I screamed. Ryan didn’t hesitate. His grip was brutal as he tied my wrists behind my back, the rope biting into my skin. I thrashed, desperate to break free, but I was too weak—still broken from the fall, still aching from the wounds he had already inflicted on me.
“Ryan, please!” I sobbed, my voice raw with desperation. “I didn’t push her! We both fell! It wasn’t my fault!”
But Ryan wasn’t listening. He shoved me into the backseat of his car, my body hitting the leather with force. The door slammed shut behind me, trapping me inside.
“This is your punishment,” he muttered coldly as he slid into the driver’s seat, his voice eerily calm.
I panted, struggling against the restraints. “Ryan, don’t do this—”
His knuckles tightened around the steering wheel. “I should have done this a year ago,” he said, his tone devoid of emotion. “But I didn’t, because I pitied you.”
A choked sob escaped my throat. Pity? That’s all I had been to him? A mistake?
“But now,” he continued, his voice turning sharp, “after what you did… there’s nothing left to pity.”
I shook my head frantically, tears streaming down my face. “Ryan, I swear to you, I didn’t—”
“Shut up,” he snapped. “It’s too late for your lies, Alicia.”
I sobbed harder, my body trembling as the city lights faded into endless darkness. He was taking me somewhere isolated, somewhere no one would find me.
My breath came in ragged gasps. I struggled harder, twisting my wrists against the ropes, but it was useless.
Minutes passed, the silence between us thick with finality. And when the car finally stopped, my heart dropped. No streetlights. No buildings. Just an empty, lifeless stretch of land and the sound of waves crashing against the rocks below.
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head as Ryan stepped out of the car. He wrenched the door open and dragged me out. “Ryan, please—”
He ignored me. With terrifying ease, he pulled out a large sack. Panic surged through me as I fought harder, my screams echoing into the cold night.
“Ryan, don’t do this!” I shrieked. “Please! I swear, I didn’t—”
But he didn’t care. He shoved me inside. The world turned pitch black as the rough fabric enclosed me, muffling my cries. His voice was the last thing I heard before he threw me over the edge.
“I never want to see you again, you useless wife.”
***
The hospital was quiet when Ryan stepped into Lauren’s room. His chest was still tight with rage, his body tense from the storm inside him. But when he saw her lying there, eyes still closed, machines beeping softly, his anger began to subside.
He had done what needed to be done. Now, all that mattered was her.
He exhaled, running a hand through his hair before stepping forward—
Then he froze. Lauren’s lips were moving. At first, he thought she was just mumbling in her sleep, but then—he realized.
She was awake. She was talking to someone.
His entire body went rigid. He didn’t move, didn’t breathe, as he listened from just outside the door.
“The baby is dead,” she whispered.
Ryan’s stomach dropped.
But then—
A soft laugh. A laugh.
"But it’s okay,” Lauren continued. “We can make another one… and make Ryan believe it’s his.”
Ryan’s blood ran cold. His hands curled into fists, his breathing shallow.
The voice on the other end of the call chuckled. A man’s voice.
“You’re ruthless, baby,” the man purred. “I love it.”
Lauren giggled, her voice sickeningly sweet. “Well, it’s not like Ryan’s smart enough to figure it out. He thinks I loved him but all I want is his money. Come on, that’s why I applied as his secretary and seduced him for this.”
Ryan’s jaw clenched, rage bubbling inside him. His vision blurred as the truth hit him like a sledgehammer.
Lauren had lied. She had never loved him. The baby—his heir—wasn’t even real.
“And it would be easy now knowing that he killed his pathetic wife Alicia,” she added.
Alicia had been telling the truth. He had killed her for nothing.
He staggered back, his entire body shaking.
What had he done? What the fuck had he done?
Panic gripped his chest as he turned, nearly stumbling as he sprinted down the hall.
He had to find her. He had to fix this. But when he reached the place where he had left her— She was gone. No traces of her at all as if she didn’t exist.
