Chapter 4

My first instinct was to grab the tablet and take it straight to Sebastian.

This was proof.

Finally, I could prove that Narelle had drugged me. That Hubert and I had been set up. That I'd been telling the truth from the beginning.

But after Sebastian watched the surveillance footage, his expression only grew colder.

"Narelle was right."

I froze.

His eyes lifted to mine.

"To cover up what you did with Hubert, you'd actually go this far to frame her."

Then the video ended.

An AI-generated watermark appeared in the corner of the screen.

Everything inside me collapsed.

Narelle immediately threw herself into Sebastian's arms, sobbing as if she were the one who had been wronged.

Sebastian wrapped an arm around her and stroked her hair.

When he looked at me again, there was nothing but contempt in his eyes.

"Like mother, like daughter."

My breath caught.

Sebastian gave a cold laugh.

"Maybe your mother was exactly like you. Maybe she betrayed your father, realized she was about to be exposed, and killed herself because she couldn't face the consequences."

I stared at him.

For a moment, I couldn't even understand the words coming out of his mouth.

He knew.

Of all people, Sebastian knew what my mother's death had done to me.

He knew that wound had never healed.

And now, for Narelle, he was tearing it open with his own hands.

"First you blamed your mother's death on Narelle and her mother. Now you're trying to frame Narelle for what happened with Hubert."

His expression hardened.

"Did you really think I'd keep falling for your lies?"

My hand flew toward his face.

Sebastian caught my wrist before I could touch him.

The next second, he threw me to the floor.

Pain shot through my body.

He stared down at me like I was something beneath him.

"Without my protection, Joy, do you really think you'd still have the right to bare your claws at me?"

Narelle hurried over and crouched beside me, pretending to help me up.

"Joy, are you all right?"

But the moment Sebastian couldn't see her face, her expression changed.

She leaned close to my ear.

"You're just as stupid as your dead mother."

My entire body went rigid.

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

"Of course I drugged you."

She smiled.

"But did you really think I'd give you the real evidence?"

My fingers trembled.

"Your mother couldn't beat mine."

Her smile widened.

"And you'll never beat me."

Tears streamed down my face.

I couldn't stop them.

Then, somewhere between grief and rage, I started laughing.

My gaze landed on a pair of scissors on the nearby table.

I grabbed them and lunged at Narelle.

Before I could reach her, Sebastian kicked the scissors from my hand.

They skidded across the floor.

He immediately pulled Narelle behind him.

"Have you completely lost your mind?"

The horror in his eyes wasn't for me.

It was because I had almost hurt her.

Narelle had only been scratched, but Sebastian called in the best private doctors available to the Gilbert Family.

Then he took her away.

To the estate he'd once built for me.

My secret sanctuary.

The place he'd promised would belong only to us.

After that, my condition deteriorated quickly.

I took the antidepressants my doctors prescribed, but some days I barely recognized myself.

My hair started falling out.

My memory became unreliable. Sometimes I'd walk into a room and forget why I was there. Sometimes entire pieces of the day seemed to disappear.

If I wanted to survive, I knew I had to stop thinking about Sebastian.

So I locked myself away and returned to the only thing that could still quiet my mind.

Restoring ancient manuscripts.

I'd discovered the work by accident after the wedding. At first, it had only been a distraction, something delicate and demanding enough to keep my thoughts from wandering back to Sebastian.

I never imagined it would eventually become my lifeline.

Or that one day, it would give me the means to finally leave him.

I stopped searching for news about Sebastian and Narelle.

I stopped looking at photographs.

I stopped asking where he was.

But Sebastian Gilbert was the future head of one of New York's Five Families. There was no truly escaping news about him.

One day, word spread that he'd bought Narelle a private island.

Another day, photographs circulated of them attending some high-profile charity event together, Narelle's arm linked through his as though she had already become Mrs. Gilbert.

She stood beside him at Family gatherings.

She accompanied him to public events.

She occupied every place that should have belonged to me.

And slowly, Joy Harding disappeared.

People stopped mentioning Sebastian's actual wife.

It was as though I'd never existed.

Eventually, even that stopped hurting as much.

Maybe I'd simply become numb.

Six months passed that way.

Then, one night, Sebastian came home.

He was drunk.

Not merely tipsy. Completely wasted.

The moment he saw me, he crossed the room and kissed me.

I shoved at him.

I fought him.

I told him to stop.

But Sebastian was too drunk and too far gone to listen.

That night, he forced himself on me.

The next morning, I woke with a gasp as ice water hit my face.

I opened my eyes.

Sebastian stood beside the bed, staring at me with naked disgust.

"You're revolting."

I said nothing.

His jaw tightened.

"Crawling into my bed while I was drunk."

His eyes swept over me coldly.

"Is that how you used to seduce other men too?"

I looked at him for a long time.

Once, I would have screamed.

I would have cried and begged him to remember what had actually happened.

This time, I didn't say a word.

Sebastian called in a professional cleaning crew and ordered them to sanitize the entire master bedroom.

Halfway through, apparently deciding that wasn't enough, he had his men strip the room completely.

The mattress was thrown out.

The furniture was removed.

The entire room was ordered to be rebuilt.

I stood in the hallway and watched in silence.

I didn't explain.

I didn't defend myself.

There was no point anymore.

No matter what happened, Sebastian would only believe the version of me he'd already decided was true.