Chapter 1

"Mathilde, what are you making a scene about now?"

Liam Reed frowned at me.

Before I could answer, Victoria Adams stepped forward, took my hand, and began explaining, "Mathilde, while I was missing, a jerk deceived me and got me pregnant. I had nowhere else to turn, so I asked Liam for help. Please don't be upset."

I tried to pull my hand free, but she used the movement to let herself fall to one side.

Tears welled up in her eyes almost instantly.

"Even if you can't forgive me, you don't have to push me..."

Liam was caught off guard for a moment. Then his expression darkened.

"Mathilde Conrad! Have you lost your mind?"

He shoved me aside and rushed out of the simulation room with Victoria in his arms.

My legs had taken the impact of the car that would have hit him. Now, as I crashed to the floor, a sharp pain shot through my body.

Gritting my teeth, I looked down at my phone.

I looked at the 99.9 points on my phone, and my eyes began to sting.

My nose stung, and my eyes began to burn.

I remembered the day we'd needed to move the heavy solid-wood bookcase at home. I'd struggled with it for ages before finally asking Liam to help.

He'd refused without a second thought. "I have congenital hyperalgesia. I can't do things that put me at risk of getting hurt."

In the end, the bookcase had toppled onto me, leaving me with three fractured ribs. Yet now, he seemed to have forgotten all about the risk of injury as he carried Victoria out of the room.

I forced myself to my feet and left the hospital. The biting late-autumn wind hit me as soon as I stepped outside.

The streets were bustling, and the sky was gradually darkening. As I walked, my phone remained silent in my pocket. There wasn't a single message or call from him.

I smiled bitterly. I should have gotten used to it by now.

Every time I got hurt for his sake, I was the one left to deal with the pain and heartbreak afterward. He rarely even bothered to check whether I was all right.

Just as that thought crossed my mind, my phone rang.

I answered, and a lazy voice came through the line. "Things have reached this point. Why not take a chance on me?"

I remained silent for several seconds. Then I finally made up my mind.

"Fine. I'll leave the country with you."

...

By the time I pushed open the front door, it was already four in the morning.

Liam sat in the middle of the sofa, clearly having been waiting for me.

I saw his sullen expression and changed my shoes as quietly as possible, hoping to avoid another confrontation, but before I could even straighten up, his voice cut through the silence.

"Coming home this late? You're getting bolder by the day, aren't you?"

I looked up, and my gaze fell on his forearm.

A fresh bruise stood out against his skin. He must have knocked it against a table while rushing around earlier. I said nothing, but my silence only seemed to make him angrier.

He rose from the sofa and strode toward me.

"Fortunately, Victoria was fine today. But you still need to be punished. Go to the old study and reflect on what you've done."

I caught sight of my disheveled reflection in his cold eyes.

Before I could stop myself, a question slipped out.

"If I'd been the one asking you to try the labor pain simulator yesterday, would you have agreed?"

He paused, about to answer, when his phone rang sharply.