For three years of marriage, I thought my husband was simply too busy with work. Until late one night, I stumbled upon his Mental Deterioration Plan. High-frequency noise at dawn. Slow-acting sedatives in the aromatherapy diffuser. Step by step, he was forcing me into becoming a “madwoman.” He stole my father’s design drawings and forced me to kneel in the ruins, all to clear the real murderer’s name. What he didn’t know was that every pill I swallowed, I kept under my tongue. Every time I went mad, I was acting. When he thought I had jumped into the sea and died, I was standing on a stage in Paris wearing hearing aids, accepting an award. Everything they took from me, I would take back tenfold. Sienna Shaw POV In the middle of the night, I got up to use the bathroom. When I passed the study, I saw Lucas Lawson’s tablet glowing on the desk. He hadn’t locked the screen. The system was still on the page he had just been reading. It was a hidden folder. I had only meant to turn it off for him, but the instant my fingertip touched the screen, it froze on one line of text. [Sienna Shaw Mental Deterioration Plan.] Below it were the specific steps: [2:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m.: Turn on the high-frequency noise device in the attic to induce auditory hallucinations.] [Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays: Add slow-acting sedative to the bedroom aromatherapy diffuser to confuse her memory.] The signature at the very bottom was: Lucas Lawson. The room’s frigid air seeped into my skin, my fingertips growing numb by the second. I opened the deepest folder. Inside were saved chat records between Lucas Lawson and Serena Stone. Serena Stone: [That church is almost finished, but the ownership rights are still in Sienna Shaw’s hands. If she ever comes to her senses and sues me for plagiarism...] Lucas Lawson replied: [Don’t worry. I’ve already drafted tomorrow’s transfer agreement. As soon as the awards ceremony ends, I’ll have her sign it. From now on, the ownership rights to that church will belong only to you.] Lucas Lawson wrote again: [Sienna Shaw takes medication every day. Her mind isn’t clear. Getting her to sign something will be easy.] I stared at the screen, my knuckles turning white from gripping too hard. Those were the church design drawings my father, Charles Shaw, had spent his entire life creating. For that building, my father drew tens of thousands of manuscript drafts. The red seal in the lower right corner was one I had gone with him to have carved. But three months ago, on the eve of that church’s completion, my father was accused of plagiarism. My father, who had guarded his good name all his life, jumped from the top floor of the half-built church in humiliation and smashed into the ground in a bloody, unrecognizable mess. Lucas Lawson stubbornly believed my father had pushed his sister, Jenny Lawson, into the sea and caused her to drown. Lucas Lawson married me, doted on me, and in the end, poisoned me and set a trap for me. All of it was nothing more than revenge for his sister, to drive the Shaw family step by step toward death. But he had no idea that back then, Jenny Lawson had clearly been pushed into the sea by Serena Stone herself, all so Serena could cover up the secret of stealing the drawings! They didn’t just want to steal my father’s reputation and use his drawings to win the Gold Award. Tomorrow, they also wanted to take the ownership rights to that church completely. My stomach suddenly cramped. I braced myself against the desk, bent over, and began retching violently. The pain made me curl into a ball, my fingers digging into the hard gaps in the floorboards. Because I used too much force, half of one fingernail snapped off, and blood seeped out. But I couldn’t feel the pain in my finger. All I could see was the horrifying image of my father after he fell onto the concrete ground. And Lucas Lawson’s hypocritical smile every day as he held me and coaxed me into taking calming medication. He forced my father to his death! He kept me like a madwoman in a cage! The person poisoning me every single day was actually the husband I had loved for three years! From outside came the sound of the front door unlocking. Lucas Lawson was back. I stared at the doorway, my fingertips trembling slightly. At the fastest speed I could manage, I inserted a card into the tablet and copied all the data. Then I put the tablet back exactly where it had been, making sure there was no trace that anything had been moved. After that, I took two earplugs out of my pocket. They were ones I had used before to block noise. Once worn, they could shut out most sound. I pushed the earplugs deep into my ears. The world fell silent, leaving only the sound of my own heavy breathing. The door opened. Lucas Lawson stepped through the door in a tailored black suit, soft warmth masking every trace of malice on his face. But when he saw me collapsed on the floor, a chill flashed through his eyes. “Sienna? Why are you sitting on the floor with the lights off?” Lucas Lawson quickly walked over, crouched down, and took my ice-cold hand. The instant I touched his skin, goose bumps rose all over my body. I wanted nothing more than to claw that hypocritical face to shreds and demand to know why he had killed my father! But I gritted my teeth and swallowed down my hatred. I knew very well that if I confronted him now, I not only wouldn’t get the drawings back, I might not even make it out of this door. I had to play the part of a completely ruined madwoman. “Lucas...” I obediently let him hold me, my body shaking violently, tears splashing onto the back of Lucas Lawson’s hand. “That sound came back. There are bugs crawling inside my head, gnawing at my brain. Lucas, am I really going insane?” Crying, I slammed my head into Lucas Lawson’s chest, my fingers clutching his white shirt. The blood in the gaps beneath my nails smeared a bloody mark across his clean clothes. Lucas Lawson gently patted my back, his touch soft, as if he were stroking a toy. “It’s all right, Sienna. It’s just auditory hallucinations. You’ve been under too much stress lately.” Lucas Lawson’s voice was low and full of heartache. But I knew perfectly well that at this very moment, the noise device in the attic was running at full power. Lucas Lawson was coldly watching me go mad. “Come on. Take your medicine. Sleep for a while and you’ll be fine.” Lucas Lawson took out a small white pill bottle, poured out a blue capsule, then brought over warm water and held it to my lips. I stared at that blue capsule. This was the slow-acting poison that made my memory chaotic. Without hesitation, I swallowed the pill with the warm water. When the pill slid past my throat, I pressed it with the tip of my tongue and hid it in the gap between my gum and cheek. “Good girl.” Lucas Lawson gently stroked my hair, a flash of relaxed mockery passing through his eyes. “Go upstairs and sleep. Tomorrow I’ll take you to the design competition awards ceremony. Serena won the Gold Award, and she needs you, her good friend, to go support her.” To support the murderer who killed my father. He was stabbing me straight through the heart. I lowered my head, my long hair hiding the hatred in my eyes. “Okay.” My voice was hoarse, my answer docile.
Sienna Shaw POV Seeing that I hadn’t grown suspicious, Lucas Lawson comforted me with a few more words before leaving. I immediately rushed into the bathroom. The moment the door locked, I collapsed in front of the toilet. I dug my fingers into my throat, my nails scraping against the tender mucous membrane. I retched violently, tears pouring out with it. The blue capsule hidden behind my gums, mixed with saliva and stomach acid, was finally vomited into the toilet. One layer of the blue coating had dissolved, giving off a bitter, cloying medicinal smell. I stared at the pill, my whole body trembling. If I swallowed it tonight, tomorrow I would become an idiot who couldn’t even speak clearly. Lucas Lawson wanted me to be a madwoman. I didn’t have time to be sad or heartbroken. I had to transfer away all the ownership rights to the church immediately. I pressed the flush and watched the poison get swept away by the water. Gritting my teeth, I lifted my head and looked into the mirror. The person in the mirror had a deathly pale face, bloodshot eyes, and blood at the corner of her mouth from where she had bitten through her skin. I closed my eyes and forced out a fake smile. Only when the expression of the person in the mirror completely matched the characteristics of a lunatic did I push the door open and walk out. In the bedroom, Lucas Lawson was standing by the bed. He held a white porcelain jar in his hand and was using a match to light the calming incense. When he saw me come out, he blew out the match and beckoned, his voice gentle. “Sienna, this is calming incense I had specially blended for you. Once you smell it, your head won’t hurt anymore.” I walked over and smelled the rich scent of lavender. Mixed into the fragrance was an extremely faint fishy odor, like rotting dead fish. This was the slow-acting sedative Lucas Lawson had given me, specially meant to destroy my nerves. “It smells so nice, Lucas.” I obediently nestled into his arms, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. Lucas Lawson gently stroked my back, as if petting a dying kitten. But I could feel his body was tense, his gaze fixed on my face the entire time. I took advantage of it and rested my head against his shoulder, my eyes unfocused as I slowly closed them. “Lucas... I’m so sleepy. I’ll sleep for a little while first...” I mumbled vaguely, my body going limp as I let myself fall. “If you’re sleepy, then sleep. I’m right here.” Lucas Lawson carried me onto the bed and tucked me in. He sat by the bed for a while. Only after confirming I was sound asleep did he get up, turn off the lights, and quietly leave. The moment the bedroom door closed, I opened my eyes. My gaze was clear, without the slightest trace of sleepiness. Lucas Lawson had no idea that I had switched out this jar of poisoned incense for ordinary lavender essential oil long ago. I got out of bed and took a backup phone from the deepest part of the wardrobe. I dialed a number. The call connected, and an elderly man’s voice came through. “Ms. Shaw?” “Attorney Carter, it’s me.” I lowered my voice, my tone ice-cold. “My father’s reputation has already been destroyed. I can’t lose the last thing he left behind, too.” Attorney Carter had been my father’s most trusted legal adviser when he was alive. “Ms. Shaw, have you made up your mind? If you secretly transfer the design patents now, once Lucas Lawson finds out, he absolutely won’t let you go.” Attorney Carter’s tone was worried. I gripped the phone tightly, my knuckles turning white. The pain from my broken nail made me tremble. “I have no choice.” Gritting my teeth, I forced out the words. “Tomorrow, Lucas Lawson is going to force me to sign the church’s ownership rights over to Serena Stone. Before he makes his move, I have to transfer all the design patents I hold into the overseas private trust my father left behind.” “All right. I’ll handle it right away. The transfer will be completed within two hours. But Ms. Shaw, what will you do tomorrow?” I didn’t answer. I quietly hung up. I turned my head and looked at the white dress Lucas Lawson had chosen for me in the wardrobe. Under the bleak moonlight outside the window, that dress glowed a ghastly white, looking exactly like burial clothes. I closed my eyes and lay quietly in the darkness.
Sienna Shaw POV Early the next morning, I had just woken up. Lucas Lawson pushed the door open and came in. He bent down to kiss my forehead, his voice mild. “Sienna, you’re awake? It’s time to get changed.” I obediently sat up. Lucas Lawson walked to the wardrobe, opened the door, and took out that white formal dress. In front of the fitting room mirror, I was arching my back, my fingertips just gripping the zipper at the back of the dress. A pair of warm hands covered mine from behind and naturally took the metal tab from my hand. Lucas Lawson looked at me through the mirror, the corners of his lips carrying the faintest smile. His movements were very gentle. His fingertips slowly brushed over my spine as he pulled the zipper up little by little. Because the dress was slightly tight, the metal teeth inevitably scraped across my skin. My body instinctively tensed, trembling slightly. Lucas Lawson’s hands followed the motion and pressed down on my shoulders, brushing aside my loose long hair. He bent down and pressed his face to the side of my neck. His warm breath fell against my cold skin, his voice as gentle as always: “Sienna, today is a big day. Answer the reporters exactly how we rehearsed last night, alright?” That tone was like coaxing a disobedient child, so gentle it made a person shiver. I stared woodenly at him in the mirror and answered, “Okay.” Half an hour later, I was brought into the International Design Awards ceremony. Both sides of the red carpet were packed with reporters, and the flashes were so glaring I could barely open my eyes. Serena Stone wore a gold gown and held the church’s gold trophy that should have belonged to the Shaw family. In front of countless cameras, she smiled brilliantly. Seeing Lucas Lawson bring me over, Serena Stone lifted her skirt and came forward, taking my hand. She pressed close to my ear, her voice low and vicious. “If your brain’s broken, you should be lying at home. But thanks to you, you still had to drag your crippled body here today to hand the award to me.” I heard every word clearly. I lowered my eyes, the expression on my face still wooden, as a salty, bloody taste quietly spread across the tip of my tongue. Lucas Lawson wrapped an arm around my waist, protectively supporting me with considerate movements. To outsiders, he looked like a good husband who adored his wife to an extreme degree. With that nearly tender posture, he brought me in front of a row of black microphones. The cameras all turned toward us in unison. Lucas Lawson lowered his head slightly and leaned close to my ear, his voice gentle. “Open your mouth and tell the reporters that the church was a doodle you made when you were insane, and that Serena completed all of it independently. Apologize to her. Sienna is the most obedient.” I looked at the reporters stretching their necks below the stage, then swept my gaze over Serena Stone’s smug expression beside me. I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, they were filled with terror. “Ah—!” I screamed at the top of my lungs and suddenly overturned the iron microphone stand in front of me. The iron stand crashed onto the marble floor, and a piercing shriek exploded from the speakers. “There’s worms crawling inside my head—they’re eating my brain alive!” I flailed both hands wildly and slapped the completely unprepared Serena Stone hard across the face! Smack! The slap was extremely heavy. Serena Stone staggered back several steps and fell to the ground. The gold trophy in her hands flew out and split in half. “Sienna Shaw! What are you doing?!” Lucas Lawson’s expression changed, and he reached out to stop me. I dodged him and screamed as I charged toward the giant poster on the stage, using my nails to scratch Serena Stone’s face on the poster to pieces. “Red bugs! They crawled out of the drawings! They’re gnawing at my dad’s brain!” I howled, my hands clawing at my own face and neck. In an instant, several bloody marks appeared on my skin. Blood flowed down along my collarbone, staining the snow-white dress at my chest red. The entire venue descended into chaos. Screams and shutter clicks rang out all at once. “Don’t bite me! Lucas, save me!” I slammed headfirst into Lucas Lawson’s arms. My body began to convulse, and I even foamed at the mouth. Lucas Lawson held me tightly and patted my back, his face anxious and heartbroken. But from an angle no one could see, a flash of relief crossed his eyes. He truly thought I had gone mad. “I’m sorry. My wife’s old condition has relapsed. She has disturbed everyone.” Lucas Lawson’s face turned cold as he picked me up, still convulsing, and strode out of the venue. Flashbulbs went off wildly behind us. I lay limp over Lucas Lawson’s shoulder. Warm blood flowed down my neck, soaking the white shirt over his shoulder. With my eyes open, I looked past his shoulder and stared coldly at the half-shattered gold trophy lying on the red carpet.
Sienna Shaw POV Lucas Lawson carried me back to the villa that very night. A private doctor treated the scratches on my neck and face. After the bedroom door closed, I opened my eyes and lay quietly in the dark all night. The next afternoon, only when I heard Lucas Lawson’s footsteps downstairs did I slowly sit up in bed. I reached up and messed up my hair, then pulled open the collar of my pajamas, exposing the freshly bandaged gauze on my shoulder. My whole body looked wretched and haggard. Only after doing all this did I walk barefoot down the stairs step by step, as if sleepwalking. In the hall, Lucas Lawson was sitting on the sofa. As soon as I reached the turn of the staircase, I heard Serena Stone’s somewhat aggrieved voice. “Lucas, I don’t blame Sienna. She only hit me because she’s sick.” Serena Stone sat on the sofa, holding an ice pack to her face, her voice very soft. “I’m just afraid that if she keeps going on like this, she’ll delay the progress of the West End Theater...” Lucas Lawson was pouring her warm water. Hearing this, his tone carried a trace of tenderness. “You’re just too easy to talk to.” As they spoke, I messed up my hair and walked barefoot down the stairs. Seeing me come downstairs, Serena Stone instinctively leaned back behind Lucas Lawson. Then she picked up the hot water and walked over. “Sienna, you’re awake? Have some water.” Just as I was about to reach out, Serena Stone’s wrist suddenly jerked, and the entire cup of water splashed directly onto the newly scabbed wounds on both my knees. “Ah!” Serena Stone backed up two steps in panic. “I’m sorry! I lost my balance... I didn’t mean to.” As she retreated in panic, the thin heel of her high heel just happened to step on the fingers of my right hand, which was braced against the floor. It landed dead on target, right on the gap of my broken fingernail. A bone-drilling pain shot through my fingertip. I clenched my teeth, my body trembling. Lucas Lawson quickly walked over. First, he helped the still-shaken Serena Stone back to the sofa. Then he bent down and pulled away my bleeding hand. He did not have anyone take me to get bandaged. Instead, he pressed both hands down on my shoulders and dragged me up from the floor. His movements were still gentle, but the force in his palms was like raw iron, pinning me in place so tightly that I had no room to resist. “Sienna, yesterday at the ceremony, you were the one who hurt someone first. That wasn’t good.” Lucas Lawson smiled, using the pad of his finger to wipe away the tears of pain at the corners of my eyes. His voice was so gentle it made me shiver. “When you do something wrong, you have to apologize. Apologize to Serena.” I froze in place, disbelief all over my face. “You want me to apologize to another woman?” “It’s just an apology. Then this matter will be settled.” I stubbornly refused. “No!” Lucas Lawson’s face gradually darkened. He stood up and forced my body to lower inch by inch toward Serena Stone on the sofa. His broad palm clamped down on me, forcing me to my knees on the cold floor. The newly scabbed wounds on my knees split open again, and the pain made my whole body flinch. In that nearly suffocating humiliation, I dug my nails into the bleeding wound in my palm, forced myself to lower my head, and gritted out, “I’m sorry…” Serena Stone sat on the sofa with a face mask on. At last, a look of triumphant satisfaction appeared in her eyes. Only then did Lucas Lawson let go. He wiped the blood from his hand with a tissue, picked up the yellow safety helmet from the floor, and handed it to me. His voice was as gentle as ever. “Since you’ve apologized, go do something for me. Pull up the data from the West End Theater.” Blankly, I reached out and took the yellow safety helmet. As long as Serena needed it, Lucas would still squeeze the very last bit of value out of me without hesitation. Because everyone knew that only my ears could detect the most accurate sounds. Twenty minutes later, at the West End Theater construction site. Inside the empty, unfinished building, cold wind poured down my collar with a howl. I had just stepped into the acoustic testing room on the basement level when the iron door behind me slammed shut. Then came the heavy crash of the lock. I turned around. Through the double-layer soundproof glass, I saw Serena standing outside. Serena gripped the control cable in her hand. Through the glass, her smile was strange and chilling. “Sienna Shaw, it’s time you paid me back for that slap.” In the center of the testing room stood a high-frequency acoustic device used for testing. Serena sneered and suddenly twisted the knob on the control panel all the way into the red danger zone. “Screee—!” A piercing shriek exploded through the sealed space in an instant. The shriek cut through the air like a white-hot steel spike, burrowing straight into my skull through my ears. The pain made me bend over. I clamped my hands over my ears, cold sweat soaking through my back in seconds. But that shriek seeped into every crack, again and again, as if it were about to shatter my eardrums. Warm liquid flowed between my fingers. Blood fell onto the cold cement floor. In the dead silence that swallowed me completely, my vision went black, and I passed out. When I opened my eyes again, the sharp smell of disinfectant filled my nose. I closed my eyes and lay expressionless on the bed. The hospital room door was pushed open, then locked from the inside. A man in a gray trench coat walked to the bedside. He had a pair of eyes so deep and dark they seemed bottomless. He was Lucas Lawson’s mortal enemy, Sebastian Lawson. He leaned down slightly and looked at me. “Stop acting. I know you’re not completely deaf, and you’re definitely not crazy.” I did not open my eyes. I did not move. Sebastian gave a cold laugh. “Don’t be scared. That wonderful husband of yours killed your father for his new lover. You want to survive, and I want power. We have the same enemy.” He leaned close to my ear and lowered his voice. “I can heal your ears, send you safely overseas, and even arrange a fake death for you.” “As for the price, give me the evidence you have that Lucas stole the design drawings.” I opened my eyes and looked at him. I had already lost everything. I could barely even hear anymore. There truly was nothing left to be afraid of. “Okay.” With a hoarse throat, I forced out the word, syllable by syllable.
Sienna Shaw POV After Sebastian left, I lay in the hospital bed. I thought I could wait for his plan. I thought I could leave this place safely. But the next morning, the phone screen on my bedside table suddenly lit up. It was a short video from an unknown number. I tapped it open. In the video, an excavator was smashing into the red-brick villa. The walls collapsed with a deafening crash. That was the memorial hall my father had protected his entire life. In the lower right corner of the video, a marble-pale wrist looped around Lucas’s arm appeared. It belonged to Serena. Then a text message popped up. [How pitiful. The home you treasured so much is gone.] My mind buzzed. I didn’t care about the IV needle in the back of my hand. I yanked hard, ripping it out. Blood instantly gushed from the back of my hand and dripped onto my hospital gown. I didn’t even put on shoes. Barefoot, I ran out of the hospital. By the time I stumbled to the entrance of the old building, most of the memorial hall had already collapsed. Only the last red-brick wall with an archway stood alone in the ruins. I rushed inside like a madwoman, but two security guards grabbed me and pinned me down in the pile of rubble. “Let go of me! Let go!” Sharp, jagged stones tore open both my knees. Blood soon soaked through my hospital gown. Lucas stood not far away in a black suit, holding a black umbrella. Serena clung to his arm, covering her mouth as she laughed softly. Pinned down by the guards, I desperately raised my head and stared hard at Lucas. “Lucas Lawson! Tell them to stop! That’s the only thing my dad left behind! He didn’t plagiarize! He was framed!” Lucas slowly walked over and stopped two steps away from me. Mud splattered his leather shoes. He frowned slightly, then crouched down gently and pried my fingers, one by one, from the cuff of his pants. “Sienna, the ground is dirty. Let’s get you up first, okay?” He brushed the mud and grit from my shoulder. His voice was still gentle, but his eyes were utterly cold. I knelt on both knees in the pile of rubble and slammed my forehead hard against the sharp stones. “I’m begging you! Lucas, I’m begging you!” With no dignity left, I kowtowed to him. “Tell them to stop! My dad’s paintbrushes are inside, and his photos… please.” My forehead struck the broken stones. In an instant, it split open, blood pouring down. Blood mixed with mud and smeared across my entire face. Lucas stood above me with the umbrella, looking down at the sight of me covered in blood. A flicker of disgust crossed his eyes. “Sienna, stop making a scene. You look like a lunatic.” Lucas’s voice remained gentle, yet it was so cold it held no warmth at all. “Your dad is already dead. What’s the use of keeping these things?” Serena giggled beside him. “Exactly, Sienna. Even if you keep them, you can’t protect them.” My nails dug deep into the cracks between the stones, leaving my fingers bloody and mangled. Seeing the steel claw about to come down again, I completely broke down. I crawled on my knees to Lucas’s feet, clutched his calf tightly, and sobbed until my heart felt torn apart. “I’ll sign the agreement! I don’t want anything anymore! I’ll give it all to Serena! Please… don’t let the big truck move… I’m begging you…” Lucas looked down at me. At last, satisfaction appeared in his eyes. He bent down and used a silk handkerchief to wipe the blood from my forehead. “Wouldn’t it have been better if you’d behaved this well from the start? Sign it, and I’ll leave you something to remember it by.” He shoved an inheritance waiver and a pen into my bleeding palm. My hand trembled uncontrollably. Blood seeping from the cracked nails of my right hand dragged a vivid red streak across the signature line. I thought that as long as I lowered myself into the mud, I could preserve the last thing my father had left behind. Trembling, I handed the agreement over. Lucas took it. After confirming the signature was correct, he stuffed it into his secretary’s arms. His tone carried a practiced indulgence. “Good girl.” But the next second, he stood up. Without even looking at that red wall, he calmly ordered the foreman behind him, “This place is a safety hazard. Keep demolishing it.” My pupils suddenly contracted, and a piercing sound tore from my throat. “Lucas Lawson—!” “Boom!” The steel claw crashed down before my eyes, and the final red-brick archway instantly shattered into ruins. With his arm around Serena, Lucas turned and got into the black car parked by the road. The car started and sped away in a cloud of dust, splashing muddy water hard across my hospital gown. I collapsed into the muddy water and stared at the broken bricks scattered before me, my eyes bloodshot. Inch by inch, I crawled over. With my bleeding right hand, I clutched a cracked red brick tightly. I pressed my face against the cold brick, as if I were holding my father’s once-warm hand. I remembered the way my father used to hold my hand and teach me to write. I remembered the last “I’m sorry” he said to me before he jumped from the building. Now it was all gone. Holding that brick, tears fell from my eyes in huge drops. I lay amid the rubble. Then, hysterically, I began to laugh. “Lucas Lawson, you’re so cruel!”
Sienna Shaw POV I don’t remember how I got back to the villa. I only remember that, that night, the private doctor used tweezers to pick the grains of sand and mud from my wounds one by one. A week later, the bloody cuts on both my knees had scabbed over. Lucas tossed a pair of white stockings and an oversized coat onto the head of the bed. He reached out and gently stroked my cheek. “Tonight is a collaboration between our two families. The banquet is being held on a cruise ship in international waters. Be good. Don’t go crazy again. I’ll take you out to enjoy the sea breeze.” But when I truly boarded the cruise ship, I realized that every step up the stairs tore open the wounds on my knees again and again. Thick blood seeped into the white stockings, dyeing them red. The pain made cold sweat pour out of me. Lucas’s hand tightened slightly around my shoulder, his grip so strong it nearly crushed my bones. He whispered in my ear, “There are important foreign guests here today. If you dare act crazy again, I’ll have you locked in a psychiatric hospital.” I let him grip my arm and lead me into a corner of the banquet hall. Not far away, Serena wore a custom gown and held a glass of red wine, moving gracefully among the powerful and wealthy. Everyone surrounded her at the center, praising her as the genius who designed that church. And I was thrown by Lucas into the darkest corner. Since yesterday, I had not had a single drop of water. My empty stomach hurt so badly that cold sweat kept breaking out. I could only dig my nails hard into the flesh of my thigh, using pain to stay conscious. I was waiting for midnight. That was the time Sebastian and I had agreed on. At this very moment, in the blind spot of the sea where the cruise ship’s cameras could not capture anything, jumping into the water was my only way to survive. It was also my only chance to escape Lucas. At last, the hands of the wall clock overlapped. I braced myself against the wall and stood. I moved extremely slowly, without alerting anyone. Amid the noisy clinking of glasses and chatter, I pushed open the cabin door alone and walked onto the deck. The deck was pitch-black. The sea wind cut like knives, making me cough violently. The taste of blood spread through my mouth. I steadied myself against the railing. Below the railing was the open sea of international waters, black waves surging into the sky. I unbuttoned my coat, took off the white coat, folded it neatly, and placed it on the deck. I would take off this coat and leave behind this wedding ring. I wanted to leave the version of me tortured beyond recognition on this ship forever. In Lucas’s eyes, this would be a final, absolute suicide. But in my heart, this was the beginning of a new life. I climbed over the iron railing and stood on the suspended edge of the deck. “Sienna Shaw! What are you doing standing there?!” Behind me, Lucas’s distorted roar suddenly rang out. I turned my head. Lucas was rushing toward me like a madman, both hands reaching for me. His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice trembled violently in the sea wind. “Get down from there! Who told you to stand there?!” I looked at him and suddenly smiled. For the first time in three years, a clear and gentle smile appeared on my face. I pulled the earplugs from my ears and casually threw them into the pitch-black sea. Then, in a hoarse voice, I enunciated each word. “Lucas Lawson, we’re even now.” The instant Lucas’s fingers were about to grab the hem of my clothes, my body fell backward and plunged straight into the night. “Sienna—!”
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