### Chapter 3

Five years ago, when Dustin took me back to his side, I tried to explain why I'd ended things between us.

He shook his head. "No need to explain. None of it matters."

Back then, I thought he understood me.

Now I realized he had never believed me. Not once.

"Dustin, just let it go. Delia's always been the best at putting on an act for men. How else do you think she tricked your uncle into falling head over heels for her back then?"

Gabriella laced her fingers through his, stealing a glance at me with undisguised triumph in her eyes.

Dustin stared at me, his gaze heavy with disappointment so deep it bordered on disgust.

"There's a music reception tomorrow evening. I'm taking Gabriella. She's been learning the violin." He looked down at me, each word deliberate and final. "Give her the Kristin."

I stared at him in disbelief.

That Kristin violin. Five years ago, when I came back to him, he'd bid hundreds of millions for it at auction without blinking. A priceless antique, the only one of its kind in the entire world.

I'd treated it as the token of our second beginning. No one was allowed to touch it.

A distant cousin of his had once snuck it out to play with. She was banished from the Delgado estate that same day.

Dustin had shielded me fiercely back then, issuing a warning to the entire family: what belonged to me was untouchable.

And now he wanted me to hand it over to Gabriella with my own two hands.

My heart felt like it was being crushed in a giant fist, squeezed until I couldn't breathe.

I looked at the expression on his face. There was no room for negotiation.

Slowly, I nodded.

"Fine. I'll give it to her."

Dustin held my gaze for one long moment, then wrapped his arm around Gabriella and walked out.

The walls of the villa were well insulated, but they couldn't quite muffle the broken sobs and gasping from the room next door.

I wasn't sad. My stomach just hurt worse than before.

Curled up on the bed, I watched my phone screen light up. A message from Les.

"Delia, everything is ready. I'll come for you in two days, right on schedule."

I clutched the cold phone and squeezed my eyes shut.

Two days until our wedding.

The next morning, I gave the violin to Gabriella.

She pulled it from the case immediately and picked up the bow.

A sound so shrill it made the scalp crawl tore through the entire villa.

Then she produced a pair of scissors and, without a second's hesitation, snipped the custom-made strings one by one. Strings I'd had a master luthier craft specifically for that instrument.

"These strings are awful. Can't even get a single tune out of them."

Gabriella fixed me with a taunting stare, a vicious little smile curling her lips.

I didn't react. I turned and walked away.

Passing the study, I heard Dustin's voice inside, talking with one of his cousins.

"I heard you gave Gabriella the Blood Jade Bracelet and the earrings. And now you've made Delia hand over that violin too?"

"Delia lost her child trying to save you. Her parents died pulling you out of that fire. You treat her like this and you're not afraid she'll leave?"

I stopped. My feet rooted to the floor.

Dustin's voice drifted out, careless and unbothered.

"Leave? She's an orphan. Where would she go?"

"Besides, I need her to swallow that pathetic scrap of pride and understand who's in charge here. Once she falls in line and stops making things difficult for Gabriella, I'll keep her around."

His cousin sighed.

"But aren't you worried she'll give up on you for good?"

Dustin let out a laugh, a single scoff dripping with contempt, as though he'd just heard the most ridiculous joke.

"She's nothing but a cash grab her parents groomed from birth. Whoever has money, that's who she clings to."

"Why else would she have dumped me back then and gone crawling to that bastard Marvin?"

"Now that the Delgado empire is in my hands, she's wrapped around me like a parasite, desperate to never let go. You really think she'd walk away from this?"

His cousin pressed: "But what happened back then... won't you at least hear her side of it?"

Dustin's answer was a cruel smile. Three words, cold as a blade:

"She's not worth it."

My entire body plunged into ice. I couldn't stop shaking.

So he had never understood me.

All this time, he believed I'd abandoned him for power and money. And crawled back for the same reason.

So he gave me a place beside him while grinding my dignity into the dirt.

Five years ago, Dustin buried my parents, set aside old grudges, and told me he'd give me a home.

But my parents had burned alive pulling him out of that fire.

And I had spent two years undercover at Marvin's side, stealing evidence of his corporate espionage and backroom deals, then anonymously fed it all to Dustin.

That was the only reason Dustin had been able to take Marvin down and claim his place as heir.

The one who wasn't worth it wasn't me. It was Dustin Delgado.

My nails dug into my palms. Blood dripped down, one drop at a time. I didn't feel a thing.

I took two steps back and disappeared into the shadows of the hallway.

"Young Madam!"

From deep in the corridor, an old voice called after me.

### Chapter 4

It was Albert, the old butler who had served the Delgado family for forty years.

He had watched Dustin grow up and witnessed every twist and turn between us along the way.

Albert walked closer, shaking his head. "Ma'am, why won't you explain? You sacrificed so much for him back then."

I smiled at him. "Do you really think explaining would change anything? He and I should have ended seven years ago."

Albert's brow furrowed deeply.

"I'm afraid, ma'am, that one day he'll regret this."

"He has nothing to regret. The family empire, the woman he loves. He has everything he ever wanted."

I gave a faint smile.

Back then, I'd had no choice. For Dustin's sake, I could only agree to an engagement with Marvin, who was infatuated with me.

I never expected to piece things back together with Dustin after that.

But the moment he clawed his way to the top of the Delgado empire and personally came to bring me back, hope bloomed in my chest despite everything.

I told myself that the love we'd shared since we were eighteen could conquer anything. That even if misunderstanding carved a chasm between us, our feelings could bridge it.

But Dustin never once gave me the chance to explain.

I went back to the bedroom and dug out the old photo album I'd kept hidden away.

Every page was filled with us, young and in love.

Him smiling at me in the sunlight. Sneaking his hand into mine. Draping his jacket over my shoulders when I fell asleep.

I took the wedding portrait down from the wall.

Two weeks ago, I'd been smiling beside him, radiant, convinced I had the whole world.

I tossed the album and the portrait into the trash together.

Ten years of misplaced devotion. Time to let it go.

Footsteps sounded behind me. Gabriella walked in.

Her gaze drifted to the trash can, and a smile she couldn't quite hide tugged at the corner of her lips.

"Delia, I told Dustin I'm afraid of the dark, and he said your room is the biggest and brightest in the house. He wants me to move in here." She tilted her head. "So could you hurry up and pack? I need the space."

This sun-drenched suite held so many traces of my life with Dustin.

I had believed I would bear his children here, that I would never leave.

I looked at the smugness written all over Gabriella's face and lowered my eyes.

"Fine. It's all yours."

I packed quickly.

I didn't take a single thing Dustin had ever given me. Everything I owned fit into one suitcase.

I moved into the storage room closest to the front door. Easier to leave when the time came.

The moment I pushed the door open, dust billowed into my face and sent me into a coughing fit. The room was a cluttered mess, the bed in the corner buried under piles of junk.

But I could manage for one night.

One night was all I had left.

Sometime past four in the morning, the temperature plunged to freezing. Bitter wind howled outside like something wailing in the dark.

Dustin came home carrying the cold on his skin.

Albert approached him and bowed slightly. "Sir, the madam moved to the storage room. Her health isn't well. Perhaps you could..."

Dustin's expression turned black.

He strode to the storage room and kicked the door open.

I was sitting on the edge of the bed, taking my stomach medication. He stood in the doorway, jaw clenched, eyes burning with a fury that could devour. "Delia Sullivan, what the hell is this act for? Who are you performing for now?"

I looked at him, genuinely confused. "Didn't you tell me to move out?"

"Gabriella said she wanted the master bedroom. She didn't tell you to crawl into a dump like this. Are you trying to make everyone think I abuse you?"

I smiled, perfectly calm. "It doesn't matter where I sleep."

He seized my wrist, snatched the medicine from my hand, and shoved me down onto the dusty, broken bed. Before I could react, his mouth was on mine.

I couldn't dodge, so I bit down hard on his tongue.

Dustin flinched and released me. I scrubbed at my lips frantically.

That mouth of his disgusted me now.

His gaze turned razor-sharp, murderous, as if he wanted to tear me apart. "Don't you dare wipe that off. Who do you think you are to be disgusted by me? I haven't even said a word about you being used goods."

The words drove through my chest like a blade.

He always knew exactly where to cut deepest.

As I struggled, he wrenched my clothes open, exposing the jagged scar across my lower abdomen.

I'd gotten it before he left, when I threw myself in the path of a car to protect him and our unborn child.

The crash shattered two of my ribs and ripped my five-month baby from my body. I nearly bled out on the operating table.

Dustin stared at the scar. Something that might have been regret flickered in the depths of his eyes, but it vanished just as quickly, swallowed by venom.

"You keep this scar on display all the time. Is that your way of reminding me I owe you?"

"Delia Sullivan, I don't owe you a damn thing. The most despicable person in this world is you. Don't you dare forget the filthy things you did back then."

I held back my tears and laughed out loud.

"You're right. I'm despicable. I've never seen it so clearly before, just how rotten I am, right down to the bone."

### Chapter 5

Dustin's voice cracked through the room like a whip.

"Enough! Drop the act! Gabriella's timid. Seeing those disgusting scars of yours traumatized her. She has nightmares every single night."

"You love putting on a show so much? Then get the hell out of this house and stop scaring her!"

He was waiting for me to crumble. Waiting for me to beg, to surrender with my own mouth.

I looked at his face, twisted and warped with rage, and felt nothing. Still water. A dead lake.

I didn't argue. I didn't cry.

"I'm leaving now."

I grabbed my suitcase and walked right past him.

Dustin stared at my back. When he saw me open the storage room door without so much as a flicker of emotion, his jaw clenched so hard I could hear his teeth grinding.

He stormed after me and ripped the suitcase from my hand.

"You really think I won't touch you, Delia?"

"Let's see who in this entire city would dare take you in once you walk out that door!"

He lifted the suitcase over his head and slammed it into the ground.

The impact split one corner open. Something tumbled out and skittered across the floor.

An emerald brooch, encrusted with diamonds.

The Simmons family heirloom Les had given me.

I bent to pick it up, but a pale hand got there first.

Gabriella's eyes lit up as she held it to the light. "What a gorgeous brooch! Dustin, I love it. Can I try it on?"

She was already pinning it to her chest before the question left her lips.

That brooch was the only thing in this world that was mine.

I didn't hesitate. I extended my hand toward her, my voice cold as a blade. "I've given up everything else. Not this. Give it back."

Gabriella flinched like a startled rabbit and shrank into Dustin's arms.

He pulled her into the crook of his elbow, a nameless fury surging through him.

"The jade bracelet you could give away. The ruby earrings you could hand over. But this worthless trinket is suddenly off-limits? Gabriella likes it. Give it to her!"

I opened my mouth to refuse, but Gabriella's eyes flickered. She unclasped the brooch.

"It's fine, Delia. Here, I'll give it back."

Her eyes turned red on cue.

"You can make things as hard for me as you want. Just please stop putting Dustin in such a difficult position."

"You've always loved money more than anything, haven't you? I'll give you every cent I have. I'm not like you. All I want is Dustin's heart."

Tears brimmed in her eyes, her expression the picture of sincerity and devotion.

As if I really were nothing but a money-grubbing wretch.

She held the brooch out to me. Then her fingers opened.

It hit the marble floor and shattered into pieces.

Every drop of blood in my body went cold.

Gabriella pressed a hand to her mouth.

"Oh no, you didn't catch it! What a shame. That was such fine emerald, too."

I stared at the fragments scattered across the floor, and the pain ripped through me like something tearing open inside my chest.

I couldn't hold back any longer. My hand flew up and cracked across Gabriella's face.

"Ah!"

She shrieked and stumbled into Dustin's arms.

The next second, a far harder blow came whistling through the air and landed on my cheek like a brand of fire.

"You have a death wish, Delia!"

My vision went black. My body pitched sideways and plunged into the freezing pool beside us.

Gabriella's wail pierced the air.

"It hurts! It hurts so much, Dustin!"

He held her tight. He watched me thrashing and gasping in the water, and the only thing in his eyes was fury.

Albert came running at the commotion, his face draining of color.

"She can't swim!"

Dustin stood at the edge of the pool, his voice rolling with the force of a gathering storm.

"Anyone who helps her can get out with her."

Icy water flooded my nose and mouth. Through the churning surface, I saw Dustin lower his head to Gabriella's swollen cheek and blow on it gently, his face full of tenderness and heartache.

Then he scooped her up, still sobbing, and carried her inside.

He never looked back. Not once.

But the strange thing was, my heart didn't hurt anymore. I just felt tired of it all. Tired, and done.

Albert couldn't bear it in the end. He sent someone to pull me out.

I knelt on the pool deck, retching up the ice water that had filled my lungs, shaking so violently my bones rattled.

"Let me take you to the hospital!"

I pulled the towel he'd draped over my shoulders tighter around myself, teeth chattering. "Thank you, Albert. I'm fine."

I gathered my scattered belongings and limped toward the front gate. "From now on, I'm not your young madam anymore."

Albert hurried after me, frantic. "Where will you go?"

"Anywhere. As long as it's away from him, anywhere is good enough."

The old butler stopped in his tracks. In the bitter wind, I heard a single, grief-stricken sigh escape him.

The villa gates closed slowly behind me.

I walked into the howling wind, trembling from head to toe, but I didn't look back. Not at that gilded cage where I'd spent five years living and five years imprisoned.

My feet sank unevenly through the snow. I didn't know how long I'd been walking when my phone screen lit up.

A message from Les.

Sweetheart, I came early. Twenty minutes out. Are you ready?

Snow crashed down in white sheets, and the wind cut through me like I was already turning to ice.

I kept going, shaking so hard I could barely control my limbs. My legs grew number with every step, each one like walking on the edge of a knife.

Just as my vision was going dark and my knees were about to buckle, a car came speeding toward me from the opposite direction.

Tires screamed against the road, skidding to a halt inches away.

The door was thrown open from inside.

"Delia?!"

A man leaped out and sprinted toward me, heedless of the storm.

He caught me just as my body gave way. One look at me, soaked and half-frozen, my skin mottled blue and purple, and his eyes flooded scarlet with rage.

He stripped off his warm coat and wrapped it around me until not an inch of cold could reach me.

"Was it that animal Delgado? He did this to you?"

His voice shook with barely contained fury and raw, bleeding pain. "I will tear apart everyone who laid a hand on you."

I sagged against his solid chest, my face numb with cold.

"I'm sorry. The brooch you gave me. I couldn't protect it. Gabriella destroyed it."

The thought of the Simmons family heirloom in pieces on that marble floor made the guilt unbearable.

"It's just a thing. No matter how valuable, it's nothing compared to you. If you liked it, I'll have a new one made."

Les lifted me into his arms and settled me gently into the back seat.

He climbed in beside me and told the driver to turn the heat up as high as it would go. Then he drew me into his arms, peeled off my soaked shoes and socks, and pressed my frozen feet between his burning-hot palms.

"Don't cry, sweetheart. I'd hate for my bride to show up at her own wedding with puffy eyes."

It wasn't until he said it that I realized tears had been streaming down my face.

I reached up to wipe them away, and then I froze.

My pupils blew wide. I jolted upright out of his arms like I'd been electrocuted, my head nearly slamming into the roof of the car.

I stared at the man in front of me, standing, whole, perfectly fine.

"You... aren't you supposed to be impotent and paralyzed?!"

The black SUV tore toward the airport, vanishing into the storm.

Meanwhile, back at the Delgado villa, the atmosphere had curdled into something suffocating.

Dustin sat on the living room sofa, staring out at the falling snow, his face carved from stone.

His grip on his phone was white-knuckled, the casing creaking under the pressure. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. He typed out a message and hit send.

Had enough? Then get back inside. Remember. There won't be a next time.

He waited.

And waited.

The sky darkened from gray to black.

No reply. No figure appearing at the door.

He ripped his tie loose and hurled the cup of tea a servant offered him against the floor.

The clock on the wall read eight in the evening.

It had been nearly four hours since he'd thrown me into that frozen pool.