I still remember that night years ago when Walter first started learning sign language. It was past midnight, the lamp glowing warm in our bedroom while he sat at the desk, practicing over and over with that serious look on his face.

I had written on a small notepad and slid it to him, placing my hand gently over his. “You don’t have to do this. I can manage. I’ve lived with it all my life.”

He’d looked at me with that perfect smile that always made me believe him. “Rosine, you went through so much pain, not being able to hear anyone. You were alone, carrying it all by yourself. I can’t stand that. Let me be the one who understands you. Let me be your voice, your comfort.”

Those words had cracked me open. I cried that night like a child, because for the first time, someone seemed willing to fight through my silence just to reach me. Not Cali, Not my parents, who always treated me like Beatrix’s shadow. And definitely not Beatrix, who was the reason I became deaf in the first place.

That night came back to me like a nightmare…

I was only thirteen then. Beatrix and I were waiting outside the Charles estate after school. I had been holding my sketchbook against my chest, smiling faintly when I saw Cali’s car pulling up.

But Beatrix’s smile was different. I knew that look now it was the same one she always wore before tearing something from me.

“Rosine, move!” she shouted, grabbing my wrist.

Before I could even process her words, she shoved me hard. My body stumbled forward, straight into the path of the approaching car.

The world spun. I remember the blinding headlights, the squeal of brakes, the sharp blast of a horn.

Then impact. My head hit the ground first, right by my ear. Pain exploded through me, searing white, then everything blurred.

When I woke up in the hospital days later, the silence was unbearable. I couldn’t hear my mother, couldn’t hear the doctors, couldn’t hear my own voice when I tried to scream. All I had were Beatrix’s crocodile tears by my bedside, her soft words mouthed to me like she cared.

But I knew. I knew her push hadn’t been an accident. She wanted me gone. She wanted Cali to herself.

That was the day I lost my hearing. And that was the day I learned what it meant to be invisible, too.

And now, I thought Walter was different. I thought he was my shelter.

But now, watching him sign so easily in front of me, I felt nothing but bitterness. The same hands that once felt like protection had become a cruel reminder. He had used my silence as a shield, whispering his love for Beatrix while I sat beside him, smiling like a fool, never hearing a word.

“Sweetheart, we should get ready. Beatrix’s birthday banquet is starting soon. If we’re late, people will talk.”

His eyes lit up as he said her name. Not me. Not us. Her.

Something twisted inside my chest. Still, I forced myself to lift my hands and sign back slowly. “Wait for me. I’ll… I’ll go get change first.”

I rushed upstairs. The moment I closed the bedroom door, my strength fell apart. My shoulders shook, and tears poured down in silence. It was the kind of crying that didn’t even make a sound, the kind that emptied you out.

After a long while, I forced myself to calm down. I wiped my swollen eyes, fixed my hair, and slipped into a simple but elegant gown. I didn’t want to give Beatrix or anyone else one more reason to sneer at me.

On my way down, a sliver of light from Walter’s study caught my eye. The door was cracked open.

For three years of marriage, I’d never gone inside. Walter always said it was his private space, and I respected that. I thought it was his way of keeping work separate from our home. But tonight, something in me moved. I reached out and pushed the door wider.

What I saw froze me.

The walls weren’t filled with business charts or family portraits. They were covered… covered… with photos of Beatrix. Her as a child, her as a teenager, her smiling, crying, laughing. Every angle, every moment, framed neatly, like she was some goddess he worshipped.

Not one photo of me. Not even our wedding picture.

I staggered closer, my legs unsteady. On the desk was a pile of letters tied with ribbon. My fingers shook as I picked one up. The first line read: To Beatrix, my nine hundred nighty-ninth love letter.

Every word bled with devotion. Promises, confessions, obsession. It wasn’t me he spent his nights thinking of… it was her.

Beside the letters lay a contract. My eyes widened as I read the title: Transfer of Ownership: Rutherford Crown Holdings.

Rutherford Crown Holdings. The company Walter fought his whole life to protect. His empire. His family’s legacy. And he was ready to give it all to Beatrix, just like that.

The hours he locked himself away here weren’t for work. They were for her. Always her. And me? I was nothing but a placeholder, a name he needed to keep her out of reach. The truth hollowed me out until I felt invisible, erased.

***

By the time we arrived at the Charles’ mansion near the lake, I wasn’t myself anymore. I was a shadow.

The grand estate glowed under chandeliers, the halls filled with music and laughter. Guests in designer gowns and tuxedos mingled, sipping champagne like the night belonged to them.

At the center stood Beatrix, dazzling in a gown made just for her, every sequin catching the light. Her beauty was undeniable, her presence magnetic. She looked like she owned the night, like she had always belonged to the spotlight.

My parents hovered around her, eyes shining with pride. They touched her hands, stroked her arms, like they couldn’t believe she was really back. Like they didn’t want to let her go again.

They had once looked at me the same way. I remembered it. I had once been their precious daughter. But everything changed the day Beatrix went missing and then returned.

Fifteen years ago, we were twelve years old when they found her after she’d been gone for two weeks. I ran to her with open arms, thinking we’d finally be sisters again.

But her first words cut deeper than any blade.

“R-rosine,” her tears were falling from her eyes, “what did I do wrong? Why… Why did you let them kidnap and take me away?”

With just one sentence, Beatrix ruined my life.

That lie shattered everything. My parents’ trust, their love, their pride in me… all of it was gone in an instant. From that moment, I wasn’t their daughter anymore. I was the reason Beatrix had suffered, the shame of the Charles family. My mother’s eyes carried disgust, my father’s silence burned deeper than words. Their love for me disappeared overnight, replaced by cold stares that never softened, even years later.

At her birthday banquet, walking into the grand hall felt like walking straight into a trap. Beatrix spotted Walter and me the second we arrived. She floated toward us in her golden gown that glittered under the chandeliers, her smile wide and bright like she was born for the spotlight.

“Rosine, Walter, finally!” she exclaimed, taking my hand as if she adored me. Then she gasped, covering her lips delicately. “Oh no, I almost forgot. You can’t hear me, can you? I should’ve learned sign language, but I never did. You won’t hold that against me, right?”

Her voice dripped with sweetness, but her eyes gleamed with something sharp.

My mother stepped closer, her tone cutting like glass. “Blame her? Beatrix, don’t be silly. If it weren’t for Rosine, you would have never been kidnapped in the first place. She’s the disgrace of our family. Deaf and useless.”

I bowed my head. I had heard it all before. Their cruelty never dulled, but it still stabbed the same.

Before I could speak, Walter stepped forward. He put a warm hand on Beatrix’s shoulder, “Rosine isn’t the type to hold grudges. Don’t worry about it, Beatrix. She understands.”

Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box, handing it to her like it was the rarest jewel in the world. “Happy birthday, Beatrix. I hope you like it.”

Her face lit up instantly. “Walter, you always know how to make me smile.”

As she tilted her wrist to adjust the box, the light caught on the bracelet she wore. My breath caught in my throat.

The bracelet.

The heirloom of Rutherford Crown Holdings. The one Walter once told me was lost. The one I had secretly hoped he’d give me when we first married. I had asked him back then, shyly, why he never gave it to me. His smile had faltered for a heartbeat before he kissed my hand and said, “It’s just an old thing. What matters is that my heart belongs to you.”

But now the truth was shining under the ballroom lights. The bracelet wasn’t lost. It was never mine to begin with. It was always hers.

A sharp pain spread across my chest, burning and hollow all at once. My hands trembled, but I swallowed it down. I couldn’t let anyone see me break.

“I… I need some air,” I whispered, slipping away before my tears betrayed me. The laughter and music faded as I pushed through the crowd, searching for the cold night to numb the storm inside me.

***

The garden lights were soft and golden, casting long shadows across the lake. The night air was cool against my skin, yet inside I felt hot and trapped.

I should have known she would come. Beatrix never missed a chance to cut me open.

When she walked out, her face had none of the sweetness she showed in front of others. The polite smile was gone. What stared back at me now was her real self. Sharp, cruel, smug.

"I really do not get you," she said, her voice low and sharp. "How do you still have the guts to show up here? No one wants you, but you act like you belong. Your shamelessness is almost funny."

Her words sliced through me, but I kept my eyes on the lake. If I looked at her, I knew the tears would fall, and I did not want to give her that victory.

She stepped closer, her perfume thick in the air, sweet and suffocating. "Do you even know why Walter married you? Poor thing. He never loved you. He only did it so you would not get in the way of me and Cali. He told me everything the night of your wedding. He told me I was the one he really wanted. He's obsessed with me… He married you to be near me. Not you."

The world tilted for a moment, but I forced myself to breathe.

Beatrix laughed softly, the sound like broken glass. "Look at you. Pathetic. A deaf wife who cannot even keep her husband’s heart. If I were you, I would not even bother living anymore."

Her words pierced so deep I could barely breathe. My silence must have pleased her, because she suddenly moved fast. Before I could step back, she threw herself into the lake. The water exploded around her, the splash echoing in the night.

"Help me! Someone, please!" she cried, thrashing wildly as though she were drowning. “Rosine! She pushed me! Help—”

I never expected the night to end like this. One minute the garden was full of laughter and music, the next it was Beatrix’s scream cutting through the air.

People rushed toward the lakeshore as she flailed in the dark water. Walter didn’t hesitate—he ripped off his suit and plunged into the lake like some hero in a story. He held her tight, his arms around her as if she were the most fragile thing in the world.

I stood frozen, my heart pounding. By the time he dragged her out onto the damp bank, Beatrix was trembling in his arms, water streaming from her gown. She looked like a doll, so pitiful, and her eyes wide with tears.

“W-walter…” her voice shook. “Why did she do that to me? If I upset you, Rosine, you could’ve just said something. You… you know I’m terrified of water because of those kidnappers who once left me drowning in a pool for fun. Why did you push me?”

The crowd gasped. My lips parted to defend myself, but before I could speak, my father’s sharp voice tore through the night.

“Rosine! How dare you lay a hand on your sister?”

He shoved me hard. My heels slipped against the slick grass at the edge of the lake, and the next thing I knew, the freezing black water swallowed me whole.

I can’t swim.

The cold was merciless, clawing at my chest, dragging me down into the heavy dark. I kicked and thrashed, but the lake pulled me deeper, panic ripping through me. Above, voices blurred together… gasps, whispers, maybe even laughter.

I forced myself upward, coughing as I broke the surface, choking on water. My eyes burned, my chest screamed for air.

And through the blur, I saw her. My father and mother, standing on the bank with their arms folded, glaring at me like I was filth.

“Stop the act, Rosine,” his voice was hard as stone. “You’ve always been a curse on this family. Letting Beatrix be kidnapped wasn’t enough? Now you try to drown her too? We should’ve left you the day you were born.”

The words hit harder than the freezing water.

My gaze darted back to Walter. Surely… surely he wouldn’t just let me die. He knew I couldn’t swim. He might not love me, but I wanted to believe he wasn’t heartless.

But then he opened his mouth.

“Do you even know Beatrix is pregnant?” His voice dripped with anger. “You could’ve killed her and my child. How could you?”

I shook my head frantically, trying to speak, but the lake stole my words. My body shook from the cold, my lungs screamed for air.

Walter’s jaw tightened. “Stay in there tonight. Maybe then you’ll realize what you’ve done.”

And just like that, he carried Beatrix away, her wet hair plastered to his shoulder. She clung to him like she belonged there, casting me one last look of triumph.

The guests drifted off. My parents left without a backward glance. Soon the garden was empty, the night air heavy with silence, broken only by the slow lapping of the lake against the shore.

I kicked weakly, but my arms felt like lead. The water was too heavy, too cold. My body wanted to give up until the darkness crept closer, slow and steady.

And then, suddenly, a splash. Strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me up through the black water.

Who was it? Who saved me?

***

When I finally opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the ceiling of a private hospital room. Everything felt heavy, like my body was made of stone. Even breathing hurts.

I turned my head slowly and froze when I saw Walter sitting right there beside me. His hair was a mess, shirt wrinkled, like he hadn’t slept at all.

The second our eyes met, his whole face brightened like he was the most devoted husband alive.

“Rosine, thank God you’re awake,” he said quickly, squeezing my hand. “I’m so sorry I left you last night. I didn’t want to, you know that. But Beatrix wasn’t feeling well and Cali was out of town. I had no choice but to rush her to the hospital. She’s carrying our future heir, sweetheart. I couldn’t risk anything happening to her baby.”

He sighed, lowering his voice like he was being kind. “You understand, don’t you? The family would blame you if something happened to that child. Even your parents wouldn’t forgive you. I did it to protect you too.”

His eyes softened, almost pleading, like he wanted me to nod and accept it all.

I just stared at him. My chest hurt, but I forced myself to keep quiet. I wasn’t giving him the satisfaction of my tears anymore.

For a second, his smile faltered. Then he tried again, brushing his thumb over my hand. “Please don’t stay upset with me. You’re my wife. I care about you. I really do.”

I didn’t answer. I just turned my head toward the window, watching the sky, letting the silence swallow us both.