Chapter4

The heavy hand twisted into my hair and violently yanked me backward.

I was dragged right off the gala stage.

The polished floorboards scraped brutally against my bare legs.

Not a single person in the ballroom intervened. Cassian watched. Evander watched.

"Get her out of the ballroom!" a woman screamed.

Security did nothing.

A group of women grabbed my arms.

They dragged me through the heavy service doors and threw me out onto the freezing asphalt of the

hotel's back alley.

"You homewrecking whore!"

The first slap cracked against my face before I even registered the scream.

The mob of women—their righteous rage meticulously stoked by Sabine’s quiet rumors—surged forward.

A few feet away, Evander’s jaw tightened.

He took a half-step toward the chaos.

Before his foot could touch the ground, Sabine gasped.

She clutched her chest and sank heavily against his arm. "Evander, there are too many people. I can't breathe."

The entire family’s attention abruptly reversed polarity.

My mother rushed forward, completely ignoring the sound of my dress tearing as I was thrown to the

ground. "Sweetheart, don't scare Mom! Evander, Cassian, quickly—get her to the car!"

Cassian paused.

He looked down at me pinned against the cold asphalt, then over at Sabine trembling in Evander's grip. His expression hardened into a clinical mask.

"Maris, these women are just hurting,"

Cassian said, his voice easily slicing through the screams. "You'll be fine."

He turned his back and walked away.

Evander didn’t even look.

He scooped Sabine into his arms and carried her toward the street.

The moment they left, the strikes grew heavier.

"Beat her to death!"

A sharp heel caught my ribs.

A steel-toed shoe stomped down brutally on my lower abdomen.

I curled into a tight ball.

Cold sweat drenched my skin.

Deep inside my stomach, the physical limit was finally breached.

The late-stage gastric tumors I had kept hidden for months violently ruptured under the blunt force.

Warm, thick blood surged up my throat.

I coughed aggressively, choking as a dark, metallic puddle rapidly expanded on the gray asphalt beneath me.

"Oh my god, she's coughing blood!" one of the women shrieked.

Panic instantly sobered the mob.

Within seconds, they scrambled backward and scattered into the street, leaving me alone in the alleyway.

I lay there for a long time, staring blankly at the brick wall.

Every inhale felt like swallowing crushed glass. I was actively bleeding out.

By all medical logic, I should have died on that asphalt.

But a strange, terrifying numbness suddenly took over—Could it be a final rally?

I don't know how long it took to drag myself off the ground. I leaned my entire weight .

Leaving a smeared trail of bloody handprints for six blocks. The world blurred into a muted, agonizing haze.

By the time I fell through the doors of the house, my legs were completely dead.

My family was already gathered there.

They hovered over Sabine with teacups and hushed, soothing tones.

Graham looked up.

He saw me slumping heavily against the doorframe, blood smeared down my chin and soaking my ruined dress.

My father sneered, his face twisting in disgust.

"Must you bring the stench of the mortuary into this house?"

Cassian stood near the fireplace, aggressively rubbing his temples.

"Drop the victim act, Maris. If you hadn't intentionally humiliated Sabine today, she wouldn't have been forced to show the public our marriage certificate. She's been looking out for you. The least you can do is go apologize."

I couldn't stand straight.

My knees buckled, and I slid halfway down the doorframe. My vision was swimming.

Sabine slipped away from my mother's fussing.

She walked up to me and grabbed my bruised wrist.

"Sister, how did you get so hurt?" Sabine asked in loud, feigned innocence.

Then she leaned in. She whispered directly against my ear.

"I’m already bored of playing mother to your stupid little Rowan.

Breed a daughter next. Let me have a fresh toy.

If I'm in a good mood, I might even give her back before I play her to death."

The absolute last thread of my sanity snapped.

I wrenched my hand free and threw my palm toward her face.

Smack.

My head snapped violently sideways.

The left half of my face went entirely numb.

Evander stood over me.

His hand was still suspended in the air. His eyes were glacial.

"When exactly is this tantrum going to end?"

my brother demanded.

"You dare lay a hand on Sabine right in front of us?"

"Don't you touch my mom!"

A small body slammed into my trembling legs. Rowan. But my six-year-old son wasn't hugging me.

He suddenly pushed me down and hurled insults at me, calling me a homewrecker.

A fresh wave of agony nearly , he stubbornly held his ground, glaring up at me.

I looked down at the boy I had worked for six years to save.

"You protect her so fiercely," I whispered, my voice rattling with liquid. "Because you think she's your mother. But what if I told you... I am your mom?"

"Shut your mouth!"

"What vile nonsense are you spewing, Maris?!" my father roared.

Rowan didn't even flinch. He scoffed, stepping back to hide in Sabine's skirts.

"Like a corpse-handler could be my mom. If you really were my mother, I'd rather die."

Complete silence fell over the room.

Evander pulled out his phone. He swiped the screen and shoved it toward me.

It was muted, but the video was clear.

It was me, screaming and pounding desperately on the frosted glass of the freezing mortuary cooler.

"I have the psychiatric committal papers drafted,"

Evander ordered, his voice dropping into a deadly, absolute calm.

"Apologize for today. Record a clarification video clearing her name.

Or I post this to the press, have you legally declared mentally incompetent, and lock you in an asylum for

the rest of your life. You will lose everything."

A low, wet sound escaped my throat. I was laughing.

Tears spilled over my swollen eyelids, cutting trails through the dirt and blood on my cheeks.

"You don't need to threaten me anymore," I smiled. "I'll post it for you."

I forcibly lifted my heavy, blood-stained arm. My finger pressed dead-center on his screen.

Send.

Evander blinked. He completely froze. It was the absolute shock of watching a broken animal willingly step into the slaughterhouse.

In that three-second window of silence, I turned.

Using the very last drop of my terminal adrenaline, I dragged myself up onto the radiator, collapsing onto the wide marble sill of the open architectural window.

Three stories down, the stone courtyard of the estate lay steeped in cold, unforgiving shadows.

Panic finally shattered their aristocratic calm.

"Maris, what are you doing?!" my mother shrieked. "Get off that ledge! You’ve gone insane!"

Cassian rushed forward, stopping just short of grabbing my ankles. His tailored composure evaporated completely. His face was entirely ashen.

"Maris, step down. We’ll drop the plan. Just come back inside, you're terrifying us."

I slowly shook my head. The cold night wind tore the tears from my face.

My hands were trembling so violently I could barely grip the marble sill.

Black spots rapidly expanded across my vision. The internal bleeding was too severe.

I couldn't feel my legs anymore.

It took every last ounce of my decaying willpower just to keep from immediately collapsing forward.

Evander grabbed Cassian's shoulder, holding him back. His jaw was tight, though his eyes were visibly wide.

"Don't pander to her, Cassian. She's manipulating us. She knows we care, so she's threatening to jump."

The gnawing agony of my ruptured stomach, the relentless bleeding, the desperate thirty-year need for their love—it all simply vanished.

My vision narrowed into a dark tunnel. My dying body had finally reached its absolute physical limit.

An overwhelming, weightless calm flooded my chest.

I looked at the men who destroyed me, the parents who blindly applauded it, and the son who hated me.

"If six years of my life aren't enough to pay for Sabine’s happiness," I said gently, offering them the most genuine smile I had worn in a decade. "Then take my life to settle the debt."

Cassian screamed my name. Evander violently thrust his arm forward to grab me.

Their faces drained of all color.

My numb fingers smoothly slipped off the window frame.

My knees gave out entirely. I leaned back into the freezing wind, and let myself fall into the dark.