Chapter 4

When Maxwell heard Maya's words, a wave of sympathy washed over him.

I caught his gaze, and though I had grown used to it, my heart still felt as though it was pricked by needles and stung with a dense, throbbing ache.

I couldn't stand being in the living room a second longer, so I walked into the garden. Moments after settling onto the swing, I heard footsteps behind me.

"Valerie Holt, you've known for a while that Lena is Maxwell's child, haven't you?"

Maya walked up to my side. The gentleness on her face was gone, replaced by smug triumph.

I glanced back and saw Maxwell on the phone by the floor-to-ceiling window, not even looking in our direction. No wonder Maya was so bold to approach and openly provoke me.

I ignored her taunt and handed her the divorce papers I had been holding onto. "You probably have better means than I do to get him to sign this, right?"

Maya was in complete disbelief. "Are you getting a divorce?"

I nodded. "I don't want an unfaithful partner."

She remained stunned for a while before saying, "Even if you're willingly stepping aside, I'm so sorry. I still have to take matters into my own hands, just to be safe."

Before I could process what she meant, a loud splash sounded behind us.

Lena, who had been playing with her toys in the living room moments ago, was now flailing in the deep end of the pool, on the verge of drowning.

"Help! Someone save my child!" Maya screamed.

In the living room, Maxwell heard the cries for help. Without a second thought, he tossed his phone aside and bolted over to jump straight into the pool.

Half a minute later, he climbed out, carrying a choking, coughing Lena.

Maya rushed forward to hug Lena and wailed hysterically. Between coughs, the latter suddenly pointed at me and cried out, "It was her! That lady pushed me in!"

Maxwell whipped his head around to look at me with fury in his eyes. "How could you be so vicious to lay a hand on a three-year-old, Val?"

I frantically shook my head. "I didn't do it!"

But he didn't believe a single word. "She's just three years old! How could she possibly lie?

"I've spoiled you so much that you've become completely reckless, Val. You've lost all sense of right and wrong, and now you're full of lies.

"In that case, go to the cellar and reflect on what you've done!"

I stared at him in disbelief. He had just taken the word of a three-year-old without bothering to verify anything.

He knew perfectly well that I suffered from claustrophobia, yet he was going to throw me into a cellar. He said that I was full of lies when he was the one who had been lying all along.

A chill spread from the depths of my heart as I closed my eyes, and a tear slid down my cheek.

Maxwell didn't even glance at me. With a simple wave of his hand, he ordered the bodyguards to take me away.

…

I was kept in the cellar for three days.

For three days, no one brought me food or water. Fear seemed to coil around me like veins and estranged the air out of my lungs.

On the third day, the door was suddenly flung open before blinding light flooded in. Through my blurred vision, I saw Maxwell's panicked expression.

He gathered me in his arms and apologized in a voice thick with guilt. "I'm so sorry, Valerie. I was away on a business trip and forgot to tell them to let you out."

I found it almost laughable.

Whenever Maxwell traveled for work, he would call me the second he had a free moment. But now, he had vanished for three days and completely forgotten about me, leaving me locked in the cellar to starve.

My eyes stung, but I was too weak to even cry.

Seeing my condition, he rushed me to the hospital. I lay in his arms, breathing in his familiar cedar scent, and my heart felt dead and still.

When I couldn't hold on any longer, I slipped into unconsciousness.

…

When I woke up again, the sharp scent of disinfectant in the hospital filled my nose. Maxwell was slumped over the side of my bed with dark circles under his eyes.

The moment he saw that I was awake, he grabbed my hand and said in a trembling voice, "I'm so sorry, Val. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have locked you in the cellar and left you in there to starve for three whole days.

"I'll accept any punishment you give me, as long as you're not mad at me."

I looked into his red-rimmed eyes and felt nothing at all.