In my memories, there was a time when Craig loved me, like his life depended on it.

Izzy, the scholarship student he’d been funding, had fallen for him so hard that she didn’t even care about her dignity. She showed up at our wedding and made a scene, threatening to slit her wrists right there in front of everyone.

In reply, he slapped her across the face.

“Have some self-respect,” he snapped. “The only woman I’ll ever marry is Jane Shaw. Keep acting out like this, and I’ll send you back to the mountains you came from.”

However, three years into our marriage, I found out the truth. The basement was packed full of Izzy’s things, and every night, Craig would go down there alone and cry.

“I’m sorry, Izzy.” I overheard him whisper one night. “I had to follow my family’s plans, but in my heart, you’re my real wife.”

It turned out he’d fallen for Izzy a long time ago.

I was dazed, but I was also pregnant, so I swallowed it all and kept quiet.

Later, while I was out on a work trip near the coast, I ran into Izzy again. She was out in the open water, messing around with a group of people.

Trying to be decent, I went over and reminded her that they should be careful out there, only for her to respond by screaming insults at me. Then, right as things got wild, she cramped up, started drowning, and because someone had bled in the water, she attracted a shark.

Everyone else panicked and swam for their lives. I was the only one who steered a boat out to rescue her.

Yet, what did she do? She turned around and told Craig that I had slandered her—that she was just swimming, nothing more. She even accused me of being the one sleeping around in the sea and said I’d pushed her into the water to silence her.

Craig’s eyes turned bloodshot as he wrapped his hand around my throat.

“You whore,” he growled. “I’ve spoiled you too much, haven’t I? No wonder you keep coming out here to ‘do research.’ It turns out it’s just an excuse to hook up with random men.

“You love studying marine life so much, don’t you? Now, you can study it from the inside.”

He ordered his people to sew me into the belly of a shark.

No matter how much I tried to explain, he refused to believe me. The real liar causing all the chaos was Izzy.

…

An hour passed, and the stench of rotting fish forced my eyes open.

Everything around me was pitch black. The surveillance camera feed hadn’t moved at all, and there was no sign of help. Word had it Craig was out shopping with Izzy, not sparing a second thought for me.

My heart was numb with pain. Every inch of my body felt like it had been flayed open.

The giant shark had been flung ashore by a tornado, and that was when I was shoved inside.

Due to the storm, sand and wind were everywhere. If it continued like that, the shark’s body would dry up and disintegrate in no time. However, I was still pregnant. I couldn’t let anything happen to my baby!

Desperate, I pounded on the shark’s belly and shouted to a fisherman on the beach.

“Please,” I begged, “call Craig’s assistant, Andrew. Tell him I’m carrying Craig’s child. The baby can’t die like this. Please, just let me out.”

The fisherman looked shocked but kind. Without hesitation, he called Andrew.

Not long after, Craig showed up, with Izzy by his side.

“Mr. Craig,” the fisherman said urgently, “your wife says she’s pregnant. Please, let her out. That baby can’t take this.”

Craig paused for half a second, but his face eventually turned ice cold.

“Pregnant? What a joke. With how much she sleeps around, who knows whose bastard that is? Tell her, a fake pregnancy is not an excuse for her to escape punishment. She tried to drive Izzy to suicide. She needs to sit in there and think about what she’s done.”

My heart sank again.

I wanted to tell Craig this was his baby. If he didn’t believe me, he could go ahead and get a paternity test. However, no words came out of my mouth.

My throat was dry as dust. Days without water had left my mouth bone-dry and tasteless. I was dying of thirst.

Desperate, I begged, using the last bit of strength I had to bang against the inside of the shark’s belly.

“Please, Craig, let me out…”

Unfortunately, my voice didn’t carry—not through the thick, suffocating walls of flesh.

One of the fishermen couldn’t take it anymore. “Mr. Craig, there’s barely any air in there. There’s no water either. She’s gonna die if this keeps up!”

Looking pitiful, Izzy butt in. “I looked it up. A person can survive in a shark for a month, and I’ve been sending her water every day. She drank every last drop! Jane must be mad at me and lying to Craig on purpose. That woman is manipulative!”

That was what she said, but I’d seen the truth through the surveillance camera. Every single bottle of water she was supposed to send me, she dumped straight into the ocean. Then, she’d laugh into the lens, right at me.

“Thirsty? Too bad. You can drink the shark’s leftovers!”

Craig didn’t know. All he saw were the empty bottles scattered on the ground, and he sneered.

“What's there to say? It looks like she’s been eating and drinking just fine.”

The fishermen fell silent, none daring to speak up.

Then Izzy, clearly not done stirring the pot, added with a sweet, evil voice, “Why do you always listen to Jane, huh? Have you fallen for her or something?”

Right on cue, Craig’s expression turned ice cold.

“That woman’s never known her place,” he growled before turning to the fishermen, eyes sharp and cruel. “And you, get out of here, unless you want me to wipe this whole village off the map.”

The men scattered, too afraid to even look back.

My last bit of hope vanished, like someone had crushed my heart in their fist. Inside me, I could feel my baby kicking, like they were struggling too.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m so, so sorry…”

I felt myself growing numb—inside and out. I didn’t know what else to do.

The stench was so unbearable and putrid that it made me retch again and again. However, if I kept throwing up like that, I’d die of thirst or suffocate.

No. I had to get out of here!

In the pitch-black darkness, I fumbled around. I had no weapons or anything sharp. The only thing I could use was the hairpin tucked into my bun.

I pulled it free and tried to use the sharp end to slice my way out through the shark’s belly, but every cut was slow and weak. The shark’s skin, thick and rubbery, might as well have been steel. I put everything I had into it, but all I managed was a small tear.

Time lost all meaning. Then, a sudden, gut-wrenching pain twisted through my lower abdomen. Something slipped from my body—soft, bloody, and warm.

My trembling hands reached for it, but they got stuck between the shark’s ribs. It took me a second to understand what had happened; it was my baby.

A broken sob tore from my throat, but I didn’t even have the strength to cry.

“My baby… My poor baby…”

Rage surged up from somewhere deep inside me.

Why didn’t he believe me? Why did he kill my child?

I didn’t know how many times I passed out and came to again. The darkness was endless. My whole body convulsed as if I were already dying… or maybe already dead.

Back on the shore, Craig frowned at a sudden spike in the monitor’s readings.

“What is going on in there? Why is she still pulling this crap? Put it on the screen,” he ordered. “I want to see what she’s doing in there.”

The feed turned on. Everyone could see me twitching and shaking violently inside the shark’s stomach.

Izzy snorted. “Wow, Jane sure is full of energy. It looks like she’s throwing a party in there.”

Craig scoffed coldly. “She’s got that much strength, but she still won’t apologize to Izzy. She deserves everything she gets.”

Just then, one of the monitoring techs hesitated and could not help but speak, “Sir, there’s blood. It’s coming from under her.”

The screen on the monitor flickered slightly. I saw Craig walking toward the massive shark where I was trapped.

There was no one else around, which meant I had a chance to call out to him and beg for help. I opened my mouth, but my throat was so parched from days without water that all I could manage was a low, guttural rasp—something more beast than human.

Craig turned toward me with a cold smirk.

“Jane, I know you can hear me. Just admit online that you’re nothing but a cheap, promiscuous woman. Get down on your knees and apologize to Izzy. Do that, and I’ll forgive you.”

He paused for a beat, then added in a low voice, “You can’t blame me. Izzy was gang-raped by a bunch of thugs back then because she was trying to save me. She kept it quiet all these years to protect my reputation. I owe her my life.

“Jane, if you just apologize sincerely and promise not to mess around with other men anymore, I’ll let you come back. We’ll live a normal life again. Once Izzy graduates, I’ll send her abroad. She’ll be taken care of for life. That’s all I ask. You love me, don’t you? Can’t you do that much?”

His voice was soft, but to me, it struck like a dagger to the heart.

I froze. Then, I started laughing and crying like a madwoman.

So that was what this was all about. That was why Craig stopped loving me and suddenly fell for Izzy instead. It was all because of that one lie.

Craig, what an absolute fool he was. The one who saved him that night was me!

I opened my mouth, screaming as loud as I could, but not a sound came out.

My thoughts were a mess. I wanted to explain so badly what really happened that night—how those thugs he’d pissed off came looking for him with blades in hand, and how I, to protect him, refused to give up his location. In the end, I was the one they dragged away instead.

That night still burned in my memory like a brand, and Izzy? She just happened to walk past, took one look, and ran; she didn’t suffer a damn thing.

Alas, I didn’t have the strength to explain anymore. I would’ve knelt, begged, and taken all the blame if it meant I could protect my baby and keep it alive. I would even carve the word ‘whore’ into my skin if that was what it took. However, now that my baby was gone, nothing else mattered.

I remembered the early days of our marriage when Craig used to look at me lovingly.

“Jane, I really want to have a child with you. And I want them to grow up safe and sound.”

All those words faded into a silent, invisible sigh.

“Jane, what is this? Are you playing mute now? Speak up!” Craig snapped when I didn’t respond, marching forward to check on me.

Just then, his phone rang. The sickly sweet ringtone he’d set just for Izzy cut through the still night like a knife.

“Craig, my stomach hurts. Please, come save me...”

His face twisted in panic. He started whispering sweet nothings into the phone as he turned and ran off to her.

In that exact moment, as his back disappeared into the dark, the numbers on the vitals monitor all dropped to zero.