"So what if she's some rich man's daughter? Does that give her the right to bully someone with no one to turn to? I'm letting her taste what it feels like to suffer—so she never thinks she can push people around again."

David sighed.

"Aren't you worried she'll find out and tear the whole marriage apart?"

Damian's gaze sharpened instantly. "David. You didn't go soft and tell her, did you?"

David shook his head and stared down at his tea, saying nothing.

Damian's voice turned glacial.

"Don't ruin this for me. I spent six months planning every detail."

"I promised Edna I'd never touch that woman again. Promised her children would be my only heirs. I won't let Edna down."

Every word dripped with warning—as if the only catastrophe he could imagine was his precious Edna being disappointed.

My mind dragged me back to those humiliating nights. How I'd pressed myself against him, mimicking techniques I'd found in videos, desperate to arouse him.

How he'd turned red-faced and rigid, clenching every muscle to suppress his body's response.

I'd thought he was flushed with shame and frustration. He was gritting his teeth to stay faithful to his mistress.

I stood outside that door, listening, and every word drove through my chest like a shard of ice.

It wasn't just betrayal. It was cruelty—deliberate, calculated, and vicious.

Four years of high-society whispers. Four years of swallowed pride. I'd endured all of it with my jaw locked shut.

My knees still bore the scars from kneeling at temple steps, praying for his recovery. On rainy days, they ached.

I remembered draping a blessed sachet around his neck with trembling, reverent hands.

And what had he been doing?

Rolling between the sheets with his sponsored girl, lost in ecstasy—laughing at how stupid I was. How pitiful.

Then he let his friends size me up with those pitying, mocking stares.

I wiped my tears, turned, and walked out. The first thing I did was cancel the appointment I'd made for Damian with the American specialist.

The receptionist on the other end sounded bewildered.

"Ms. Calloway, you pulled every string imaginable to get Professor Kemistry on board. Why the sudden cancellation?"

I let out a bitter laugh.

"Because my husband made a full recovery. Even fathered a big, healthy baby boy."

That evening, when Damian came home, I nearly lost control. I wanted to lunge at him, tear him apart.