On our fifth anniversary, I closed the project deal and came back to the capital early, wanting nothing more than to surprise Bartholomew. What I walked into instead was his affair.

The bedroom light flickered, dim and unsteady. Through the crack in the door, I watched my best friend Vivien drape herself over Bartholomew's shoulders, gasping softly.

I froze in place. My heart seized.

Vivien's fingers traced a slow line down Bartholomew's chest, her voice thick with triumph.

“Bartholomew, do you think……Kay might suddenly come home?”

“So what if she does.”

Bartholomew scoffed, his voice saturated with contempt.

“She's out on a deal today. Won't be back before midnight. Besides, Kay is hopeless. Gullible beyond saving. She'd believe anything I told her. She'd never suspect a thing.”

Vivien laughed, pleased with herself, her red lips parting and closing.

“True. She still doesn't have a clue. Back when she had that car accident and was hemorrhaging after the miscarriage, her blood type was rare. I was the only match. I disappeared on purpose, never showed up to give the transfusion. Afterward I told her my old condition had flared up and I'd collapsed. She felt so sorry for me she nearly cried herself sick.”

My blood turned to ice. My breath stopped. Every ounce of strength drained from my body, and I could barely stay on my feet.

Back then, when the car accident left me hemorrhaging and close to death, she was the only one with my blood type.

I'd used the last of my strength to call her. She choked back sobs and promised she was on her way.

But by the time I lost consciousness, she still hadn't come.

In the end, the baby didn't survive. I barely did either.

Afterward, she came to me with red-rimmed eyes, told me her old illness had flared up and she'd fainted, so she couldn't make it in time.

I swallowed the grief of losing my child. I felt for her. I comforted her.

And yet I was the one who had donated a kidney to save her life.

After the surgery, she'd held me and wept until she couldn't breathe.

“Kay, you're the only family I have in this world. No matter what happens, no matter how dangerous it gets, I would throw myself in harm's way without a second thought. I would die to save you.”

But it turned out every last one of those promises was a lie.

I'd put my own body on the line to save her, and she wanted me dead.

My nails dug into my palms until blood seeped through, but that pain was nothing compared to the crushing ache in my chest. Not even a thousandth of it.

Vivien's voice, breathless and laced with desire, cut through my thoughts, brazen and gloating.

“The one who drove into her was my brother. I thought you'd be furious, but you didn't blame him at all. Didn't even send him to prison!”

Bartholomew curved his lips and kissed her, intimate and close.

“Prison? That was nothing but a formality. I wasn't going to send your brother to rot behind bars over a baby that's already gone. You're the one I care about most. The one who matters.”

Vivien pressed closer, murmuring softly,

“But knowing her, if she finds out, won't she lose it?”

Bartholomew let out a cold laugh. “Lose it over what? She has no power, no connections. Without me, she can't survive.”

The words detonated inside my skull, and the cold spread through every limb, every bone.

The person behind the accident that killed my baby and nearly destroyed me was Vivien's brother.

The boy I had loved and treated like my own flesh and blood.

What I never could have imagined was that Bartholomew had known the truth all along.

Back then, the accident had been severe. Three broken ribs. Three days unconscious.

He had held me with red-rimmed eyes, tight against his chest, and sworn to me word by word:

“Kay, I promise you. I will avenge you and our child. I will make sure that animal rots in prison for the rest of his life. He will pay the most devastating price.”

But now I knew the truth. He had never intended to avenge our child. He had been shielding the person responsible the entire time. While he held me and whispered comfort, he had been laughing at how stupid and naive I was.

Hatred, despair, betrayal. They crashed over me all at once and dragged me under.

I lost all control. I slammed the door open and charged inside like I'd lost my mind.

The second Bartholomew saw me, his expression changed. He grabbed a blanket, wrapped it around Vivien, and pulled her into his arms. His eyes cut toward me, sharp and warning.

“Get out!”

Vivien burrowed into his chest on instinct. Her eyes reddened, and the tears fell on cue, her face the picture of innocence.

She wouldn't meet my eyes. Her words came out halting and fractured.

“Kay, let me explain. It's not what you think……”

“Not what I think?”

I laughed, hollow and wrecked, and cut her off.

“Then what is it? That you stood by and watched me nearly die on the operating table? That your brother drove his car into me and killed my baby? And meanwhile, you were sleeping with my husband?”

I turned to Bartholomew. My heart felt like it was splitting apart.

“Bartholomew Vance, can you look our child in the eye and say you did right by them?”

Bartholomew's face went completely dark. He lashed out at me, voice like a whip.

“Kay Simmons, are you done?! It's over and done with. Do you have to keep dragging it up? It was one baby that didn't make it. Is that really worth all this?”

“Besides, Neville Pruitt was punished. After it happened, I grounded him for two weeks.”

That one sentence killed the last flicker of anything I had left.

“Is that worth all this? That was your child. A baby I'd carried for three months.”

Tears poured down my face. In that accident, I'd broken three ribs, lost the baby, and the person who did it got grounded for two weeks.

Bartholomew went still for a few seconds. Something shifted behind his eyes.

Vivien met my gaze, and the corner of her mouth curled upward, barely perceptible.

“Kay, that baby just wasn't meant to be. You can't blame Neville for that……”

Every drop of blood in my body rushed to my head, and the last thread of reason snapped clean.

I couldn't hold back any longer. I raised my hand and brought it down with everything I had, slapping Vivien across the face.

Vivien hit the floor from the slap, clutching her face, staring up at me in disbelief.

“Kay Simmons, you've lost your mind!”

Bartholomew's expression darkened. He lunged forward and shoved me aside so hard

I slammed into the wall. Pain exploded through my spine and my vision went black at the edges.

He didn't spare me a single glance. Instead, he gathered Vivien into his arms, cradling her like she was made of glass,

“Vivien, are you hurt anywhere?”

I braced myself against the wall and steadied my legs. Watching him shield her, tears blurred everything, and something in my chest felt like it had been ripped clean out.

“I've lost my mind?”

Bartholomew frowned, his eyes full of nothing but disappointment,

“When did you become so vicious? So cruel? You don't act anything like a Vance wife should.”

I bit down on the inside of my cheek until I tasted iron, and laughed. A hollow, wretched sound.

Then Vivien's face drained of color. She clutched her stomach, whimpering softly,

“Bartholomew, my stomach hurts so much. Our baby……”

His eyes went wide. He scooped her up instantly and turned toward the door.

Her words detonated inside my skull.

I stepped in front of them. I stared, unable to process what I'd just heard, and a mouthful of blood rose in my throat and spilled past my lips.

“She's pregnant?”

Vivien peeked out from Bartholomew's arms, crying her delicate, pitiful tears,

“Kay, the baby is innocent……”

Bartholomew looked at me. Not a flicker of guilt in his eyes.

“Yes. Vivien is pregnant. You can't conceive. The Vance family needs an heir.”

One sentence, and the cold sank into every bone in my body.

He resented me for not being able to carry a child.

But years ago, when a rival family came for his life, I was the one who threw myself in front of the blade meant for him.

I didn't even know I was pregnant until I was in the hospital. The baby didn't survive. The knife damaged my uterus, and the doctors said conceiving again would be close to impossible.

Still, I tried. Hundreds of fertility injections. Months of agony. All to give him a child.

Against every odd, I finally conceived. Everyone was overjoyed. And then Vivien's brother killed my baby.

Bartholomew knew all of this. Every last detail of my pain. And now he used the cruelest words he could find and drove them straight into my heart.

He kept talking, casual, offhand, as though he were bestowing some magnificent gift.

“I promised you the position of Mrs. Vance would always be yours. No one can replace you. I won't go back on my word.”

“Once the baby is born, it'll be registered under your name. You'll raise it. Consider the child your compensation. You'll still be the only mistress of the Vance household.”

I broke. Laughter tore out of me, ragged and unhinged, while tears poured down my face and my whole body shook beyond my control.

“Enough!”

Bartholomew's face twisted with impatience.

“We'll talk when you've calmed down.”

He didn't look at me again. He carried Vivien out and the door swung shut behind them.

“BANG.” The sound rattled through the empty room.

I collapsed onto the cold floor and sobbed until my lungs burned and my throat felt shredded.

I didn't know how long I lay there. Only that by the end, something inside me had gone completely still.

After a long time, I wiped my face dry and drove straight to the most prestigious law firm in the city.

“I want a divorce. Draft me a divorce agreement.”

I sat across the desk, my voice flat. Dead water.

Lottie Fox was a friend I'd met through work and a senior partner at the firm.

The second the words left my mouth, her pen froze mid-stroke. She stared at me.

“Divorce? Kay, what kind of joke is this? It's not April Fools'.”

“I'm not joking.”

I kept my eyes down. My voice was barely a whisper.

“Bartholomew cheated.”

Lottie went rigid. Her pen clattered onto the desk.

“Him? How could he cheat?”

I let out a bitter half-laugh. Every breath sent a fresh tremor through my fingertips, and the hollow ache behind my ribs wouldn't stop.

“Just get the agreement done as fast as you can.”

Lottie didn't push further. She typed up the document quickly and slid the divorce agreement across the desk.

“Based on the paperwork you brought, he leaves the marriage with nothing.”

I picked up the agreement. My fingers trembled.

When Bartholomew proposed, he'd written out that document himself, swearing to me with absolute solemnity.

“Kay, if I ever wrong you, I'll give you everything I have.”

He was so certain I would never leave. So confident that my love for him would never fade.

But he forgot. I was someone who loved fiercely and cut just as clean. The man I loved was the boy who once treated me like I was his whole world.

I blinked away the last of my tears, took the divorce agreement, and walked out of the firm.

Once I was in the car, I dialed the number of Bartholomew Vance's fiercest rival.

“Mr. Delgado. I have a business proposition. Interested?”

Irvin Delgado let out a low laugh, his tone lazy and unhurried,

“Is Mrs. Vance fishing for intel on her husband's behalf, or coming to negotiate a truce?”

“Neither.”

I stared out the window. My eyes were cold and lightless.

“I want you to destroy Bartholomew Vance.”

Silence on the other end.

I continued,

“The Southgate Project is in my hands. If you're willing to work together, I can convince the investors to give Delgado Group the contract.”

“You know whoever lands it becomes untouchable in this city. In the entire industry.”

Irvin's voice carried a new edge of curiosity,

“A deal like that, and you'd hand it to me? Had a fight with Mr. Vance?”

My gaze hardened, every word precise,

“A man who cheats on me deserves everything that's coming to him.”

A few seconds of silence. When Irvin spoke again, there was genuine admiration in his voice,

“Ms. Simmons. I look forward to our partnership.”

I hung up and texted my private investigator.

【Look into Vivien Pruitt's brother for me.】

Between now and the day the divorce was final, I would find every last piece of evidence. And I would make him pay.

After everything was done, I went home. I stood in the place I'd lived for five years, looked at everything around me, and felt nothing but the absurdity of it all.

I didn't know how long I stood there before the door opened. Bartholomew walked toward me, frowning.

The jasmine perfume Vivien always wore reached me before he did.

“Have you come to your senses?”

He took off his jacket like nothing had happened, waiting for me to say I accepted them.

I let out a bitter laugh. Looking at this stranger wearing my husband's face sent a dull ache through my chest.

I didn't speak. I slipped the divorce agreement behind the gift registry and held it out to him.

His brow creased. He snatched it from me impatiently.

“What now? Who's that sour face for? If you want something, just say it. Bags, watches, jewelry. I can get you whatever you want.”

I lowered my head, a hollow smile pulling at my lips. In his eyes, every emotion I had was just me being difficult. Every wound could be paid off.

I swallowed the metallic taste rising in my throat and pushed the papers toward him, my voice eerily calm.

“Bartholomew, sign this. Consider it my compensation.”

He glanced down, assuming I was throwing a tantrum and needed gifts to settle me down.

After all, whenever he'd upset me in the past, it always took a pile of presents to coax me back. He figured now was no different.

He flipped to the first page. A full spread of luxury items. He didn't so much as blink before signing his name.

“Kay, stop being upset. You know you'll always be Mrs. Vance. The promises I made you will never change.”

He started to hand the signed pages back.

I clenched my fists until my nails bit into my palms, the pain making my hands shake. I turned to the next page and pushed it in front of him again.

“Sign this one too.”

Confusion flickered across his face, and he was about to look more carefully when his phone rang.

It was Vivien. On the other end, her voice was choked with tears, saying she'd had a nightmare and was scared.

Bartholomew's composure cracked in an instant. He dropped the papers and turned to leave.

I stepped in front of him, my voice cold.

“It's just a signature. It won't keep you from running to her.”

Seeing I wouldn't budge, he scrawled his name and bolted out the door without even grabbing his coat.

I watched his retreating back, then looked down at his signature on the divorce agreement. The last trace of warmth in my chest went dark.

Everyone in our circle knew he'd treated me like a princess.

We'd walked from the innocence of our school days all the way to the altar.

Five years ago, the wedding that stopped the city. Millions spent. Fireworks filling the sky. He knelt before me and swore on his life that I would be the only one.

Now I knew how cheap his promises were, how short a shelf life his love carried.

I gathered the papers and gripped them until my knuckles went white.

Then I turned and walked upstairs to the bedroom to pack.

Some time later, noise rose from the first floor. I went downstairs.

Bartholomew had Vivien tucked against his chest, giving instructions to the household staff.

Vivien stood there with red-rimmed eyes, looking fragile enough to snap.

When she saw me, her body flinched. She dropped her gaze, her voice a teary, quivering whisper.

“Kay, I really didn't want to intrude. But I kept having nightmares, and Bartholomew was afraid something might happen to me, so he……”

“But I promise, I don't want a title. I don't want anything. I just want to carry this baby safely to term, and the moment it's born, I'll leave. I won't cause you any trouble.”

The more she spoke, the more agitated she became, pressing a hand to her chest as a violent cough overtook her.

Bartholomew's expression changed instantly. He pulled Vivien into his arms, then whipped his head toward me, his voice sharp with accusation.

“Vivien is your best friend. She belongs here. Stop giving her that cold look and scaring her.”

A bitter laugh escaped me. From start to finish, I hadn't said a single word. And somehow, I was the one at fault.

“Bartholomew, did I say one word?”

He froze for a few seconds. His jaw twitched, his mouth opening and closing before he managed to speak.

“Kay, stop being petty. Vivien is carrying my child. It's not safe for her out there. Starting today, she stays here. I give you my word, the moment the baby is born, I'll send her abroad.”

I stood rooted to the spot, watching the husband I had loved for years bring another woman into our home right in front of me.

Watching the best friend I'd once risked my life to save, the woman I'd treated like family, waltz through my front door to take everything that was mine.

I stared at the two of them, and the cold swallowed me whole.

I bit down on the soft flesh of my cheek to keep myself conscious, then turned and walked back to the bedroom, one step at a time.

From the living room drifted the low, tender murmur of their voices, and every syllable carved into me like a blade drawn slow across what was left of my heart.