She remembered how, four years ago, Darius hadn’t slept for three days and three nights because his fingers were covered in pencil smudges from drawing every detail of the design for their daughter himself.

Darius had even ordered a carriage-shaped bed directly from an artisan in Italy so that Laina would feel like a princess.

Now, all that effort and those memories have been completely destroyed. Darius himself oversaw the workers as they tore down his biological daughter’s room to make room for Clara’s child, who hasn’t even been born yet.

Gwen closed her eyes tightly. Strangely, no more tears came.

The pain had apparently reached a point where her nerves had gone numb.

She opened her eyes and looked at Laina, whose leg was still encased in a thick cast. The little girl’s eyes gazed at her with the innocence typical of children, unaware that the father who once loved her so dearly had now cast her aside.

“Mommy, is Daddy here?”

Gwen nodded slowly, forcing a smile. Her daughter had just undergone surgery for a broken leg; she mustn’t be hurt again by learning that her father had let her down time and time again.

“Sweetie, how about we take a walk in the hospital garden? There’s some really delicious ice cream at the cafeteria. Mom will buy Laina some vanilla ice cream.”

The somber smile on the little girl’s face instantly brightened upon hearing the name of her favorite ice cream mentioned.

“I want ice cream! I want ice cream, Mom….”

“Okay, sweetie.”

Gwen exhaled in relief, then slowly transferred her daughter into the wheelchair.

She pushed the wheelchair out of the hospital room toward the cafeteria. Along the corridor, her daughter hummed softly and chattered cheerfully about the ice cream she loved so much.

Halfway to the cafeteria, Gwen stopped in her tracks when someone approached her.

“Miss Romano, I’m bringing your new identification documents and the plane ticket you requested.”

“Mr. Smith, I’m sorry for making you come all this way.”

“It’s no problem. We’re happy to work with you. If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to contact us again.”

“Yes, thank you.” Gwen couldn’t help but smile; her eyes sparkled with relief

The issue with her new identity had been resolved much faster than expected.

She couldn’t wait to leave this place with her daughter. Now, she just had to wait for her divorce papers to be processed.

The young man nodded and said his goodbyes.

Gwen immediately opened the envelope to check its contents. However, a hand suddenly reached out and roughly gripped her wrist.

“Gwen, who is that man? What’s your relationship with him?” a cold, all-too-familiar voice asked accusingly.

Gwen turned and found Darius’s face right beside her. The man had finally appeared just when Gwen least expected him.

“Let go, it hurts…” Gwen tried to shake off the man’s hand, but Darius refused to let go. Instead, he whispered in a low, demanding voice, “Gwen, who were you talking to just now?”

“What’s it to you? We don’t have a relationship anymore—” Gwen abruptly stopped mid-sentence when she saw the gleam in Laina’s eyes as she watched them.

“Daddy! Daddy’s here…”

Darius paid no attention to his daughter’s call. His eyes remained fixed, darkly, on Gwen’s face. “You were smiling at that man. Who is he?”

“Why should you care? You’re free to kiss Clara, so why can’t I smile at another man?”

Something that looked like guilt flashed across Darius’s face. However, his expression quickly hardened again.

“Gwen, you know full well that it’s all to keep Clara’s mental state stable…”

“I know, you’ve reminded me over and over! I understand perfectly. So now, let go of my hand. Do you want to break this one too after shattering my other wrist?”

Darius startled. He immediately released his grip and looked at Gwen’s other wrist, which was wrapped in a bandage.

“When did I hurt your wrist?” Darius whispered to himself.

Gwen didn’t answer; she just shot him a cynical glance, then crouched down to pick up the scattered stack of her fake IDs from the floor before Darius could see them. However, before her fingers could reach the plane ticket, Darius’s hand had already snatched it up.

“What’s this, Gwen? A one-way plane ticket? Are you and Laina planning to go abroad?” Darius’s brow furrowed deeply, feeling an inexplicable anxiety suddenly creeping into his chest. “You’re taking my daughter away? Why didn’t you tell me about this?!”

Darius crumpled the plane ticket in his hand.

In a calm voice, Gwen said, “It’s just a vacation abroad. Didn’t you yourself ask me not to show up in front of Clara anymore? I just want to take Laina to stay and vacation there. I’m doing exactly what you asked.”

Darius fell silent for a moment. Doubt flashed across his face.

The unease in his chest wouldn’t subside, as if he sensed Gwen was leaving him forever.

“Living abroad is good for you. But you have to give me your address there. I’ll visit you both if I have free time. Once Clara’s condition stabilizes, I’ll come pick you and Laina up to bring you back home.” His voice sounded gentle as he said that.

Gwen merely responded with a fake smile. As if she would believe the man’s words.

“What are you doing here? Did you come because of Laina—” Gwen’s voice caught in her throat when she saw the pregnancy journal in Darius’s hand.

“Ah…” Darius didn’t hide the book from Gwen. “I took Clara to her prenatal checkup. Oh, while I was cleaning Laina’s room, I found this left behind.”

Darius unashamedly took a doll out of the paper bag he was carrying. He knelt down in front of his daughter and handed her the shabby rabbit doll.

“You can’t sleep without this. Uncle brought it for you. I hope Laina gets well soon.”

“Uncle….” Laina’s expression grew even more somber; her eyes welled up as she hugged the rabbit doll tightly to her chest and whispered softly. “Thank you, Uncle….”

Gwen pulled Laina’s wheelchair away from Darius.

“Come on, sweetie, we have to hurry and buy some vanilla ice cream before it runs out.”

“Yes, Mommy….” Laina’s little head remained bowed even as she walked away from Darius.

Unfortunately, the vanilla ice cream in the cafeteria was already sold out. Gwen took her daughter back to her hospital room.

“Sweetie, don’t be sad. Mommy will buy you some ice cream from the shop in front of the hospital, okay?”

Laina nodded, her tiny face not smiling. She closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep.

Gwen stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. After Laina fell asleep, she called a nurse, asking her to watch over her daughter for a moment while she went out to buy the ice cream her daughter liked.

Gwen’s steps suddenly halted when she saw Clara talking to a doctor in the quiet hallway while handing over a rather thick envelope. Clara’s face looked perfectly normal; her eyes were clear as she spoke to the doctor.

“Here’s your payment for covering up my fake pregnancy.”

A fake pregnancy? Gwen covered her mouth in disbelief and quickly hid before Clara noticed her. She pulled out her phone to record them.

The doctor accepted the envelope of money with a smile and flattery. “Thank you, Mrs. Reeds. As your due date approaches, don’t worry about a thing. I’ll provide another baby to pretend it’s yours.”

Gwen couldn’t believe what she was seeing and hearing. All this time, she had been deceiving them with her fake mental illness.

Gwen took a breath and smiled coldly. Clara wouldn’t be able to hide her secret forever.

She stepped back to leave the place.

Crack!

Her foot accidentally stepped on a soda can near her feet, immediately catching Clara and the doctor’s attention.

Clara’s eyes widened instantly, and she rushed toward her, grabbing Gwen’s arm with a terrifying expression on her face.

“Gwen, why are you here?!”

Gwen straightened up and faced Clara. “If I weren’t here, I’d have been deceived by you pretending to have a mental disorder and being pregnant. You’re truly an extraordinary actress, Clara.”

The woman just laughed. “Right, I’m pretending to be pregnant and crazy—so what? Your husband will still be mine. Darius is so gentle and attentive to me that he’s even willing to kick out his wife and daughter. Nothing matters to him except me.”

“Why go to all that trouble to put on that act?”

“Gwen, I’ve hated you for a long time. Why is your life better than mine when you’re just a pathetic orphan!” Clara pressed her index finger against Gwen’s chest, her eyes flashing with hatred. “I want your marriage, your house, your husband, and the title of Mrs. Reeds.”

She then smiled triumphantly. “Now Darius loves me. Poor thing, your son is disabled—”

Clara didn’t finish her sentence because Gwen slapped her across the face, then grabbed her hair and slammed her face against the windowpane of a room until the glass shattered, leaving a three-centimeter-long gash on the side of her face.

“Arrghh! My face! Gwen! Are you crazy!” Clara screamed hysterically in pain.

“Do you think you’re the only one who can act crazy? I can too.” Gwen tightened her grip on Clara’s hair. “This is for my daughter’s leg. If you touch my daughter again, it won’t just be your face I’ll destroy. I’ll expose you on social media—that you seduced our teachers to get good grades and had ten abortions since college. Is that why your first husband left you? I shouldn’t have any sympathy for an ungrateful, crazy bitch like you,” she hissed coldly.

Just as she was about to let go of her hair, Darius suddenly appeared from behind her, prying his grip from Clara’s hair and shoving her until she fell to the floor.

“Gwen, have you lost your mind?!” he stared at her in disbelief as he saw a three-centimeter-long bleeding gash on the side of Clara’s face—a scar that would remain on her face forever.

Gwen’s face clenched as she pointed at Clara, “That woman is faking it. She paid a doctor to—”

“Ah!”

Her words were cut off by Clara’s scream of pain. She collapsed limply to the floor, clutching her stomach.

“Darius, my stomach hurts… she’s hurting me! She wants to kill our baby.”

The doctor assisting Clara rushed to her side. “Mr. Reeds, it’s true! I saw with my own eyes that woman go mad and hurt your wife. We have to take Mrs. Reeds to the operating room; I’m afraid… she’s having a miscarriage.”

Darius’s face was filled with worry upon hearing the word ‘miscarriage’.

He knelt down and lifted Clara into his arms. He paused for a moment in front of Gwen. “Gwen, if the baby in Clara’s womb is lost, I’ll make you pay for it.”

He walked away quickly.

Gwen’s expression was calm and indifferent. Darius would see for himself all of Clara’s lies, because Gwen had video evidence on her phone showing that Clara was faking insanity and bribing a doctor to fake her pregnancy.

With a calm stride, Gwen went to buy ice cream for her daughter.

But upon returning, she saw a group of bodyguards gathered outside Laina’s hospital room. Meanwhile, Darius was already holding Laina, who was crying.

“I don’t want to stay with Aunt Clara. I’m scared… I want Mommy….”

Gwen rushed forward to snatch her daughter. “Darius! What are you doing?! Give Laina back to me!”

Darius pulled Laina out of her reach. His gaze fixed sharply on Gwen.

“Gwen, Clara had a miscarriage today, and it’s all your fault! Clara is deeply hurt and keeps searching for her child. I’m going to give Laina to her to comfort her for a few days.”

“No! You can’t! Laina isn’t a doll you can just hand over to comfort that woman!” Gwen panicked and tried to snatch her daughter back.

Darius shoved Gwen hard toward his guards. They immediately restrained her. Gwen struggled with all her might while screaming hysterically.

Laina cried out loudly, calling for her mother.

Darius clicked his tongue coldly and said, “Gwen, you’ve already hurt Clara so badly that her face is severely injured and caused her to lose her baby.

You’re far too dangerous to be near Laina.” He then ordered his guards. “Take her to the psychiatric isolation ward. Don’t let her out until she’s calmed down and reflected on her mistakes.”

“Let me go! Darius! Please, don’t take Laina…” Gwen screamed as two burly men dragged her away.

Darius ignored her and walked away.

Gwen watched as Darius walked over to Clara, who was waiting in her wheelchair. Darius handed Laina over to the woman.

Darius didn’t even notice that Clara was hugging Laina so tightly that the little girl’s face had turned blue from lack of breath, and she was crying in fear.

They then left together. Just before walking away, Clara turned toward Gwen. Her lips curved into a triumphant smirk.

Gwen screamed hysterically, begging for her daughter to be returned to her. However, Darius kept walking without looking back even once, while the guards dragged Gwen into the psychiatric ward.

There, nurses and doctors were already waiting to lock her in an isolation room.

However, that isolation room looked more like a prisoner’s torture chamber, complete with a terrifying electric interrogation chair.

Gwen’s body was tightly strapped to the chair, while the doctors and nurses stood before her with expressionless faces.The doctor Gwen knew—the one Clara had bribed—handed a thick envelope to the other doctor.

“Mrs. Clara ordered that this woman must be driven completely out of her mind.”

The doctor accepted the money with a broad smile. “Alright, alright. Convey my thanks to Mrs. Clara. I’ll do as she commands.”

Gwen’s eyes turned red, her lips trembling with the rage and pain pounding in her chest.

Darius had locked her away in the psychiatric ward just to protect the woman he thought was fragile, who turned out to be the most venomous viper of all.

“Let’s begin.” The corrupt doctor walked toward the control panel. “We’ll start with a low voltage first. You must endure it, Mrs. Gwen.”

Click.

“Aaaaghhh!!”

As soon as the lever was lowered, an electric current jolted through her nervous system. Every muscle in her body went rigid instantly. Her head felt as if it had been struck by a thousand hammers, and her vision suddenly went blurry, filled with flashes of blinding white light.

Gwen screamed, her voice echoing through the cold isolation room.

After a moment, she slumped limply before finally passing out, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes.

Gwen was left alone in that chair without food or water until the next day.

Gwen woke up when a nurse approached her, clicking her tongue in disgust.

“Goodness, it stinks.” She waved her hand and said with a cold smile. “Before we continue with therapy, Mrs. Clara wants me to show you something.”

The nurse pulled out her phone and played a video right in front of Gwen’s face.

Gwen’s heart seemed to stop beating when she saw Laina’s face appear on the screen. The little girl was crying on her bed, her tiny body trembling with fear.

Clara then appeared in the video. The injured side of her face was covered in thick bandages, staring at Laina with a cold gaze.

Without a shred of mercy, Clara grabbed Laina’s small hair, then pinched her arm and struck the poor child’s back until Laina’s shrill screams pierced the recording.

“Shut up, you damn brat! You’re just as annoying as your mother!” Clara snapped.

She then turned directly toward the phone camera, smiling mockingly as if she were looking straight at Gwen.

“Look, Gwen, how easy it was to make Darius hand over everything you own to me. He didn’t even do a thing while I made your beloved daughter cry in pain. Your husband and daughter are now mine. While you’re locked up forever in a psychiatric hospital.”

“LAINA! DON'T TOUCH MY DAUGHTER!" Gwen screamed hysterically. She thrashed about frantically until the leather strap binding her cut into her wrists. Fresh blood began to flow freely.

Seeing Gwen’s shattered state, the nurse let her guard down. She set the syringe filled with a high-dose sedative on the nightstand, then turned away indifferently to fetch an extra rope from the corner cabinet.

That was a fatal mistake. Driven by rage and a mother’s instinct, Gwen tore the skin on her hand, using her own blood as lubrication to force her hand free from the belt’s grip.

Rip! Her hand was free.

Before the nurse could fully turn around, Gwen snatched the syringe from the nightstand and plunged it directly into the nurse’s neck. The sedative was forced out completely, leaving no residue.

The nurse’s eyes widened before she finally collapsed unconscious onto the floor.

Gwen’s breath was ragged. She immediately grabbed the phone containing evidence of her son’s torture, then snatched the cell key from the nurse’s waist.

Quickly, she opened the isolation room door, ran down the corridor, and fled through the hospital’s rear emergency exit.

She managed to reach the house she had long since abandoned via a secret path.

The house, once built for her small family, now loomed coldly before her.

The atmosphere was silent. Darius’s car wasn’t in the driveway. Based on information she’d overheard from the security guard’s conversation, Darius was out having dinner with Clara to comfort her over her miscarriage, and all the staff were off duty.

Gwen ran into the room she recognized. “Laina? Sweetheart, it’s Mom!”

Silence. No answer.

Gwen checked the messy bedroom, but Laina wasn’t there. Her daughter’s tattered rabbit doll lay abandoned on the floor leading to the main bathroom. A sense of foreboding struck Gwen’s chest like a sledgehammer.

She walked slowly toward the bathroom. The heavy wooden door was slightly ajar, revealing cold steam creeping across the floor.

The sound of water overflowing from the bathtub was rhythmic, splashing against the tiles with a torturous tick... tick... tick... sound.

“Laina?” Gwen’s voice barely came out.

Gwen pushed the door all the way open. Her eyes widened instantly, and her breath caught in her throat.

Inside the large bathtub filled with overflowing water, Laina—her little daughter—had drowned. Her favorite white dress spread out in the water like the wings of a fallen angel. Her soft black hair partially covered her face.

“No… no, sweetheart… wake up…”

Gwen collapsed to her knees. Her hands trembled violently as she reached for her daughter’s tiny, ice-cold body. She lifted Laina into her arms. Water drenched Gwen’s entire body, but she didn’t care.

Gwen’s tears flowed uncontrollably, wetting Laina’s pale face as she pressed the small body to her chest.

Her heart stopped for a moment when she felt a faint pulse from her daughter’s chest.

“Sweetheart, Mom knows you won’t leave me…” Her tears began to flow freely again.

In a panic, she laid Laina down on the cold tile floor of the bathroom, then began compressing her daughter’s chest to perform CPR.

“Please, Laina… come back to me…”

Cough!

Laina’s tiny body suddenly jerked. Her little chest rose and fell roughly as a spurt of warm water came up from her throat. Laina coughed with all her might, inhaling the cold night air into her lungs, which had momentarily stopped working.

“Mommy ... M-Mom...” The voice was very weak, almost a whisper, but to Gwen, it was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard in her entire life.

Laina’s drooping eyes slowly opened, staring intently at her mother. Though her lips still bore a bluish tint, the warmth of life began to creep back into her skin.

“Oh my God... Thank you...” Gwen immediately scooped up Laina’s body, holding her so tightly as if afraid her daughter would be snatched away if she let go.

“Mom, Laina’s scared…” Laina’s sobs broke out in Gwen’s embrace. Her body was shivering violently from the cold.

Gwen kept whispering soothing words, assuring her daughter—and herself—that this nightmare would end.

“Don’t worry, Sweetheart, Mom won’t let this place torment you anymore,” Gwen whispered softly.

Her heart was resolved, fueled by vengeance, to make Darius regret it.

Carrying Laina and holding her daughter’s head close so she couldn’t look around, Gwen made her way toward the kitchen.

She grabbed a gas can and poured it without hesitation all over the living room.

Standing in the front doorway, Gwen struck a match. “Goodbye, Darius,” she whispered . She dropped the lit match onto the floor, already soaked in gasoline.

Whoosh!

The flames licked rapidly, devouring the curtains, creeping up the walls, and greedily consuming the entire house. The heat spread, driving away the cold.

Gwen didn’t look back. She stepped out onto the porch, walking away from the house as it crumbled, consumed by the fire.