Chapter 2

In my memories, there was a time when Craig loved me, like his life depended on it.

Izzy, the scholarship student he’d been funding, had fallen for him so hard that she didn’t even care about her dignity. She showed up at our wedding and made a scene, threatening to slit her wrists right there in front of everyone.

In reply, he slapped her across the face.

“Have some self-respect,” he snapped. “The only woman I’ll ever marry is Jane Shaw. Keep acting out like this, and I’ll send you back to the mountains you came from.”

However, three years into our marriage, I found out the truth. The basement was packed full of Izzy’s things, and every night, Craig would go down there alone and cry.

“I’m sorry, Izzy.” I overheard him whisper one night. “I had to follow my family’s plans, but in my heart, you’re my real wife.”

It turned out he’d fallen for Izzy a long time ago.

I was dazed, but I was also pregnant, so I swallowed it all and kept quiet.

Later, while I was out on a work trip near the coast, I ran into Izzy again. She was out in the open water, messing around with a group of people.

Trying to be decent, I went over and reminded her that they should be careful out there, only for her to respond by screaming insults at me. Then, right as things got wild, she cramped up, started drowning, and because someone had bled in the water, she attracted a shark.

Everyone else panicked and swam for their lives. I was the only one who steered a boat out to rescue her.

Yet, what did she do? She turned around and told Craig that I had slandered her—that she was just swimming, nothing more. She even accused me of being the one sleeping around in the sea and said I’d pushed her into the water to silence her.

Craig’s eyes turned bloodshot as he wrapped his hand around my throat.

“You whore,” he growled. “I’ve spoiled you too much, haven’t I? No wonder you keep coming out here to ‘do research.’ It turns out it’s just an excuse to hook up with random men.

“You love studying marine life so much, don’t you? Now, you can study it from the inside.”

He ordered his people to sew me into the belly of a shark.

No matter how much I tried to explain, he refused to believe me. The real liar causing all the chaos was Izzy.

…

An hour passed, and the stench of rotting fish forced my eyes open.

Everything around me was pitch black. The surveillance camera feed hadn’t moved at all, and there was no sign of help. Word had it Craig was out shopping with Izzy, not sparing a second thought for me.

My heart was numb with pain. Every inch of my body felt like it had been flayed open.

The giant shark had been flung ashore by a tornado, and that was when I was shoved inside.

Due to the storm, sand and wind were everywhere. If it continued like that, the shark’s body would dry up and disintegrate in no time. However, I was still pregnant. I couldn’t let anything happen to my baby!

Desperate, I pounded on the shark’s belly and shouted to a fisherman on the beach.

“Please,” I begged, “call Craig’s assistant, Andrew. Tell him I’m carrying Craig’s child. The baby can’t die like this. Please, just let me out.”

The fisherman looked shocked but kind. Without hesitation, he called Andrew.

Not long after, Craig showed up, with Izzy by his side.

“Mr. Craig,” the fisherman said urgently, “your wife says she’s pregnant. Please, let her out. That baby can’t take this.”

Craig paused for half a second, but his face eventually turned ice cold.

“Pregnant? What a joke. With how much she sleeps around, who knows whose bastard that is? Tell her, a fake pregnancy is not an excuse for her to escape punishment. She tried to drive Izzy to suicide. She needs to sit in there and think about what she’s done.”