Chapter 3

"Clara! Clara!"

George stumbled toward me. His eyes were bloodshot. Panic laced his frantic voice.

"Don't be scared! I'm taking you to the hospital right now!"

I swallowed the iron taste of blood in my throat. I squeezed his sleeve with all my strength.

"The baby is already gone. Don't waste the doctor's time."

George's eyes snapped wide in disbelief. As reality hit him, raw fury flared in his gaze. He grabbed my chin violently.

"Clara! That was our child!

"Did you throw our baby away for some random guy you slept with once?!"

My brain was a chaotic haze. I couldn't process his words.

I stared into his eyes. I pointed a trembling finger at Maya behind him and screamed.

"That doesn't matter! Maya is a murderer!

"Call the police! I want blood for blood!"

He never expected those to be my first words after losing our child.

George froze.

Slowly, he pulled his sleeve out of my weak grasp. He swiped my phone out of my hand, smashing it onto the floor.

"Clara, not every mother is as cold-blooded as you.

"Maya raised our child with so much love. Why should I let you ruin her life?"

His words stabbed deep into my numb heart.

Years ago, when Maya's mother drove my mom to her death, my father refused to even collect her body.

It was George who stayed by my side to bury her.

He swore that one day, he would make Maya and her mother drop to their knees at her grave.

Yet here he was.

He wrapped his arm around Maya.

Right as my mother's tenth anniversary memorial began, he raised a glass to Maya's mother with a smile.

"Mr. Mercer grows more senile with age. He can't even tell a legal wife from a mistress.

"My only true mother-in-law is you. No one else is worthy."

With that sentence, he nailed my dead mother to a stake of lifelong shame.

With George backing her up, Maya’s terror vanished completely.

She pointed at my mother's portrait, then turned to point at me.

"Like mother, like daughter. A mistress always breeds another mistress.

"George and I have a three-year-old child. Yet you’re still using suicide threats just to crawl into your brother-in-law’s bed.

"Why don't you pour me a cup of tea? I might let you be the second wife."

Raucous laughter exploded through the banquet hall. Mocking glances cut into me like sharp blades.

Looking at my pale, bloodless face, George's brows knitted tightly.

Before he could speak, Maya glanced at her phone and shrieked, tugging hard on his sleeve.

"George! The nanny said Leo is missing!

"Clara did this! She hates me for taking you away and killing her mother!

"She hired someone to kidnap my baby!"

George's expression darkened instantly. He yanked me up by my collar and growled a heavy warning.

"Clara, hand the child over. Leo is only three years old. He can't take this kind of terror."

Ignoring the excruciating pain tearing through my lower body, I shoved him away in frustration.

"I didn't do it!"

Seeing my refusal to confess, veins bulged on George's forehead.

After a long silence, he set his jaw. He grabbed a bucket of ice water and dumped it over my head.

"You forced my hand. If you won't tell the truth, freeze until you sober up!"

My weak body shivered violently from the biting cold.

I snatched a glass off the table and smashed it against his face, my eyes burning with crimson fury.

"I said, I don't know!"

Maya fell to her knees at my feet, sobbing hysterically as she slapped her own face.

"Clara, everything is my fault!

"Please give Leo back to me! I'll do anything you want!"

George pulled her into his chest. He carelessly wiped the blood from his temple, his dark eyes locking onto me with cold brutality.

"Maya, you shouldn't be the one kneeling.

"Clara, since you refuse to speak, kneel here until you remember!"

Under everyone's watchful eyes, two bodyguards dragged my half-bare, blood-stained body into the center of the hall.

George slammed his foot onto my calf, forcing me to fall into a humiliating kneel.

The moment I fought to struggle, he leaned down to my ear. His voice was laced with utter cruelty.

"Clara, don't move.

"Or I will flatten your mother's grave.

"I doubt you want her remains dug up and destroyed on her anniversary.”