Chapter 5

A year ago, Eve's family had gone bankrupt, and she came to Theo, asking for shelter.

At first, he still cared enough about our marriage to reassure me. He said he was only helping an old friend through a difficult time and asked me to be patient with her.

But Eve knew exactly how to manipulate him. Every loving moment we shared, she found a way to interrupt.

Whenever Theo and I were alone, Eve would burst in right on cue, clutching her chest, crying that her heart was racing and she couldn't breathe.

Day after day, she painted me as a powerful, cold-hearted woman with a possessive streak, someone who couldn't bear to see another woman anywhere near him.

Little by little, her endless schemes wore away every bit of the trust and loyalty he once had for me.

Now, all it took was one tearful cry for help. The tiny spark of guilt he'd finally begun to feel vanished in an instant as he rushed to another woman's side without a second thought.

His gentle voice drifted upstairs from the hallway below as he comforted her.

I slowly looked away from the door. My fingernails dug into my palm until they hurt, but the sting was nothing compared to the numb ache in my heart.

I reached for the hidden compartment inside the vanity and pulled it open. A thick stack of documents lay neatly across the surface.

This was the only way out my father had left me. My last piece of dignity.

A divorce paper ending our marriage. An overseas permanent residency permit. Notarized documents transferring all of my assets offshore. Legal papers severing every remaining connection between Theo's organization and me.

A private jet waited outside the city with its tanks already full. My belongings had been quietly shipped to my apartment overseas in small batches, leaving nothing behind to trace.

Today was the 1,826th day of our secret marriage. The day our five-year agreement expired.

For countless nights, I had clung to hope.

I hoped he would finally see through Eve's lies. I hoped he would stop blindly taking her side. I hoped he would look at the scars covering my body—old wounds layered over new ones—and finally see what had become of me.

But tonight, the last trace of that hope died.

All 1,826 days of love, endurance, resentment, and longing died in that moment, leaving nothing behind.

Outside, the night was black and heavy. Faint laughter still drifted from Eve's bedroom.

I picked up the fountain pen and signed my name on the paper. Not a moment of hesitation.

Then I slipped on a light coat, hiding the bruises and scars that crisscrossed my body, and walked toward the concealed door at the back of the attic.

The driver was already waiting on the narrow road beneath the trees, just as we'd arranged.

The black blended perfectly into the darkness, invisible to everyone inside the estate.

He had served my father for most of his life. He was one of the very few people on the estate who would dare disobey Theo.

As I opened the car door, I turned back for one last look at the estate that had imprisoned me for five years.

Once, it had been the place where I'd known the greatest happiness of my life. It had also become the place of broken bones, humiliation, darkness, and endless despair.

The engine hummed to life, and the car rolled quietly away from the estate.

In the rearview mirror, the estate's lights shrank to pinpoints until they vanished into the endless night.

I leaned my head against the window and slowly closed my eyes.

From this day forward, there would be no more Bella Moreau, living in New York under the shadow of a mafia boss, enduring everything just to survive.

I was leaving for another country. An ocean would stand between us. And for the rest of our lives, we would never meet again.