Chapter 4

Serena tilted her head back and rose onto her toes, preparing to kiss me. From where I stood, the fresh marks on her neck were painfully obvious.

The thought of her being intimate with Cassian only moments ago made my stomach churn. I shoved her away in disgust.

After being rejected by me, Serena's face flushed with anger. She picked up the divorce papers from the floor and signed them without hesitation.

Serena hissed, "Fine. If you want a divorce, then we'll get divorced. We'll see who comes crawling back first!"

Her phone rang.

The fury on her face instantly melted into tenderness. "You want churros from the shop by our old elementary school? No problem. I'll go get them right now."

After hanging up, she left me with one final threat. "Elijah, you were the one who asked for the divorce. Don't you dare come crying to me and beg me to take you back!"

With that, she didn't even give me a chance to respond before turning around and hurrying away.

The room fell silent again, but Cassian kept bombarding me with messages.

He texted, "I've known Serena for 18 years before you met her."

A moment later, he messaged again, "Even when she fought with me because of you, all I had to do was act a little pitiful, and she'd still take my side."

I shut off my phone, feeling humiliated and exhausted. A wave of dizziness swept over me, and I blacked out completely.

…

When I woke up, I was in the hospital. The building manager had noticed something was wrong and sent me to the ER. I had a high fever along with acute gastroenteritis.

During the days I was hospitalized, Serena didn't send me a single message, much less come to the hospital to take care of me.

Cassian, however, refused to leave me alone. He sent me a video.

In it, Serena was naked, sitting on his lap and tilting her head back, clearly wanting him to kiss her.

Cassian stroked her hair with a teasing smile. "Serena, I want you to have my child."

Serena bit her lip and shook her head. "But I'm already married to Elijah."

Cassian's hands roamed over her body, drawing a soft moan from her. "What about me, then? Does Elijah know what you're like when you're with me?"

I clenched my fists, desperate to hear how Serena would answer. But the next second, she leaned in and kissed Cassian while answering his question.

She said tenderly, "You're the one person I'll never be able to escape in this life. But I can't abandon Elijah. After all, I was the one who pursued him first. I have to take responsibility for him."

I stared at the phone screen. I kept staring until the screen went dark and reflected my pale face back at me.

So I was nothing more than a responsibility to Serena. Cassian was the man she truly loved.

My heart clenched agonizingly. The pain was so intense that I curled up on the hospital bed. Cold sweat soaked through my gown.

On the last day of my hospital stay, Serena kicked open the door and came in.

She pointed her phone at me, but she was pleading with the man on the screen. "Cassian, don't do anything stupid."

I followed her gaze.

On the phone screen, Cassian stood at the edge of a cliff, the ocean wind whipping his clothes violently around him.

Cassian said, "Serena, if you can't make the choice, I'll make it for you. I'll count to three. I want you to do to Elijah everything you did to me. Otherwise, I'll jump into the ocean right now, and you'll never have to deal with me again."

Serena's voice trembled. "What exactly do you want me to do?"

Cassian seethed, "I want you to break Elijah's legs, just like how he watched you break my leg back then. I want him to know what it's like to lose the use of his legs and watch the woman he loves hurt him for another man."

Serena's eyes reddened as she pleaded. "Don't do this, Cassian! Can't we find another way? I'll do anything you want. I've already signed the divorce papers. I can marry you!"