Chapter 3

When I opened my eyes again, the glaring white ceiling was the first thing that hit me.

My heart seized, a sickening wave of familiar dread washing over me.

This was the psychiatric hospital where I had spent four agonizing years undergoing treatment!

Stella was sitting by the bedside, looking down at me with a trace of pity.

"I'm sorry, Spencer, but you need to stay here at the hospital for a little while.

"I can't let you hurt Lucian. I won't allow it."

In a heartbeat, it all clicked. She had chosen Lucian over me yet again!

A suffocating wall of despair crashed over me, driving me straight to the edge of absolute madness.

"Stella, you're shielding a murderer! How can you look our dead daughter in the face?!"

Stella pressed her lips into a thin line, completely unmoved.

Acting like an unhinged lunatic, I snatched the fruit knife off the nightstand, driving it straight toward Stella's chest.

Stella didn't even try to block it. She just let the blade sink into her flesh.

"Spencer, does this make you feel better?"

Dark red blood began to spread across her shirt, and the nurses rushed over in a blind panic to patch her up.

"Hold him down! Is this patient losing his mind? If Ms. Anderson is hurt, we're all in deep trouble!”

"Mr. West, you were the one who failed to pick your daughter up on time, which is the whole reason the kid died. Trying to shift your own guilt onto someone else is just pathetic and selfish."

The nurses chattered away as they worked, their eyes dripping with biting contempt.

"Enough!"

Stella frowned, shooting an ice-cold glare straight at the group of nurses.

"My husband can do whatever he wants. It is not your place to run your mouths! Get out of here, all of you!"

I shoved Stella away, my chest heaving with rage.

"Spare me the fake act of playing the loyal wife!

"Since you're so hell-bent on protecting Lucian, I'll call the cops myself! I'll get justice for Evelyn with my own two hands!"

I fought against the restraints, scrambling toward the door, but the next second, a blinding flash of agony tore through the back of my head, and everything plummeted into absolute darkness.

When I finally dragged myself back to consciousness, my head throbbed as though it were splitting in two.

This time, my limbs were strapped down tight, locked firmly against the hospital bed.

Lucian was sitting right beside me, waiting.

Seeing my eyes flutter open, he flashed a bright, cheerful grin, tapping a folder against my cheek.

"Welcome back, Spencer. You gave us quite a scare back there. Let me walk you through your brand-new medical chart."

Lucian read out every single word printed on the page, wearing a sickeningly satisfied smirk as he watched the color drain completely from my face.

"Hear that? Severe psychiatric disorder. You, Spencer West, are officially certified as a total lunatic whose brain snapped from your daughter's death.

"Without official clearance, it looks like you're locked up in this room for the rest of your life.

"I gotta hand it to Stella, though. She's got a soft spot. I literally just cried to her about it, and she told me she'd handle it."

Lucian's boastful gloating hit me like a lightning bolt.

"Stella?"

She had actually forged a fake medical record just to shield Lucian, locking me up in a psychiatric ward with her own hands?!

I choked back a wave of bloody rage, my voice tearing raw as I screamed, "Why? Why the hell would you ruin my daughter and destroy everything I had?!"

"Destroy everything you had? Ha!"

Lucian let out a sudden, mocking laugh, but a second later, his expression twisted into pure madness as he grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked my head back.

"You and that little brat were the ones who wrecked my life!

"Stella and I were childhood sweethearts! We had a pact that neither of us would ever date anyone else, and the second we turned twenty, we were supposed to be together!

"So why the hell did you have to show up and force Stella to marry you? And why did that little brat have to grow up looking exactly like her?!"

Lucian’s grip tightened harder until my face burned red and I was choking for air.

Watching me gasp and gag only seemed to fuel Lucian's sadistic high.

His venomous words drilled straight through my eardrums.

"That's why I hated you both. I couldn't stand watching the two of you playing happy families all the time!

"I purposely tracked Stella down that exact day to confess my feelings and beg her to leave you. But she turned me down!

"She said she had to rush back and throw a birthday party for her little brat.

"And you, you couldn't even be bothered to pick her up on time. I bet you had no idea your kid sneaked out the back gate of the school all by herself.

"She even smiled at me, actually expecting me to give her a ride home. Ha! Too bad my car steering got a little out of hand."

Lucian continued, "She ran out of stamina fast. Slipped right down into the drainage ditch, choking on the water until she stopped breathing, turning all filthy and disgusting.

"It was so pathetic. Your little girl was crying and begging her daddy to save her right up until the end.

"Spencer, oh Spencer, this is all on you for stealing Stella away. The real monster who murdered your daughter was you!"