After 99 Forgiveness, I Faked My Death and Vanished

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### Chapter 1

I forgave my cheating husband ninety-nine times.

Until the hundredth betrayal arrived on a video, at the party for our fifth wedding anniversary: Randolph Farley in a bar, knotting a cherry stem with a stripper, a B-list starlet, their mouths locked together for a solid half hour.

Every guest in the room turned to watch the show, waiting for me to fall apart the way I always had, to break down sobbing and beg Randolph to come back to me.

I just cut the cake myself, calm and quiet.

After the party emptied out, six months pregnant, I went to see Kieran Farley and set a fake marriage certificate gently on the table in front of him. "Grandpa Farley, the ten-year agreement is finished. It's time for me to go."

He froze. "Mel, but you're carrying his child. Won't you reconsider?"

He couldn't believe it. The woman in front of him, who had loved his grandson so deeply she'd once have taken a knife for him, was actually leaving.

I looked down, stroking the swell of my belly, and gave a bitter smile. "I'll keep your great-grandchild, but the baby will have nothing to do with Randolph Farley."

From eighteen to twenty-eight, Randolph had taken up almost my whole life.

In our circles we were famous as conjoined twins, and every step of his climb to the top of the Farley Group carried my shadow. He even named a new company after me.

I'd believed those happy days would last until our hair turned white. Then I got pregnant, and everything changed.

Hostesses, lingerie models, little starlets. The women he slept with became trophies he and his buddies bragged about, while my screaming, my crying, my begging, time after time, became the joke.

Until the ninety-ninth time. The pain in my stomach was unbearable and I called Randolph; the call connected by accident. His hoarse breathing came through, followed by a snicker.

"You're still the best. Once she got pregnant she ballooned up like a pig. Just thinking about her makes me sick."

In that moment, the tears simply dried up. My heart felt like it had stopped swinging, and I couldn't even feel the pain anymore.

Since spilled water can't be gathered back, since the love was dead, I chose to keep the baby and set him free.

So why, after I left, did he kneel in front of the whole world and beg me to come back?

That afternoon, Randolph had still been kneeling on the bedroom carpet, kissing my belly, making promises to our child.

"Baby, Daddy's going to give you everything, the best of everything, all the love for you and your mommy."

His devout expression fooled me into thinking he had really changed.

But that man's betrayal was like the weather. One second later, it turned.

At the party, I stood alone in the middle of the crowded hall, clinking glasses all around me, facing the malice whispered from every direction.

"Has Melanie Hughes gone stupid from rage? Standing there, not moving a muscle. Every time she catches her husband cheating, doesn't she always carry on like a fishwife, crying and screaming?"

"Right, that last little starlet nearly made her miscarry in the middle of the street. She had to kneel and beg her husband before he'd come home."

"This time Mr. Farley didn't even show up for his own anniversary. Proves he stopped caring about her long ago. That's why she's faking calm, just trying to save a little face."

I didn't argue back.

I wasn't faking calm. I was just tired.

Ninety-nine forgivenesses had used up all my love and cried out all my tears. The exhaustion seeped from my bones, until even breathing felt heavy.

Outside the window, fireworks burst open, the sky ablaze with color, gone in an instant. So much like our ten years.

After the party ended, I set that fake marriage certificate down in front of Kieran Farley.

The old man was trembling all over, and on that always cold, stern face surfaced a grief I had never seen before.

He grabbed my hand, grinding the words out through his teeth. "Mel, it's that little brat who wronged you. It's our Farley family that owes you!"

I cradled my belly, my voice very soft.

"Grandpa Farley, I'm so grateful to you. When my parents died in that accident, you took me in, put me through college, gave me a way to keep living. So I agreed to stand at his side and support him for ten years."

"Randolph never knew our marriage was only a contract. But I really did fall in love with him. I thought I could spend this whole life with him as his wife."

I paused. Something seemed to clog my throat, and I forced the words out.

"But after I got pregnant, he started finding women outside. Once, twice... I gave him ninety-nine chances."

"Now, I'm letting go."

The old man's tears streamed down. "If you've made up your mind, then I'll support you."

He called in his lawyer and signed a thick stack of documents through the night.

"These deeds, these shares, are the compensation you've earned after all these hard years."

"This is a family trust fund for my great-grandchild, so he'll never want for anything his whole life."

He pushed the heavy stack of papers toward me, his hoarse voice full of aching tenderness. "Don't you worry. Your grandfather will never let you or the child suffer a single wrong."

My nose stung and my eyes went red.

Randolph and I had truly loved each other once, too.

As the heir to the Farley empire the old man valued most, he had given up every bad habit of a rich young playboy for me.

He turned down his buddies' invitations to go out and party, and studied through the business school courses at my side. After graduation we joined the Farleys together, often working shoulder to shoulder until dawn.

The day he took the seat as CEO of the Farleys, the first thing he did was marry me, and he gave me the biggest surprise of all: a new company named after me.

He said he hoped our love would be like the Farleys, long-lasting, brilliant, complete.

It wasn't even five years before that perfect love shattered.

Randolph didn't come home until the small hours.

In the dark, the mattress dipped, and a pair of hands wrapped around me from behind, settling over my belly, stroking it gently.

He kissed my hair, his tone carrying a satisfied little laugh. "I'm glad you didn't make a scene tonight. You finally look like the lady of the Farley house, Mel. I hope you keep it up."

The smell of liquor on him mixed with the cloying sweetness of cheap perfume, and my stomach churned.

I kept my eyes shut tight and didn't answer.

Randolph, the reason I'm not making a scene isn't that I've grown sensible. It's that I no longer care.

Randolph got up to shower, and the phone screen on the pillow lit up.

It was Lily White, the stripper.

At the top of the screen was a photo she'd sent earlier, in black lingerie, posed to entice.

Below it was their conversation.

"I just realized one of the condoms broke. What if I got pregnant?"

"It's not that easy," Randolph replied.

After a while, he added more.

"But if you really are, it's not like you can't have it. She didn't cry tonight, so maybe she could even accept my illegitimate kid."

### Chapter 2

I stared at those few lines until the screen went dark and the room sank back into black.

I'd expected my heart to twist like it was being cut open. There was nothing. Just numbness.

I gripped the signed papers under my pillow. The cold sheets pressed into my palm, the only thing in the room that felt real.

The next morning I opened my eyes to a soft laugh. Randolph was rolling my earlobe between his fingers, his gaze full of mockery.

"You didn't call me once last night. You saw me with another woman and you weren't jealous at all?"

He liked watching me fall apart, liked the crying, the scenes. Holding me in his palm like a lamb to play with always put him in a good mood.

Once I understood that my helpless tears and my groveling pleas were nothing but the seasoning that livened things up for him and those women, I knew I would never do it again.

I pushed his hand away, got out of bed, and walked toward the bathroom without looking back.

"Don't you hate hysterical women?" My voice came out calm, cold enough to chill. "Fighting over other women would be beneath the dignity of Mrs. Farley."

His eyes followed my back, and a small crease formed between his brows.

He came after me quickly, wrapped his arms around me from behind, and tilted my chin up with one long finger. In the mirror, he studied me the way a man studies cornered prey, smiling without a care.

"Relax. The place of Mrs. Farley will always be yours. Those women and I, we're just passing the time."

The words were gentle. Every one of them was a needle, leaving my heart bleeding from a hundred places.

A memory surfaced from years ago.

With my help he had become the heir the old man valued most, and the rest of the family resented him for it. That night we came out of a bar and a man who looked like a vagrant suddenly rushed at him. I saw the cold glint in his hand.

My body moved faster than my mind. I threw myself in front of him.

The blade went into me.

I lost so much blood that I was unconscious for ten days, and he stayed by the bed the whole time, never sleeping. The moment I woke, he slid an engagement ring onto my finger.

I still remember his red-rimmed eyes, the way he went down on one knee in front of me, as devout as my most faithful believer.

"Mel, I love you. I'll protect you for the rest of my life. If I ever betray you, let heaven strike me down and let me die a terrible death."

The hands that once held mine so tightly were used now to touch other women.

Those scalding vows had long since been forgotten in his betrayals.

When I didn't react, Randolph ruffled my hair. "I missed last night's party. Today I'll stay home with you and the baby. Happy now?"

The tone you'd use to throw a scrap to a stray animal.

I almost laughed. Before I could say anything, the phone at his waist rang.

He answered it, and in pieces I caught words like "local muscle" and "grabbed Miss White."

He glanced at me on reflex, a flicker of probing in his eyes.

I met his eyes in the mirror, cold and blank.

He immediately barked into the phone, "Useless, all of you! Didn't I say I'm spending today with my wife? Stop fucking bothering me!"

After he hung up, Randolph told me to take my shower first, said he'd cook lunch for me himself.

I let myself think maybe there was still a shred of love left in him. But when I came out of the shower, the room was empty.

A sticky note was pressed to the vanity mirror.

"Something came up at the company. I'm heading over. The chef will make your lunch."

After he left, a video arrived from an unknown number.

It ran a full hour. The hotel VIP suite. Randolph was on top of Lily White, wild beyond anything I had ever seen from him. I had never watched him lose control like that.

In five years of marriage, Randolph had always held himself back in bed, terrified of hurting me, of wearing me out.

So it turned out he wasn't born restrained. The person who could light that fire in him had just never been me.

In the video, Lily White moaned loudly beneath him, her nails dragging red welts down his solid back. She wept pitifully. "If it weren't for you, that old man would have sold me onto the dark web... I love you so much, Randolph, so much!"

The way Randolph looked at her was focused, scorching, edged with an almost mad possessiveness.

I had never once seen that look turned on any of his other mistresses.

I watched the video like I was punishing myself, until my assistant called to remind me it was time to go to the hospital for my prenatal checkup.

No matter how busy Randolph and those women had ever been, on this one day he had always pulled himself away to come with me.

This time, he had forgotten completely.

I had barely walked into the hospital when someone stopped me.

"Sorry. Mr. Farley has booked out the entire place."

### Chapter 3

From a distance, Randolph came rushing in with a woman in his arms, and a guard quickly shoved me out of the way.

Randolph didn't notice me at all. Every part of him was focused on Lily. She leaned against his shoulder, face pale. "Am I too heavy? Put me down."

"You weigh nothing at all, baby."

That face of his, always so careless with women, was now full of the kind of caution you'd give something precious. My chest felt crushed under a boulder. I couldn't breathe.

Nearby, the nurses traded whispers.

"Mr. Farley really dotes on his wife, doesn't he? He booked out the whole hospital just for her."

"I heard there was an accident some tearing. He had her flown in by helicopter. Who wouldn't want a husband like that, so intense and so devoted."

I stood in the corner, listening. Then I turned and ran out to the flowerbed, bent over it, and threw up.

What a good man. If only he weren't my husband.

I retched until there was almost nothing left but bile before I stopped.

I wiped away the tears and the mess at the corner of my mouth, then went to a different hospital and finished the checkup alone.

After that I went straight to Farley. I began taking stock of the businesses that were mine, sorting through every division, pulling together all the resources in my hands.

I had poured everything into Farley. Its glory was built out of my blood and effort. These things were mine by right, and I would take all of them with me.

All of it, for my child.

I had to plan everything for her myself, so that even without a father she would live better than any other child, never having to depend on anyone, never having to live under someone else's roof and read someone else's face.

Then I handed off the matters I couldn't settle in time to Grandpa Farley.

"Mel, give me half a month. I'll take care of everything for you."

I nodded.

Just half a month more, and I'd be free.

Today was the tenth anniversary of my parents' deaths. Once all of it was done, I bought a bouquet of irises, my mother's favorite, and hurried to the cemetery.

I'd barely set foot inside.

Crack! The sound of something shattering carried from far off.

A bad feeling rose up in me all at once, and I went straight to the grave.

Lily was sitting in front of my parents' headstone, blood running from her fingers.

My eyes went cold. "Why are you here?"

"Lily heard today was your parents' memorial. She begged me to bring her so she could pay her respects." Randolph crouched in front of her, not lifting his head, carefully dabbing medicine on her cut.

In the past, no matter how far he took his games, he'd never once brought anyone before my parents.

He used to say this place belonged to our family alone, that no one else would ever have the right to set foot here. For her, he'd broken his own rule.

Rage burned in my chest, and I screamed at Lily, "Get out. You're not welcome here!"

Then my eyes caught the ceramic shattered into shards beside her, and a cold dread swept through my whole body.

"You broke this? My parents made this jar with me while they were alive. The only one!"

Lily flinched. "I touched it by accident, I'm so sorry. Whatever it costs, let me pay you back, all right?"

By accident?

I'd left it at home. She'd deliberately brought it here to smash it.

I couldn't hold myself back anymore, and I swung my hand hard across Lily's face.

"How are you going to pay me back? Can you bring my parents back to life?!"

"Ah!" Lily clutched her cheek and toppled into Randolph's arms.

Randolph shoved me away with one hand and wrapped his arm around the sobbing Lily, as if she were the one who'd been wronged.

"It's just a dead object. Is it really worth more than a living person? When did you turn so vicious?"

I lost my balance and pitched into the shards, the burning sting tearing across my palm. But my heart hurt a thousand times more.

When my parents were alive, they treated him like their own flesh and blood.

Back then he was only an illegitimate son. His brothers and sisters froze him out behind their grandfather's back, and he often didn't even have enough to eat.

My mother scrimped and saved, and with the money she set aside she made the braised short ribs he loved.

My father took on two extra jobs and worked himself sick, just to buy him a more presentable suit.

And now, for a woman who'd destroyed my parents' keepsake, he was calling me vicious.

A rough laugh forced its way out of my throat, uglier than any crying. I stared straight into his eyes.

"You bring a piece of trash to my parents' grave, you let her destroy something precious they left behind, and you're not vicious?!"

Randolph's face went dark in an instant, a black anger spreading out from him.

He reached out and seized my arm.

"Melanie, I thought you'd finally learned to forgive. I didn't expect you to be as incurable as ever."

"Lily meant nothing but well, and there's nothing wrong with me bringing her to lay flowers for your parents. Your narrow little heart makes me sick."

### Chapter 4

He hauled me into the car and dragged me home, then threw me into the bathroom.

He picked up the showerhead, twisted it to cold, and turned the water on me.

The water was freezing, and I kept flinching and twisting away from it.

"Randolph, are you out of your mind? I'm carrying your child!"

His eyes were red with the fury of a man who couldn't stand being defied. He roared.

"If anything happens to that child, it's the sin of you, its mother!"

I curled around my belly, sprawled on the floor, and remembered the day we first learned I was pregnant, when this man cried like a child.

He'd knelt in front of me, kissing my stomach again and again. "My baby, Daddy will give you everything, the very best. I swear it."

Half a year. That was all it took for him to stop caring about me, and about the child too.

Only when I was soaked through did Randolph throw the showerhead aside.

"Fix that princess temper of yours. The Farleys don't need an arrogant, overbearing lady of the house."

I looked into his cold, merciless eyes, and dimly remembered years ago, when I'd pouted and sulked because a pair of shoes I loved had broken.

He'd dropped to one knee, let me rest my foot on his trousers that cost a fortune, and gently rubbed it for me.

I'd asked him, half-joking, "Everyone says I have a bad temper. Will you get tired of me one day?"

"Other people can't handle it. I can. That way, you're mine for life."

Randolph, your life turned out so short.

I kept my head down, and on my dripping face the expression went colder.

"Fine. I'll let you have your way. Let's divorce."

Randolph took two steps, then stopped.

"What did you say?"

My voice had been too small. He hadn't caught it.

Before I could speak again, his phone rang. Lily's coy, weepy voice came through.

"Randolph, I twisted my ankle, it hurts so much."

His gaze flickered, hesitating, and then he walked out of the bathroom anyway. "Calm yourself down."

I watched him go without a backward glance, pulled at the corner of my mouth, and struggled up off the floor.

I held my parents' portrait, my fingers tracing the cold frame, shaking so hard I couldn't stop. "I'm sorry, Mom, Dad. Today's the anniversary of your deaths, and I couldn't even keep your things safe."

After a long while I wiped my eyes dry and gently tucked the frame into my suitcase.

Then I walked to the nursery next door and said quietly to the child inside me, "You must be disappointed too, having a father like this. Mommy's taking you away."

But the moment I pushed the door open, my head went hollow with a roar.

The ultrasound photo by the crib had been torn to shreds and scattered across the floor. In its place, the walls were covered with Lily's racy pinups.

The hand-painted forest and little animals had been painted over, the room turned a glaring fluorescent pink.

The 180 letters I'd written to my baby, the ones I'd kept in the cabinet, had been dumped into a metal pail and burned to ash.

I could barely stay on my feet. My voice came out shrill and broken.

"Who did this?!"

The housekeeper hurried over, stammering. "It, it was on Mr. Farley's orders."

He wiped at his sweat.

"Miss White wasn't feeling well, and Mr. Farley had us put the ashes in a sachet for her to wear, to ward off bad luck."

I couldn't hear anything but that shrill ringing in my ears.

My phone lit up.

A photo popped up.

Lily sat in Randolph's office chair, beaming. The sachet dangled from her finger, and she had something in her mouth.

I looked closer, and the blood in my body froze.

It was the pacifier I'd had custom-made for my baby.

"I figured I should reward him with something to 'bite' on too. What do you think makes a good reward?"

Staring at her message, the pain drove into me like a knife, into every organ, and the last thread of my reason snapped.

I rushed into the Farley Tower and went straight for the top floor. Randolph's secretary scrambled to block me. "Ms. Hughes, Mr. Farley is very busy right now"

"Get out of my way!"

I shoved him aside and kicked open the door of the CEO's office.

In that instant, my legs nearly went out from under me.

### Chapter 5

Randolph sat on the couch, clothes half off, Lily coiled around him like a snake, her face flushed nearly red enough to bleed.

The moans and ragged breathing mixed with the sound of the couch knocking against the wall, and the cold spread through me.

When she saw me, Lily screamed.

Randolph froze for a second, then yanked his shirt over to cover her.

The scene in front of me was like some warped nightmare, the sour smell of it rolling toward me. I forced down the shaking in my body and asked him,

"Why did you destroy the nursery? Why did you burn the letters I wrote to my baby? Why give her the pacifier too?"

Lily's eyes went red at once. She shrank into Randolph's arms, her voice catching on a sob.

"II'm sorry, I get so anxious, I keep biting my nails, so Randolph gave the pacifier to me."

"I didn't know the ashes in the sachet were the letters you wrote to your baby. If I'd known, I never would have taken it."

She wept in little hiccuping gasps, as if she were the one who'd been horribly wronged.

I clenched my fists, the nails driving deep into the cut in my palm, blood running down.

Randolph only let out a contemptuous little laugh. He kissed Lily's cheek to soothe her, his tone utterly indifferent.

"They were just worthless junk. Put to use on you, they're worth more."

Worthless junk?

That room. From the first day I knew I was pregnant, I had poured every ounce of love into it.

I'd painted the picture on the wall stroke by stroke. The pacifier had taken months of searching the world over, asking everyone I could, before I settled on it. The letters I'd written night after night, deep into the dark. I'd thought I would keep writing them until she was grown, a gift to hand her when she came of age, the most precious thing she'd ever receive.

All of it ruined by her own father, just to make his mistress smile.

My voice scraped out of my throat, hoarse.

"Randolph, those things took me searching all over the world to get. I put so much into them"

"Enough." He cut me off, his voice thick with irritation. "Can you stop making a scene? Lily's not even holding the past against you. She's willing to be the child's godmother. You should learn from her. Be more forgiving. Be kinder."

Destroying everything I'd poured my heart into for my baby, all to win his mistress a smile.

That was forgiving? That was kind?

"My child does not need a mistress for a godmother!"

I closed my eyes and held back the tears about to spill over.

I had always believed that, at least when it came to the child, he would do right by it. Only now did I understand how foolish I'd been.

The baby wasn't even born yet, and already he could strip away everything that should have been hers without a second thought, just to please another woman.

I didn't dare imagine it. If this child were really born, would she end up like Snow White, denied her father's protection, driven step by step into a corner by someone else?

I had still held one thin sliver of hope that Randolph could be a good father. In that instant, he destroyed my last illusion without mercy.

I couldn't speak.

His dark gaze dropped to my belly. Then he set Lily down gently, pulled his pants on without hurry, and walked toward me.

"All right, don't act like I've done something terrible to you." He hooked my chin up with a fingertip, the way he handled his mistresses. He looked at my red, swollen eyes. "Poor thing. I'll make it up to you."

His face wore that charming smile he always had, the smile that had once made me feel I was everything to him.

But when I looked at him now, this face I had spent ten years beside and loved for five had become so strange to me, twisted like a devil's.

The highest point in this city had once been where we began.

We had fought side by side here, building the new map of the Farley empire under the late-night lights, sketching out our dream of an empire on blank paper.

Dawn would break across the skyline, witness to an understanding that belonged only to us. On that couch, two figures had always lain sprawled, drained to nothing.

But now there was only a filthy stain left on it.

Precious documents scattered across the floor, trampled, footprints stamped over them.

Everything before me was foul beyond words.

"No need. Save it for your mistress."

### Chapter 6

I knocked Randolph's hand away and ran down the stairs, hunching over by the car as everything came up. As if I could empty my body of him, every trace of him in my memory along with it.

I went back to the "home" I'd built so carefully over five years. Dead center in the living room hung our wedding portrait, the two of us smiling so sweetly in it.

I grabbed the vase off the floor and smashed it straight into those smiling faces.

Crash.

The huge frame toppled over and shattered across the floor.

The housekeeper came running at the noise, fright on her face.

I pointed at the floor. "Burn every photo of me and Mr. Farley."

She froze a moment, didn't dare ask, and got to work.

She piled every album and frame, big and small, out on the lawn in the yard. The flames leapt up and burned through the whole night.

That night, Randolph didn't come home.

I spent the night looking at houses for me and the baby, then called my assistant. "That estate with the best view. Pay in full and close it."

Over the next few days, I packed my luggage and shipped it out, piece by piece.

My estate was on the other side of the ocean, somewhere Randolph would never find us again.

Randolph was lost in Lily's softness, oblivious to all of it, and indifferent. He did start sending things to the house, by way of compensation.

Couture jewelry, expensive prenatal supplements, heaps of designer baby goods. I didn't give any of it a glance. I had the staff sell all of it.

I'd stopped paying him any attention, but his and Lily's affair still blew through Atlanta's upper circles like wind.

He opened a bar for her and showed up every night to lend his support.

He made her the top draw in Atlanta, drove her around himself in a luxury car, the whole show rivaling a top celebrity's.

Some people envied her, said Lily was lucky, that Randolph had never been this generous with any mistress, going everywhere as a pair with her.

Word went around that she'd soon replace me as the Farley lady of the house.

Others said I was the one Grandpa Farley had personally claimed as his grandson's wife, holding half the Farley empire in my hands, and that what Randolph was doing was foolish.

Whatever they said out there, I no longer cared.

Within half a month, I secretly moved every asset under my name.

Two days left until I was gone.

It happened to fall on Farley's centennial gala, where I would appear as the Farley lady of the house for the last time.

The night before the banquet, Randolph came home.

"The housekeeper says you haven't been eating well lately," he said, touching my slightly worn face. "I've been neglecting you. Once the gala's over, I'll take you away somewhere to clear your head."

I turned my head aside. Randolph didn't seem to mind, just took my hand instead.

"There's some gossip online, saying Lily deliberately wrecked our marriage. I'll bring her tomorrow night, get a few friendly photos of the two of you, kill the talk."

In an instant my whole body went rigid, and I understood he hadn't come back for me.

"You want me to be a human shield for your mistress? Never."

The hand around mine tightened all at once. His gaze came down on me like a king's, merciless, and his voice landed word by word.

"I expect you to explain that you invited her yourself, to lend us your support."

My chest clenched. I looked at Randolph, then at the row of bodyguards outside the door.

He'd made up his mind to make me fall in line. There was no room to negotiate.

I closed my eyes and pressed down the bitterness rising in my throat.

"As you wish."

The next evening, at Farley's centennial banquet, the hall blazed with light. The champagne tower threw a thousand streams of light through the crystal chandeliers.

Every important Farley banquet was flawless.

I controlled the details myself from behind the scenes, from the music to the lighting, from the table arrangements to the careful touches on the drapery, while Randolph, with the presence of Farley's CEO, kept command of the mood with ease.

I'd assumed tonight would be the same.

The emcee picked up the microphone and began the grand introduction of the important guests. We'd spent tens of millions to bring in one of the most prestigious, most influential stars to headline.

But at the center where the spotlights converged, it was Lily who came gliding in on Randolph's arm.

And on her head she wore the crown that symbolized the Farley lady of the house.

### Chapter 7

The room blew up.

"Isn't that Lily White? Randolph Farley's mistress, the stripper. What's a piece of meat like her doing at an event like this?"

"And where's Melanie? She's the real Mrs. Farley, isn't she?"

"This is insane. It's being livestreamed! Farley's reputation is finished!"

That crown had cost me ten years of my life to earn. I had searched the whole house and never found it, and all this time Randolph had taken it and given it to Lily.

I almost charged forward to rip it straight off her head.

Then Randolph cleared his throat and spoke.

"Thank you all for coming to witness a century of Farley glory. Let me take this chance to clear something up. Miss Lily White has traveled all over the country promoting Farley's new line. It's been hard work, and the doubled sales are entirely thanks to her."

"She's done great things for Farley, and she's also a good friend of my wife's. I hope everyone will stop spreading rumors."

The room went silent in an instant, and then every eye turned to me. Suspicious, startled, amused.

It was so absurd I almost laughed.

All those nights my team and I had burned through, and one sentence from him turned it into her achievement.

I lifted my head. Randolph's gaze was like a poisoned thorned vine, twisting around my heart until it bled.

I gave a bitter smile and walked up onto the stage. I shook Lily's hand and forced a smile for the photo.

"Lately Lily has been with my husband for work. I can confirm she's an honored guest of mine, not some mistress wrecking our marriage."

Lily's eyes reddened, and she wiped at tears that weren't there.

"As long as Melanie's willing to clear it up for me, I don't mind being wronged a little."

But her fingers dug into the back of my hand, her nails carving several bloody lines into the skin.

I winced and yanked my hand back, then strode off the stage and walked alone to a quiet corner.

It's fine. Get through tonight, and I'll be free.

The sound of high heels came from behind me.

I turned and saw the pitiful look gone from Lily's face.

In its place was undisguised smugness, the crown glittering in her hair, the perfect picture of a fairy-tale wicked queen.

"You're his legal wife," she said, arms folded across her chest, brimming with triumph. "So what?"

"I'm already pregnant. Randolph promised me himself, my baby will be the next heir of the Farley family."

"If I were you, I'd get out on my own and keep a little dignity."

She was really pregnant?

The world spun, and I nearly lost my footing, but then I straightened my back and looked her dead in the eye.

"And what exactly are you? A whore who slept her way up by taking off her clothes, and you think you're fit to strut around in front of me?"

Lily's expression froze, as if it had never occurred to her that I could say something vicious too. Her mouth opened and closed, and for a long moment she couldn't force out a single word.

I swung my glass hard, and the red wine splashed all over her face. The red liquid ran down her chin in an ugly stream, staining a gown worth millions.

"A mistress who can't see the light should crawl back to the dark hole she came from. Don't come grovel in front of me!"

She shrieked and stumbled backward, and the next second the tears spilled over.

"Bang! "

A force slammed into me, and my back crashed against a pillar, the pain blacking out my vision.

Randolph had her wrapped in his arms, looking down at the wine and tears all over her face, aching for her.

"Melanie, what did you do to Lily?!"

Lily huddled against his chest, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe.

"I only came to thank Melanie, and she called me a whore and threw wine on me."

I watched her shoulders shake as she cried in Randolph's arms, watched him glare at me with a rage that burned like he was looking at an enemy, and I knew nothing I said would make him believe me.

I clenched my teeth and turned to leave.

Then, all at once.

"Fire!"

I spun toward the voice, stunned. The velvet curtains were burning, the flames licking up the carpet, and in the blink of an eye the place became a sea of fire.

The crowd began screaming and surging toward the exits, everything dissolving into chaos.

I ran with everything I had toward the escape route, only for Lily to shove me hard, and I went sprawling to the floor.

A violent pain shot through my belly, and on instinct I cried out to Randolph.

"Honey, help me"

Randolph froze for a beat, then immediately reached his hand out toward me.

Before his fingertips could touch me, Lily threw herself crying into his arms. "My stomach hurts so much. Randolph, don't let our baby burn to death!"

Randolph's hand stopped in midair.

Then he drew it back and wrapped it around Lily's waist instead.

My eyes went wide, and my heart felt like it was being crushed in someone's fist.

### Chapter 8

"Randolph, don't leave me here!"

I caught his trouser leg with everything I had left.

"The firefighters will be here soon." He barely glanced down, then wrenched his leg free and strode off, his arm around Lily.

Smoke poured into my throat. I forced my head up and looked toward the high Farley throne at the center of the hall.

As my mind blurred, I half saw the girl I used to be, hand in Randolph's, standing before that throne with her eyes shut, making a wish.

I wished that one day I'd sit up there beside him, that we'd be together, forever and ever.

And then, faint and far off, I saw myself from years ago, throwing myself bravely in front of that boy. He'd wept in a pool of his own blood and sworn to me that he'd spend the rest of his life protecting me with his own.

I'd believed that even if his heart had changed, at the edge of life and death he would keep that promise.

But the promise was light as a flake of ash. He chose his mistress. Not me.

The eaves began to collapse. The fire swallowed everything in front of me, and the scorching waves of heat licked at my skin until it burned.

I curled into myself, both hands over my belly, and shut my eyes.

Baby, I'm sorry. All the beautiful things in this world, Mama will see them with you in the next life.

But when I opened my eyes again, there was a hospital ceiling above me, snow-white.

The nurse saw I was awake and broke into a wide smile. "You're lucky a few kind souls pulled you out. Just some minor burns, thank goodness."

I grabbed her sleeve. "My baby"

"Don't worry. The baby's perfectly fine."

The tension snapped all at once. I sank back and pressed my hands over my eyes.

Laughter and chatter drifted in from the next room. I wrapped my arms tight around my belly, holding it like the most precious treasure in the world, and the tears broke loose.

My baby. The only family I have.

I didn't dare imagine what I would have done if I'd lost her.

Kieran heard about that night and rushed to the hospital. The sight of me, so worn down, broke his heart.

"You've suffered, Mel." His aged hand closed tight around mine, his eyes full of reluctance to let me go. "Tomorrow night I'll see you out of here. Before then, will you have one last dinner with me? I'm an old man. After this goodbye, who knows if we'll ever meet again."

I agreed.

Randolph had betrayed me, but the old man had always been good to me.

The next evening, my car headed for the old Farley mansion. As we reached a deserted stretch of road, a black SUV suddenly swung in close, and after a shriek of tires it cut across in front of us.

The next moment, the car door was yanked open.

Before I could react, hands hauled me roughly out and shoved me into the SUV.

The door slammed. Fear surged in like a tide. The first thing I did was reach for the phone in my bag and dial Randolph's number, over and over.

I called ninety-nine times. He never picked up.

Beside me, the man in the Transformers mask let out a sneer.

"What's the matter? Can't get through to that unfaithful husband of yours? He's with my sister right now, at her prenatal checkup."

An invisible hand closed around my breath.

"You're Lily's family? Why are you doing this?"

"Get rid of you, and my sister gets to be Mrs. Farley."

The mocking tone turned suddenly cruel. He was like a starving wolf, green light in his eyes, the kind of stare that belongs to a man who licks blood off a blade.

My heart dropped hard, and cold sweat soaked through me.

"Don't kill me, I'll pay you! Whatever Lily's giving you, I'll give you double. No, ten times that!"

Randolph wasn't coming to save me. I only had myself.

The air in the cabin froze for an instant. Then he raised an eyebrow, spun the dagger once in his palm, the cold light flashing.

"Can money compare to family?"

"Five million!" It burst out of me. I forced the fear down and shouted, "No, two million moredo one thing for me, and I'll transfer it right now!"

His pupils shrank.

Seven million. Enough for him to squander for the rest of his life. Whatever scraps Lily threw him for doing her dirty work, what was that worth?

The few seconds of waiting felt like half a lifetime.

"Deal." He spoke again, eyes narrowing. "Tell me. What do you want me to do?"

The shaking ran through my whole body, harder now, not from fear but from the wave of exhaustion that crashed over me once I knew I'd won.

I slid my wedding ring off and handed it to him.

"Find a body about my size. Stage 'my' death."

He took the ring. "A pleasure doing business, Ms. Hughes."

I pulled out my phone and tapped at it like a woman possessed. In the dark of the car came the chime of a transfer landing.

Then I was pushed out of the car. The night thickened, the road ahead like a black beast crouched to devour the universe.

But I didn't dare stop. One hand cradling my belly, I ran with everything I had and never looked back, until at last I flagged down a taxi.

"The airport."

I called the old man. He hurried to soothe me, telling me not to worry, that the private jet and the bodyguards were already arranged.

The city's neon streaked away behind me, the terminal lights swelling larger and larger in my sight. The breath went all the way out of me at last. I laid my palm over my belly and spoke softly.

"Baby, we're about to go and live a new life. Even without a father, you'll be the happiest little princess there is."

And Randolphwhat you owe me won't end here.