The servant’s grip on Snowball grew rougher and rougher.

His paws scraped helplessly across the floor, leaving faint marks behind, his terrified howls stabbing into my eardrums like needles.

I lost it.

I tried to lunge forward, but two servants pinned my arms in place so hard I could barely move.

“Let him go! Let him go!” I screamed, my voice breaking. A metallic taste flooded my throat.

“Liam, have you forgotten what you said? You can’t do this to him!”

Liam stood by the master bedroom door.

He turned back to look at me, his gaze full of annoyance — like I was some hysterical stranger he’d never met.

“What I said?” He let out a short laugh.

“You mean the crap I told you to keep you happy? You actually believed that?”

His eyes dropped to Snowball, struggling in the servant’s arms. “It’s just a dog. If it dies, we can always get another one.”

Just a dog.

Just things he’d said to “keep me happy”.

All those memories I’d cherished, hoarded, replayed on my coldest nights… shattered in an instant.

My mind flew back to the first time I met Snowball.

It was not long after I’d been brought back to the Foster family.

My parents were distant. Vanessa made a sport of tormenting me. Even the servants looked down on me.

Most nights, I went to bed hungry.

So I’d sneak to the kitchen after everyone was asleep, looking for leftover scraps.

That night, at the alley behind the villa’s back door, I saw him.

A tiny white puppy, curled in the corner.

His hind leg was broken. He was covered in bruises and old wounds, so thin it was a miracle he could stand at all. He was gnawing on a moldy piece of bread, trembling, while a few older kids threw rocks at him and laughed, calling him “stray trash.”

Something inside me snapped.

I rushed forward, yelling at them until they scattered, then knelt down beside him.

When I reached out, he shrank back in fear, his whole body shaking.

I broke my half of a hard, stale bun — the one I’d hidden away for myself — and put it in front of him.

He hesitated. Then devoured it.

Looking at him hunched over that tiny piece of food, something inside me softened and broke at the same time.

We were both strays.

Both unwelcome.

Both trying to survive on scraps.

After that, I saved part of my own food every day and snuck out to feed him.

I named him Snowball. His fur, under the dirt, was white — so white it reminded me of the snowdrifts I used to dream about.

I’d sit in an old cardboard box with him in that alley, hugging him to keep us both warm, whispering all the things I couldn’t say to anyone else — how Vanessa bullied me, how I missed the caretakers from the orphanage, how badly I wanted a real home.

Snowball would rub his head into my palm and look up at me with those wet, trusting eyes, as if saying, *I’m here. I hear you.*

Then Liam appeared.

He told me he’d seen me secretly feeding the dog. Said he thought I was kind and strong.

He offered to help me take Snowball in.

He drove us to the animal hospital, paid for treatment, bought the best dog food and toys.

That day, on the grassy lawn outside the clinic, he was holding Snowball in his arms while I leaned against his shoulder in the sun.

“Clara,” he’d said gently, “we’re a family now.”

“I’ll treat Snowball like my own child. I’ll protect you both. I won’t let you be hurt or bullied ever again.”

He had looked me straight in the eyes and said,

“As long as Snowball has us, he has a home. And as long as you have me… you have a home too.”

I remembered those words for three years.

In those three years, Snowball grew up. His leg healed. He followed me everywhere.

Liam played the part of a perfect “dad” — bathing him, walking him, sending me videos of Snowball when I was away on trips.

“He misses you,” he’d say on video. “I miss you too.”

I truly believed we were a family.

I truly believed I’d finally found a person I could depend on.

A place I belonged.

Now look at us.

The same man who promised to protect us was standing there with his arm around my greatest enemy, watching my dog being dragged away to its death.

The man who said he’d give me a home…

had not only betrayed me, but was now destroying the last piece of warmth I had left.

“Liam, don’t you dare forget who you were back then!” I shouted, struggling so hard my wrists burned under the servants’ grip. Tears and sweat blurred my vision.

“When Snowball first came home and couldn’t sleep from the pain, you held him all night! When he learned to shake hands, you were happier than anyone! You said he was the proof of our love — part of our family—”

“That’s enough.”

Liam cut me off, his expression turning dark.

“That was in the past,” he snapped.

“Now Vanessa is pregnant with my child. She’s the priority. A dog will never compare to my kid.”

Vanessa peeked out from behind him, clutching her slightly bleeding arm, her voice full of fake softness.

“Don’t be like that, sis,” she said.

“Snowball bit me. Of course he has to be punished. Besides…” she let out a light laugh, “being made into soup to nourish my body — that’s a blessing for him, isn’t it?”

“A blessing?” I stared at her, shaking with rage.

“Vanessa, don’t you dare forget — you’re the one who threw him into the river!”

Last summer.

Just because I refused to give her the scarf Grandma had knitted for me…

she’d stuffed Snowball into a bag and thrown him into the water.

By the time I realized he was missing, he was already drowning.

I jumped in after him. We both almost died.

Liam had scolded her afterward, yes — but it was nothing more than a casual,

“She’s young, she doesn’t know any better.”

And then the whole thing was swept away like it never happened.

Vanessa’s face paled for a moment, but she recovered quickly and smirked.

“So what?” she sneered.

“Liam loves me now. I make the rules here. Whether a dog lives or dies is up to me.”

She stepped closer, leaned in so only I could hear, and lowered her voice.

“Clara, did you really think Liam ever loved you?” she whispered.

“He only approached you for my sake.

You and that dog? You’re both our toys.

Now that we’re bored, it’s only natural to get rid of you.”

Her words blew out the last weak candle inside my chest.

I looked at Liam’s cold profile.

At Vanessa’s triumphant smile.

At Snowball, trapped in the cage now, scratching desperately at the bars.

Something deep inside me gave way and collapsed completely.

“Let me go!” I yelled, wrenching my arms free with a burst of strength I didn’t know I still had.

I bolted toward the kitchen.

I couldn’t let Snowball die. I couldn’t.

He was the only real warmth I’d ever had in this house.

The only part of those years that wasn’t a lie.

I’d barely taken two steps when Liam caught my wrist.

His grip was so strong it felt like he was going to crush the bone.

“Clara, try this again,” he said, his voice razor-sharp, “and I won’t be so nice.”

His eyes were full of ruthless threat.

“Your grandmother’s medical bills are still waiting on my signature, remember?” he added quietly.

“If you want her treatment stopped… if you want her to die in that hospital bed… by all means, keep making trouble.”

Grandma.

The word hit me like a hammer.

I stopped dead.

Every bit of strength I had drained out of me.

He meant it. I knew he did.

Grandma was still lying in that hospital.

She still needed more treatment.

More money.

I couldn’t lose her.

For Grandma, I could endure Vanessa’s abuse, Liam’s betrayal, being pushed into that damp guest room, losing the master bedroom, losing my dignity.

But I couldn’t lose her.

She was my only real family.

The one place in this world where I’d ever felt truly loved.

“I’ll stop…” I whispered at last, lowering my head. My voice sounded like broken glass.

“I won’t make trouble. I’m begging you — just spare Snowball. I’ll move to the guest room. I’ll apologize to Vanessa. I’ll do anything you want… just don’t kill him.”

Liam studied my pathetic posture for a few seconds.

Enjoying it.

“Too late,” he said finally, releasing my wrist with a cold smile.

“He bit Vanessa. He pays the price.

Be a good girl and stay in the guest room. Don’t make me regret my patience.

Otherwise, I’ll make you watch him die.”

He turned and walked into the kitchen.

The door shut with a dull thud.

A moment later, Snowball’s screams grew sharper, more desperate.

Metal clanged against metal.

I crumpled to the floor, pressing my hands over my ears — but I could still hear everything.

Vanessa walked over, looking down at me from above, that same poisonous smile at her lips.

“Hear that?” she asked lightly.

“That’s your Snowball. He’ll be a nice pot of soup soon.

Do you think his meat will be tender?”

I lifted my head slowly and looked at her.

Something ugly and wild moved through my chest.

“Vanessa,” I said, my voice low and shaking,

“You will pay for this.”

“Pay?” She laughed outright, bending down to tap my cheek lightly like I was a child.

“Look at me,” she said.

“I have Liam. I have the Foster family’s money. I have a baby on the way.

And you? You have nothing.”

She straightened, smoothing her clothes, then turned and walked away with elegant steps — leaving me alone on the cold floor, listening to Snowball’s last cries and feeling my heart tear apart piece by piece.

I don’t know how much time passed.

The kitchen door opened.

Liam walked out carrying a steaming bowl of soup.

He went straight to Vanessa and set it in front of her with care.

“Baby,” he said softly, “have some. Fresh dog meat soup. It’ll be good for your body.”

Vanessa giggled and took a sip, deliberately glancing my way.

“It’s delicious,” she said sweetly. “Liam, you’re so good to me.”

My stomach lurched violently.

Bile burned in my throat.

I shot to my feet, stumbled into the guest room, and slammed the door behind me.

Leaning against it, I slid weakly to the floor.

Tears streamed down my face, unstoppable now.

I thought of Snowball when he first came home.

Of him curled up in my arms, nudging my chin, begging for pets.

Of Liam’s gentle promises.

Of the three of us on the lawn, laughing like a real family.

Every happy moment I’d held onto…

dissolved into nothing in the span of one night.

Liam.

Vanessa.

You didn’t just betray me.

You didn’t just lie to me.

You killed Snowball.

You crushed the last piece of dignity, the last bit of warmth I had left.

What you owe me —

what you owe Snowball —

what you owe Grandma —

I will make you pay back,

with interest.

I had been confined in the villa for three days before they finally let me out.

The first thing I wanted to do…

was go see my grandmother.

I kept rubbing the soft cake in my pocket. It was her favorite flavor — she’d been talking about it for days.

My fingers had just brushed over the wrinkles of the wrapper when a sharp screech of brakes split the air.

Then—

impact.

My body lifted, like a kite with its string cut.

And then everything crashed.

A brutal jolt.

A tearing pain ripped through my lower abdomen.

Warmth spread down my legs.

My vision blurred, but through the chaos, I saw a black sedan in front of me — its rear lights glowing faintly.

And the license plate.

My heart clenched.

It was Liam’s car.

“…Help me…”

My hands trembled as I grabbed my phone, my fingers slippery, barely able to function.

I called him.

Once.

Twice.

Again.

Nothing.

Just his voicemail.

I started typing, my hands shaking, my vision doubling:

> *Liam, I’ve been in a car accident. I’m bleeding so much…

> I’m pregnant with your child. Please come to the hospital.

> They need your signature for surgery.*

No reply.

No call back.

When the ambulance sirens arrived, everything around me was fading.

The pain grew unbearable, drowning out all sound.

And in the haze, I suddenly remembered his face the day he found out I was pregnant.

He had lifted me off the floor and spun me around the living room.

“I’m going to be a dad, Clara!”

“Our baby is going to be as kind as you. I’ll protect both of you — I’ll give you the best life in the world.”

He took me to baby stores.

Clumsily choosing cribs.

Tiny clothes.

Smiling like a fool.

“I’ll tell bedtime stories every night.”

“I’ll teach our kid to fly a kite… ride a bike… I’ll be the best father, Clara…”

Those promises…

Now they felt like poisoned needles, sinking straight into my heart.

---

When I opened my eyes again, I was under the blinding lights of the operating room.

The smell of disinfectant burned my lungs.

Pain radiated through my body.

I tried to sit up, but a nurse pressed me gently back down.

“Don’t move. We need to begin surgery.”

I forced air into my lungs.

“Did Liam come?” I whispered.

“They need his signature…”

The nurse shook her head, anxiety in her eyes.

“We can’t reach him. We’ve already delayed for thirty minutes. If we wait any longer, both you and the baby will be in danger.”

The door suddenly opened.

High heels clicked softly across the sterile floor.

“Isn’t this a coincidence?”

A familiar voice.

Vanessa.

She walked in, dressed in a white medical coat, her ID badge reflecting under the bright lights.

I had forgotten…

She had studied medicine.

She now worked in this exact hospital — in obstetrics.

A chill ran down my spine.

“Clara,” she said, taking off her mask slowly, a twisted smile on her lips.

“Of all the shifts… I happened to be on duty today.”

My heart pounded.

“What are you doing here?” I rasped.

“I want another doctor.”

“Another doctor?” She chuckled and waved the nurse outside.

“Right now, I’m the only one who gets to decide what happens to you.”

Her eyes were cold.

“Do you really think Liam will come?” she continued softly.

“He’s busy with me. Why would he care about someone he already threw away?”

She picked up a surgical instrument.

The metal glinted.

I trembled.

“I want anesthesia,” I pleaded.

“I won’t do this without anesthesia.”

Vanessa looked at me like I had just told her a joke.

“Anesthesia?”

Her head tilted slightly.

“You’re about to lose your baby, Clara.

Don’t you think you should *feel* it?”

She leaned closer, voice dropping.

“It would be such a waste to let you miss this experience.”

Pain exploded through my senses.

My scream echoed.

“Vanessa!” I cried, my body shaking.

“You’re insane! I’ll sue you!”

“Sue me?” She laughed quietly.

“You think anyone will believe you?

Liam will testify that you refused anesthesia yourself.”

She bent closer to my ear.

“And by the way… the person who hit you with the car?”

Her lips curved slowly.

“That was Liam.”

The world shattered.

Not just the pain.

Everything.

“He… did what…?” My voice cracked.

“Of course he did,” she smiled.

“Because the baby inside you wasn’t his.

It was Lucas’s.”

My blood froze.

“How could he let you give birth to another man’s child?”

“He wanted you both gone. In one clean move.”

Her hands moved again.

The cold metal.

The pressure.

My world dissolving.

“No…” I sobbed.

“My baby…”

“That child shouldn’t have existed,” she whispered.

“And neither should you.”

My vision faded.

But I forced my eyes open one last time.

I glared at her.

“I won’t let this go,” I whispered.

“I swear… I will take you to court…”

Vanessa let out a soft, mocking breath.

“Court?”

“Clara, you won’t even get the chance.”

---

When I woke up again…

I was in a hospital room.

My abdomen felt impossibly empty.

Flat.

Quiet.

Too quiet.

A nurse entered, changing my IV, avoiding my eyes.

“Miss Clara…”

Her voice faltered slightly.

“I’m sorry… you miscarried.

You need to rest.”

The words hung in the air.

My baby…

Was gone.

The child I had carried so carefully.

Protected so desperately.

Vanessa had killed it.

And the one who caused the accident…

Was Liam.

My fingers curled tightly into the sheets.

My nails dug into my palm until I tasted blood.

My chest felt hollow.

But inside that emptiness…

Something else began to rise.

Cold.

Sharp.

Unforgiving.

I will sue her.

I will expose him.

They will pay for what they’ve done.

I forced myself out of the hospital bed and staggered toward the door, determined to reach the nurse’s station and call the police.

I barely made it two steps before two men in black suits blocked my way.

“Miss Clara,” one of them said coldly,

“Mr. Liam wants us to take you home.”

“I’m not going anywhere!” I shouted, trying to shove past them.

“I’m suing Vanessa!”

Their hands clamped down on my arms like iron.

“You’re going,” one of them murmured.

Then Liam appeared at the end of the corridor.

He walked toward me calmly.

No guilt.

No remorse.

Only cold indifference.

“Clara,” he said, his voice irritatingly steady,

“Stop making a scene. Vanessa didn’t mean to hurt you. If you sue her, you won’t win — and you’ll only bring shame to the Foster family.”

“Didn’t mean to?”

I stared at him, my vision trembling with rage.

“She refused me anesthesia! She caused my miscarriage! And you — you were the one who hit me with the car! Liam, how can you be so heartless? That was your child!”

“My child?” He let out a dry laugh.

“You were carrying Lucas’s bastard. Don’t try to pin that on me.”

His eyes darkened.

“And let me make this clear — if you dare to sue Vanessa, I promise you, I have a hundred ways to make your life worse than death.”

“I won’t back down,” I spat.

“I will sue her!”

His expression sank.

He lifted a hand slightly.

“Take her,” he ordered.

“Lock her in the dark room until she comes to her senses.”

---

They dragged me back to the villa.

Down.

Down.

Into the basement.

The door slammed shut.

Darkness swallowed me whole.

No light.

No sound.

Just damp air and cold, suffocating walls.

This place…

The room Vanessa used to lock me in as a child.

Three days.

Three nights.

No windows.

No comfort.

Just darkness and rats.

That was where I developed claustrophobia.

Liam had known about it.

Back then, he held me and whispered:

“I’ll never let anyone lock you in there again. I’ll protect you. I’ll make you feel safe.”

Now…

He was the one who put me back inside.

The memory crushed down on my chest.

I thought of the way he smiled when he found out about the pregnancy.

The way he knelt over tiny baby clothes in the store.

The way he swore he would protect me and our child no matter what.

All of it…

A lie.

It had always been a lie.

He never wanted this baby.

He never wanted me.

He wanted me broken.

I pounded the door.

With my fists.

With my feet.

With whatever strength I had left.

I screamed.

I cried.

Until my voice disappeared completely.

Until my body collapsed.

And then…

A strange memory flashed inside my mind.

A vast open grassland.

The sky burning red under a sunset.

Me… wearing a tactical jacket.

Holding a gun.

Running.

Gunshots behind me.

Wind cutting into my ears.

I didn’t know where I was.

Or why I was holding a weapon.

But I remembered the feeling.

The desperation.

The instinct to survive.

The refusal to die.

The image was gone as quickly as it came — like shattered glass — but it left something behind.

Resolve.

They wanted me to break.

They wanted me to give up.

But I wouldn’t.

Vanessa took my child.

Liam tried to erase me.

They wanted me to disappear.

But I refused.

I stood up slowly in the darkness, pressing my palms against the walls, testing every surface — searching, thinking, planning.

Thinking how to survive.

How to get out.

How to make them pay.

---

I didn’t know how long had passed when the door finally opened.

Light blinded me.

Liam stood there.

His face unreadable.

“Have you thought it through?” he asked flatly.

“You won’t sue Vanessa anymore?”

I looked at him.

And smiled.

A slow, cold smile.

“I won’t sue her,” I said.

A flash of surprise crossed his eyes.

Then satisfaction.

“Good,” he replied.

“At least you finally learned your place.”

---

I followed him upstairs.

The sun hit my skin.

But I felt nothing.

No warmth.

No life.

Only cold.

We had just reached the living room when the butler rushed in, face pale as death.

“Mr. Liam… the hospital called,” he said shakily.

“Miss Clara’s grandmother… she passed away earlier today.”

…Passed away?

For a second, I couldn’t understand what the words meant.

Then…

They reached me.

Like thunder.

My legs nearly gave out.

“What…” my voice broke.

“What did you say?”

The butler lowered his head.

“The doctors said her condition worsened suddenly last night. They tried, but couldn’t save her…

They couldn’t contact you…”

Couldn’t contact me?

Because Liam had locked me underground.

Because he cut off my access.

Because he kept me hidden.

I turned slowly toward him.

Every nerve in my body burning.

“It was you,” I whispered, my eyes filling with bloodshot fury.

“You locked me up. I couldn’t answer the hospital. I couldn’t see her. Maybe if I had… she wouldn’t have died!”

Liam frowned impatiently.

“Enough,” he said.

“The old woman was already sick. She would’ve died sooner or later. Don’t blame me for that.”

“Not blame you?” I stumbled toward him.

“If you hadn’t delayed her treatment…

If you hadn’t shut me away…

If you hadn’t—”

He shoved me back hard.

I fell onto the cold floor.

Vanessa approached slowly.

Arms crossed.

A lazy smirk on her lips.

“Clara,” she said casually,

“Don’t be so emotional. Your grandma’s dead. At least you don’t need to worry about medical bills anymore.

She was just dragging you down anyway.”

Dragging me down?

The only person who ever protected me?

Who saved candy just to give me a little sweetness in life?

Who was pushed into corners because she stood beside me?

All she was to them…

Was a burden.

I collapsed onto the floor.

Silent tears streamed down the sides of my face.

No sobbing.

No screaming.

Just a hollow, aching stillness.

My baby was gone.

My grandmother was gone.

Snowball was gone.

And they…

They were still standing.

Still breathing.

Still smiling.

I had no weakness left.

Nothing left to lose.

Slowly, I pushed myself up from the ground.

I brushed the dust off my clothes.

And the last trace of warmth drained out of my eyes.

Only ice remained.

Liam.

Vanessa.

Lucas.

You took my child.

You killed my grandmother.

You butchered Snowball.

You destroyed everything I loved.

Fine.

Then I’ll play this game to the end.

And I’ll show you what real hell looks like.

---

I took out my phone.

Dialed the number I had memorized.

The one person I had sworn never to rely on again.

My voice was calm.

Too calm.

“I remember everything now,” I said.

“The plan moves up.

I want them to pay — in blood.”