Chapter 4

The pain was unbearable.

With memories of her past torture bleeding into the present, Antonia felt as though she were trapped in her worst nightmare all over again.

Her body reacted on instinct. She thrashed desperately against the restraints.

However, the straps had been pulled as tight as they would go. The more she struggled, the deeper they cut into her skin, soon leaving bloody wounds across her body.

Blood ran down the sides of the electroshock chair.

Several people held her down until she could no longer move.

The current tore through her from head to toe, flooding every nerve in her body with excruciating pain.

Antonia bit down hard on her lower lip as she tried to endure it. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.

“Ahhh! Ahhh!”

The torture continued for an entire day and night, until her screams dwindled to little more than faint gasps.

Whenever she lost consciousness, they doused her with cold water to wake her, then started again. The cycle repeated over and over.

When the floor of the treatment room was slick with blood, they finally dragged Antonia back to her father’s room and dumped her there.

When a phone struck her hard across the face, the searing pain brought her fully awake.

She struggled to look up. Only when she saw that her father had been returned to his bed and reconnected to the medical equipment did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Her phone was fixed. Just then, the phone chimed with a message from Nicole.

It was a photograph of an old, yellowed diary.

It was Antonia’s diary.

The note attached said, [Ian nearly mistook this for trash and burned it, but I was thoughtful enough to save it for you.]

[So, your greatest dream was to see the northern lights in Arctavia with Ian. What a coincidence. Guess where we are now?]

Dozens of photographs followed.

Every one showed Ian and Nicole wrapped in each other’s arms beneath the aurora, looking utterly in love.

Ian had even bought an asteroid and named it “Ian Loves Nicole.”

Everything Antonia had once carefully written about in that diary was coming true for someone else.

She had dreamed of watching the aurora with the man she loved.

She had dreamed of naming a celestial body after the two of them.

Nicole had taken those dreams for herself.

Antonia numbly turned off her phone and devoted herself to taking care of her father.

While Ian was away, she contacted a care facility overseas and completed the transfer paperwork online.

Meanwhile, Nicole never stopped sending messages to flaunt their trip.

After leaving Arctavia, they traveled to Valoria Falls in Argentia, Aster Island off the coast of San Cordova, and Mount Seraph in Bellavista…

Every dream Antonia had recorded in her diary was being fulfilled with Nicole instead.

Each time they reached a new destination, Antonia burned another piece of the life she had shared with Ian.

The day the divorce agreement arrived, she burned the last stack of photographs.

The flames were still roaring in the fire pit when an enraged voice rang out behind her. “What in the world are you doing?”

Ian stormed in and kicked her hard in the stomach.

“So, you’re finally done pretending, is that it? Now that there’s no more money in it for you, even our memories are worthless?”

The force of the kick sent Antonia sprawling. Her back struck a marble column. The impact rattled through her chest.

Blood spilled from her mouth, staining her lips and teeth red.

Yet her voice was calmer than it had ever been. “If I kept them, wouldn’t Nicole find them upsetting?”

With that, she struggled to her feet and staggered toward the door.

Ian stared at her for a long moment before suddenly realizing just how much weight she had lost.

Her clothes hung loosely from her body, shifting around her as she moved. She looked so fragile that the slightest touch might break her.

His heart clenched. An inexplicable sense of panic rose within him.

Ian hurried after her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her tightly against him. “Antonia, you win, okay? Just stop this already.”

His unexpected tenderness made Antonia stiffen. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest.

However, before he could say anything more, his phone rang.

Nicole’s frightened voice came through the phone. “Ian, someone’s following me. I’m so scared. Please come and save me.”

Ian’s expression turned worried.

Without the slightest hesitation, he released Antonia and turned to leave. “Don’t be afraid, Nicole. I’m coming right now!”

Even after the yard had fallen empty once more, Antonia remained frozen where she stood.

She could still feel the warmth of his embrace, but the brief hope it had awakened in her was already gone.

After a long while, she gave a quiet, bitter laugh and slapped herself hard.

The sharp crack echoed through the yard.

‘Antonia, you really deserve this. How could you almost fall for him again?’ she thought to herself.

It did not matter anymore. In two days, she would take her father and leave for good.

Antonia went to bed as usual that night.

She had barely drifted off when someone yanked her upright.

A cup of iced coffee was then thrown in her face. The coffee stung her eyes.

Ian’s furious voice followed, every bit as cold as the coffee dripping down her face. “Antonia, you actually had the nerve to send people after Nicole! Have you forgotten what I told you the last time?”