Vivienne clutched her stinging cheek, her vision blurred by the flood of tears spilling down her face.
Around her, whispers slithered through the crowd like venom.
"I heard she’s just a maid in the Moretti family."
"A maid? That explains it. Maybe she wanted to poison the real mistress and take her place."
"Don’t be ridiculous. That Freya isn’t the real mistress, either. Wasn’t Rafael supposed to marry his childhood sweetheart? Vivienne something? He even promised to announce their engagement, but there’s been nothing since."
The words stabbed deep, but Vivienne had no strength left to care. She shoved past the murmuring onlookers and ran.
That day, she sat alone in the garden, time slipping through her fingers like sand.
By evening, word came from the hospital that Freya had suffered a severe allergic reaction to mango and had to be hospitalized. Meanwhile, the cake Vivienne had spent all night making had been sent for testing.
The results arrived.
No mango pulp. No jam. But traces of mango juice had been found, enough to nearly cost Freya her life.
At the hospital, Rafael seized Vivienne’s wrist, his grip tightening like a vice, his voice laced with venom.
"You’re despicable. First, you nearly ruined my family, and now, on such an important day, you try to kill the woman I love?" His eyes burned with fury. "Apologize to her!"
"If you don’t, I’ll have you charged with attempted murder. You’ll rot in prison for the rest of your miserable life."
Vivienne’s gaze flickered to Freya, unconscious on the hospital bed, her breathing shallow. A bitter smile curled her lips.
Rafael really did love her.
That soft, agonized look in his eyes, she hadn’t seen it in so long.
Once, he used to look at her the same way.
Familiar. Yet impossibly distant.
She inhaled deeply as if trying to keep herself from drowning, but the weight in her chest only grew heavier.
"I didn’t do it, and I won’t apologize," she said despite the storm raging inside her.
"If you’re so eager to see me suffer, then send me to prison."
The air in the room turned suffocating.
Without warning, Rafael drove his knee into the back of hers. Pain shot through her legs as she lost her balance, collapsing to the floor with a harsh thud.
"You won’t apologize? Then kneel here and repent! You can stand when she wakes up and forgives you!"
Pain pulsed through Vivienne’s knees, but she clenched her teeth, refusing to let a single sound escape.
Rafael turned on his heel, heading for the door. But just as he reached it, he halted, his shoulders stiffening before he spun back to face her.
"It’s because you’re jealous, isn’t it?"
"Because I treat her better, you couldn’t stand it, so you tried to hurt her. Admit it, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll forgive you."
A bitter laugh built in Vivienne’s chest. Forgive her? How laughable.
She shook her head. "No."
"You can love whoever you want, however you want. It has nothing to do with me."
For a moment, Rafael just stared at her, his expression unreadable, but the rage in his eyes burned like wildfire.
Then, without another word, he yanked open the door and strode out, disappearing into the cold, sterile hallway.
A moment later, Vivienne’s phone buzzed with a message.
An hour later, she stepped into a sleek office building, the weight of the past still clinging to her like a ghost.
"Are you ready?" someone asked.
"I’m ready."
She reached out and took the identification card offered to her.
"This is the name we selected for you, Tatiana Devereux, according to your request."
Vivienne let the name settle on her tongue before giving a faint nod.
"Thank you."
As she stood there, she told herself that everything from the past had been carried away by the wind.
A black car waited downstairs, its engine humming in the stillness of the night.
"Comrade Vivienne, your sacrifice will not be forgotten. Thank you for your service to the nation."
Without hesitation, she was ushered inside. The door shut with a quiet finality, swallowing her in darkness.
The car sped westward. From that moment on, she no longer existed. Under a new identity, she would vanish from the world she once knew, boarding a plane bound for the distant, unforgiving expanse of the Rousseau Desert.
