Rylee's POV
After hanging up, I crouched on the roadside, crying until I was utterly exhausted, until I was completely exhausted. Only then did I stagger forward.
I hadn’t taken more than a few steps when dizziness hit me, sudden and overwhelming, and I fainted without warning.
When I woke up, I was lying in bed. My face still bore the wounds from hitting the curb when I collapsed.
Vlad sat at the bedside, worry etched on his face. “Rylee, does anything hurt?”
I stared at him, feeling disoriented. Was the man I saw earlier really him, or just a hallucination?
I raised my hand, wanting to touch his face as I usually did. But before my fingers could reach him, he recoiled instinctively.
The next moment, Madeline approached me, a faintly mocking smile tugging at her lips.
“Rylee, your body’s way too weak. Just one miscarriage and you’re fainting every day. How are you still going to carry on Vlad’s family line?”
Her words pierced me like needles.
I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms, forcing down the rising anger. My voice came out cold and sharp.
“If I can’t do it, maybe you should try.”
“You—”
Her face suddenly went pale. She opened her mouth to snap back but suddenly clutched her chest, gasping violently.
Her brows knitted tightly, her body trembling as if she were about to faint.
Vlad’s expression darkened instantly when he saw her like that. He jumped up and rushed to support her.
His eyes were full of concern as he steadied her. Then, he glared at me with a mixture of anger and disbelief.
“Rylee, you know Maddie’s health is delicate. She can’t handle stress, so why did you have to provoke her like that?”
Watching him defend Madeline without a second thought, I felt absurd and bitter, a taste of humiliation rising in my throat.
“Me? Provoke her? Vlad, get it straight—I’m the one lying here! I’m the one who lost my baby!”
The moment my words fell, my parents came rushing in. Seeing Madeline’s frail state, they immediately pointed at me and yelled.
“Rylee! What’s gotten into you? You couldn’t keep your own child, and now, you’re taking it out on your sister? How did we raise someone so cruel?!”
I looked at the three people I was closest to, seeing nothing but their defense of Madeline. In their eyes, I was a monster.
A rush of hurt and injustice swept over me.
I laughed bitterly, though tears welled up uncontrollably.
When we were children, Madeline was always sickly. My parents would say, “You’re the older one; you must give way to your sister.”
So I gave her my toys, my favorite treats, even my room and my hobbies. If she liked it, it was hers, no questions asked.
When I grew older, I thought Vlad would be my salvation.
He loved me, protected me, made me his one and only, and planned a future for me.
I thought I had finally found my happiness. But in the end, it was all a lie.
The one he loved was not me but Madeline.
My heart felt ripped apart, the pain so sharp I could barely breathe.
I took a deep breath, wiped the tears from my face, and watched them leave.
The next day, I checked myself out of the hospital. The divorce papers from my lawyer had also arrived.
I took my stuff and returned to the home Vlad and I had shared.
Opening the door, the living room scene froze me in place.
Madeline sat on the couch, frowning slightly every day while Vlad carefully fed her medicine.
Then he offered her a piece of fruit candy, speaking to her with tender affection.
“See? Not bitter anymore.”
The sight stabbed at me, almost blinding me with its intensity. I had never experienced such care and love.
When I was sick and complained the medicine tasted bitter, he would frown and coldly say, “Good medicine tastes bitter.”
He always told me I was grown-up.
But now, he pampered Madeline like she was a child.
I wanted to rush forward and drag them to hell. But I forced myself to breathe deeply, stay calm, and gripped the divorce papers tightly.
“Someone who didn’t know might think you two are married!” I said.
Hearing my voice, Vlad froze, a flicker of panic crossing his face before he quickly suppressed it.
“Maddie is your younger sister. I also treat her like my sister. Don’t think like that, okay?”
I scoffed, walked up to him, and handed him the papers, pretending to be casual.
“Relax, I’m just joking. I know I shouldn’t have provoked Maddie yesterday. This is a gift I was planning to buy her. The amount is a bit large, so I need your signature.”
Vlad eyed me suspiciously but took the papers to look them over.
Suddenly, Madeline began coughing violently, her face pale, the sound heart-wrenching.
Just like that, Vlad rushed to her side. “Maddie, are you feeling unwell again? Come, let’s go to the hospital.”
He tried to take her with him. I quickly intervened.
“Vlad, just sign. It’ll only take a second.”
He signed hastily and, cradling Madeline, rushed out the door without so much as a glance at me.
I stared at the sloppy signature on the divorce papers, a chill running through me.
The marriage he had begged for thousands of times was now over in a single instant.
