Chapter 4

Marcus held his hand in the air between us. It was shaking a little as he looked at my bloody face. I could taste blood in my mouth where his ring had cut my lip. The same ring I had made special with our wedding date on it.

"Ava, I—" His voice broke. For a second, I thought I saw something in his eyes. Was he sorry? Or just mad about the mess he made?

I pushed myself against the wall. Every part of me wanted to hide the secret I found just hours ago. The medical papers in my purse felt like they were burning hot. They proved something that would destroy everything.

"Don't." The word came out stronger than I felt. "Don't touch me with hands that hit women."

Sophia made a loud gasp. She put her hand to her throat like she was shocked. "Oh Marcus, what did you do? Ava, honey, he didn't mean it. You know how he gets when family matters come up."

Family matters. How bitter that sounded now.

"I need to go home," I said quietly. My heart was beating so loud I could barely hear my own voice.

"Yes," Marcus said fast. He looked relieved. "Go home. Put some ice on that cut. We'll talk about this tomorrow when we're all calmer."

But his eyes were already looking toward the door where Sophia stood. Her fancy dress was messed up on purpose. She was acting like the hurt one.

"I should help Sophia first. Make sure she's really okay." He wasn't even looking at me anymore. "Don't wait up, Ava. This might take a long time."

He was getting rid of me like broken dishes before guests came over.

Sophia smiled like a knife as she walked toward the door. Her acting was perfect. "I'm so sorry this happened, sister. Sometimes families just fight. But we always make up, don't we?"

They left me alone in that small room. It was full of Sophia's expensive things. Designer dresses that cost more than most people's cars. Medical books from her fancy training. Awards that proved how smart she was in ways I never could.

The difference was painful. Her success was shown off like prizes while I sat bleeding on the floor where I once slept like a thankful servant.

I walked through the big apartment. Each step echoed in the huge space that never felt like home. The walls were covered with my parent success stories. there business degree, magazine covers, photos with important people. Not one picture of me anywhere. Like I had been erased from my own life.

At the elevator, I remembered I forgot my phone. The thought of going back to that room made me feel sick. But I needed it. Without that phone, I couldn't get to the small bank account I hid from Marcus. I couldn't call the private detective whose card I kept secret for months.

The apartment felt different as I walked back through it. Not like a home I was leaving before, but like a crime scene I was running from.

As I got close to the bedroom, I heard soft sounds through the door. Not angry sounds, but something worse. Quiet whispers, soft laughter, the sound of expensive sheets moving.

My hand shook as I pushed the door open just enough to see inside.

Marcus and Sophia were wrapped around each other on the bed. Marcus's voice, low and intimate in a way I hadn't heard in months.

"Finally," he murmured to Sophia. "I've been waiting all day."

Her laugh was breathless, different from the cold amusement I'd heard earlier. "Your wife won't be back."

"Don't talk about her," Marcus said, his voice moving closer to where Sophia must have been standing. "Not now."

I pressed myself against the wall, my heart hammering. The floorboards above creaked softly, and then there was only silence broken by muffled voices I couldn't quite make out.

I stood there frozen, knowing exactly what was happening in the room. The betrayal cut deeper than any physical pain I'd ever felt.

"You know what I love most about this?" Sophia's voice was sweet but mean. "Ava probably thinks you're comforting me, the poor hurt victim." Her laugh was cold and sharp. "She has no idea you've been planning this for months."

Planning. The word hit me like a punch.

"She made it so easy," Marcus said against her neck. "All that guilt about her 'selfish' feelings toward you. I barely had to trick her at all. She tricked herself."

"Three years of being the perfect wife," Sophia agreed. Her fingers drew patterns on his chest. "Cooking your food, handling your schedule, being nice to your boring business friends. And for what? So you could have someone to blame when you needed an excuse to be with me."

The room spun as I understood. Every fight we had about Sophia, every time Marcus said I was jealous or mean—it was all planned. A slow way to destroy how I felt about myself. To make me grateful for whatever tiny bits of love he gave me.

"The kidney was the best part," Marcus said to Sophia, his voice filled with gratitude. My blood felt like ice as I listened from the hallway. "Thank you again, Sophia. You literally saved my life two years ago."

"Of course, darling," Sophia replied sweetly. "I'd do anything for you."

But then Marcus's tone shifted, becoming cruel and mocking. "Can you imagine if it had actually been Ava who gave it to me instead of you? What a pathetic joke that would have been."

Sophia laughed, the sound sharp and cutting. "Oh god, she would have been so proud of herself. Walking around like some kind of saint."

"The doctors said I was fine eight weeks after the operation," Marcus continued, oblivious to my presence in the hallway. "Perfect health. But if Ava had been the donor and known that, she still would have insisted on going through with it. She's so determined to play the hero. The guilt would have been useful later too. Plus, the idea of walking around with her kidney inside me... it would have felt like I owned her. She would have literally given me a piece of herself."

The hallway seemed to tilt sideways. Something felt wrong. Very wrong. But I couldn't piece together what was happening. All I knew was that Marcus was thanking Sophia while talking about me like I was nothing.

"And what about the blood donations?" Sophia asked, playing along with the cruel game. "If she had been the one giving blood all this time instead of me?"

"Completely unnecessary, of course. I could have been selling it to a private clinic instead of using it." Marcus laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. "Did you know rare blood sells for five hundred dollars a bottle on the medical market? If your sister had been the donor, she would have been quite the little money maker - and never even known it."

My legs gave out. I pressed my back against the wall and slid down until I was sitting on the marble floor. I put my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming.

Nothing made sense. Marcus was thanking Sophia for saving his life, but something about the way they talked... the casual cruelty, the way they discussed me like I was just some fool to be manipulated. A sick feeling was growing in my stomach, but I couldn't understand why.

"The inheritance will make things harder," Sophia said. My whole world stopped.

Marcus knew. Somehow, he knew about my grandmother's will—the one I got news about just this morning.

"Not for long," Marcus said, his voice flat and sure. "I already talked to John about the legal stuff. A simple accident, some problems from trauma, and problem solved. Ava will be too sad to handle money decisions. As her loving husband, I'll naturally step in to manage her business."

They were planning to kill me. Not through anger or passion, but through careful murder made to look like an accident. And the timing wasn't random—my grandmother's money was worth twelve million dollars.

My hand moved to the medical papers in my purse. The private detective had done good work. Marcus's "amazing recovery" had a paper trail. His bank records showed money that matched exactly. But it was the insurance papers I found that really opened my eyes—three separate life insurance policies taken out on me in the past year. Marcus would get all the money if I died.

"What about our family?" Sophia asked. "Won't they think something's wrong?"

"What family?" Marcus's laugh was ugly. "I've spent three years keeping her away from everyone who might care. Her friends think she's too good for them now. Her coworkers barely know her. And your parents..." He stopped, enjoying being cruel. "Well, let's just say the nursing home bills I've been 'helping' with have kept them very quiet about their worries."

Another lie. Another trick. I had been sending money to take care of my grandmother, thinking Marcus was being kind by matching what I gave. But he had been using their weakness to control me. Probably threatening to stop the money if I didn't do what he wanted.

"Plus," Sophia added with mean satisfaction, "who's going to question the sadness of a man who gave his wife his own kidney? The loving husband who tried everything to save her, even organ donation, only to lose her to some tragic accident? He'll be practically safe from questions."

The cruel joke was perfect. My own gift would be the shield that protected my murderer from suspicion.

Every foundation of my life was built on lies. Every kindness was planned manipulation. Every happy moment was acting performed for an audience of one.

But as I sat there in the hallway, broken and bleeding and marked for death, something hard formed inside me. Something that felt like steel made in fire.

I wasn't the same woman who came to this apartment three years ago as a grateful bride. That woman had been innocent, trusting, desperate for love. This woman— who bled herself weak for his profit, who was tricked into believing her own sister cared—this woman was dangerous.

Because she had nothing left to lose except her own life. And she had already proven she was willing to give that up for people who didn't deserve it.

I pulled off my wedding ring—not in a moment of big drama, but with cold precision. The diamond felt heavy in my hand, worthless despite what it cost. Like everything else Marcus gave me, it was beautiful on the outside and rotten underneath.

Instead of leaving it on the hall table like thrown-away trash, I put it in my pocket. Evidence. Proof of ownership that might be useful later.

The medical papers in my purse made a soft crackling sound as I stood up.

The storm outside was getting worse. Rain hit the big windows like bullets, and thunder rolled across the dark sky. It felt like the world was as angry as I was. The city lights below looked blurry through the water on the glass, like tears on a face.