I swallowed antidepressants by the handful. My hair began falling out in clumps. My memory fractured, pieces slipping away like water through cracks.
To survive, I forced myself to stop thinking about Sebastian. I locked myself in my room and buried myself in restoring ancient manuscripts, one crumbling page at a time.
I'd discovered this work by accident after the wedding—a way to escape the pain. Back then, I never imagined it would become my lifeline, the very thing that would help me finally leave Sebastian.
I stopped following news about Sebastian and Narelle.
But as Capital City's power couple, their stories found me anyway.
Today, Sebastian bought Narelle a private island. Tomorrow, they'd appear at some ribbon-cutting ceremony, her arm threaded through his.
Narelle had seamlessly stepped into the role of Mrs. Gilbert. Meanwhile, I had been erased from existence—forgotten, as if I'd never been real at all.
At least I'd grown numb enough that the days somehow kept passing.
Six months slipped by. Then one night, Sebastian came home.
He was drunk—completely wrecked. The moment he walked through the door, his mouth crashed into mine.
I kicked. I clawed. I fought. But he was a man unhinged, deaf to everything, and he took what he wanted.
The next morning, I woke to a bucket of ice water.
Sebastian stood at the bedside, revulsion pouring off him.
"You're disgusting."
"Crawling into my bed while I was drunk—is that how you used to seduce men?"
He called in a professional cleaning crew to sanitize the entire master bedroom. Halfway through, he decided it wasn't enough and had the whole room gutted and rebuilt.
I watched in silence. I didn't bother explaining anymore.
Sebastian would never believe me anyway.
It wasn't until my follow-up appointment that I discovered, completely by accident, that I was pregnant.
When the faint, steady rhythm of my baby's heartbeat filled the ultrasound room, tears I thought had long since dried up spilled down my cheeks again, beyond my control.
I had no one left in this world. Not a single family member. Not a single person who loved me.
But this child—this child made me greedy.
I wanted to keep it.
I didn't dare let Sebastian find out. I was terrified he'd force me to terminate the pregnancy.
Before I could figure out what to do, disaster struck.
During my second prenatal checkup, a fire broke out in the hospital.