When Lorenzo Clark came to my house for the ninth time and still didn’t find me, he ran into Francesca, who had just come home from school.

“Francesca, tell Uncle where your mother went.”

Ignoring her protests, Lorenzo yanked her arm hard. Her small arm quickly turned red and tears streamed down her cheeks.

“I don’t know! I don’t know!”

She shook her head and tried to pull away, but he pushed her to the ground. Her knees hit the pavement hard, scraping the skin and drawing blood.

“Lorenzo! What do you think you’re doing!” My mom had just stepped into the building and rushed over to help Francesca up, having seen it all.

Lorenzo didn’t look the slightest bit guilty. Instead, he sneered.

“The illegitimate child of Yana and some other man. I’ve already gone easy by not wiping her out.”

“Murder must be repaid with a life. She left my grandmother to die in a fire and ran off. I won’t let her walk away from that.”

Lorenzo’s eyes were bloodshot like he could strangle me on the spot.

My mom’s face went pale. It took her a while before she could speak through clenched teeth.

“Yana didn’t abandon your grandmother. She just… she couldn’t get back in time.”

Lorenzo let out a bitter laugh, his anger boiling over. Then he suddenly reached out and grabbed Francesca by the throat.

“She thought she could kill someone and just vanish?”

“If Yana doesn’t show up within a week, then be ready to bury this little brat.”

I watched as Francesca’s face turned bright red from lack of air. I rushed forward, frantically hitting his arms, trying to pry his hands off her, but it was useless.

Only when her body started to go limp and her lips turned purple, did he finally release her, his expression ice cold.

Francesca’s eyes rolled back and she collapsed like a lifeless doll. My mom dropped to her knees and cradled her, her hands shaking.

“Lorenzo, are you insane?! She’s your daughter!”

But he had never cared about me. To him, I was nothing more than a stray dog, called and dismissed at his convenience. He never knew I had been pregnant. Only Grandma Ursula ever truly cared for me.

After I gave birth to Francesca, a fire broke out at the hospital. Grandma Ursula and I were trapped inside.

At the time, Lorenzo was out celebrating his childhood sweetheart’s birthday. By the time he arrived, Grandma Ursula had already died in the fire and I was gone without a trace.

I disappeared for five years. During that time, he came to our house over and over, making a scene, only to find my mom raising Francesca alone.

He convinced himself that I’d had a child with another man, then set the fire to kill Grandma Ursula before running off. In his eyes, Francesca was nothing but a “bastard.”

“What, you broke now and suddenly want the little bastard to claim her roots?”

My mom, hands trembling, pointed at him. Her voice came out rough and hoarse, “Yana is already dead. You don’t have to come back anymore.”

Lorenzo froze for a moment, then let out a loud, mocking laugh.

“You really expect me to believe a story like that? Just to help her escape justice?”

Five years ago, I had just given birth and was too weak to move. Even though Grandma Ursula had tried her hardest to push me out of danger, she couldn’t save me.

I knew I wouldn’t make it, so I used every bit of strength I had to push Francesca out. I stayed behind and died in the fire.

It wasn’t until later that I learned the fire hadn’t been an accident. It was set on purpose by Lorenzo’s beloved childhood sweetheart.

She wanted me dead. I was the only thing standing in the way of her marrying into the Clark family. But she never imagined that Grandma Ursula would die in the fire, too.

Just as Lorenzo was about to speak again, his phone rang.

On the other end, Tabitha Torres’s sickeningly sweet voice rang out, nagging him to come home.

“Lorenzo, didn’t you say you were going to celebrate Nova’s 100-day birthday? Why aren’t you back yet?”

Nova was her dog.

Lorenzo quickly muttered a few words to calm her down, then turned to shoot a nasty glare at Francesca and my mom. He mouthed, “Just wait,” and stormed off.

After the investigation, the police confirmed that the fire had been set on purpose.

Lorenzo’s mistress, the one he kept outside his marriage, wanted to replace me and become Mrs. Clark. She had gone to the hospital to confront Grandma Ursula while pregnant. The confrontation upset Grandma so much that she had a heart attack and died on the spot.

Afraid of being exposed, the mistress set the hospital on fire and fled.

I was the “mistress” mentioned in the news.

Only Grandma Ursula’s ashes were recovered from the scene. With me missing, Lorenzo became convinced I was behind everything.

Tabitha secretly took what she believed were my ashes and had them made into a ring, which she wore to her engagement with Lorenzo.

He was overjoyed when he received it.

Back then, he believed I had killed Grandma Ursula. Grief consumed him. That ring, Tabitha claimed she handcrafted, brought him comfort.

“Tabitha, I’m so lucky to have you.”

He kissed the ring solemnly and promised her he would take care of her forever while also swearing he would find me and grind my bones to dust to avenge his grandmother.

What he didn’t know was that the woman he hated most was now literally on his finger.

“Lorenzo, where did you go?” Tabitha asked with a soft whine, half-complaining and half-flirting.

Nova, the dog, ran up to Lorenzo, excitedly licking his hand, or more accurately, the ring on his hand.

Lorenzo gently patted its head and said, “Yana, that poisonous woman, still hasn’t turned up. Her mother even claimed she’s dead, just to protect her.”

He paused and pulled his hand back to stop Nova from licking. “Nova really seems to like this ring.”

The smile on Tabitha’s face stiffened. Her fingers tightened slightly before she forced a reply, “Of course he does. I gave it to you.”

“Lorenzo, if Yana really is dead—”

Before she could finish, Lorenzo cut her off sharply.

“She can’t be dead! A woman like her should live and pay for what she’s done. How could she die so easily?!”

There was a flicker of nervousness in his voice. Even he couldn’t tell whether he was angry that I might’ve died too easily or afraid that I truly had.

He didn’t notice how pale Tabitha had become. Just as he was about to speak again, his phone rang.

“President Clark, there’s news about Miss Yana Collins.”

That one sentence stunned not only Lorenzo but Tabitha, too.

I had been declared dead for almost five years; how could there suddenly be any news?

Without saying much, Lorenzo replied, “On my way,” and hung up. He turned to Tabitha.

“Once I bring her back, I’ll make her pay for what happened to Grandma.”

He rubbed the ring on his finger again, a habit he picked up after the fire, something he always did when tense.

Tabitha forced another smile, but before she could speak, Lorenzo had already rushed off to the café the assistant mentioned.

“President Clark, this is Dr. Aquino,” the assistant said, making the introduction.

Lorenzo nodded. He recognized the man; it was Grandma Ursula’s attending doctor, one of the few who had survived the fire.

“Where is Yana? Tell her to come see me.”

Dr. Aquino didn’t respond. Instead, he handed Lorenzo a small box.

“President Clark, I managed to save this from the old lady’s hospital room.”

A strange sense of unease rose in Lorenzo’s chest as he took the box and opened it. Inside were just two things: a pregnancy report and a diamond bracelet.

His heart skipped a beat. That bracelet was the one Grandma Ursula had prepared for her future grandchild. Why was it here?

Lorenzo took a deep breath, eyes lowering to the report and froze.

The report showed that Yana had been three months pregnant. And the date matched the months just before the fire.

Lorenzo’s eyes filled with disbelief. He had always assumed Francesca was a child I had with another man after escaping the fire.

“Whose... child is she?” Lorenzo’s voice was hoarse, barely audible.

Back then, before the fire, I was still his fiancée and had never been involved with any other man.

Lorenzo’s body trembled slightly. For the first time, he started to question Francesca’s identity.

The doctor shook his head.

“Miss Collins always came to her prenatal appointments alone. Aside from Mrs. Ursula, only one other woman visited her often.”

“But that woman didn’t seem to care about her at all. She constantly yelled at her, hit her, taking advantage of her weak condition.”

Suddenly, I remembered that I had told Lorenzo about the pregnancy. But he had laughed it off, thinking I was just trying to trap him into marriage.

He never believed me. The only one who showed up was Tabitha.

She stormed into the hospital, tore up my prenatal report and nearly pushed me off the rooftop.

If it hadn’t been for Grandma Ursula protecting me, both Francesca and I would’ve died at Tabitha’s hands.

Once Tabitha found out I was pregnant, she did everything she could to cling to Lorenzo, begging, crying and manipulating until she finally stopped him from visiting me altogether.

During the entire ten months of my pregnancy, he never once came to the hospital.

It wasn’t until the fire that he suddenly remembered his so-called “enemy” and went crazy trying to force my mom to reveal where I was.

“Who was that woman?”

Just as the doctor was about to answer, Tabitha walked in. The doctor paused for a moment, then leaned in and whispered to Lorenzo,

“It’s her.”

“That young woman is truly cruel. She nearly tormented a pregnant woman to death.”

“If Mrs. Ursula hadn’t stepped in, Miss Collins’s baby wouldn’t have survived. That woman almost caused her to miscarry.”

Lorenzo froze, then slowly turned to stare at Tabitha in disbelief.

“Lorenzo, aren’t we going to try on wedding clothes?” Tabitha chirped as she clung to his arm, unaware of the change in his expression.

Yes, three days from now was their wedding. No wonder she had looked so panicked when she heard my name earlier.

On the way, Lorenzo seemed distracted, quietly fiddling with the ring on his finger.

“Lorenzo, aren’t you happy to marry me?” Tabitha asked, sounding uncertain.

After a long silence, Lorenzo finally asked what had been weighing on his mind.

“Tabitha… did you already know Yana was pregnant?”

Her face stiffened. She hesitated, then forced a smile.

“Why are you suddenly thinking about her?”

Lorenzo said nothing. Her gaze flickered with unease before she quickly added in a soft, tearful tone,

“Lorenzo, I only did what I did because I saw her meeting another man in secret. I got angry. I just wanted to teach her a lesson… for your sake.”

“Secretly meeting someone?” Lorenzo frowned.

He knew that all those years, I had only ever cared about him. Maybe I had set the fire out of desperation or even to force him into marriage, but betrayal? That was something he couldn't believe.

He started to question Tabitha's story.

“I saw it with my own eyes. A man came to the hospital to see her and he even said things like ‘our child’…”

“Lorenzo, I just felt so bad for you. That’s why I tried to teach her a lesson.”