### Chapter 2
I didn't argue. I'd barely stepped outside the door when a packed bag landed at my feet.
“Wendy's pregnant and needs to be taken care of. Let her have the master bedroom for now. You can move to another room until the baby's born.”
Otto watched me, something probing in his eyes.
The master bedroom was mine down to the last detail. The wall color, the curtain pleats, even the little cactus on the windowsill. I'd chosen every single thing. I hated anyone setting foot in my private space.
Years ago, a new maid had snuck into our bed just to lie on it, and I'd had her thrown out of Harbor City.
Otto had held me afterward and said, “Good call. Your territory. Nobody touches it.”
He was probably waiting for me to explode the way I used to.
But I just picked up the bag in silence. “Fine.”
“There's a nice guest room on the second floor……”
I didn't let him finish. I walked straight to the storage room at the far end of the first floor, the one by the back door.
The room reeked of damp and mildew. I brought out the birthday cake I hadn't had a chance to cut during the day and lit the candles.
“Happy twenty-eighth birthday, Zara. Starting today, every day is a new life.”
I blew out the candles and ate the cake.
Leaning back against sheets that smelled of moisture, I opened the shared album on my phone, the one labeled “Home.”
Photo after photo loaded:
Under the northern lights in the Arctic Circle. At dusk in Prague's Old Town Square. Against a sunset on the African savanna…… Otto and I embracing, kissing, smiling into each other's eyes.
And in every single photo, Wendy Fox was there.
A love I thought belonged to two people had been shared among three all along, and I was the only one who didn't know.
I took a deep breath, selected every photo, and hit delete.
The same river, twice. Ten years of blind devotion. It ended here.
The screen lit up with an incoming call from my father.
“Sweetheart, the plane is ready. Six days from now, Daddy will be there to bring you home.”
“What Otto Delgado owes you, I will make him repay a hundred times over.”
The tears I'd held back all day finally broke loose.
“Okay. See you in six days.”
The door slammed open.
Otto strode in, his gaze cutting straight to my phone screen. “What are you doing in six days?”
I wiped the tears away fast, kept my voice level.
“A friend's husband passed away. She invited me to the funeral.”
His expression eased slightly and he sighed.
“I know this isn't easy for you. But be reasonable. Once Wendy has the baby, the position of Mrs. Delgado is still yours.”
Before the words were even out, the phone at his waist buzzed. He answered, listened for two seconds, and his face changed completely.
“I'm coming right now!”
He hung up and every trace of gentleness vanished. The eyes that turned on me were so dark they were frightening.
“You knew those photos meant something to her and you still deleted them? Wendy saw it and had a complete breakdown. She's having a panic attack right now!”
He grabbed my wrist. “You're coming to apologize — now.”
He dragged me and I caught a nail on the storage room floor, went down hard on my knee — the pain so sharp I couldn't breathe.
I stumbled the whole way as he hauled me upstairs. Wendy was curled in the corner of the balcony, trembling.
A shattered bowl lay at her feet, porridge pooled across the floor.
The moment she saw me, tears spilled down her cheeks.
“You already know everything. On your wedding night I put sleeping pills in your drink, and then I spent the whole night with Otto in your marriage bed.”
“So you put an abortifacient in my porridge to get back at me. Didn't you?”
Before I could even react, she scrambled to her feet and backed toward the edge of the balcony.
“Fine then, I'll get rid of the baby and give Otto back to you. Will that make you happy?”
“Wendy!” Otto slammed me out of the way, rushed to her and pulled her into his arms, his voice shaking with pain. “Don't do anything stupid! Zara knows she was wrong. She's here to apologize.”
I hit the ground hard. My palm split open on the tile but I didn't feel it. All I felt was how utterly absurd this was.
“I didn't……”
“Otto, don't push her.” Wendy cut me off, her voice thin and pitiful. “I know Zara. She'll never admit it.”
“She won't?” Otto's gaze locked on me, ice-cold. “I have plenty of ways to make stubborn people talk.”
He ordered the bodyguards to take me to the basement. “Lock her in there until she confesses!”
My eyes went wide and I started shaking. “Otto, you can't do this to me!”
He knew. He knew I had severe claustrophobia.
“I can.” He looked down at me, every word deliberate. “Touch Wendy's child, and you brought this on yourself.”
I was thrown into the pitch-black basement.
The door slammed shut behind me, and in that instant the darkness closed around my throat. I couldn't breathe.
I cried and pounded on the door, clawing until my fingernails left streaks of blood on the metal, then collapsed to the ground in despair.
After what could have been minutes or hours, a sliver of light cut in and a voice spoke above me.
“Ready to confess?”
