At twenty, I poisoned my stepfather’s cup, only to be caught by Easton Hammond, the Christian devotee. I glared at him, even imagining dying together, but he turned instead and stabbed my not-yet-dead stepfather ten more times.

The robe was soaked with blood, the prayer beads scattered in broken pieces. As the police dragged him away, he looked back at me with a grin.

“Tisha Trevino, never again in this life will a beast torment you. I will always protect you!”

Ten years later, Easton walked out of prison. Once devoted to Christ, he had become my blood-soaked avenger, guarding me like a shadow.

He could have stepped into the mortal world and married me fully, yet he clung to the last commandment, never once touching me. But not long after our marriage, a woman with a swollen belly came seeking me.

“Easton doesn’t keep the commandments because he won’t touch you. It’s because he doesn’t love you. He despises you as filthy. He only loves me.” Her hand stroked her belly, pride gleaming in her eyes.

Easton rushed in, his face flustered, but I lifted a stick and brought it crashing down on the woman.

My gaze rose, cold. “I don’t mind being a widow.”

——

“Tisha, there’s no need. She’s just a young girl.” Easton tried to take the stick from my hand, gripping me tightly as if to calm me.

“I promised you, in this life until death, I’ll stay by your side. Others, I don’t care about at all.” His tone was sincere.

Yet that pitying glance, those faintly trembling shoulders, and those nervous eyes betrayed him.

“You don’t care? Fine, then the child in her belly has nothing to do with you either?”

My eyes narrowed with anger as the words came out.

I seized a bowl, forced Emma Meyer’s jaw open, and manically poured the abortion medicine into her mouth and nose.

She sobbed, choking, and cried out to Easton.

“Easton, save me! Save me!”

At her plea, his eyes reddened, his knuckles turning white. With a sudden force, he slapped the bowl away, his gaze nearly splitting.

After knowing each other for over ten years, never once quarreling, this was the first time Easton shouted at me.

“You act like this, how are you any different from your stepfather!”

I froze. His face, too, was dazed, only then realizing what he had said.

My stepfather was the only damp shadow in my life.

In the dark storeroom, while my mother watched coldly, my stepfather’s cruel grin and sticky touch haunted me.

Night after night, in that endless dark, I grew thin and my hands shook as I poured poison into his cup.

At that moment, Easton rushed in; caught in the murder, I had already imagined many ways we might die together.

Yet I never imagined Easton would turn and stab my stepfather ten more times.

When the shackles closed on him, he said he would take the guilt for me so I could see the beauty of the world for him.

He should have known clearly what that scum did to me, but then he said I was no different from that beast, and the next second, I grabbed a knife and drove it into him without hesitation.

“Who’s the beast? Speak properly!”

With a wet sound, Easton leaned closer into the blade. “Tisha, it’s my fault. I spoke wrong. That’s not what I meant.”

Slowly, he wiped both his blood and Emma’s from my hand. I tried to push him away, but he only held me tighter.

The knife had gone straight through his shoulder blade.

His face was white as paper, yet he let the knife stay in him as he lowered his chin gently onto my hair.

His hand patted my back softly, calming me with quiet strokes.

I could not break free, so I gave up and stared blankly into the air.

In a voice only he and I could hear, I whispered, “It was you who said you would go to hell with me.”

At those words, Easton’s body went stiff.

The next day, Emma was gone without a trace. I went to see Easton at once and asked, “Where is she?”

He lowered his head, his voice heavy.

“Emma has already lost the child and carries nothing. We do not need to stain ourselves with another life or bring useless trouble.”

I remembered when a group of thugs mocked me as a shameless bastard, and Easton had broken their legs without pause, snapping their necks, his robe soaked in red.

So whether it was truly needless, or only that he could not bear it, he knew in his heart.

“Where is she really?” I asked again, my voice rising.

He stayed silent, and after a long pause, he finally said, “I will give you an answer.”

The bloodshot eyes he once had when standing for me seemed to overlap with this moment. I smashed everything in the hall to pieces.

My men searched for Emma, but Easton had hidden her too well and left no trace. That same night, his explanation arrived.

When I opened the box, I saw a small finger stained with blood. I knew it at once as his, for the finger still wore our wedding ring.

It was a rule I had made that if one made a mistake, cutting off a finger could serve as forgiveness.

He had used his own finger to save Emma, begging me to show mercy.

The box crashed hard to the ground, shards of glass scattering across the floor.

Yet Easton would never have thought that the woman he spared with all his strength would still come at me without fear.

Emma sent me a video.

“I heard you have been looking for me. I also want to see you. But Easton cannot bear to let me out; he has been tormenting me day and night.”

The video played like a cruel show. Easton no longer carried the cold restraint he once had. His face was red, his features filled with desire and haste, and beneath him lay a blushing Emma.

With every movement and rough sound, his robe and his so-called vows were torn apart, prayer beads scattering on the ground.

I gripped my phone until my knuckles turned white. All those vows were nothing but lies.

We had known each other for more than ten years, and we had been married for four. Each time I lay on his body, he would turn cold, carefully pull my clothes back on, then disappear into the bathroom for the whole night.

“Easton told me about your condition, poor thing. But you cannot blame him for not touching you, after all, he fears catching dirty sickness.”

So he still saw me as dirty.

The boy who once held me and wept, swearing I was the purest, had only been wearing a mask.

He had always been trapped by that stain, and that was why he never touched me.

I stayed calm and said nothing, but in secret, I had people track Emma’s place through the video.

Just as I was about to lead my men over, a message froze me in place. That man was not dead.

[Tisha, that beast is in the hands of those across from us.]

Idiot. No wonder he faked his death; he had become another’s dog, crawling low to live.

That night, I led my brothers to surround the enemy’s ground.

Under a sky with no moon and heavy wind, I fought in the chaos, brushing shoulders with death, watching my brothers fall one by one, the pain cutting deep to the bone.

After three hours of bloodshed, the enemy was left in ruins.

I dragged my stepfather out from under the bed, where he had hidden.

After more than ten years, he still looked the same, fat, dirty, and shabby.

His face bent with flattery as he stared at me, wagging like a dog and begging, “Daughter, long time no see…”

Before he could finish, I kicked him hard and sent him flying. “Who’s your daughter? Disgusting!”

He rolled across the floor, skidding to a stop, then struggled up, messy and pitiful.

“Back then, I was taken by evil, that is why I tied you in the street, that is why you were shamed and torn by dogs… Now I truly know I was wrong.”

Each word cut into me like a whip. Rage burned away all reason. I pulled out a gun and aimed at his head.

One shot would end him, and my painful past would be buried for good. But suddenly his fear faded, and he laughed with triumph.

I frowned instantly. Turning my head, I saw a man dragging Emma over as a hostage.

“Dear daughter, didn’t expect I’d still have a backup, did you?” he said, threat dripping from his voice.

“As long as you give me money and let me go, I guarantee this woman will be safe. Otherwise, she won’t see tomorrow’s sun.”

When I saw Emma, my lips curved. “Foolish and ignorant. You didn’t even check that this woman is my enemy. Truly, thank you, father.”

I raised the gun again and aimed at his forehead. “Perfect. Let me kill two birds with one stone.”

Seeing that I was truly fearless, my stepfather panicked, and his face twisted with disbelief. “If you dare kill me, this woman will surely die before me!”

I raised an eyebrow. “Then go ahead and try.”

As I was about to pull the trigger, I felt cold pressure at my waist crawl across my back.

A gun barrel was pressed against me from behind.

Then a voice I knew rang out, “Let your people release Emma, and I will let you go.”

In disbelief, I turned my head and saw the cold, ruthless Easton. When his eyes met mine, he quickly looked away. In a voice just for us, he whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Betrayal hit me like falling into a cold pond, struggling blindly, and then drowning in hopelessness.

Seeing me held by one of my own, my stepfather laughed up at the sky.

“Didn’t expect it, Tisha, you’d have a day like this too!” He nodded at Easton with satisfaction. “Very good.”

Easton had clearly known my pain before. That year, a simple rope had crushed my dignity, the rope tight around my neck, my clothes torn as I was dragged down the street like a dog.

Back then, he had rushed in recklessly, beating my stepfather without caring for his own life, and even when he was beaten down and barely breathing, he still dragged me forward without stopping.

But now all of that past felt like a bullet pressed to my forehead in this moment. While Easton held me, my stepfather broke free of my bonds and fled in a panic.

I stared hard at my stepfather’s back, bloodlust burning in my eyes.

By my ear came Easton’s soft words, “Tisha, there will be another chance.”

No. There would never be another chance.

The next moment, while Easton was not watching, I raised my gun and aimed at the enemy.

A shot rang out, and blood sprayed. Watching my stepfather fall heavily to the ground, I smiled with relief.