Five years ago, my then girlfriend betrayed me for Ethan Reid.

Together, they staged a car accident that killed both my parents. Then they hired someone to assault and murder my younger sister, who wasn't even sixteen, and framed me for it.

I was thrown in prison where I suffered every day.

It was Serena Cole who risked everything to become my defense attorney. She cleared my name and courted me with everything she had. She told me I was all she could see, that I was her whole world.

When I finally gave her my whole heart, I looked down from upstairs and saw her kissing Ethan like she couldn't get enough of him, days before our wedding.

Right there in our wedding car, they crossed every line.

"Bold move, bride. Not worried the groom might see?" Ethan whispered.

"His legs are crippled because of you. You know better than anyone whether he can even make it downstairs," Serena replied.

"What's this, feeling guilty now? Every dirty thing I ever did to him, you were the one who planned it. You want me to tell him that?"

"If you say a word, I swear I'll take you down with me," came her ragged response.

Ethan bit her ear roughly, driving her over the edge.

"Sure, sure. I know you love him so much. So doesn't this make it even more exciting? Say it. Who's your daddy?"

She broke apart beneath him, saying his name over and over, breathless and undone.

The tears hit me before I could stop them.

She had known. All along, she had known everything that happened to me. And not only that, she had helped plan it.

It was past midnight when Serena finally came home. Her legs were so unsteady she could barely walk straight.

She found me sitting alone on the couch in the dark and a flicker of guilt crossed her face.

"Why didn't you turn on the light? Babe, I'm so sorry I'm late. The girls just kept going and I could barely keep up. Didn't I tell you not to wait for me?"

She made her way toward me, stumbling slightly. There was a heavy, disgusting scent on her. Right as she leaned in to kiss me, I shoved her and she tumbled to the floor. I bent over and threw up.

"Babe, what's wrong? Is your stomach acting up again?"

She frowned and looked around the room. When she spotted the dinner sitting untouched on the table, her expression shifted.

"What were the caregivers even doing? How did they let you go this long without eating? Do they want to keep their jobs or not?"

"It's not their fault," I said. "I saw something that made me sick."

Her eyes were full of frustration and remorse, and she held me in her arms tenderly.

"Babe, I'm so sorry I left you here alone. What on earth did you see? It's all because Hannah and the others insisted on throwing me a bachelorette party. But in three days I'll be your wife. We're going to be together forever."

She kissed my cheek softly, then reached down and pulled the blanket over my legs.

"Give me a few minutes. I'll make you some oats to settle your stomach. Honestly, I've completely coddled your stomach."

I watched her without a word. Serena had always taken care of everything concerning me, and everyone knew she loved me above all else.

To get me to eat, she had taken cooking lessons from a top chef when she had never done any manual labor in her life.

She walked away from a deal worth tens of millions just to sit with me through physical therapy.

Serena had even gone bungee jumping despite being terrified of heights, just to understand what I was going through. She said it was so she could stand beside me and face whatever came next.

She poured everything she had into clearing my name.

But that love, the kind everyone praised, was all fake.

Every single thing that had happened to me, Serena had known about. She engineered all of it with Ethan. They had trampled my dignity, laughed at my helplessness, watched me drag myself through the wreckage of my life while they stood by and smiled. My family was gone because of them.

The person I thought had saved me was actually the demon who pushed me off the edge in the first place.

My fists tightened until my knuckles cracked. Tears slid down my face without a sound.

How did she become that good at pretending?

How much of any of it was ever real?

"Come on, let's soak your feet. If I hadn't come home, you wouldn't have bothered, would you? How are your legs ever going to get better if you don't? When are you going to be able to stand up and swing me around?"

Serena stood there with her hands on her hips, pouting, looking completely at ease. There was no trace of disgust anywhere on her face.

If this had been before, I would have pulled her into my arms and cried. I had even thought about taking her advice, letting go of the hatred, and just building a life with her where we grow old together.

But now my heart has turned cold.

If she actually cared about my legs getting better, why would she have worked with my enemy to cripple them in the first place?

"What if I told you I could stand up?"

Her eyes went wide. For a moment Serena looked genuinely stunned. After five seconds, she decided I was joking.

"Stop that. Don't make jokes about your legs. It's not funny."

I clenched my fist. So I hadn't been wrong about her after all.

If she were truly innocent, hearing that my legs had recovered would have made her happy. Instead she was certain it was impossible.

I stood up right in front of her.

"Caleb, how are y-y-you… There's no way you can stand!"

She caught herself and gave an awkward laugh.

"I mean, are your legs all better now? Let's go to the hospital and get you checked out."

Something gave out in me all at once. I fell to the floor. Everything became clear. My mouth opened and closed a few times. In the end I swallowed the words I wanted to say.

"My legs aren't better. I just forced myself to stand because I wanted to see you happy. The report is on the table. The doctor said there's no chance of recovery."

She didn't say much after that. Only a few words of comfort, then she made an excuse and slipped out to the living room.

I followed quietly. Through the gap in the door I caught bits and pieces: "medication", "effect", "increase the dose".

Even hearing it with my own ears, I still couldn't fully believe it. She had never actually wanted my legs to heal. So what had all these years meant?

The pain in my chest made it almost impossible to breathe or stand. A wave of despair hit me, then another. Something bitter rose in my throat and I couldn't hold it back anymore.

She came back to the bedroom and found me curled up on the floor.

"What's wrong, are you hurting somewhere? Caleb, you look so pale."

She cupped my face in both hands, her eyes filling with tears.

"I'm sorry, Caleb. It's my fault. I'm useless. I still haven't made Ethan pay for what he did. I'm such a terrible lawyer. I hate myself for being so helpless."

Her face was streaming with tears.

If my legs hadn't recovered and I hadn't gone downstairs to surprise her, I think she could have kept me fooled for the rest of my life. I would have continued to sleep with my enemy and pour out my heart to her.

Her acting was spectacular.

When I didn't respond, she tried again.

"Ethan has too much power and too many connections. I really don't want you living in hatred forever."

She paused. The look she gave me was careful. I knew what she wanted. She wanted me to say I was ready to let it go, to fade into the background and orbit her life quietly.

"What if my answer is still the same as always? I want to make Ethan pay with his blood and tears. I want to tear him apart. I am never letting him go."

Hearing that, Serena's nails dug into my skin. Her whole body was trembling. She was trying to hide it but she couldn't.

I watched her face closely. That was just a casual test and she had already given herself away. I had been such a fool to ever believe she was innocent.

I smiled miserably and gave her what she wanted.

"Just kidding. I let go of all that a long time ago. Three days and we're married. I'll have a surprise for you at the wedding."

She exhaled slowly and her smile came back. She kissed me hard.

"Thank you, Caleb. From now on I'll always be by your side. I won't let Ethan hurt you ever again. Wait here, I'll go run you a bath."

I watched her moving around, busy and attentive, her whole world arranged around me. Everyone who knew us said she loved me more than anything.

If anyone could be capable of betraying me, people would have said Serena was the last person on that list.

But she was the one who had broken me.

There was no future for us anymore.

I took out my phone and sent a message. A single set of instructions.

I didn't want Serena's love anymore.

The next morning I opened my eyes. Three days left before I was gone.

I got up early on purpose. Serena was sitting still, staring at an old photo of me, the one from before, when I used to ride horses. I was confident in that photo, full of life. Every girl on campus had wanted to be with that version of me.

"Missing the old days? Too bad about my legs."

She startled and quickly tucked the photo away. Then she noticed what I had deliberately exposed. My bare skin, covered in scars. And carved into my lower body were the word "trash". The surrounding skin was a ruin of overlapping wounds.

Her face drained of color. She fought to hold herself together. She couldn't.

"I, I'll just go check on the oats."

She rushed out. A moment later, muffled retching came from down the hall.

This was the first time she had ever seen the full extent of what had been done to me. Ever since she got me out of prison, I had been barely holding together mentally. I had never shown these marks to anyone, not even her.

She had always assumed that after destroying me and playing the savior who pulled me out, I would gradually let go of the hatred, just like she wanted.

'But these marks, Serena. You couldn't even stomach the sight of them, could you?

'And every single one of them is because of you.

'I'm showing it to you on purpose, Serena. I want you to see every last bit of it.'

I wheeled myself out to the living room. From the kitchen came Serena's voice, sharp and frantic.

"Didn't you say you'd have someone look after Caleb properly in prison? Then what are all those marks on him? That's your idea of looking after him? I'll kill you!"

The man on the other end of the line was completely unbothered. His voice held a lazy, arrogant edge, yet it was unmistakably heavy with seduction.

"No you won't. Because you can't give me up. If I'm gone, where are you going to find another man who looks that much like him? And don't forget, you just threw up looking at those marks on him. Maybe you should come find me and remind yourself what a real man feels like. Tonight, same place. I've got something new planned. You'll love it."

"I told you to stop doing that. Two more days and I belong to Caleb completely. He'll be my husband!"

"Then let's make the most of the next two days. Same place. I'll be waiting."

Serena hung up. She muttered curses under her breath, but her hands never stopped untying her apron and fixing her hair. The oats had been boiling over for who knows how long and she hadn't even noticed. She was in that much of a hurry.

"Hiss."

"Babe! Did you burn yourself? What are those caregivers even for if they can't keep an eye on one person? I told you the kitchen is off limits, it's dangerous. Does it hurt?"

Her eyes were red. She grabbed my burned finger and blew on it to cool it down. Then her gaze landed on the scars on my exposed skin and went still for just a moment. She looked away without a word.

"Did you have somewhere to be? Go ahead, I can have Ben take care of this."

As she said it, the rug that was covering my legs slipped to the floor, revealing the raw, angry burns.

"Burns this bad are not a small thing. I told you, as long as I'm by your side, nothing is going to hurt you. Your legs are already in bad shape. This makes it worse. We need to go to the hospital."

Then her phone lit up. I caught one glance at what was on the screen. A photo. The kind that made her breath catch. She swallowed quietly.

"You go ahead if you have somewhere to be. My legs are useless anyway. What's a few more scars?"

"No. I won't let you talk about yourself like that."

She turned the screen face down and kept her expression steady.

"Nothing matters more than your legs. I'm waiting for the day you're well enough to travel the world with me."

But the phone kept going. Buzzing, stopping, and buzzing again.

There was visible hesitation in her eyes.