"Stop! Stop this at once! This is madness!"

Maya's arrival interrupted Taylor as he tried to force the medicine down my throat. I fell from their grip and hit the ground, coughing violently. My mouth filled with the taste of blood.

Maya surveyed the scene and sighed heavily. She helped me to my feet. "Adrian, are you alright?"

I forced out a few words. "I'm fine."

Maya's whole body trembled. She looked at me in disbelief. "Adrian, you can speak now?"

She aged a decade in seconds. Her legs buckled and tears streamed down her face as she muttered, "It's over. It's all over."

Serena looked at her strangely. "Mom, what's wrong with you?"

Maya's voice came out tired and worn. "Years ago, when the Harlow family was on the brink of ruin, your father consulted a psychic at great cost. She said that as long as you married a mute born under a specific sign, the Harlow fortune would hold.

"But once the mute spoke, the family would be destroyed."

The prediction was right, but the psychic hadn't known I was only pretending to be mute because of my curse.

Serena didn't believe any of it. She scoffed at the whole idea. "That's just superstition meant to fool old people like you. The Harlow family's fortune was built by our own hands. What does it have to do with that useless waste of space Adrian?

"If he had any real ability, he wouldn't have raised such a terrible daughter."

Maya hesitated. She'd had her doubts too, but the Harlow family business had flourished rapidly after Serena married Adrian. Her father died just two years after the consultation.

She couldn't help but believe it, even as she clung to hope that it wasn't true.

At the mention of Jada, Maya perked up. She'd always doted on Jada. "Where's Jada? Why don't I see her?"

Serena looked at me with a cold smile. "Adrian couldn't raise her properly, so I sent her to the dog training facility to learn some discipline."

I looked at Maya, my voice hoarse. "Jada is already dead."

Serena couldn't stand me telling the same lie over and over. She said impatiently, "How long are you going to keep this up? You're going to claim that pile of rotting meat is Jada again, aren't you?

"Someone, take that heap of flesh and burn it to ashes. Scatter them in the rose garden as fertilizer."

They took Jada's remains and threw them into the fire. This time I didn't struggle.

Jada was already gone. There was no point in keeping her broken body. I'd just let the fire take her. Maybe she'd find peace, and in another life, she'd have a mother who loved her.

Maya looked between Serena and me, unsure who to believe. She left in a hurry, heading for the dog training facility.

After Maya left, Cain spoke, his voice heavy with grief. "My poor child. She never even got to see the world. She would have grown as big as Jada, calling us mom and dad.

"And you got hurt because of this, Serena. Do you think we'll be able to have children again?"

Serena clutched her abdomen, forcing down her sadness to comfort him. "Cain, we'll have children in the future. Don't be upset."

She turned to me, her eyes filled with even more disgust. "Adrian, I let you off easy just now because my mother showed up. But I still need to teach you a lesson.

"Since you caused Cain to lose his child, you can repay him with one of your legs."

Taylor walked toward me slowly. Fear drove me backward until I tripped over a chair and fell to the ground with nowhere left to go.

My voice shook. "Serena, you already killed my Jada. Now you want to break my leg? Don't forget, I'm your husband of seven years!"

Serena paused. Seeing her hesitation, Cain spoke again.

"Serena, don't. You don't need to do this for me. I'm already the outsider here. Our child could never compete with Adrian's standing in this family. You keep saying our baby will inherit everything, but we both know no one believes that."

Serena said firmly, "I run this house. What I say goes. And Adrian is nothing compared to you."

Without further hesitation, she signaled for Taylor to bring the rod down hard on my leg. Pain exploded through me, and cold sweat covered my forehead.

One leg twisted at an unnatural angle, clearly broken. I looked at Serena and used the last of my strength to say, "Serena, you'll never have children again. You'll die alone, and dogs will devour your corpse!"

I passed out from the pain. The last thing I heard was her voice.

"Keep Jada at the dog training facility for another month. Remember, every extra day she stays there is because of him!"