My stomach churned, but I forced down the urge to vomit, swallowed it and gave Fiona a grateful smile.
Kendrick’s eyes tightened in shock. I used to have severe germaphobia. I would never eat anything someone else had touched.
So when I found out Kendrick was cheating, I immediately asked for a divorce. But he refused. Soon after, he staged a car accident that killed my parents and seized the company.
My parents were buried in a rush and the very next day, Kendrick brought Fiona home. Overwhelmed with hatred, I grabbed a knife, wanting to kill them both.
After I accidentally scratched Fiona, Kendrick bribed a doctor to label me mentally ill. He sent me to a psychiatric hospital to punish and break me.
Meanwhile, he and Fiona enjoyed the huge wealth and connections my parents had spent their whole lives building.
My hands shook as I took the crying baby. “Don’t cry… it’s okay…” I soothed gently and soon the exhausted child fell asleep in my arms.
Kendrick looked at me, as if wanting to say something. I avoided his eyes and carried the baby back to the nursery.
A bit of light slipped through the door crack. Fiona laughed, swirling her wine glass and tossed me a bottle of strong bleach. “Eating from the trash is filthy. Thalia, clean up; otherwise I won’t dare let you serve me.”
I picked the disinfectant up from the floor and bowed in thanks. “Thank you, Madam.”
Fiona didn’t leave. She just smiled at me. Understanding what she wanted, I nodded, went to the nanny’s room and poured the disinfectant into the bathtub.
I took off my clothes without hesitation and scrubbed myself hard with a steel wool pad. My skin started bleeding, turning the bathwater red.
The disinfectant burned into my skin and the pain was so sharp I bit my lip to keep from making a sound. It felt like countless bees stinging me, tiny needles pricking all over my body.
When the pain was almost too much and I was close to passing out, Fiona finally spoke. “Once you’re clean, get dressed. I’m taking you somewhere.”
I didn’t have time to treat my bleeding skin. I quickly put on some clothes and followed Fiona.
Kendrick stood by the stairs, frowning as he smoked. When he saw me, he quickly put out his cigarette. “Don’t eat from the trash again. Thalia, if you behave, no one will punish you.”
Before we married, Kendrick was just a low-level employee who used smoking to cope with stress. When he was courting me, I told him clearly that I hated the smell of smoke.
Kendrick quit smoking in just two weeks and spent the money he saved on cigarettes to buy me bouquet after bouquet of roses.
Even after we married, the bedroom was always filled with fresh flowers. He even planted a flower garden in the yard himself. “If you like them, I’ll grow them all for you.”
Fiona stood in the living room, shaking her keys with a trace of impatience. “Thalia, it’s time to go.”
I nodded politely to Kendrick, signaling for him to step aside. His frown deepened and he grabbed my wrist. “Thalia, you didn’t used to be like this.”
Before? Did he mean the version of me who cared for him, handed him the company and became a full-time housewife?
I used to greet him at the door after work, cook for him and make three different meals every day.
At night, I would still laugh and cuddle with him, acting sweet and playful. But those days were long gone.
Fiona walked upstairs in her high heels. Before Kendrick could reach for me, she grabbed his arm.
