One moment, he'd been all gentle persuasion, coaxing me to be patient.

The next, his eyes turned glacial as he roared at Bonnie, "Are you blind? Watch where you're spraying that thing! If anything happens to Hazel's baby, I'll skin you alive."

Bonnie's face drained of color.

I couldn't move either. My whole body felt flash-frozen, trapped in a sudden arctic wasteland.

The air went silent for a heartbeat.

Val finally seemed to register his own outburst. He released Bonnie and reached for me, flustered. "Renee, it's not what you think—"

I flinched away from his hand on instinct and bolted out the door.

He didn't follow. I didn't go far—just a few steps past the threshold, close enough to hear everything.

Without me there, the laughter and chatter inside drifted out in fragments.

"Hazel's carrying so high—definitely a boy."

"I had a gold luck pendant made for the baby, Hazel. Take it. This is the first grandchild of the Gilbert family."

"Val, you can't keep a tainted woman around. Girls as pure and kind as Hazel are rare these days. You need to treasure her."

"You're both still young. Hurry up and give me a few more grandchildren."

Val's voice carried a smile. "I know, Mom. I'll make it happen."

Hazel's soft voice chimed in, sweet as syrup. "As long as Val wants them, I'll give you as many grandchildren as you'd like, Mrs. Gilbert."

"Mrs. Gilbert? Call me Mom."

"Mom."

Laughter erupted inside, warm and familial.

I leaned against the cold wall outside, my heart carved open while still beating.

Vasectomy?

Another lie. Just another lie.

In that moment, the last flicker of warmth inside me guttered out completely.

I scrubbed a hand over my face, then pulled out my phone and dialed a number.

I went home alone and started packing my things.

But before long, the bedroom door slammed open. A brutal grip seized my arm and wrenched me out.

I barely caught my balance before I met Val's bloodshot eyes.

"Renee Summers." His voice was barely human. "Just because you're filthy, you have to drag Hazel down with you? When did you become this vicious?"

I frowned. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Hazel stood nearby, tears still glistening on her cheeks. She pointed a trembling finger at a phone on the coffee table, voice breaking with sobs. "Renee, why would you post those things online? Saying I was kidnapped, that I was so scared they'd kill me I... I stripped to seduce the kidnappers? That I'm carrying some stranger's bastard?"

Her breath hitched. "This baby is innocent. This baby is a product of love between me and his father. How could you slander me like this?"

She collapsed into Val's arms, weeping so hard she could barely breathe.

I stared at this pathetic performance, and something in me snapped. I laughed—a cold, brittle sound.

"Hazel Qiao, why would I bother smearing you? How long are you going to keep playing these cheap tricks?"

"You have every reason." Val cut me off, his voice like a blade, his eyes heavy with disgust. "Because you're the one who stripped for those kidnappers to save your own skin. You're the tainted one. And you can't stand seeing any innocent girl stay clean when you couldn't."

"I accepted that you were carrying a bastard. Wasn't I good enough to you?" His jaw tightened. "Why can't you just leave Hazel alone?"

"If I'd known you were this depraved and vicious, I never would have married you."

I stood frozen, struck by lightning.

Val's contemptuous sneer. The smirk Hazel was barely hiding at the corner of her lips.

A thousand needles, all piercing my heart at once.

This. This was the man I'd loved for five years.

I laughed until tears spilled down my face.

Something about that—my laugh, my tears—seemed to snap something in Val. He grabbed my arm and dragged me through the house, shoving me into the pitch-black basement.

"Stay here and think about what you've done." The door groaned on its hinges. "When you're ready to admit you were wrong, I'll let you out."

The lock clicked into place.

Darkness swallowed me whole.

"No! Val, I'll die in there!"

The Summers Parents door slammed shut. Cold. Final.

The earthquake. I was twelve. Mom and Dad shielded me with their bodies as the world collapsed. I lay in that darkness for three days, watching them go still. Watching them start to smell.

I've had severe claustrophobia ever since.

Once, I got trapped in an elevator for just ten minutes. Val didn't wait for the rescue team—he pried the doors open with his bare hands, risking his life to pull my trembling body into his arms.

"Don't be scared, baby. I'm here. I'll never let you be trapped in the dark again."

Now I huddled in the corner of this pitch-black room, hugging my knees, tears streaming down my face like a broken string of pearls. Helpless. Hopeless.

Minutes later—or was it hours?—the door cracked open just wide enough for someone to toss in a bag.

Then it sealed shut again.

In the darkness, I heard the bag rustle.

Hissssss...

Something cold slithered up my leg.

I screamed, pounding on the door until my fists went numb. "Let me out! Val, there are snakes—please—ahhhh—"

Three days.

When the door finally opened, Val stood there staring at me—curled in the corner, shaking uncontrollably, barely conscious.

Something flickered in his eyes. Pain? Shock?

But his voice still dripped with that familiar arrogance.

"Have you learned your lesson?"

I nodded stiffly.

Yes. I was wrong.

I was wrong five years ago, the day I married you.

Satisfied, Val smiled and carefully lifted me into his arms. He bathed me himself, then brought hot porridge to my lips, spoon by spoon.

I swallowed mechanically. A puppet with its strings cut.

When the bowl was empty, he reached into the nightstand and pulled out a gift box. Inside lay a custom red gown, delicate butterfly wings embroidered across the bodice.

"Sweetheart, I was too angry before. I said things I shouldn't have." His thumb traced my cheek. "I've rearranged our third anniversary celebration. Let me make it up to you."

I wasn't given a choice. The maids dressed me like a doll.

Val had booked the most luxurious hotel in the city. The entire banquet hall was empty except for us—candlelight, champagne, a feast fit for royalty.

We'd barely sat down when his phone rang.

"I have to take this." He pressed a kiss to my forehead. "I'll be right back."

I stared at the elaborate dishes. My stomach churned. I pushed back my chair and stood—

A hand clamped over my mouth and nose from behind.

"Bitch." A man's voice, ragged with hatred. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have lost everything. My career. My family. If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me."

My eyes went wide. I thrashed, bit down hard on the flesh of his palm.

He howled in pain—then drove his fist into my stomach.

I crumpled to my knees. Agony ripped through my lower abdomen, white-hot and blinding.

He kicked me onto my back, grabbed a knife from the table, and aimed it at my heart.

This is it.

Despair washed over me like freezing water.

Then—chaos. Bodyguards flooded the room, slamming the man to the ground.

Through the blur of shouting and pounding footsteps, Val shoved through the crowd and pulled me into his arms.

"Are you all dead?!" he roared at his men. "This is how you protect my wife?!"

I curled against his chest.

And let the darkness take me.

When I woke, Hazel's voice drifted in from outside the hospital room door. Bright. Excited.

"Val, you're so smart! Making Renee wear the exact same dress as me and leaking the hotel location—that's the only reason you were able to lure that blacklisted paparazzo out of hiding. Otherwise, I'd be the one lying in there."

"As long as you and the baby are safe."

So that's what it was.

I lay motionless, a hollow laugh escaping my throat.

Not compensation. Not guilt.

I was just the decoy. The shield.

Because Hazel needed one.

The door swung open. Val walked in, his face arranged into perfect concern, and reached for my hand—

"Sweetheart, this is all my fault. I failed to protect you."

I felt nothing. Just a hollow, bone-deep exhaustion.

He paused for two seconds, then shifted gears. "Hazel's being dragged online because you exposed her pregnancy. She's a student I sponsored—I can't just stand by and watch."

"And?"

"I'm going to hold a wedding with her. Shut down the backlash."

I stared at him, the absurdity almost laughable. "Then what about me?"

His brow furrowed with irritation. The guilt in his eyes faded, replaced by self-righteous accusation. "If you hadn't been so jealous of Hazel—spreading those rumors online—would I need to resort to this? I already agreed to raise whatever bastard you're carrying. What more do you want? If Hazel weren't so gracious, you'd be lying on a prison cot right now."

The door slammed behind him.

I didn't even have the strength left to be angry.

I closed my eyes. When the doctor walked in, I spoke without opening them.

"Schedule the termination."

After the procedure, I placed what remained of my child into a small urn.

I tucked a divorce agreement inside the medical notification folder. Added a voice recorder. Handed the package to a courier.

Then I took a cab to the airport.

On the terminal's massive screen, Val and Hazel's lavish wedding played on loop.

I'd stood by him when he had nothing. All I ever got was a marriage certificate.

The grand wedding he'd once promised me—now he was giving it to another woman.

I looked away. My gaze was steady. Empty.

I boarded the international flight.

Val Gilbert. From this day forward, we live under different skies. I never want to see you again.