### Chapter 1

At the birthday banquet celebrating the second year of our remarriage, Otto Delgado told me, in front of everyone, to take off my imperial-jade ring and give it to my best friend, Wendy Fox.

I stood frozen, certain I'd misheard.

But Otto just looked at me, perfectly at ease.

“That's right. The woman I've been hiding is Wendy. She's pregnant now, and I have to take responsibility.”

“Relax. She gets the role of Mrs. Delgado. Your name stays on the marriage certificate.”

Everyone was sure of it: after fighting so hard to remarry him, there was no way I'd hand that position over willingly.

But I didn't cry. I didn't make a scene. I watched Wendy sway toward me with that sweet, delicate smile of hers, and I quietly slid the ring off my finger and onto hers.

That night, I ordered ninety-nine toys and ninety-nine sets of lingerie and delivered them personally to their bedside.

Wendy let out a shriek. Otto pulled her behind him in one motion and turned on me, roaring.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Zara Gilbert? Wendy is carrying a Delgado heir for you. If anything, you owe her.”

“Know your place. You leave me again, and there won't be a single person willing to take you in.”

I looked at this face, so foreign it might as well have belonged to a stranger, and felt a coldness I had never known.

Ten years ago, Otto Delgado was nothing more than an illegitimate son no one gave a second glance.

I threw myself in front of his grandfather to block the blade while I was still pregnant. The assassins stabbed me over thirty times. I lost the baby. My womb was destroyed. And that was the price that bought him his seat at the head of the Delgado family.

In the end, what I got were photos of him tangled up with another woman in a car. When I confronted him, he beat me until my face was swollen beyond recognition. So I clenched my teeth and chose divorce.

A year ago he came back, begging to remarry. Saying I was still the one he loved.

Now I finally knew: that woman had been my best friend all along.

After I left the room, I dialed my father.

“Dad, I need you to get proof of his corporate crimes. I'll gather the evidence of the affair myself. I'm taking back everything.”

Otto had no idea.

Two weeks ago, every memory from before my amnesia had come flooding back.

I was the long-lost daughter of the Gilbert family, the wealthiest house in the Capital.

In one week, my father would release evidence devastating enough to destroy Otto Delgado, and come to take me home in person.

1.

The moment I walked into the second bedroom carrying those ninety-nine toys and ninety-nine sets of lingerie, my gaze caught the cross necklace swinging against Wendy's collarbone, and the pain hit me like a knife.

Years ago, Otto had been stabbed and left with barely a breath in his body.

I knelt outside the church for an entire day and night, my forehead bleeding against the stone, before the old priest finally agreed to give it to me.

Even through the divorce, Otto had never once taken it off.

Now that Wendy was pregnant, he'd handed it over without a second thought.

My throat felt sealed shut by something solid, and it was a long time before I managed to speak, my voice shaking：“Why did you lie to me? If you'd both just told me, I would have stepped aside.”

If I'd gotten out sooner, before the double betrayal had time to cut this deep, I wouldn't be this torn apart.

A trace of pity flickered in Otto's eyes, but his voice stayed light — offhand, even：

“Well, we did feel guilty about you. The night you were getting stabbed dozens of times, I was in the car with Wendy. Having sex.”

“She was so scared afterward. To calm her down, I got even more carried away. That's why I forgot to come save you.”

It felt like being gutted all over again.

That night, I lay in a pool of my own blood, clinging to my last breath to call him. I believed, completely, that he would come. That he would save me and his unconscious grandfather.

When I woke, I was in a hospital. The baby was gone.

The doctor said if I'd been brought in ten minutes earlier, they could have saved my womb.

Otto had burst through the door, held me, and sobbed like a broken man, swearing he would avenge me.

And later, he had kept that promise.

Hearing him say it all now, light as air, I finally understood. Every ounce of that devotion had been a performance.

If a passing stranger hadn't stopped to help, I would have been dead.

“Then why did you come back to remarry me?!” I was nearly screaming.

“Because those old fossils on the Delgado board only recognize you. And besides……” He paused, and his voice went a shade softer. “I do love you. I can't live without you.”

Nausea crawled through my stomach like maggots. I grabbed the ashtray off the nightstand and hurled it at him.

He swung his arm up in an instant, shielding Wendy.

The glass exploded. Shards scattered across the floor.

I stared at him through bloodshot eyes and screamed：“You love me? By screwing my best friend over and over again?!”

A month ago, he'd suddenly announced he was quitting smoking. I thought he'd finally seen my lung-disease diagnosis.

It was only because Wendy was pregnant.

He'd known perfectly well what secondhand smoke could do. He just hadn't cared when it was me.

Otto's expression darkened.

He got out of bed and clamped down on my arm, squeezing so hard I thought the bones would splinter.

“You want to resent me, fine. I'll take it. But don't you dare blame Wendy.”

“She cares about you. She's carrying a child. You should be showing some compassion instead of standing here losing your mind!”

Every word dripped with open, undisguised favoritism and blame.

I clenched my fists until my nails drew blood. I almost wanted to laugh.

What right did he have to tell me to show compassion to the woman who had taken everything from me?

Before I could speak, Wendy put on a magnanimous smile：“Otto, let it go. Zara's just jealous that I'm the one having a baby. I understand.”

“Zara, thank you for the toys. Otto and I will put them to good use.”

Her fingers drifted across her belly, and the look she gave me was pure, triumphant superiority.

Otto let go of my arm and leaned back with an idle, contemptuous smirk：

“A man in my position, you really think he'd have just one woman?”

“But my heart belongs to you. Even if you can't bear children, I'll take care of you for the rest of your life.”

That tone, like he was granting me a gift, made me see my own stupidity with perfect clarity.

He was so good at pretending. He'd kept the act going right up until Wendy's belly couldn't be hidden anymore, and only then did he tear off the last mask, choosing my birthday to lay it all out without a shred of restraint.

Because he was certain I had no way out. That I could never fly beyond his reach.

“Stop making a scene.” He looked down at me with that cold smirk, like a man watching a caged bird. “You're an orphan, Zara. Without me, you'll actually starve on the streets this time.”

Life after the divorce had been brutal, and so when he'd crooked his finger, I'd gone back to him, obedient as could be.

But he didn't know.

This time was different.

The tiny camera embedded in the stud on my earlobe was silently recording everything.

### Chapter 2

I didn't argue. I'd barely stepped outside the door when a packed bag landed at my feet.

“Wendy's pregnant and needs to be taken care of. Let her have the master bedroom for now. You can move to another room until the baby's born.”

Otto watched me, something probing in his eyes.

The master bedroom was mine down to the last detail. The wall color, the curtain pleats, even the little cactus on the windowsill. I'd chosen every single thing. I hated anyone setting foot in my private space.

Years ago, a new maid had snuck into our bed just to lie on it, and I'd had her thrown out of Harbor City.

Otto had held me afterward and said, “Good call. Your territory. Nobody touches it.”

He was probably waiting for me to explode the way I used to.

But I just picked up the bag in silence. “Fine.”

“There's a nice guest room on the second floor……”

I didn't let him finish. I walked straight to the storage room at the far end of the first floor, the one by the back door.

The room reeked of damp and mildew. I brought out the birthday cake I hadn't had a chance to cut during the day and lit the candles.

“Happy twenty-eighth birthday, Zara. Starting today, every day is a new life.”

I blew out the candles and ate the cake.

Leaning back against sheets that smelled of moisture, I opened the shared album on my phone, the one labeled “Home.”

Photo after photo loaded:

Under the northern lights in the Arctic Circle. At dusk in Prague's Old Town Square. Against a sunset on the African savanna…… Otto and I embracing, kissing, smiling into each other's eyes.

And in every single photo, Wendy Fox was there.

A love I thought belonged to two people had been shared among three all along, and I was the only one who didn't know.

I took a deep breath, selected every photo, and hit delete.

The same river, twice. Ten years of blind devotion. It ended here.

The screen lit up with an incoming call from my father.

“Sweetheart, the plane is ready. Six days from now, Daddy will be there to bring you home.”

“What Otto Delgado owes you, I will make him repay a hundred times over.”

The tears I'd held back all day finally broke loose.

“Okay. See you in six days.”

The door slammed open.

Otto strode in, his gaze cutting straight to my phone screen. “What are you doing in six days?”

I wiped the tears away fast, kept my voice level.

“A friend's husband passed away. She invited me to the funeral.”

His expression eased slightly and he sighed.

“I know this isn't easy for you. But be reasonable. Once Wendy has the baby, the position of Mrs. Delgado is still yours.”

Before the words were even out, the phone at his waist buzzed. He answered, listened for two seconds, and his face changed completely.

“I'm coming right now!”

He hung up and every trace of gentleness vanished. The eyes that turned on me were so dark they were frightening.

“You knew those photos meant something to her and you still deleted them? Wendy saw it and had a complete breakdown. She's having a panic attack right now!”

He grabbed my wrist. “You're coming to apologize — now.”

He dragged me and I caught a nail on the storage room floor, went down hard on my knee — the pain so sharp I couldn't breathe.

I stumbled the whole way as he hauled me upstairs. Wendy was curled in the corner of the balcony, trembling.

A shattered bowl lay at her feet, porridge pooled across the floor.

The moment she saw me, tears spilled down her cheeks.

“You already know everything. On your wedding night I put sleeping pills in your drink, and then I spent the whole night with Otto in your marriage bed.”

“So you put an abortifacient in my porridge to get back at me. Didn't you?”

Before I could even react, she scrambled to her feet and backed toward the edge of the balcony.

“Fine then, I'll get rid of the baby and give Otto back to you. Will that make you happy?”

“Wendy!” Otto slammed me out of the way, rushed to her and pulled her into his arms, his voice shaking with pain. “Don't do anything stupid! Zara knows she was wrong. She's here to apologize.”

I hit the ground hard. My palm split open on the tile but I didn't feel it. All I felt was how utterly absurd this was.

“I didn't……”

“Otto, don't push her.” Wendy cut me off, her voice thin and pitiful. “I know Zara. She'll never admit it.”

“She won't?” Otto's gaze locked on me, ice-cold. “I have plenty of ways to make stubborn people talk.”

He ordered the bodyguards to take me to the basement. “Lock her in there until she confesses!”

My eyes went wide and I started shaking. “Otto, you can't do this to me!”

He knew. He knew I had severe claustrophobia.

“I can.” He looked down at me, every word deliberate. “Touch Wendy's child, and you brought this on yourself.”

I was thrown into the pitch-black basement.

The door slammed shut behind me, and in that instant the darkness closed around my throat. I couldn't breathe.

I cried and pounded on the door, clawing until my fingernails left streaks of blood on the metal, then collapsed to the ground in despair.

After what could have been minutes or hours, a sliver of light cut in and a voice spoke above me.

“Ready to confess?”

### Chapter 3

“I didn't drug her. Check the security footage……”

Cold sweat soaked through my back. My voice came out weak, shaking, begging Otto to get me out of the basement, but he cut me off cold.

“Shut up!”

Finding the truth would have been effortless. But every word out of Wendy's mouth, he chose to believe without question.

He loved her. Loved her past the point of caring what was true.

A bitter laugh died somewhere behind my ribs. Otto lifted his chin, and the bodyguards moved in. Fists and boots came down like a storm.

Before the pain swallowed me whole, the last thing I heard was the dull crack of my own bones.

When I opened my eyes again, all I saw was the dead-white ceiling of a hospital room.

Otto sat beside the bed, peeling an apple with slow, unhurried strokes. His tone was flat, threaded with warning.

“The baby's fine. Lucky you. Don't touch Wendy again, unless you haven't learned your lesson.”

I said nothing.

Two years ago, when the cheating started and the hitting followed, I had left him.

After the remarriage, he decided I'd suffered enough on my own to never leave again, so he stopped holding back entirely.

But all I was doing was enduring to the end, so he could pay back every last thing a hundred times over.

Otto's gaze caught the bruising on my face, the dark purple spreading along my arms. Something flickered in his eyes, barely there. He started to speak, but his phone rang.

The moment he saw the screen, a smile curved his lips. When he answered, his voice went impossibly soft.

“……The baby kicked? Don't move. I've arranged the best medical team. They're already on the way.”

That tenderness. Otto had given it to me once.

He'd lost his mother young. After he was brought into the Delgado household, all he ever faced was cruelty.

His older half-brother was the worst of it, always inventing new ways to break him.

One time, the brother's men cornered Otto in a back alley and beat him half to death. I happened to pass by, called the police, and pulled him out. After that, I became the only light in his world.

Later, his brother retaliated by having me kidnapped.

Otto stormed into that pitch-black warehouse alone, let the clubs land on his own body, and carried me out on his back.

In the hospital, he gripped my hand so tight nothing could have pried it loose, murmuring over and over：

“Don't be scared, Zara. I'd die before I let anything happen to you.”

Later, he took control of the Delgado Group.

The first thing he did was throw me the most extravagant wedding Harbor City had ever seen. Everyone said I was the luckiest woman alive.

We became the couple the whole city envied, the sweethearts who'd survived everything together. The press said our story was better than a fairy tale.

Too bad fairy tales are lies. On our wedding night, he was already in our bed with someone else.

And why did it have to be Wendy?

My heart felt like it was being sawed apart with a dull blade.

Wendy had once been a rich man's daughter too. A car accident killed her entire family; her inheritance was stolen, and she was dumped in an orphanage where she was bullied relentlessly.

After we met, I visited her constantly, brought her pretty dresses, carried birthday cakes to her door, begged Otto to pay for her schooling.

I smiled and told her：“Everything I have, I'll split with you.”

Half my snacks, half my fun……

I just forgot to say: not the man I loved.

The memories twisted through me like a knife, and I forced the tears back before they could fall.

Otto stood, gave me one disinterested glance. “If you're fine, I'm leaving. Wendy needs me.”

He didn't come back once during the three days I was hospitalized.

Wendy's social media, though, updated in real time with their love on full display：

He lit sky lanterns at an auction just to make her laugh, then bid on Marie Antoinette's necklace.

He spent hundreds of millions on a private island, all to give her a wedding that would eclipse the one he'd given me.

My phone buzzed. Otto's assistant had sent over a long string of expense receipts.

I saved every black-and-white charge slip, one by one, then called the assistant. “Two million. It's in your account.”

Almost instantly, the phone vibrated again.

Wendy had sent a photo, dripping with the same old malice. It was a picture of a tombstone. My unborn child's tombstone.

“Ten years ago someone stabbed you, and you lost the baby. Your womb was destroyed. Want to know the truth?”