###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.

###Chapter 5

When I turned, Freya stood at the doorway, tears spilling over her eyes, the ground scattered with petals and fragments of a broken vase.

“I only came to apologize to my cousin for adding yams by mistake. I didn’t know I’d be interrupting you two…”

Her voice faltered. Biting her lip, she turned and ran.

“Freya, it isn’t what you think!”

In his haste, Cody shoved me aside.

Unprepared, I tumbled from the hospital bed. The impact of my forehead against the floor sent a sharp pain bursting through me, blood instantly staining my skin.

Yet Cody didn’t even look back. He chased after her, panic written across his face.

“Karina was burning with fever and delirious, and I was only taking care of her.”

From the hallway came Freya’s choked reply. “You don’t need to explain to me. She’s your wife, stay with her!”

“Must you say this just to ease your heart? Let me see your hand, it’s bleeding!”

“I’d rather die than let you care for me! Leave me alone!”

Through the narrow crack of the door, I saw Cody at last lose all patience. He gathered the sobbing Freya into his arms and strode immediately toward the emergency room.

Blood blurred my vision, yet in my heart I mocked my foolishness.

I tore the bracelet from my wrist and hurled it to the floor, shattering it into fragments. I cried until my tears ran dry, and then, at last, I laughed.

Because of another gastric hemorrhage, along with the head injury, I remained in the hospital for several more days.

Cody never appeared again. I knew he was busy soothing Freya.

My son’s family never came either.

Only my daughter, Suzy Partridge, who is studying abroad, sent me a message to ask after me. Her final words pierced my eyes with unbearable pain.

[Don’t make Dad angry anymore. For decades, he has worked hard enough for this family. Can’t you be a little more considerate of him?]

I was the one covered in scars, yet I was expected to understand his betrayal?

Never had I thought that even my most beloved daughter would speak so cruelly.

But it no longer mattered.

I would give them all they wanted, even if it meant changing to a different wife and a different mother.

On the evening of my discharge, I returned home alone, riding in a taxi.

Walking into the house, I found the villa in complete disarray, untouched for days. Newspapers, toys, and empty snack bags littered the floor, as if they had neither eyes nor hands to care enough to clean.

Carlos lounged on the sofa, waving the luxury cruise tickets Freya had given them.

“There were only five luxury cabins left, so we didn’t book one for you. But I figured you wouldn’t be interested anyway. You like staying home all day, an old woman who’s never seen the world.”

Yet once, I had been the most promising young lawyer, courted by the world’s top ten law firms. Once, I too dreamed of traveling across the country, reaching the ends of the earth.

And after sacrificing everything, what had I gained in return?

My daughter-in-law came down from upstairs, her face lit with joy.

“This global limited LV handbag, only ten in the world! Aunt Freya helped me get one. My god, this is something money can’t even buy.”

On the sofa, my granddaughter swung her legs lazily, eyes fixed on her tablet as she cried out, “I’m hungry, Grandma! I want strawberry pancakes!”

My daughter-in-law stepped in with her bag, pushing the door open as she proudly announced to the neighbors.

“We’ve had enough of takeout these days, Mom. Tonight, I want to eat truffle risotto.”

My son complained right after.

“So annoying! The laundry is piling up in the washing machine!”

Not one of them spared a look at the scar on my forehead. Not one of them asked how I was feeling. Instead, they barked orders, picking on me with disdain, just as they always had, crushing my identity as family, reducing me to nothing, like an ant ground into the dust.

I nearly said aloud, Do it yourselves. I won’t serve you anymore.

The phone rang. It was Cody.

“Come to the Alterio Clubhouse immediately.”