I couldn't hold it in anymore. My eyes burned red as I screamed at the two of them：“Who did this!”

“Naomi!”

Seeing me on the ground, Wilfred's expression shifted. He strode over and reached down to pull me up.

I shook his hand off—cold—and asked again, voice sharp enough to cut“Who did this?”

Lucretia let out a little “oh” and looked at me, eyes wide with innocence.

“Naomi, I flipped through a few pages and figured it was just scrap paper.”

“I'd just stepped in some water, so I used it to wipe my feet.”

Wiped her feet.

Something inside my head snapped clean through.

I lunged, hands outstretched to grab her.

My fingers hadn't even touched her before a brutal force shoved me back.

Wilfred pulled Lucretia into his arms with one hand and slammed the other into my shoulder.

I stumbled, my foot caught on the diary, and a vicious pain shot through my ankle.

Wilfred's face went cold.

“Naomi, stop acting like a lunatic!”

“Lucretia's family to me. What in this house is she not allowed to use?”

Pain and fury tangled together until I was shaking, my eyes locked on the arm he had wrapped around Lucretia.

“So you still know this is ‘our’ house?”

“You let that woman destroy my things and you think that's perfectly fine?”

Wilfred's expression didn't change. He cut me off.

“Enough!”

“It's a beat-up notebook. Lucretia wiped her feet with it. So what?”

He kicked the soaking diary across the floor like it was trash, voice dripping with impatience.

“Besides, all you wrote in there was the same confessions to me over and over. I got sick of reading it ages ago!”

The words hit me like a bolt of lightning.

He was the one who told me he felt insecure.

That diary held the entire story of us falling in love. Wilfred didn't believe in grand promises or vows.

He only wanted the small, quiet proof that we'd been real, day after day, page after page.

My gaze dropped to the diary crumpled in the corner.

I could still see the giddy words I'd written the day we got engaged.

And how Wilfred had waited until I was asleep, then snuck a little smiley face onto the page.

“I always want to be your little sun.”

Lucretia peeked out from behind Wilfred's arm, a half-smile playing on her lips.

“Naomi, Wilfred's not your sun. He's not going to revolve around you forever.”

A bitter laugh escaped me. I shoved Wilfred out of my way, stumbled to the cabinet on my aching ankle.

Thank God. The jewelry box was still there.

I hugged it to my chest and turned to leave.

I was almost at the door when Wilfred grabbed me.

He looked down at the box in my arms, and the color drained from his face.

“Where are you going?”

My voice came out flat and dead.

“Let go.”

Wilfred stared at the jewelry box, something clicking behind his eyes. His lips parted.

“Wilfred~”

Lucretia suddenly let out a little hiss of pain, her voice turning syrupy：“Wilfred, my back's kind of sore.”

He dropped my hand instantly and rushed back to her.

“What's wrong? Is your back hurting?”

I didn't look back. I held the jewelry box tight and walked out of that house.

At the pawnshop, the owner raised an eyebrow at the box full of gold jewelry.

“Looks like wedding gold. How come you're selling it off to me for scrap?”

My face was blank. “He's dead.”

The owner sighed long and low, then transferred the money.

I went straight to the hospital without stopping.

A crowd had gathered outside the room, nurses moving in and out with grim faces.

My heart seized. I pushed through the crowd.

Mom was on the floor, curled into herself, her shoulders shaking in small, silent spasms.

“Mom, what happened?”

She lifted her head. Her eyes were so swollen they barely opened, and her lips trembled for a long time before she could force out the words.

“Nomi……it's too late.”

“The doctor said……they can't operate anymore.”

A roar filled my skull, drowning everything else out.

“What do you mean they can't? I got the money. I really got it!”

Mom shook her head, tears falling in heavy drops onto the backs of her hands.

“Nomi……go in and talk to him.”

My hands wouldn't stop shaking as I pushed the door open.

On the bed, Dad was so thin he looked like paper.

The moment he saw me, something flickered in his dull eyes, and he struggled to sit up.

“Nomi's here……”

I rushed forward and took his hand. It was skeletal and ice-cold, veins standing out under the skin.

“Dad, I'm right here.”

He forced a smile, his voice coming in fragments.

“Nomi, Dad's sorry……I don't think I'll get to see you in a wedding dress.”

I held the tears back with everything I had and shook my head, smiling.

“Dad, stop talking nonsense. You still have to walk me down the aisle.”

He smiled but didn't answer.

His eyes drifted to the side, gesturing for me to hand him his phone.

I passed it over. His fingers trembled as he unlocked it.

“Dad's useless. All I managed to leave you……is a million dollars.”

He caught his breath and squeezed my hand tighter.

“From now on……if Wilfred ever treats you badly, at least you'll have something to fall back on. You won't have to beg anyone for anything.”

My tears finally broke free.

Dad opened his messages, and all the color drained from his face in an instant.

On the screen, I was naked, saying it over and over into the camera——

“I admit it. I'm the other woman.”

“I, Naomi Harding, came between Wilfred Swanson and Lucretia Fox.”

His fingers went rigid. He jerked his head up to look at me, his lips trembling.

“This……who did this to you?”

His eyes were raw red, his chest heaving violently.

My heart plummeted. I opened my mouth to explain.

His whole body pitched backward and he collapsed flat onto the bed.

The heart monitor let out a single, piercing wail.

I tore out of the room screaming：“Doctor! Doctor——!”

The hallway erupted into chaos. Nurses sprinted past me pushing a crash cart.

I slid down the wall, my whole body shaking so hard I couldn't stop.

And then, from the far end of the corridor, I heard a familiar laugh.

“See? What did I tell you?”

Wilfred held up his phone, voice dripping with self-satisfaction. “I post one little update and she comes running like a trained dog.”

Lucretia doubled over laughing, nodding again and again：“Fine, fine, fine. You win this round.”

Wilfred raised an eyebrow, smug：“She can't live without me.”

I stood frozen, nails digging hard into my palms.

I couldn't take it anymore. I lunged forward and grabbed Lucretia by the collar, ripping her out of Wilfred's arms.

“Ah——!” She shrieked.

I locked my eyes on her, bloodshot and burning：“Who told you to send that video to my father?”

Lucretia stumbled from the force of my grip, but she was still smiling.

“Ow, sis, you're hurting me.”

She wrenched my hand off, her tone light, almost bored.

“I just wanted to help your dad build up a little resilience.”

“Your family used to be so high and mighty. Can't even handle this much?”

She tilted her head, her smile deepening.

“A few more shocks and his tolerance will go way up. Then your family can have its glory days back, right?”

I lost it. The fire in my chest felt like it would burn straight through me.

“Resilience? Do you have any idea he's about to——”

“Enough!”

Wilfred cut me off cold, the way you'd scold a child.

“This was my idea too.”

I whipped around and stared at him, unable to believe what I'd just heard.

There wasn't a trace of guilt on his face. If anything, he looked amused.

“The truth is, I was pretending to be broke the whole time.”

He shrugged, like it was nothing.

“Your family losing everything……I had people make that happen, too.”

A roar filled my ears, and then I couldn't hear anything at all.

Wilfred stepped closer, looked down at me, eyes brimming with satisfaction.

“Dating you was too boring, Naomi. Too easy.”

“I had to see just how deep your love for me really went, didn't I?”

I stood there and listened to every word. Then I laughed.

Doubled over laughing, tears hitting the floor one by one.

Wilfred watched me fall apart and his lips curved upward, pleased, his voice unhurried：“So you really can't live without me.”

He fished a pair of rings from his pocket like an afterthought and dropped to one knee.

“Fine, then. I guess I'll do you the favor of keeping you.”

Lucretia immediately started clapping and cheering, grinning wide：“Marry him! Marry him!”

But I couldn't hear any of it.

The world had gone mute. I just kept walking, a hollow body moving forward.

Behind me, Lucretia's laughter：“See? She's totally running off to tell her parents the good news!”

Wilfred's voice was lazy, dripping with certainty：“Give it a minute. She'll come right back.”

Half an hour passed. I didn't come back.

Wilfred couldn't wait any longer and went to find me.

Up ahead, a crowd had gathered.

The operating room doors swung open hard.

The doctor pulled down his mask and looked around：“Who's the family of Oliver Harding?”

Wilfred's heart lurched. His feet stopped moving.

He rushed forward. “I am, doctor!”

The doctor looked at him, face grave：“I'm sorry. We did everything we could.”

“Mr. Harding didn't pull through.”

Clack.

The ring box slipped from Wilfred's hand and hit the floor.