I went home alone after being discharged from the hospital and stopped in place. I saw Nielson and Katniss kissing deeply in our wedding room; She even let out a soft, tempting moan.

Nielson seemed to notice something, slowly turning his head, a bit of worry passing through his eyes.

“Heather is back. How is your arm? You need to rest well, after all,” Katniss looked up toward the nursery upstairs, “you still need to take good care of my son.”

I looked at Katniss’s winning smile and answered with a cold laugh, “A woman who can heartlessly leave her newborn baby and now she talks about needing others to care for him. Sister, your motherly love is really something special.”

“Heather!” Nielson suddenly stood up, his face very dark. “Who allowed you to speak to Katniss like that? Say sorry to her.”

“Nielson, don’t blame Heather. She’s probably just upset. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have come back.”

Katniss’s words made Nielson even angrier. “Heather, get out and think about what you did in the wine cellar. Don’t come out without my permission.”

When the heavy wooden door slammed shut behind me, darkness and cold quickly closed around me.

I was only wearing light clothes; the cold sank into my skin, making the wound on my arm ache again.

I held my knees, curled up in the corner, my body shaking without control. It was cold, so very cold.

I did not know how long I was locked inside, until my arms and legs were almost numb from the cold and my mind was fading, before the heavy door finally opened again.

Nielson slowly went down the stairs, looked at me curled on the floor, frowned and lifted me up sideways. “Heather, behave, okay?”

I firmly shut my eyes, refusing to reply.

Nielson softly carried me into the main bathroom, personally filled a bath for me, picked up a bath sponge and gently cleaned me, slowly warming my body bit by bit.

“So cold, why be so stubborn?” His breath brushed my ear, as if we were just a couple having a small fight.

“Come with me to Katniss’s art exhibition opening later,” Nielson’s voice was gentle, but his hand movements carried a warning. “You know what to do, don’t let me down again, okay?”

I looked at Nielson’s big hand, moving over my neck with a clear threat and thinking about the plan that was slowly moving forward, I finally nodded quietly.

At the art exhibition, celebrities gathered. Katniss stood in the middle of the crowd, smiling brightly, while Nielson stood next to her, guarding her. I only wanted to stay unnoticed and endure this sick show.

But Katniss clearly did not plan to let me go.

She walked over holding a cup of coffee.

“Ouch!”

With her raised cry, most of the hot coffee spilled onto a clear painting nearby, the dark brown mark quickly spreading over the canvas.

“My painting.” Katniss’s eyes quickly turned red. “Heather, how could you ruin my hard work? This is a piece I prepared for a whole year!”

Nielson rushed over at once, standing up for Katniss, “Heather, what is wrong with you now? Say sorry to Katniss right now!”

Voices rose around us. “How cruel! Being jealous of your own sister doesn’t mean you should ruin a painting.”

“So this is how a dirty stand-in acts, small and mean.”

Seeing Nielson’s clear favoritism, the anger and shame that had built up for days finally broke my guard.

“I did nothing wrong.” I straightened my back. “She spilled the coffee herself. I will not say sorry.”

A hard slap hit my face, so strong it made my sight go dark and my ears buzz.

“I told you to say sorry, do you hear me?” Nielson’s voice was cold, full of force that could not be argued with.

I covered my face, stubbornly lifting my head, staring at him.

Nielson’s last bit of patience disappeared. He grabbed the cold champagne from the waiter’s tray.

The whole bottle of freezing liquid, with ice, was poured over my head without mercy.

Right after that, two bodyguards rushed up, one on each side and roughly grabbed me, kicking hard behind my knees. The strong pain made my legs give way and I fell to my knees in front of the coffee-stained painting.

At that moment, a familiar voice broke the dead silence. “Enough! Haven’t you shamed yourself enough?”

I looked up fast, staring in shock at my father, Evander Powell, the chairman of the Powell Group, who was now pushing through the crowd, his face pale.

He walked straight to Nielson’s side, his eyes passing over me with nothing but deep hate.

“What a shame to our family, Nielson. It is my fault for not teaching my daughter well, letting her do such awful things out of jealousy, vandalism and lies, making you and Katniss suffer.”

I looked at my father in silence. We were all his children, yet I would never get his love.

My mother also forced her way through the crowd, quickly walking to me. She grabbed me, soaked and messy and pulled me to my feet, almost dragging me away from the middle of the show hall.

We walked quietly for a long time. At an empty corner, my mother suddenly stopped and dropped to her knees with a loud thump.

“Heather, I beg you, please stop fighting, stop upsetting your sister and Nielson, okay?”

She looked up, her eyes full of begging.

The memory played again like a bad dream. They had done the same thing before, crying and begging me to marry into the Sanchez Family instead of my sister, to accept that child, for the family’s sake.

Now, my sister was back and they begged me to keep putting up with her.

My mother’s voice begged, “Your sister’s birthday is in three days. Nielson is going to hold the biggest birthday banquet to announce her return and place to the whole city. Are you trying to cause trouble now, to make our Powell Family a joke? I’m begging you, please?”

I looked down quietly at my mother kneeling in front of me, feeling only something ridiculous and sickening.

At that moment, a person walked quickly from the other end of the hallway; it was Helios Gutierrez.

He didn’t even look at my kneeling mother, but went straight to me and wrapped his arm tightly around my shoulders.

“Heather, don’t think about it, let’s go.” Like a rope saving me, I grabbed his sleeve tightly and nodded without a word.

Helios drove calmly, but my body felt worse and worse. I suddenly covered my mouth and retched a few times.

A detail I had ignored burst into my mind: my period was late and that drunk night with Nielson more than a month ago.

My hand moved without thinking to my still flat stomach, my eyes shrinking fast.

No, impossible, how could it be such bad timing…

“Heather? What’s wrong? You look awful. Is something else troubling you?” Helios noticed something was wrong, his voice full of worry.

I snapped back to myself.

“Helios,” my voice was dry and shaking, “Turn back. We’re not going to your place. Take me to the hospital, now, right away!”

He was right. Nielson and I had unexpectedly created a new life.

Helios frowned, looked at me with worry and asked softly, “Heather, what are you planning to do?”

“No.” I cut him off, my voice calm and without any feeling. Since I was ready to leave, this child couldn’t stay.

“Okay, I’ll set it up.”

Lying on the moving hospital bed, just as I was about to be pushed into the surgery room, my phone suddenly shook nonstop.

It was a message from Nielson. [Where are you?]

[What are you doing now?]

[Heather, I’m giving you one last chance.]

I ignored it, but unexpectedly, Nielson called the number directly. The ringtone kept ringing, as if he wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted.

I quietly pressed the power button and the world became silent right away.

I handed the phone to Helios beside me, took a deep breath and said, “Go in.”

The dull ache from the surgery spread through my body. I leaned closely on Helios and walked toward the hospital door.

Just then, two people came closer, making me stop in place.

It was Nielson and Katniss, whom he was carefully holding.

The world was absurdly small.

Nielson held Katniss tightly with one arm, while his other hand carefully carried her bag, his face full of care.

He lifted his head and saw me. His eyes stayed for a moment on my overly pale face, a brief sign of worry passing through his eyes.

But then he saw Helios beside me and shouted, “Heather, bringing another man to the gynecologist? Is this how you were raised? You’re a shame to the Sanchez Family! Go home now!”

Katniss, meanwhile, pressed even closer to Nielson, her hand softly touching her lower stomach, looking weak and helpless.

“Nielson, don’t talk to Heather like that. Helios and she grew up together; it’s normal for them to come to the gynecologist together.”

Nielson’s eyes moved to Katniss’s hand on her stomach, his earlier anger softening right away into care.

“If your stomach hurts or you feel bad, stop worrying about others. This time, we found the best doctor to help you get better. Once you recover,” he paused, looking ahead with hope, “we’ll have another child.”

My body shook without control.

Even though the lasting pain of losing a life still stayed inside me, I was still grieving the life that was gone.

And yet, right in front of me, Nielson, with another woman, calmly and firmly planned for their next child.

I nearly collapsed, only staying upright because of Helios’s strong support.

In the middle of deep pain, I softly laughed.

Nielson frowned, looking at me with dislike. “What are you laughing at? You’re acting like a crazy woman, not at all like Mrs. Sanchez!”

I stopped laughing, stood up straight and said, “Nothing, I wish you a happy marriage.”

After saying that, I stopped looking at Nielson, only leaning even closer to Helios and slowly walked past them.

Behind me, I could almost hear Katniss’s sweet complaints and Nielson’s gentle comforting words.

Anyway, everything from now on had nothing to do with me.

I politely turned down Helios’s offer to stay at his apartment and went back alone to that cold villa.

I took out my suitcase and quietly started packing.

After all, we hadn’t been married long and I didn’t have many things that truly belonged to me. I wouldn’t take anything Nielson gave me. I opened the drawer and stared blankly at the box I once valued the most.

Inside were some old yellow photos: a secret photo of Nielson playing basketball, a picture of him at a press meeting…

And a thick diary, writing down the happiness I felt when I thought I was close to him, the helpless feeling I had when signing the contract, the pain of being locked in the wine cellar, being hit in front of others.

But now, all of that meant nothing.

I went to the backyard, lit a lighter and watched these things slowly burn into ash in the fire.

When the last flame went out, leaving only small red pieces, I knew that the old Heather of the past was gone.

Everything connected to Nielson no longer mattered to me.

After cleaning everything up, I went upstairs like I was in a daze and softly pushed open the nursery door.

The baby slept peacefully. I stood next to the crib, my heart full of mixed and hard-to-name sadness.

This “son” of mine, in name only, wasn’t he innocent too?

Just as I was lost in thought, a strong smell of alcohol suddenly came from behind me and a strong arm wrapped tightly around my waist.