He glared at his mother, anger in his eyes. "Stop it! Natalie is my wife. How could you lock her up like that?"
His mother stared at him in disbelief. “Daniel, you’re really defending an outsider over your own mother? Am I wrong? You and Natalie have been married for three years and still have no children. Even hens can lay eggs, she’s not even as good as a hen!”
Daniel blurted out, “That’s because…”
He didn’t finish, but I already knew because he and Jennifer had killed my child.
"No matter what, you can’t treat her like this."
He walked over and gently took my hand.
But I pushed him away. "Since you like someone that can give birth, you should’ve married one from the start!"
Without looking at his mother’s face, I turned and went upstairs.
Daniel hesitated for a moment, then lifted his foot to follow me. But just then, Rihanna let out a cry of pain.
Jennifer quickly pulled her into her arms, panic on her face. "Rihanna, what’s wrong? Is your heart hurting again?"
"Daniel, I think Rihanna got scared by Natalie. Can you come check on her?"
Daniel immediately turned and walked over to them, eyes full of worry as he looked at Rihanna. He pulled out his phone and called the family doctor.
Jennifer hesitated. "But if you don’t follow her, won’t Natalie be upset?"
Daniel frowned. "She spoke to my mother like that. What right does she have to be angry? Don’t mind her."
But I had seen it clearly, with my own eyes. When Daniel turned to chase after me, Jennifer secretly pinched Rihanna.
Her cry wasn’t from heart pain. But even if I told him, he wouldn’t believe me.
Standing on the stairs, I saw the concern in Daniel’s eyes as he looked at Rihanna.
Back in the bedroom, I closed the door and threw out everything related to Daniel. He had already destroyed every photo we took over the past three years.
I didn’t want a man like him anymore.
Just as I finished cleaning and was about to sit down, Daniel pushed open the door from outside.
Seeing the empty shelves, confusion filled his eyes. "Natalie, what did you lose?"
I shook my head, voice calm. "Nothing. Just some things that didn’t matter."
Daniel didn’t seem to care or want to know what had gone wrong.
He nodded. "Go downstairs and apologize to my mother. I’ve made tea, just bring it to her."
Without a word, he led me downstairs and pushed me toward the table.
I looked at the steaming tea and, despite the heat, picked it up. Just as I was about to hand it to my mother-in-law, Jennifer walked over.
"Natalie, why don’t you let me do it?"
Jennifer looked at me with a smug smile, but acted like she was doing it for my sake. “Get out of here!”
Seeing her hand reaching for the teacup, I quickly swung my arm to push her away.
But she held on tight and fought me for it.
The cup fell to the floor and Jennifer let out a loud scream. “Daniel, my arm hurts!”
Her eyes turned red right away and she held out her shaking arm to him.
Even though there wasn’t a single scratch on her, Daniel’s eyes were full of anger and pain.
“Natalie, you’ve gone too far. Jennifer was just trying to help you and you hurt her!”
His voice got louder and then he raised his hand and slapped me.
Seeing the state I was in, my mother-in-law laughed proudly. “Daniel, I told you before, this woman should’ve been locked up. Otherwise, she'd end up doing something disgraceful. And now look, it’s happening, isn’t it?”
She pointed at the same two men who had locked me up before. “You two, lock her up! Don’t let her hurt my daughter-in-law again.”
The men grabbed my arms and tried to drag me toward the basement storage room.
This time, Daniel said nothing to stop them.
Looking at him with a mix of pain and disbelief, I asked, “Daniel, you know I’m afraid of the dark. Are you really letting her lock me up?”
He hesitated for just a moment, then looked at me with cold indifference.
“You shouldn’t have hurt Jennifer. You know how much she means to me. Natalie, locking you up is just a small punishment—to stop you from doing anything worse.”
The door shut and the storage room went completely dark. I pounded on it in panic and shouted, "Daniel, let me out!"
One second passed. Then two. Then three. Everything stayed silent.
I stumbled back a few steps and curled up in the corner, completely helpless.
With my head buried in my arms, I suddenly remembered the day Daniel found out I was afraid of the dark and how he promised he’d never leave me alone in it again.
But this time, he knew.
And still, because of Jennifer, he locked me in anyway. As the tears fell, something inside me finally broke.
