"Do you have to humiliate me like this?"

"Humiliate you?" My eyes burned red as my palm cracked across his face. "Do you even know the meaning of the word?"

Bertram clearly hadn't expected that kind of reaction. His expression froze.

I seized the stunned silence and walked out without looking back. Another second in that place and I swore it would shave years off my life.

But the man recovered fast. He caught up to me at the corner.

His eyes were dark and dangerous. He seized my arms and pinned me against the wall, every word dropping from his lips like shards of ice. "Prudence, what the hell is wrong with you?"

His grip hurt enough to make me wince.

Before I could speak, my gaze caught something on his neck. A flush of red just above his collar.

A fresh kiss mark. It drove into my eyes like a thousand blades.

The cheap perfume clinging to him was unmistakably Alexis's. I thrashed harder.

"Don't touch me. You're filthy."

The words were barely out before I regretted them.

Bertram's already cold expression turned black as ink, radiating the kind of chill that cut through skin and settled in bone.

After a beat, he looked at me and let out a derisive laugh. "You want to talk to me about filthy, Prudence?"

What he said next plunged my heart into an abyss.

"If you're so clean, why did you throw yourself at me when you were nineteen?"

"If you're so clean, explain how you spent six or seven hours locked in a warehouse with over a dozen men. Who knows whether you lost that baby from a beating or from something else entirely? What right do you have to call me filthy?"

I stared at him, frozen. It wasn't his unhinged fury that terrified me. It was the fact that those words had come from his mouth at all.

So when he'd gone to find those kidnappers, he'd already known what they might do to me. He'd left me with them anyway. He'd convicted me before he ever came to get me.

After venting the rage inside him, Bertram noticed my trembling body and softened slightly.

"Fine. I'll admit Alexis went a little too far about some things. I'll let that slap go. Now come back, put on the mascot costume, and help celebrate her birthday. She said she wants both of us there to wish her well."

Alexis again. I opened my mouth to refuse, but he cut me off.

"The hospital just called. Your father is still in the ICU. If nothing goes wrong, he should wake up in the next day or two."

I stared into those deep, unreadable eyes. My voice came out raw. "Are you threatening me?"

"That depends on what you decide."

He dropped the words like stones and walked away.

Watching his retreating figure, I felt something sharp lodge behind my eyes.

Ten years. I hated that I could decode every unspoken meaning in his words. I hated even more that he'd always known exactly which strings to pull.

By the time I appeared in the lobby wearing the mascot costume, the birthday party was in full swing.

Everything that had just happened might as well have been a minor interruption. No one cared.

Alexis had her hand on Bertram's shoulder, rising on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek.

The pain of watching it ground my bones to dust like a millstone. All I could do was gulp down the thin air inside the costume, fighting to stay calm.

Every breath felt like swallowing a thousand razor blades.

They weren't even pretending anymore.

"Hey, what are you standing there for? Go deliver the rings!" Someone beside me jabbed their elbow into my side.

Rings?

Instinctively, my hand went to the pocket on the costume's belly, because ten years ago, when Bertram had confessed his feelings, he'd hidden his gift in that exact spot.

Through the tiny mesh eyeholes, I saw an elegant red velvet box.

My fingers found the ring on my own left hand. The one whose color had long since worn away. I rubbed it without thinking.

The bitterness wouldn't leave.

Under everyone's gaze, I silently chanted my father's name like a prayer and walked forward like a bridesmaid, presenting a ring to my own husband and his so-called foster sister.

But when Alexis reached for the velvet box, Bertram snatched it away first.

"Don't touch it. God knows how many germs are on that thing. I don't want you getting hurt."

The disgust in his eyes nailed my feet to the floor.

Ten years ago, when Bertram had confessed to me, I'd laughed and told him he actually looked pretty good in that costume. He'd kept those words close to his heart.

From that day on, the man who commanded boardrooms and crushed rivals had personally washed this mascot costume on a regular schedule.

Because he believed it was the token of our love. The keepsake of everything we were.

And now he found it too dirty to touch.

Maybe it was the airless heat trapped inside the costume, but every inch of my skin felt like it was being scorched alive with nowhere to hide.

So this was how obvious love and its absence could be.

When he loved you, everything about you was a treasure. When he didn't, everything about you was just filthy garbage.

The birthday party was in full swing. I stood in a corner of the crowd, my phone screen lighting up again and again.

Your divorce cooling-off period has expired...

I stared at the text message, my eyes flickering.

Finally. It was almost over.

"Prudence!"

Bertram's low voice snapped me back to reality. His gaze dropped to my phone screen.

I locked it instinctively and hid it behind my back.

But Bertram only gave me one long, unreadable look before speaking.

"Alexis wants to go to Subzero for a bit. You're coming with us."

Subzero. The most exclusive club in the city.

"You two go ahead. I'll just—"

I caught the utter indifference in his eyes and silently mocked myself for the panicked way I'd hidden my phone.

I should have known by now. He would never care.

But before I could finish, his cold voice cut me off.

"If you hadn't behaved yourself tonight, I never would have let you tag along. You should be grateful to Alexis for the privilege of setting foot in a place like that."

I watched his retreating back, my nails digging so deep into my palms they broke the skin.

Subzero Club.

Bertram sat dead center, Alexis curled in his arms. The two of them flirted openly, shamelessly, right under my nose.

I told myself I could endure it. Just hold on until the party ended. Then the spinning wheel's pointer stopped in front of me.

"Well, well, what do we have here? A little lady!"

One bold man spoke first. When the man in the center didn't so much as glance up, the rest turned to me with leering grins.

"Since it's a lady, we'll go easy. One button undone, one drink. Three buttons, three drinks!"

"Don't listen to him, sweetheart. I'll only make you undo two. With a body like that, you should give us a little dance!"

The whole room erupted in laughter.

I pressed my lips together as their demands grew filthier, one after another.

But what shattered me wasn't them.

It was Bertram.

He was peeling a grape, head bowed, placing it gently between Alexis's lips.

"They say eating grapes during pregnancy makes the baby's eyes bigger."

"Really? Then I'd better have a few more."

Their voices were soft, barely above a murmur, yet somehow they cut through the music and the vulgar jeering and reached me with perfect clarity.

Did he love her that much?

Enough to sit there while his own wife was humiliated and not spare a single glance?

My throat sealed shut, packed tight as if someone had shoved a fistful of wet cotton down it. I couldn't even form a cry.

Then one voice rose above the rest.

"A man and a woman, alone in a room, ten minutes!"

Bertram's hands finally went still.

Like the first time we'd met, ten years ago, his gaze found mine across the crowd.

Only this time was nothing like that day. The eyes that should have been filled with love were murky, distant, hollow.

He seemed to read the plea in my eyes. He stood.

Just as I thought there might be a shred of conscience left in him, his words plunged me into ice.

"Prudence, games have rules. Stop being so dramatic."

I stared at him in disbelief. He was willing to push me toward a stranger, just like that? He didn't even care about his own reputation?

"If you don't want to do it, drink. Three glasses. That's all. Stop wasting everyone's time."

He'd forgotten. He'd actually forgotten that I was severely allergic to alcohol. Three glasses could kill me.

After a long silence, I drew a slow breath and spoke, my voice flat and even. "I'll take the room."

The words landed like a slap. Every face in the room went rigid, including Bertram's.

He hadn't expected me to choose that.

Seconds later, his expression darkened visibly, his voice dropping to a terrifying cold. "Fine."

I looked at him and laughed inside.

Who was that jealous act supposed to fool?

I was shoved into a room along with a man bundled head to toe, and the door locked behind us.

Before I could react, he grabbed me and flung me onto the bed.

The next second, he pinned me down.

"What are you doing? Let go of me!"

In the struggle, I tore his mask off.

Beneath it was a face I recognized.

The man who had kidnapped Alexis.

I froze. My eyes went wide. It took a long time before I found my voice.

"You... what are you doing here?!"

The man flashed a sickening grin, his yellowed teeth turning my stomach.

"Don't be scared, sweetheart. I'll be gentle." He reached for the collar of my shirt.

"Don't touch me! Get off! Help! Bertram!"

I kicked him off and scrambled to the door, pounding on it with everything I had. Even now, in danger, the first name that tore from my throat was his.

But all that came through the door was a love song, followed by Alexis and Bertram's voices entwined in a tender duet.

The man seized my ankle and dragged me back to the bed.

Seconds crawled by. My voice gave out, shredded raw.

In the silence that swallowed my last scream, I closed my eyes.

I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was Bertram's profile.

He must have sensed me looking, because he glanced down. Our gazes locked, and something complicated flickered through his eyes before vanishing in an instant.

He cleared his throat twice.

"What happened at the club was Alexis's fault. She got too excited about her birthday and forgot to screen those people beforehand. I'm apologizing on her behalf."

My lashes trembled.

When I spoke again, my voice was raw but dripping with sarcasm. "How long are you going to keep playing dumb, Mr. Delgado?"

Bertram watched me in silence, his eyes unreadable.

After a long pause, he drew a deep breath.

"Alexis was wrong about this, yes. But if you hadn't stirred up trouble during those ten minutes, no one would have laid a finger on you."

I stared at him, eyes wide, unable to believe those words had actually left his mouth.

Did he honestly think all of this happened because I couldn't control myself and went out of my way to seduce my own kidnapper? That I deserved it?

My voice shook, every syllable catching in my throat as I tried, desperately, to reach whatever conscience he had left.

"We changed locations so many times that night. So why was it that specific man? Why did he just happen to show up at the club? Alexis knows the answer better than anyone!"

Bertram's gaze darkened, his eyes turning glacial.

Before he could respond, the door to the hospital room swung open.

Alexis rushed in without a word and dropped to her knees in front of me, tears streaming down her face like spring rain.

"Prudence... I'm so sorry... I know what I did was wrong. Please, I'm begging you, just let me go!"

I was completely blindsided by her sudden performance.

The woman cried harder, her sobs growing more agonized by the second.

"I know what happened hurt you terribly, but... but why would you send my photos to the group chat just to get back at me?"

Bertram reached over and took the phone from Alexis's hand.

One glance. That was all it took. I could feel the temperature around him plummet.

"Prudence Henson, I never realized you could be this vicious!"

The next second, he hurled the phone straight at me.

It struck the bridge of my nose dead-on. Pain exploded through my face, sharp and blinding, my eyes stinging as my entire face went numb.

Through blurred vision, I could see what was on the screen: photos of Alexis with her clothes in disarray.

My brow twitched hard.

"That wasn't me..."

I tried to explain on instinct, but Alexis had already collapsed into Bertram's arms, her face chalk-white.

He cradled her, calling her name over and over, his eyes wild with panic.

He roared toward the hallway. "Doctor! Someone get a doctor!"

Bertram scooped her up and turned to leave, his frigid gaze landing on me one final time.

What came out of his mouth next hit like a bolt of lightning.

"Someone hold her down. She likes sharing other people's photos so much? Then strip her bare and take as many as you want!"

The instant he turned away, I saw the woman in his arms open her eyes.

That taunting look she gave me was a silent, savage mockery of my helplessness.

I froze. A wave of ice crawled up my spine and coiled around my heart.

By the time I found my voice, I was screaming at his retreating back. "Bertram! I didn't do this! She's faking it!"

Over a dozen men surged forward, drowning out my cries. I fought with everything I had, eyes burning, but it was useless.

I couldn't believe Bertram would go this far for Alexis.

Then my phone buzzed in my pocket.

I looked at the caller ID and clung to it like a drowning woman grasping the last lifeline she'd ever get. I pressed myself into the corner, answered the call, and thrust the screen toward the mob.

"Don't touch me! My fiance will kill every last one of you!"

The two men at the front squinted at the name on the screen, exchanged a glance, then burst out laughing.

"Aiden Vance? That ghost of a CEO who makes people disappear? Sweetheart, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Aiden Vance? The untouchable devil who owns both sides of the law? And you, some cast-off piece of trash your own husband threw away, you're claiming he's your fiance?"

But the next second, a low voice cut through the phone speaker.

Even through a screen, the sheer force of it was suffocating.

"I dare anyone to touch her."

A gust swept through the room. Something thin and flat sliced across the lead thug's face and embedded itself in the wall behind him.

It all happened in a heartbeat, but the man clutching his face and howling in agony told the whole story.

The thug beside him went white as a sheet.

"It's... it's him..."

Seconds later, a dark stain spread between the man's legs.

With Aiden Vance's protection hanging over me, I made all dozen of them sit down and digitally edit over a hundred fake nude photos of Bertram and Alexis together.

I admired the stack of printed photos, then ordered the men downstairs to hand them out like flyers in front of the hospital.

They wanted to smear me? Fine. I'd give them something real to talk about.

It wasn't long before chaos erupted through the building.

I slipped out in the commotion, gathering my things as I went.

In the VIP suite, Bertram had his hand inside Alexis's blouse. Neither of them had the faintest idea what was unfolding outside.

I barely spared them a glance. I pulled out my phone, sent him one final email, and walked away without looking back.

A black sedan was waiting behind the hospital.

The moment I climbed in, calls and messages flooded in like a death knell.

I powered off the phone, calm as still water, and tossed it out the window.

This was only the beginning. From here on out, I would dismantle every single person who had ever hurt me and my children. One by one.