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.

Lisa gently pulled the white sheet over her brother’s body. Only then did she notice her shoes were gone. Her bare feet were smeared with dried blood and dirt.

She sank to the floor, trying to wipe them clean with tissues, but the more she wiped, the worse it looked. The tears came without warning. Her chest tightened, and she clawed at her clothes, trying to breathe, but no sound came out. She cried in silence until there was nothing left.

After a long time, she got up, went home, showered, and changed into clean clothes. She put on a little makeup. She wanted to send her brother off properly.

With the death certificate in hand, she took him to the crematorium. She didn’t speak once during the entire process, moving like an empty shell. When she saw the urn, her eyes reddened, but a faint smile appeared on her face. Maybe this was better, she thought. He didn’t have to suffer anymore, and now she had nothing left to hold her here.

She bought a small but beautiful plot of land and built a cenotaph for him, afraid Nick might suspect something or that her brother’s spirit would have nowhere to rest. She spent a full day and night sitting by the grave, holding the urn in her arms, talking softly about their childhood and all the things she had never said.

When dawn came, Lisa left the cemetery with the urn in her arms.

Back at the house, she heard muffled, breathless sounds from inside. Her hand froze on the doorknob. After a few seconds, she entered the code and walked in.

The living room was a mess—clothes scattered everywhere, her favorite silk nightgown torn and hanging from the Christmas tree, empty condom boxes tossed in the fruit bowl she’d bought from Italy. The air was thick with sweat and perfume.

Susie sat in Nick’s lap, her body covered in his kisses, moaning his name in a voice that cut through the silence.

“Oh, Nick… that feels so good.”

Lisa didn’t look at them. She walked past and went upstairs. Her heart was already dead; she couldn’t even feel the pain anymore.

The sounds downstairs went on and on. Nick seemed tireless, and Susie’s cries blurred between pleasure and pleading.

After what felt like forever, the bedroom door opened. Nick stepped in, freshly showered, his shirt hiding the marks on his neck. The faint scent of soap clung to him.

The memory of what she had just seen made Lisa’s stomach twist. She turned away, covering her mouth as she retched.

Nick’s eyes went cold. “You think I’m disgusting?”

Lisa didn’t answer, but her expression said everything.

He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. When she tried to pull away, he tightened his grip, pressing his lips against hers until she couldn’t move.

“I know you’re upset,” he murmured. “I’ll make it up to you when I’m done. The divorce isn’t real. We’ll get married again. But if you keep acting out, your brother will pay for it.”

Her heart stopped for a second. Her brother was already gone. Would he desecrate the ashes next?

But Nick didn’t know. And now, she had no weakness left.

“Nick,” she said quietly, her voice trembling, “I don’t want any marriage or promises. Just let me go. I can’t take this anymore.”

His expression darkened. He brushed his thumb over the red marks on her cheek. “Don’t talk like that. Where would you even go without me? You belong here. Be good, stop upsetting me.”

“You can’t live without me, and I won’t let you leave. I told you—Susie’s just a plaything. I’ll come back to you eventually. You’ll always be mine.”

Listening to his twisted version of love, Lisa suddenly remembered something she’d once witnessed.

Years ago, Nick had locked a man in his basement for crossing him. The man had a fear of snakes, so Nick filled the room with them until the man’s screams stopped until he fainted from terror.

That was who he truly was. Obsessive. Cruel. The kind of man who would never let go once he decided you were his.

Her whole body went cold. She lowered her eyes and lied to him for the second time.

“You’re right,” she whispered. “I can’t live without you. I’ll behave from now on.”

Nick finally looked satisfied. A faint smile tugged at his lips as he leaned down and pressed a kiss against hers. “Get some rest, sweetheart. You’ve been looking half-dead these past few days, and it’s been getting on my nerves. Our anniversary’s coming up soon, and I don’t want to see you looking like this again.”

Lisa forced a small smile. “Alright.”

He had been in her room too long, and Susie’s voice soon came from the hallway, sharp with irritation. “Mr. Horden, are we still going to the art exhibit or not?”

Nick’s smile deepened. He tucked the blanket around Lisa, turned, and walked out, his arm sliding around Susie as they left together.

Not long after, Lisa’s phone rang. It was the records office calling to say her paperwork had finally gone through. Her old identity had been officially erased.

She packed lightly, taking only what she needed, then clutched her brother’s urn and walked out of the villa without looking back.

She finalized her new identity and visa, opened a new bank account, and booked a one-way ticket to Russia.

When the plane lifted off, a wave of relief washed over her, lighter than she’d felt in years.

Holding her brother’s urn close, Lisa looked out the window at the city that had once imprisoned her. Her eyes filled with tears, but this time they carried no pain, only release.

From this moment on, she was no longer Nick Horden’s possession. She had her own life now. She was finally free.