Chapter 2

Carter took five whole hours after reading my text to finally stroll into my hospital room.

He jammed a cheap, defective processor onto my ear. The violent static and electrical leakage sent painful shocks through my scalp, making me flinch.

I tried to rip it off, but he pinned my wrists down with an iron grip.

"Are you seriously threatening to divorce me? I just wanted to teach you some humility. Do you always have to make such a pathetic scene?"

"Sienna struggles with severe depression, and your aggression pushed her over the edge! Her therapist spent months keeping her from being suicidal. Now, because of your tantrum, she won't even touch the piano—the one thing that kept her mind off dark thoughts."

The faulty device kept shocking my ear, the stinging pain clouding my mind.

"Every time she throws a fit, she threatens suicide, but the moment you run to her side, she suddenly wants to live again."

"Only an idiot like you would fall for her pathetic little act..."

*Slap!*

Carter's hand cracked across my cheek so hard I lost my balance and tumbled onto the floor.

The impact flared up the pain in my abdomen, twisting my face in agony. I could barely breathe.

Carter didn't even flinch. His tone was chillingly indifferent. "Cut the drama. Don't think playing the victim will make me pity you. You brought this entirely on yourself."

I tried to crawl toward the nurse call button, but Carter kicked my hand away.

"Sienna is out of your league. Know your place, and don't you dare cross the line again."

"If she attempts suicide because of your hostility, you'll be the one paying for it."

"Get up and apologize to her. She's locked herself in her room, refusing to eat or drink. If something happens to her health, it's on you."

A bitter, mocking smile touched my lips. In all our years of marriage, he had never bothered to learn proper sign language for me. He had never even said a genuine "I love you."

Once, when I was burning up with a high fever and couldn't keep food down, our housekeeper paced anxiously by my bed. Carter just said dismissively, "Leave her alone. She won't starve to death."

And now, just to demand an apology for his precious first love, he forced a defective, painful device onto my ear.

The metallic taste of blood welled up in my throat. My voice was nothing more than a faint, raspy whisper.

"She destroyed my processor and ruined the most important competition of my life. And now you expect *me* to apologize? Carter, do you even have a heart?"

"You knew how many years of sweat and tears I poured into preparing for this stage. And because of her fake 'accident,' I lost everything."

The blood in my mouth grew thicker, tears blurring my vision.

Seeing the state I was in, his expression flickered with unease. He reached out to pull me up from the floor.

"I'm sorry... Elena."

Five years. In five years of marriage, this was the very first time he had ever apologized to me.

But it was too late. Way too late.

Ever since Sienna returned from abroad four years ago, crying over a 2:00 AM phone call that she was stranded alone at the airport, Carter had abandoned me during my birthday dinner without a second thought.

I sat on the couch all alone that night until dawn.

The dinner grew cold, and the birthday cake melted into a soggy mess.

Carter never returned, nor did he offer a single word of explanation.

After waiting all night, the only update I received was a notification that he had checked into a luxury hotel with Sienna.

I scooped up pieces of that melted cake and forced them into my mouth.

It was the worst thing I had ever tasted—salty with my own tears.

My twenty-fifth birthday ended in utter humiliation.

From that night on, whenever Sienna snapped her fingers, Carter dropped everything in his life to run to her.

I closed my eyes, drained of any desire to speak.

"Sign the papers. It's better for both of us..."

"No divorce! Absolutely not!" My mother burst into the room, out of breath.

She dropped to her knees in front of Carter, bowing and pleading: "Mr. Vance, it's just a little lovers' quarrel! How could you talk about divorce? Elena is just talking nonsense out of anger!"

She hauled me up by my arm, trying to force me onto my knees.

When I refused, she kicked the back of my knees with all her might.

"Mr. Vance, I'll talk some sense into her. She won't leave you. If she dares, I will disown her immediately!"

Carter looked down at my mother with disgust, then cast a condescending glare at me.

"Elena, you can't survive without me."

My chest heaved. Terrified I would say another word, my mother ripped the faulty processor off my ear.

Carter's phone rang. A tender, affectionate look immediately softened his harsh features.

He turned and walked away without looking back at me once.

The second Carter was gone, my mother shoved me to the floor and signed furiously: "If you don't beg Mr. Vance for forgiveness, you can stay deaf for the rest of your miserable life!"

Looking at her icy stare, I felt completely hollow inside.

Years ago, desperate to secure my place with Carter, she had spiked our drinks, leading to an unplanned pregnancy.

Because of that pregnancy, Sienna jumped into the ocean, nearly drowning.

Carter spent an entire month taking Sienna on a world tour just to nurse her back to health.

After that, his resentment toward me only deepened.

My mother's phone lit up with my brother Leo's name.

She picked up and hurried out the door without looking back.

In an instant, the sterile, empty hospital room was silent once more, leaving me entirely alone.