"Alex, there are three days left until the due date. I made a strawberry cake to celebrate. Will you try some?"

Looking at that lump of red sludge on top, my stomach heaved. I stepped back instinctively.

But Kyle grabbed my arm and stuffed that sludge straight into my mouth.

The instant it touched my tongue, my mind snapped back five years—to save Serena, I'd been strapped to a drop tower for three days and three nights. By the time it ended, the baby inside her had become nothing but red pulp.

After that, I couldn't stand the sight of anything like it...

Now this sticky texture made every hair on my body stand on end. I shook my head violently and flung his arm away.

Kyle used the momentum to stumble backward.

"Ah—Serena, help!"

Serena rushed in and went pale. She shoved me hard to the side.

My wound slammed into the corner of the coffee table. Pain shot through me, and I doubled over, trembling.

But Serena didn't care. She was already helping Kyle up.

"Kyle, are you okay? Does anything hurt?"

His eyes reddened. He curled into her arms, swaying like he might faint any second.

"I... I just wanted him to taste the baby's anniversary cake, but he... he said my child is a bastard who shouldn't be born, then he shoved me..."

"I didn't—"

Before I could finish, the temperature around Serena dropped. She slapped me across the face.

"Alex! Haven't you caused enough trouble? Why do you always have to go against him?!"

"I told you—when the child is born, nothing will change!"

"Pull this again, and you and your crippled dad can get out of the Gilbert family together!"

She used all her strength. I hit the ground, mouth filling with blood.

I laughed.

Laughed until tears came out.

Ten years of love, and in the end, it couldn't compare to his little performance...

And my dad—he became a vegetable saving her. Now he was just trash in her mouth.

Tears fell. My heart went cold.

Only one thought remained:

Take my father and leave this place.

I staggered to my feet, but Kyle let out a sharp scream and buried himself in Serena's arms.

"Serena, I'm so scared!"

"He pushed me this time—what if next time he tries something else to hurt the baby? You have to protect our child..."

Rage flared in Serena's eyes. She grabbed me, her gaze ice-cold.

"Alex. Apologize."

I knew if I didn't, she wouldn't let me go.

So I bent toward Kyle. "I'm sorry."

I straightened to leave, but Serena grabbed my hair and dragged me into the kitchen.

A massive strawberry cake sat on the counter.

Serena looked down at me.

"Eat all of it. Then we're done here."

I looked up in disbelief and roared:

"Serena, are you insane?!"

"Did you forget what happened back then? I can't even look at this stuff anymore—let alone eat it! Are you trying to kill me?!"

Her voice went ice-cold.

"I know. But you hurt Kyle. You should pay."

Then she slammed my face into the cake.

Jam flooded my nostrils.

Gradually, I couldn't catch my breath. My whole body convulsed, and I passed out face-first onto the cake.

When I woke up, it was the next morning.

I forced myself up despite the pain, determined to get to the attic and take my father away.

I grabbed my phone—and froze. Kyle had texted me last night.

[Alex, while you were in the hospital, Serena and I kissed and touched in every room of the house~]

[Oh right, you haven't been to the attic yet, have you? The trash up there probably hasn't been taken out~ I wonder, with all the noise we made, if your crippled dad could hear it. Maybe he got so mad he woke up on the spot~]

Ice gripped my heart.

I rushed to the attic and threw open the door. A pungent, rotten stench hit me in the face.

I looked at the overflowing trash can by the bed.

One, two, three… too many to count.

The pain in my chest doubled me over. I dropped to my knees beside him, drowning in guilt.

"Dad, I'm sorry. Your son trusted the wrong people. That's why you're like this—why you had to endure this humiliation."

"I'm taking you away. Right now. This home? We don't need it anymore."

I unlocked the casters on his hospital bed and pushed him toward the door—only to find Kyle blocking the doorway, smirking.

"Alex, think I can completely replace you today?"

Before I could answer, he threw himself backward and tumbled down the stairs.

I stood frozen.

He clutched his stomach, groaning in pain, and Serena rushed over. The moment she saw him, her eyes went bloodshot.

"Alex! Have you lost your fucking mind?!"

"How far are you going to take this? Do you have to torment our baby until it's gone before you're satisfied?!"

Before I could speak, Kyle was already crying.

"Serena, he said since he can't have kids, he's going to make sure our baby dies with him…"

Serena's face twisted with rage. The look she gave me could have killed.

I knew she'd already sentenced me. It didn't matter that I hadn't done anything.

She stood and walked toward me. My heart went dead. I closed my eyes, bracing for the blow.

It never came.

When I opened my eyes, she had stopped beside my father's bed.

My chest seized. When I spoke, my voice shook.

"Serena, don't—"

"You know I have no one left. I'm begging you, don't hurt him. He only ended up like this because he saved you—"

She cut me off, her voice ice-cold.

"I gave you a chance, Alex."

"But you hurt him again and again. Since you won't repent, someone else will pay the price."

She shoved my father's hospital bed toward the stairwell.

"NO—!"

I lunged after it, but the wheels were already careening downward. The bed picked up speed, and my father was flung from the second-floor landing.

I scrambled down and gathered him in my arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

Serena walked past me without a backward glance, Kyle leaning against her side.

Two hours later, the doctor emerged from the emergency room. He shook his head.

I ran inside like a madman.

The EKG was a flat line.

Everything I'd buried these past days—every wound, every betrayal—and the grief of losing my only family crashed over me like a flood.

I couldn't hold it in anymore. I clutched my chest and wailed.

Through the haze, a cheerful voice echoed down the hallway:

"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert—it's twins!"

I froze. The day I lost my entire family, Serena Gilbert welcomed her own children into the world.

How absurd.

With trembling hands, I dialed a number I hadn't called in years.

Two hours later, I carried my father into the Maybach that had been waiting outside.

On the way, a text came from Serena:

"Is everything okay with Dad? I'll have someone order the newest nursing bed from overseas."

I clenched my fists and closed my eyes.

A month later, when the babies turned one month old, Serena brought them home to an empty house.

She was reaching for her phone when her assistant rushed in:

"Ms. Gilbert, the hospital just mailed over a payment notice. Sir's father... he passed away. Some time ago..."