Unmasking the monster (Chapter Three)

I dialed my lawyer's number with trembling hands.

"Mr. Peterson, I need you to draft divorce papers immediately," I said, my voice steady despite the storm inside me. "Give them to Leo only after I leave. And make sure the insurance company knows we're divorced before any claims are processed."

Each word felt like signing my own death warrant. I glanced frantically at the door.

If Leo discovered this before I could escape...

"Let him explain to the insurance company how he wants to collect benefits from someone who's no longer his wife," I thought bitterly as I gave Mr. Peterson the details.

The moment I hung up, the door burst open. I looked up, my heart jumping into my throat. Lydia sauntered in, her lips curved into that familiar, cruel smile. She was wearing designer clothes, full makeup, and looked healthier than I'd ever seen her.

My entire body tensed. Every instinct screamed at me to run, but I was too weak. Too broken.

She sat down, crossing her legs with the confidence of someone who had already won.

"You were never sick, were you?" I asked directly. I was done playing games.

For a moment, she just stared at me. Then she laughed. Not a polite chuckle. A full, cruel laugh that made her nearly double over.

"Of course I wasn't sick!" She wiped tears from her eyes. "Thanks for the kidney, though."

The room spun.

"What?"

Her smile turned vicious. "I threw it in the trash behind the hospital. Left it for the rats and flies to feast on."

No. The word stuck in my throat.

My hands instinctively went to the surgical scar below my ribs. The empty space where my kidney used to be throbbed with phantom pain.

"No, this can't be..." The words came out as a broken whisper.

"You were always just a placeholder, Elena. A walking insurance policy." Her eyes gleamed with malice. "Did you really think Leo married you for love?"

My world tilted.

"I was the one who told him to seduce you five years ago. You were nothing but a meal ticket. A massive life insurance policy waiting to be cashed in."

"But he chose me..." My voice sounded pathetic even to my own ears.

"He chose you as the perfect tool!" She leaned forward. "The kidney was just a bonus. But that insurance policy? Two hundred million dollars? That was always the main prize."

She moved closer, and I saw the white lilies in her hand—my death sentence wrapped in pretty petals.

"Take those away," I gasped, already feeling my throat begin to tighten. "You know I'm allergic..."

"I know exactly what they'll do to you." She thrust them toward my face. "Leo said to get rid of you. So why don't you just die now and save us the trouble?"

My eyes began to swell shut. My throat sealed completely. I couldn't breathe.

I collapsed to the floor, wheezing and clawing at my throat. My vision went black around the edges as I crawled desperately toward my bedside table, where my emergency EpiPen waited.

Just as my fingers brushed the nightstand, Lydia's heel came down like a hammer.

Crack!

White-hot pain exploded through both my hands. The EpiPen rolled away as glass from a nearby bottle shattered, shards tearing deep into my palms. Blood poured onto the floor.

"Die already, you pathetic fool!" she screamed, grinding her heel deeper into my shattered hands.

I couldn't breathe. Couldn't scream. The glass carved deeper into my flesh with every second. My vision was fading.

Suddenly, heavy footsteps thundered down the hallway.

Leo.

My heart leaped with desperate, foolish hope. He would see Lydia for who she really was. He would save me.

"Leo," I tried to call out, but my voice was barely a wheeze. "Help... me..."

Lydia released my hand instantly and threw herself dramatically among the scattered flowers and gifts, wailing like a wounded animal.

"Leo!" she sobbed the moment he stepped through the doorway. "Elena was throwing a tantrum and attacked me for no reason!"

Leo burst in and went straight to her, stepping over my bleeding body like I was garbage on the floor. He didn't even glance at my swollen face or the blood pooling beneath my shattered hands.

"She brought me flowers that could kill me," I wheezed, gasping for air. "White lilies... allergic..."

"SHUT UP!" Leo's mask finally slipped completely.

The hatred in his voice made my blood freeze.

"Lydia was being kind, bringing you flowers, and you repay her by throwing a tantrum like an untrained child?"

His words cut deeper than any knife.

I had told Leo about my deadly allergy to white lilies countless times, both when we were dating and after we got married. Every spring, when they bloom. Yet here he was, defending the woman who had just tried to murder me with them.

His voice turned to ice. "Touch Lydia again, and I'll make sure you never see another sunrise." He scooped Lydia up, cradling her like precious china. "Don't you ever try it!"

I lay there, bleeding and writhing in agony. Tears burned my cheeks as he stepped over my broken body and walked away with her in his arms.

Something inside me shattered forever.

With the last of my strength, I found my backup inhaler in my pocket and used it with trembling, bloodied hands. The medication worked slowly, opening my airways just enough to keep me alive.

I lay on that cold floor for what felt like hours before I could finally breathe normally again.

++++++

Later that evening, a nurse helped me back into bed and bandaged my hands. She didn't ask questions. She'd probably seen worse in this hospital.

After she left, I stared at the ceiling, my mind working through the fog of pain and medication. My phone buzzed—an email notification.

"Miss Roberta, you've been invited to attend the Celestial Diamond Annual Gala."

My eyes widened as I stared at the elegant invitation that had been forwarded to my personal email. The one that only a handful of people knew about.

I called my mother, my hands shaking as I held the phone.

"You should go, darling," her voice came through, warm and encouraging. "You built half of that company. The CEO of Celestial Diamond would be honored to have you at the occasion."

"But... I..." The words died in my throat.

"You dedicated ten years of your life to jewelry design," she said gently. "You helped make some of the most sophisticated pieces in the world. Don't let what happened steal that from you, too."

I glanced at my already packed luggage hidden in the closet. I had been planning to escape tomorrow. This gala was tonight.

"Okay, Mom. I'll attend tonight's gathering."

She smiled through the video call. "Everyone is eagerly waiting for your arrival in Litsville tomorrow. Your father has been pacing the garden for days."

Relief flooded through me. The realization that my family still loved me, still wanted me, gave me strength. The invitation reminded me of who I used to be before I met Leo.

Roberta Alfred. Renowned for creating masterpiece jewelry that graced royalty and red carpets. That had been everything I'd ever wanted.

The day I had planned to reveal my face to the world was the day I met Leo.

Love at first sight. Or so I'd thought.

He was everything I had ever dreamed of. Charming, attentive, romantic.

And right beside him had stood Lydia, desperately trying to network her way into meeting Roberta Alfred. Not knowing she was talking to me the entire time.

I had wanted to experience genuine love without the influence of my fortune. So I'd introduce myself as Elena Robert—a simple jewelry enthusiast.

What a fool I'd been.

They'd targeted me for my insurance policy from the very first "hello." Played me like a violin. All because they desperately wanted to climb into the elite circles where Lydia could finally meet the famous Roberta Alfred.

Well, she was about to get her wish. But not the way she'd dreamed. I would make them pay for every lie, every betrayal, every moment of pain.

But first, I needed to reclaim my identity. And what better place to start than at the gala where the entire jewelry world would be watching?