, my voice shaking. I took a step back. "You can't. This was my mother's."

Kiley's face fell. Her lower lip trembled, and her eyes instantly filled with tears. "But… I just thought it was so pretty."

"What's going on?" Elijah's voice cut in. He was by her side in an instant, his brow furrowed with concern as he saw her feigned distress.

"It's nothing," Kiley sniffled, leaning into him. "I just told Jamie I liked her necklace, and she got so angry. I didn't mean to upset her."

Elijah's gaze turned to me, and it was glacial. "Give it to her."

I stared at him, horrified. "Elijah, you can't," I choked out. "You know what this is. It was my mother's." He had been with me when she gave it to me. He had held me as I cried after her funeral. He knew.

My silent plea hung in the air between us. Please, not this. Don't take this from me, too.

He looked away, his jaw tight. "Get it for her," he ordered the bodyguards.

Panic clawed at me. "No! Elijah, please!" I struggled as two men grabbed my arms, their grips like iron. One of them reached for my neck. I thrashed wildly, screaming his name, begging him.

The chain snapped.

The guard handed the locket to Elijah. He didn't look at it. He simply turned and, with a tender smile, fastened it around Kiley's neck.

"It looks beautiful on you," he murmured, kissing her forehead. He took her hand and led her back to the center of the party, leaving me on my knees, my world shattered.

My mother. The last piece of her was gone.

I stumbled away from the party, seeking refuge in the darkest corner of the garden. A group of Kiley's friends, drunk and emboldened, followed me.

"Look at the sad little wretch," one of them sneered.

"Think you can compete with Kiley? You're just a washed-up hag."

They surrounded me, their taunts turning to shoves, then to kicks. I curled into a ball on the ground, not even trying to fight back. What was the point?

A sharp kick to my stomach sent a jolt of agony through me, and I gasped, a hot, metallic taste filling my mouth. I coughed, and a spray of dark blood spattered on the pristine grass.

The girls shrieked and jumped back, their drunken cruelty dissolving into fear.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Elijah's voice was a low growl. He stood at the edge of the circle of light, his face a thunderous mask.

Jamie POV:

"We didn't do anything!" one of Kiley's friends stammered, pointing a trembling finger at me. "She just… she just started coughing up blood!"

Elijah's eyes fell to the dark stain on the grass, then to my pale, blood-smeared face. His brow creased, and for a split second, an undeniable flicker of alarm crossed his features. He took an unconscious step toward me.

"Elijah!" Kiley's voice was sharp, laced with panic. She rushed to his side and grabbed his arm, her grip desperate. "Don't fall for it! She's faking it!"

He stopped, his gaze shifting to her.

"She's just angry I got the necklace," Kiley sobbed, her words tumbling out in a rush of practiced accusation. "She's trying to ruin my birthday! She's always trying to get your attention, always playing the victim!"

Elijah stared at me, his expression shifting. The brief flash of concern was gone, swallowed by a wave of suspicion and disgust. He looked from Kiley' s tear-streaked face back to me, lying pathetic and broken on the ground. His jaw clenched.

He believed her. Of course, he did.

He was silent for a long moment, the only sound Kiley's theatrical sobs. Then he spoke, his voice chillingly calm.

"You want attention, Jamie?" he said, his eyes as cold and dead as a winter sky. "Fine. I'll give you attention."

He turned to his head of security. "Tie her up. Hang her from the cherry tree."

A collective gasp went through the small crowd. The cherry tree. He had planted that tree for me on my twentieth birthday, promising to pick fresh cherries for me every summer for the rest of our lives.

Even the hardened bodyguard hesitated. "Mr. Peters, hanging her upside down… for too long, it could be dangerous."

Elijah's lips twisted into a cruel smile. "If she dies, she dies," he said, his voice utterly devoid of human feeling. "It would save me the trouble."

Two men hauled me to my feet. I was too weak to resist. They dragged me to the tree, its branches now bare in the late autumn air. They tied a thick rope around my ankles and threw the other end over a sturdy limb.

Then they pulled.

My world flipped upside down. Blood rushed to my head with a dizzying, painful force. My temples throbbed, and my eyeballs felt like they were about to burst from their sockets.

Through a red-tinted, inverted haze, I saw the party continue. I saw Elijah lead Kiley back to the dance floor, his arm securely around her waist, whispering in her ear. They were a portrait of perfect love, framed by my personal hell.

The pain was excruciating. The pressure in my head was unbearable. Time stretched and warped, each second an eternity of agony and humiliation. I hung there, a grotesque party decoration, while the man who once promised me the world danced with my replacement.

I don't know how long I was there. A day? A night? When they finally cut me down, I was barely conscious, a broken thing. They threw me back in my room like a sack of garbage.

The days that followed were a blur of pain and fever. The cancer inside me, aggravated by the abuse, raged with renewed vigor. I was vomiting blood more frequently, the pain in my abdomen a constant, gnawing fire.

In a moment of delirium, lost in a fevered dream, I thought it was five years ago. I thought he still loved me. I fumbled for my phone and dialed his number.

He answered on the third ring.

"Elijah," I whimpered, the sound small and childish. "It hurts. Everything hurts."

There was a long silence on the other end. Then, his voice, thick with sleep and something else I couldn't identify-something dangerously close to concern. "Jamie? Where does it hurt?"

His voice, colored with that old, familiar gentleness, was like a bucket of ice water. I was instantly, brutally awake. The dream shattered, leaving behind the cold, sharp edges of reality.

He wasn't my Elijah anymore. He was Kiley's.

"I… It's nothing," I stammered, my heart seizing in my chest. "I'm sorry. I dialed the wrong number."

I hung up before he could reply, burying my face in my pillow as sobs of shame and despair wracked my body. I finally cried myself to sleep, aided by a handful of painkillers.

I was jolted awake by a cascade of icy water.

I gasped, sputtering, my wet hair plastered to my face. Kiley stood over my bed, an empty bucket in her hand, her face a mask of furious indignation.

"How dare you?" she shrieked. "How dare you call him in the middle of the night? He was with me! He belongs to me!"

She ranted and raved, her voice shrill. "He doesn't want you anymore! You're nothing! A pathetic, desperate hag!"

She finally stopped, a cruel, vicious smile spreading across her face. "You know what? You're obviously lonely. Let me get you some company."

She walked out. A moment later, a man I'd never seen before walked in. He was heavyset and greasy, and he looked at me with a leering, predatory grin.

"Kiley said you were looking for a good time," he grunted, advancing toward the bed.

A primal fear I hadn't felt since the night Corine died shot through me. "Get away from me," I croaked, scrambling backward until my back hit the headboard.

He lunged.

Adrenaline surged through my exhausted body. I fought. With a strength born of pure terror, I shoved him away, scrambled off the bed, and ran.

I ran barefoot and frantic, my thin nightgown clinging to my wet skin. I burst out of the room and ran straight into a solid wall of muscle.

I crashed into Elijah's chest.

I looked up, my breath catching in my throat, and met his dark, unreadable eyes.

"What is going on?" he demanded, his brow furrowed in annoyance.

I opened my mouth to explain, to tell him what Kiley had done, to beg for his help.

But Kiley was faster. She burst out of the room behind me, tears streaming down her face, and launched herself into Elijah's arms.

"Oh, Elijah!" she wailed, pointing a trembling finger at me. "It's horrible! I came to check on her, and I found her with that strange man! She… she tried to bring a man into our house!"