Chapter 2

I handed Caleb the divorce agreement, but he didn't even look at it. He tossed it aside in one sharp motion.

"Have you lost your mind, Nala? I just told you I'm not divorcing you! I know you don't want to go, but my company is on the line! You wouldn't want everything I've worked so hard for to be destroyed because of you, would you?"

I almost wanted to sigh. Caleb was really good at guilt-tripping me, wasn't he? With the way he said it, it sounded like I would be deliberately ruining his career if I refused.

Did he think I was still as easy to manipulate as I had been in my previous life? Having lived through it once already, I had long since figured out how to deal with Walter.

Faced with my silence, Caleb looked gloomy. "I'll be honest with you. Sadie's carrying my baby. As long as you help the company through this crisis, I'll let you be the child's mother in name—"

"No, thank you," I interrupted him, nudging the document on the floor with my foot. "I have no interest in being a stepmother, let alone to a bastard child."

"Nala!"

I ignored the shouting behind me and turned to go upstairs.

Pam's eyes welled up with tears as she watched me slowly pack my things. "Mrs. Ingram, are you really going to Mr. Stone Senior's place? I just don't understand. Years ago, when Mr. Ingram's parents passed, you stayed by his side day and night, helping him through the hardest time of his life.

"And now, all that loyalty and care can't compare with a gold-digger who couldn't make it abroad and came back to cling to him? He clearly said he'd only ever love you. How did he get so blinded by that wretch?"

I shook my head helplessly. "Don't call me Mrs. Ingram anymore. I'm done with this family."

Pam wiped her tears. "But if you go, it's the end of the world for you…"

My hand froze mid-motion. Even Pam believed I wouldn't make it out alive or sane. I was about to reply when a cup of cold water suddenly splashed across my face.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Ms. Brown. I just… slipped for a second…"

It was Sadie. She was holding an empty glass, apologizing, but the look on her face was pure triumph. "By the way, I don't think you need to pack much. I'm sure Mr. Stone Senior has everything you need there… It's not like you'd be his first woman."

Pam's body trembled from the sheer rage. "How could you say that to her?"

"Pam, it's fine," I said.

Sadie thought I was just scared to argue with her. The provocation in her eyes grew more evident, her disdainful gaze slowly landing on my belly.

"I heard he knows every trick in the book. Everyone who's been to his place came out insane. I wonder how long you'll last… I'm afraid that even if you do come back, your little bastard baby will be gone."

I wiped the water from my hair and slapped Sadie across the face, shoving her out of my room. "Don't worry about that. I never planned to keep it anyway."

Just as I was about to turn around, she suddenly grabbed my arm. "What do you think Caleb will do to you if I roll down the stairs?"

She hissed the words into my ear, cruel and vicious, then toppled backward, screaming, "Help!"

Caleb's expression paled. Without a second thought, he rushed over and caught her. "Sadie, are you okay?"

She put on an act of concern. "I'm fine… Just don't blame Ms. Brown for it. She's just jealous that I'm pregnant with your child and acted on impulse…"

Her words, without surprise, made Caleb's hatred for me burn even wilder. He stormed toward me and heavily struck my face.

"You make me sick, Nala! After everything you did to her, she's still defending you. You're nothing compared to her! I'm glad you're about to be toyed with to death by that old man. You know what? I hope you die in there!"

His words were nothing short of cruel. Ultimately, he ordered the bodyguards to lock me in a tiny, pitch-black cellar. "Not a drop of water for her without my permission!"

Pam fell to her knees outside, sobbing and begging. "Mr. Ingram, you can't do this to her! You know she has claustrophobia—she's terrified of the dark! She could die…"

Caleb ignored her completely. Sadie, sitting nearby and holding her head, pretended to sound innocent while slyly stirring up trouble.

"Pam, at the end of the day, you still work for the Ingram family. Why are you always siding with Nala? What has she ever done for you to care like she was your daughter?"

Pam completely lost it. She tried to rush forward and tear Sadie apart, but the bodyguards held her back. She spent the entire night outside the cellar, crying and keeping watch over me.

It wasn't until the next evening that Walter's people came to pick me up.