Chapter 2

Four years ago, my marriage to Adeline was the envy of everyone who knew us.

I was her attending physician. We fell in love during her treatment, and eventually, we built a life together.

But now, four years later, I'm nothing but bones in the ground—while Adeline has risen to become a world-renowned billionaire.

The woman who once loved me beyond reason now hates me with every fiber of her being.

I stared at her, this woman so different from the one I remembered, and felt utterly lost.

Was this really the woman I had loved all those years?

"Carrie!"

A sharp, anguished cry cut through the air from inside the car—it was my father. He had just watched the love of his life, his wife of decades, lying in a pool of blood. Grief overtook him, and he struggled to break free from the car, but his captors held him in place.

Adeline's face twisted into a sinister smile. Through the car window, she said in a low, cold voice, "Tell Samuel to come out right now and perform the surgery—or his mother won't make it."

My father seemed to collapse in on himself. He closed his eyes, and for a long moment, he was silent. When he finally spoke, his voice was raw and gravelly, as though he'd just made an impossible decision.

"I'll take you to Samuel. But you have to save his mother first."

Adeline let out a mocking laugh and gave a curt nod. "If you'd said that from the start, I wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble."

Following my father's directions, the cars wound through twisting back roads until they reached a desolate graveyard.

"There, Adeline. You wanted to see Samuel? He's right here."

My father's face was etched with deep, weary lines. After speaking those words, he seemed to drain of all strength, slumping forward and resting against my headstone.

My black-and-white photo stared back from the marker.

But Adeline just fixed her cold gaze on the tombstone, her eyes brimming with unmistakable disgust.

She lashed out without warning, slapping my father hard across the face.

"Samuel's little games are getting old," she spat. "He'll do anything to hurt Nicky, won't he? Anything to play the victim."

My father was old and frail. The blow sent him crumpling to the ground, unable to move. He lay there, his voice trembling as he forced out the words, "It really is Samuel. Samuel is dead."

Adeline's eyes blazed with fury. Through gritted teeth, she snarled at him, "Do you think this is funny? Keep playing these pathetic games with him, and I'll make sure you don't live to see another day.

"Don't forget—your wife is still in the ER fighting for her life."

Watching Adeline in that moment—so cold, so ruthless—I felt a chill of unfamiliarity. Was this the same woman I had given my heart to?

To force me out of hiding, she had put my parents through this kind of hell.

My father coughed up blood. He clutched his aching chest and spoke with a broken, sorrowful voice.

"Adeline... how could you do this to us? I used to think of you as a daughter."

"Enough!" Adeline roared, her hands balled into fists, her nails digging into her palms. "You don't get to say that! Where were you when I was dying?! It was all Samuel's fault... Blame him. Blame Samuel."

Her voice dripped with venom, and her eyes were consumed by an endless, burning hatred.

And my soul—caught in the crossfire—felt as though it were being scorched alive.