When Lisa woke up, a full day had passed. The wounds on her back had been treated, and the pain had mostly faded.

Nick sat beside her, lazily smoking a cigarette. Through the haze of smoke, his cold voice broke the silence. “Susie’s upset. You need to make it up to her.”

Lisa stared at him, her face blank. “What exactly do you mean, Mr. Horden?”

The title made his expression darken. He crushed out his cigarette, then brushed her lips with his ash-stained fingers.

“Don’t be like that, baby. Don’t stay mad at me.” His eyes glinted with something dangerous.

Lisa’s heart gave a sharp jolt. For a moment, she remembered what Nick’s grandfather had once told her.

‘Nick only loves people who obey. If you insist on staying by his side, be prepared to act like an obedient pet for the rest of your life.’

Back then, she hadn’t understood. She’d thought his grandfather was only trying to drive them apart.

Now she finally knew what he meant. Nick’s love was obsessive, controlling, and selfish. He was the one in power, and she existed only as his reflection.

She lowered her gaze, hiding the fear in her eyes, and nodded obediently. “I understand.”

“Good girl,” Nick said, satisfied. “Prepare a solo piece. Susie wants to hear you play the violin tonight.”

He stroked her hair like she was a child, then carefully applied ointment to her back himself. His touch was cold, almost clinical, and made her skin crawl.

That night, Lisa put on a long-sleeved champagne-colored gown covered in crystals and diamond jewelry. The chauffeur drove her to the hotel where the banquet was being held.

The event took place at one of the Horden Group’s most prestigious hotels. Nearly everyone from New York’s high society was there.

Most of the women wore simple pastel dresses and light, natural makeup. In contrast, Lisa’s glamorous outfit made her stand out, and not in a good way.

As soon as she walked in, whispers spread across the room.

Disdainful.

Pitying.

Mocking.

“Trying to steal the spotlight? Once a homeless, always a homeless. She looks ridiculous.”

“She’s just desperate for attention now that Nick’s done with her.”

“She’s not half the woman Susie is. What a joke.”

Each word hit her like a blade.

She remembered another banquet years ago when someone had insulted her for being a former homeless, and Nick had responded by having the man’s mouth sewn shut. He had warned everyone that anyone who dared speak against her would disappear from the city overnight.

Now, with Nick no longer protecting her, those same people spoke freely, sneering without restraint.

The gossip finally stopped when Nick and Susie arrived.

Lisa followed the crowd’s gaze. Susie was dressed in a pale satin slip dress, her long hair tied high in a ponytail. She carried herself with confidence, her chin slightly lifted.

In that moment, Lisa understood why Nick was drawn to her. Susie reminded him of who Lisa used to be, bright, carefree, and full of life.

When she had first married into the Horden family, she had been like that too, radiant and bold, never ashamed of her past.

But Nick had told her he didn’t like women who were too loud or too free-spirited. After they married, he had molded her into someone quiet, obedient, and restrained.

Now she realized, painfully, that he had only grown tired of the version of her he had created and fallen in love with the shadow of who she used to be.

Lisa’s expression dimmed, a quiet heaviness settling in her chest. The sight of everyone fawning over Susie made her stomach twist. Without another word, she turned to leave.

“Mr. Horden, didn’t you say you had something prepared for me?” Susie’s sharp, confident voice rang out behind her. Lisa froze mid-step.

Around them, the crowd exchanged uneasy glances, watching Nick’s face closely. No one ever dared to speak to him that way. Even when Lisa had been his favorite, she had always been careful, gentle, and obedient in his presence.

But now, Nick didn’t seem the least bit bothered. Instead, a faint smile tugged at his lips as he allowed Susie’s arrogance to go unchecked.

“Yes,” he said casually. Pulling Susie into his arm, he gestured for someone to approach. A waiter came forward, carrying a violin.

Lisa turned around as the instrument was placed in her hands. Under dozens of watching eyes, she gripped it tightly. Her gaze drifted through the crowd until it landed on Nick, and something inside her went cold.

She had once loved playing the violin and dreamed of joining an orchestra. But Nick had forbidden her from performing for anyone else, claiming her music belonged to him alone.

Now, as she looked at the man who had stolen her freedom and her heart, she gave a bitter smile. So his rules only lasted until Susie came along.

Lisa took a deep breath and began to play Adagio in G minor. The soft, aching melody filled the room, each note trembling with grief. It sounded like heartbreak given form.

The song was her farewell.

From that moment on, she decided she would never love Nick Horden again.

Nick frowned slightly as he watched her. The sadness surrounding her made something inside him twist with irritation and unease.

“Enough,” Susie said suddenly, her tone impatient. She stood up, cutting off the music. “This is too depressing. You’re the one who filed for divorce, not me. Stop acting like the victim.”

Her words were sharp and calculated, disguised as careless honesty.

Lisa met her eyes briefly but didn’t respond. She lowered her gaze in silence.

Susie’s smirk faltered. Her jab had landed on air, leaving her frustrated. She turned toward Nick, her voice trembling with feigned hurt.

“Mr. Horden, did you bring her here just to humiliate me?”

The room fell silent. Everyone was waiting, holding their breath. Nick Horden was not a man who tolerated disrespect especially not in public.

A moment later, Nick let out a soft laugh. He touched Susie’s cheek and said gently, “Don’t be upset. I’ll give you the first dance tonight.”

Susie turned her face away, pretending to be annoyed, but she still took his hand and followed him into the ballroom.

Lisa lifted her eyes and watched them step onto the dance floor together. To her surprise, she felt strangely calm.

She packed up her violin and quietly turned to leave.

But she hadn’t taken more than a few steps before several women blocked her way. Before she could speak, they dragged her toward a quiet corner.

“Well, if it isn’t Mrs. Horden. Oh wait,” one of them sneered, “you’re not that anymore, are you? Do you remember my hand?” She raised her left arm. Her wrist ended in a stump. “All I did was brush against you once, and Nick had my hand cut off.”

Another woman stepped forward and ripped off her mask. One side of her face was disfigured, the skin scarred and pale. “And me. I said you weren’t that pretty, and your man poured acid on my face.”

A third woman glared at her with hatred. “My company went bankrupt because I said you used to be a beggar.”

Lisa’s chest tightened. She knew exactly who had done these things.

Nick had destroyed them to protect her. His love had been obsessive, ruthless. Now that he no longer cared for her, she was the one paying the price for his cruelty.

“What do you want from me?” she asked, trying to pull away.

One of the women grabbed her hair and slapped her hard across the face. “We’re going to make you look just like us. Let’s see if you still think you’re good enough for Nick Horden then.”

“Miss Sanders said whoever makes you suffer the most will get her favor with him,” another hissed.

“Susie Sanders?” Lisa’s eyes widened. In that instant of shock, they pinned her down to the floor.

Rough hands gripped her face. They slapped her again and again, then pulled out a handful of long needles. One woman held her hands down while another drove the needles deep beneath her fingernails.

Lisa screamed in agony, the sound muffled as someone clamped a hand over her mouth. The pain shot straight through her nerves, tears spilling down her face as her body trembled violently.

While they were switching places, she gathered what little strength she had left, shoved one of them away, and stumbled to her feet.

She ran blindly toward the exit, but her heel caught on the carpet. She fell forward, crashing into a towering champagne display.

The glasses shattered with a deafening crash, and the entire room went silent. Red wine and blood mixed on her dress as she lay among the shards.

“Miss Winters, is this some kind of pity act?” Susie’s mocking voice cut through the murmurs as she walked over.

“Susie Sanders, you sent them,” Lisa hissed through clenched teeth.

“Me?” Susie smiled faintly, looping her arm through Nick’s. “Why would I bother? I have a career and a man who loves me. What do you have that’s worth destroying?”

Lisa froze. Every part of her life—her success, her comfort, even her pride—had once come from Nick. Without him, she truly had nothing.

She gave a weak laugh, her eyes filling with tears. “You’re right,” she whispered. “I have nothing left.”

The next second, one of the women lunged forward and shoved Lisa back onto the shattered glass.

Nick frowned slightly but didn’t move.

Lisa gasped, her whole body trembling as pain shot through her.

“Don’t pity her,” one of the women shouted. “She tried to bribe us to hurt Miss Sanders, and when we refused, she pulled this stunt to make it look like Susie was behind it!”

The women who had attacked her stepped out one after another, accusing her of staging everything to frame Susie.

“I didn’t,” Lisa said, her voice breaking, but no one believed her. She had become the target of every hateful gaze in the room.

“You vile woman,” someone hissed, throwing a glass of wine at her.

“Nick doesn’t want her anymore. She’s just a worthless beggar trying to act important.”

“Go crawl back to the gutter where you came from. You’re nothing but a bitter, jealous ex-wife trying to ruin their happiness.”

The insults came harder, louder, followed by more wine glasses smashing near her feet. Everyone knew by now that Nick no longer cared about her. Without his protection, they could finally unleash their resentment. Every person who had once feared him now took revenge on her instead.

Lisa’s gaze drifted across the sea of angry, indifferent faces until it landed on Nick.

He sat there calmly, his eyes cold and distant. There was no sympathy in them—only faint irritation, as if she were an inconvenience, as if her pain were nothing more than another disruption to his evening.

In that moment, the pain in her body faded beneath something worse. Her heart felt like it was being ripped apart.

His silence was the final betrayal.

He had sworn that Susie was just a fling, but here he was, letting her and everyone else destroy her piece by piece.

Everyone around her was shouting, but Lisa could only see him. The light in her eyes dimmed until there was nothing left—just emptiness.

Suddenly, it all felt pointless. The anger, the explanations, the humiliation. None of it mattered anymore.

She no longer wanted to be the proof of Nick and Susie’s love, no longer wanted to be part of this cruel story.

Bracing herself against the pain, she pushed herself to her feet.

Nick didn’t stop her.

She began to walk toward the door, limping with every step. The glass shards beneath her heels cut deeper with each movement, but she didn’t slow down.

She just kept walking—away from the ballroom, away from Nick Horden.

Lisa went back to the hospital and spent three hours having every shard of glass removed from her body. After a few days of rest she was discharged, but she still had things to take care of.

She withdrew cash from the bank and contacted a tiny, little-known rehab clinic out in the country. She offered to fund repairs and buy a new ventilator if they would take her brother and treat him in strict confidence. The director agreed. Once she and her brother had new legal identities, they could sign the transfer papers.

Lisa knew she could not move him on her own, but she made sure he would never run out of money. She went back to the hospital to tell him the plan.

In the corridor outside his room she saw a caregiver struggling with a middle-aged couple. The woman stood with her back to the door, blocking it.

“Miss Winters, you finally came,” the caregiver cried. “These people are trying to take Mr, Winters’s machine.”

Lisa pushed through and demanded to know what they thought they were doing. “This is a hospital. Who gave you the right to come in here?”

The woman sneered and shoved Lisa away. “Who do you think you are? Everyone knows the Horden family threw you out. I had my son wait for a ventilator. My son needs that machine to live.”

Lisa stumbled and nearly fell. She looked up and met Susie’s triumphant gaze.

“You look pathetic,” Susie called, folding her arms. “You cannot stop my parents. That ventilator is mine.”

“Help them,” Susie ordered. Her hand went to Nick’s guard. The men moved in and began unhooking the tubes and lines from Lisa’s brother.

“No, stop, he will die,” Lisa shouted. She pushed through and threw herself between them and her brother, arms spread to shield him. “Get away. Don’t touch him.”

Susie’s mother suddenly dropped to the floor, clutching her chest and crying out. Susie rushed over, face full of concern, then turned angrily to Lisa. “Why did you push my mother?” she accused. “Mr. Horden sent us to move the equipment. If you have a problem, take it out on me not on my parents.”

“My chest hurts,” Susie’s mother moaned, holding her hand to her sternum.

Nick walked in at that moment and saw the commotion. He glanced at Susie. “What’s going on?” he asked, a note of annoyance in his voice.

Susie lowered her eyes and stepped back. “We do not need that machine after all,” she said, sounding regretful. “My brother’s injury is not that bad. We can manage without it.”

“Miss Winters has been aggressive. She pushed my mother twice,” Susie’s mother cried. “We cannot accept her behavior.”

Nick’s face went cold as everything clicked into place. He looked at his guards. “You couldn’t even hold one woman?” he asked, voice flat.

Some of the men had hesitated earlier and held back from hurting Lisa. Now, seeing Nick displeased, one of them grabbed her arm and dragged her aside.

“Nick, stop them, please!” Lisa screamed as the guards yanked the ventilator from her brother’s bedside.

Her voice broke, raw with desperation. “Nick, tell them to leave. Don’t touch him! Without that machine, he’ll die. Please!”

Nick’s face darkened. Her shouting grated on him. To him, she looked wild, hysterical—nothing like the composed wife he had once trained her to be.

“Lisa,” he said coldly, “you’re being disobedient again. Is this how you abuse the power I gave you? Maybe I haven’t disciplined you enough.”

The words hit her like a slap. She froze, trembling, unable to form a single sound as she watched Nick’s men carry the ventilator out of the room.

She stumbled to the floor but pushed herself up immediately, rushing to her brother’s side. His face had turned purple from lack of oxygen. She hit the emergency call button again and again, but no one came.

Then a horrifying thought struck her—Nick had ordered the doctors not to respond.

“Doctor! Please, help!” she cried. “Someone, please! I’ll pay… anything! Just save my brother!”

Her voice echoed down the empty hallway. No one answered. The elevator wouldn’t move, frozen on the first floor. She ran for the stairwell, tripping, tumbling down several steps, but she didn’t stop.

She ran down one floor after another. Five in total before she finally found someone.

By the time she brought a doctor back, it was too late. Her brother was gone.

Lisa stood beside his bed, staring blankly at his lifeless face. It felt as though her soul had been ripped from her body. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.

She finally understood that when pain reaches its limit, even tears won’t fall.

She regretted everything.

She regretted ever going home with Nick.

And most of all, she regretted ever loving him.