The cold went straight through me. That bucket of ice water left my whole body shaking. The pressure crushed the breath out of me, and from my dry throat I managed a few words: "It had nothing to do with me."
"I saw Violet begging you for mercy in that lake with my own eyes!"
I forced out the explanation. "She jumped in herself."
Lewis flew into a rage and rained blows down on me from every direction.
I curled up on the floor, both hands shielding my head.
"Violet's bleeding now! If anything happens to that baby, I will not let this go!"
I bore the fists coming down like rain and shouted back, "Why won't you check the security footage? With your power, you can't pull it up?"
"Still won't admit it, huh? I'll make you accept it." Lewis suddenly stopped hitting me.
He ordered a bodyguard to bring a laptop.
Pinned down by the bodyguard, I watched the full footage from the park.
In it, I was gripping Violet's hair and hitting her, and in the shoving I pushed her into the lake.
Then it cut off.
I shook my head, stunned. "I didn't push her! She provoked me first!"
Lewis's face was terrifyingly dark. He dragged me across the floor and hauled me into the bathroom.
"Don't touch me. Or I'll make you cry and beg me." I looked at him, cold and flat.
"You're just jealous of Violet. Now I'll let you taste what the water feels like." Lewis didn't care about a word I said.
He threw me in and fitted a voice-controlled lock on the outside that only Violet could open.
I pulled myself up in the cramped bathroom and pounded on the glass wall. "Let me out, or I'll make you sorry!"
Before I could finish, the showerhead overhead suddenly poured down a flood of ice water. My feet slipped and I hit the floor.
Violet was wheeled out in a wheelchair by the maid. She held the remote for the showerhead, pressed close to the glass, and lowered her voice. "Take your time and enjoy it. I dealt with the footage a long time ago."
"Sis, I'll let you out right now." Violet said it loudly, for show.
"I don't care what tricks you're playing. You just wait!" I braced myself against the glass and stood.
Hearing that, Lewis took the remote, turned the water to its highest setting, and shut off the floor drain.
The water rose quickly to my chest, and the air in the cramped bathroom grew thinner and thinner.
"You come out when you admit you were wrong!" Lewis gritted through his teeth.
I refused to say a word, until the water reached my lips.
Lewis, with a flicker of reluctance, turned the showerhead down to its lowest setting. "Why are you so stubborn? Just admit it and I'll let you out."
His finger was already hovering over the stop button on the remote. All I had to do was beg, and he would let me out.
Except Violet suddenly screamed.
"My blood, my baby!" Violet swiped a hand between her thighs, and a smear of red came away on her fingers.
Lewis dropped the remote on the floor at once and scooped Violet up in both arms. "I'll get you to the best hospital there is!"
His panicked back slowly disappeared, and my consciousness slowly drifted away with it.
I closed my eyes, bitter, with no strength left in me.
"Ma'am, hold on, I'll find a way to save you." The maid, terrified, banged on the glass and woke me.
With the last of my strength, I gave her a small smile.
She picked up the remote Lewis had already smashed, got nowhere with it, then grabbed a golf club nearby and took a long time to break the glass wall.
Given back my life, I gulped down air in great mouthfuls.
Then my phone got a fax.
I opened it with trembling fingers. It was from my private lawyer. He'd successfully finalized the divorce agreement, effective from today.
I asked him to courier a copy to Lewis's CEO office and to require Lewis to sign for it in person.
I didn't have time to change clothes. I took my suitcase and left.
The moment I sat down in the taxi, my phone buzzed nonstop.
It was a message from Lewis: "Get to the hospital now!"
Grandmother had sent one too: "What kind of sister are you? Pushing your younger sister into the water? Lucky the baby's fine."
Mom had sent one as well: "Nadia, tomorrow we're inviting people from every circle to celebrate the pregnancy and announce this as the heir to Thomas Group. You'd better show up tomorrow with a gift and beg Violet to forgive you."
Then Lewis sent another: "For the sake of you being my wife, all you have to do is kneel to Violet, and I'll forgive you and let you take care of her again."
The message made me sick.
I said it to myself. "I'm not your wife anymore."
With that, I blocked every one of them across all platforms without a second thought.
Before long the taxi reached the airport that bore Rudolph Mason's name.
I walked straight to the private VIP lounge.
Inside, Rudolph and his private medical team had been waiting for me for a long time.
The moment I appeared, all the medical staff rushed over.
After a full physical exam, we boarded the private jet.
Before takeoff, I sent the lawyer a few messages, asking him to have the rare gift I'd spent these past days preparing delivered at the very height of the banquet.
I looked down at the city shrinking outside the window, and I couldn't help looking forward to tomorrow.
I hoped that gift would satisfy every last one of them.
