Chapter 3

Gavin pulled his hand back, expression flat. He wasn't angry.

He only held up the broken finger.

"Sisi, you injured one of my fingers once. This is what you owe me."

"I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. This is your last chance. Stop making trouble, come back, and let's live a good life together."

I screamed at him. "In your dreams!"

Gavin sighed and stood.

"Your illness is getting worse."

"Lock her up. Give her proper treatment."

They lifted me off the floor without effort and threw me into a small room.

They bound my arms and legs, attached the electrodes, and the cold instruments crept toward me, inch by inch.

Terror flooded through me.

In all those days at the psychiatric hospital, any time I did something they didn't expect, they shocked me.

And the whole time, voices would keep pressing into my ear, listing the wrongs I'd committed, making me repent, making me feel the guilt.

Every time, it was like something was drawn out of my body, until I couldn't tell what was real and what was a dream.

The pads touched my skin.

My pupils shrank. My muscles locked.

"No—"

My vision went white. Every memory in my head emptied out.

Nothing left but a shell, there for anyone to do with as they pleased.

I don't know how long it was before things went quiet again.

I heard a child crying, wave after wave.

The sharp sound stabbed at my nerves, and it came back to me all at once.

I had lost a child once.

I remembered it clearly then, carrying him ten months, the labor, the hemorrhage, barely surviving it.

But when I woke, the baby was gone.

Everyone told me I had imagined him.

My eyes snapped open.

No. That was not a dream.

That child had truly existed.

The crying grew heavier, and I dragged my battered body along, dodging the guards on patrol, moving toward the sound.

Deep in the hills behind the house, I saw a small boy, knees drawn up, crying alone.

He lifted his head a little, and that face looked a bit like mine as a child.

I hurried over and grabbed his arm, turning it over to look.

When I found the birthmark on it, I laughed out loud.

I had named my son Zack, and when he was born I remembered clearly the heart-shaped birthmark near his elbow.

It couldn't be a coincidence. Nine times out of ten, this was him.

No words could hold my joy. I pulled him into my arms.

"Why are you here? Is no one taking care of you?"

Zack didn't speak. He only kept crying and shaking his head.

My tears spilled over at once.

Gavin hid his affair from me, sent me to the psychiatric hospital, and I bore all of it.

But why did they have to hide my child too?

The only one I could turn to was myself, ten years on.

She told me:

【Because he wanted a child with Bernice.】

【At first they thought Bernice couldn't have children, so they simply gave your baby to them.】

【But before long Bernice got pregnant, and there was no one to care for this child.】

Reading it, I clenched my teeth, my jaw trembling.

I gripped Zack's hand tight, one thought left in my head.

I had to take him away. I could never let them take him from me again.

But the moment I reached the front gate, the guards stopped me.

"Mr. Vance said you're not allowed to leave here."

I threw myself at them, past caring.

"Move!"

Several of them blocked my way, and no matter how I fought I couldn't break through.

In the chaos my palm went empty. Zack slipped free of me and stumbled off, running backward.

I forgot everything else and rushed after him.

When I saw him appear at Bernice's side, cold sweat broke out all over me.

I charged over in a panic, only to be shoved down without effort, all the guards closing in around me.

"Let him go. He's little. He doesn't understand anything."

My whole body shook, my voice as small and pleading as it could be.

Bernice held Zack by the collar and came toward me, one step at a time.

"So you actually found out he exists." She crouched in front of me, her eyes full of taunting. "You want to take him away?"

Every sob out of Zack was like a knife, tearing my chest open while I was still alive.

I nodded, wretched, biting my lip nearly through.

Bernice was in a fine mood. She shoved Zack aside easily.

"Then kneel. Kneel here for three full days, and I'll let you take him."