Victoria was pregnant with her male assistant’s child. On our ninth wedding anniversary, she brought him home. Her instructions were delivered with an air of casual indifference. "Alex has a picky palate. From now on, his three meals a day can't be repetitive." "He's a light sleeper, and you snore too loudly. Pack your things and move to the guest room." I didn't say a word. I just picked up the suitcase I had already packed and walked calmly toward the front door. The butler tried to intervene, but a cold sneer from Victoria stopped him in his tracks. "Let him go," she said, her voice dripping with contempt. "He'll come crawling back like a dog within three days." Her words drew laughter from our guests. Right there, in front of me, they made a ten-million-dollar bet on how long I would last. The consensus was that I wouldn’t even make it through the night before I was back, begging her to let me in. But they didn't know. They didn't know that the Maybach, sent by the one person who still cared, was already waiting for me just beyond the gate. This time, I was really leaving. 1. As I was about to step out the door, Victoria’s voice cut through the air. "Samuel. Leave your bracelet. Alex has been having nightmares lately." The jade bracelet was the last thing my parents left me. She met my reddening eyes, her own gaze as cold as ice. "Name your price." What was the price of nine years of a marriage that had ground my dignity into dust? I couldn't be bothered to calculate it. I only knew the consequence of refusing her last request—when I’d refused to give Alex my ski goggles on the slopes, her bodyguards had stripped me bare and left me to freeze on the mountainside. I slipped the heirloom from my wrist and slid it onto Alex's. "I wish the three of you a lifetime of happiness," I said, my voice even. "And peace." For the first time all night, Victoria seemed to offer an olive branch. "Samuel, if you just learn to behave, our child can be your child, too." The words had barely left her lips when the bracelet on Alex’s wrist suddenly slipped, shattering on the marble floor. A shard sliced into his leg. "Alex!" Victoria cried out, rushing to his side, her face a mask of panic. She barked at the butler to call the family doctor. The other guests watched the scene unfold, their faces painted with amusement at my expense. It wasn't just them. I found it laughable, too. Just last night, my chronic heart condition had flared up. As I collapsed, gasping for breath, Victoria was on her way out to go stargazing with Alex. She stepped right over my convulsing body without a second glance. The last thing I heard before I lost consciousness was her order to the butler. "Have the entire living room disinfected. Alex is coming home tomorrow, and I won't have him smelling this filth." My hand tightened on the handle of my suitcase. I turned to leave, but she grabbed my wrist, her face a thundercloud. "Apologize." "What—" Before I could finish, she shoved me to the floor in front of Alex. My knee landed on the sharp fragments of jade, and blood bloomed against the white stone. Seeing the blood, Victoria released me with a look of disgust. "You deliberately broke Alex’s bracelet and got him hurt. Don't you think you owe him an apology?" "I'm sorry." The words had become my mantra in this marriage. The soup is too bland, I'm sorry. I worried you were drinking too much and texted you, I'm sorry. I accidentally saw a text from Alex asking you to a hotel, invading your privacy, I'm truly sorry... I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood, then forced myself to my feet. I bowed deeply to Alex—once, twice, three times. Then I turned my dead eyes to Victoria. "Is that enough?" I asked softly. She saw the blood on my lips, and her chest heaved with a sharp breath. "Samuel, the Old Man isn't here to protect you. Who are you putting on this pathetic, disgusting act for?" Before I could answer, the doctor rushed in. Victoria pushed me aside like an inconvenient piece of furniture and led him to Alex. While her world revolved around him, I walked out the door. The moment I cleared the villa, I heard a sharp double honk. Seeing the silver sedan outside the iron gates, I quickened my pace. But before the gates could open, two bodyguards appeared out of nowhere, grabbing me and dragging me back inside. They threw me into the study. Victoria had me tied to a chair. She ordered the doctor to insert a needle—one as thick as a child's arm—into my vein. Through the half-open door, I heard the doctor's frantic whisper. "Ma'am, Mr. Lee and Mr. Fang both have the rare RH-negative blood type, but Mr. Lee has a history of heart disease. Forcing a blood transfusion could induce acute shock. We should go to a hospital..." "I don't need your advice," Victoria cut him off, her voice glacial. "Your only job is to make Alex well. I'll handle the rest." I heard her footsteps approaching and closed my eyes. "Does it hurt?" Her voice was uncharacteristically gentle. "Just bear it a little longer. It'll be over soon." I turned my head away, unwilling to waste another word on her. After they had drawn 800cc of my blood, my lips were turning blue. Just then, Alex, lying in the master bedroom, let out a weak cough. At the sound, Victoria’s hand shot out, stopping the doctor from removing the needle. "Take more. Double it." The doctor, sweating profusely, pleaded with her. "Ma'am, any more and you could kill him!" She hesitated for two seconds. "Alex's health comes first." "But—" "Just do it," I interrupted the doctor, my voice a hollow rasp. "Finish it, and let me leave." Victoria stared at my bloodless face, her eyes flashing with a cold fury. She opened her mouth, about to demand if I was done with my tantrum, if I was really going to leave home over such a small matter. But then, a frail voice drifted from the bedroom. "Tori~" And just like that, she was gone. Two days later, I woke up in a hospital bed, having been admitted for shock. The first thing I saw was Victoria, sitting in a chair by my bed, reviewing a stack of documents. Our eyes met and held for a long moment. Expressionless, she brought a bowl of porridge to my lips. I shook my head. "I can do it myself." She watched me quietly eat half the bowl before asking, "Are you feeling unwell anywhere?" I ignored her question. "Please give me my phone." My tone must have been too distant. She froze for a few seconds before calling the butler to have my phone brought over. She noticed the screen lit up with missed calls. "Who was that?" she asked sharply. She never used to ask so many questions. A flash of annoyance crossed my mind. "Someone you don't know." She undid the top button of her silk blouse and looked down at me, her eyes cold. "Samuel, how long are you going to keep up this childish act? You think you can walk all over me now?" In the past, her anger would have sent me scrambling to appease her, to figure out what I’d done wrong. Now, I just pointed at her own vibrating phone. "It's Alex." A smile touched her lips. As was her habit, she stepped out into the hallway to take the call. The moment she left, my phone rang. I answered. Before I could speak, the anxious voice on the other end burst out, "You said you were coming! Samuel, did you change your mind?" "No, I didn't. There was just... an incident." "An incident? What happened to you? That's it, I'm flying back right now—" I cut him off, my voice low. "Just give me a few more days." Victoria returned to the room just as I ended the call. She saw the faint, unfamiliar smile on my lips, and a strange tightness constricted her chest. But she had just promised Alex she would go pick out a crib with him. There was no time to ask who I was talking to. It must be that cousin of his, she thought. He's the only one left who still talks to him. She gathered her files. "Samuel, something's come up at the office. I'll be back tomorrow," she said coldly, not even glancing back as she left. She didn't come back the next day. Or the day after. But thanks to our mutual "friends," my phone was constantly flooded with photos and videos of her and Alex. She took him to banquets and business dinners, acting like a teenager in the throes of first love, eager to show off her new partner to the world. The day I was discharged, Victoria posted a nine-photo collage on her social media. In it, she and Alex were kissing passionately in a hot air balloon against a romantic sunset. I left a comment: 【Wishing you both a long and happy life, and a healthy baby soon.】 Ten minutes later, my phone rang. It was her. I didn't answer. Half an hour later, after finishing my discharge paperwork alone, I saw them. They were standing outside the obstetrics and gynecology department. I overheard a young nurse at the reception desk say to her, "Mrs. Fang, your husband is so good to you! He's here for every single appointment. He even warms up the ultrasound gel in his hands so you won't get cold." The other pregnant women in the waiting area looked on with envy. I remembered, against my will, that we once had a child, too. A child Victoria had aborted in secret. The day she did it, Alex sent me a voice message. "Tori lost a bet to me. Does this mean she can only have my children from now on?" Before I could even process it, Victoria herself had called me, not to explain, but to scream at me for being petty and stupid. "Samuel," she had spat, "a pathetic waste of space like you, what makes you think you're worthy of having my children? If I'm going to have a child, it will be with someone who has good genes!" ... Snapping back to the present, I was about to take a different route when Victoria spotted me. "What are you doing just standing there?" she demanded. I looked down, instinctively explaining, "I wasn't following you. It's just a coincidence. Sorry to disturb you." "Wait." As the word left her lips, a flash of jealousy crossed Alex's eyes. He tightened his arm around Victoria's waist and smiled at me. "Mr. Lee, thank you so much for the blood. I was feeling so dizzy, but now I'm all better. Tori, why don't we let Mr. Lee come home with us? Please?" Victoria gave Alex a look of pure adoration. "Anything for you, my sweet, kind Alex. Whatever you say." Since I needed to get my luggage anyway, I didn't refuse his "kindness." Inside the spacious, dark car, I soon found what Alex wanted me to find. Tucked in the crevice of the seat was a pair of lace underwear. "Oh! How did this get here? Tori, I must have forgotten to clean up..." Alex feigned embarrassment, snatching the underwear and carefully tucking it into his pocket. Victoria playfully punched his chest, all the while watching my face for a reaction. When she saw none—no anger, no pain—the tightness in her chest from the hospital returned, stronger this time. "Samuel, you've been staring at your phone since we got in the car," she said, her tone sharp with an unfamiliar jealousy. "Are you talking to your cousin? Or someone else I don't know?" I had just finished booking my flight. I turned off the screen. "Just reading the news." Her brow furrowed even deeper. In a swift motion, she snatched the phone from my grasp. "What's the password?" she demanded. "My birthday." Nine years of marriage. Such a simple six-digit number. She tried over and over until the phone locked her out. She never got it right. The rest of the ride was silent. The car had barely stopped at the villa when Victoria felt a wave of morning sickness. Alex helped her back to the master bedroom. He played the part of the man of the house perfectly, ordering the chef to prepare all of Victoria's favorite foods. As she came downstairs later, she saw my lonely figure heading toward the guest room. After a moment's thought, she told the chef, "Make a few of Mr. Lee's usual dishes as well. And set the table for three." In the guest room, I opened my suitcase. All my clothes had been slashed to ribbons. Thankfully, my passport and other documents, tucked in an inner layer, were untouched. I gathered my papers, ready to leave for good, but Alex was blocking the doorway. He held a black canister, his eyes raking over me with contempt. "Samuel, you have more patience than I thought. I've moved into your house, humiliated you in front of our entire social circle, and you're still clinging to her like a leech." "Then again," he sneered, "that old hag grandmother of yours finally kicked the bucket last month. Without her protection, I guess Tori is the only lifeline you have left." A cruel memory sparked in his eyes. "You know, that day you were crying, begging Tori to send the helicopter to take you to the hospital to see your grandmother one last time? Do you know why she refused?" He grinned. "Because she had promised to take me to the beach to watch the sunset." He held up his phone. "This picture of us kissing? We took it right then." Smack. I knocked the phone from his hand. My own hands, moving before I could think, closed around his throat. The canister fell from his grasp, and the acrid sting of gasoline filled the air. In the struggle, Alex frantically fumbled with a lighter and ignited the fuel on the floor. Flames erupted. Thick smoke filled the room. Weakened from my hospital stay, I was quickly overcome, my body going limp as I collapsed. Through the roaring fire, I heard her voice. "Samuel!" It was followed by the frantic shouts of the staff. "Ma'am, it's too dangerous! You can't go in! Wait for security to bring the fire extinguishers!" "Get out of my way! Samuel is in there!" She burst through the flames. But then she saw him. She saw Alex, also on the floor. "Tori, save—" He didn't need to finish. She ran to him without a moment's hesitation, scooped him up, and turned to leave without a single glance in my direction. Half an hour later, after she had soothed and settled Alex, Victoria searched the entire villa. She couldn't find me. That night at the airport, I mailed a package, then boarded a flight to London, my lungs aching with each cough. Just before takeoff, I received a text from her: 【I don't have time for your hide-and-seek games. Alex has a check-up at 10 AM tomorrow. You be there too. For a lung scan.】 I didn't reply. I simply removed the SIM card and turned off the phone. Victoria, from this day forward, we will never meet again. ...
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