Chapter 5

###Chapter 5

The small handful of ashes was scattered by the wind blowing through the window, and with them, it felt as though the last connection between my child and me had been scattered too.

"She deserved it!" I screamed through my grief and fury.

"Shut up!" Nicolas' eyes were bloodshot. The way he looked at me was no longer the way a fiancé looked at his future wife—it was the way a man looked at his sworn enemy.

My heart finally went completely cold.

When we had first fallen in love, even a tiny red mark from a hot coffee cup on my skin was enough to make his eyes well up with concern. Now, knowing full well that I was terrified of ghosts, he had chosen the very thing I feared most to punish me.

He stepped toward me, his voice growing louder with every word. "You've been targeting Hazel at every turn for years. And now you actually dared to hurt her? How did I never realize before that you were this vicious?"

"Hazel is kind and brave. If she hadn't saved me during that earthquake, I would have died."

An earthquake?

Two years ago, when he had been buried beneath a collapsed wall and was barely clinging to life, I had torn my fingernails and bloodied both hands digging him out of the rubble.

It was me who carried him through the ruins, struggling through the wreckage until I got him to the hospital.

He survived, but the first child I was carrying at the time did not.

I had asked the doctor to keep the truth from him because I didn't want him to blame himself. But how could the person who saved him have suddenly become Hazel?

And his growing protectiveness toward Hazel had started right after the earthquake.

I opened my mouth and tried to explain, "Nicolas, maybe you should investigate—"

"Nico, please don't be angry." Hazel grabbed his arm at just the right moment, looking pitiful. "It's my fault. I upset Sister-in-law, so she hit me."

Her words immediately captured all of his attention. I clearly saw a flash of triumph in her eyes.

At that moment, I finally understood. She had orchestrated everything.

Nicolas wrapped an arm around Hazel's waist. "Why are you still defending this vicious woman after she bullied you?!"

"All right," Hazel said, her gaze concealing a trace of smugness. "I suppose you made this decision for Denise's own good, after all."

Nicolas dragged me into the car. We drove all the way to the haunted house at an amusement park, where his bodyguards shoved me inside.

I fell hard onto the floor as he stood over me, looking down coldly.

"Denise, I'll let you out when you're willing to admit your mistake."

The haunted house was filled with eerie drafts, and I trembled from head to toe. But even after biting through my lip, I refused to beg him again.

"I will never apologize to that vicious woman," I spat coldly.

"Then stay here forever!" he thundered, and the door slammed shut.

The sound of the man soothing Hazel gradually faded outside.

I was surrounded by complete darkness. Screaming, I curled up in a corner and pulled out my phone, sobbing as I called my brother.

"Brother, I'm scared. Nicolas locked me in a haunted house. Please come save me!"

"What? That bastard! I'll change my flight. I'll be there first thing tomorrow morning!"

After hanging up, a trending headline suddenly popped up on my phone.

#Mysterious Tycoon Spends 100 Million to Buy Ocean's Mystery Necklace Just to Make His Lover Smile!

I saw Hazel's latest Instagram post.

Beside an infinity pool, a man shown only from behind personally fastened an incredibly beautiful, outrageously expensive necklace around her neck.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine roses covered the pool and the ground. He leaned down and kissed her, while she smiled sweetly.

The caption contained only one sentence:[Whatever Hazel wants, Hazel gets~]

During our ten years together, Nicolas had always hated me posting anything about him on public platforms.

Whenever I mentioned wanting to post a photo of us together, he would sigh.

"Never heard the saying, 'Couples who flaunt their love won't last'? What you mean to me is something I only want to keep for myself. Other people don't deserve to see it."

It turned out it wasn't that other people didn't deserve to see it. It was that I didn't deserve to.

At some point, my phone died.

The darkness around me became absolute. The silence was terrifying, as though some ghost or monster could emerge from behind me at any moment.

"Someone... please save me..."

I clawed at the door until my fingers were scraped raw and covered in blood. Just when I was so terrified I could barely breathe, the door was suddenly smashed open.

In the first rays of dawn, a tall figure rushed inside.

"Denise, your brother is here!"