Chapter 4

I stared at the broken bracelet on the floor, and something inside me seemed to break with it.

Before I could react, someone shoved me hard.

"Julia! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Ryan scooped Claire into his arms and walked away without even looking back at me.

I dropped to my knees and picked up the bracelet with trembling hands, ignoring the broken clasp digging into my palm. Tears blurred my vision.

"Mom, I'm taking you with me now."

I made my way back to the apartment building, too numb to care about my dirty clothes or the looks people gave me.

Then I dug the wooden box Claire threw away out of the trash.

A phone slipped out from inside. The second I unlocked it, the last screen Mom had opened appeared.

There were two marriage certificates on the screen.

My hands started shaking as I tapped the voice message beneath them.

Claire's smug voice cut through the recording. "Did you know your daughter's been sleeping with a married man?"

A chill ran through me as I suddenly remembered a phone call Claire made to Ryan three months ago.

That night, Claire sobbed that her family kept forcing her to go on blind dates and that she didn't want to live anymore. Ryan spent half the night smoking on the balcony, then got dressed and left early the next morning.

I sank to the floor, digging my nails into my palms until they broke the skin.

So he didn't go to some important meeting that day.

He went to marry Claire.

And all those times he said he was just helping Claire deal with family problems, he wasn't simply doing her favors. He was playing the devoted husband in front of her family.

Mom had already cried herself sick over my miscarriage. How was she supposed to handle finding out that her own daughter was a "homewrecker"?

No wonder Mom begged me through tears to leave Ryan, even as she lay dying.

I stared at the bridal photos Claire just posted, rage burning so hot in my chest that I could barely breathe.

I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth and rushed to the location she tagged.

The second I got out of the car, I charged straight at Claire, who was posing for photos, and grabbed her by the throat.

Her eyes went wide as she struggled against me.

A second later, someone yanked me away and threw me hard to the ground.

My body still hadn't recovered from the miscarriage. Pain shot through me on impact, and my vision went black around the edges.

"Julia, what the hell is wrong with you? Can you stop making a scene for once?"

I looked up and saw the disgust in Ryan's eyes. A bitter laugh slipped out.

"I'm making a scene? She killed my mom! Why shouldn't she pay for it?"

Ryan froze.

Claire hid behind him, one hand pressed to her throat as she gave a hoarse laugh.

"You're the one who said you weren't marrying Ryan anymore. What, you regret it now? So you made up your own mother's death just to get his attention? Is there anything you won't do?"

At that, the tension visibly drained from Ryan's face. He slipped an arm around Claire and walked right past me.

"Julia, look at yourself! Do you even realize what you've turned into? We're almost 20 miles outside the city. Walk back on your own and use the time to think about what you did."

The cars pulled away one after another until they disappeared in the distance.

I bit down hard on my lip and forced myself to stand.

I still had to pick up Mom. She was waiting for me to take her to her new home.

My legs felt numb, but I kept walking, one slow step at a time.

As I passed an unfinished construction site, a pair of rough, filthy hands suddenly reached out from the shadows and clamped over my mouth and nose.

Several men laughed nearby, their voices making my skin crawl.

"We've been waiting for you. Someone paid us good money to show you a real good time."

I understood immediately. Claire was behind this.

I fought with everything I had when my phone suddenly started ringing.

That tiny sound gave me one last spark of hope. I used the last of my strength to answer.

But all I heard was a prerecorded message from Ryan through the app.

"I reset your score to zero. Come back and apologize to Claire, and I'll give you your points back. Then we can get married tomorrow like we planned."

That was it. Then he hung up.

As the men around me burst out laughing, the last of my strength disappeared. I could only watch helplessly as they dragged me deeper into the darkness.

-

Early the next morning, Ryan was already waiting outside the courthouse with Claire beside him.

He glanced at her.

"Your family's off your back now. Once Julia gets here and apologizes, we'll file for divorce. Then Julia and I will get married. And this time, you're done causing trouble."

Just then, a familiar voice came from nearby.

Ryan turned toward it without thinking.

The second he saw the woman standing there with a faint smile and a marriage certificate in her hand, all the color drained from his face.