That wedding was the final nail in the coffin of my marriage to Marcus.
After that, every time Melody tried to run away, Marcus assumed I was behind it
Each escape attempt resulted in Marcus torturing me–locking me in the basement, abandoning me in a snowy field overnight, or dumping
me in the middle of nowhere..
When I begged for a divorce, Marcus just sneered: “Divorce? I gave you the chance before and you didn’t take it. It’s too late now!”
That disastrous wedding was the start of all the tragedies. I can’t make the same mistake again.
I went back to Lily’s bedroom. Seeing her sleeping peacefully finally calmed my racing heart.
In the darkness, a tear slid down my cheek.
It wasn’t always like this. Marcus used to have a gentle side towards me and Lily.
In the first few years of our marriage, he treated me well. His love was clumsy but passionate. He would bring me flowers every day when he came home from work.
He would hold me and say, “Honey, I don’t know how to love, but I’ll try my best to be good to you.”
Back then, he was like a lost puppy – pitiful and helpless.
I know that Marcus’s grandfather, in order to groom the family heir, had subjected Marcus to emotional desensitization training from a young
Like killing the dog Marcus had raised and forcing him to eat it.
Or sending away the butler who had been so kind to him.
Most horrifically, even driving Marcus’s own mother to self–immolation…
Marcus was expected to be devoid of love or personal attachments, a puppet with no emotions of his own.
But how could a person truly achieve that?
I tucked the blanket around Lily. As my fingers brushed her soft check, I suddenly remembered when she was first born.
Marcus had been so tense as he carefully cradled her in his arms. He held her like she was made of the most delicate crystal.
After a long moment, he finally managed to say: “Such a tiny human.”
In the warm glow of the hospital lights, his eyes held a tenderness he didn’t even realize was there.
I thought we were finally on the right track.
But then he went back to the family estate once,
once, and everything changed.
He reverted to his old cold self. No, he became even more callous and unfeeling.
He treated me and Lily like we didn’t exist.
<
I wondered
d if something had happened at the estate, if he was being pressured somehow.
But when I voiced my concerns, he just looked at me like I was an idiot.
lly think Grandfather is threatening me, do you? Have you been watching too many soup operas?”
“You don’t actually
*Olivia, I just realized that developing feelings for you was disgusting.”
Disgusting! That’s how he described our relationship.
Up to that point, we might have still maintained a facade of normalcy
But then Melody appeared and things spiraled beyond the point of no return.
He fell madly in love with her, defying family pressure for her sake, nearly giving his grandfather a heart attack.
When i confronted him, he offered no explanation.
He didn’t love me. He didn’t even respect me.
My phone buzzed insistently in my palm. It was that unknown number again:
[Coward.]
I whispered under my breath, “if being a coward means my daughter and I survive, then so be it
Marcus loves Melody Let him love her then. I won’t interfere this time.
After leaving Lily’s room, I called my lawyer.
“Hello, I need help handling the division of marital assets…
This time, I’ll agree to the divorce. I’ll take Lily and leave this place far behind.
But it seems fate enjoys playing cruel jokes on me.
An hour later, Marcus came home after being away for ages.
He kicked the door open with a thunderous bang.
Before I could even ask what was wrong, he knocked me to the ground with a vicious kick
I fell backwards into the fish tank. The glass shattered everywhere.
Shards of glass embedded in my back, blood immediately pooling beneath me.
Marcus stared at the blood, a dark glint in his eyes. Rage burned in his gaze as he ground his shoe into my hand.
“Olivia, where have you hidden Melody?” he snarled, yanking my head up by the hair.
Melody had run away again?
The pain was blinding. I hastily tried to explain: “I don’t know, I didn’t do anything. She must have left
You dare lie to me?”
Marcus slammed me against the wall. I heard my
my bones crack.
He advanced on me step by step: “She’s such a good girl! She promised she’d wait for me. You must have done something to scare her into running away!”
“I told you, it wasn’t me! My voice shook from the pain.
Why wouldn’t this monster just leave me alone? I hadn’t done anything this time around.
Even in my past life, all I did was help Melody leave at her own request. How did that result in such a gruesome end for me and my daughter?
Marcus sat on the couch, his expression unreadable as he stared at me.
After a long silence, he suddenly spoke: “Don’t you care what happens to Lily?”
My whole body went rigid with fear.
The horrific image of my daughter’s death was
as still vivid in my
This inhuman beast was threatening our child again.
