Sophie collapsed to the floor.

The surgical wound tore open, and blood spilled out at once.

She looked up in panic. “I didn’t! Clara, I wasn’t trying to hurt the baby. You were the one who let go—”

“Enough!”

Daniel’s voice cut through the room, sharp and furious, his eyes cold.

“Clara is his mother. No one loves that child more than she does. If it wasn’t you, then who was it? I never thought you could be this cruel to lay a hand on a baby.”

Sophie stared at him, stunned.

Cruel?

More than anyone, he knew she was the child’s real mother. Even if she died, she would never harm him.

Pain swallowed her whole.

“I didn’t… I really didn’t…”

But Daniel didn’t love her, so why would he believe her?

His expression darkened as he ordered the aide to take Clara and the baby for a checkup.

Then he turned back to Sophie, his gaze heavy, his voice low and chilling.

“Sophie, I understand that you resent me for giving our child to Clara. That’s on me. I’ll make it up to you. But you crossed a line today. It seems you still haven’t come to your senses.”

He slammed the door and walked out.

As he stepped over the blood spreading from her body, he didn’t spare her a single glance.

Sophie was pushed back into surgery to have her wound stitched up again.

In the days that followed, Daniel never came. There wasn’t a single person by her side to take care of her.

She had to get her own meals, collect her own medication, even make her way to the bathroom alone.

Once, while hooked up to an IV, she fell asleep—when she woke, blood had flowed back into the line, filling half the tube, and no one had called a nurse for her.

Just as she thought being left alone in the hospital was the extent of his punishment, Joanne came rushing in, breathless with panic.

“Sophie! Your parents came into the city to see you… Your father… he was accused of groping a woman in a public restroom. They’ve taken him in. They’re saying they’re going to charge him with sexual assault!”

Sophie’s mind went blank, her whole body turning cold.

If the charge stuck, her father could be facing years in prison.

Her father had spent his whole life being kind and honest. If he were branded like that, it would destroy him, drag the entire family down with him, leave them with no way to hold their heads up again.

Sophie tore out her IV and ran barefoot toward the base.

At the entrance, her mother sat on the steps, pale and worn, her face streaked with tears.

Sophie’s chest tightened. “Mom…”

Her mother scrambled to her feet, lost and shaken like a child.

“Sophie, what’s going on? Daniel had someone pass word that you were in the hospital, told your father and me to come see you.

“But on the way, a woman suddenly ran into your dad, fell to the ground, and started accusing him of touching her!

“No matter how we explained, no one would listen. Your father’s already in poor health from all the hard labor, and now they’ve taken him.

“How is he supposed to survive this…? Daniel was just here. I wanted to beg him for help, but he said he’d wait for you. Did you two have another fight?”

Sophie froze. “Daniel told you to come?”

A chill shot up her spine.

Could it be… all of this was deliberate?

The anger she had been holding back snapped. She turned and stormed into Daniel’s office.

“You did this, didn’t you? You had someone set my father up, just because Clara said I hurt her child?!”

She hadn’t expected Clara to be there.

Clara looked at her and smiled, slow and mocking.

“That’s right. I asked Daniel to stand up for me. You dared to hurt what’s mine, so now you get to see how it feels.”

Daniel stood in the dim light, his expression unreadable, his gaze cold as it landed on her.

“You refuse to admit your jealousy and resentment toward Clara. Without a lesson, how are you ever going to understand?”

His voice dropped, quiet and chilling.

“Sophie… don’t forget, an accusation like this can ruin a man’s life.”

Sophie’s heart, already battered beyond repair, felt nothing now, not even pain.

She suddenly remembered five years ago, when Daniel brought her into the city to marry him and stood before her parents, making his promise.

“Don’t worry. I may not have much now, but I’ll protect Sophie with everything I have. I’ll make something of myself. I’ll take care of both of you.”

Her parents hadn’t looked down on him. They had been moved and overjoyed.

Her father brought out the best food the family had been saving for months, and her mother pressed a pair of handmade shoes into his hands, stitched together late into the night.

They gave him everything they could.

And in five years, they received nothing in return.

Now, her father’s life was being used as leverage, just to force her to bow her head.

She should have understood long ago.

In front of Clara, whether she was right or wrong, whether she explained herself or not, the truth had never mattered to Daniel.

For the woman he loved, there was nothing he wouldn’t do.

Sophie looked at Clara, steady and quiet, then bent at the waist in a deep bow.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been jealous of you. I shouldn’t have hurt your child. This is all my fault.

“Please… let my father go. I’ll take responsibility for everything.”

Clara nodded, satisfied. “At least you know your place. But words alone aren’t enough.”

She slapped a sheet of paper down on the table, her eyes glinting. “Write me an apology in blood. Promise you’ll never harm my son again.”

Daniel’s brow tightened.

After the explosion, Sophie had already lost too much blood.

He almost told her she was going too far, but Sophie had already broken the skin of her finger and begun writing, line by line, in blood.

The rough paper scraped against her wound, her pale fingers quickly turning raw and torn.

Because of the blood loss, the wound clotted too quickly, and she bit into a second finger.

Daniel narrowed his eyes, a flicker of discomfort passing through him.

But Sophie didn’t even flinch.

She still looked as gentle and composed as ever, yet there was something in her eyes he could no longer understand.

Daniel had a vague sense that Sophie was different from before.

Was it because of the child, or because of her father? Had he gone too far?

“Sophie…”

A flicker of unease stirred in him, but before he could say more, Clara cut in.

She took the apology Sophie had written. “Daniel, your wife seems sincere. I forgive her.

“Your place was damaged in the explosion. You can’t stay there for now. I don’t mind her staying with me for a while. Can you come back with me and help get a room ready for her?”

Daniel glanced at Sophie, her gaze lowered, then at Clara, her eyes full of expectation.

In the end, he nodded.

It could wait. He would make it up to Sophie later.

With Daniel’s order, Sophie’s father was released soon after.

Seeing her father, his hair gone gray overnight, his face drawn with exhaustion, Sophie felt a surge of guilt and pain, yet there was nothing she could do.

She used the money Daniel gave her to buy her parents some clothes and supplements, then sent them back to the countryside.

After that, Daniel’s aide brought her to Clara’s home.

Standing at the doorway, Sophie looked inside. The small two-bedroom apartment was warmly decorated, and the sight struck her like a needle to the heart.

Every detail in that home was something Daniel once promised her, but never gave.

He said that when they had a place of their own, he would plant sunflowers for her himself.

The sunflowers she imagined now stood neatly arranged on Clara’s balcony.

He also said he would take her to a studio for a proper wedding photo, one they would hang proudly in their home.

Now the walls were covered with pictures—of him and Clara, holding the baby, like a family of three.

Daniel cleared his throat, his voice a little strained.

“Sophie, I let Clara stay in our place before because she was grieving. Don’t take it to heart. I’ve already put in a request for another place…”

Sophie pulled her gaze away and cut him off.

“There’s no need.”

She would be leaving soon.

There would be no chance of ever living in his house again.

In the days that followed, Clara often claimed she wasn’t fully recovered and ordered Sophie to cook for her.

She made Sophie carry her bag when she took the baby out for walks, and when she slipped out late to play cards, she left the baby behind and made Sophie watch him, warning her not to tell Daniel.

Sophie didn’t want any more conflict. She did everything without protest.

But every time she saw Clara with the baby, so close and content, her eyes still burned, until one night, Clara didn’t come home at all.

After Sophie finally got the baby to sleep, she drifted off as well.

Half-asleep, she was jolted awake when the door was kicked open.

Daniel stormed in and grabbed her, dragging her toward the door without a word.

“Daniel… let go of me!”

The baby woke with a frightened cry. Sophie’s voice trembled with helpless frustration. “What are you doing? You woke him!”

Daniel’s face was dark, fury barely contained in his eyes.

“And you still have the nerve to talk about the baby?!

“Just because you want him back, you teamed up with people who are after me. You let them think Clara was the captain’s wife, so they’d go after her. She’s been kidnapped because of you!

“You thought if something happened to her, the baby would come back to you? Keep dreaming.”

He handed the baby off to his aide, then turned back and dragged Sophie toward the car.

“You’re my real wife. You’re coming with me! We’re trading you for Clara.”

Sophie stared at him in shock.

Kidnapped? By whom?

She had no idea what he was talking about.

She clung to the doorframe. “Daniel, calm down. Clara being kidnapped has nothing to do with me! I don’t know those people; I would never hurt her!”

His eyes were bloodshot, burning with anger. “Stop lying. When I went to rescue her, Clara told me herself! You were the one who lured her out that night.”

Sophie almost told him that Clara had snuck out on her own to play cards.

But what was the point?

Daniel had never believed her.

Bitterness flooded her chest.

She slowly loosened her grip on the doorframe and stopped resisting.

“Take me, I’ll go in her place.”

Daniel froze for a second.

Why was Sophie being so compliant today?

But Clara’s safety was all that mattered, and he didn’t have time to think about it.

He shoved Sophie into the car, slammed his foot on the gas, and sped toward the abandoned graveyard where the kidnappers were waiting.

When they arrived, the man was holding Clara at knifepoint.

She was covered in blood, too terrified to even cry.

The kidnapper let out a cold laugh when he saw Daniel.

“Daniel Hart. You ended my career over a fight. My mother paid the price for it. Today, you’re going to cover her burial and settle what you owe me or I take your wife's life.”

Daniel’s voice shook with tension.

“Ryan Warren, calm down! You’ve got the wrong person!

“The woman you’re holding is innocent. The one beside me is my wife. Let her go, take mine instead. I’ll consider what you’re asking.”

When Ryan didn’t respond, Daniel stepped forward with Sophie, his voice tightening with urgency.

“Stop!” Ryan shouted.

“Don’t come any closer! Let your wife come over alone to make the exchange. Try anything, and don’t blame me for what happens!”

With that, he slashed Clara’s arm.

Daniel’s restraint snapped. He shoved Sophie forward.

“Go. Now.”