Calla linked her arm with Emery, her smile wide and bright, hiding the pride and venom in her words.

A woman’s petty games; how could Elliot not see right through them?

Yet, he said nothing.

Instead, he looked at her with indulgence, then clapped his hands. “Since my wife prefers peace, let’s switch to something softer.”

The cellist quickly adapted and the gentle melody of Forest Song filled the room.

On the surface, Elliot’s gesture seemed considerate toward Emery, but deep down, he hadn’t spared a thought for her feelings. If he had, he wouldn’t have invited so many guests to their home for this celebration.

Jaxon, now intrigued, jumped off the sofa. “Mommy, stay! Aunt Calla is going to teach me to play cards!”

When he mentioned “cards,” he was referring to poker, a game commonly played in the Pinecrest City. But as the future heir to the Carter Family, Jaxon was too young for such games; something the family patriarch had made clear.

Emery’s gaze automatically flicked to Elliot. He said nothing, his attention still on Calla, amusement dancing on his face.

Since Elliot was unconcerned, Emery saw no reason to speak up.

She had no interest in being part of another petty struggle between two women fighting for attention, only to please the strange desires of these two men. Lifting her hair, she revealed her bare ear and said, “Sorry, without my cochlear implant, I can’t really hear what you’re saying.”

With that, she shook off Calla’s hand and turned away.

The sudden force sent Calla stumbling and she collapsed to the ground. Her wine glass shattered, the sharp shards leaving small scratches on her arm.

The room fell into stunned silence and the eyes of everyone in the room turned to Emery, their disapproval clear.

Seeing Calla injured, Elliot quickly sprang from the sofa and lifted her in his arms. “Emery, have you lost your mind? Even if you didn’t want to celebrate with Calla, there’s no need for violence. You’re disgusting!”

Emery couldn’t hide her surprise at how such a simple act had thrown Elliot into a rage. Sometimes, she wondered; was it because he loved Calla so deeply, or was it because he thought so little of her?

Either answer was equally ironic.

Emery tilted her head, meeting Elliot’s gaze. “The police station is always open. If you’re so worried about her, why not take her to the hospital? You’d better hurry, or her wounds might heal before you can do anything about it.”

Her response took Elliot by surprise, but when he saw Calla’s pained expression, he held back from snapping. Instead, he carried Calla gently out to the car.

Jaxon rushed after them, pausing only to shoot Emery a look of pure hatred. “You’re the worst mommy ever! I hate you!”

Hate? Emery felt a bitter taste rise in her throat.

Wasn’t it just the same feeling that twisted inside her when she looked at everything around her?

But she didn’t have to endure it much longer.

As father and son left, the once lively atmosphere of the house quickly fell into a heavy silence.

Keeping her composure, Emery offered the guests a calm smile. “Just a minor accident. Please, make yourselves at home. Maeve, take care of everyone.”

With that, she walked toward the kitchen as though nothing had happened. She spotted a beautifully wrapped box in the corner, picked it up and made her way back to her room, gliding past the crowd.

Inside the box was a cake.

Emery had two birthdays: the day she was born and the day she was adopted by the Carter Family.

At five years old, she had been trafficked to the Pinecrest City, where she met Elliot, who had also been abducted.

Together, these two children, both barely in double digits, found the strength to survive the horrors of human trafficking by depending on each other.

Later, the police in the Pinecrest City solved the human trafficking case, but no leads on her family surfaced.

At Elliot's insistence, the Carter Family took her in and named her Emery, meaning "brave ruler," for she had the power to tame the once-untamable Elliot, turning him into a man who could be controlled.

From then on, Elliot kept the tradition of celebrating her birthday twice a year.

But today, he forgot. He was too caught up in celebrating with someone else.

After finishing her cake, Emery quietly removed all the wedding photos and family portraits from the bedroom, feeding them into the shredder. She had already made up her mind to leave; there was no point in holding onto the past.

Once the photos were gone, she packed her things and moved them into the study next door, leaving behind only the jewelry and gifts Elliot had given her over the years.

For now, she couldn’t bear to see his face every day.

The study, a space she had once insisted on keeping, now became her sanctuary. She had planned to use it for work, but life had kept her tangled up in Jaxon’s needs and daily duties.

Ironically, it was now the place she would retreat to before leaving the Pinecrest City for good.

Pushing aside the whirlwind of thoughts, Emery took a bath and then settled into bed. Despite her efforts to find rest, she tossed and turned for hours, her mind racing, until at last, sleep claimed her, but it was a restless one.

In the dead of night, Elliot returned home alone.

When he saw the empty bedroom, a mocking smile tugged at his lips.

He knew Emery was upset, throwing her little tantrum, but he wasn’t the young man who once panicked at the sight of her tears.

With a sharp bang, Elliot flung open the study door, only to find that Emery wasn’t sitting in there waiting for him, anxious and expectant, as he had imagined.

She rubbed her tired eyes and spoke with surprising calm, “Wrong room. The bedroom is next door.”

A surge of frustration rippled through Elliot. He marched toward the bed and grabbed her wrist. “You just can’t stand seeing Calla happy, can you? You had to embarrass her in front of everyone, didn’t you?”

Emery couldn’t help but laugh, though it was more bitter than anything. “Elliot, today isn’t just Calla’s big day…”

Elliot froze, the weight of her words slowly sinking in. It was then that he remembered; it was also Emery’s birthday.

A moment of unease flickered across Elliot’s chest, but it quickly faded, replaced by a surge of anger over Calla’s injury. “So that’s what this is about? If you want a present, just swipe my card at the mall. Calla never had a birthday like yours. Can’t you give her just this one day?”

His tone turned cold. “Don’t think hiding in the study will scare me. If you plan to stay here, then you better stay for good. And you’ll apologize to Calla tomorrow, or I won’t stop Jaxon from turning against you.”

He tightened his grip on her wrist until her face lost its color, then let go with a forceful shove. He stormed off, his anger trailing behind him.

As his figure disappeared down the hallway, Emery’s lips twisted into a laugh.

The marks on her wrist were bright, mocking, as if to remind her of the hold he still had over her.

Once upon a time, she would have been angry beyond words.

But now, all she felt was the hollow ache of years spent in his shadow; twenty-four New Year’s Eve spent with him, watching the fireworks over Pinecrest City and all of it slipping away like sand through her fingers.

At eighteen, Emery’s heart began to stir with a feeling she had never known. On a yacht, beneath a sky lit up by a dazzling burst of fireworks, Elliot gently took her hand and promised her a lifetime together.

The fireworks had been so breathtaking, and in that moment, she had never imagined that love, so sincere, so bright, could fade away just as quickly as the sparks in the night sky.

With the Carter Family’s encouragement, she naturally married Elliot and by twenty-two, she had given birth to their son, Jaxon, a child she cherished more than anything in the world.

During childbirth, Emery had suffered an amniotic fluid embolism, narrowly escaping death after a full blood transfusion. At that time, Elliot had stayed awake for three days, terrified that even the briefest moment of sleep could mean losing her. Once he was sure she was out of danger, he collapsed in exhaustion, as if he'd escaped a disaster.

Later, in a drunken haze, Elliot confessed, "If I had known the risks, I would have rather you never had children. That was the first time I truly understood regret."

But Emery never regretted it, not even for a second. Jaxon was the living proof of her love with Elliot.

When Jaxon was three, he had promised that he would take care of her, side by side with Elliot, when he grew up. With the boundless love of both father and son, how could she have ever felt regret?

Now, looking back, it all felt like a cruel joke.

She had long sensed the growing distance between Elliot and Calla.

Calla was a student she had helped and after graduating, she joined the Carter Family's Oakridge Group.

At first, Emery didn’t give it much thought. She had sponsored many students over the years and several, like Calla, had gone on to work at Oakridge.

But as Elliot came home later and later and the familiar scent of Calla’s gardenia perfume lingered on him more often, something began to stir in her gut.

When the truth finally hit, that Elliot was having an affair, Emery was shattered. At that moment, she brought up divorce for the first time.

If even the love they had shared so deeply could be betrayed, what else was there to hold onto? A dog who pledged loyalty to anyone wasn’t worth keeping.

But Elliot refused. He shoved her against the desk, his touch unnervingly intimate, his words cold.

“Calla won’t take your place as Mrs. Carter. You’re not a little girl anymore, do you still believe in fairy tales? You’ve been with the family since you were young. If we divorce, where would you go?”

“And Jaxon... He’s finally getting a heart. Can’t you see the timing? Must you be so selfish now?”

For Jaxon’s sake, Emery swallowed the sharp pain, letting it settle in her throat like a bone that couldn’t be dislodged, too painful to swallow, too stubborn to spit out. She continued playing the part of the loving wife to Elliot, even as the weight of her heartache grew heavier with each passing day.

Her sacrifices, however, led to nothing but more heartache, like the photo in Jaxon’s cherished diary, a snapshot of him, Elliot and Calla smiling too closely together.

The diary entries only deepened the wound, chronicling their “happy” moments as a family of three.

“Today, Dad introduced me to an auntie named Calla. Auntie Calla is so much fun! She played with me all day and took me to a night market. She even lets me eat street food, unlike Mom.”

Emery remembered that day well. After their trip to the market, Jaxon fell ill with gastroenteritis and a high fever that lasted three days. Neither father nor son mentioned the truth to her; she assumed it was just a reaction to his condition and stayed by his side without question.

By the time his fever broke, she had lost weight from the stress, but Jaxon was better and that was all that mattered.

“Auntie Calla let me skip my least favorite piano class and even bought me a new gaming console. She said I could come over anytime to play.”

“Today is Auntie Calla’s birthday. I secretly bought her a ruby brooch. I hope she likes it.”

Emery recalled that brooch, he one Jaxon had purchased. When the driver mentioned it, she assumed it was a gift for her. But to her shock, it was for Calla’s birthday.

The child she had risked her life to bring into the world remembered Calla’s special day but not hers. A deep pang of failure struck her. Had she failed as a mother?