I wiped away my tears and gazed out of the window at the gray sky.

Maybe the only relief was that both Jonathan and I were finally free.

While I was lost in thought, my phone rang.

It was him.

"Zara, did you go crying to Grandpa again? You ruined my night with Lily! I'm warning you—if you pull something like this again, I will cut off your credit card!"

In the past, I would have begged, apologized and done everything to get back into his good graces.

But now, I just said with an indifferent face.

"Do whatever you want."

He was caught off guard by my indifference. But soon, he sneered.

"I heard you gave birth. Having a child really gives you confidence, huh? But don't forget—I’m the son of the Richards Family. As long as you are still part of this family, I can make your life hell."

I closed my eyes.

I had seen what he was capable of.

The first time I caught him in bed with another woman, I naively went to his grandfather for justice.

But all I got in return was his twisted revenge.

He used my mom against me, forcing me to kneel on the freezing balcony, slapping myself over and over.

That night, I listened to him and his lover making love, their voices echoing through the house, while I shivered until I passed out.

By the time morning came, my face was swollen, my body frostbitten and I was sent to the hospital.

That was the night the last of my love for him died in the snow.

After that, no matter how cruel he was, I pretended not to see.

I endured every humiliation and every insult that Richards did.

I forced myself to stay in the role of Mrs. Richards.

But now, my mom was gone.

My child, too.

This marriage, already a corpse, needed to be buried once and for all.

I hung up the phone without another word.

Then I stood up and contacted my friend at the funeral home to make an appointment for the cremation.

When I returned to the hospital room, I saw Jonathan standing in the doorway.

He wrinkled his eyebrows as he looked at me, then sneered.

"Why don’t you continue acting and pretending to be pitiful anymore?"

He crossed his arms and scanned me with an icy gaze. "Running around so soon after giving birth? Looks like you are in great health. I suppose you won’t need any time to rest and recover."

He stepped closer, his voice dripping with malice. "I have decided to bring Lily to live in the villa. She is young, delicate and doesn’t know how to do housework. Go ahead and process your discharge papers—you can come home and be our maid."

As he leaned in, his lips curled into a cruel smile.

"Your pain expression is the best stimulant for me in bed."

He stared at me dead on, expecting to see my pained and saddened look.

But I didn’t. I met his gaze with an expression as blank as an empty canvas, drained of any emotion.

His amusement faded when he realized there was nothing left for him to destroy. Irritated, he turned to a nearby nurse. "Where is the baby? Boy or girl? Bring it to me."

The nurse hesitated, her face pale with anxiety.

I helplessly said, "Grandpa carried away the baby."

Jonathan looked like he wanted to say more, but his phone rang. The moment he picked up, his face twisted with fury.

Without warning, he slapped me across the face.

"Zara! What did you do to Lily?! If anything happens to her, I swear you will regret it!"

Already weak from childbirth, I stumbled back, crashing into the hospital bed's railing. The nurse rushed forward, steadying me.

"Mr. Richards, your wife just gave birth! If you keep this up, you will kill her!"

But Jonathan didn’t care. He acted as if he hadn't heard. With concern for Lily and without sparing me another glance, he stormed out of the room, his mind solely on her.

The nurse looked at me with a heartbroken face. My pale face, however, didn't have any extra expression. My face was pale, my heart empty. As if all the love and hatred had been consumed in ten years of suffering.

***

After the check-up, the doctors instructed me to rest. It was then that I finally realized the reason why Jonathan had lost his temper.

The baby had died and his grandfather was so grief-stricken, retaliated by using his influence to blacklist Lily from the entire industry. Desperate, she mistakenly thought that I was retaliating. She had run to Jonathan, crying and exaggerating the situation and added more fuel to the fire to complain to him. That was why he had struck me.

But it didn’t end there.

As a gift to Lily, Jonathan revoked my shares in the Richards Corporation and transferred them to her.

To further appease her, he even photographed twenty stars in the sky and titled them with Lily Patricia’s name.

During an interview, Lily flaunted her new diamond ring, smiling sweetly. ‘I don’t consider myself a mistress. If a woman can’t keep her husband’s heart, she has no one to blame but herself.’

She ran a finger over her ring, her voice dripping with mockery. ‘Besides, the current Mrs. Richards married for money. But me? I only love Richards with all my heart.’

The Internet erupted into chaos. Her fans showered her with praise, while others condemned her shamelessness. Some even tagged my account, flooding me with insults, demanding I step aside for her.

I stared at my phone, but instead of anger, I felt… irony.

After so many years, Jonathan's tricks for coaxing girls haven't changed at all.

Thinking back then, Jonathan had done the same thing for me.

After learning that I had grown up poor and never celebrated a single birthday, he showered me with twenty gifts on my twentieth. From a golden locket for my first year to a villa for my twentieth.

He said he wanted to compensate me for the suffering I had endured in the past twenty years.

I still remember that day, he took my hand under the starry sky.

"Zara, I lost my parents when I was young. But from now on, I will treat your mother as my own. I will start the happiest family with you."

I melted in the depth of his eyes.

Naively, I thought that I had finally found someone to share a lifetime with.

But then, love had an expiration date. And once the novelty wore off, he had simply moved on to someone else.

One night, during one of our so-called dates, he left me stranded on a mountain just so he could deliver flowers to his new mistress. That night, I walked for miles down the rugged trails alone. My feet were torn and bleeding and my calves were left with lifelong scars that would be hard to erase—a permanent reminder of the price I paid for loving him.

Looking back, I should have known then.

A selfish and sentimental man like him would never settle for just one woman. Our marriage contract had always been nothing more than his excuse to justify his infidelity.

With that thought in mind, I left a comment under Lily’s latest video:

Zara Clare: [I wish you a hundred years of happiness and an early birth]

Not long after the message was sent, the video was deleted.

Shortly after, my phone rang. It was Jonathan. I ignored it. Then, with the same cold indifference he had always shown me, I blocked his number.

I suddenly remembered—today was the day of my mom’s cremation. I explained the situation to the hospital and signed my discharge papers ahead of schedule. The doctor was clearly uneasy about my condition and took the initiative to accompany me there.

When the staff handed me my mom’s urn, I did not collapse into tears as I had expected. Instead, I felt something deep inside me finally snap—the last shackle binding me to this wretched life.

I took a deep breath and whispered a quiet goodbye to the doctor before heading back to the Richards Family home to pack my things.

As soon as I stepped into the living room, I saw two people. Jonathan and Lily were sprawled on the sofa together.

At the sight of me, Lily hastily pulled up the zipper of her dress. But no amount of covering up could hide the red marks on her skin, evidence of their heated passion.

I felt nothing. No anger. No heartbreak. I simply turned away and walked to the bedroom as if I didn’t see anything, as if they were nothing more than ghosts in the room.

By the time I finished packing, Lily was gone. Jonathan was left sitting there, drinking alone.

As I stepped out with my suitcase, he finally looked up. The dim lighting cast shadows across his face, making it impossible to read his expression.

“Zara, where were you today?” he asked.

“None of your business.”

I was unwilling to say more, but Jonathan suddenly dropped his wine glass.

He walked to me in large strides.

“Don’t act so pure and untouchable,” he sneered, storming toward me. “Do you think I don’t know? You were out whoring around, weren’t you?”

I stiffened. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Zara, are you so pressed for loneliness? You think that I have been neglecting you, so you ran into someone else’s arms, is that it?” His voice was low, menacing. “Fine. For your loneliness, I will fulfill you.”

Saying that, Jonathan roughly ripped off my clothes and pulled my hand towards the bed.

Panic surged through me. Struggling violently, I said, “Jonathan, are you insane?! I just gave birth!”

But he wasn’t listening. Like a wild animal, he bit down on my shoulder, his breath hot and ragged against my skin.

Rage and disgust flooded through me. With all the strength I had left, I shoved him away and slapped him across the face.

The room went still for a fraction of a second.

Then, his eyes darkened.

The enraged Jonathan also rushed not to show weakness and without hesitation, he grabbed the glass bottle from the table and hurled it at me.

BANG!!!

Pain exploded across my forehead as warm blood trickled down my face.

Jonathan froze for a split second and subconsciously came over to assist me.

“Why don't you know how to dodge—?” he muttered under his breath.

I stumbled back a few steps, trying to find my footing, trying to form words—but my body gave out first. The world blurred, then faded into black.