Chapter 4

When I woke again, the back of my hand throbbed in slow pulses. The monitor beeped on, steady, and as I pushed myself upright I saw Robert.

He watched me, perfectly calm. "You just had to sign, didn't you?" He paused. "You never listen."

I thought of how he had destroyed my father's ashes for that woman, and a mouthful of blood rose into my throat.

Robert caught my shoulder, alarmed. "Lie back down."

I looked at him, and the hate sat plain on my face. "Don't put those filthy hands on me. They've touched other women. You're not worth it."

His expression froze, then turned ugly. "You will never learn to admit you're wrong. Let's see how long you can keep this up."

"From now on, stop hurting Tiffany. She saved my life, and she's carrying my child. Is it so unreasonable that I treat her well?" Impatience crept into his eyes.

Every word was a shard of glass driven into my heart.

I held back the tears in my eyes and forced out a smile. "All right."

His gaze went cold to the bone, and he opened his mouth to say more, but a cry came from Tiffany's room next door.

In an instant his eyes softened, and his voice rushed out. "Baby, I'm here."

On his way out he knocked the hand still taking the transfusion, and the needle tore through my skin. I clenched my teeth against the pain. He didn't even notice.

"One more thing. In two days I'm announcing to everyone that I'm going to be a father. You are not allowed at the banquet. I won't have you scheming up some way to hurt her again." Robert dropped the words at the door and was gone.

Fine. In two days the evidence of his crimes would surface. And in two days, I would be gone.

I picked up my phone and scrolled to Tiffany's latest post.

In the video Robert was kissing her belly, his face full of happiness, while her fingers stroked through his hair.

I set the phone down. Laughter and bright voices drifted through the wall, and my mind floated somewhere far off.

On our wedding night he had told me, solemn and earnest, that for my sake he would stay childless without a second thought, that he would even go to the hospital and get a vasectomy.

He had pulled me into his arms, kissing me again and again, telling me he couldn't bear to watch a pregnancy ruin my body.

The happiness ended there. Without warning he changed, became cruel, became selfish.

The next day I pulled out every tube and went to settle my discharge.

The nurse told me the payment had failed. Wrong password. I tried five times, and five times it came back wrong. They started looking at me the way you look at a deadbeat trying to walk out without paying.

The password was our wedding anniversary. There was no way I had it wrong. But reality landed the blow clean and clear.

I still remembered the day we married, going to the bank together to open a joint account. He had held my hand as we set our wedding date as the password.

"I want you to remember our wedding day forever, to love me every year the way you do today." At the VIP counter he had pinched the tip of my nose, all indulgence. "Every time we feel happy, we put money in. This is our happiness fund."

But now the system flagged me as a thief. I patted myself down. There wasn't a single thing of value left on me.

I was fumbling for some way to explain it all when Tiffany came strolling out of the elevator.

She raised a hand in greeting and, as if by accident, let her collar fall open. Around her neck was the purple-diamond crystal necklace Robert had once had made exclusively for me, and below it, kiss marks scattered thick across her skin.

"Brenda, Robert changed the password last night. He probably hasn't had a chance to tell you." She smiled, pleased with herself. "He was a little rough with me last night. To make it up to me... you don't mind, do you?"