Chapter 1

All because his kept woman, Valerie Fox, said one line: "The wife will never let me stay."

So my husband spent a fortune on the Wishing Willow, the charm that grants any wish, and snapped it in front of me.

"Make Lena Henson love Valerie Fox the way I do."

"Whatever Valerie asks of her, she'll do it gladly."

The wish came true. I moved out of the master bedroom on my own, slid my wedding ring onto Valerie's finger,

signed the divorce papers, and knelt in front of everyone to beg her to marry Ray Gilbert.

When she said I was an eyesore and told me to get lost, I threw myself down the stairs from the second floor without hesitation and broke both my legs.

Until the day Valerie touched my pregnant belly and joked,

"If the baby were gone, wouldn't Ray finally be free to marry me?"

That night, I swallowed a whole bottle of abortion pills.

The baby was gone. I hemorrhaged, and they took out my womb.

Ray Gilbert finally panicked. His eyes went bloodshot, and he wept as he demanded an answer.

"Lena Henson! I only wanted you to treat her a little better!"

"Who told you to kill our child over one joke?"

I said, calm, "As long as she's happy, nothing that happens to me matters."

Ray Gilbert finally regretted it.

He spent another fortune on a second Wishing Willow, swearing he'd send Valerie away and bring the real me back.

But that same night, Valerie snuck off to the offshore gambling ship, ran up a massive debt, and was held as collateral.

The men would only accept Ray Gilbert's wife boarding the ship in her place.

Ray held the willow branch and couldn't bring himself to snap it.

"Lena, one last time."

"Valerie's timid, she can't take that kind of abuse. Take her place for three days. The moment I have the ransom, I'll bring you straight home."

"Then I'll snap the branch and wake you, and spend the rest of my life making it up to you."

I smiled and nodded. "Okay."

But he didn't know.

Every time I hurt myself for Valerie's sake, the Wishing Willow drained away a piece of my lifespan.

The moment I boarded that ship no one comes back from,

the wish would be complete.

And I would vanish from this world entirely.

1.

The instant I heard him say it out loud, that he was going to send me onto the offshore gambling ship, the smile froze on my face.

My soul, held down by the Wishing Willow, clawed its way back to a brief moment of clarity.

I grabbed Ray Gilbert's hand and dropped to my knees, begging.

"Ray, don't send me there, I don't want to go!"

"I'm begging you!"

Three years ago, the Gilberts went bankrupt and owed a crushing debt.

The owner of that gambling ship brought men into the Gilbert house and dragged me off to cover it.

I was locked on that ship for a whole month.

They broke my ribs, drugged me, kept me caged, put me out like merchandise for men to pick over and amuse themselves with.

Ray Gilbert went half mad. To get me back,

he sold everything he could sell, even sold one of his kidneys, and bought me back in the shortest time he could.

The day he brought me off the ship, he knelt on the dock and held my hollow-eyed body and wept until his whole body shook.

"Lena, I'm sorry. This is the last time!"

"I swear, for the rest of my life I'll never let anyone hurt you again, never let you suffer even a little."

"Anyone who dares touch you, I'll fight them to the death."

But after that, he hurt me countless times, all for Valerie.

And now he wanted to send me back with his own hands.

I clutched his sleeve with everything I had, nearly on my knees before him.

"Let me go, I'm begging you."

"I won't make trouble anymore. Just don't send me back, and I'll do anything you want!"

Ray Gilbert's eyes went red at once.

He pulled me into his arms, his hold so tight I could barely breathe.

"Lena, I'm sorry, I was wrong…"

His voice shook, his eyes full of pain for me.

I thought he still held on to what we'd been, that he'd give up sending me onto that ship in Valerie's place.

But the next moment, he choked out,

"But Valerie's still young."

"She's never been through anything like that. She won't survive it."

I went rigid in his arms.

Ray Gilbert cupped my face and looked at me, almost pleading.

"You've already been through it once. You know how to protect yourself."

"And you're stronger than her. You'll get through it, I know you will."

"Lena, I'm begging you, just take her place this one last time."

So the fact that I'd come off that ship alive had become the reason I should go back.

So because I'd been through the abuse, I deserved to be the one who could endure more than Valerie.

It felt like someone was tearing my heart apart with their bare hands.

"But you promised me…"

I looked at him through tears.

"You swore. You swore you'd never let anyone hurt me again."

Ray Gilbert's eyes slid away, his hand clamped around the second Wishing Willow.

"This time is different."

"I'm not the Ray Gilbert from three years ago, the one with nothing."

"I've already worked it out with them ahead of time. You're only going to swap in for Valerie. They won't actually touch you."

"I've got people on the ship watching. The worst they'll do is frighten you. You won't be in danger."

He promised me over and over, as if trying to convince me, and himself.

"The second I have the ransom, I'll bring you home."

"Then I'll snap the branch right away and make you yourself again."

He kissed my forehead again and again.

"Truly the last time."

I wanted to shake my head, but the willow-leaf mark on my wrist suddenly burned.

Forced under the Wishing Willow's control, I let go of Ray Gilbert's sleeve,

gave a meek little smile, and said, "Okay, I'll go."

"Valerie can't get hurt. I have to love her, protect her."

It was exactly what he wanted, and yet Ray Gilbert's face went white.

"Lena…"

The car from the gambling ship pulled up at the bottom of the steps.

I was about to get in when a violent surge of panic rose in Ray Gilbert's chest.

He suddenly regretted it and grabbed my hand on reflex. "Lena…"

But a second later, Valerie's terrified sobbing came through his phone.

"Ray, I'm so scared…"

Ray Gilbert's body stiffened, and slowly he let me go.

Red-eyed, he promised me over and over.

"Three days."

"No, one day!"

"Lena, you only have to hold on for one day."

"I'll sell the company and the house right now, get the ransom together, and bring you home."

"When you're back, I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you."

I was still smiling that meek smile. "Okay."

But Ray Gilbert didn't know.

My life, from the moment I got into that car, had already begun its countdown.