Chapter 4

Kathy shut her eyes tightly and gave the faintest nod.

I collapsed heavily onto the floor.

My eyes fell on the phone hanging around her neck—the one she always kept on her to contact me in emergencies—and I reached for it, almost as if possessed.

I clicked on her social media. There, in a post made public to everyone but me and my family, were photos of Grayson and Callista's destination wedding.

Snow-capped mountains. A wedding dress. Flowers everywhere as far as the eye could see.

The two of them stood in front of a church, fingers intertwined, exchanging sweet vows.

"I love you. For all my days, my heart will be forever faithful."

That was the exact romantic wedding he and I had once dreamed of. Even the vows had been personally chosen by me.

Every single comment below was filled with blessings for the couple, including some from those same students who had so self-righteously condemned me just moments ago.

Their comments all carried the belief that the one who wasn't loved was the real "other woman". They even saw Grayson's deception as an act of charity and sympathy toward me, simply because I was a worthless housewife who needed this "caretaker job" more than anyone.

The everyday grind versus romantic dreams—Grayson had divided it all so neatly and without any guilt. The former belonged to me, while the latter went to Callista.

And when a mutual friend of ours mentioned me, he simply posted his marriage certificate with Callista, silencing her completely.

Large tears fell onto the screen one after another. Only when there were no more tears left did I finally come back to my senses.

Looking at the mother-in-law I had once exhausted myself to care for, I felt nothing anymore.

Coldly, I said my final words to her, "I will never forgive any of you."

Her lips trembled. With the last of her strength, she whispered an apology before completely losing consciousness.

The ambulance arrived quickly and rushed her to the hospital. A doctor ran over with a surgical consent form, asking for a family member to sign.

I grabbed the pen, but then suddenly remembered the fake marriage certificate.

I had no right to sign this.

I quickly called Grayson. "Get to Mercy Hospital right now. Your mother slit her wrist and needs surgery."

The mocking laughter of young voices came from the other end. Callista even blatantly snatched the phone from him.

"Mrs. Strickland, you don't need to lie like this just to get Prof. Strickland to come home."

"I'm not lying."

"Then just sign the form yourself."

I glanced at the glaring red light above the operating room door and the anxious doctor beside me, and a nonchalant laugh escaped me.

"If you don't believe me, then forget it. Either way, I'm not signing it."

"Go on, Dahlia. Keep being so dramatic," Grayson snarled before hanging up.

I scoffed coldly. I gave the doctor Grayson's number, then quickly downloaded all the surveillance footage from Kathy's room.

When the doctor called him, Grayson rejected the call outright and even sent me a text message.

"Dahlia, I haven't finished painting the snowdrops blooming around Silent Bridge yet. Stop making a fuss.

"Prepare a good dinner. We'll be back soon. And don't forget to make plenty of braised pork ribs."

Seeing those words strung together felt utterly absurd.

Even so, out of kindness, I took a photo of the emergency room and sent it to him, only to find a red exclamation mark above my message.

I had been blocked.

After the doctor tried calling several more times, Grayson even turned off his phone.

Looking at the droplets of blood leading to the operating room, a bad feeling settled in my chest. Skipping Paul, I contacted that person directly.

"Hey dummy, what's the penalty for forging documents and marriage fraud?"