chapter 1

By the time Maya Scott stepped out of the police station, it was already late at night.

The rain was falling heavily outside.

People on the street kept looking at Maya, noticing the bruises on her face and the blood stains on her white shirt.

She ignored every stare and whisper as she dragged her heavy steps forward, head down, while the rain did its work; her expression numb as she stared at her phone.

The screen was a spiderweb of cracks.

Dead.

Just like every attempt she made to call for help.

She had asked strangers for a phone.

Some avoided her gaze.

Others walked faster.

Nobody wanted to get involved with a bleeding woman leaving a police station after midnight.

Their fear didn’t surprise her.

Still, she kept asking until finally… she saw a phone booth.

Her fingers, smeared with blood, trembled as she tapped the keypad.

She slowly tapped in the numbers.

“Beep…”

The phone rang repeatedly, but there was no answer.

It wasn’t different from the emergency call she had desperately made while she was being attacked earlier.

Maya let out a quiet, self-deprecating sigh at how helpless she looked.

Just as her hand began to drop in defeat, the call connected at the last minute.

“Speak!”

A low, indifferent voice came through the phone.

Her grip tightened.

A trace of shock crossed Maya’s face.

“Haider…”

“Mr. Haider, the car is ready,” his assistant spoke before she could even utter another statement.

Then he said calmly, “I’ll hang up now. I have work to do.”

The line went off.

The rain didn’t just fall—it lingered as if the sky was more pained than Maya.

Maya stood at the corner of the street, shaking violently as the rain showed no mercy.

Suddenly, a warm leather coat dropped over her shoulders.

Maya was startled and looked up.

Mr. Victor, the senior editor, was standing there.

His heavy gaze swept over her entire body.

Anger burned in his eyes.

“Who did this to you?” he asked grimly.

A tired sigh escaped Maya’s lips as she shook her head.

“When they were beating me, I accidentally scratched one of them in the face as I struggled to lay my hands on some hair. Once the DNA is extracted, the police will sniff them out soon.”

Victor frowned.

“You managed to get DNA?”

Maya nodded.

“I should have enough for testing.”

“You were thinking about evidence while they were attacking you?”

“They won’t get away with it.”

For a moment, Victor simply stared at her.

“You never stop being a journalist, do you?”

Maya didn’t answer.

“We’ll definitely investigate this thoroughly, and an attack like this must not be taken lightly.”

He opened the passenger door.

“But first, let me take you home.”

Since it was almost impossible to get a taxi at that time, Maya forced a faint smile and got into his car.

“Thank you, Mr. Victor.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re one of my best journalists. Someone beat you up, and I’m supposed to sit back and do nothing about it?”

He gripped the steering wheel tightly.

“Everyone was out on an assignment anyway. I was the last person to leave the office.”

As he drove, he continued casually.

“Billionaire Will Haider’s wife just returned from her trip. I heard he personally went to pick her up.”

A grin appeared on his face.

“Every newsroom is excited to get the first shot, especially the face of the billionaire’s wife. We don’t get this type of news every day.”

Maya’s face suddenly went cold.

Her heart dropped.

While she was being beaten up, desperately in need of help, Haider was with another woman.

His wife?

Sam didn’t notice the change in her reaction.

“I heard they’ve been married for almost a year.”

Maya looked down as she adjusted the sleeves of her shirt.

No one knew she was actually Will Haider’s wife.

She didn’t allow Victor to drive her to the private villa. She got out near an old post office and then took a cab to Valmont Manor.

When she got home, she broke down in the entryway.

The housekeeper heard the noise and ran out to check who it was.

One look at her, and Cassie froze in shock before rushing over.

“Madam, what happened to you? How did you end up like this?”

Before she could support her, Maya dragged herself into the living room.

She looked numb, as if she felt nothing.

There was no light left in her eyes.

“I was attacked on my way home,” she said lightly.

Cassie’s face turned pale.

“Attacked?”

Maya nodded.

Maya spoke with complete calmness, but Cassie was terrified. She had always known that working in those business lines attracted trouble, but she never imagined it could be that brutal.

“Mr. Haider was right when he suggested you quit working,” she said with a trembling voice.

Maya’s gaze drifted toward the enormous wedding photo pinned against the wall.

Cassie followed her line of sight.

The room fell silent.

“Let me grab the first aid box,” Cassie said softly.

Before she could even touch the wounds, Maya held her hand.

“Did you know about this, ma’am?”

Cassie froze.

“Why didn’t you inform me, Cassie?”

“Madam, maybe it’s just—”

Maya stopped her with a small gesture.

“I’m going upstairs. Please bring the first aid kit to my room.”

Cassie watched her totter away.

She felt helpless but still did as told and followed her upstairs with the first aid kit.

Maya walked past Haider’s room.

She glanced inside.

It was empty, as expected.

Her room was located at the end of the hallway.

She had never thought that after three years of marriage, she’d still be treated like a nobody by her husband.

She stopped outside the room for a moment.

“Three years…” she murmured.

Then she pushed the door open and entered.

She stared at the bathroom mirror.

Bruises spread across her body in different shapes and colors.

The flashbacks kept coming.

She remembered everything vividly—the punches, the scratches.

But her eyes hadn’t caught their faces.

All she could see were the ski masks they wore.

The memory of desperately fighting for help made her eyes brim with tears.

It felt like she had used up all her strength.

Soon, faint sobs could be heard from the bathroom.

Cassie stood outside, listening quietly.

Her heart felt heavy, but she dared not intervene.

After Maya left the bathroom, she refused to let Cassie attend to her wounds.

She sat on the edge of her bed and applied antiseptic solution without flinching.

“You should rest, Madam,” Cassie said gently.

Maya didn’t answer.

She tried sleeping, but the flashbacks kept her awake.

Mr. Victor’s words haunted her, hurting more than the bruises on her body.

Out of restlessness, she picked up her phone.

As expected, Billionaire Will Haider was dominating the internet.

He was at the top of every headline.

Maya lay against the headboard, scrolling through the endless reports about Will Haider.

Most of them recycled the same information.

Billionaire.

Private.

Successful.

Untouchable.

She was about to put her phone away when a photograph caught her attention.

It wasn’t even a clear one.

Just a woman stepping into a car while Will stood beside her.

The camera had captured only a fraction of her face.

Maya stared for a moment.

Then her thumb stopped moving.

Her gaze fixed on the woman’s wrist.

It was a thin silver bracelet.

A bracelet Maya had spent three weeks searching for before finally buying it as a birthday gift two years ago.

There were thousands of bracelets in the world.

But not one with a missing stone near the clasp.

Maya knew because she had accidentally dropped it before wrapping it.

Her gaze remained fixed on the screen.

Downstairs, she heard Cassie closing a door.

The house felt strangely quiet.

Maya enlarged the photograph.

Then she enlarged it again.

Until the image blurred.

Only then did she set the phone face down on the bed.

The screen continued glowing against the sheets.

Maya didn’t pick it up again.

She already knew who the woman was.