My fiancé had suffered from kidney failure, and without a second thought, I gave him one of mine.

When he recovered, he held me close and swore that I was the only one he would ever love and that he would never betray me.

But everything shattered the day his childhood sweetheart drove drunk, crashed into my father, and fled the scene, leaving him to die.

I held the damning evidence in my hand, ready to bring justice for my father. But on my way to report it to the police, he called and threatened me.

"Ariella Wurtzbach, turn around and bring that footage back. If you want to see your mother alive, do as I say."

"If you’re dead set on destroying Alina Walker, then I won’t hesitate to let her go."

He had my mother hanging from a rooftop, dangling between life and death.

My heart felt like it was being ripped apart; the pain was so deep I could barely breathe.

And yet, I still clung to hope. I still believed, naively, that he wouldn’t go through with it.

Just as I stepped into the police station, my phone buzzed. It was a video. In the footage, my mother was thrown from the building.

"Ariella, this is what happens when you disobey. Your father’s already dead. Why not just take the hush money and live a good life with me? Why fight me?"

——

Onscreen, my mother writhed on the pavement, her body convulsing, blood gushing from her mouth.

The phone slipped from my trembling hand. I collapsed to the floor, panic crashing over me like a tidal wave.

I never thought Maverick Williams would go that far. Never imagined he’d truly lay a deadly hand on my mother.

I had given him my kidney to save his life. And in return, he destroyed mine.

But there was no time to break down. I forced myself to stand, legs shaking beneath me. I shoved away the officer who reached to help and stumbled out of the station.

In my hand was the final piece of evidence, proof of Alina’s crime. I had been one step away from justice.

But I no longer dared to gamble with Maverick. Not again. For Alina, he would erase me without a second thought.

I raced home as fast as I could, heart pounding. And there he was, Maverick, sitting calmly on the sofa, sipping wine, as if he hadn’t just shattered my world.

I stormed over and slapped the wine glass from his hand.

"Maverick, what did you do to my mother?"

"You monster, harboring a criminal wasn’t enough? Now you’re set on wiping out my entire family?"

Enraged, I slapped him, but he caught my wrist and shoved me down onto the sofa.

"I told you, your father ran a red light. Alina hit him by accident. It wasn’t intentional. She already paid compensation. That should’ve been the end of it. She’s still so young, should she rot in jail over something so small?"

Something so small? Driving drunk, killing my father, and fleeing the scene.

And in his eyes, that was nothing more than a trivial matter.

So what counted as serious?

Ah, I get it now. Alina would be going to prison. That was the real tragedy, wasn’t it?

His shameless defense made fury surge in my chest like wildfire, burning my face hot with rage.

"Maverick, in your eyes… do the three lives of my family not even matter compared to one tear from your precious first love?"

My voice trembled, and my tears fell onto the hand he had pressed against my chest.

Maverick didn’t show a trace of remorse, only growing impatience.

"Ariella, could you just grow up and look at things from my side for once?"

"I never said those things…"

"But you did them, didn’t you!"

I used all my strength to shove him away.

"My mother, what did you do to her?"

"She’s fine. Just… broke a leg."

"Maverick, you’re not human. You’re not even human!"

Fury and grief exploded inside me. I struck him again and again, fists, kicks, releasing every ounce of hatred that had built up in my heart.

At that moment, whatever love we once shared had died. All that remained was a hatred that could never be mended.

Maverick, we were finished.

I grabbed the nearest vase and hurled it with all my might, only to realize it had struck Alina, who had just walked through the door.

"Ah!"

"Brother Maverick, it hurts. Alina’s in so much pain!"

The moment Alina let out that sharp, pitiful cry, Maverick, who hadn't lifted a finger to stop me until now, finally snapped. He turned and shoved me hard onto the coffee table.

The glass beneath me shattered instantly, and my body crashed into the shards.

Bright red blood oozed out, but I felt no pain. Instead, I let out a bitter, broken laugh.

I remembered those days when I used to cook for Maverick, and once. At the same time, chopping vegetables, I accidentally nicked my finger. It bled just a little, but he panicked like mad.

He scooped me up in his arms, rushed me to the hospital, and insisted only the best doctor treat the tiny wound.

But now, that tenderness, that love, he had given it all to someone else.

"Ariella, don’t go too far."

"I’ve held back because of what happened to your father, but don’t think I don’t have limits."

"Hahaha! You tolerated me? Maverick, you threw my mother off a building. You left her disabled. And you dare say you tolerated me?"

I stood slowly, letting the glass dig deeper into my skin, piercing through me inch by inch.

I welcomed the pain, used it to remind myself never to love him again, to carve a clear boundary between us.

When Maverick saw the shards embedded in my body, he froze.

"Ariella, don’t use your body to punish me. Until this matter is settled, I won’t care."

Whether he cared or not no longer mattered.

I had nothing left to prove to him.

All I needed now was to find my mother.

"Ariella, I didn’t mean to kill your father. I just panicked and ran. Can’t you forgive me?"

"I’ll kneel and apologize to you."

The moment she said that she made a show of lowering herself in front of me.

But I had seen the truth with my own eyes that night, the night I went to confront her.

She had been laughing and smoking with her friends, dancing like nothing ever happened.

I heard her say my father was just some old man who refused to die, and that his blood had stained the luxury car Maverick gave her.

I saw them laugh, mocking how my father had struggled before he died as if it were some cruel joke.

If not for that night, I might’ve believed she was simply scared.

"If you know you committed a crime, then don’t kneel in front of me, go turn yourself into the police!"

Alina clutched her cheek and burst into tears on the spot, looking so pitiful, as if I had been the one bullying her.

Maverick’s face darkened instantly. Without hesitation, he raised his hand and struck me.

"You already hit her with a vase. Why are you still pushing her, hitting her?"

That slap was clean, decisive. It erased everything that had ever existed between us.

There was nothing left. No bond. No warmth. No love.

I turned away, my white dress soaked in blood.

Maverick used to love seeing me in white. He’d lift me in his arms, spin me around, and call me his little girl forever.

But all those once-sweet memories unraveled in a flash, rewound into nothingness.

"Maverick, we’re over. You walk your sunny path; I’ll walk my lone wooden bridge."

"Whatever."

Maverick carried the perfectly unharmed Alina in his arms and walked out.

I didn’t waste a second grieving alone. Instead, I rushed straight to the hospital to search for my mother.

But after combing through every hospital in the city, I still couldn’t find her.

That’s when it hit me. Maverick must’ve hidden her.

I picked up my phone, furrowed my brows, and dialed his number.

"Maverick, where did you hide my mother? Don’t you dare take this any further!"

On the other end, I could hear the clink of glass as he swirled his wine, his tone colder than steel.

"Until you hand over the evidence, you’ll never see your mother again."

I couldn’t believe he would actually use my mother’s life as leverage against me.

Had all that love been a lie? Just a game to him?

Even though I already hated him to the bone, the sting of his cruelty still pierced through my chest.

I shut my eyes in pain; my voice was hoarse beyond recognition.

"Where are you? I’ll bring the evidence right now."

When I arrived at the apartment, I realized he had given the sea-view place he once gifted me to Alina.

As I stepped inside, everything that once belonged to us was gone, replaced by a completely different style.

I clutched my chest, but all I felt was hollow emptiness.

When Maverick came downstairs with Alina, I lifted the USB in my hand.

"Maverick, I brought it."

"If you want it, then tell me, where are you keeping my mother?"

Alina’s face lit up with smug satisfaction the moment she saw the drive.

She knew that with Maverick shielding her, nothing, no matter how serious, could ever touch her.

"She’s in my private hospital!"

The moment I got my answer, I flung the USB straight at his face.

Without wasting another second, I turned and walked away.

When I finally found my mother’s hospital room, I stood frozen, struck like lightning. One of her legs was gone.

I shook my head in disbelief, tears falling silently onto the cold, sterile floor.

Every step I took toward her felt like walking on nails, sharp, cruel, unbearable.

"Mom… what happened to your leg? You only fell from the second floor. It shouldn’t have come to this!"

At the sound of my sobs, she stirred. Her tired eyes opened slowly, meeting mine with pain and exhaustion.

"It was Alina. She ordered the doctor to amputate it."

"What? It was her?"

She hadn’t been satisfied with killing my father. Now she had destroyed my mother, too.

The fire inside me roared to life, scorching every inch of my being. I wanted nothing more than to rip Alina apart with my bare hands.

Just then, my phone rang. It was my lawyer.

"Ariella, you need to check the news right now."

I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, searching for the latest broadcast.

Every news channel was reporting the same thing: that my father had been drunk and jaywalking when he was struck and killed by a car.

But he hadn’t been drinking. And he never jaywalked.

I knew instantly that it was Maverick’s doing.

To protect Alina, he had fabricated a false video to smear my father’s name.

Now that he had the evidence, and I was left empty-handed, they could spin the story however they wanted.

I trembled from head to toe, my whole body shaking with rage.

Beside me, my mother, already frail, was so distressed by the lies that she started coughing up blood.

Her health had been fading ever since my father died.

Now, after being thrown from a building and losing her leg, she was permanently crippled.

And I couldn’t do a thing.

"Ariella, don’t blame yourself. People like us can’t go up against the rich and powerful."

"Let go of the appeal. I’m terrified they’ll come after you next, and if anything happens to you, how would I keep on living?

I was unwilling, so deeply unwilling. But I couldn’t touch Alina. Not even with all this hate in my heart.

As I walked out of the hospital, I heard people cursing my father, calling him a scammer who tried to extort money, saying he deserved to be hit.

They claimed he died rightly.

I couldn’t hold back. I argued with them in a fury, but someone recognized me as his daughter.

Their faces changed. They all stepped back, whispering, "Like father, like daughter."

That I was probably just another fraud looking for pity and compensation.

Two days later, I discharged my mother and held my father’s funeral.

Halfway through the ceremony, a commotion broke out outside.

Someone kicked over the wreaths, ripping apart even the white mourning banners, shredding them into pieces.