Chapter 3

The moment the words left Karina’s mouth, the entire dining room fell silent.

Every eye at the table turned toward her.

Judy, seated at the head of the table, immediately went cold.

Her sharp gaze locked onto Karina, the atmosphere in the room almost suffocating.

“Whatever anger you’re carrying, this is not the place to throw a tantrum.”

The relatives around the table began murmuring under their breath.

Karina knew exactly what they were thinking.

In their eyes, marrying into the Foster family was the greatest stroke of luck she could ever have hoped for.

She’d seen those looks too many times to care anymore.

Through it all, Mark said nothing.

Whatever happened to her had never mattered much to him.

Karina straightened her back under everyone’s stares and spoke again.

“If having another child is my duty as his wife, then I’m clearly not the one he should be having one with.”

The room went dead silent.

Everyone understood exactly what she meant.

Caroline exploded.

She slammed her palm against the table.

“Karina Jackson! This is a family dinner, not the place for you to make a scene!”

Judy slowly rose to her feet with the help of her cane, her hard gaze fixed on Karina.

“Karina Jackson, you chose this path yourself.”

“You married into the Foster family, so you follow the Foster family’s rules.”

Then she turned to the housekeeper.

“Bring me the whip.”

Everyone’s expression changed.

Heads lowered around the table, and no one dared make a sound.

They all knew Judy was truly furious.

The last time she’d been this angry was when Mark had refused to get married.

The housekeeper didn’t dare delay. She quickly returned with a thin leather whip.

“Anyone in this family who refuses to follow the rules will be punished accordingly.”

Judy took the whip, her voice cold and merciless.

“Karina Jackson. Kneel.”

A ripple of shock went through the room, but no one dared interfere.

Ryan’s face went pale.

“Grandma, don’t get so angry. There’s no need to go this far!”

Jack was frightened too.

His little face turned white, and his voice trembled.

“Great-Grandma, don’t hit Mom! I’m scared!”

Karina lowered her eyes to her anxious son.

For a brief moment, something bitter twisted in her chest.

Then it faded.

She didn’t resist.

She simply knelt in front of Judy.

“Grandma, I’ll accept the punishment. Consider it repayment for everything the Foster family has done for me over the years.”

She and Mark had attended the same university, though he’d been an upperclassman.

Back then, he’d been a legend on campus, someone completely out of reach.

She, on the other hand, had come from an ordinary background.

Their paths should never have crossed.

If Mark hadn’t been drugged at that party, they might have gone their entire lives without ever truly knowing each other.

At the time, Karina had also been caught up in a vicious campus scandal, while her mother was gravely ill.

She’d been close to breaking.

Judy was the one who stepped in and put an end to the rumors.

She’d also arranged for Karina’s mother to receive treatment at the best hospital available.

Karina had never forgotten that debt.

She had always known she needed to repay it.

Seven years should have been enough.

Judy stared down at her without the slightest hint of sympathy.

She raised the whip and brought it down toward Karina’s back.

Jack immediately covered his eyes and whimpered.

Even Ryan turned his face away.

Everyone in the Foster family knew what that whip could do.

A punishment with that whip was enough to leave someone bedridden for weeks.

Karina didn’t flinch.

She simply waited.

But the pain never came.

She looked up.

Her eyes met Mark’s dark, unreadable gaze.

His tall frame stood behind her, blocking the blow.

One hand was wrapped firmly around the whip, a red welt already forming across his palm.

Then his cool voice broke the silence.

“Grandma, I’m the one who made you angry.”

“If someone needs to be punished, punish me.”

With everyone watching, Mark bent one knee and knelt beside Karina.

She stiffened and instinctively turned to look at him.

But this time, her heart didn’t stir at all.

In the first few years of their marriage, Mark had been cold and distant, but he’d never denied Karina anything financially.

For a while, she’d naively convinced herself that maybe he didn’t dislike her after all.

Then came the second year of their marriage.

She still couldn’t help herself.

One morning, she got up early, made lunch herself, and took it to Foster Corporation.

As she stepped out of the elevator, she overheard several employees whispering nearby.

“I seriously don’t know what Karina Jackson did to get Old Mrs. Foster so firmly on her side. She practically forced Mr. Foster into marrying her.”

“You don’t know the half of it. Back then, he was so determined not to marry her that he took three lashes from Old Mrs. Foster and still refused to give in.”

Karina nearly dropped the lunchbox in her hands.

In the end, she never even saw Mark.

His assistant, Ethan, stopped her as politely as he could and gently suggested that she didn’t need to bring him lunch again.

Karina understood immediately.

Mark didn’t want her anywhere near his world.

That night, when they went to bed together, he turned off the lights as usual.

Before then, Karina had always been too shy to think much of it.

But that night, hurt and resentment got the better of her.

She reached over and switched the light back on.

In the sudden brightness, she clearly saw three faded lash marks across his back.

Mark frowned.

“I don’t like the lights on.”

Then he got out of bed and left the room.

That was the first time Karina seriously thought about divorce.

Somehow, though, she’d dragged things out until now.

“Are the two of you trying to drive me to an early grave?!”

Judy's furious voice snapped Karina back to the present.

She looked away from Mark, her eyes calm and distant.

“There’s no need, Mr. Foster. You don’t have to do this.”

Mark frowned and glanced at her, obvious impatience in his voice.

“Karina Jackson, stop pulling stunts just to get my attention.”

A chill settled deep in her chest.

She’d known the truth for a long time.

Even so, his words still hurt.

But none of it mattered anymore.

Karina let out a slow breath and was about to speak when Jack came running over and grabbed her arm.

“Mom, can’t you just behave? Why do you always have to make everyone upset?”

“Aunt Serena would never act like you…”

Halfway through, Jack seemed to realize what he’d said and quickly shut his mouth.

But everyone knew exactly how that sentence would have ended.

Karina quietly looked at her son.

Something inside her felt utterly empty.

Maybe she really had failed.

Her husband didn’t love her.

Her own son wasn’t close to her.

After seven years of marriage, she had nothing.

Judy gave a cold snort and turned toward the stairs, leaning on her cane.

“Karina Jackson. Come with me to the study.”

Karina rose to follow her.

Then someone suddenly caught her wrist.

Mark’s palm was cool, his grip firm.

He lowered his voice, a clear warning in his tone.

“Karina Jackson, enough.”

Karina pulled her wrist free and walked past him.

“It won’t happen again.”

There wouldn’t be a next time.

The study door closed behind them.

Karina got straight to the point.

“Grandma, I want a divorce from Mark. I hope you’ll agree.”

“I know the Foster family…”

Before she could finish, Judy cut her off furiously.

“Karina Jackson, I made myself perfectly clear from the very beginning.”

“The moment you married into this family, there was no turning back.”

“In the Foster family, marriages don’t end in divorce.”

“They end in death.”