Chapter 3 The Night He Broke Me

Irene didn't get angry.

Instead, she touched her swollen cheek and laughed.

Then, she lifted her phone and shoved the screen in front of my face. "Look how excited you were that night," she mocked. "And now you're acting as if I hurt you?"

The video on her phone was of me.

I was blindfolded, tied to the bed with rope, while Nolan forced himself on me. Tears streamed down my face. My heart felt like it was about to stop, and my whole body was shaking in fear.

I begged Nolan to stop, but he only leaned close and coaxed me softly, "It's our wedding night. Try something new with me, okay?"

I had told him before that I was terrified of the dark and of being tied up.

Years ago, Irene had hired a group of men to kidnap me and lock me inside an abandoned warehouse for three whole days after I scored higher than Irene on my college entrance exams.

Nolan knew all of that.

He knew every scar she left behind, yet he still followed Irene's instructions and humiliated me in the cruelest way possible on our wedding night.

To add salt to the wound, he had even sent her the video.

I got into a spat with Irene the second I came back to my senses.

My parents cursed at me while dragging me away. Then, they slapped me several more times as if I wasn't the victim.

In the end, Nolan stepped in and pulled me behind him. He sighed as if he were dealing with an unreasonable child. "Enough. You've vented your anger. Can we go home with Kayden?"

"No." I looked at him numbly. "I want a divorce."

I raised my chin and forced my voice to stay steady. "I recorded everything just now. Nolan, sign the goddamned papers if you don't want this to blow up."

The next second, my phone was snatched from my hand.

I lunged for it, but I could only watch as it was thrown into the street and crushed beneath a passing car.

Nolan rubbed his temples and let out an impatient sigh. "Mallory, I'm running out of patience. I'm not divorcing you."

Of course, he wouldn't.

No one would be there to take the fall if I left.

Irene, the darling of the family, couldn't be seen with her brother-in-law openly because it would harm her reputation.

Nobody cared about my feelings; I was just a shield to them, a useful tool.

Nolan forced me into the car.

Kayden, who was sitting in the passenger seat, rolled his eyes at me. "Aunt Mal, can you stop making things hard for Dad? Do you really think I want to call you Mom?"

After we got home, Nolan bought me a new phone.

However, everyone else's numbers were gone. Only my parents, Irene, and Nolan remained in my contacts. He had deleted them all

He would check my phone for photos, recordings, or any material I could potentially use against him.

...

A few days later, I found his journal hidden in the study while he was away. He had carefully recorded every gift he had ever prepared for Irene over the years.

Each gift held significance.

The beach villa was the dream home he had once vowed to give her.

One page was filled with guilt.

He wrote that he had failed to give Irene the life she wanted, which was why she ran away while pregnant. So now, he had to make it up to her a thousand times over.

I stared at the page and laughed at myself. 'What about what he owes me?'

I took the journal and was about to leave.

Just as I reached the stairs, a pair of small, chubby hands suddenly pushed me from behind.

Kayden shoved me down from the second floor.

I crashed to the ground, blood spreading beneath me.

He stood at the top of the stairs, smiling with a kind of innocent cruelty that made my blood run cold.

"Mom told me to tell you something," he said sweetly. "Trash like you doesn't deserve to touch him, even if Dad is something she threw away."

His smile widened. "You can think of this as interest. I'll take back the rest of what you owe later."

I passed out from blood loss.

…

When I woke up again, the first thing I heard was Kayden crying.

"It's all my fault," he sobbed. "Aunt Mal said I was being bad and tried to hit me. I ran too fast, and then she fell down the stairs."

His voice broke pitifully. "I should've just stood there and let her hit me."

Nolan instantly yanked the IV from my hand.

"You should just take your anger out on me if you're pissed!" he snapped. "Why would you bully a child?"

Oddly enough, I saw a flicker of regret across his face.