Chapter 6

Celina POV:

Anika scrambled to her feet, her face a picture of theatrical anguish. She ran to Haywood, burying her face in his chest, her voice a muffled sob. "She hit me, Haywood! She hit me so hard! Just because I told her she was a terrible person!" She pointed a trembling finger at me, her eyes darting to Haywood's face for validation.

Haywood' s arms went around her instinctively, but his gaze fell on me. I was still on my knees, my hands shaking as I tried to piece together the shattered fragments of my mother' s locket. My face was pale, my hair disheveled, the white hospital gown mocking my vulnerability. In his eyes, a flicker. Not pity, not even anger, but something akin to confusion. He had never seen me so utterly broken, so completely devoid of my usual composure. A momentary hesitation.

But Anika, ever the puppeteer, sensed his wavering. She gripped his arm, her voice rising in a desperate plea. "Haywood, darling! She's like a wild animal! You have to do something! For Ava! You swore you'd protect me, just like you protected Ava!"

The name "Ava" acted like a switch. The flicker in Haywood's eyes vanished, replaced by the familiar coldness. He hardened his resolve. His choice was made.

"What is it, Anika?" Haywood asked, his voice low and dangerous. "How do you want her punished?"

Anika lifted her head from his chest, a cruel smile playing on her lips. Her eyes, no longer innocent, glittered with malicious triumph. "I want her to know humiliation, Haywood. Just like she tried to humiliate me. Ten slaps. From her own hand. Right now."

My breath hitched. Ten slaps. In front of Haywood. Another public degradation.

Haywood turned to me, his eyes like chips of ice. "You heard her, Celina. Do it. Or I swear to God, I'll find whatever pathetic trinkets you have left from your parents and burn them to ashes." He believed I was materialistic, that the physical objects were all I cared about. He had no idea the emotional weight they carried. He thought he was giving me an easy way out, a chance to save face by performing. He was wrong.

I looked at him, my eyes devoid of any emotion. He was a monster. They were all monsters. But they hadn't broken me. Not yet.

"She broke my mother's locket," I said, my voice barely a whisper, my gaze fixed on the shattered silver. "She deliberately smashed it."

Anika scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous! She attacked me! She tried to steal it! It broke in the struggle!" She turned to Haywood, her voice pleading. "Haywood, darling, whose word do you trust? Hers, or mine?"

His eyes, dark and fathomless, seemed to search for something in my face. For a moment, I saw a ghost of Ava in them, not me. He was looking through me, at her. Then, his gaze hardened. "Celina. One. Two. Three..." His countdown began, a chilling prelude to my forced humiliation.

A bitter, resigned laugh escaped my lips. This was a battle I couldn't win. Not yet. I lifted my hand, my eyes locking onto Haywood's. Then, with a chilling deliberation, I brought it down hard on my own cheek. Smack. The sound echoed in the sterile room. Then again. Smack. And again. With each stinging blow, a piece of me died, but a new, harder kernel of resolve formed. By the tenth slap, my cheek burned, my ears rang, and my soul felt utterly numb.

"Satisfied?" I asked, my voice a dry, rasping whisper, my eyes still fixed on Haywood.

A flicker of something unreadable crossed his face-a brief shadow of discomfort? Regret? But he said nothing. Anika, a triumphant smirk on her lips, tugged at his arm. "Come on, darling. Let's leave this... mess." She led him away, her steps light, leaving me alone in the sterile room, surrounded by the wreckage of my dignity.

-

The rest of my hospital stay was a blur of silence and solitude. Haywood never visited. Anika's social media, however, was a constant, mocking presence. Happy selfies with Haywood, lavish dinners, romantic getaways. He had taken her to Paris, the city we had planned to visit for our anniversary. He had bought her a yacht, the one I had jokingly admired years ago. Every picture, every glowing caption, was a fresh reminder of the life he denied me, the love he withheld, the betrayal he reveled in. He was doing everything with her that he had once promised, or rather, implied, he would do with me.

My heart, once a battlefield of pain and longing, turned to stone. The emotional well dried up. There was nothing left to feel, nothing left to mourn. Not for him. Not for them. My love for Haywood had been a fragile thing, built on hope and delusion. It had been brutally, systematically dismantled.

I discharged myself. The hospital staff looked at me with pity, but I merely smiled, a thin, detached expression. They didn't know. They couldn't know. The woman who walked out of that hospital was not the same woman who had been dragged in. She was harder. Colder. And utterly, ruthlessly determined.

I stepped out onto the street, breathing in the crisp, cool air. My phone buzzed. A text from my lawyer. The divorce was final. Relief. A quiet, steady hum of it.

Suddenly, a figure appeared from a dark alley, blocking my path. Keith Tran. His eyes were wild, his face a contorted mask of hatred. He still bore the faint bruised mark where I had struck him.

"You bitch," he snarled, his voice low and menacing. "You think you can get away with what you did to me? You think you can ruin my family?" He lunged, his hand clamping over my mouth, the other grabbing my arm.

I struggled, but my injured leg, still weak, buckled beneath me. He slammed me against the brick wall of the hospital, the impact jarring my head, stars exploding behind my eyes.

"Don't scream," he whispered, his hot breath on my ear. "No one will hear you anyway. Little slut." He pulled out a length of rusty chain, wrapping it around my throat, tightening it until my breath hitched.

"Let's see what Haywood thinks after I'm done with you. He'll throw you away like trash," he sneered, his eyes gleaming with a sick pleasure. He pushed a small, bitter-tasting pill into my mouth. "Swallow it. It'll make you... more agreeable. You'll be begging for it in an hour. And then, you'll confess to everything. Everything I want you to." He laughed, a chilling, triumphant sound.

He leaned in, his lips brushing my neck, a sickening parody of familiarity. A wave of nausea. But my mind was clearer than ever. He thought he had me. He thought I was broken. He was wrong.

My knee, still weak from the accident, shot up, connecting with his groin with a surprising force. He cried out, a guttural sound of pain, staggering back, releasing the chain.

Before he could recover, I twisted away, my hand grabbing the heavy, rusty chain still dangling from his grasp. With a desperate surge of adrenaline, I swung it, catching him across the jaw. He reeled, falling against the wall, a stream of curses erupting from his lips.

My eyes darted around. A partially open window, not far from where we stood. My only chance. With my good leg, I kicked at the glass, shattering it. He was moving towards me again, his face a mask of furious intent. I scrambled through the opening, ignoring the fresh cuts, landing hard on the other side.

The drug. I could feel it. A strange, disorienting warmth spreading through my limbs, a fuzziness at the edges of my vision. I needed help. Now. I staggered, my head swimming, but I forced myself to move, each step a testament to my sheer will. The hospital entrance. It felt a mile away.

"Help!" I screamed, my voice raw, desperate. "Someone, please! I've been drugged!" I stumbled through the automatic doors, collapsing into the arms of a startled nurse, the world spinning into a dizzying vortex of light and sound.