I'm kidnapped at the same time as my husband's true love. I call him on the verge of death and beg him to save me.

However, he thinks I'm putting on an act and only pays the ransom for his true love. He leaves me and his brother to die. Before hanging up, he snaps, "Drop the act, Marlena! Can't you see how terrified Sue is? I'll get even with you for hiring someone to kidnap her!"

It's too bad Howard Jenne will never get even with me for this. The moment he turns his back on me and his autistic brother, the kidnappers kill us.

I died a gruesome death.

The flesh on both of my legs was entirely sliced off, leaving only strands of bloodied muscle clinging to bare bones. Even the seasoned homicide detectives couldn't hold back their tears.

"She was flayed alive. How much pain must she have endured?"

"There are so many wounds on her face… What kind of monster could be this cruel?"

"She was already dead, yet she still protected that little boy... Ha..."

Perhaps the agony I experienced before my death was too overwhelming, both my soul and Xander Jenne's couldn't move on to the afterlife. Instead, we drifted to my husband, Howard Jenne.

At that moment, he held first love Sue Larsson as he barged into the clinic. He clutched the doctor as though holding on to his last thread of hope.

"Doctor, please save her! Sue is a ballet dancer. What's going to happen to her if something's wrong with her legs?"

Desperation and madness intertwined in his eyes. There was a tenderness I had never seen before in his expression.

When the doctor finished applying medicine to Sue Larsson's injuries, Howard couldn't hold back his tears of joy. He immediately instructed his assistant, Leonardo Zuch, to get a premium hospital room for Sue to recuperate.

Leonardo hesitated for a moment, his face conflicted as he cautiously asked, "Sir, you've already paid the ransom to save Ms. Larsson, but Mrs. Jenne and Mr. Xander are still in the hands of the kidnappers… Shouldn't we—"

Leonardo was about to suggest calling the police when Howard impatiently cut him off.

Howard's face darkened, his expression full of disdain as he sneered, "This was all an act Marlena put on with Xander. I already gave her 20 million to get her out of trouble. What more does she want?

"Sue is in low spirits right now. Don't mention that lunatic in front of us again."

Hearing this, I rushed to cover Xander's ears, even though he was just a floating soul like me.

As I looked at his face, filled with sadness and a hint of confusion, my heart felt like it had plummeted from the sky.

The pain was unbearable.

Of course, Howard always thought I was a manipulator who loved orchestrating drama and that I had even led Xander astray. How could he possibly come to save us?

But what he didn't know was that we were already dead.

We died while he was massaging Sue's feet.

In my final moments, I had begged the kidnappers to let me make one last call to him.

"Howard, please save us… I'm begging you. We're really going to die…"

I thought I saw a glimmer of hope the moment the video call connected.

However, my husband of three years furrowed his brows and scolded me instead. "Marlena Anderson, stop putting on an act! Can't you see how frightened Sue is? It's because you hired actors and staged a kidnapping that Sue sprained her ankle. You even dragged Xander into your nonsense!

"Marlena, I never thought you could be so conniving!"

Trembling, I held the barely breathing Xander in my arms and tried to bring his bloodied, youthful face closer to the camera. I wanted to prove to Howard that I wasn't lying, that even for the sake of his younger brother, he should save us.

But Howard didn't even have the patience to hear me out. He coldly spat out one final remark, "I'll deal with you and this mess later."

And then, he hung up the call without a second glance at our battered and bruised bodies.

Before the call ended, I caught the sound of Sue's soft, affectedly delicate voice on the other end, playfully pacifying him.

Sue only had a sprained ankle, yet Howard stayed by her bedside and handled her with the utmost care for three sleepless days. It was as if she were the most fragile porcelain doll.

Just like now, he carefully blew on a spoonful of broth to cool it down before holding it to Sue's lips.

"Thank goodness your injury isn't serious. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest at the sight of your twisted ankle…"

Tears streamed down Sue's face as she forced a smile and cooed back at him. "Howard, I really thought I was going to die when Marlena and Xander brought me to that abandoned factory. If you hadn't saved me in time, I..."

We were only taken by the kidnappers because of her! How dare she twist the truth?

Sue bit her lip and gazed at Howard with grateful eyes. "Howard, you're my savior. From now on, my life belongs to you..."

Xander, watching this sickeningly warm scene unfold, had a flicker of sadness cross his eyes. In a soft voice, he asked, "Howard, does Sue mean more to you than me and Marlena combined?"

But Howard couldn't hear him. Instead, he gently ruffled Sue's hair and took an invitation from Leonardo, pressing it into Sue's hands.

"The lead spot with the Morsee Dance Troupe," he announced. "Consider it a gift to help you recover from the scare. You need to get better quickly so I can be at ease..."

The invitation to the Morsee Dance Troupe was embossed with golden patterns. The invitation was the dream of every ballet dancer, myself included.

Sue stroked the invitation, a fleeting glint passing through her eyes. "Howard, you treat me so well!" As she spoke, her body flinched slightly. "But… This spot originally belonged to Marlena. If she finds out, will she send Xander to punish me again?"

The smile on Howard's face abruptly vanished the moment Sue mentioned me.

"Why bring her up? If she needed money, she could've just said so instead of staging a kidnapping stunt to extort me. And to drag you into this mess—unbelievable! She owes that principal dancer role to you! Stay at my place for now. I'll make sure she and Xander apologize to you and take good care of you."

He wrapped Sue into a protective embrace, his voice turning gentle. "Don't worry. I won't let you suffer in vain. I'll make sure Marlena and Xander pay for everything!"

With that, Howard took Sue home to confront us.

Upon finding that the house was empty, he complained, "Not only do they pull this nonsense, but now they don't even have the guts to come home!"

Just then, the shrill ring of his phone cut through his grumbling.

"Howard, I saw the news about a murder at the resort. The clothes they showed looked just like what Marlena was wearing when she left… She hasn't contacted me in three days. Do you think… something might've happened to her?"

Her cautious tone, strained like a taut wire, only provoked Howard further.

Already an impatient man, Howard barked into the phone, "What could possibly happen to a conniving woman like her? She'll outlive us all!"

Then, as if struck by a sudden realization, his voice grew colder, dripping with suspicion. "Wait. You're not calling to fish for information on Marlena's behalf, are you?"

Caught off guard, my mother stammered, trying to deny his accusation, but Howard didn't give her the chance. With a single motion, he hung up and blocked her number without hesitation.

Agitated, Howard paced around the house.

Sue followed behind him, gently tugging at his sleeve. "Maybe Marlena and Xander got upset because you only brought me along, so they asked Mrs. Anderson to check in. How about… I stop being a bother here and leave?"

Her tearful, pitiful expression tugged at Howard's heart. He immediately rushed around to prepare toiletries for her, even taking down the wedding photo to let Sue move into the master bedroom.

Suddenly, Howard's face flushed slightly.

"If I remember correctly, it's that time of the month for you. I've already made ginger tea and left it downstairs, and I bought your usual brand of sanitary pads. Don't touch cold water, and let me know if you need anything…"

Who would've thought Howard had such a gentle and thoughtful side?

How did he respond when I was in so much pain during my period that I couldn't get out of bed and begged him to make me a bowl of ginger tea just a while back?

"Can you stop already? Every time I'm about to see Sue, you come up with hundreds of excuses. You're not going to die from the pain. Just make the tea yourself later!"

After yelling, he slammed the door and left, taking a large bouquet of lilies to Sue's performance.

While he and Sue were taking intimate backstage photos, I fainted from the pain and was rushed to the hospital by Xander in the middle of the night.

As I was lost in those memories, a knock came at the door.

It was the police.

"A heinous murder case occurred in the city. The victims appear to be your wife and brother. Could you take a look at these photos?"

The officers held out several photos of bodies matching my and Xander's descriptions. The top photo clearly showed the butterfly tattoo on my arm.

I was confident that Howard would recognize us after seeing that.

I became frantic, floating around him, trying to give him hints. "It's me! Look closely at the photos of Xander and me!"

I wanted Howard to recognize us.

I wanted to know how Howard would feel if he realized it was his thoughtless decisions that led to the brutal murders of me and his brother.

Would he be devastated? Or would he just think there were two fewer people standing in the way of his everlasting happiness with Sue?

"Stop acting." Howard frowned and casually scattered the photos across the table without even glancing at them.

To him, our lives were utterly insignificant.

"Acting?" The police were bewildered by his reaction. "We're detectives from the city's Criminal Investigation Division. We've been trying to contact you but couldn't reach you, so we came to your house instead.

"This is a horrible case. The victims were wronged and died unjustly. We need the family's cooperation to solve the case—"

Howard impatiently interrupted, "If you were the police, why didn't you call me?"

They did. On the day the police found our bodies, they called him over a dozen times. But at that time, he was massaging Sue's feet and had turned off his phone.

"How much did Marlena pay you to pretend to be cops and go along with her act? If those were real kidnappers, how would Sue be perfectly fine right now?"

So, even now, Howard still believed I was faking everything…

The only reason Sue was unharmed was because he'd paid a ransom of ten million. As for Xander and I, two worthless people who couldn't bring in any money, we were tortured to death by the kidnappers as tools for venting their anger.

The excruciating pain of being mutilated still screamed in my soul.

The police, stunned, helplessly pulled out their badges to explain. "We really are detectives. The deaths of your wife and brother are tragic, but you can't avoid facing reality… Sir—"

The officer tried to say more, but Howard, his face dark, had already forced them out of the house.

Sue swept the photos into the trash before cautiously suggesting, "Howard, maybe you should go look for Marlena. What if something really happened to her…"

Sue was the one who hinted to Howard that everything was part of my plan, yet here she was, pretending to be innocent. "I think Marlena and Xander didn't mean to take me; they were just desperate… After all, you're Marlena's husband and Xander's brother. You should care a little."

Howard's expression softened at that. "Sue, you're so understanding." Then his expression shifted into one of frustration. "Marlena is such a drama queen! Your leg was injured so badly, and she still called me, asking me to apologize to her. She's definitely looking for a scolding!"

Sue feigned innocence. "Marlena just loves you so much. I'm not blaming her or Xander."

"You shouldn't always give in to her! She only teams up with Xander to bully you because she thinks you're easy to push around! That's what I hate most about her!"

I wanted to argue, but when I realized I was just a soul, my hand hung limply at my side.

I didn't like Sue.

I remembered the time a pervert appeared outside our dance studio. Not wanting Howard to worry, I kept telling Howard I had company with me.

Sue, however, called him late at night, saying she was scared alone in the studio.

Xander needed a guardian to go with him to see a psychologist, yet Sue always seemed to "coincidentally" meet him outside the hospital, chatting with him for hours, resulting in Howard missing Xander's appointment.

I wanted to clarify things with Sue at first, but she'd arrogantly laughed and said, "You're just a hag, and Xander's an idiot. How could you two possibly matter more to Howard than me? Don't talk about him just accompanying me—he'd even kill you for me without hesitation."

As she spoke, she ripped apart the teddy bears we had all bought and dressed up.

In a fit of anger, Xander pushed Sue.

Howard happened to witness it.

He slapped me twice. "Not only are you jealous, but you also dared to incite Xander to hit someone! Sue and I are history; stop trying to pick a fight!"

I wanted to explain, but Sue was on her knees, crying and saying it was her fault, that she shouldn't have come back to the country and caused trouble.

Howard, whose heart ached for her, said that I was vicious...

How I wanted to tell him that the vicious one was someone else. But I could only watch them both stay together in my wedding room.

Every day, Howard would stay up late chatting with Sue, wishing each other goodnight, as happy as if they were bees in a honey pot.

Meanwhile, when my mother was called to the police station, her face turned pale, and she couldn't believe that the disfigured body in the morgue was mine.

"This... This can't be my Marlena. My daughter was just invited by the Morsee Dance Troupe and was on vacation with her brother-in-law!"

The police, showing their sympathy, reluctantly pulled back the white cloth covering the body.

The tattoo on my arm was immediately visible.

With a scream, Mom lost consciousness. When she woke up, she immediately tried to contact Howard despite the heartache.

"You heartless beast! You lied to me, saying my daughter was still alive! You threw my daughter and your brother to a group of inhumane kidnappers while you went off to live it up with that skank. You might as well kill yourself!"

When Howard heard my mother accuse Sue, his face, once gentle, turned dark with anger. He sneered. "How much longer will you go on with this? Marlena already tried acting to get me two million to help your company, and you're still putting on an act with her? Pretending to be hurt isn't enough for her anymore, huh? She's even pretending to be dead!

"I'll tell you, Marlena is a malicious woman, and even if she's really dead, she deserves it!"

My mother, enraged, screamed incoherently over the phone.

Howard impatiently massaged his forehead and hung up the call, then turned smilingly at Sue as he explained, "Marlena's schemes are too much. She even got her mom to help her lie to me. For that tiny sum of money, her mom actually said Marlena was dead. It's disgusting!"

Sue's eyes lit up, "So... Are you going to stay with Marlena?"

Howard frowned and uttered in a conflicted voice, "Honestly, she treats me well. She's been with me all this time..."

Indeed, we were married for three years after dating for two. I had always been Howard's virtuous wife.

To make sure Howard could focus on work, I willingly took care of the autistic Xander and went everywhere in search of doctors for Xander. When his parents were unwell, I took care of them too.

His current hesitation probably wasn't out of love, but because he couldn't bear to lose me as a convenient caregiver.

When Sue heard this, her face darkened. She was about to say something more when Howard's phone rang.

It was his father, Frank Jenne.

"Howard! How could I have such a heartless son? Your brother and Marlena are dead, and you act like it's nothing!"

Howard was stunned for a moment, then smiled in disbelief. "Dad, are you also going along with Marlena's family's act?"

"'Act?'" Frank was speechless from anger. "Who would risk their life for an act?

"They're dead! Your wife! Your brother! They're dead because of you!"

Howard's expression turned rigid when he heard his father's words.