Chapter 4

Once the kidney was successfully transplanted, I was no longer useful.

Nicole had me moved from the private suite to a noisy, crowded standard ward. Then, she vanished. Her days and nights were spent with Matthew, celebrating his miraculous recovery.

She only visited once. She stood at the foot of my bed, her arms crossed, her expression one of pure disgust.

"Stop this pathetic act," she sneered. "Faking these injuries just to make me feel guilty. It' s not working."

I stared at her, the ventilator hissing with each breath I took.

"If you ever, ever threaten Matthew again," she continued, her voice dropping to a venomous whisper, "I will divorce you and leave you with every single one of these medical bills. You' ll die in debt in this hellhole."

Through the haze of pain and medication, a single, clear thought emerged. Divorce. It wasn' t a threat. It was a promise.

I managed to nod.

She misunderstood my gesture, a cruel smile touching her lips. "Good. You have three days to write Matthew a formal apology. Then maybe I' ll consider keeping you on my insurance."

She left. I never saw her in that hospital again.

But Matthew couldn' t resist a final twist of the knife. The next day, my secret phone buzzed again. Another video.

This time, it was grainy security footage. The backstage area of the theater, moments before the fire. I saw Nicole. She was talking to the pyrotechnics operator, slipping him a thick envelope of cash. Then, she lingered, and after he left, she tampered with the control board herself.

The camera' s microphone picked up her voice, a chilling whisper.

"I' m sorry, Ethan. But it' s the only way. Only when you' re disfigured, when you can' t tempt other women with that face, will Matthew be truly mine."

The final piece clicked into place. The fire. The burns. It was all her. It was always her.

My father' s team, a private medical transport unit, arrived that night under the cover of darkness. They moved with quiet, military precision.

As they airlifted me from the roof of the New York hospital, leaving the city and my nightmare behind, I used the last of my strength to type a text to Nicole.

"Let' s get a divorce. It' s all over."

Then I let the phone drop from my hand, watching it fall into the blackness below.