Tears streaming down my face, I tore the fake certificate apart piece by piece and tossed it into the river, along with eight years of my life.

Then I called Chad. My heart felt strangely quiet, like it had finally gone numb.

"I've changed my mind. Tomorrow, after you take me, make it look like I didn't make it out."

If I were going to leave, I would make sure I became the deepest, most painful thorn buried in his heart.

The moment I stepped into the villa, a bucket of filthy water came flying at me.

It soaked me from head to toe. The sour stench clung to my skin as it ran down my hair, seeping into every cut and wound. The pain hit so hard that my fingers cramped, but I forced myself to stay upright, glaring at Lindsey.

"What the hell are you doing?"

She curled her lips into a smile, looking me up and down.

"What? Do I need a reason to hit my pet? Besides, you're just hired help, and you think you can seduce the boss? I'm exposing you today."

She dumped all my belongings onto the floor and stomped on them without mercy.

My pupils shrank. Those were all the lingerie Doug had coaxed me into wearing.

I couldn't even defend myself. Under the excuse of protecting me, Doug had never told anyone about our relationship.

Lindsey shoved her phone right up in my face, filming me while smashing my belongings one after another.

I swallowed the pain ripping through my body and the hollow chill in my chest as I begged her to stop.

"You've got it wrong. Doug…"

Her hand came down hard across my face. "I knew something was off about the way you looked at him. So I was right. And you still want to argue? As the lady of this house, I'll teach you your place today!"

I raised my arms to shield my face on instinct, my already shattered heart taking another brutal hit.

Doug's lies had turned me, his real girlfriend, into the other woman.

My vision snapped sharply when Lindsey knocked over my mother's keepsake. I forgot about everything else and lunged forward, grabbing the worn wooden box.

"Don't!"

Lindsey stepped down on my injured left hand. Her high heel ground into my fingers. Pain shot straight through me. I cried out without meaning to.

Right then, the door slammed open. Doug strode in.

"Stop!"

Tears poured down my face, my voice breaking apart. "Doug! You tell her. Who met you first? Who's actually your wife?"

But he wouldn't meet my eyes. He only moved to shield Lindsey.

"Hey, don't get upset. She wears stuff like that because… It's her personal taste."

My vision went dark at the edges. Right in front of everyone, he had painted me as someone who would sleep with anyone.

I could already imagine what people would say about me. My face flushed a deep, mortified red.

Lindsey's smile widened, smug and satisfied. Then she raised the wooden box and slammed it down hard.

Shards scattered everywhere. The last thing my mother left me was gone just like that.

I couldn't hold it in anymore. The humiliation, the grief, and the rage all crashed together. I pushed myself up off the floor and slapped Lindsey across the face.

Doug stared at me, stunned. "Have you lost your mind?"

Before he even finished, I swung back and swung at him, too. My hand stopped just short of his face for a split second.

That face had whispered endless sweet words to me. And now, he was humiliating me like this for his so-called shield.

That brief hesitation cost me. Doug's furious slap came down hard.

"I'm your boss! How dare you hit me! You've got some nerve!"

Eight years of love, every last bit of hope I had held onto, shattered with his words.

I stared at him, disbelief flooding in. "What did you just say?"

His fingers trembled, something like regret flashing in his eyes.

In the end, he still kicked the back of my knee. I dropped hard, my knee slamming into the shattered pieces of my mother's keepsake. Blood smeared across the floor.

"You like acting crazy, huh? You slapped Lindsey once, so you'll take a hundred in return. I said it before. Anyone who lays a hand on her pays it back a hundred times over."

Even now, he didn't hesitate. He chose her without a second thought.

My body was already at its limit. The slaps kept coming one after another, and a sharp ringing filled my ears.

My mouth tasted of blood, and my vision grew more and more blurred.

The world spun violently, then everything went black.

When I woke up, Doug was sitting by my bed, carefully applying ointment to my swollen cheeks.

"Why didn't you put those clothes away? You really couldn't let go of them?"

Just moving my lips sent a burning pain through my face.

My voice came out hoarse. "So she went through my things, and somehow that's my fault?"

Doug fell silent for a second, then fell back on the same excuse.

"I had to keep up appearances in front of everyone. If I defended you, our enemies would figure out how much I care about you. Try to understand. I'm here putting medicine on you, aren't I? What more do you want?"

My heart didn't hurt anymore. All that was left was an endless, hollow cold.

He was still lying to me, still claiming it was for my safety.

But every job he sent me on was more dangerous than any so-called kidnapping Lindsey went through. All the injuries I had taken, all the people who died, he didn't care about any of it.

I didn't call him out. The truth was, the only person he cared about now was Lindsey.

My nails dug deep into my palm. In the end, I still said quietly, "Let's get a divorce."

Doug immediately snapped, grabbing me and forcing a kiss on me. "You want a divorce over something this small? Stop making a scene. You're mine, dead or alive!"

I curved my lips into a faint smile. It didn't matter. The marriage certificate was fake anyway. And soon enough, I really would "die" right in front of him.

Two hours later, Chad came and took me from the house.

When Doug rushed over, disheveled, Chad was calmly wiping down his gun with a white glove, his tone lazy.

"Forty-six thousand and six hundred. Cash only."

Doug frowned, confused, but still moved fast to get it done.

Chad took the suitcase, then fired a shot straight into my chest. Blood burst out.

Pressed against him, playing dead, I heard him lean close and whisper in my ear, "The weight of a human heart, converted to gold, comes out to exactly 46,600 dollars. I got your heart back for you."

When Doug saw me lying there in a pool of blood, his voice broke in a way I had never heard before, full of panic and fear.

"I paid the ransom! Why did you kill her? Give her back to me! Give her back!"