Chapter 2

Jess sent me a new friend request and opened her social media feed to me.

On the very day I was locked away in the psychiatric hospital, Steve had taken her to an auction to pick out jewelry.

I still remembered that first day. Unable to bear the inhumane torture, I'd done everything I could to hide in the bathroom and call him.

The first time, he hung up.

The second time, the call disconnected on its own.

The third time, his phone was off.

Caught with a phone I wasn't allowed to have, I was immediately put through high-intensity electroshock therapy.

Eventually, I learned to cooperate with the "treatment." I never wanted to run again.

I kept scrolling, and what I saw stung my eyes.

On the day of my mother's funeral, my father had shown up dressed to the nines at his mistress's birthday party and announced their relationship.

And they had deliberately set their wedding for tomorrow, which was both Jess's birthday and the anniversary of my mother's death.

That evening, Steve brought a tray of food down to the basement.

He tried to feed me with a spoon like he used to, but I turned my head away.

He looked a little surprised, and his face soured. "Are you still sulking?"

During my three years in the psychiatric hospital, the only thing that had kept me going was imagining him being gentle with me.

But now, the heart that had longed for warmth had gone completely cold.

The air between us, which had thawed slightly, plunged back to freezing. Steve angrily slammed down the bowl and utensils.

"We only brought you home because we thought you'd learned your lesson. I didn't expect you to be as stubborn as ever!

"Jess never meant for any of that to happen. Your mother was the one who insisted Jess's mother was a mistress and kept making trouble. That's how she ended up dead!"

My heart dropped with a sharp, painful jolt.

I still remembered Jess driving over my mother again and again, a twisted smile on her face.

Warm blood had splattered by my feet.

When I had rushed toward her, Steve practically flew to restrain me, soothing me over and over. "The ambulance is almost here. Don't be scared."

So back then, he had been thinking that my mother got what she deserved.

I laughed bitterly at myself and threw the divorce agreement, already signed by both of us, at him. "Her mother was a mistress! Let's get a divorce!"

Steve froze, then gave a cold smile I couldn't read. "Divorce? You know how much I hate being threatened!

"But there's something you need to know. Right now, you're the other woman!"

The moment he finished, a marriage certificate stamped with an embossed seal landed on me.

And the person listed as his wife wasn't me. It was Jess.

Even though I'd already decided on a divorce, I couldn't hold back my tears.

So it had all been a lie from the start.

In that moment, the divorce agreement looked like a joke.

I was too devastated to even cry.

Steve thought I regretted it, and for once, he sounded almost like he was explaining himself. "This was your father's idea. After all, you already have everything, while Jess and her mother have been wronged their whole lives. Besides, a marriage certificate doesn't mean anything.

"Be good. As long as you can accept Jess, I'll make you the rightful Mrs. Machleit someday."

With that, he took a call from Jess, left, and never came back.

That same night, he flew abroad with Jess to pick out her birthday present.

They sat together by the sea, waiting for the sunrise, and he played the piano piece from when we first fell in love.

The tender devotion I once knew so well now belonged to another woman.

It felt as if something inside me was caving in.

When Jess posted the photos, the commenters called her "Mrs. Machleit" and took shots at me.

[A man's love goes wherever his money goes. She's lucky he didn't throw the crazy one out.]

[You and your mother both slept your way up, didn't you? No wonder nobody cared when one died and the other went crazy.]

Steve chose to stand by and watch coldly.

I knew he was proving a point to me. If I didn't obey, I could only peek at their happiness like a rat in the gutter.

He wanted me to take back what I'd said about the divorce.

But I never would again.

Then, early the next morning, I was jolted awake by music suddenly blaring outside the door.