In elite circles, we were the infamous deaf-mute couple: Seraphina Beaumont, deaf, and I, mute. I married into her family five years ago. She gave me dignity and even got an IUD for my "ultimate worry-free experience." Then one night, drunk, she asked for medicine. I arrived to hear her laughing with friends: "Aren’t you tired of pretending to be deaf? That mute husband is convenient, but boring in bed—like fucking on mute!" Seraphina sipped her cocktail, smiling coldly. "He’s just a toy. A mute can’t talk, so I play wild and he never knows. When we fight, his sign language twists up—quiet and peaceful." She added softly, "Him being mute means Hyde—our child raised abroad—will be the undisputed Beaumont heir." My heart froze. The medicine dropped from my hand into the trash. If she wasn’t deaf, I didn’t need to be mute anymore. I turned and dialed a long-untouched number, my voice rough: "Bring down the Beaumont empire, and I’ll divorce her instantly." 1 The woman on the other end of the line sounded intrigued. “Well, well. Look who finally came to his senses. While your wife was turning you into a city-wide joke, I was the only one who ever truly cared for you.” “Wait for me. It won’t take more than three days.” As I hung up, the sound of their laughter washed over me, a tidal wave of mockery. “Damn, Seraphina, you’re a genius,” one of her friends slurred. “You faked being deaf for five years just to get your grandfather to accept Hyde. Who knew a mute would just fall into your lap!” “Exactly! We all thought after you declared yourself 'damaged goods,' no one in our circle would touch you. Then this mute comes along and practically glues himself to you. Even paid a three-hundred-million-dollar dowry to marry in. I’ve never seen a bigger fool!” “And now that your and Hyde’s kid is old enough to walk and talk, it’s the perfect time to bring them back and claim the inheritance.” Through the crack in the door, I saw Seraphina lounging on the sofa. She traced the rim of her glass, her voice as cold as ice. “My child with Hyde will not be illegitimate.” “Grandfather’s birthday is in three days. It’s the perfect time for the Beaumont family to announce its new heir.” My heart felt like it had been ripped open, a gaping wound exposed to a howling wind. When I first learned of Seraphina’s “deafness,” my father had refused to approve our marriage. I knelt in the pouring rain for three days, but he wouldn’t budge. It was only after I collapsed with a raging fever, my voice gone, that I conspired with a doctor to convince my father I had become permanently mute. Only then did he consent to me marrying into the Beaumonts. To ensure I wouldn’t be mistreated, he gave me a dowry of three hundred million dollars. For five years, I never spoke a single word in her presence. I believed that two broken souls could find a unique resonance. Even in our most intimate moments, at the peak of passion, I would stifle every sound. But the truth was, her grand gesture of getting an IUD for my “ultimate experience” was nothing more than a calculated move to pave the way for her secret child. How absurd. The Seraphina I first met wasn't like this. The girl who had given me her only tent during a blizzard was gone forever. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I opened it to a flood of images—dozens of photos of Seraphina with another man. There she was on our first anniversary, surfing in Phuket with him while I was at home, alone. There she was in our second year of marriage, claiming she was “too busy” with work in the US, when in reality she was giving birth to her and Hyde’s son. I kept scrolling. A photo with a date stamp caught my eye. It was the day I was rushed to the hospital with acute appendicitis. I had called her countless times, but she never answered. While I was lying in a cold hospital bed, writhing in pain, she was in America, celebrating her son’s first birthday. Photo after photo, a gallery of her betrayal. Then, a voice message played, shattering the last remnants of my pride. “You must be Seraphina’s mute husband. You poor thing. I bet you want to curse me out right now, but you just can’t, can you?” I trembled as I saved every piece of evidence. I sent one last message to the number I had called. “Three days. On her grandfather’s birthday, I want the bankruptcy of the Beaumont empire to be his birthday gift.” 2 The storm raged outside, rain lashing against the windows. There was a time when Seraphina would cuddle up to me during a thunderstorm, covering my ears and whispering, “Darling, are you scared?” Now, she was probably lost in another man’s arms. The bedroom door opened, and the mattress dipped beside me. In the darkness, I could smell the alcohol on her breath as she leaned close, her lips brushing my ear. “Hyde, darling, don’t worry,” she murmured in her sleep. “I’ve made you wait for five long years. I’ll make that pathetic mute give you back everything that was rightfully yours.” A wave of revulsion washed over me. Night after night, she had held me just like this. And all this time, it was never me she was holding. Tears welled in my eyes. Beside me, her breathing evened out into a deep sleep. I didn't sleep at all. My mind drifted back to our first year of marriage. Seraphina had gotten pregnant with my child, and had it terminated without a second thought. “A mute has no right to be the father of my child,” she had said. I woke with a start, my shirt soaked in cold sweat. My phone rang. It was my father, his voice frantic. “Adrian, what is going on? Did you and Seraphina have a fight? All of our contracts with the Beaumonts were just cancelled overnight!” I wiped the sweat from my brow, a cold fury hardening in my eyes. I hadn’t expected her to move so quickly, to sever ties with my family to protect her son’s future. My mother’s tearful voice came on the line. “Adrian, your sister… she went to a club last night, and she hasn’t come home!” “What if something’s happened to her?” Before I could respond, another call came through, from an unknown number. I answered, and my sister’s terrified voice screamed from the other end. “Adrian, help me!” The line went dead. A moment later, a photo appeared on my screen. My sister’s hand was pinned to a table, a knife resting on her finger. It was poised to slice it off. Hyde’s voice, smooth and demonic, came through on a new call. “Mr. Alistair, your sister is being a bit… difficult. Should I take the index finger, or the ring finger?” “You know what, maybe I’ll just take them all. Oh, that’s right, you can’t talk. If you take too long, I’m afraid she might lose the whole hand.” Just before he hung up, I heard a sickening crack, followed by my sister’s bloodcurdling scream. 3 I threw on my clothes and raced to the club. I burst into the private room to find my sister crumpled on the floor, her face a bloody mess. A man’s leather shoe was pressing down on her cheek, grinding it into the carpet. She reached a trembling hand towards me, her voice a hoarse whisper. “Adrian… help… me…” I lunged towards her, but I was seized from behind by two large bodyguards. The click of high heels approached, and a familiar voice dripped with venom. “Mute. It seems I underestimated you. When did you start having me followed?” One of the bodyguards yanked my head back by the hair. I looked up into Seraphina’s furious eyes. Hyde kicked my sister away and turned to Seraphina with a wounded expression. “Seraphina, darling, you got here just in time. This little bitch was trying to grope me.” My sister crawled towards me, sobbing. “Adrian, I didn’t touch him! I swear!” Hyde added more fuel to the fire. “If you hadn’t shown up, I would have drunk that spiked cocktail she was trying to give me. I even heard her say she was going to have me dumped in an alley for anyone to find!” Seraphina didn’t even glance at me. With a flick of her wrist, her bodyguards slammed my sister’s face back to the floor. As I fought against their grip, I heard a sickening crunch. Seraphina had crushed my sister’s right hand—her piano hand—under the heel of her stiletto. A scream tore through the room. I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. My voice, unused for five years, ripped from my throat. “SE-RA-PHI-NA!” The room fell silent. Then, it erupted in laughter. “Look, Seraphina! You’ve shocked the mute into speaking!” “It’s a medical miracle! Ha!” A flicker of surprise crossed Seraphina’s face. As she stepped towards me, Hyde whined, “Darling, I’ve just come back, and someone’s already trying to hurt me. Who knows what they’ll try next!” I ignored the questioning look in Seraphina’s eyes and rushed to my sister, wiping the blood from her face with my sleeve. Her skin was raw and scraped. “Adrian,” she whispered, “I didn’t do it. It was a set-up.” I held her close, a wave of guilt washing over me. “I know. I know. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.” Seraphina and Hyde walked past us, her arm linked through his. “This was just a warning,” she said, her voice cold. “Next time you send someone after Hyde, you can collect the body from the morgue.” As the door closed, Hyde shot me a look of pure triumph. I didn’t leave my sister’s side until she was stable in the hospital. Seraphina knew my sister. She knew she would never do something so sordid. But years of our shared life meant nothing against a few lies from Hyde. A voice message from him popped up on my phone. “So you can talk after all. What good does it do you? Seraphina still doesn’t want you.” “And just so we’re clear, I framed your sister on purpose. What are you going to do about it?” “Oh, and by the way, to make it up to me, Seraphina said she’s going to acquire your family’s company.” 4 A sense of dread washed over me. A moment later, a call came from my mother. “Adrian! Your father… the stress… he had a massive stroke! He’s in the emergency room!” The phone slipped from my fingers. I looked at my sister, unconscious in her hospital bed, and then ran for the ER. My mother was on her knees in the hallway, sobbing. “Please, let him be okay. Please, God, what did our family ever do to deserve this?” When she saw me, she scrambled to her feet and slapped me across the face. “This is your fault! You did this to your father, to your sister!” “I told you not to marry into that family, not to be their lapdog! But you wouldn’t listen! Are you happy now?” “The Alistair family is ruined! And it’s all because of you!” I held my mother as she collapsed, my own voice breaking. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault. Mom, I’m so sorry.” Her anger finally broke, replaced by despair. “Adrian, it was Seraphina. She cut off all our funding, blacklisted us with every bank.” “She drove us into a corner, and then she forced your father to sign over the company. The shock… it was too much. She’s a monster, Adrian. A monster!” She beat her fists against the floor until they were raw and bloody. I held her trembling body and made a silent vow. “Mom, I promise you. I will make Seraphina pay for this.” Just then, the red light above the ER doors went out. I helped my mother to her feet, and we stumbled towards the doors. A nurse pushed a gurney out, a white sheet covering the body. My heart stopped. “Doctor,” I stammered, “my father… he’s…” “I’m sorry. We did everything we could. It was an acute cerebral thrombosis. We couldn’t save him.” The rest of his words were a dull roar in my ears. My father… gone? My mother stared at me, her eyes wide with horror. “No! I don’t believe you! I don’t believe you!” She collapsed onto the gurney, her wails echoing through the silent hallway. “Honey, wake up! Please, wake up! What will we do without you?” Then, she went limp. My world shattered. “Quick, get her to a room! She’s fainted!” I watched as they lifted my mother onto another gurney, and I sank to the floor, my strength gone. In a single day, my father was dead. My mother and sister were in the hospital. Yesterday, everything was fine. And now… it was all gone. Seraphina. I hate you. I curled into a ball in the corner, on the verge of breaking. Then, my phone rang. Her number. “Tomorrow. Be at the Beaumont estate for my grandfather’s 80th birthday. Wear a suit. Oh, and bring your parents.” “I have an important announcement to make.” She hung up before I could say a word. The dead attending a party for the living. Fine. I’ll give you exactly what you want. The next day, the Beaumont estate was buzzing with activity. I walked through the grand entrance wearing a white funeral suit. In my hands, I held my father’s portrait. Murmurs rippled through the crowd. “What’s going on? Why is the Beaumonts’ son-in-law carrying his father’s portrait?” “How disrespectful! On Mr. Beaumont’s birthday, of all days!” When Seraphina saw me, she smashed her wine glass at my feet. “Adrian, are you trying to disgust me? How dare you curse your own father to death! You’re vile!” Her grandfather, trembling with rage, threw down his cane. “I was against letting Seraphina’s son into this family, but you… you have no class! You can’t buy breeding!” Hyde, dressed to the nines, stood with a small boy by his side. “Seraphina, darling, he’s not just disrespecting you. He’s disrespecting your grandfather!” Seraphina put her arm around Hyde, her other hand on the boy’s head. “Since everyone is here,” she announced, her voice ringing through the hall, “I have an important announcement to make.” “Adrian and I are divorced.” “And as you can see, this is my son. From this day forward, he is the heir to the Beaumont empire!” As a cheer went up from the crowd, a new voice, dripping with amusement, cut through the noise. “The Beaumont empire? What empire? What’s left for your son to inherit?” A moment later, Seraphina’s assistant ran in, his face pale with panic. “Ms. Beaumont! It’s over! We were set up! The company… it just went bankrupt!”
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