Because of Doctor Nivianne Sloane and her stupid bet, my father almost died. She once bragged to her colleagues that she could clip a ruptured brain aneurysm with one hand. One hand. Of course, she failed. She said she got a bad headahe and dropped the scalpel right there in the operating room then ran out like a coward.

And my father… my poor father… he never woke up again. He’s lying there like a vegetable, his machines screaming every hour, and I can’t do anything but press the bell over and over. No one comes. No one helps.

Mark, my brother, tried to fight back for us. He sued her. He was so sure, he worked day and night because he believed justice was still alive. But in just two days, his license as a lawyer was stripped, and he was sent to prison. They said perjury, bribery, defamation. Lies. All lies. And they sentenced him to ten years like it was nothing. His name, his information, everything was leaked. And now the world spits on him even his colleagues and friends.

And behind all of this?

It was Wilbert Chambers. My husband. The man I’ve been married to for five years. The man who controls the whole city. The man who is supposed to protect me.

That day, while I was pressing the bell like a madwoman and no doctors came, Wilbert walked in. Perfect suit, perfect shoes, calm face. He handed me my phone like it was some kind of gift and said, “The police now dropped the case. Record a video. Apologize. Do it publicly. If you do, your dad gets surgery. Vegetative or dead, you choose.”

My hands shook. My whole body trembled. I couldn’t stop my tears. I looked at him and whispered, “W-why?”

Why him? Why would my own husband help Nivianne? Why betray me?

And for the second time since I’ve known him, I cried in front of Wilbert. The first time was at our wedding because of happiness... But now? Shame on him.

“Stop cyrying, Anika...”

His eyes flickered like something in him didn’t want to see me cry, like maybe for half a second he cared. He even lifted his hand, like he wanted to wipe my tears, but then he stopped. He pulled back like my pain disgusted him.

“Anika, Nivianne and I grew up together. That surgery was an accident. Even if she didn’t use one hand, maybe your father wouldn’t survive anyway. The media is eating her alive now. Be good. Record the video. Explain it clearly. Then this will be over. The doctors are waiting, Anika... And after that, I’ll bring your brother out. Okay?”

He made it sound like he was asking, but his eyes… they told me I had no choice.

Do I have the right to refuse? Can I even say no? If I disagree, will I end up in prison too? Or will I end up like my father?

My heart felt like it was breaking.

I thought Wilbert loved me. For five years he gave me everything. Every gift, every whim, no matter how expensive, he made it appear for me. He never raised his voice at me, never scolded me. I thought he was my safe place.

But since my father’s failed surgery, I begged him over and over to help me, and all I saw on his face was hesitation. And now I finally know. He was never my safe place. He was the one holding the knife.

At first Wilbert said it was inconvenient for him to step in. He acted like it wasn’t his business. But the moment he found out the person involved was Nivianne, everything changed.

“If you don’t agree, then your father will not survive today. And your brother will stay in prison forever. Anika, don’t blame me for being cruel. Nivianne grew up with me. She was the one who pulled me out of the car accident before. I promised her I would protect her forever. So even if it’s you, you can’t stop me.”

The words had barely left his mouth when my dad’s body started convulsing on the hospital bed. The alarms blared. Doctors rushed in and wheeled him away without even looking at me.

“Dad!” I screamed. I tried to run after him, but Wilbert grabbed me by the arm.

“Record the video, and your dad can have the surgery,” he said.

I looked at him like I was staring at a stranger. “Wilbert… are you still even human?”

He shoved my hand away. His brows were sharp, his whole body pressing down on me like a wall I couldn’t escape. “Thirty seconds. That’s all you get,” he said.

And right there I felt cold inside. For the first time I was truly scared of him. I realized maybe all those years of love were just an illusion. Maybe they never existed at all.

I used to be his secretary.

I remember the way he chased me. He wrote one hundre ninty nine letters and sent me nine hundred ninety-nine bouquets of flowers just to make me smile. After two years of dating, he did everything to hold on to me.

I was mocked by rich heiress for being poor, and he stood up for me. He bought every auction item just so no one could laugh at me. He called me his woman in public. He would drop billion-dollar projects just to stand beside me when someone harassed me. He would fly thousands of miles just to take care of me when I was sick.

My family was poor, and the Chambers family hated me for it. They wanted me gone. They told him to marry Nivianne Sloanne instead, the perfect daughter from their circle. But Wilbert fought them. He fought hard. He was locked up, sent abroad, but he still didn’t give up. He even gave up his identity as heir just so he could marry me.

After all the pain, the Chambers family finally gave in, and we got married. I thought that was the end of our struggles. I thought we were untouchable. I thought we’d grow old together.

But then last year, Nivianne came back from abroad. And that's where everything changed…

She’s spoiled and arrogant, yet he started handling her life like it was his duty. Her work, her problems, her failures. When her surgeries failed, he worried about her so much that he drove her every day and every night. And then one day he didn’t even ask me. He just brought her into our home and let her stay one of the guest room.

That was the day I knew. I was no longer his choice. I was just his wife on paper, and Nivianne… Nivianne was the one he had chosen in his heart all along.

When I took the phone, my hands were shaking so bad I could barely hold it. Wilbert wiped my tears with his own hands and opened the app for me and even recorded the video himself.

Thirty seconds, that was all. I said I would not pursue responsibility and that everything was just an accident. I handed the phone back and I asked weakly if I could finally do surgery for my dad.

He looked at me for a moment and then nodded. “Start…” he said.

But before the word even finished, I heard Nivianne cry out from the operating room. “Ah, my head… I’m so dizzy.” Then she just collapsed.

Wilbert panicked right away and ran to her, carrying her body out like she was the only one that mattered. The doctors rushed after him and left my dad still lying there on the bed. The alarms kept blaring and my tears would not stop. I screamed, “Don’t go, save my dad! Please, Wilbert, you promised, you said you would save him!”

I tried to block him, but he never even looked at me. His eyes were only on Nivianne. He pushed past me and rushed to the next bed with the doctors. Their hurried footsteps crushed against mine and the pain was too much to even form words.

I was too late.

I clung to his legs and begged him, but he shoved me off like I was nothing. He even kicked me hard to get rid of me. I flew back and slammed my head against the wall. My eyes caught sight of my dying father lying helplessly on the bed and I thought my heart had been torn to shreds.

“Dad, Dad!” I cried, but Wilbert’s voice cut through the noise.

“Don’t be afraid, Nivianne. I’m right here, okay? I'm right here...” He said it with so much fear in his tone, but it was not for me.

He looked back only because of the sound of my head hitting the wall. Then he waved to two interns and sent them into my dad’s ward. “Your father won’t die, I’ll keep my promise,” he said coldly. “But no one can stop me from saving Nivianne.”

The world turned black.

Before fainting, the only thought in my mind was that I needed to leave. I had to disappear from his world forever.

....

When I woke up, there was a card on my bedside table. A note was tucked under it. “Your dad’s surgery has to wait a little longer. That was all I needed to read. It meant one thing. For Nivianne, Wilbert could wait on anything. For me and for my dad, we were always second place.

My chest was hurting so bad I could barely breathe, and then suddenly I laughed. It was not the kind of laugh that makes you feel lighter. It was bitter and broken, the kind that comes out when your heart is tearing apart. Holding my chest, I picked up my phone and called Wilbert's grandfather. The one who wanted me gone.

“I’ll do it,” I said. “I’ll divorce him. But I need your help. Help me fake my death. I want to take my brother and my dad and disappear forever.”

Two days later, when I was discharged, I already had the divorce papers ready. My lawyer prepared everything.

When I walked back into the villa, Wilbert was just about to leave to fetch Nivianne from work. He stopped when he saw me. “You’re back? Why do you look so pale?” He sounded worried for a moment, as if my face mattered to him.

Pale. Of course I was pale.

My father was lying in a hospital bed like a vegetable, and my brother was locked away. Did he expect me to look fresh and glowing? I didn’t bother answering.

I just handed him the papers and said flatly, “Sign this.”

He froze for a second. “What is this?” he asked, but before I could reply, his phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, frowning, clearly in a rush. Without even reading, he scrawled his signature and shoved the papers back at me.

“Nivianne is waiting for me. If it’s another work document, just put it in my study next time,” he said, already halfway out the door.

I stared at the signature, at how easily he let me go, and I almost laughed again. He signed away our marriage like it was nothing. Like I was nothing.

Pathetic.

I tucked the papers away and headed straight to the courthouse.

.....

It was almost evening when I came back home, and I found him in the living room with Nivianne. He had his arm around her like she already belonged there. “She’s being followed by some crazy patient’s family,” he told me casually. “She’ll be staying in our master bedroom, and you can stay in one of our guest room. Thanks to the mess your brother created. Tsk. But don’t worry—I’ll move her to her to my newly bought penthouse once it’s safe.”

“Do whatever you want,” I said. The divorce was already done. This house wasn’t mine anymore. I had no strength left to fight.

He looked surprised at how calm I was, like he expected me to beg or scream. His frown deepened, but before he could speak, Nivianne piped up.

“Anika, I just came off a night shift and I haven’t eaten yet. Can you cook something for me, please?” she asked with a sweet smile, but her eyes were sharp with challenge. “Wilbert says your cooking is amazing, but I’ve never tasted it.”

“Ask the maid,” I said and turned to leave.

Her little whine followed me. Wilbert’s voice cut in, low and firm. “Anika.” That was all. He didn’t explain, he didn’t need to. I already knew. When Nivianne wanted something, I was expected to serve her.

I didn’t want to fight anymore. I forced a smile that felt like knives in my mouth and dragged myself to the kitchen.

The soup was boiling in the pot when I ladled it out and set it on the table. My hand ached from holding the heavy dish.

She wrinkled her nose immediately. “That’s it? This is the best you can do? It looks disgusting. Do you even know how to cook?”

I clenched my teeth, and whatever was left of my patience snapped. “Then don’t eat it,” I muttered.

Her eyes glinted with something cruel, and before I realized what was happening, she grabbed my wrist and shoved my hand straight into the scalding soup.

The pain shot up my arm like fire eating through my veins. I screamed and tried to pull away, but she pressed harder, pinning my hand down while the bowl rattled and spilled. The ceramic shattered against the floor and hot soup splashed everywhere.

I finally yanked free, clutching my wrist, but the skin was already swelling and blistering. My hand didn’t even feel like it belonged to me anymore.

I heard Wilbert’s footsteps rushing in when the bowl crashed. My hand was burning and throbbing, and before I could even catch my breath, Nivianne lifted her hand with fake tears in her eyes. “Wilbert, she threw soup on me. She got mad and did it on purpose. My hand hurts so much.”

He didn’t even think. His face turned dark, and he grabbed my wrist hard. “Anika! What’s wrong with you? Say sorry to Nivianne right now!”

The pain shot up my arm, and I bit down hard on my lip just to stop myself from screaming. I yanked my hand free and shoved it up in front of his face. My palm was swollen, raw, and blistered. “You want me to apologize? Look at this. Tell me who got burned and who did what.”

For a moment he froze. His eyes flicked between my hand and her pale face. He looked confused, maybe even doubting her. But before I could say more, she clutched her stomach and let out a dramatic wail. “Wilbert, my stomach… it hurts so much. There was peanut in that soup. I told you I’m allergic to peanut!” She gasped louder. “I only asked her one question and she lost her temper.”

“If you don’t believe me, check the cameras. I never lie, Wilbert!”

“Ah, my stomach, it hurts!”

I couldn’t believe her nerve. “I didn’t put peanut in it. Whoever is lying, the cameras will show it.”

Wilbert’s face twisted in anger again. His suspicion vanished like it was never there, and his eyes turned cold. “I told you she’s allergic. How could you?”

She buried her face in his chest, her voice weak and pitiful. “Don’t be angry at her, Wilbert. I know she hates me, but I don’t blame her. She just… she just hate me to death. Maybe I really need to leave.”

“No, you're not leaving, Nivianne.” He stopped her. “Anika! Apologize, now.”

“Wilbert, I'm telling you the tru—”

“Enough, Anika!” He scooped her up in his arms and barked at me, “I don’t want to hear another word from you.”

Then he turned to the butler. “Lock her in the basement. She’s not allowed out until I say so.”

My legs went weak. The basement. That damp, stinking place where he kept those snakes for Nivianne. I stumbled back, shaking my head. “No… please, not there. Don’t do this to me.”

I tried to fight as they dragged me, but my strength was nothing. The door slammed shut behind me, and the darkness pressed down heavy on my chest.

The silence was broken only by the soft, terrible hissing. My skin crawled, and something brushed over my ankle. I jumped and screamed, slapping at the floor, but there was nothing I could do.

“Open the door! Please let me out!” My fists pounded until they were raw. Nobody came.

The air was so hot and heavy that I started breaking out in rashes. My body itched and burned and I couldn’t stop scratching. Hours dragged by until my voice gave out, and I collapsed into the corner, shivering and gasping for air.

When the door finally creaked open, I thought I was saved. I pushed myself up against the wall, barely able to stand. Wilbert was standing there, the light behind him. For one heartbeat I thought maybe he would pull me out.

But his voice was colder than ice. “Hold her down.”

Two bodyguards rushed me before I even understood. They pinned my arms, and someone forced my jaw open. A bitter liquid flooded my throat, and I choked until I was coughing blood into my lap.

“What… what did you give me?” My voice broke as the burning spread through my chest.

Then it hit me. My skin flared in red blotches. My throat closed tight until every breath felt like knives cutting me. I knew this feeling. I was allergic with seafoods.

Wilbert’s voice cut through my panic. “You put peanuts in Nivianne’s food. She’s in the hospital now. I warned you not to touch her, but you never listen. So now you’ll understand what she went through.”

He just stood there watching me writhe on the floor, his eyes as cold as stone. Not a flicker of pity, not even anger. Just indifference.

“I didn’t…” I tried to speak, but the words broke apart as my body twisted in pain. Nobody cared. Nobody listened.

The last thing I saw was his face, calm and detached, as the darkness pulled me under.

***

“Anika? Wake up.”

His voice dragged me back from the dark. My eyelids felt like lead, but when I finally opened them, Wilbert was standing by my bed. He let out a heavy sigh when he saw me awake. His hand came down to brush the hair off my face, but I turned my head away without thinking. He froze and pulled back like I had burned him.