To have a child. Hormone injections, egg retrievals, needles, pills.

Every time he watched me suffer through it, Maxwell looked like the pain was killing him too, like he wanted to tear someone apart just to make it stop.

The day the test came back positive, his eyes went red in an instant.

After that, he treated me like I was made of glass. Pampered me like I was the most precious thing in his world.

And now, just a few months later, there was someone else by his side. He'd even locked me in a pitch-black room chained with Tibetan Mastiffs, all because Joy claimed the sight of blood made her faint.

Every organ in my body throbbed with pain. I clenched my teeth and was about to speak when Joy's voice cut through the air, cool and dripping with mockery.

“Oh, just let her out already. I can see how much it pains Mr. Farley. No matter what, I'm just a secretary. Just a disposable mistress. How could I ever compare to the noble Mrs. Farley and her precious baby? I almost ended up in the ICU, but that's what I deserve, right? All my fault!”

Every word oozed passive-aggressive venom.

Maxwell didn't hear the poison. He found it charming, laughing at her. “Why are you getting jealous over nothing?”

“Who said I was letting her out?”

My heart sank further with every word.

I stood there listening to Maxwell flirt as if I didn't exist, as if the safety of his own child meant nothing at all.

I was the one who'd been mauled by the mastiffs. I was the one who'd been chased until I bled, who'd nearly been rushed to the hospital.

Yet I was the one locked up. I was the one being punished.

I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek, trying to force words out, when Maxwell's soft laugh reached me again.

“You little handful.”

“Why do you get so worked up?” His tone was impossibly tender, like he was whispering sweet nothings. “I know you feel wronged. Go on, loosen one of the mastiff's chains by about four inches. Give her a little scare. Let the noble Mrs. Farley apologize to you. After all, she's so pampered she can't even finish a sixty-mile run. What a waste of our Joy's thoughtful little fitness plan.”

Joy pressed the latch on the chain restraint. The moment she released it, I felt the rush of air as a mastiff lunged.

My heart seized. That was far more than four inches.

Before I could react, a searing pain ripped through my calf.

I stumbled back, but a chunk of flesh had already been torn free. The scream that left me was animal, involuntary.

Cold sweat soaked through my dress in seconds. My legs shook so violently I could barely stay upright.

I was terrified that if I collapsed, my stomach would be exposed, and then the mastiffs would tear into it, rip into the baby……

For the child, I clutched my cramping belly and forced my head down. “I was wrong, Maxwell. I'll apologize to her. It's all my fault. Please, let me out……”

But the instant I opened my mouth, a mastiff lunged again, its snarling roar drowning out my plea.

One second of pure terror, and then the pain in my leg split the world in two.

In the pitch dark, I screamed and tried to wrench myself free.

But the mastiff that had locked onto me refused to let go. With every thrash, the flesh separated further from bone, and blood poured from the open wound in a hot, steady rush.

The agony buckled my knees. I staggered backward and stumbled straight into the jaws of the mastiff behind me.

Teeth sank into me from every direction.

In that moment, I was certain I was being torn apart alive. The pain of flesh ripping from my body wrenched scream after scream from my throat.

Maxwell must have heard. He frowned slightly and stood, reaching for the small observation window.

He was about to look inside when Joy whined, pouting.

“Don't look!”

“Maxwell, you're feeling sorry for her already? They didn't even really bite her.”

“Go sit back down over there. I'll check on her.”

She pushed Maxwell back into his seat and walked to the window herself, leaning in with a saccharine smile. “Mrs. Farley, I'm very easy to please. Just apologize and I'll ask Maxwell to let you out. Okay?”

The mastiffs were still tearing into me. The pain had nearly dragged me under. My lips parted, trembling, and what came out was barely a breath. “I'm sorry……”

Watching me through the window, drenched in blood, Joy let the corners of her lips curl upward. “What was that? I can't quite hear you~”

She turned to Maxwell with a wounded look. “I didn't ask for anything unreasonable. I almost ended up in the ICU, and Mrs. Farley won't even apologize.”

The sight of Joy's teary, pitiful expression dissolved whatever sliver of hesitation Maxwell had left.

He rubbed the top of her head, his voice dripping with tenderness.

“You little troublemaker. So what do you want to do about it?”

His tone was light, casual, as if he were discussing something that barely mattered. “Hmm, how about we loosen the chains another four inches? Let her get scared enough to cry, so you can blow off some steam. Sound good?”

The moment those words left his mouth, the maids in the house shuffled forward, one after another, pleading on my behalf.

“Sir, a pregnant woman can't handle that kind of fright. Please, spare her just this once. She's seven months along. That's your child too. And those are Tibetan Mastiffs in there. If they actually bite her……”

Maxwell's brow furrowed. He was silent for several seconds.

He seemed to think the screaming from inside the dark room was too raw, too agonized, and was about to agree when Joy let out a quiet, self-deprecating laugh.

“Oh, right……I almost forgot. This is the Farley house. The woman in there is Mrs. Farley. You're the real family. What am I, then……In the end, I'm the only villain here.”

She rubbed her reddened eyes and looked up at Maxwell. “But I just feel so wronged. Two months ago, if she hadn't faked a stomachache and called you home, I wouldn't have lost the baby. We had a child too, you know.”

Joy's voice carried clearly to my ears, and a sharp ringing filled my head.

My entire body went rigid. One phrase kept echoing through my skull: ‘We had a child too’. And then Maxwell's reply, soaked in aching tenderness: “We'll have another.”

No wonder Maxwell didn't care about this baby he'd spent five years waiting for.

No wonder he kept saying Joy deserved to vent.

The fainting, the ICU scare, it was all a pretext. They were pouring the grief of losing their child onto me.

But what had I done wrong?

The word "fine" caught in Maxwell's throat never made it out. He kissed Joy's forehead, his voice gentle.

“You're not an outsider.”

“Go adjust the chains. Vent however you want. I'm here. No one gets to say a word.”

A few of the maids, listening to the shrieks and the carnage coming from the dark room, tried to plead again. Maxwell silenced them with a single cold look.

“This house bears the Farley name. If any of you want to keep begging, you can pack your things and leave.”

He paused, then added, “Have the family doctor wait in the front courtyard.”

After that, none of the maids dared say another word.

Joy walked back to the control panel. The instant she released her grip, the Tibetan Mastiffs rushed me in a frenzy, knocking me flat.

She had unlatched every single collar.

The violence of that first surge of bites sent every vein in my body straining against my skin.

I fought to drag myself into a corner, using whatever strength I had left to shield my belly. But my hands, my arms, my legs were already torn beyond recognition.

Teeth kept ripping into me. Every inch I moved cost another strip of flesh wrenched away.

Blood seeped from everywhere at once, and every nerve screamed with a pain that went straight to the bone.

To keep them away from my stomach, I stopped fighting the rest of it, letting them have my body.

By the time I finally curled into a ball, there wasn't a single patch of skin left untouched. I looked like I had been washed in blood.

And my baby, inside me, had gone completely still.

Feeling the life drain out of my child, I screamed until my throat tore. “Maxwell Farley! My baby is dead! You killed him! You all deserve to die! When I get out, I will kill you with my own hands! I will make you suffer the way I'm suffering!”

My scream was so raw, so guttural, that Maxwell's face changed in an instant.

In the dead silence that followed, he walked toward the small window, seemingly wanting to check on my condition.

But the moment he opened it, Joy let out a sharp cry and collapsed to the floor.

Maxwell rushed to scoop her into his arms. “Joy, what's wrong? Where does it hurt?”

Joy pointed a trembling finger toward the dark room, her whole body so weak she looked on the verge of passing out. “Blood……I saw blood through the window just now. The mastiffs can't reach her, so why is there blood……”

“She hurt herself on purpose to make herself bleed, just to get to me. She knows I can't stand the sight of blood.”

“Maxwell, I feel so faint. Please, carry me somewhere to rest.”

Maxwell set Joy down on the chaise, but for once, he didn't stay beside her.

His brow furrowed. He pulled free of her grip and walked back toward the window.

When he saw me drenched in blood, my ruined body still being torn at by a pack of Tibetan Mastiffs, his pupils contracted to pinpoints.

This man who never let emotion show on his face nearly roared the order to open the door.

But just as someone moved to unlock it, Joy cried out again.

Maxwell turned back, irritation sharp on his face, and heard her say, “Maxwell, the company's stock has been in freefall for the past hour.”

“And……we've received termination notices on several major contracts……”

Maxwell went rigid.

He took the phone, and after reviewing the situation, his expression turned so dark it could have swallowed light.

He thought of what I'd said. ‘Someone's hurting me.’

He'd dismissed it as another ploy to win him back. But now……

“Doris, did you do this?”

“You don't have a brother. Who is that man?”

At those words, Joy perked up instantly.

“Maxwell, you felt guilty being with me, but maybe your dear wife already had someone on the side. Why else would a man go this far for her, even daring to cross Farley Group? You know she's an orphan. Where exactly did this 'brother' come from?”

She was getting more animated by the second. “Hm, come to think of it, maybe the baby isn't even yours. Five years with nothing, but the moment she's hiding some mystery 'brother,' she turns up pregnant?”

I looked at Maxwell through fading vision. The pathetic part was that he believed it. Every clumsy word of it.

He stopped the person reaching for the door and demanded in a cold voice, “Who is that man?”

I tried to speak, but blood surged up my throat instead.

The mastiffs were still tearing into me without restraint.

I couldn't hold on anymore. My hand dropped to the floor.

The instant my arms fell away from my stomach, several sets of fangs drove straight into my abdomen, and blood poured from my lower belly.

It seeped along the dark room floor and out through the gap beneath the door, blindingly red.

When I realized they would devour my child too, a sound ripped out of me that didn't feel human.

Outside, people screamed, “She's going to die in there!”

Maxwell had still been seething, but when that scream made him look down and he saw the blood pooling out from under the door, he froze.

He grabbed the nearest person in a panic, shouting, “Open it! Open the door!”

The maid scrambled to punch in the passcode, but halfway through, her fingers stopped.

She was shaking. “Mr. Farley, it won't open. The passcode isn't working.”

“The system's locked us out now. It can only be opened with a key, but……the key to the dark room is with the dog handler……”

“Get the dog handler to open it!”

No one moved behind him. Maxwell turned around and realized the dog handler was already gone.

Rage consumed him. “Where is the dog handler?”

“Who gave them permission to leave without my order?!”

Joy flinched and blurted out, “I thought they weren't needed here anymore, so I sent them to wait in the front hall. I'll go get them right now!”