That’s revenge.

The hallway outside the hospital ward was still. Sterile. Too peaceful for the kind of news Benita had just received.

The world had already moved on. They weren’t aware she had lost her world. Her joy, her happiness.

“Gaby didn’t make it.” clanged like iron bars crashing against each other in her mind 

She watched his lifeless body through the glass door. Unable to go in. 

She slumped to the floor, shaking her head violently as if the motion could undo the truth, but it didn’t, no matter how many times she prayed it away. 

A wail tore from her throat into the silent hallway. 

Grief split her open.

At that moment, she was nothing but a mother who had just lost her child. Not a Bellington. Not a Dawson. Just a hollow shell.

People passed by. A few glanced over. No one stopped. No one could touch the raw pain pouring out of her like blood from a wound.

Gaby was gone.

Her baby. His soft giggle, his tiny hand clutching hers in sleep, his voice shouting, “Mommy! Mummy!” all over the house was gone. All gone.

She had begged him. She had gone to hell and back. But Ben had chosen someone else.

Not just anyone—Fiona, her best friend.

The mere thought of them together churned her stomach, she wanted to puke.

She stopped for the footsteps approaching, deliberate and unhurried. She barely heard them until a figure had appeared.

She didn’t even look up. Couldn’t. Even if she tried. 

Her hands on the tiles were the only thing keeping her steady. 

If she left the tiles, she knew her body would give out. Three weeks of sleepless nights would do that to anyone.

Cillian crouched beside her, not touching her yet. Just there. Solid. Quiet.

Then, slowly, he reached out, wiping her tears away from her face. “Come on. Let me take you home.”

Home?

She had none. Gaby and Ben were her home. But now, they were gone like they never even existed.

“I don’t have a home,” she rasped.

Without waiting for permission, he scooped her in his arms and walked out of the hospital.

She didn’t resist.

She was too weak to anyway.

He carried her as though she were light, fragile. He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t ask her to explain. He just held her until she finally drifted to sleep.

Benita opened her eyes.

She found herself curled up on a couch she didn’t recognize. The living room was warm. Quiet. Luxurious.  

Cilian’s home.

She didn’t ask how she got there. Didn’t ask how he had all her things—her handbag, her phone. She didn’t care.

Nothing mattered to her anymore.

“You’re awake?” Cilian’s voice echoed in the room. “You got me worried.” 

Cillian handed her a cup of tea. She rejected. 

“I’m sorry about Gaby…” he said quietly. “I wish I could’ve done more to help.”

“I would’ve given anything for Gaby to live.” Benita mumbled, “I would’ve sold my soul. Why wasn’t that enough?”

Her chest heaved with fresh sobs but she tried to stifle them. Tried to hide her weakness. 

But she couldn’t.

“I begged him,” she said like a confession. Her voice cracked. “I begged Ben to come. I told him Gaby needed him. He chose her, Cilian. Over Gaby. Over me.”

Benita collapsed into Cilian’s chest and cried long and hard. 

She cried out loud like her heart was breaking for the first time. 

Her world had collapsed all at once and the only person by her side was this stranger giving her gentle pats on the back. Not Ben.

Benita’s hands curled into fists. “I need a lawyer.” She declared.

Cillian frowned, but soon his frown faded into understanding. “Are you suing me?”

“I’m divorcing him.” Benita breathed.

“Divorcing him?”

“Get me a good lawyer, please. I won’t stay married one more day married to that man!”

Cillian watched her silently. The little frown on her face bought his attention. Her gaze lingered— not just on her expression, but on her features too. He found her beautiful. 

Cillian let out a scoff. “At the end of the day, what you’ll get is compensation, if you’re lucky. 

Will that be enough for everything you’ve suffered for him?”

“It’s not enough, but this is the only way I know,” Benita replied.

Cillian laughed. “What if I told you there was another way?” He stood up, “A way to break him and make him regret everything he’s done.”

She turned to him, eyes brewing with questions “Why are you helping me? Ben Dawson is my problem, why are you making it yours?”

“I already told you.”

“That I’ll be yours?”

He laughed. 

He crossed the room with hands shoved in his pocket. 

“I’m Ben’s brother— half brother,” he barely the words himself.

Benita blinked. 

Silence stretched between them, thick and loaded.

“Brother?” Benita finally found her voice. “He always told me that he had no family…”

“That’s because he sent me to prison…”

“Prison?!” 

“Benita, Ben stole my life from me. He took the company I built with my sweat…” His voice became raspy now, it was the first time Benita saw Cilian losing his cool. 

“I built Dawson’s Construction Company— from scratch— with my blood and hard work. I trusted him as my brother and gave him a position on the company board, but that was my mistake. He repaid me by stabbing me in the back.

While I rotted behind bars for crimes he committed, he took over. Became a hero. A happy freeman.” 

Benita sat frozen for a full minute. Not knowing what to say. The past few days have been nothing but full of surprises. Gaby. Fiona. Now this? 

“Now I’m free. And I’m not just taking back what’s mine— I’m taking everything he’s ever owned.

The company. His status. His perfect little wife. 

One by one, I’ll strip him bare. And you’ll be the first thing he loses.”

A sad smile crossed Benita’s lips. “I’m not sure how I can help you, Cillian.” 

“Ben doesn’t…” her voice broke. “He doesn’t love me… The person you should be going after is Fiona.”

Cillian laughed softly. “Fiona?” 

“Fiona didn’t make him. You did. 

Being married to you gave him the wealth and status he has now, and he knows it.” 

Benita looked at Cilian, his words didn’t make any sense. 

“You’re a Bellington, Benita.” Cillian explained, “Your surname has more power than you know. 

“But I became a Dawson after our wedding.” 

Cillian shook his head, chuckling wryly. “Changing your name doesn’t change your identity, Benita. You’re still Benita Bellington and Ben has been using that to water himself while you dry. Your name comes up in every meeting he attends. Every deal he bags.” 

“I don’t believe it…” Benita shook.

“You do, you just don’t want to accept it.” 

“I don’t care what you say. I don’t want a part of this. I won’t be a part of this.”

“You will.” “Soon.” 

“When he announces the birth of his newborn baby and you don’t have Gaby. When he closes another deal and Fiona is beside him, reaping what you sowed. You’ll be so angry going to want you’ll want to strip him of all you’ve given him… That’s revenge. And there’s only one way to do that.”

Benita closed her eyes, and the images of Ben and Fiona flashed. 

Gaby’s face flickered behind her eyelids too, bright and beautiful.

She would never see those bright eyes again. 

When she opened her eyes, they were filled with tears. 

“What do I need to do?” she wiped her eyes.

“Marry me.” Cillian declared. “I’ll give you the power to destroy him.”