Chapter 2

My movements stiffened, tears finally spilling over my lashes.

"Tell him to do whatever he wants."

I didn't go to Chloe’s room. Instead, I went straight to the cemetery. Right next to my brother's grave, I purchased a tiny plot for my unborn baby.

I knelt there for a long time, until footsteps crunched on the gravel behind me.

Ethan was there, his arm wrapped tightly around Chloe. He sneered, "So when you said 'whatever,' you meant coming here to protect him? Clara, what am I to you? A joke?"

He shoved Chloe aside and violently yanked me up by my collar.

"Since you want to protect him so badly, let’s see if you actually can."

In the violent struggle, my wig slipped off, exposing my bald, scarred head.

Chloe screamed, covering her eyes. Ethan grabbed the back of my neck and slammed my forehead against the cold tombstone.

"Look at your hideous self! Do you think he would still love you if he saw you like this?"

Staring at the cracked tombstone, I bit my lip until it bled.

I loved him, yes, but the man buried here was my biological brother, Leo.

On our wedding day, I hadn't run away. I had only rushed to the hospital to see my dying brother one last time.

I had tried to explain it to Ethan a thousand times. But in return, he locked me in those playrooms, forcing me to watch him sleep with other women.

Ethan ignored my tears. He gently patted Chloe’s back, coaxing her with a soft voice.

"Chloe is the bravest girl. Don't be scared. See how ugly she is? Doesn't that make you feel better?"

The harsh mockery pierced my chest like a physical blade.

Tears silently traced down my cheeks. I reached up, touching the jagged, centipede-like scar on the back of my skull.

To protect him years ago, my skull had fractured, requiring eighteen stitches. I hadn't uttered a single cry of pain back then.

The beautiful hair I once took pride in was gone, and I hadn't resisted.

Yet, all my sacrifices had turned into the very weapons he used to destroy me.

Noticing my movement, Ethan’s fist clenched tightly at his side.

But Chloe stepped forward first, wrapping her arms around me, her eyes pooling with crocodile tears.

"Clara, it’s all my fault. I shouldn't have laughed at you. I’m so sorry."

But as she leaned in close, she whispered in my ear, her voice dripping with venom:

"I crashed into you on purpose that day. Your stupid baby deserved to die."

My brain short-circuited. Rage consumed me, and I lunged at her.

Chloe instantly shrieked, clutching her ear and sobbing to Ethan that I was trying to bite her ear off, even though I hadn't even touched her.

Ethan flew into a rage, stepping forward and delivering a brutal slap to my face.

My ears rang violently, and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

Suddenly, a bright flame illuminated the dark cemetery. Ethan was holding the only photo I had left of my brother.

"Consider this my greeting to him!"

He signaled his men. Within minutes, they detonated a small explosive charge, blowing my brother’s grave to absolute pieces.

The urn shattered. The ashes vanished into the wind.

I screamed, a primal, guttural sound of pure agony. My soul felt as though it had burned to ashes in that very moment.

I threw myself toward the debris like a maniac, but Ethan grabbed me back, pinning me to the dirt.

"Are you insane?!"

I collapsed onto the ground, every ounce of strength drained from my body.

That was Leo. The brother who had raised me, my only remaining blood relative. Why did they have to do this to him?

Yes, I was insane.

A lifetime of my devotion couldn't compete with a single lie from Chloe.

The truth was right in front of him, yet he refused to investigate even a little bit.

Did I really deserve to die so badly?

My throat burned. I let out a dry, hollow laugh, and then blackness welcomed me.

When I woke up, Ethan was pinning my arms down.

A thick needle plunged into my vein. I was so numb that I couldn't even feel the physical pain anymore.

Then, he ordered the surgeon to slice a small patch of healthy skin from my arm to graft onto Chloe's minor scratch.

I stared at him, my eyes completely devoid of light.

This was nothing compared to what he had done before.

He had once forced me to buy toys for them. He had blamed me when Chloe got hurt by a prop, letting her prick me with needles as revenge.

And when I was pregnant and burning with a fever, I had begged him to take me to the hospital.

But he thought I was faking it out of jealousy. He forced me to clean up after Chloe while my body shook with chills.

I could never understand how two people who once loved each other so deeply could end up like this.

Even my dead brother had to be desecrated and slandered.

With trembling fingers, I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I hadn't called in years.

"Hello. I'd like to arrange a desert ash-scattering ceremony."