### Chapter 3

As I was putting everything back, I caught a line of writing on the folder for the flower shop renovation.

"Just fly. I'll carry every storm for you."

I stared at that sentence for a long, long time.

So it turned out he could throw himself behind someone's dream too.

Six years married. By day I washed his clothes and cooked his meals, by night I rocked our child to sleep, spinning like a top that never got to stop.

And online, my old colleagues were winning case after case. I watched them glowing in those photos, and all I felt was envy and a quiet ache.

The wind carried my tears off into the night sky.

In the end I laughed out loud.

I took out my phone and dialed the number I knew by heart.

"Fergus Gray, that overseas market in Chicago you mentioned. I'm in."

Fergus went quiet for a beat, then said, delighted,

"Seraphina, with you on board we'll be unstoppable! But it means relocating abroad. Have you really thought this through? Your husband, your child—"

"I've thought it through." My answer didn't waver.

"Then we leave in three days, on schedule."

Three days from now, I would walk away from him for good.

The next morning I went out first thing to buy a suitcase.

A child tripped and fell by the roadside, and her mother scooped her up against her chest, soothing her.

Watching the little one sob into her mother's shoulder, something in my chest twisted without warning.

I thought of Bradley. He'd clung to me more than anyone while he was alive. Every day the moment I got home he'd trail after me like a little shadow, wherever I went, he went. On the road to the afterlife, with no mother beside him, how frightened and heartbroken my baby must be.

He was so small. Would his little ghost lose its way home, not knowing how to find his mother?

I turned my head away, unable to look any longer, and the tears broke loose like a flood.

The moment I got home I started packing fast.

Anything Stuart had bought me, I wanted none of it.

But the protective jade pendant my mother had blessed for Bradley before she died, that I was taking with me.

Bradley had a congenital heart defect. Back then my mother heard of a master said to be miraculous, and she'd walked miles of road, dropping to her knees with every step, kowtowing until her forehead ran with blood.

When she pressed the jade pendant into my hands and I cried at the sight of her, she only smiled, warm.

"As long as Bradley is safe and healthy, as long as your family lives happy and whole, anything I do is worth it."

Just as she'd instructed, I tucked the pendant under Bradley's pillow.

But now the pendant was gone.

A chill ran through me. I was about to go ask the housekeeper when laughter drifted up from downstairs.

I walked to the open hallway overlooking the room below and saw Ellie Cooley sitting on the sofa with a brown teddy in her arms, Stuart beside her.

Ellie smiled and looped her arm through his.

"The second I said CoCo had a hard birth, you went and got her a jade pendant for protection. Stuart, you're so good to CoCo, you sweet godfather."

My gaze dropped, and all at once I saw it, the jade pendant around the teddy's neck, the very one my mother had blessed for Bradley.

Stuart ruffled Ellie's hair. He was severely germophobic, yet he lifted his own cup and held it for her to drink.

"You're the one. Running the flower shop and looking after the dog both, you've worn yourself out, you little fool."

That handsome face wore a doting smile I'd never once seen, and the sight of it scorched my eyes like fire.

There was a time I'd done housework all day, run a high fever, and absently picked up his cup to drink from it.

He hadn't said anything then. But later, that cup turned up in the trash.

So his germophobia depended on the person, after all.

He stood and headed for the kitchen. "Hungry? I'll go cook. Your favorite, beef stew."

For six years I'd tended to his every meal, down to the smallest detail, certain he didn't even know where the kitchen was.

So it turned out he would cook for someone else, too.

I came down the stairs step by step. Ellie looked up and curled her red lips at me, all charm.

"Oh, so you're home, Seraphina. And here I thought you'd actually gone to the county clerk's office to file for divorce."

"Just what I said. A lazy good-for-nothing who'd happily wrap around her own husband like a strangling vine, how could someone like that ever get divorced?"

"Honestly, next to you, I'm just built for a career. Too busy to even find myself a boyfriend."

### Chapter 4

I gave a thin, mocking smile.

"Miss Cooley, no time to find yourself a boyfriend, but plenty of time to seduce another woman's husband and play the mistress."

"And on top of that, you team up with my husband to steal the jade pendant my mother had blessed for us?"

The two housemaids nearby turned to her at once, startled, whispering between themselves.

"Wasn't she supposed to be Mr. Weiss's friend? So she's the mistress, and she comes right into the house…"

"Exactly. Steals another woman's man, then steals our mistress's things too. Shameless."

They pitched their voices just loud enough for Ellie to hear. Her face went a furious, mottled red.

"You filthy little servants, what do you know? Watch yourselves, or I'll have Stuart throw you both out!"

Seeing how brazen she was, the two of them rolled their eyes in open contempt and went back to their work.

I walked over, my voice cutting. "Give it back."

"A worthless piece of junk. Fine, you can have it." She pulled the pendant off the dog's neck, and the next instant a vicious glint flashed in her eyes.

She let go.

It cracked against the ground, breaking into pieces.

Ellie clapped a hand over her mouth in fake horror. "Oh! I'm so sorry, how much was it? I'll pay you back."

She dug out her wallet. "Old folks only buy cheap things, right? Thirty dollars should cover it."

My mother's face rose up in front of me, blood streaming down her head, still smiling at me.

My fingers shook. The fury was past holding back.

Crack!

A slap landed hard across Ellie's face.

She stumbled back, hand pressed to her cheek, her eyes red in an instant. "You— you hit me?"

My gaze was sharp, each word spaced and deliberate. "Let me tell you something. I see exactly what you're playing at. I don't say it, but that doesn't mean I'll go on letting you humiliate me forever."

Murder flashed in her eyes, and she made to lunge at me. Then her gaze caught on something behind me, her face changed, and the tears came down twice as hard.

"I didn't, I don't know what you're talking about…"

I gritted my teeth, about to speak again, when a sharp shout came from behind me.

"Seraphina, what do you think you're doing?!"

I turned. Stuart was coming out of the kitchen, his face dark enough to frighten.

He strode straight to Ellie and brushed his fingers gently over the red mark on her cheek, his eyes pained, as if he were the one who'd been burned. "She hit you? What happened?"

Ellie sniffled out her version of events, and Stuart's face only grew darker.

"It's a worthless little trinket. You had to hit someone over it?" He turned and rounded on me, his voice cold as ice.

"A worthless little trinket?" My voice trembled. "Stuart, that was my mother's keepsake!"

My reddened eyes, my shaking shoulders, gave him a moment's pause.

"What did you say?! Your mother passed away?" "While you wouldn't take my call because you'd rather be at the side of your precious sister's dog while it gave birth, my mother died in a car accident!"

His eyes flew wide. His mouth opened. "How could your mother possibly—"

Before he could finish, Ellie cut in.

"Passed away? I ran into your mother this morning, out shopping with Bradley."

"You bank on Stuart spoiling you, so you lie straight to his face. A woman with no shame at all. Stuart had nothing but the worst luck the day he met you!"

She snatched up the shards of the pendant from the ground and hurled them, furious, into the pond in the courtyard.

My mother's love for me vanished for good beneath the splash.

The rage swallowed me again like a rising tide, and I swung my hand at her.

Crack!

The slap never reached Ellie's face. Instead, Stuart's hand came down hard across mine.

"Cursing your own child and your own mother. Seraphina, aren't you afraid it'll come back on you?"

"And Ellie already offered to pay you back, so what more do you want? Not happy with the amount?" He pulled out his checkbook and scrawled a figure. "Is this enough?"

I held my burning cheek, staring at the check he held out, my heart feeling like an unseen hand had crushed it.

When I didn't take it, he tore off another check and wrote a new number.

"Not enough?" His tone was flat, as though this were only a deal being struck. "How about this, then?"

One check after another was pushed in front of me, the amounts climbing higher and higher, while my heart only went colder.

I reached out and took the last check, my fingertips trembling slightly.

"That's enough."

My voice was very soft, but it took everything I had to say it.

This marriage of ours was enough too.

I turned to leave, but before I'd taken two steps, Stuart's voice came at my back, cold and hard as iron.

"Stop right there."

My steps halted.

His tone left no room for argument. "You took the money. The matter of you hitting Ellie isn't finished."

### Chapter 5

I went rigid all over, then slowly turned around. "What did you just say?"

When he saw how red my eyes were, Stuart wavered for a moment.

But the moment his gaze caught Ellie's tears, that flicker of doubt curdled into disgust. "I said, apologize to Ellie."

"And to think you used to be a lawyer who chased after justice. Can you even face that ideal of yours anymore?"

"If you won't, then I'll grant your wish. You wanted a divorce, didn't you? I'll make sure you never see Bradley again for the rest of your life!"

My disappointment ran so deep that I laughed, tears spilling over, and I nodded.

"Fine. I agree."

"Good, I'm glad you've come to your senses. Make sure you give Ellie a proper apology."

Ellie's dog had been spooked, and Stuart was too busy escorting her precious dog-son to the vet to notice anything else.

The crematorium called, and in a daze I went to collect the ashes of my mother and Bradley.

Back home, I took the cake out of the fridge and stuck a candle in it.

"Happy birthday to Mommy's good boy. I hope there's no more pain for you in heaven, Bradley."

A gust of wind blew through and the candle went out. Was that my Bradley, coming home with his grandmother?

I curled up on the floor and fell asleep holding the urns.

When the sky turned light, I dragged myself up, went upstairs, and dug out the professional suit I'd kept sealed away for five years.

Stuart was right. A lawyer's duty is to let the light of justice shine over the earth. How could I let him down?

I gathered up everything Stuart had ever bought for me and Bradley, and as night fell, I threw it all into a metal drum and set it on fire.

In the firelight, Stuart's puzzled voice came from behind me.

"What are you burning?"

"Some garbage I should've gotten rid of a long time ago."

He thought nothing of it, reaching out to stroke my swollen face. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit you. But you shouldn't have said those things about Ellie in front of the servants, either. Everyone's calling her a mistress now, and it's hurting her business."

I pushed his hand away, my face cold.

"Oh?"

Under the dim light, Stuart studied me.

"I want you to apologize publicly. Say that as a housewife, you saw how successful Ellie had become, got jealous, and lied to smear her."

"The day after tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of her flower shop opening. You'll do it on a livestream that day, drive some traffic to the shop."

In that instant, I was completely done with this man.

I stared at him without a word. He turned his face away, but his tone was strangely firm.

"Ellie's so upset she can't even eat. If not for her, then do it to build up some good fortune for Bradley."

"Just say yes, and I promise I'll be twice as good to you and our son from now on."

This familiar face in front of me. When had it turned so strange, so utterly filthy?

I smiled.

"As you wish."

Stuart, delighted, leaned in to kiss me, but his phone buzzed again and again.

No surprise there. The second he saw Ellie's message, he rushed off in a panic to be with her. For two whole days, he never noticed the house was one person short.

Not long after, Ellie called.

"You little bitch. You think because you gave him a son you can steal him away from me? I crook one finger and he comes scurrying right back."

I let out a scornful laugh.

"That's right. You know I gave him a son, so what does a mistress like you have to fight me with? You're nothing but a dog."

"He just consulted a lawyer, actually. He wants to leave everything he owns to our Bradley. After all, you don't let good water flow to someone else's field."

Ellie flew into a humiliated rage on the spot.

"Don't get cocky. You just wait!"

Sure enough, half an hour later she sent me a video of her and Stuart in the act, gloating.

"I cried a little and he agreed never to wear one again. Once I'm pregnant, you and your little bastard can rot in the streets!"

The corner of my mouth curled up coldly. I tapped the screen and saved the video.

In the blink of an eye, two days passed.

Stuart threw a lavish banquet at a five-star hotel to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Ellie's flower shop. He'd invited a crowd of powerful, well-connected guests to lend their support, and even called in reporters.

Once the guests were seated, Stuart signaled his assistant to start the livestream.

The hotel's big screen lit up, showing my face in a formal suit, made up with care for the first time in ages.

"Today, I solemnly apologize to Miss Ellie Cooley."

Ellie's smile bloomed bright, her whole face flushed with victory.

The next second, I gave my phone a little shake.

"My apologies. After seeing the video of you sleeping with my husband, I threw up everything I'd eaten for breakfast, so I couldn't quite preserve your dignity as a mistress."

"As a way of making amends, I'll help the two of you trend. To my friends in the media here tonight, kindly point your cameras at the big screen."

"Everyone, please enjoy this HD, uncensored footage of the affair, and see exactly how this so-called 'independent woman' climbed her way to fortune by climbing into bed."