Chapter 3

I sat alone on the floor until dawn.

When morning came, I pulled myself up and found a knife in the kitchen.

I held the standard steel against my wrist, cool and deliberate, tracing the faint blue line of my vein.

Before I could press down, the front door crashed open.

Danny burst in, his face dark with rage.

He completely ignored the blade in my hand and grabbed my arm, his eyes burning with disappointment.

“Why? Why would you do something like that?!”

My head throbbed after an entire night without sleep.

“What are you talking about?” I rasped.

Liam’s eyes were bloodshot as he sprinted into the room and threw his body against me.

“Aunt Abigail’s house caught fire last night!” he sobbed, pounding his small fists against my legs. “If she hadn't been with us, she would have burned to death!”

The sudden impact sent me crashing back onto the floor.

A sharp, curdling scream ripped through the living room.

I scrambled up, horrified, only to see Liam clutching a gash on his palm.

Blood trickled down his hand, straight from the blade I was still holding.

My heart hammered against my ribs.

Tears blinded my vision as I reached out to him.

“Liam, baby, let me see! I didn't mean to, I promise—”

A heavy crack echoed through the hallway as Danny slapped me across the face.

“Don't touch him!” Danny roared, shielding our son. “You’re fucking insane, Elena! Get out! Get the hell out of my house!”

Liam backed away, weeping into Danny’s side.

“Get away from us! I hate you! You’re evil!”

I froze.

I stared at the two of them, watching the utter disgust and terror in their eyes and a hysterical laugh escaped my throat.

“You’re kicking me out?” My voice cracked as the laughter grew louder, wilder. “Where am I supposed to go? What do I have left?”

Danny’s expression shifted. He registered the look in my eyes a second too late.

I raised the knife and lunged it toward my own throat.

Danny moved faster.

He lunged forward and slammed his bare hand around the sharp metal edge, stopping the blade inches from my neck.

Blood welled up between his fingers.

For the first time in years, genuine horror cracked through his composure.

“Are you crazy?!” he choked out. “You’ve completely lost your mind!”

I shoved him back with everything I had.

“You want a divorce anyway!” I screamed, tears streaming down my face. “Why save me?!

“What are you so afraid of, Danny? What do you actually want from me?!”

I wanted to scream, to grab him and demand to know if any part of him had ever truly loved me.

Then the front door clicked open again.

Abigail burst inside, breathing heavily.

She immediately ran over and threw herself in front of Danny and Liam, as if shielding them from a monster.

To anyone else, they looked like the perfect, loving family. And I was the intruder.

“Elena, please!” Abigail sobbed, raising her hands defensively. “It’s all my fault. Beat me, hate me, do whatever you want, just don't hurt them!”

I stared at her, completely numb. I couldn't even force a word out.

Before I could react, Danny and Liam both moved in unison, positioning themselves entirely in front of Abigail to keep her safe from me.

Danny glared at me over his shoulder, his hands still bleeding.

“Abigail has nothing to do with this. Name your price, Elena. Anything you want, I’ll give it to you.”

He paused, his voice dropping into a cold ultimatum.

“If you refuse to sign the divorce papers, it's fine. But when the baby is born, I’m bringing it home. And you’re going to help raise it.”

The cruelty of it ripped straight through my chest.

He didn't care anymore. He knew better than anyone how much I despised affairs and secret children.

When I was a kid, my father abandoned my mother and me for a mistress and her child.

He threw us out on the street, beating my mother in front of the whole neighborhood while people watched and gossiped.

We had no money and nowhere to go.

We slept under an overpass, shivering, starving, skin clinging to bone.

My mother washed dishes at a diner, enduring harassment without a word just so she could earn enough to buy us bread.

When Danny first heard that story, he wept for me. He held me tightly in his arms and made a promise.

“I will never let you suffer again, Elena. I swear to God, you are the only one for me. No one will ever hurt you like that again.”

Now, Danny stepped backward toward the door, taking Liam and Abigail with him.

He broke every single promise. The man who swore to protect me was the one pulling the trigger.

My sanity shattered completely.

After they left, I called his phone over and over like a lunatic.

He blocked my number and I started sending endless streams of text messages.

I went from screaming and cursing to weeping and begging him to stay.

I had depended on him for so long that facing the truth felt like drowning.

“You bastard! I’ll haunt you for the rest of your life!”

“I hope you and that woman rot together! I hope you get hit by a car!”

“Danny, please... I’m sorry. Just bring Liam home. I’ll pretend I don't know anything... Please come back...”