My wife, Janice Frost, was an interworld traveler. People like her weren't supposed to form attachments with anyone in another world.

But she fell for me the moment she saw me. Every time her feelings stirred, it tore through her, like her soul was being ripped apart.

She had endured that pain 99 times.

Later, I was abducted and taken to North Kaman. They beat me every day, over and over.

Right when I was about to break, I remembered the method Janice once taught me, a way to reach her across worlds.

Somehow, I managed to use it.

But instead of her voice alone, I heard her speaking with her mentor from the other side.

"Janice, how could you contact a resistance group yourself and have them take Samuel? I thought you loved him."

Janice's voice was cold and hard.

"This ordeal was meant for Tim. I had to do this to save him. Samuel is the main protagonist of this world. He's protected by fate. Nothing will happen to him. Once this mission is done, I can stay in this timeline for good. When that happens, I'll make it up to him."

My chest tightened until it felt like it might split open.

When those people closed in on me again, I stopped resisting completely.

"Heh. This guy's tougher than he looks."

A woman's voice rang out, edged with mockery. Then, a sharp pain tore through my left leg. The agony hit so hard that I couldn't hold it back anymore. A low groan slipped out.

"Oh? Finally making a sound?"

Another woman spoke up, her voice tinged with amusement.

I forced my eyes open.

The woman in front of me wore heavy makeup, her face lit with a twisted kind of excitement. She held a red-hot iron rod, waving it lazily in front of me before driving it straight into my chest.

"Argh!" I screamed.

It felt like my chest was burning through from the inside out, the heat spreading along every nerve.

"That's better. It isn't fun if you don't scream."

She smiled, satisfied, then pressed the rod into the other side of my chest.

I clenched my teeth, fighting to stay silent. I knew the more I reacted, the more they enjoyed it.

So I endured it, quietly, praying it would end soon.

My tendons had already been severed. I lay there like a torn rag, completely at their mercy.

"Which one is this? Have we used eight methods yet?"

My wife, Janice Frost's, voice came through, clear and distant, just like always.

"Seventh," her mentor replied, a trace of hesitation in his tone. "Do you really need to recreate everything this precisely? You know it was Samuel who saved you back then. Why are you insisting on repaying Tim instead?"

My lashes trembled.

During a landslide years ago, I was the one who dug her out of the rubble with my bare hands, carried her to safety, and collapsed from exhaustion.

When I woke up, she insisted Tim Jenkins had saved her.

No matter how I tried to explain, she never believed me.

So it wasn't that she didn't believe me; she just chose not to.

"Marrying Samuel already betrayed Tim's feelings. I don't want him to go through something like this, too. A man's life is ruined if he goes through this."

Janice let out a quiet sigh, her voice heavy with guilt and helplessness.

Lying on that filthy wooden board, I started laughing. Tears slipped down the sides of my face.

She knew exactly what this would do to a man, and she still chose to do this to me. She kept saying she loved me, yet she pushed me into hell with her own hands.

Didn't that count as betraying me?

A sharp pain twisted through my abdomen. I gasped for air, but blood kept spilling from my mouth.

The man, across from me, panicked.

"What's wrong with him? He's not about to die, is he?"

The mentor's voice turned tense.

"Janice, Samuel's not going to make it. He…"

"Don't tell me the details. I can't handle it," Janice cut him off, her voice tight with pain. "Now go ahead and take away his ability to be a man."

"What?" Her mentor's voice shot up in shock. "You don't want kids anymore? I thought you loved children!"

Janice said calmly, "Even if Samuel can't have children, I'll still love him, even if it means we'll have a sexless marriage. It has to be exact. If it isn't, the story will repeat itself with Tim."

Her tone never wavered. To me, it sounded like something straight out of hell.

A moment later, someone brought over a massive pair of rusted pliers.

Even after I had already given up hope, fear still hit me hard enough to make me recoil.

I didn't want to lose what made me a man. That kind of thing would've destroyed me.

Day after day, Janice wanted me constantly, no matter the time. She used to say she dreamed of having our child, of building a quiet, happy life for the three of us.

I had planned to wait until the mission was over, then start a real family with her.

And now, she was the one cutting that future off.

Before I could react, someone grabbed my legs and pinned me down. Pain exploded through my body, sharp and absolute.

I nearly blacked out, but they had already injected something to keep me conscious.

So I stayed awake, enough to feel every second of it.

"You're turning him into a eunuch… Gosh…"

The person holding the pliers glanced at me, blood everywhere, then looked away, unable to keep watching.

Through the haze, I heard Janice's voice. It trembled, just barely.

"Samuel, hang on. Just a little longer. Once the mission is over, I can stay in this world for good. When that happens… I'll make it up to you."

Make it up to me?

With what? Her so-called love?

A dry, broken laugh slipped out of me. No tears came. I didn't have any left.

They dragged me off the ground like I was nothing, then threw me into a filthy water cell that reeked of rot.

Cold, stagnant water swallowed me whole.

I had no idea how long I stayed there.

Eventually, the door creaked open.

Janice stepped in, backlit by the light behind her. The panic and pain on her face looked real enough, like she might break down at any second.

She rushed over and pulled me into her arms, her voice shaking.

"Honey, I'm here. I'm getting you out."

-

I lifted my head slowly, numb, and looked at her.

The face I used to love so much now felt unfamiliar. Worse than that, it made my stomach turn.

"Didn't you say you always had my location? That you'd come for me the second something happened?"

She froze for a split second, then forced out an explanation, guilt written all over her face.

"I'm sorry. Things were complicated overseas. It delayed me. I'm really sorry, honey… But it's okay. No matter what happens, I love you."

Love me?

I let out a quiet, hollow laugh.

It sounded ridiculous.

She either didn't notice or chose not to.

She shrugged off her coat and wrapped it around me, covering my ruined body, then lifted me and ran.

She got me to a hospital. Word spread fast, and the rest of the team showed up one by one.

When they saw me, even they couldn't hide their reactions. They had seen plenty of ugly things before, but this still made them suck in a sharp breath.

I was rushed into surgery.

My tendons had been severed. What made me a man was gone. Infection had spread across my body, eating through flesh.

The doctor kept working, shaking his head the whole time.

The anesthesia did nothing, but I didn't even have the strength left to cry out.

After the surgery, they moved me into a hospital room. I kept my eyes closed and pretended to be asleep.

I didn't want to face Janice.

My head was a mess. I was exhausted.

She came anyway. I felt her sit down beside me, then a drop of something cold hit my face.

Her tears.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I won't ever let you get hurt like this again."

Before, seeing her like this would've been enough to make me sit up, pull her close, and tell her it was nothing.

Now, it just made my stomach turn.

There was a sound at the door.

"Hey, Janice, are you hungry? I grabbed breakfast for you."

It was Tim.

Janice let go of my hand and answered without turning around. "I'm not hungry. You eat. In three hours, you're getting on a plane and heading back. It's not safe here."

"I don't want to go alone. I'm scared. Can you come with me?" His voice softened, almost pleading, thick with a kind of spoiled sweetness.

"No. I need to stay with my husband." She didn't hesitate.

"But I'm really scared…"

Janice went quiet. A few seconds later, she gave in.

"Fine. I'll go talk to the team."

She always said I was the only one she loved.

But when it came to Tim, she never had the heart to refuse him.

The moment Janice stepped out, Tim's expression changed. He walked over to my bed and slapped me, hard.

"You're awake, right? Drop the act. We all know they gave you something to keep you conscious." He looked down at me, smug and satisfied. "So? Not fun, is it? Getting turned into half a man. I heard they wrecked your arms and legs, too. That's rough."

I forced my eyes open and stared at him. "Even like this… Janice still won't divorce me and marry you."

Tim was obsessed with her. Anyone could see it.

Too bad she never felt the same.

His face darkened for a second, then he let out a short, mocking laugh.

"Don't get so proud. Let me tell you something: Janice brought me back here so I can take credit for this mission. The fugitive your team caught is going on my record now."

Rage burned through me. I dragged a few words out of my throat.

"You…are despicable."

This operation was supposed to be ours alone.

Janice said she was worried about me and insisted on coming along.

As it turned out, she wasn't worried. She brought me here to be destroyed.

And now, even the credit for capturing a fugitive, something two of our men died for, was being handed to Tim.

Tim picked up a syringe and pushed it straight into my vein without hesitation.

"You should just die," he said lightly. "Look at you. Living like this isn't living. Better to step aside and let Janice and me have our happy ending."

He smiled, cold and sharp.

"This is a septic agent. Janice didn't want you screwing things up, so she told me to give it to you. Goodbye. Maybe next time, you'll actually beat me."

He laughed and walked out as if nothing had happened.

Less than five minutes later, the machines around me started screaming. Alarms blared, sharp and nonstop.

Doctors and nurses rushed in, the room exploding into chaos.

"This is bad! His vitals are crashing. The clotting function is failing. If this keeps up, the infection will kill him. We need to transfer him back home now. They've got the medication there."

"There are no outbound flights right now."

My teammates all started talking at once, panic spreading fast.

Then someone suddenly shouted, as if they had just remembered something.

"Wait! Janice applied for a helicopter. She can take Samuel back herself."

Hope flickered in my chest.

I wanted to live.