Everything around me felt as though it were separated by a thin, invisible film.

In the second year after marrying Emmett, I adopted a puppy.

If there was anything I absolutely had to take with me when I left, it was my dog.

I staggered toward the room and pushed the door open—then froze.

Leanne was inside my room, holding black cookies and stuffing them into my dog's mouth over and over again.

My heart pounded violently. I snatched the cookies from her hand and immediately caught the scent of chocolate.

"You fed it chocolate?" I screamed. "Don't you know dogs can't eat chocolate?!"

My shrill voice startled the puppy. It spun anxiously at my feet.

I scooped it up at once, intending to rush it to the hospital.

At that moment, Leanne stepped in front of me.

"I fed it on purpose," she said smugly. "Sister, this dog is such an eyesore. Just let it die here."

She spoke with the same malicious delight she'd had every time she pulled a cruel prank when we were children.

"Get out of my way, you monster!" I shoved her aside, my hands shaking uncontrollably.

The next second, the door burst open.

Emmett and my two brothers appeared in the doorway.

"Camille, you've attacked Leanne again!" Jace roared. "She even brought food for your dog to apologize to you!"

"I told you long ago she should be sent to detention to clear her head," Antonio snapped. "She's completely insane. We should just send her to a mental institution!"

As he spoke, he grabbed my arm roughly.

Emmett looked at me with icy indifference. I saw nothing but hatred in his eyes.

"She fed my dog chocolate!" My voice trembled violently. The suffocating pain rose from my chest to my throat, making it hard to breathe.

Seeing my pale face, Emmett hesitated for a moment. He knew how much I loved my dog.

"Sister..." Leanne began to cry again. "I really didn't do it on purpose. I didn't know there was chocolate in the cookie."

"I can apologize," she said pitifully. "But I really don't want to kneel to a dog."

She was still pretending.

My vision darkened with rage. I wanted nothing more than to tear Leanne apart. But just then, the puppy vomited a mouthful of blood.

The bright red stained my eyes.

Its weak whimper shattered my heart.

I could no longer care about anything else. I only wanted to get my dog to the hospital—but Emmett grabbed my arm.

He looked at me coldly, as if I were a criminal.

"You should apologize to Leanne."

My brothers blocked my path as well.

"She fed my dog chocolate!" I clenched my teeth, refusing to back down.

Jace's expression darkened.

"Camille, it's just a dog. Leanne already said she didn't know there was chocolate in the cookie. How could you make her kneel to a dog? She's sick—don't you have any sympathy at all?"

"She took everything from me!" I screamed hoarsely. "Leanne isn't sick at all—she's pretending—"

Before I could finish, Antonio slapped me hard across the face.

He looked at me with pure disgust.

"Camille, you've completely lost your mind. No one would joke about their own health. If you don't kneel down and apologize to Leanne, I won't let you take this dog to the hospital."

The pain on my cheek left me stunned.

Before I could react, several hands forced me down, trying to make me kneel.

I struggled desperately. Even if my ankle broke, I wanted to leave.

But the miscarriage and two car accidents had already destroyed my body.

As I looked at the puppy in my arms, its breathing growing weaker and weaker, my knees finally gave way.

I knelt.

"I'm sorry," I said calmly. "Is that enough?"

At the moment my knees hit the ground, something inside me died completely.

Satisfied expressions appeared on their faces.

Only then did they allow me to rush toward the hospital with the puppy in my arms.

But it was already too late.

The doctor sighed and placed a small urn of ashes into my hands.

My body—and my heart—felt utterly hollow.

I accepted the ashes numbly, like an empty shell.

It had been a clumsy little stray, only three months old when I picked it up. I raised it for five years, and all it ever learned was how to fetch slippers.

Back then, I thought that I would be able to stay with it for a very long time.

I returned to the villa numb all over, like a wandering ghost, and began packing up the things in my room.

The anniversary gifts Emmett had given me. The birthday presents my brothers had given me when we were children. Their handwritten letters. Photographs from every stage of my life.

I threw everything I had once cherished without reservation into the fireplace.

As the roaring flames devoured them, the bone-deep chill in my body slowly began to thaw.

I had craved their love so desperately that I lost myself in the process.

Only after paying such a painful price did I finally wake up.

When the fire burned down to ashes, a pair of familiar arms wrapped around me from behind.

"Camille, I know this is hard for you right now," he said softly, his voice low and gentle—the very voice I once loved most.

"But Leanne is sick. All she wants is a wedding. You've always been strong. Once the wedding is over, I promise everything will return to how it was."

He swore it like an oath.

I was too tired to respond. I just stared blankly at the ashes before me.

Emmett didn't notice my silence and continued, "During the wedding preparations, I'll send you to stay at the hospital for a while. Think of it as recuperating."

As he spoke, he pressed a kiss to my hair.

From behind us came Antonio's voice, sharp with impatience.

"Why are you explaining so much to her? From the day Leanne came back, you should've listened to me and sent her to a mental institution. Then Leanne wouldn't have been hurt by her so many times."

I turned around abruptly, my heart pounding wildly as I stared at them.

"You're... sending me to a mental institution?"

Emmett grabbed my arm and tried to soothe me. "Camille, it's only temporary. Once the wedding is over, I'll bring you back."

Jace looked at me coldly. "If you want to blame someone, blame yourself. Why did you hurt Leanne? If we leave you outside, you'll definitely go and ruin the wedding."

"This is Leanne's only wish," he said flatly. "I won't let you destroy it."

I heard my own voice, eerily calm.

"No. I won't go to a mental institution. If you're afraid I'll disrupt the wedding, I can leave—"

Before I could finish, Emmett's expression darkened instantly.

"That's enough! Camille, I said I'd bring you back. It's just one week. Can't you endure that much?"

"Why should I have to go to a mental institution for Leanne's wish?" I clenched my teeth.

"I've already given up my husband. I've already given up my wedding. Is that still not enough?"

Without another word, Antonio pinned me down brutally, his face twisted with fury.

"You selfish, vicious bitch! Leanne has treated you so well, and all she asks is for you to stay in a mental institution for a few days. Emmett is far too soft—I wish I could lock you up for life!"

I struggled desperately, trying to break free, but Antonio held me down with ruthless force.

"Let go of me! I won't go! I can leave—I'll leave!"

No one listened.

They looked at me as if I were already insane.

My hands scraped against the floor, leaving streaks of blood, yet no one spared them a glance.

Ten minutes later, I was tied to a bed.

No one asked for my consent.

I cried and screamed for every passerby to call the police—but no one came to my aid.

A cold needle pierced my vein.

Leanne's face appeared before my eyes.

She looked at me with feigned pity and leaned close to whisper in my ear, "I bribed the staff here. I'm sure this week will be unforgettable for you—consider it my wedding gift to myself."

I stared at her, biting down hard on my tongue, using pain to fight the creeping drowsiness.

"You... were never sick," I said hoarsely.

Leanne smiled, a triumphant, childish grin.

"Of course, I wasn't. But no one will ever believe you."

I widened my eyes, thrashing against the restraints until the entire bed shook.

But the world before me still slowly sank into darkness.

The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was Emmett walking away, his arm wrapped around Leanne.

The following week was a torment beyond words.

I was cursed at, beaten, left with not a single inch of unbroken skin on my body.

No one treated my wounds. Whenever I resisted, they shocked me with electricity, then injected me with sedatives.

Day after day passed, and my mind slowly dulled, sinking into a fog.

Only after a full week was I finally released.

Emmett did not come to pick me up, just as he had promised.

But I still saw his face.

On the massive LED screen of the building outside the mental institution, his wedding with Leanne was playing live.

She wore the wedding dress I had designed.

The thorn-flower ring was on her finger.

Emmett's smile was impossibly gentle.

My brothers stood beside them, offering their sincere blessings.

Everything was exactly the same as the wedding I had once dreamed of.

I thought I would cry.

But I didn't.

The torture in the mental institution had already drained me of pain, of exhaustion—of emotion itself. I had nothing left to give them.

"Camille, I'm sorry. I'm late."

A voice filled with tenderness and regret sounded behind me.

For the first time in a long while, I smiled sincerely.

"Wait for me a moment," I said softly. "I'll leave something here."

I placed a prepared document envelope in the security office of the institution.

Inside were three things: My miscarriage report, the cheap silver ring Emmett had placed on my finger when he proposed. And an official certificate proving that I was single.

"Tell him," I said calmly, "that I've given everything to Leanne."

Leaving behind those final words, I turned and walked away.

At the entrance, a Rolls-Royce was already waiting for me.

I didn't know when Emmett and my brothers would finally realize that I was gone.

But I knew one thing for certain, I would never come back.

—

The wedding on the cruise ship made Leanne radiant with happiness.

Emmett should have felt the same.

Yet for some reason, as he stared at the calm, endless sea, his heart suddenly jolted.

It was as if something immensely important had vanished forever at that very moment.

He pressed a hand to his chest, but before he could think further, Leanne smiled and linked her arm through his.

The next second, Emmett cast aside that strange feeling without hesitation and continued indulging Leanne.

By the time they returned to the villa, three days had already passed.

The house was eerily quiet.

When Emmett turned on the lights, he saw a thin layer of dust covering the coffee table.

Everything was exactly as it had been when they left—messy, untouched.

Only then did it occur to him.

Today was the day Camille was supposed to be released from the mental institution.

He had forgotten his promise to pick her up.

A tight pain seized his chest.

Antonio glanced around irritably and frowned. "What is Camille doing? Wasn't she discharged today? Why hasn't she cleaned the house?"

Jace's expression was cold. "I bet she's still sulking. She's always been like this—immature. Tomorrow, when she realizes this little trick doesn't work, she'll clean everything up herself."

Emmett frowned.

He used to think Camille was childish too. But after seven years together, he had come to realize how many misunderstandings he had about her.

She wasn't someone who threw tantrums like this.

With that thought, he turned to go to the mental institution.

Behind him, Leanne grabbed his arm and said gently, "Emmett, my sister just likes playing these little games. If you go looking for her now, she'll only push her luck."

"Just like Jace said—once she realizes no one cares, she'll come back on her own."

Emmett lowered his eyes.

He still didn't believe Camille was that kind of person. But in the end, he didn't pull his arm free.

...

The next morning, Emmett went downstairs early.

He found himself unconsciously expecting Camille to appear again—just like every morning over the past seven years.

Warm breakfast.

Her gentle smile.

Instead, he was met with the same dead, filthy silence as the day before.

He could no longer endure it.

Grabbing his car keys, he rushed straight to the mental institution.

"Where is Camille?" he demanded urgently. "The woman I sent here seven days ago."

The receptionist glanced at him impatiently.

"She was taken away yesterday. But she left something in the security office. Go look for it yourself."

Emmett rushed to the security room, his breathing unsteady.

There, he was handed an envelope.

Inside lay a silver ring, a certificate of no marriage, and a miscarriage report.

With a deafening crash, Emmett's world collapsed.

His pupils shook violently.

The guard hesitated, then added, "She also left a message."

"She said... she gave everything to Leanne."

Emmett froze in place like a lifeless statue.