###Chapter 2

By morning, Cody still had not come home. It wasn’t until the afternoon that his call arrived.

“A last-minute business trip. I won’t be back for the next two days. What gift do you want? I’ll bring it for you.”

At the same time, a message flashed across the tablet on the coffee table.

[I didn’t expect that after so many years, Cody still only has me in his heart. Last night he almost broke my waist. Didn’t you satisfy him at all? Do you need a cousin to teach you a few skills?]

With a flick of my finger, the photos Freya sent filled the screen.

By the pool at Oregon Suites, her makeup was flawless, her swimsuit clung to fiery curves, her wheat-colored skin glowing with sultry allure.

In each photo, a man’s broad back or slender hands appeared, never fully shown, but unmistakable.

My gaze drifted instinctively to the mirror, reflecting a woman, thin, worn, a shell of herself. My hands, once delicate, were rough and calloused from twenty-five years of housework.

She was my cousin, yet looked like a younger sister, ten years younger. Of course, he would choose her. They were the perfect match.

I lowered my eyes and said faintly into the phone, “You go on, I don’t want anything.”

After hanging up, I pulled out the long, customized dress I had buried away for years.

My friend Anne Raven knew I was about to leave, so she invited me to meet at a hot spring club.

I applied lipstick for the first time in so long, when behind me came a child’s mocking voice. “Wow, Grandma, you look like a clown in the circus!”

Ester, holding a doll, jumped onto the sofa.

At the sound, my son Carlos Partridge came out, his glance sharp as his words.“Mom, that dress looks ridiculous on you. At your age, what are you dressing up for?”

My hand, frozen in mid-adjustment of the dress, trembled, and my heart felt as though cut by a blade.

Then a dirty baseball uniform was thrown at my feet.

“The community game is the day after tomorrow. I need to wear this. Hurry and wash it today.”

I stood there coldly while he sat on the sofa, flipping through a magazine and snorting through his nose.

“I know you envy Aunt Freya, but no matter how you dress up, you’re nothing more than a pale imitation. If you want to win Dad’s heart, then just do your duties well. Don’t humiliate yourself.”

A sharp bitterness rose in my chest. They all knew of Freya’s secret with their father. Not only did they not care, they welcomed it. They even hoped she would take my place, stepping into their so-called happy family.

And I, trapped in that villa like a prisoner, was nothing more than a lowly maid, a ghost of a presence, serving them endlessly until death claimed me.

But twenty-five years had been more than enough.

“I don’t have time. Wash it yourself.”

I threw the baseball uniform back without hesitation, ignoring Carlos’s stunned look, then slung my bag over my shoulder and left.

As soon as I entered the hot spring club where I was to meet Anne, my gaze unexpectedly landed on Freya across the way.

She was dead drunk, collapsed against the arms of a young blond man, her lips curving into a teasing smile as she hooked her arms around his neck.

“Hi, handsome, do you have a girlfriend?”

A beautiful woman, still glowing with charm, flinging herself at him, the man blushed at once.

And the one who was supposed to be on a business trip, Cody, appeared with a face like thunder, dragging Freya out of the man’s arms.

“Freya, are you insane? Do you even know what you’re doing?”

Freya shoved him off, her drunken eyes reddened as she roared, “Who are you to me, Cody? Whoever I want to be with, what business is it of yours?”

When she stumbled forward, nearly leaving with another man, Cody didn’t think; he just pulled her back into his embrace.

His voice, ragged and low, spilled out as he cried her name again and again, “Freya… what the hell do you want me to do?”

Freya pushed against him, sobbing bitterly. “You told me to go; you were the one who cast me aside! Don’t interfere with me now!”

“I will!” Cody’s embrace only grew firmer, his eyes brimming with pain. “I want no one but you!”

The scene blurred before my eyes, my body trembling helplessly like a leaf in the wind.

###Chapter 3

Beside me, Anne ground her teeth, spitting out, “Damn it, I’ll help you kill that pair of dogs!”

“Forget it…”

I swallowed the tearing pain in my chest, forcing a bitter smile as I caught her fist. “Very soon, I won’t have anything to do with him anymore.”

While we soaked in the hot spring, Anne suddenly brought out a birthday cake.

“The day after tomorrow is your birthday. I thought you’d want to celebrate with your family, so I prepared it in advance.”

When she urged me to make a wish, I suddenly realized that my birthday was near. Every year, Cody had quietly prepared a birthday surprise for me. And this year?

Clutching onto an expectation I shouldn’t have, my birthday arrived in the blink of an eye.

That morning, as I went downstairs, I saw workers carrying several delicate boxes inside.

My son, Carlos, walked in front, giving instructions. "These were bought at a high price. They’re for tonight’s banquet, handle with care.”

My nose stung. So they did remember.

In the yard, Cody stepped out of a black sedan. He halted in front of me, hesitated for a moment, then said slowly, “Freya lives alone outside with no one to care for her, so I’ll bring her here to stay for a while.”

From the corner of my eye, Freya’s luxurious heels touched the ground. The smile I had not even managed to form froze at the corners of my lips.

A chill coursed through my body, and into my ears came Carlos’s voice. “To celebrate Aunt Freya’s photography award, Dad invited some guests tonight to hold a banquet for her.”

It had all been me being self-indulgent.

Things that never belonged to me, foolish fantasies, in the end, were never meant to be awaited.

I forced out a hum, swallowing back the tears that threatened to escape.

“I still have something to do, I’ll go back to my room first.”

Rushing into my room, I began packing my luggage in haste. Not another moment could I bear to stay.

The echo of high heels closed in; Freya’s voice carried arrogance and provocation.

“Karina Hawke, all these years you shamelessly clung to Cody, cherishing the trash I once discarded.”

“Oh, isn’t this the photo I threw away in high school? How did he pick it up and even print it to hang on the wall?”

“This vase wasn’t it the one we made while traveling? Our names carved beneath it—thirty years, and he still couldn’t let it go.”

“Oh my, this watch, just a twenty-dollar roadside trinket I once gave him, and he preserved it in a crystal box!”

Freya lifted her hand to her mouth, deliberately letting out a loud, mocking gasp.

I remembered, when we had first married, asking Cody where these things had come from.

“They were gifts from my parents, so I kept them.”

I had believed him. But now, that complicated look in his eyes resurfaced in my memory. What had it hidden?

It was love for her carved deep into his bones, a lifetime’s unwillingness, a desire forever out of reach.

I swallowed the bitterness in my throat, so be it. At least I no longer needed to pretend, to hope that the one who never loved me might one day look back.

A sharp pain twisted my stomach, and I collapsed, curling on the floor. The medicine box was on the bedside table; I reached for it, but Freya’s hand blocked my way.

Her voice lowered, venom dripping through my veins.

“Let me tell you, I never loved Cody.”

“Then why do you hold onto him? Why destroy my family?!” My trembling voice broke through the agony as I questioned her.

"Because I simply couldn’t bear to see you doing well. I enjoyed toying with these lapdogs in my grasp, watching Cody kneel at my feet."

"For twenty-five years, Cody hadn’t forgotten you for even a single day, yet you mocked his devotion, are you still human!?"

As rage burned in my eyes, she burst into bright laughter, her tone flaunting every word.

"What? Jealous of me? That’s right, even someone as proud as Cody spoiled me alone. Believe me, he would do even more for me."

Before I could stop her, she seized my medicine and hurled it out the window.

###Chapter 4

“No!”

I instinctively lunged for the medicine, grabbing onto Freya’s foot.

There was no strength left in my hand, yet Freya screamed and toppled onto the ground.

A tall figure stormed in.

“Freya!”

Cody darted toward her. His cold leather shoe trampled down on my fingers, pain exploding through me like shattering bones, and darkness clouded my vision.

He gathered the sobbing Freya into his arms. “Freya has only stayed here for a few days, and you dared to use such a heavy hand on her?!”

Freya’s face glistened with tears. “Karina scolded me for destroying your happiness and told me to leave. Forget it, I know she’s angry. I’ll move out, don’t blame her.”

“I didn’t…”

“Shut up! Look at you, like some jealous shrew. So ugly.”

Cody’s cold voice sliced through my words, his face like iron.

Sweat chilled my body, and my vision blurred. The last thing I saw was him walking away with Freya in his arms.

That was fine too; what he trampled was not only my fingers, but also my most genuine heart.

“Mrs. Karina!”

The butler’s anxious cry shattered the last thread of my fading consciousness.

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on a hospital bed. The window outside showed nothing but darkness; it was already night.

The doctor’s respectful voice drifted in. “Karina not only has a gastric perforation, but also two fractured fingers, and she is still running a fever.”

“Get the best specialists,” Cody ordered. “Use the finest medicine, don’t let her suffer.”

“Please rest assured, we have already used the best resources.”

Cody turned back and saw that I was awake. A fleeting trace of guilt crossed his eyes. “Does it still hurt?”

I shifted slightly; my stomach felt as though pierced by ten thousand arrows, and the fingers wrapped in gauze burned with searing pain.

But no matter how much my body ached, it was nothing compared to the pain tearing through my heart.

I lowered my gaze, my voice faint. “Isn’t there a banquet tonight? You should go.”

To my surprise, Cody did not leave. His eyes lingered on me with a complicated look. “I forgot today is your birthday. Why didn’t you tell me?”

I thought of the way his gaze never strayed from Freya, and a bitter smile tugged at my lips. “Would telling you have mattered?”

“Of course. No matter what I was doing, I would come right away to accompany you.”

“Happy birthday, darling.”

He slipped a diamond bracelet onto my uninjured hand, his gaze tender yet resolute.

I froze.

Darling? Cody, how long had it been since he last called me that?

He kissed my forehead softly. “Freya isn’t angry anymore. After all, you two are sisters. Get along well from now on.”

At his words, I lowered my lashes. “Hmm. You should go back and accompany the guests.”

“Why are you always driving me away?” Cody asked, his tone inexplicably tinged with irritation, though still gentle.

I was caught off guard. “But isn’t tonight’s banquet significant?”

That banquet was held especially for Freya, with the purpose of opening more doors for her. The guests must all have been wealthy and powerful, people even Cody could not afford to offend lightly.

Yet, unexpectedly, Cody smiled. “Everything has already been arranged. Tonight I’ll stay with you. I won’t leave.”

After a while, Cody got up and stepped onto the balcony to take a work call. Soon, footsteps followed.

Carlos came in carrying a fruit basket, and his wife walked in behind him with a bowl of oatmeal.

Blame clouded my son’s eyes. “Honestly, such a rare chance to spend time with Aunt, and you just had to fall sick now, making the whole family revolve around you to find happiness?”

Gigi Cameron tugged at his sleeve lightly, then opened the lunch box with a practiced smile.

“This is oatmeal Aunt made herself for you, Mom. It’s good for your stomach, please eat more.”

The moment I spotted the yam in the oatmeal, I knew it was Freya’s doing. I pushed the lunch box aside.

“I’m allergic to yams. I won’t eat it. Take it away.”

At that, even my daughter-in-law, Gigi’s smile faltered, her face darkening slightly. “Then, Mom, you should rest early.”

She closed the lunch box, then left the ward with my son.

Their whispers carried back to me as the door closed.

“Never once in all these years did she mention being allergic to yams, but suddenly now she is. What drama.”

“If only Aunt Freya had been your real mother, then Mrs. Partridge wouldn’t have just been a worn-out, tired-looking woman.”

“She’s never contributed anything to this family, yet she still keeps up that cold front. Who is she trying to fool?”

I closed my eyes, shutting out the children’s voices as they faded into the distance.

Yet why did their words still cut me so deeply, leaving me bleeding inside?

Fever and disappointment dragged me into a heavy drowsiness. Cody returned from the balcony and saw me murmuring uneasily in my sleep.

As he gazed at my pale face, memories stirred of many years ago, when the girl he had married into the family was still young. She had once been beautiful, full of vitality. Like any girl in love, she would cling to him every night, whispering his name with devotion.

Before he had the chance to cherish that youthful face, time had already etched its traces across her brow.

A finger brushed gently against my skin, the ticklish touch stirring me awake. My eyes opened drowsily. “Cody?”

He looked at me. This was his wife, his woman. In his eyes, strands of burning emotion began to spread.

I was still dazed when his thin lips pressed against mine.

“Karina…”

His voice grew hoarse, and the sound of shattering glass suddenly came from the doorway.