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.”