Chapter 3

I stood frozen, my vision darkening in waves.

So the marriage certificate I'd treasured and carried with me all these years had been fake.

I could still remember the day Yates proposed. He had been so excited he looked almost boyish as he dropped to one knee in front of me.

And yet the three things that mattered most in his life, his child, his wedding, and his marriage, had all gone to Winnie.

The people on the sidewalk blurred and twisted before my eyes. My legs finally gave out, and everything went black.

When I came to again, cheerful music was drifting up from downstairs.

Still groggy, I forced myself out of bed.

The house below was packed with guests celebrating Leo's third birthday.

Yates and Winnie held him between them, posing for pictures like a real family of three.

The moment I appeared with my hair a mess and looking barely presentable, whispers spread through the room.

"She hasn't acted like Leo's mother for a single day, and she still has the nerve to show up at his birthday party?"

"She's already turned this family into a disaster. What if she has another episode and hurts someone?"

...

Yates heard them too. He looked at me, his expression complicated.

"Hanny, you just woke up. You're still weak. Go back upstairs and rest.

"You can come down after the party's over."

Winnie came over as well.

"If Leo starts crying again, you might have another episode. We're only thinking of what's best for you."

When she stepped closer, I finally noticed the bracelet around her wrist.

It was the Zane family heirloom, the one reserved for the family's daughters-in-law.

Yates had once fastened it around my wrist himself. Later, he told me he was worried I might hurt myself with it during an episode, so he would keep it safe for me.

So this was where it had been all along.

On Winnie's wrist.

Tears fell before I could stop them, but my voice came out strangely calm.

"You two got legally married a long time ago, didn't you?"

Winnie froze.

Then she reached for my hand, trying to explain.

"Hanny, everything we did was for you..."

I jerked my hand away.

To my surprise, she suddenly stumbled backward and fell.

"Hannah Cole!"

Yates immediately caught her and pulled her into his arms. When he looked at me again, disgust had crept into his eyes.

"Hannah, you've completely lost your mind!"

There wasn't a trace of guilt in his face for lying to me.

All I saw was concern for the woman in his arms.

Winnie clutched her injured knee and weakly shook her head.

"I was the one who decided to throw the birthday party. Of course she's upset with me. Aren't we all used to her being like this by now?"

As she spoke, she casually exposed her wrist.

The people around us sucked in a breath.

Her arm was covered in dark blue and purple scars.

The pain in Yates's eyes was so obvious that one glance was enough to see how deeply the scars had shaken him. When he turned back to me, all that remained was disappointment.

"Winnie has given you everything she has. She even hurt herself trying to keep you alive when you wanted to die. And this is how you repay her?"

Those pathetic scars...

How did they compare to five years of lies?

How did they compare to the three years I'd spent sick and suffering?

"I didn't do anything!" I screamed.

The next second, Yates rushed over, seized my wrist, and dragged me upstairs.

"Haven't I sacrificed enough of my life for you already? Just give us some peace for once."

The words had barely left his mouth before the bedroom door slammed shut.

Then I heard the lock click.

My claustrophobia hit immediately.

I pounded on the door over and over, screaming until my throat was raw.

"Yates Zane, we're done!"

His footsteps stopped outside for three seconds.

Then he gave a cold laugh.

"First you threaten to kill yourself, now you threaten divorce. Aren't you tired of pulling the same stunts?"

I slowly slid down the door until I was sitting on the floor.

"This time, I mean it."

"Ms. Blake fainted!"

The shout from downstairs drowned out my voice, and Yates's hurried footsteps disappeared into the distance.

My breathing grew weaker and weaker.

Just when I thought it was finally going to end, the smartwatch linked to Leo suddenly started going off incessantly.