On our seventh wedding anniversary, I was supposed to leave the country to present my breakthrough nerve-interface design at an international medical competition. Instead, I ended up standing in a cold office, holding a form like it meant anything.

I checked the details out of habit and then I frowned.

“Um… excuse me? Your record’s wrong. I’m married. Not divorced.”

The woman behind the glass barely looked up at first. Just clicked her mouse, bored, like my life was just another file.

Married. I was married.

Felix Gallardo wasn’t just my husband. He was… everything. A monster to the world, a king in the shadows, a man people whispered about like saying his name too loud might get them killed. A mafia boss who could burn cities down if he felt like it.

And mine.

Possessive didn’t even begin to cover it. Felix didn’t let go of things that belonged to him. And I belonged to him.

Even if I wanted to leave… he wouldn’t let me. So how the hell could I be divorced?

The staff checked again. Then again.

And then she looked at me like I was the crazy one.

“It’s correct,” she said flatly. “You and Mr. Gallardo divorced four years ago. That same day, he remarried. Why? Did you just bump into a wall or something? Women these days. Tsk.”

My chest tightened.

“T-that’s not possible. You’re making a mistake.”

She shook her head and raised her brow. “No mistake. His current wife is Shannon Eastman. Do you know her?”

Do I know her?

I think something inside me just… snapped.

“Yeah,” I whispered. “I know her.”

God, I knew her too well.

Seven years ago, she tried to ruin my wedding. Screaming, crying, throwing herself at Felix like a lunatic. He didn’t even blink. Just told his men, “Get this bitch out of my sight.” Twenty bodyguards dragged her away while I stood there shaking in my dress.

Four years ago, she broke into his office and stripped naked on his desk. Said she’d do anything for him. Anything.

Felix didn’t even look at her. Just picked up the phone and said, “Police. Now. There’s a fucking problem in my office.”

She got locked up for fifty days.

Five years ago…

My hand started aching like it remembered before I did. She came into my office like a storm. No warning. No logic. Just rage.

I didn’t even have time to react before she grabbed the axe on her bag and chopped off my right hand like I was nothing. I screamed in pain.

When Felix found out, he lost it.

I had never seen him like that. His eyes were red, his whole body shaking with rage.

“I’m gonna fucking kill her! I swear to God, Danica, I’ll tear her apart piece by piece!”

I was bleeding. Dying. And I still grabbed him. “Felix… don’t,” I begged. “Please… don’t do it.”

He looked at me like he didn’t understand why I was stopping him but he listened.

He always listened to me.

Instead of killing her, he locked her up. Somewhere no one could find. And every day, he made sure she paid for what she did.

“Anyone who touches you,” he told me once, holding my face so gently it hurt, “I’ll make them wish they were dead. I’ll make them suffer a thousand times worse.”

That was Felix Gallardo.

Cruel. Violent. Unforgiving.

But never to me. Never.

So how… how could he marry her on the same day she destroyed me?

My phone buzzed in my hand. I stared at the screen for a long second before opening it.

[Danica, it’s our Seventh anniversary today. I’ll be back tonight. Still dealing with that crazy bitch. She won’t last much longer. Don’t wait up, I’ll wake you myself.]

Another message came right after.

[I love you.]

My throat tightened.

He always said that.

Every message. Every call. Every time he looked at me like I was the only thing in his world.

I love you.

Back then, I was just… nobody. A struggling surgeon, barely getting by. And him… he was untouchable. Rich, powerful, dangerous.

And he chose me.

He chased me like I was something precious. Flew across countries just to see me for a few hours. Bought out entire streets just to light fireworks for me. Sent me flowers so rare I couldn’t even pronounce their names.

When I got sick, he dropped everything and came back just to cook for me himself, cursing the whole time because he didn’t know how to hold a spoon properly.

“Eat,” he’d grumble, shoving the bowl toward me. “I didn’t fucking fly ten hours for you to starve.”

When I was upset, he’d pause meetings with men who could ruin lives with a word.

“Wait,” he’d say, holding up a hand. Then he’d call me. “What’s wrong? Who pissed you off? Tell me their name, I'll burn them to hell.”

And when someone threw acid at me out of jealousy, he didn’t hesitate. He stepped in front of me like it was instinct.

His back got burned. Blood everywhere.

And he just held me and whispered, “Hey… hey, don’t cry. I got you. You’re okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

So tell me… Was all of that fake? Was I just… stupid?

I didn’t even realize I had already gotten into a taxi.

“Where to, ma’am?” the driver asked.

I hesitated for half a second.

Then I said it.

“Sun Valley.”

The place where Felix kept Shannon. My hands clenched in my lap.

If she was his wife… Then who the hell was I?

I heard faint sobbing coming from the garden and my legs moved before my brain could catch up. I stepped closer, ducking under the drooping wisteria, and froze.

Felix. My husband. Dressed in a suit, looking untouchable, a predator in every sense. He held a soft leather whip, striking Shannon over and over. She was tied to the antique chaise lounge I had spent weeks choosing for our villa, completely naked.

And then, just like that, he dropped the whip, leaned over her, and kissed her. Hard. Dominant. His hands everywhere, his sweat slick on his back.

My stomach turned over. My chest felt ripped open, bleeding in ways I didn’t even know were possible.

It wasn’t sobbing I’d heard. It was her moans. Pleasure. Laughter whispered through her gasps. The so-called “punishment” I’d imagined wasn’t torture. It was… love. Their love. The prison he’d spoken of all those times wasn’t a cell. It was their playroom. Their nest.

I stumbled backward, staring at the chaise lounge I had painstakingly picked out for him, imagining him sitting there with me, hands blistered from carrying the weight of my life in his hands. He’d said once, soft but with fire, “Danica deserves all the beauty in the world. This lounge is yours alone. And so is my love.”

Now it wasn’t mine. Not mine at all.

My hands clenched until they bled, pain ripping through me. Why? Why the hell would he do this?

And then I started listening.

“Honey, you’re amazing. I’m so happy,” Shannon said, her face flushed and glowing. “Just thinking about how I finally married you makes me feel like I’m dreaming.”

“You deserve it,” Felix said, calm, almost casual, sliding on his shirt like the chaos behind him didn’t exist. His voice was velvet with steel.

I froze at what he said next.

“Four years ago, all I wanted was for Danica to stay here, to be with me forever. And you,” he hissed, “you took an axe and chopped off her hand so she could never chase her dreams again. Then you turn yourself in like some idiot martyr, thinking even if you rot in jail, my happiness matters more than yours.”

I felt like someone was dragging a knife through my chest.

“I ask myself if I’m heartless,” he continued, “but I can’t ignore selfless love like that. Danica can have my love openly, you only get to hide in this villa. I give you a title. That’s fair.”

Fair? Fair? Wow.

I staggered back, heart pounding, eyes burning. Years ago, a noble brat mocked me, called me a broken-winged angel, and Felix made him eat his own tongue, cold as ice. And now he’s here, kissing the woman who shattered me, giving her gifts, giving her his life, giving her… a title.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to vanish.

“What if she finds out?” Shannon asked, voice worried, “Miss McKellar won’t accept it.”

Felix smiled, calm, his power radiating from every pore. “My love for Danica has never changed. I’ll protect her for life. She’ll never know. And she’ll never be hurt by you again.”

He knelt and placed a pink diamond on Shannon’s hand.

Shannon gasped, eyes wide. “This is the final item from Paris’ auction a few days ago. Worth a hundred million. Am I… worthy?”

“You’re my woman, baby.” He kissed her gently, and my blood froze. “Of course you’re worthy. Happy fourth anniversary, my wife.”

And I stood there, broken, watching the man I loved, the man who’d sworn I was his world, give himself to someone else.

...

I didn’t leave the mountain until his black car disappeared down the road. I just stood there for a long time, like my body forgot how to move, like if I moved everything would become real.

My phone started vibrating in my hand. I looked down at it, numb, and tapped the screen.

[Danica, I’m on my way home. I can’t wait to celebrate our seventh anniversary with my darling. Love you.]

For a second, I didn’t react. Then I laughed. God… I laughed so hard I had to bend over, my shoulders shaking, tears streaming down my face like I’d gone insane. Seventh anniversary? He had just finished celebrating four years with another woman, and now he was coming home to celebrate seven years with me? What was I to him? A joke? A pet? Or just… someone too stupid to notice?

There was no seventh anniversary. We had been divorced for four years. Four whole years. And love? If Felix’s version of love was cutting off my future, locking me in a golden cage, and lying straight to my face… then I didn’t want it anymore. Not even a little.

He said I’d never find out. I wiped my tears, my fingers trembling. “No,” I whispered to myself. “You’re the one who’s going to lose me.” Forever.

I tightened my grip on the application form in my hand, the paper crumpling under my fingers, then I turned around and did the only two things that mattered.

First, I applied to erase myself. Every identity record I had in this country. Gone. Clean. Like I never existed. Second, I submitted my application again. Under a new name. A new life. A new me.

four years ago, when Shannon cut off my right hand, she didn’t just take it, she threw it to wild dogs like I was nothing. Felix lost his mind back then, spent billions, replace and transplant me a hand that looked real enough to fool anyone. It worked, I could live normally, but I couldn’t operate the way I used to. I was a surgeon, precision was everything, and now… it was gone. My dream died that day.

I tried to follow it. Three times. Three times I tried to end everything. And failed. After that I cried until I couldn’t anymore, night after night until my throat burned and my chest felt hollow, and then one day I forced myself to stop. I went to hand rehab for my transplant hand. Simple, right? It wasn’t. It was hell. More than a thousand days and nights, blood and pain, my fingers splitting open, calluses forming and breaking again and again. But I made it. I fucking made it. I got back to where I could stand again.

I kept it from Felix. I wanted to surprise him, wanted him to see that the woman he “loved” didn’t break so easily. Now? I was just glad I didn’t tell him. If he knew… would he have taken both of my hands too? The thought made my stomach twist.

My phone buzzed again. I looked down.

“Your cancellation application has been submitted and will be processed within eight business days.”

Eight days. After eight days, I’d be gone. No name. No trace. Even someone like Felix, with all his power, all his connections, he wouldn’t find someone who didn’t exist.

As the sun went down, I went back to the villa. The moment I stepped inside, I felt it. Tension. Fear. Chaos. Felix stood in the middle of the living room, surrounded by his men. The servants were tied up on the floor, shaking, their faces pale. His voice was cold, sharp, dangerous. “Where the fuck is she?” he demanded. “You think I won’t break every single one of you until someone talks?!”

The moment they saw me, it was like they’d been saved. “Miss Danica…!” someone gasped.

Felix turned. And everything about him changed. The cold in his eyes melted instantly, relief hitting his face so hard it almost looked painful.

“Danica!” He crossed the room in seconds and pulled me into his arms, holding me tight like I might disappear. “Where the hell did you go?” his voice dropped, “I’ve been calling you. I thought something happened. You scared the shit out of me.”

I went stiff for a second, then forced myself to relax. “I was shopping,” I said quietly. “Lost track of time.”

He pulled back, looking at me, then sighed like he couldn’t even be mad. “Next time, take me with you,” he said, brushing my hair back gently. “Your husband can carry your bags, pay for everything, and show up the second you call. That’s what I’m here for, yeah?”

Husband. The word stabbed right through me. No… you’re not. You stopped being that four years ago.

“Today’s our seventh anniversary,” he continued, smiling slightly. “Come on. I’ve got something for you.”

He took my hand and led me outside, straight to the helipad, and before I could say anything he picked me up like I weighed nothing and carried me into the helicopter. The blades roared to life, wind whipping around us as we lifted into the sky. I didn’t speak. I just watched him. This man. This stranger.

After we climbed high enough, he tilted my chin toward the window. “Look.”

I looked down. The city lights shifted, moving, aligning until they formed words stretching across the dark.

LOVE, DANICA.

My breath caught. It was beautiful. It was insane. It was him.

Felix leaned close, his lips brushing my ear, his voice low and soft. “I love you, Danica,” he murmured. “Always have. Always will.”

My chest tightened. If someone else saw this, they’d think I was the luckiest woman alive. So why did I feel like I was drowning?

The helicopter slowly descended, landing outside a massive estate far from the city. And I knew… this night wasn’t over yet.

…

The helicopter landed in front of a massive mansion, the kind that looked like it belonged to royalty or monsters, maybe both. Felix had bought it for five billion, people whispered about it like it was some legend. The gates were carved in insane detail, and right in the center were the words that made my chest tighten.

Danica’s Palace.

I couldn’t breathe for a second.

Everything about it… it was me.

The whole place was built in that aesthetic style I once mentioned I liked, just casually, like it didn’t matter. The garden was filled with orchids, rows and rows of them, rare ones, the kind that cost more than most people made in years. And further in… I saw it.

An amusement park.

My amusement park.

Carousels, Ferris wheels, roller coasters, all glowing softly in the night like something out of a dream. Even a small petting zoo, full of dogs running around, playing, sleeping, safe.

Because I once stopped to feed a stray.

Because I once said they looked lonely.

That was all it took for him.

My eyes burned.

He remembered everything.

Every little thing.

For seven years… he really did love me like that. He gave me everything I ever wanted, even the things I didn’t dare to ask for.

So why… why did it feel like I was dying?

Because now I knew.

That love wasn’t just mine.

He had split it.

Given half to me… and half to the woman who destroyed me.

Felix stepped closer and wiped the tears from my face with his thumb, so gentle it almost hurt more.

“Hey,” he murmured, voice low. “A husband’s supposed to take care of his wife. If you keep crying like this, it’s gonna mess me up. Don’t do that to me.”

I almost laughed.

Husband?

Which one?

Under the stars, he suddenly dropped to one knee. My breath caught as he opened a velvet box, a ring inside catching the light.

“Danica,” he said, looking up at me like I was everything. “Marrying you was the best thing that ever happened to me. I love you so damn much I can’t even stand being away from you for a second.”

My fingers trembled.

“So I fixed it. This ring… it’s got a chip inside. And mine has the receiver. Means I’ll always know where you are, what you’re doing. I won’t ever lose you again.”

Something inside me went cold.

Love?

Or control?

His eyes were intense, almost frightening, like if I tried to run he’d burn the world just to drag me back.

He reached for my hand.

And right before the ring slid onto my finger…

His phone rang.

A specific tone.

I saw it in his eyes. Just for a second.

Shannon.

He checked it quickly, face unreadable, then slipped the ring onto my finger anyway like nothing happened. Like I didn’t matter enough to pause for.

“Danica’s an important client,” he said casually, already turning away. “I’ll be right back. Don’t wait too long.”

Client?

I almost choked on that. Before I could even respond, he was gone. Already moving, already boarding the helicopter, like whatever was on that phone mattered more than this moment.

More than me.

The sound of the blades faded into the distance.

And then it was quiet.

I lowered my head slowly and picked up one of the puppies near my feet, holding it close as I crouched down. It bark softly against my palm, warm, alive.

But my chest felt empty. The stray dogs found a home. So why didn’t I?

Something slipped from my finger. It was the ring. My heart sank as I picked it up. He didn’t even notice.

He gave me the wrong one.

The one meant for him. The one that receives. Which meant… The one he took was the one with the chip.

Tracking.

Monitoring.

For a long second, I just stared at it. Then… I pressed the switch.

A voice came through almost immediately.

“I’m sorry, honey… I didn’t want to get like this,” Shannon’s voice trembled, “But I’ve been locked here for four years, I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

My fingers tightened.

“You don’t have to worry about me,” she continued, trying to sound strong. “It’s your seventh anniversary with Miss McKellar today. Go be with her. I’ll be fine. I mean… we made it through four years already, right?”

Silence for a second.

Then his voice.

“Don’t talk bullshit,” Felix said, sharp but controlled. “You think I’d leave you like this? You’re sick. I’m your man. I take care of you, no matter what day it is.”

My heart cracked.