Agony.

That was the first sensation that clawed its way through me as my eyes fluttered open.

Every inhale was a war, each movement a scream echoing in my bones. My limbs felt like dead weight, heavy and unresponsive. I tried to shift, but nothing obeyed me. A muffled cry slipped past my lips as I lay frozen in place, utterly powerless.

Then it hit me. All of it.

Memories surged forward like a violent tide—Talia’s twisted smirk, our vicious fight, our hands locked in rage, and then... falling. Both of us plummeting off the edge.

I forced my head to the side, a herculean effort that sent sharp jolts of pain through my neck. The clinical white walls, the antiseptic tang in the air, and the quiet, rhythmic beeping of machines confirmed where I was.

A hospital.

My throat was parched, and it took all my strength to croak out, “Somebody... help.”

The door slammed open, making me flinch in alarm.

Adrian stormed in like a thunderstorm, rage radiating off of him in violent waves. His face was contorted with fury, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles had gone white.

“You disgusting, selfish woman!” he bellowed, his voice slicing through the sterile quiet like a blade.

I could barely breathe, let alone defend myself. “Adrian... I—”

“You almost killed her!” he thundered, stepping closer until his shadow consumed me. “Talia’s in intensive care. They don’t know if she’ll pull through. And the baby—” His voice cracked with anguish. “You murdered my child!”

Murdered?

My heart pounded against my ribs. “No. No, Adrian, it wasn’t like that!” I pleaded, panic tightening around my chest. “She started it! I didn’t mean—”

His hand lashed out and gripped my wrist with cruel force. I let out a cry as he yanked me forward, pain exploding through my battered body.

“Shut your mouth!” he snarled. “I don’t want to hear any more of your lies!”

I sobbed, the pain and betrayal choking me. “Please... you’re hurting me!”

But he didn’t stop. With no care for my injuries, he hauled me from the bed, dragging me through the sterile corridors like a ragdoll. My legs buckled beneath me, my vision flickering in and out, but he didn’t slow down.

“Adrian, please!” I cried. “This is too much!”

He didn’t answer. Not even a glance.

We reached the elevator. He jabbed the button, seething in silence.

When the doors slid open, I tried to resist, but he shoved me inside.

A terrible realization dawned.

Not here. Please, not the rooftop.

But he pushed me forward again, and when we stepped out into the open air, the cold wind whipped against my skin. My breath caught as the vast city stretched out below us—beautiful and deadly.

I stumbled backward instinctively. “Don’t do this, Adrian. I’m begging you.”

His face was carved from stone. There was no love left in his eyes. Not even hatred. Just something empty.

“If I had known you were barren, I would’ve never tied myself to you,” he said, his words laced with disgust. “You were just a burden. A failed investment.”

Each word was a dagger.

“Adrian, I—”

“You’re useless,” he spat. “A disgrace. You couldn’t even do the one thing I needed from you.”

I stood trembling, barely able to stay on my feet.

He moved closer.

“So if you have no purpose in my life,” he said with an awful smile, “then maybe you don’t deserve to live at all.”

“No, wait—” I tried to run, but he was faster. His hands crashed into my shoulders.

And then—

I was airborne.

The wind screamed in my ears. The city lights spun around me. The world became a chaotic blur as gravity yanked me downward. I cried out, my voice torn by the cold and fear.

Images flashed before my eyes—Adrian whispering sweet nothings, slipping the ring on my finger, kissing my forehead after long nights. A thousand memories now revealed as empty.

I had given him everything.

He had given me a death sentence.

As I plummeted into the abyss, my final thought wasn’t anger.

It was sorrow—for the love I wasted.

Then came the dark.

---

Sound returned before sight.

Distant voices, soft but urgent, stirred me from the void. My eyelids fluttered open, assaulted by the blinding light of another hospital room. Pain greeted me again like an old friend.

But I was breathing.

Alive.

I let out a small, ragged gasp.

A nurse beside me gasped as well, clearly startled by my awakening. She quickly set down the clipboard she was holding and leaned toward me with a mixture of relief and awe.

“You’re awake,” she said gently. “My God... You’re a miracle.”

My brow furrowed weakly. “W-What happened?”

“You survived the fall,” she explained, her voice full of wonder. “There were workers outside cleaning the building’s windows. You landed on the emergency safety tarp. It absorbed most of the impact.”

I stared at her, stunned. The world should have gone black forever that night. But here I was.

Alive.

And yet, I felt nothing.

Not gratitude. Not relief.

Only a vast, hollow ache.

My eyes stung. A tiny, foolish part of me had hoped—hoped he would be here. Waiting. Regretful. Something.

But then I heard muffled voices outside my room.

Two nurses speaking in hushed tones.

“He hasn’t left her side since it happened.”

“Well, of course. She’s still unconscious.”

“Poor man. Losing their baby...”

The rest faded into background noise as realization settled over me like ice.

They weren’t talking about me.

They were talking about her.

Talia.

Adrian had stayed—had grieved—all for her.

Not for the woman he almost killed.

A quiet sob broke free as I gripped the thin sheets beneath me. He had abandoned me, tried to end me—and even then, he still chose her.

My breath hitched. I curled tighter into the mattress, biting my lip to stifle the screams building in my chest.

I had given him my heart, my body, my loyalty.

And he had tossed me aside like garbage.

Time passed—I didn’t know how long—before I felt it.

Fingers clamping around my wrist.

My eyes snapped open.

Adrian.

His grip tightened with bruising strength, his expression contorted with pure hatred.

“You’re still alive,” he said, his voice devoid of emotion. “Unbelievable.”

I recoiled instinctively. “Adrian—”

“I warned you,” he hissed. “I told you what would happen if anything happened to my child.”

He leaned in, voice dropping to a threatening whisper. “You’ve survived once. But I promise... this time, you won’t be so lucky.”

My blood turned to ice.

He wasn’t done.

He was really going to kill me.

I screamed with every ounce of breath I had.

Adrian didn’t even flinch.

Without hesitation, he yanked my arms behind me, wrapping thick rope around my wrists so tightly it dug into my skin. I kicked and writhed, the pain of my earlier injuries flaring up with every movement. I was too weak, still shattered from the fall, too worn down by everything he'd already done to me.

“Please, Adrian!” I cried out through sobs, my voice hoarse with fear. “I didn’t push her! We fell together—I didn’t mean for it to happen!”

But my words meant nothing to him.

He shoved me into the back of his car, my body slamming against the seat, the impact jarring every fragile bone. The door slammed shut behind me with terrifying finality.

“This is the justice you deserve,” he muttered, sliding into the driver’s seat, his tone unsettlingly calm.

I tugged against the restraints, my breath coming in frantic bursts. “Please—don’t do this!”

He didn’t even look at me. His fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “I should’ve done this long ago,” he said, voice flat, devoid of any emotion. “But I didn’t. I let pity stop me.”

A fresh sob tore from my throat. Pity. That’s all I’d ever been to him—a burden. A regret.

“And now,” he continued coldly, “after what you’ve done, there’s no pity left in me.”

I shook my head desperately, tears blinding me. “Adrian, I swear to you—”

“Enough,” he snapped. “You’re out of chances, Cassia.”

I cried harder, trembling violently as the city lights faded behind us, swallowed by an expanse of darkness. We were heading somewhere remote—far from roads, people, safety.

My heart raced as I struggled harder, twisting my wrists in vain. The rope bit deeper. Blood smeared against my skin. But he didn’t care.

Minutes passed in suffocating silence.

Then the car stopped.

My chest seized.

No lights. No houses. Just a desolate cliffside, the ocean crashing against jagged rocks below. The only sound was the wind and the distant, unforgiving roar of waves.

Terror rooted me in place. “No...” I breathed. “No, no, no...”

Adrian stepped out and opened the door on my side. I tried to crawl away, but he grabbed me without effort and dragged me out.

“Please, Adrian—listen to me!” I screamed. “Don’t do this! I didn’t hurt her! I didn’t!”

He wasn’t listening.

From the trunk, he retrieved a large sack. I froze, horror wrapping around my spine like ice. I kicked, screamed, begged.

“Stop! Adrian, don’t!”

But he forced me into the coarse fabric, ignoring my thrashing. The world went black, my screams muffled inside the sack.

His voice, low and final, was the last thing I heard before the wind swallowed me whole:

“I never want to lay eyes on you again. You were never worth the name ‘wife.’”

And then—

He threw me over the cliff.

---

At the hospital, the hallways were dim and hushed.

Adrian stepped into Talia’s room, his face still twisted with remnants of fury, though some of it had ebbed. Inside, she lay still as ever, her face pale, her body attached to beeping machines.

But seeing her like that—vulnerable, silent—calmed him. What he’d done was necessary. It was justice.

He ran a hand through his hair and walked toward her—

Then stopped dead in his tracks.

Her lips were moving.

At first, he assumed it was some kind of unconscious reflex, but then he heard it. Actual words. Quiet, slurred, but unmistakably real.

“The baby... it didn’t make it.”

His breath caught in his chest. His jaw tightened.

Then—

A soft, amused laugh.

“But that’s alright,” Talia murmured. “We’ll just make another one... and convince Adrian it’s his.”

Adrian froze.

What?

His stomach turned. Every nerve in his body tensed.

Then came a voice from her phone. A man’s voice.

“You’re ice cold, babe,” the man chuckled. “That’s what I love about you.”

Talia giggled, her tone dripping with fake sweetness. “Oh, please. Adrian’s not exactly hard to fool. I mean, I knew he’d fall for me the second I walked in as his secretary. This was all about the money. I don’t even like him.”

Adrian’s vision darkened.

The room tilted. The air grew thick.

She... she never loved him?

“And now that he got rid of that pathetic woman—what was her name? Cassia?—we have the empire all to ourselves.”

It hit him like a blade through the ribs.

Cassia had been telling the truth.

She hadn't pushed Talia. They’d fallen together. She was innocent.

And he had sentenced her to death.

Adrian stumbled backward from the doorway, his hands shaking. The blood in his veins turned to ice as the magnitude of what he had done consumed him.

“No,” he whispered. “No, no, no...”

He spun around and bolted out of the room, not stopping, not thinking, just moving.

He had to find her.

He had to make it right.

He drove faster than he ever had, tires screeching, hands trembling on the wheel. His breath came in panicked gasps as he reached the edge of the cliffs.

The place where he had left her. The place where he had let go of her for good.

But when he got there—

Nothing.

No body.

No sack.

No blood.

No sign of her at all.

As if she had never existed.

As if she had vanished from the world entirely.