Chapter 5

The next few weeks were a special kind of hell. I was confined to my bedroom, a luxurious cage with a view of the perfectly manicured gardens. A guard was posted outside my door 24/7. My phone was gone. The internet was cut off. I was completely isolated.

Brayden would visit me once a day, bringing me meals on a tray like a jailer. He would sit and watch me eat, making small talk about his day, about the company, about the nursery they were building. He acted as if nothing was wrong, as if we were a normal, happy couple expecting a child.

His denial was a form of psychological torture.

Meanwhile, he and Katharina flaunted their relationship for the world to see. I knew because the maids, taking pity on me, would leave magazines and newspapers in the bathroom.

"Tech Mogul Brayden Quinn and Socialite Katharina Christensen: A Love Rekindled?"

There were pictures of them at charity galas, at exclusive restaurants, on his yacht. He bought her a new penthouse. He flew her to Paris for a weekend. The media spun it as a tragic story: the loyal billionaire comforting his late fiancée' s best friend after her family' s recent misfortunes.

Every picture, every headline, was a carefully aimed dart, designed to wound me.

One evening, I couldn' t take it anymore. I waited until the guard changed shifts. I took a heavy crystal vase from the mantelpiece and hurled it against the wall. It shattered with a satisfying crash.

I tore the silk curtains from the windows. I threw books, lamps, anything I could get my hands on. I was a whirlwind of rage and grief, destroying the beautiful things he had used to trap me.

He found me sitting in the middle of the wreckage, breathing heavily.

He didn't yell. He didn't even look angry. He just surveyed the damage with a detached air.

Then he held out a small, gift-wrapped box.

"A present," he said, his voice calm.

I stared at him, my chest heaving.

He opened it for me. Inside, nestled on a bed of black velvet, was a diamond collar. A dog collar. It was exquisite, covered in hundreds of tiny, brilliant-cut diamonds.

"I thought it suited you," he said, a cruel smile playing on his lips. "A reminder of your place."

He ran a finger along the line of my jaw. "Don' t you understand yet, Amelia? You came from nothing. A food truck in a dirty alley. I gave you everything. This life, this home, this child. You should be grateful."

His words hit me harder than any physical blow. He saw me as charity case, a creature he had plucked from the mud. He believed he owned me because he had saved me. All those years of love and support I had given him when he was at his lowest... they meant nothing. They were just a debt he felt I now owed him.

My heart, which I thought couldn't break any further, shattered into a million tiny pieces.

Just then, his phone rang. He glanced at the screen, and his cold expression melted away, replaced by a soft, genuine warmth I hadn't seen him direct at me in years.

"Hi, Kat," he said, his voice tender. "Yes, I' m almost done here... Of course, I miss you too."

He was talking to her, his mistress, while standing in the ruins of the room he shared with his wife, a diamond dog collar in his hand. The sheer, unadulterated cruelty of it was dizzying.

He put the phone on speaker. "I' m here with Amelia now. Say hello."

Katharina' s voice, sweet as poison, filled the room. "Amelia, darling! Are you behaving yourself? Brayden tells me you' ve been a bit... emotional."

I didn' t answer. I just stared at the phone in his hand, my mind numb.

"Oh, don' t be like that," Katharina cooed. "I called to share some good news. Brayden just did the most romantic thing. We were talking about your mother... and he took me to the mausoleum. To her final resting place."

My breath caught in my throat.

"It was so beautiful, so peaceful," she continued, her voice filled with fake reverence. "We just felt so close to her. And one thing led to another... It' s amazing how comfortable those marble floors are when you have a good coat."

The implication was clear. Vile. Unspeakable.

They had defiled my mother' s grave. The one sacred place I had left.

A sound, low and guttural, tore from my throat. I launched myself at him, not with fists this time, but with nails and teeth. I was a feral animal, driven by a pain so profound it transcended reason.

"I' ll kill you!" I shrieked, my voice raw. "I will kill you both!"

He easily subdued me, holding me in a vice-like grip as I struggled and sobbed.

"Do you hear that, Kat?" he said into the phone, a note of amusement in his voice. "She' s a little feisty tonight."

I looked up at him, my vision blurred by tears. I saw him for what he truly was. Not a man, but a void. A black hole of narcissism and cruelty that consumed everything it touched.

"I was a fool," I choked out, the fight draining out of me. "I was a fool to ever love you. A fool to save you."

My legs gave out from under me. The world went dark. The last thing I heard was Brayden' s voice, calm and untroubled, speaking into the phone.

"I' ll have to call you back, darling. It seems she' s fainted."