Chapter 1

I had been married to Maynard Hansen for three years.

But when life was hanging by a thread, he didn't hesitate. He chose his childhood sweetheart.

Maynard carefully carried Darlene Thompson, soaked from head to toe, onto the last lifeboat. His eyes shimmered with a pain he couldn't hide.

My five-year-old son, Waldo Hansen, pulled off the only dry sweater I had given him and wrapped it around Darlene's shivering shoulders. He patted her arm like a little gentleman.

"Don't be scared, Ms. Thompson. Dad and I will stay with you," he said gently.

The three of them sat cozily together on the lifeboat. They were laughing and at ease. They completely ignored me as I gasped for help while struggling to stay afloat in the freezing water.

"Help me! Please, Maynard! Save me!" My voice was hoarse and trembling as I screamed at them.

Maynard looked down at me with chilling indifference. "There's not enough room on the boat. If you come up, what will happen to Darlene?"

Waldo burst into loud sobs the moment he heard that. "No! Don't let Mom on! She'll push Ms. Thompson into the water."

The people around us glanced at me with pity, but in this life-or-death situation, no one offered me a hand.

Watching their figures disappear into the distance, it felt like someone had reached into my chest and ripped my heart apart, chunk by chunk.

In that moment, surviving didn't matter anymore. I stopped fighting.

Just as I started to sink, a broken piece of driftwood surfaced beneath me, lifting me toward the distant shore.

When I woke up, I was in a sterile hospital room.

The doctor stood by my bed, frowning at the chart in his hand. "Your depression is severe. It's progressed into somatic symptom disorder. How long have you been hiding this?"

I stared blankly at the ceiling, feeling hollow and detached. All I could think about was dying.

When the doctor left, I reached into the drawer by my bed and found a full bottle of sleeping pills.

Fifty pills. That was all it would take to finally be free.

I unscrewed the lid and poured them into my mouth.

My head felt foggy, like I was drifting through a dream.

I lay back on the bed. I finally felt peaceful, and I was waiting for everything to end.

But in the next second, I felt someone push me face down. He jammed his fingers into my throat, trying to force me to throw up.

"Patricia, what the hell did you take? Get the doctor, now!"

My stomach twisted violently. The pills surged up my throat, and I vomited all over the floor.

I opened my eyes.

Derek Grant was still hitting my back. He was trying to help me vomit while shouting at me nonstop. "Are you out of your mind? Maynard didn't choose you—so what? Is that worth your life?"

I clenched my teeth, refusing to give in. His fingers bled from my bite, but he didn't let go.

At the same time, the doctors rushed in with an entire cart of equipment to pump my stomach. I thrashed against them, but they strapped me to the bed anyway.

As the tube was forced down my throat, I caught Derek's eyes again. They were still full of that same pity.

Derek had grown up with Maynard. They had been best friends since they were kids.

Ever since he found out Maynard had married me under pressure from his family, Derek had gone out of his way to isolate and humiliate me.

Last year, when Waldo had his birthday, Maynard asked Derek to pick up a cake. He deliberately brought home a mango cake, knowing full well that I had a severe allergy to mangoes.

When I tried to explain why I couldn't eat it, he told my son I just didn't love him enough to celebrate with him. Waldo's sobs echoed through the entire house that night.

When he developed cavities, Derek gave him candy behind my back. He even gifted him a game console without telling me, encouraging his obsession with video games at such a young age.

When I found out, I boxed up everything Derek had given him and threw it all out.

That only made things worse.

My son threw a tantrum and screamed, "Mom, you're mean! Mr. Grant gave me that, and you threw it away."

Derek kept poisoning his mind, and the distance between Waldo and me only grew.

He slipped in when I was at my weakest and earned Waldo's trust. Then, he used that trust to poison him against me, saying things behind my back and turning Waldo into someone who constantly pushed back.

He was like a shadow that never left—dark, calculating, always lurking.

He tore my life apart piece by piece, then dared to show up like some kind of savior. Here he was, pretending to care after ruining everything.