When Joshua married me, everyone congratulated him. He had finally married the girl of his dreams. Only I knew the truth. This wasn’t a dream fulfilled. It was revenge. Three years ago, on the day Joshua proposed, his father met with me. An hour later, he jumped from the roof of a skyscraper. In an instant, Joshua’s adoration for me curdled into a bottomless hatred. After we were married, he used every method imaginable to torture the truth out of me, but I kept my silence. It wasn’t until he personally destroyed the child growing inside me that my heart finally broke. Only then did I tell him everything. When he learned the truth, regret shattered him. He fell to his knees, crying, begging me for forgiveness. But a dead heart, and a dead child… they can’t be brought back to life. 1. I had two hours left. Two hours before the kidnappers’ deadline expired. By the time I reached Joshua’s office, it was the dead of night. Only his executive assistant was there, tidying his desk. I threw open the door, all pretense of politeness gone. “Where is he?” She paused, glanced up at me, then went back to arranging papers. “This is Mr. Green’s personal time. I’m not at liberty to disclose his location.” I stalked forward and slammed my hand down on the files, my voice trembling despite my best efforts. “Where. Is. Joshua?” The assistant, Dina, slid her hand out from under mine and smiled sweetly. “If you really want to know, why don’t you get on your knees and beg me?” “Fine.” I dropped to my knees without a second thought. “I’m begging you. Please, tell me where he is.” Her smile widened, triumphant. “Mrs. Green, if you don’t know where your husband is, how would I?” The dam of my control finally broke. I bit back a sob, wiping furiously at my eyes as I grabbed her hands. “Please, I’m begging you, there’s no time! My son has been kidnapped! Please, just tell me where Joshua is, please!” She wrenched her hands away. “Leo isn’t Joshua’s son. What does his life or death have to do with Mr. Green?” Her tone shifted, becoming sharp and calculating. “Unless… you agree to divorce him. After all, that position was never meant for you.” “Yes, okay, anything. I’ll sign whatever you want, just tell me where he is.” Her eyes lit up. “Really?” The address she gave me was for a private club. It was one in the morning by the time I arrived. One hour left. I burst through the door and found Joshua, a half-empty glass of whiskey in his hand. He looked up, startled to see me. “Leo’s been taken,” I gasped, grabbing his arm. “They want two hundred thousand dollars. There’s less than an hour. Please, Joshua, you have to help me.” He glanced down at my hand on his arm, then let out a short, contemptuous laugh. “Are you confused, Thea? That little bastard isn’t my son. What does he have to do with me? Why should I help you?” My knees gave out, and I sank to the floor. “I know you hate me. You can do whatever you want to me, but please… please, save Leo.” Joshua’s body tensed. He gestured casually to a bottle of red wine on the table. “Down that in one go. Maybe then I’ll be feeling merciful.” I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed the bottle and tilted it back, chugging the entire thing as the men around him cheered and catcalled. “Damn, Green, you’ve really got her trained.” Their crude jokes were a dull buzz in my ears. All I could think about was Leo. When the bottle was empty, a fiery heat bloomed in my cheeks. I looked up at him. “Is that enough?” Before he could answer, my phone rang. My hand trembled as I answered. “You fucking called the cops?!” a gravelly voice roared. “You’ll never see your son again!” The line went dead. I tried to call back, but the phone was off. My body started to shake uncontrollably, my mind a terrifying blank. Leo, my baby, please be okay. But it was just a desperate wish. My phone rang again. I was too weak, too numb, to even answer it. Joshua took it from my shaking hand. “Is this Leo Sterling’s mother?” a grim voice said on the other end. “We’re very sorry. By the time we arrived, the suspect was cornered. He threw the child from the roof. You need to get to the hospital.” The rest of the words blurred into a meaningless drone. The world tilted, spinning violently. Joshua reached out to steady me. I shoved him away with all my strength. “Are you happy now, Joshua?!” I screamed, my voice raw with agony. “Is this what you wanted?” “What are you talking about, Thea? I didn’t call the police. Why are you blaming me for this?” “Ninety-eight,” I choked out, a hysterical laugh bubbling in my throat. “I called you ninety-eight times. With every single call, I prayed you would pick up. But I forgot… how could I forget?” “You’re Joshua Green. The man who hates my guts.” 2. At the hospital, they told me Leo had survived. The relief was so profound it felt like I was the one who had been pulled back from the brink of death. He had been thrown from the roof of an unfinished building. On the way down, his fall was broken by a construction safety net. He was just a child, his small body light enough that the net had held. Any heavier, and it would have been a different story. Still, even with the net, the impact had been brutal. His leg, arm, and neck were fractured. But he was alive. He lay in the hospital bed, his small body encased in plaster casts, looking up at me with wide, worried eyes. “Mommy, why are your eyes so red?” “You scared me, sweetie. I thought I was going to lose you.” “Never, Mommy. I’ll always be with you.” His little brow furrowed. “Did Uncle Joshua hurt you again? Is that why you’re crying?” I shook my head, but the tears came anyway. He reached up with his good hand and awkwardly tried to wipe them away. “Uncle Joshua is mean. We don’t need him. I want a daddy who makes you smile. If no one can make you smile, then I just want you, Mommy. Just us.” “How touching. A real testament to motherly love.” Joshua’s voice, dripping with sarcasm, cut through the quiet room. He stood in the doorway, his eyes cold. Leo’s small body went rigid, his eyes immediately wary. I wiped my tears and stood, pulling Joshua out into the hallway. Once I saw through the window that Leo had settled back down, I lowered my voice. “What do you want?” He held up a crumpled piece of paper—the divorce agreement I’d had Dina draw up. “Did I or did I not tell you that you don’t have the right to divorce me?” He ripped it into pieces and threw them on the floor. “You were the one who begged me to marry you. Now you’re the one who wants a divorce. Thea, do you really think you’re in any position to make demands?” I stared at the shredded paper. When Leo needed a kidney transplant, I had just returned to the country with no money and no connections. That’s when Joshua had appeared. He’d told me that if I married him, he would find the best specialists, get Leo to the top of the donor list, and cover every penny of the astronomical medical bills. I was desperate. I knew it could be a trap, but for Leo, I would have walked into anything. The years of our marriage were a blur of his calculated cruelty. I told myself it was a debt I was repaying. People whispered that I was his pet, that I came running whenever he crooked his finger. For years, I had let him trample all over my dignity. But I was so, so tired. “I don’t owe you anything, Joshua.” He laughed, a harsh, grating sound. He grabbed the front of my shirt. “How dare you say that? Have you forgotten that if my father hadn’t taken you and your sister in, you’d be rotting in some orphanage? You ungrateful viper. He never should have brought you into our home.” My hand trembled as I shoved him away, my own control fraying. “Don’t you talk about my sister! You have no right!” My voice was a raw whisper, but my eyes met his without flinching. “I don’t owe your family anything. And I don’t owe you.” Joshua’s shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. He reached up and patted my cheek, his touch a mockery of affection. “Don’t owe us? My father’s death is on your hands. Do you think just because the police couldn’t find any evidence, you’re innocent? You’re wrong. This marriage is your prison, Thea. A chain that will hold you until the truth comes out. You are never leaving.” His hatred was a physical force in the sterile hospital corridor, a hand that reached out and dragged me back into the past. 3. Three years ago, on the day of our college graduation, Joshua had planned a surprise proposal. He had spent weeks meticulously planning every detail, his heart full of hope and excitement. That same day, his father, Marcus, jumped from the tallest building in Ashton City. I was there. The security footage showed me standing more than thirty feet away from him. The audio was useless, but the video was clear. Marcus Green had closed his eyes and stepped off the ledge. The ruling was suicide. Overnight, the Green empire crumbled. Business partners vanished. Creditors came knocking, splashing red paint on the doors and windows of the family mansion. Joshua found me in my room, my suitcase packed. “Aren’t you going to say anything to me?” he asked, his voice hollow. I looked at the chaos around us. “What do you want to hear?” “Why did he jump?” My grip on my suitcase tightened. “The police already told you.” “What did you say to him?!” He lunged forward, his fingers digging into my shoulders. “Thea, tell me. Please, I’m begging you.” I looked up into his eyes, swimming with a despair so deep it threatened to drown us both. “Joshua,” I whispered, my own voice shaking. “Let’s break up.” He staggered back as if I’d struck him. “Why? Thea, what happened? Why did my dad kill himself? Why are you leaving me? Why now?” I pried his fingers from my shoulders, one by one, forcing a cold mask onto my face. “I don’t love you anymore.” “No. No, that’s not true. Tell me what’s really going on. I’ll believe you, whatever it is. Just… please, don’t leave me now. I don’t know what to do. Don’t abandon me…” Outside, the wind howled. “Your father is dead,” I said, my voice as brittle as glass. “Look at this house. It’s a garbage dump. What is there for me to stay for? Did you expect me to stick around and be poor with you?” “That’s not you, Thea. You’re not like that.” “People change, Joshua.” I turned and walked toward the door. He threw a small, red box. It hit me squarely in the back, the sharp corner digging into my spine. The pain was so intense it felt like my heart was seizing. A tiny, metallic clink sounded on the floor. A diamond ring rolled to a stop at my feet. “Thea! I’m giving you one last chance. What did my father say to you that day? Just tell me the truth. I’ll believe you.” I stopped, my eyes fixed on the glittering diamond. Then I looked away. “Your father killed himself,” I said, each word a separate stone. “It had nothing to do with me. And as for us…” “I just got bored.” The wind was screaming that day. I walked for a long, long time, my legs aching, my heart shattered. The sand kicked up by the wind stung my eyes. For years after, I was trapped in a recurring nightmare. In the dream, Joshua would be on the rooftop, watching his father fall, and then he would turn to me and ask, “Why?” And Marcus, covered in blood, would ask, “Are you happy now?” I would always wake up drenched in a cold sweat. 4. Over the years, Joshua never stopped investigating. He watched the surveillance footage hundreds of times. He even hired a lip-reading expert. The expert determined that the last words Marcus Green ever said were: I promise you. Because my back was to the camera, no one knew what I had said. No one knew what Marcus had promised me just moments before his death. The fact that I broke up with Joshua on the same day was, in his mind, irrefutable proof of my guilt. I thought I would never see him again. But then Leo got sick, and our lives became entangled once more. I knew this marriage was his revenge. It was my penance. But even the deepest debts are eventually paid. I handed him a newly printed divorce agreement. He just laughed. “How many times do I have to tell you? You don’t get to leave. Unless… you tell me the truth about that day. Then, consider this my wedding gift to you.” “You already know the truth,” I said. He lunged, his hands closing around my neck. The world went dark at the edges as the pressure mounted. “Thea, I never realized just how cruel you are. You disgust me.” He released me. I collapsed, coughing, gasping for air. “You’re never getting away,” he snarled. “You will stay by my side and pay for what you did to my family for the rest of your life.” He ripped at my clothes, his touch brutal, suffocating. Our intimacy was never about love. It was always just a release for his rage. I closed my eyes, tears leaking from the corners. “Joshua, please,” I begged. “Let me go.” His teeth sank into my shoulder. “This is what you owe me,” he hissed against my skin. “Unless you tell me why my father died.” I squeezed my eyes shut. The truth… the truth would only bring more pain.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "394158", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel