Rosamond's voice was ice-cold.

"Then I'll have no choice but to call the police."

Olympia laughed, sliding the bracelet off her wrist as she did.

"Oh, right. How could I forget? You're the famous Attorney Henson. Getting a little bracelet back can't be that hard for you."

"But then again..."

She glanced at Rosamond, then slowly extended the hand holding the bracelet out over the swimming pool.

"What if this bracelet just... disappeared? Calling the police wouldn't do you much good then, would it?"

Rosamond's eyes locked onto Olympia's hand, every muscle in her face pulled taut.

"You wouldn't dare."

Olympia's expression twisted with malice.

"Wouldn't I? It's just a bracelet. Your own husband gave it to me. Even if I accidentally broke it, what are they going to do, throw me in jail?"

Her fingers began to loosen.

Rosamond lunged forward and grabbed her arm.

"Don't!"

"Whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Just give me the bracelet back!"

It was the last thing she had of her grandmother's. She would not stand by and watch it be destroyed.

Olympia's smile widened, bright and vicious.

"That's more like it. When you're begging someone, you should act like it."

"Now get on your knees. Maybe if I'm in a good mood, I'll give it back."

Rosamond stared at her, stunned. She hadn't imagined Olympia would stoop to this.

When Rosamond didn't move, Olympia raised the bracelet over the water again.

"I'll count to three. If you're not on your knees, it goes in."

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"I'll kneel!"

Rosamond clenched her jaw, stripped herself of every shred of dignity, and sank to her knees on the cold tile.

Olympia burst out laughing.

"Oh my God, I never thought I'd see the day. The great Attorney Henson, so proud, so untouchable, kneeling at my feet like a dog."

"Rosamond, I told you a long time ago. I'd take everything from you. Do you believe me now?"

"Your husband, your career, all mine. And now your dignity is under my heel. What do you have left to be proud of?"

"If you know what's good for you, you'll crawl away from Bryce and never come back. Otherwise, I'll make things so much worse."

Grief, humiliation, and fury crashed through Rosamond all at once. She forced herself to hold still, to not fight back.

"Fine. Now can I have the bracelet?"

Olympia held the bracelet out to Rosamond with a careless flick of her wrist.

Rosamond's eyes lit up. She reached for it.

The next second, Olympia yanked her hand back and flung the bracelet into the pool.

It hit the water with a small splash, sending ripples fanning outward.

Rosamond froze for half a heartbeat, then threw herself in after it.

She'd forgotten she couldn't swim.

Olympia watched Rosamond thrashing in the water and turned to leave.

But a shout rang out from somewhere behind her. Her eyes darted, calculating, and she jumped in after her.

The freezing water swallowed Rosamond inch by inch. Just as her lungs were about to give out, someone hauled her to the surface.

She barely had time to gasp before Bryce's palm cracked across her face.

"Rosamond, you've gone too far! You know Olympia can't swim, and you pushed her in? Are you trying to kill her?!"

Olympia sobbed in Bryce's arms, her voice thin and trembling.

"Bryce, please don't blame Attorney Henson. It's my fault. I shouldn't have shown my face around her and upset her..."

Cold seeped through every cell in Rosamond's body. She was shaking so hard she could barely form words.

"I didn't push her. She threw my grandmother's bracelet into the pool. I went in to find it."

"I don't know why she ended up in the water."

Before she could finish, Olympia cut in.

"Attorney Henson, I know you don't like me, but you can't just make things up like this."

"Bryce already promised to return the bracelet to you. Why would I throw it away right in front of you?"

The crowd was buying every word. Rosamond pressed on, desperate.

"She really threw it in. Send someone down to look. If it's not there, I'll apologize to her on the spot."

She turned to find a staff member.

Bryce stopped her.

"Rosamond, when did you become such a liar?"

Something cracked inside her. Even someone as strong as Rosamond felt the sting of being accused again and again of things she hadn't done.

"Bryce, I have never lied. If you don't believe me, just wait until I get the bracelet out of the water..."

The words died on her lips. She stood frozen, staring, the shock plain on her face.

Because Bryce had just pulled her grandmother's bracelet from his jacket pocket.

He looked at her, his expression heavy with disgust.

"This is your grandmother's bracelet, isn't it?"

"Olympia gave it to me before the party even started. Asked me to return it to you. I didn't think I'd need it as evidence."

"Rosamond, you keep saying your grandmother loved you more than anyone. But now you're using her bracelet as a prop to frame Olympia."

"You are a complete disappointment. Since you care so little about this bracelet, let's put it out of its misery. At least then you can't use it to hurt anyone else."

Something dark and final crossed his face. He hurled the bracelet at the ground.

It shattered into pieces, just like her heart.

"No!"

Rosamond dropped to her knees, scrambling across the ground like a woman possessed, gathering every fragment she could find.

Bryce glanced down at her with flat, empty eyes.

"Pathetic."

Then he gathered Olympia in his arms and walked away.

Rosamond clutched the broken pieces to her chest and wept. She wept until she couldn't breathe, couldn't see, couldn't feel the shards slicing her palms open, blood running between her fingers.

"I'm sorry, Grandma. I'm so sorry..."

"It's all my fault. I couldn't even protect the one thing you left me..."

In the darkness, her phone screen flickered to life. A message from her mother.

Rosamond, your immigration paperwork is finalized. Your father and I will be waiting for you at the airport the morning after next.

Something stirred in the numb wasteland of her chest.

She could finally leave.

Rosamond stumbled back home and packed her things like a marionette, every movement hollow and mechanical.

All she wanted was to leave this place that had given her both boundless joy and unbearable pain, and never come back.

But the moment she reached the door, several bodyguards seized her and forced her into a car.

Rosamond fought with everything she had.

"What are you doing? Let go of me!"

She was no match for them. They dragged her to the hospital and threw her to the ground.

Every bone in her body screamed on impact. She forced herself to lift her head, and there stood Bryce, his face dark as a storm.

He stared down at her, his voice cutting through the sterile air.

"Satisfied now?"

"How did I end up with a wife this vicious? You'll stop at nothing to get rid of Olympia. Aren't you afraid of what's coming for you?"

Rosamond frowned, unable to understand what he was talking about.

Bryce caught the confusion in her eyes and scoffed.

"Don't tell me you didn't know Olympia has a clotting disorder."

"You heartless woman. You deliberately scratched her wrist underwater. She's still bleeding and they can't stop it."

"You're a lawyer, Rosamond. Don't you know that killing someone means paying with your life?"

Rosamond rushed to defend herself.

"How could I have scratched her? Have you forgotten? I can't even—"

Bryce cut her off before she could finish, impatience carved into every line of his face.

"Olympia got hurt because of you. You're going to take responsibility."

"Take her in. Draw her blood. However much Olympia lost, that's how much comes out of her."

A deafening buzz filled Rosamond's skull. She never imagined Bryce could be this unhinged.

Her chest caved inward, as though something had clamped down on her lungs and refused to let go.

The bodyguards closed in. Rosamond thrashed against their grip.

"Bryce, this is illegal!"

"You can't do this to me!"

Bryce walked over and crouched in front of her. His fingers seized her chin, tilting her face up. His eyes were pure malice.

"Now you want to talk to me about the law?"

"Why didn't you think about consequences when you were hurting Olympia?"

"Take her in."

They dragged her into the operating room. She fought every inch of the way, and none of it mattered.

The needle slid into her vein, cold as ice, and the pain tore through her as though it had pierced her heart.

She felt her blood leaving her body. And with it, the last trace of love she had ever held for Bryce Delgado.

She told herself to endure it. He wouldn't actually let her die.

But the minutes crawled by, and no order came from outside to stop.

Rosamond felt herself being hollowed out. Her body grew so weak she couldn't even keep her eyes open.

A bitter ache rose in her chest.

Was she really going to die here today?

She wasn't ready. She had been so close to starting over.

Meanwhile, in the hospital corridor, a doctor stood before Bryce, sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Mr. Delgado, your wife has already had 1500cc drawn. She's at her absolute limit. If we continue, something will go very wrong."

Bryce barely glanced at him.

"How's Olympia?"

The doctor hesitated, stammering.

"Miss Galloway, her wound is quite deep. She's still in emergency treatment."

Under Bryce's withering stare, the doctor wiped his brow and forced the words out, his voice shaking.

"But rest assured, Miss Galloway is no longer in critical danger."

Only then did the edge in Bryce's gaze soften, just barely.

The doctor ventured carefully.

"Then... your wife..."

Bryce considered this for a moment, his tone flat.

"Keep going. Draw the full 2000cc."

"If I don't teach her a lesson this time, there's no telling what she'll do to Olympia next."

The doctor opened his mouth to protest, but under the weight of Bryce's stare, the words died in his throat.

Rosamond woke in a hospital bed.

She was so weak she couldn't sit up.

She reached for her phone to call her mother and knocked over the glass of water on the nightstand.

A familiar hand appeared, offering her a cup of warm water.

Rosamond forced her eyes open. Bryce's face filled her vision, inches away.

He propped her up and brought the cup to her lips.

"I know you're still upset, but you went too far yesterday."

"If I didn't teach you a lesson, how would I face Olympia?"

"Come on, don't be angry. I'll take you to visit your parents in a couple of days. That should make up for it, right?"

Rosamond listened to his magnanimous tone and, for the first time, felt a wave of pure disgust at herself.

How pathetically small had she made herself, that Bryce Delgado believed a visit to her parents was a grand enough favor to offer?

Grand enough to cancel out having 2000cc of blood ripped from her body.

When she didn't respond, Bryce took her silence for surrender. He smiled and ruffled her hair.

"I knew my Rosa would be a good girl."

"The person you should really be thanking is Olympia. She knew perfectly well you scratched her on purpose, and she still chose not to press charges."

"So to show your gratitude, don't you think you should hand over all your professional contacts and resources at the firm to her?"

Rosamond was so furious she almost laughed. No wonder he'd shown up to "take care of her" today. He'd come to collect her professional resources for his precious childhood sweetheart. She sat rigid on the hospital bed, not moving a muscle, forcing down the emotions threatening to erupt from her chest. After a long silence, she lifted her gaze to meet Bryce's eyes and spoke, each word deliberate: "My resources. I'd sooner throw them in the trash than hand them to her." Bryce hadn't expected such defiance. His expression darkened instantly. "Rosa, I suggest you think this through. You've already resigned from the firm. Those contacts are useless to you now." "You hurt Olympia. Compensating her with them is the least you can do. Don't be so petty." A sharp pain lanced through Rosamond's chest, and for a moment the world narrowed to nothing but that ache. Olympia had spread lies and framed her, costing her everything she'd built at the firm. These two had shattered her grandmother's keepsake. Last night, they'd nearly killed her on the operating table. And now Bryce was telling her she needed to hand over her professional network to Olympia on a silver platter, to atone for crimes she never committed. What a joke. Rosamond's lips twisted into a cold, humorless smile. "Why should I compensate her?" "Give me one reason." The words had barely left her mouth when Olympia burst into the room, tears streaming down her face. She grabbed Bryce's sleeve, her eyes brimming with wounded innocence. "Bryce, please don't upset Rosamond because of me. I know she hates me. Of course she'd refuse to share her resources." "Rosamond, this is my fault. I shouldn't have come between you two. Hit me, yell at me, I can take it. Just please don't be angry with Bryce. He works so hard running that company all by himself." "I'll go. I'll leave and never bother you again..." She made a show of struggling toward the door. But for someone so desperate to leave, her eyes kept darting back to Bryce, and her feet hadn't moved an inch. Rosamond watched the performance with cold detachment. Not a ripple of emotion stirred inside her. Bryce, however, pulled Olympia into his arms, his voice aching with tenderness. "Olympia, you've done nothing wrong. Why would you leave?" "She's the one being difficult. Don't worry. I'll get those resources for you today." He turned to Rosamond, his face like a storm cloud, and his voice cut through the room: "Since you insist on being unreasonable, I see no reason to spare your dignity." "Rosamond, don't forget. The final draft of your thesis is still in my hands. If you won't cooperate, I'll have no choice but to release it for everyone to 'study.'" Rosamond's eyes went dark. Her voice rose. "You wouldn't dare."

Her fingers curled inward, nails biting into her palms. Something tightened around her heart like a wire, and a suffocating pressure flooded her chest.

That thesis was the culmination of years of work with her advisor. It was their shared achievement.

She'd never guarded herself against Bryce. She never imagined he'd turn it into a weapon.

Whatever warmth remained in Rosamond's heart went cold.

She'd misjudged him. She could accept that now.

When she looked up again, her eyes were empty. Completely, utterly empty.

"Fine. I'll hand the resources over to Olympia. But I want to watch you delete every copy of that thesis with my own eyes. And you'll sign an agreement guaranteeing you'll never leak it."

Bryce shrugged, unbothered.

"Sure. No problem."

"I'm not that low."

He studied Rosamond's composed expression, and a flicker of unease stirred in his gut for no reason he could name.

She wouldn't divorce him over this, would she?

The thought lasted barely a second before he dismissed it entirely.

She loved him too much. She'd never leave.

He'd just have to sweet-talk her afterward. That would fix things.

With that settled in his mind, his gaze toward Rosamond softened a fraction.

"Come on, Rosa. Don't sulk. From now on, just stay home and be a good wife."

"Once you've recovered, we'll start trying for a baby. It's what my mother's always wanted."

"Oh, and since you're going to be a full-time homemaker, I'm bringing my mother here from back home. She was thrilled when she heard you'd agreed to have children. Make sure you treat her well."

Rosamond thought of Bryce's mother, Layla Delgado, and a wave of revulsion washed through her.

Layla had always adored Olympia. The moment she learned Bryce had married Rosamond instead, she'd treated her like a homewrecker who'd stolen her son from his true love.

The woman's tongue was vicious, and her real goal had always been to break Rosamond down.

Washing her feet. Waking at five in the morning to cook for her. Being forbidden from eating at the same table.

In the early months of the marriage, Rosamond had swallowed more humiliation than she could count.

Thankfully, Bryce had sent his mother back before long. Otherwise, Rosamond wasn't sure how much longer she could have endured it.

Bryce noticed her silence and frowned with displeasure.

"My mother has some old-fashioned ideas, sure. But she's still your mother-in-law. Grin and bear it."

"Her train arrives tomorrow at three. Make sure you're there to pick her up."

Rosamond laughed to herself. A bitter, silent laugh.

Funny how she'd never noticed what a devoted son Bryce was.

He opened his mouth to say more, but his phone rang. His assistant's number.

She couldn't make out the other end of the conversation, only catching fragments: "pulling out"... "leaving the country."

Bryce barked a few quick instructions to Olympia and rushed out of the hospital.

The second he was gone, Olympia dropped the act.

She swept a triumphant look over Rosamond, her voice dripping with contempt.

"Rosamond, oh Rosamond. A wife reduced to this. How do you even show your face?"

"If I were you, I'd have had the sense to leave a long time ago."

Rosamond glanced at her, her tone flat and unbothered.

"And I never imagined a mistress could be this shameless about it."

Olympia's face twisted with rage. She fixed Rosamond with a vicious glare.

"Don't get cocky. Mrs. Delgado arrives tomorrow, and she happens to adore me. Once she's here, your life will be a hundred times worse than it is now."

"Look forward to it."

With that parting shot, Olympia swayed out of the room on her heels.

Rosamond watched her go and let out a quiet, scornful breath. Layla Delgado was a force of nature. Olympia, did you really think you'd fare any better under that woman's roof?

But none of that was Rosamond's problem anymore. She looked away, picked up her phone, and called her mother, asking her to send someone to the hospital.

She didn't dare tell her parents about the night before. She said only that she'd fainted from a fever.

Noel and Martha were skeptical, but Rosamond held firm, and in the end they didn't press further.

Early the next morning, Rosamond sent everything she'd prepared to her lawyer, blocked Bryce's number, and boarded a plane without looking back.