The slap whipped my head to the side. My cheek flared with pain, but it was still nothing compared to the hollow ripping inside my chest. This was the same man who once handled me like I might shatter if he breathed too hard on me. Now he shattered me without a second thought.
“Amara, stop acting. I know exactly what you’re after!”
My voice trembled as I fought to steady it. “After what, exactly? A man who pushed his pregnant wife down the stairs? A killer I was stupid enough to love?”
I wanted to scream it at him—I’m not coming back to you, Rafael. I’m done being your fool.
His jaw clenched hard. Instead of answering me, he pulled Nerissa closer to him and tilted his head toward the door. “We’re leaving.”
They walked out side by side, like I didn’t exist. And I? I dragged myself back to that storage room they called a bedroom and cried until my body gave out. No loud sobs, no dramatic breakdown—just silent trembling, like something already dead mourning what it used to be.
**
Three days slipped by. Every time I even tried to step past the villa gates, his voice came through my phone like a chain snapping tight around my neck.
“You’re not leaving. You stay put during this cooling-off period. Try to disobey, and I’ll deal with you myself.”
So I stayed curled on the thin mattress when my phone rang again.
“Ms. Stewart,” a woman’s voice said. “This is Horizon Hospital. Your parents were involved in a residential fire. They’ve sustained severe burns and require immediate surgery. You need to come and sign consent forms right away.”
My entire body went cold. I could barely force air into my lungs.
“I… I’m coming now,” I managed.
But I wasn’t free. I was trapped inside a villa like a prisoner wife to a mafia heir who had long since stopped acting human.
I forced myself down the stairs on crutches, every movement slicing through bone-deep pain.
In the living room, Rafael and Nerissa were pressed together on the sofa, watching a movie like a couple untouched by anything cruel in the world—like ash and blood didn’t exist just outside their bubble.
He glanced up, and his expression instantly hardened.
“Who gave you permission to leave your room?”
“My parents are in emergency surgery!” I cried out. “They might die. I need to sign the papers—please, just let me go!”
Nerissa let out a soft laugh. “How convenient. After three days of silence, suddenly there’s a fire?”
Rafael’s gaze turned completely ice-cold. “Amara, do you really think I’ll fall for something this pathetic?”
“I’m not lying!” I shouted, reaching for his phone. “Call them. Horizon Hospital—burn unit, emergency desk, I can give you the number—”
He snatched it away before I could touch it. “Enough. I’m not entertaining your little performance.”
My legs gave out. I dropped to my knees because there was nothing left to hold on to. My vision blurred as I pleaded, “We’ve been together five years. Please… let me go. If I’m lying, you can do whatever you want after. I swear.”
Nerissa’s smile stretched slowly, sharp and satisfied.
“Rafael, if she’s so desperate to play hero, let her enjoy it.”
She leaned in and murmured something in his ear. I watched his expression shift—tighten—then twist into something almost amused.
“She’s right,” he said at last. “If you want to leave, then beg her properly. On your knees. Make her happy first. Then I’ll think about it.”
My hands shook so badly my crutches slipped from my grip.
The same man who once waited for me after rehearsals, who carried my things home under the rain like I was something precious—now stood there watching me collapse in front of another woman.
“Hurry up,” Nerissa sing-songed, crossing her legs. “At this rate, your parents might already be ashes.”
She drew a finger across her throat and laughed.
I lowered myself until my forehead pressed against the cold marble floor.
“Please,” I whispered weakly. “Let me go see them.”
“I didn’t hear that,” she said sweetly. “Louder.”
“Please…” My voice cracked. “I’m begging you. Let me go.”
Pain tore through my injured leg, but I didn’t move. My pride was already gone, scattered somewhere I couldn’t reach.
Nerissa clapped lightly, delighted. “Look at her, Stef. She kneels so well. Like a trained pet.”
Rafael didn’t even smile. When he spoke, his voice was colder than ash.
“So you kneel for someone else just to get away from me. Interesting.”
He stepped closer, eyes empty and merciless. “You want out that badly? Tell me—who’s waiting for you out there? Another man? Is that it?”
