"I'm Maud Fox. Your wife. The woman who stood by you for five years, who spent the last two on her knees praying to every god she could find, begging them to bring you back to me!"

"Can you just open your eyes and look at me? When are you going to stop mistaking me for someone else?"

But he didn't hear me. Or didn't care. He kept Ebony tucked behind him, shielding her like she was something precious and fragile.

When he turned to face me, there was disgust in his eyes.

"You think you get to call yourself that?"

"She is my wife. You're nothing but a lunatic, and if you lay a finger on her again, I swear you'll regret it."

Ebony nestled against Caspar's chest, dabbing at crocodile tears with trembling fingers.

"Maud, please don't misunderstand. There's nothing between me and Caspar. He's sick, that's all. He thinks I'm you. Don't blame him. If you need to blame someone, blame me. It's all my fault..."

Every word was designed to twist the knife, yet she delivered them with the perfect quiver of a victim.

And Caspar fell for it. He raised his arm and shoved me. Hard.

"Get out!"

The venom in his voice, the cruelty in his eyes. I had never seen him look at me like that. Not once in five years.

I hit the floor. From where I lay, I watched them. The two of them, still holding each other. One was the husband I loved down to my marrow. The other was the best friend I'd given my whole heart to.

Together, they had just delivered the killing blow.

I couldn't even speak.

I left the room. Walked out into the street in a daze, barely registering the world around me. A car swerved past, missing me by inches.

"What the hell! Are you out of your mind?"

"Watch where you're going!"

The driver's curse snapped me back. Cold sweat crawled down my spine.

Two years.

Two full years I'd devoted to a man who couldn't recognize my face. Two years clinging to the wreckage of a marriage that had already sunk.

Everyone in Harbor City thought I was a joke.

Even at the last gala, Carissa Sanchez, a woman who'd always been perfectly polite to me, had deliberately shoulder-checked me with a sneer plastered across her face.

"Still think you're the same Mrs. Stephens he used to treat like a queen?"

"He doesn't even know who you are anymore. He'd call any random woman on the street his wife."

"Maud, how many times do you think he's humiliated you in these two years? You must have lost count by now."

I stared at the haggard face in the mirror and forced a bitter smile.

Caspar, I'm so tired.

I sat on the front steps for two hours before I finally dialed a number I hadn't called in a long time.

"Mom. I'll do it. I'll fly out in seven days."

My mother's voice surged with excitement, then confusion.

"You've changed your mind? Wait, that doesn't make sense. Just last year you were telling me everything was fine, that you and your husband were happy, that you didn't want to live apart..."

"And don't forget, if you actually commit to moving here for good, you and that Stephens Group heir of yours won't be seeing much of each other..."

I lowered my head, the bitter smile returning.

"He... doesn't recognize me anymore."

By the time I hung up, it was dark.

I drifted home like a ghost. Back to the house that had been so warm two years ago. Our home.

Back then, Caspar had proposed with everything he had. He'd lit up the Harbor City skyline with fireworks that blazed for three straight nights. People still talked about it as one of the greatest love stories the city had ever seen.

This villa, over five thousand square feet of luxury, he'd personally overseen every detail of the renovation for an entire year before it was finished.

Every corner was exactly the way I liked it.

But soon, none of it would be mine.

I was heading upstairs to start packing when voices drifted from the first-floor bathroom. A man and a woman.

Caspar's voice, deliberately low, strained to the point of breaking:

"Ebony, I already did everything you told me to do. What more do you want?"

I moved closer without thinking.

Through the crack in the door, I saw Caspar pinning Ebony against the wall.

"I already agreed to do what you wanted. I faked being sick for two years so you could get your thrill from sneaking around. Why won't you leave her alone?"

"And today, you deliberately provoked her at the hotel like that. Are you not satisfied until you've destroyed our marriage completely?"

Caspar's voice was ice-cold.

It froze me where I stood. I couldn't even breathe.

But Ebony just smiled, a wicked, venomous smile.

"Oh, Caspar. We're just getting started."

"Don't forget, it was Maud's father who killed mine. He's the reason I grew up on the streets, suffering through hell. You think this little bit of payback is enough?"

"I want her to know exactly what it feels like to have her husband stolen from her."

"Once I've gotten it all out of my system, I'll give you back to her."

She reached out, her wrists sliding up slowly until her arms were draped around Caspar's neck. Her smile turned suggestive.

"Besides, your acting has been pretty impressive these past two years. You've really gotten into the role. Are you going to tell me you didn't enjoy yourself while we were sneaking around?"

Silence from inside the room.

My breath caught. I stumbled, nearly falling, and something clattered.

"Who's out there?"

Caspar's low voice carried through the doorway.

He rushed out immediately. The first thing he saw was me, collapsed on the floor, shards of broken porcelain cutting into my skin.

Something flickered in his eyes. Pain. But it vanished just as quickly, replaced by that practiced indifference.

"You again?"

"I already told you, I don't want to see you anymore. And stop pretending to be my wife."

I sat there in silence for a long time, then spoke, my voice flat.

"Fine. I'll go."

"You'll never have to see me again."

I got to my feet slowly, staggering toward the stairs.

Behind me, Caspar sucked in a sharp breath.

"Mau—"

Before he could finish, Ebony wrapped her arms around his waist from behind.

"Babe, were you looking for me? I just took care of you. Don't tell me you're hungry again already."

My steps faltered. I didn't turn around. I kept walking.

Back in my room, I shut the door and finally let myself crumble, sliding down against it until I hit the floor.

It was almost masochistic.

The image of Ebony and Caspar tangled together played over and over in my mind, a loop I couldn't stop.

A sharp sting bloomed in my palm. I looked down. My fingernails had dug in so deep that the skin was torn beyond recognition.

I grabbed a tissue and wiped away the blood. The door swung open.

Ebony walked in, arms crossed.

"Maud, even after all this, you're still not going to leave?"

"Think about it. You were standing right in front of your husband, and Caspar still couldn't recognize you."

"Don't you think that seems a little... deliberate?"

Those pretty, almond-shaped eyes fixed on me, sharp with scrutiny.

She was testing me. Trying to figure out if I'd overheard what she and Caspar said in the bathroom.

I lowered my gaze. "What do you want, Ebony?"

She let out a soft laugh, then reached out and tilted my chin up with one finger, her expression pure provocation.

"I'm going to replace you. I'm going to be Mrs. Stephens. If you've got any pride left, just admit you've lost."

"All you have to do is sign the divorce papers, and I'll leave you alone."

It all made sense now.

The best friend I'd poured my whole heart into had been plotting this all along, right under my nose.

"If I'd known you were a snake, Ebony, I never would have saved you."

I met Ebony when I was twelve.

I was the little princess of my family, sheltered and spoiled, never wanting for anything.

She was skin and bones, sallow-faced, bullied by the other kids at the orphanage where she'd grown up.

A group of children were pelting her with rocks.

I couldn't just stand there. I charged in and pulled her out, then had my family's bodyguard put those kids in their place.

From that day on, everyone knew Ebony James had a best friend named Maud Fox.

No one dared bully her again.

We grew up together after that, inseparable as shadows. We did everything side by side.

Then last year, she lost her job and couldn't find a new one.

I was the one who offered.

"Why don't you just move in with me?"

"I'll tell everyone you're my live-in housekeeper. You won't have to lift a finger, and I'll pay you fifty thousand a month."

Ebony moved in, thrilled.

But slowly, the pieces started falling into place.

She had planned this all along, just waiting for me to make the offer myself.

"Well, I really should thank you, bestie."

Ebony let out a cold laugh and patted my cheek.

"If you hadn't given me that fifty-thousand-dollar salary, I'd still be out on the streets. Probably sweeping sidewalks somewhere."

"A best friend who gives me money, gives me a home, and is even scared enough to hand over her husband. I must have done something incredible in a past life to deserve this."

Every mocking word hit my ears like the prick of a needle.

I really had brought this on myself. Rolled out the red carpet for the wolf and dug my own grave.

Now I was reaping what I'd sowed, and I had no one else to blame.

"Ebony, what do I have to do for you to let me go?"

I closed my eyes in despair.

The next second, she tossed a document in front of me.

"Get Caspar to sign this divorce agreement, and I'll let you go."

I said nothing. I bent down and signed the divorce papers.

My body moved like a puppet on strings, hollow and mechanical.

Ebony examined the document carefully, then smiled with satisfaction.

She patted my shoulder, still smiling.

"For old times' sake, I'll let you stay here one last night."

"But remember from now on, don't wander into the wrong house. This is my home."

That night, as I lay in bed, the door was pushed open, slowly and carefully.

"Maud."

Caspar walked in with guilt written across his face and dropped to his knees in front of me.

"I'm sorry, Maud. I had another episode. I didn't recognize you earlier today."

He looked up at me, his eyes rimmed with red.

"I'll take my medication. I'll take so much of it. Please, can you forgive me?"

As he spoke, he fumbled with a pill bottle, grabbed a fistful of pills, and shoved them into his mouth.

Every other time I'd seen him do something this extreme, I would rush over with tears in my eyes, pull his hands away, hold him tight, and tell him:

It's not your fault. You're just sick.

But now, I only watched. Still and silent.

Memories from the past two years surfaced unbidden.

Caspar in the grip of an "episode," slashing me with a knife, trying to tear my face apart.

Mistaking some strange woman for me, then turning around and beating me with his fists.

But every time he "came to," he would hold me and sob, apologizing through his tears.

"Maud, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Just wait a little longer. I'll get better."

I believed him. Again and again. I forgave him ninety-nine times.

I traveled to every remote temple and holy site I could find, dropping to my knees every three steps, not caring when they bled raw.

I tried every folk remedy under the sun, forcing down concoctions that made me retch until my throat burned.

I canceled every social engagement, stayed by his side day and night, terrified something would happen to him.

I thought sincerity could earn sincerity in return. I thought that one day, he would finally get better.

But what I got in return was him and my best friend, tangled together in our marriage bed.

And worse.

Even the illness had been an act.

Caspar choked down the fistful of pills, struggling to swallow. He failed, gagging, and broke into a fit of coughing.

"Maud, I'm trying so hard to take my medicine. I promise I'll get better soon..."