After returning home, I began packing my bags. I threw away every single thing Benedict had given me over the years, even tearing our marriage certificate in half and burning it.

Just as I was about to toss the last few items into the trash, he returned, accompanied by five or six bodyguards, with a mighty presence. He recognized the ceramic figurine I held, the matching couple’s piece we’d crafted at that pottery shop during our first date. Then his handsome brows knitted together.

“Are you throwing them away?”

I hummed in acknowledgment, “There’s no point in keeping them. Just taking up space.”

A flash of anger flickered in Benedict’s eyes. With a glance, he signalled his bodyguards to restrain me. He snatched the figurines from my hands, carelessly smashing them on the floor.

He then sneered, “You think putting on this act of cutting ties with me will make Dorothy’s situation go away? Because of you, she not only lost the baby, but her ability to bear children too.”

“You’re the one responsible for all this. So, the child in your womb doesn’t deserve to live either. Since Dorothy can’t have children, you’ll bear the child of mine and hers.”

I replied, “Benedict, you beast!” 

My neck veins bulged with fury. For the first time, Benedict seemed utterly repulsive and shameless. Yet he acted as if deaf to my words, forcibly dragging me to the hospital and pinning me down on the operating table.

Dorothy lay on the adjacent operating table. She glared at me with mocking eyes.

“You bitch, did you think destroying my child would make Benedict come back to you? Thanks to you, he loves me even more now. Not only will he personally abort your child as atonement, but he’ll also make you bear my child.”

“Eugenia, you don’t think you can just abort the baby whenever you want, do you? Benedict said that before the child is born, he’ll lock you up and control your body. You’ll have to watch my child stretch your belly day by day, powerless to do anything about it. Hahahaha...”

Dorothy laughed triumphantly. Humiliation washed over me like a tidal wave. I couldn’t hold back any longer. With all my strength, I broke free from the restraints, collapsed onto Dorothy and slapped her face repeatedly.

Dorothy’s shrieks echoed throughout the operating room. Her entire face was bloodied and swollen grotesquely from my blows.

After hearing the commotion, Benedict rushed in with his men and dragged me away. I grabbed the scalpel from the table and plunged it into Dorothy’s left eye.

I sneered coldly at her, “If being unable to bear children isn’t enough to make you fear me, then I’ll make you blind! You bitch! You’re asking for death!”

Dorothy clutched her bleeding eyeball, screaming in utter collapse. “Benedict, please kill her for me!”

I stared straight at Benedict, utterly unafraid. His face darkened to the extreme. He raised his hand and slapped me hard across the face.

“Eugenia, don’t push it too far! Do you really think I won’t lay a hand on you?”

The pain spread across my cheek, yet it was nothing compared to the agony tearing through my heart. The man who once swore to protect me forever, who promised never to let me get hurt, now struck me for another woman. How laughable was my destiny!

Dorothy grabbed the scalpel from the table and lunged at me. “You bitch! I’ll kill you!”

But Benedict seized her wrist, twisted it and snatched the blade away. Then he commanded the doctor, “Treat Miss Lentini immediately. No matter what method is used, her eyes must be cured!”

When he looked at me again, his eyes were filled with murderous intent. “Take this madwoman to the morgue. She is not to be released without my permission!”

I was quickly escorted into the morgue. The temperature was extremely low, yet it couldn’t mask the stench emanating from dozens of corpses. The stench made me retch uncontrollably and my body shivered uncontrollably from the cold.

An inexplicable fear drove me to pound on the door, screaming to be let out, “Let me out! Benedict, let me out!”

But my hands bled from the pounding and my voice grew hoarse from shouting. Benedict never appeared. He stayed by Dorothy’s side all night long, tending to her without a moment’s rest.

I huddled alone in a corner, enduring the cold and terror while spending the night among the corpses. It wasn’t until noon the next day that the morgue door opened. I was already frozen purple, barely clinging to life. Yet Benedict’s men still dragged me before Dorothy.

Benedict, who was tending to Dorothy, saw how weak I was. I looked as if I might pass out at any moment. A rare flicker of pity crossed his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by reproach.

“Eugenia, you are the one I love most. I never wanted to hurt you. But Dorothy saved me. She gave me a second life. Yet you have repeatedly targeted her. I cannot stand by and let you get away with it forever.”

“If you kowtow to her a hundred times and help her bear a child, this matter will be over.”

My consciousness was already numb and cold, yet Benedict’s words still triggered an instinctive reaction. I replied to him, “Benedict, you’re a coward who won’t own up to your betrayal!”

“You’ve cheated and changed your heart, yet refuse to admit it. Mark my words, even if you kill me, I won’t let you have your way.”

Benedict lost all patience at this moment. He strode over to me, crouched down and gently cupped my face. His touch was tender, but his tone was icy. He said, “Eugenia, you’ve always been the one I love. I did this only to repay a debt. If you don’t believe me, I’ll kneel together with you.”

With that, he slammed my head onto the ground. He knelt before Dorothy himself, following my lead in kowtowing to her.

“Eugenia, I hope you understand my painstaking efforts. You still have me as your support, but Dorothy has nothing. So, I must protect her.”

I could no longer make out the man’s words. Only numbly, I was grabbed by the back of my neck and forced to kowtow again and again until blood flowed from my forehead.

It was the second time Benedict and I had knelt together. The first was on our wedding day in front of the altar.

We hugged my mother tightly. He then asked for her blessing, “Eugenia is the one I love most in this life. I will treat her well forever. Please trust me with your daughter.”

Perhaps he never imagined his own life would be so short. By the hundredth bow, I lay on the ground, covered in blood and barely clinging to life.

Benedict instinctively reached to lift me, but then heard Dorothy say, “Benedict, Eugenia’s condition is so weak. I think it’s the perfect time for surgery.”

“Quickly implant our test-tube baby into her womb. We can’t miss this golden opportunity.”

Benedict’s movements froze. The next second, his face hardened as he commanded his men, “Take this woman to the operating room immediately.”

With that, I was dragged into the operating room like a dead fish. Through my blurred vision, the overhead surgical lights flashed on. The doctor held a long, arm-length delivery tube that glinted with a harsh, blinding light.

I desperately wanted to escape, but my body was already immobilized. I could only watch helplessly as the doctor inserted that tube into my body. Just then, the operating room door burst open. My mother, Fabiola Miguez, stormed in, surrounded by her bodyguards.

“I want to see who dares to touch my daughter!”

Her arrival forced the surgery to a halt. She wrapped me up and carried me out of the hospital.

“That beast Benedict! How dare he mistreat you behind my back! Once I get you healed, I’ll come back and deal with him!”

Lying weakly in her arms, all the resentment pent up in my heart dissolved into a single tear that rolled down my cheek. Benedict, it was finally over between us! It was the right time for you to pay your debt!