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.

The moment my soul left my body, all the pain vanished. My spirit hovered near the shark’s body, but somehow, I couldn’t leave.

Then, Andrew got a phone call that Craig had taken Izzy on vacation. Craig had promised to help her fulfill her dreams—a trip to Disney World to see the biggest fireworks show she’d ever seen.

Meanwhile, my vital signs monitor showed nothing. Andrew thought it was just a power outage and didn’t bother checking further.

The first person to actually find my body was a fisherman on the beach. It was because, from beneath the shark’s stomach, a rotting hand had started to poke out. However, as the entire fish was wrapped in razor-sharp, reinforced wires, no one could get close.

“Oh my God, there’s a dead body!”

“Look! That’s a human leg sticking out of the shark!”

Only then did Andrew realize something was wrong. He nervously called Craig, hoping to report the situation.

At that exact moment, Craig was spinning on a carousel and laughing with Izzy. The sounds of joy and carnival music filled the air as he answered the call, completely uninterested.

“So, did she finally admit she was wrong? Is she ready to apologize?”

Andrew stammered, “N-No, sir… I think– I think your wife might already be dead. Maybe you should come back and–”

“Bullshit. If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable. We still have seven days left on this trip. Tell her to think through it. I’ll be waiting for an apology when we get back.”

Immediately after that, Craig hung up.

Andrew was caught in a dilemma. In the end, all he could do was disperse the crowd of onlookers gathering by the beach.

A few days later, Craig finally returned with Izzy in tow. He walked straight up to the shark, eyes cold and impatient.

“It’s been a whole month, and she still won’t apologize?”

Andrew stayed silent, and when Craig noticed the monitor was off, his expression darkened.

“Useless. Turn the damn thing back on. I want to see what she’s up to.”

Once the machine rebooted, however, the screen stayed blank, showing no signs of life.

Craig’s face turned grim. “What is this? Who messed with the equipment?”

Only Izzy and Andrew knew the truth. The two of them exchanged a nervous glance, neither daring to speak.

Izzy clutched Craig’s arm and said, “Craig, maybe we should go. Just let Jane cool off for a bit on her own.”

Craig sneered and shook her off.

“If we coddle her like this, she’ll think she runs the damn world! Hand me the knife. I’m cutting her out right now.”

With that, he grabbed the long blade, ignoring the horrified looks from everyone around, and sliced open the shark’s belly, hard and fast.