“You will take this secret to your grave, Danica. Or I will bury your father right next to you.”
The heavy folder hit my lap with a dull thud.
I sat propped up against the pillows of my hospital bed. The VIP suite of the private clinic was spacious, filled with expensive flowers and soft lighting.
But the door was locked from the outside. There were no handles on the windows.
It was a golden cage, and I was its prisoner.
Dean stood at the foot of the bed, his posture rigid and authoritative. He wore a perfectly tailored suit, looking every bit the successful, grieving survivor of a tragic fire.
He tapped the folder with one cold finger.
“Inside are the financial records of your father’s company. I’ve already bought out his major shareholders. One word from me, and he loses everything. He’ll be bankrupt before sunset.”
I didn’t look at the files. I just looked at him.
“And if that’s not enough,” Dean continued, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper, “I have fabricated evidence ready to hand over to the police. Traces of accelerant linked to your car. A motive. If you breathe a single word about my identity to anyone, I will frame you for Daniel’s murder.”
He leaned in closer, his eyes narrowing.
“You will rot in a prison cell, Danica. And everyone will believe you burned your own husband alive.”
He waited.
He braced his shoulders, fully expecting me to explode. He expected me to scream, to throw the papers at his face, to sob uncontrollably at the sheer cruelty of his blackmail.
He wanted the fight. He wanted to crush my resistance.
But I didn’t move.
I didn’t even blink.
I just stared at the face that used to belong to the man I loved, feeling absolutely nothing.
The silence stretched. It grew heavy, suffocating the room.
Dean’s jaw tightened. My lack of reaction unsettled him. Without another word, he turned on his heel and strode out, the heavy electronic lock clicking shut behind him.
An hour later, the lock clicked again.
Katie walked in.
She wore a pristine white silk dress. Her skin, which had been sickly and pale just a day ago, now glowed with a radiant, healthy flush.
She looked beautiful.
Because my blood was pumping through her veins. Because my bone marrow was rebuilding her failing body.
Because my baby had died so she could walk into this room.
“You look terrible, Danica,” Katie said, a sickeningly sweet smile stretching across her face.
She walked over to the bedside table and poured herself a glass of water.
“Dean told me you’re being kept here for your own ‘mental stability.’” She let out a soft, mocking giggle. “He really thinks of everything.”
I kept my eyes fixed on the blank wall opposite the bed.
“You know,” Katie whispered, leaning in so close her breath brushed my ear. “Dean never wanted that baby. When the doctor told him your body couldn't handle the shock, he didn't even flinch. He just asked if they got enough marrow for me.”
My fingers rested on the flat surface of my stomach.
“You were just an incubator. And when he didn't need you anymore, he threw you away.”
Heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway outside.
Dean was coming back.
Katie’s eyes flashed with malicious calculation.
In one swift motion, she grabbed the heavy glass of water from the nightstand. She didn't throw it at me.
She smashed it violently against the edge of the marble table.
The glass shattered into jagged shards, scattering across the floor right beside my bed.
Without hesitating, Katie took a sharp piece of the broken rim and dragged it across her own forearm. Blood instantly welled up, bright red against her pale skin.
“Ah! Sister, stop! Please!” Katie shrieked, her voice pitching into a flawless, terrified wail.
The heavy door burst open.
Dean rushed in.
His eyes instantly locked onto Katie, who was collapsed against the wall, clutching her bleeding arm, surrounded by broken glass.
“She went crazy!” Katie sobbed, tears streaming down her face. “I just came to check on her, and she attacked me!”
The air in the room turned to ice.
Dean crossed the space in two massive strides.
He didn't ask questions. He didn't look at the fact that I hadn't even moved from the center of the bed.
He grabbed me by the collar of my hospital gown and dragged me forward.
Smack.
The slap was blinding.
The force of it snapped my head to the side. A sharp ringing pierced my left ear, and the metallic taste of blood instantly flooded my mouth.
“Are you out of your mind?!” Dean roared, his voice vibrating with pure, unadulterated rage. “She is recovering! And you try to hurt her?!”
He shoved me hard. I tumbled off the edge of the mattress, landing heavily on the floor.
“I am sick of your defiance,” Dean snarled, standing over me like a judge delivering a death sentence. “You will learn your place in this house, Danica. Get on your knees. Apologize to her right now.”
He wanted to break my spirit completely. He wanted to humiliate me until I was too terrified to ever speak against him again.
He waited for the tears. He waited for me to beg, to plead my innocence, to cry out for the love I used to have for Daniel.
But as I lay on the cold floor, something inside me finally snapped.
It wasn't a loud break. It was a quiet, absolute death.
Fifteen years of love, devotion, and grief simply evaporated. They vanished into thin air, leaving behind a hollow, freezing void.
My heart died.
I didn't cry. I didn't defend myself.
I slowly pushed myself up.
I didn't avoid the shattered glass scattered across the tiles.
I shifted my weight and calmly dropped to my knees, right onto the jagged, broken shards.
The sharp glass pierced straight through the thin fabric of my hospital gown, sinking deep into the flesh of my knees.
Warm blood instantly soaked the white fabric, pooling onto the floor.
Katie’s fake sobbing choked off in her throat.
Dean froze.
The furious, domineering posture he held completely shattered. He stared at my bleeding knees, his breath catching in his chest.
I didn't wince. I didn't frown.
I slowly raised my head and looked up at him.
My eyes were dead. They were completely, utterly empty.
I turned my gaze to Katie, who was now staring at me in genuine horror.
“I’m sorry, Katie,” I whispered. My voice was eerily calm, devoid of any human emotion.
I looked back at Dean, the blood pooling wider beneath me.
“I’ll be good now.”
