Chapter 3

I kept banging my head against the door until my fingers were bloody from clawing at it. I broke down and screamed.

"I was wrong! I shouldn't have called Henry an illegitimate child!”

"Please! I shouldn't have defied you! I'll never do it again, Jonathan!"

However, even after I shouted until my voice was hoarse and I was completely exhausted, no one came to open the door.

Finally, Linda's voice came from outside. She laughed sweetly. "Mrs. Rivers, you look so pathetic! It's too bad Mr. Rivers gave me the basement key. You'll have to please me if you want to get out!"

I begged desperately. "I'm sorry! I was wrong! Please let me out!"

Even so, Linda would not relent. She laughed and demanded I continue.

Just then, her phone rang. Her voice turned pitiful. "Mr. Rivers, Mrs. Rivers still refuses to admit her mistake. She's calling me a whore and Henry a b*stard.”

"All right, I'll keep Mrs. Rivers locked up until she apologizes."

After hanging up, Linda was triumphant.

"Mrs. Rivers, you finally fell into my hands! When you schemed to make Mr. Rivers abandon us years ago, you should have known this day would come!"

Her footsteps soon faded away.

I collapsed weakly on the floor. My voice was already hoarse, and the darkness silently consumed me. I could not control myself and bit my wrist until it bled. Blood flowed freely, and the blood loss made me dizzy.

Memories flashed through my mind like a slideshow. There was Jonathan, who knelt at my family's door for three days and nights to marry me.

There was Jonathan, who drove away my abusive father. His body was covered in blood, yet he was still holding and comforting me.

Then there was Jonathan on our wedding day, firmly placing the ring on my finger and promising to love me forever.

Yet all those Jonathans had eventually become the man who had calmly locked me in the basement. The beautiful memories of the past turned into blades that shredded my happiness to shreds.

Blood stained my clothes, and my consciousness gradually faded.

When I woke up again, I was already in the hospital. My wrist was wrapped in thick bandages.

I stared calmly at the bandaged wound. Wounds could heal, but the scars carved into my heart would never disappear.

The nurse notified them that I was awake. Jonathan rushed in, followed by Henry and Linda.

He embraced me tightly, his voice full of fear.

"Claire, why didn't you just apologize? Do you know you almost died?"

I calmly pushed him away. The scent of Linda’s rose perfume still clung to him, stinging my nose, and I frowned slightly.

"I did apologize. Linda wouldn't let me go."

Jonathan looked suspiciously between Linda and me. Linda's tears immediately began to flow.

"Mrs. Rivers, I know you don't like me, but you can't slander me! I endured it when you called me a whore and Henry a b*stard, but why must you slander me too?"

She cried pitifully, and Jonathan and Henry immediately rushed to comfort her. Jonathan looked at me impatiently.

"Claire, how long will you keep playing these underhanded tricks? Why can't you accept Henry and Linda?"

It was not that I could not accept them. It was that Jonathan's eyes were full of them and could not accept me.

"Don't think that hurting yourself will stop me from acknowledging Henry. I'm still holding his birthday party tomorrow!"

He pulled Linda and Henry into his arms, forming the image of a picture-perfect family with his beloved woman and child in his embrace. Meanwhile, his wife who he had once sworn eternal vows to seemed repulsive in comparison.

I let out a hoarse, low laugh. Jonathan took this as a sign of agreement.

"Remember to attend Henry's birthday party!"

I watched calmly as they left the hospital room. I opened my phone and booked a flight for tomorrow night.

I was discharged from the hospital that evening. Before I even reached home, I heard laughter from the doorway. The scene I had fantasized about countless times appeared before me.

Henry sat in Jonathan's lap while Linda smiled, feeding him spoonful by spoonful. My arrival seemed like that of an unwelcome guest, disrupting the perfect moment.