When I found out my father had died from donating his bone marrow, grief crushed me so fiercely I miscarried right on the spot.

Yet while I lay broken in that hospital bed, my husband was nowhere near me. Instead, he was with Helena Dalton, his first love and the very woman who had just received my father’s bone marrow.

It wasn’t until the alarm of a scheduled event went off in my ward that I remembered.

Today was our fourth wedding anniversary.

My husband, Heinry Lorrimer, had said he was preparing a special gift for me just the day before. It was just that I never imagined that special gift would cost two lives.

Tears uncontrollably poured down my cheeks and my heart felt like it had been ripped apart.

I thought back to the first year of our marriage, when he abandoned me because of Helena. He wasted his days at home in despair. It was I who tirelessly cared for him, nursing him with warmth, until he gradually came back to life.

The second year, when his company nearly collapsed, I stubbornly knelt before my greedy mother for three days straight, begging her for money and that money actually saved his company.

The third year, when he suddenly demanded a child, the doctor warned me that pregnancy could kill me. But for his sake, I bravely risked my life just to give him a beautiful daughter.

Everyone said I was the perfect wife, that I loved him with all my heart and soul. And yet, no matter how much love and devotion I gave, his heart remained cold.

Now, with his company thriving, he had driven my father to death.

The next morning, I woke to find Heinry standing by my bed. His face was pale, his voice low as he whispered.

"Yoanne… Helena is dead."

From that day on, he spent every night drowning in bars. Until one day, my own husband brought home a bar girl who looked exactly like his first love.

"If it weren’t for your useless father’s bone marrow, Helena would still be alive. From today onward, Wanda will live here. You’ll serve her and take care of her. I want you to watch as we love each other every day. Seeing her face will remind you of your guilt. That will be your punishment, Yoanne."

I just nodded without a word of protest.

What he didn’t know was that my silence wasn’t weakness. It was because the plan I had been preparing for years was finally about to succeed.

In just ten days, the truth that would destroy Heinry’s name would finally come to light. And that would be my last gift to him.

***

Perhaps the look on my face displeased Heinry. His brows knitted, his expression turning darker.

"What are you standing there for? It was only a miscarriage, not death. Go kneel before Helena's portrait and beg for her forgiveness. That’s what you have to do now."

"And if I refuse?"

I lifted my gaze, resentment burning in my eyes as I stared at the man before me. This man had driven my father to his death just to save his woman and now he wanted me to kneel before her portrait and beg for forgiveness.

My shoulders shook violently with grief and anger, tears spilling uncontrollably down my cheeks.

Yet, Heinry remained unmoved. His bloodshot eyes blazed like a wild beast.

"This isn’t up to you. Your father is gone, so you’ll kneel in front of my Helena for him. Get down!"

My body was still frail from the miscarriage, blood loss leaving me weak even after being discharged from the hospital.

He showed no mercy, yanking me from the bed and dragging me into another room, where Helena’s portrait stood like an entire sacred shrine.

"Kneel!"

He shoved me onto the wooden floor. The sharp pain shooting through my knees, but the agony in my chest was worse, like thousands of needles piercing straight into my heart.

One bow. Two. Three.

"Heinry, let me go! Don’t force me to hate you!"

Tears blurred my vision, my teeth clattering as I trembled. Seizing a brief moment when he caught of guard, I grabbed the incense burner from the table and hurled it against the wall. It shattered, shards flying everywhere.

The broken pieces cut across Heinry’s cheek, slashed my ankle and even nicked Wanda Myers, who had been lurking at the doorway.

"Ah! My arm!"

"Yoanne, your father killed Helena. Do you want to kill me, too?"

The moment her words left her lips, Heinry’s eyes went blood-red. His hand closed around my throat and he slammed my head against the wooden floor.

"I'll help you with the last apology!"

Dizziness swept over me. My body slumped onto the floor.

Through the haze, I saw Heinry lifting Wanda into his arms, carrying her out of the room. Warm blood trickled down my leg as my consciousness faded.

Heinry, I don’t want you anymore. When your company holds its celebration banquet in ten days, that will be the day everything between us ends.

When I opened my eyes again, the sharp smell of disinfectant filled the air.

Our maid noticed I was awake and quickly handed me a glass of water.

"I already called your husband. He said he’ll be here soon. Just rest, Madam."

I nodded weakly and watched the maid leave the ward. Slowly, I tried to sit up, thinking about handling my discharge papers.

However, before I could even move, Heinry appeared at the door.

"Haven’t you had enough of this act, Yoanne Wilson? Afraid I’d ignore you, so you told the maid to call me all the way here? You’re so childish. Do you think everyone has as much free time as you?"

"This is not an act. Don’t worry, Heinry. From now on, I won’t call or text you again."

He sneered and pulled out the diary my father had always treasured.

"I told you before, nothing connected to that murderer is allowed in my house. Are you deaf?"

"Don’t you dare touch my father’s diary!"

I rushed forward, trying to grab it, but he pulled it out of reach, leaving me with nothing in my hands.

"Give it back! That’s all I have left of him and he wasn’t a murderer!"

My eyes burned with tears as I begged, hoping he would show me even a shred of mercy.

"What’s so special about this diary? That gold watch was worth much more. I had it melted down into a bracelet. Look, don’t you think it’s pretty?"

The cup in my hand slipped and shattered on the floor with a sharp crash.

I turned to Heinry and stared at him in disbelief, my chest rising and falling quickly before a suppressed sob spilled out of my throat.

"You let Wanda touch my father's watch? You knew it was a love token between my parents it even engraved with their names. Why would you do that?"

"Why? Because Wanda wants it. It’s just a watch, worth nothing compared to Helena’s life. I can buy you another if you want, but don’t ever let your father’s trash get in my sight ever again."

"Oh, Wanda also wants a room with walk-in closets. Clear yours out when you get back. I’ll hold on to this diary for now, but if you ever upset me again, I’ll burn it."

I lowered my head and nodded quietly. After leaving the hospital, I moved all my things from the master bedroom into my daughter’s room.

That night, I sat alone in the dark room, unmoving, until the sound of Heinry and Wanda’s laughter echoed through the walls and broke the silence.

Tears streamed down my face in the darkness, but my heart felt numb.

Heinry never noticed I had almost nothing left in this house, only a few clothes, some jewelry and one special wedding dress. It was the dress he had sewn for me by hand, the dress I kept carefully in a dust bag for four years.

He once told me I was a treasure sent to him by God, someone he would cherish forever.

Back then, he planned every holiday with care. Even his proposal had been beautiful as he had always treated me with love.

I never thought it would all change.

Well, at least my daughter studied at a boarding school, I kept telling myself that. However, since Wanda came, I had grown more and more uneasy.

"Heinry, our daughter will be home this weekend. Can you let Wanda leave before then?"

He gave me a cold look from the side.

"I forgot to tell you. From now on, our daughter will stay with my parents. You don’t have the right to see her."

I froze as I stared at him, my lips trembling.

"Why? She’s innocent! She doesn’t know anything. Don't you care if she’ll get hurt when she finds out about this situation?"

My voice broke, pain twisting my face.

"I’ve already told her and she understands. You’ll only see her once a week."

My hands clenched into tight fists so that all my strength seemed to be drained out of me. I covered my face with both hands, my shoulders shaking.

Soft sobs broke through my fingers as my whole body trembled.

Heinry clicked his tongue in annoyance, shot a quick glance at Wanda, who was still sleeping in the bedroom and warned me.

"Take good care of Wanda until I get back. If anything happens to her, you won’t see our daughter this week."

I lowered my head and said nothing. Only after Heinry left the house did I go into my daughter’s room, gripping my phone tightly.

[I have to take my daughter with me. Can you help me?]

The reply came fast. [Okay, I’ll help you.]

But just as I sent the message, Wanda suddenly pushed open the bedroom door. Her face was dark with morning anger and she shouted at me in a commanding tone.

"I’m hungry. Go make me something light to eat."

"The maid will be here soon. Just ask her."

Wanda gave a cold laugh, running her fingers through her hair.

"The maid’s already been fired. You’re just stuck here with nothing to do. Cooking for me isn’t too much to ask."

"Why should I do that? Are you simply useless, or just sick in the head?"

Her eyes flashed with fury as she waved my father’s diary in her hand.

"Don’t say no too quickly, Wilson. Make me upset a little bit and I’ll take it out on you."

My body shook. Clenching my teeth, I couldn't help but walk straight to the kitchen. That whole day, Wanda dragged me around to shop and then forced me to cook for her.

By the afternoon, I was so exhausted that I collapsed on the sofa. Unfortunately, she wasn’t about to let me rest.

"I’ve got some packages. Go pick them up for me."

To my shock, there were nearly seventy of them.

I had to borrow a cart and made trip after trip until I finally piled them all by the door.

The moment I opened the door, the sharp smell of burning smoke immediately hit my nose.

"Wanda, what are you doing?"

"You were too slow with the packages, so I started a little fire for fun."

"What are you burning? You do know the smoke can set off the alarm, don't you? Are you trying to burn the whole house down?"

Anger surged through me at her recklessness and quickly rushed forward to stop her. "What on earth are you doing?"

When I saw her holding the last page of my father’s diary over the fire, my eyes instantly filled with tears.

"What are you making a fuss about? I’m using the fire pit, so there will be no danger. Look, aren’t the flames pretty?"

"Wanda! What is that you're throwing into the fire?"

She frowned, covering her ears.

"Shut up! Can't you just stop yelling? You can see for yourself, it’s just your father’s diary. What a useless pile of junk. Better to burn it."

As she spoke, she tossed the last page into the fire.

"No!"

I shoved her aside in panic and reached into the flames. Ignoring the searing pain, I grabbed what was left of the diary.

"Yoanne! What are you doing?"

Heinry had just come home. His face was dark as he walked over and then he slapped me hard across the face.

"Heinry, my legs hurt! This woman is losing her mind and she’s trying to kill me!"

I clutched the half-burned diary tightly, my cheek stinging from the slap, my right hand scorched and throbbing from the fire.

"Yoanne, must you be so cruel? Hurting someone just over a piece of paper?"

"A piece of paper, you said?"

I tried to hold back the ache in my chest. A bitter laugh escaped me as tears streamed down my face.

"She burned my father’s diary, Heinry. You know how much it meant to me. And now you call it just a piece of paper?"

I looked at my father’s handwriting on the fragile page. My fingers tightened until the paper crumpled. My back slid against the wall as despair filled my eyes.

Heinry lifted Wanda into his arms and shot me a cold glance.

"You won’t see your daughter this weekend. You don’t deserve to."

With that, he slammed the door and walked out.

I stared blankly at his fading figure, whispering into the empty room, as if falling into an endless abyss.

"Just one more week and I’ll get to see my daughter. Heinry, from now on, you’re the one who won’t see her."