Chapter 3

I nodded weakly.

Nothing mattered anymore except staying alive.

Once the screen unlocked, a series of unread text notifications popped up. They were from Julian, sent to my burner number.

"Nathan, Vanessa took me out for a haircut today. She told me she just wants it to be the two of us for the next few days. How about you? How’s the sewer trench treating you?"

"Just finished a romantic concert with Vanessa. I casually mentioned I’d love to come back every year, and she promised she’d make it our annual tradition. You having fun getting beaten to a pulp every day?"

Every single message dripped with malicious arrogance.

Trembling with rage, I dialed Vanessa’s private line. I needed to hear the truth from her own mouth.

All I got was an automated operator:

"We're sorry. The number you have dialed is no longer in service."

Brenda snatched the phone away and spat right into my face.

"Pathetic loser! You can't even reach your own woman! I’ve never seen a husband so completely cuckolded!"

"Her little sidepiece is literally bragging in your face! I was wondering why a wife would leave her man to rot—turns out she's too busy playing house with her lover!"

In the end, shivering and bleeding, I was dragged out and locked inside a tiny dog cage.

Curled in the dark, my eyes bloodshot, I made a silent vow: if I made it out of this alive, I would cut Vanessa out of my life forever. We would be absolute strangers until the day I died.

The fifth day came and went. The warehouse doors never opened.

My heart sank into an abyss of despair.

On the seventh day, a thug suddenly pointed at the small wall-mounted TV and yelled, "Boss, look! It’s Vanessa!"

On the screen, Vanessa and Julian stood shoulder-to-shoulder, looking glamorous and radiant.

A reporter eagerly pushed a microphone toward her. "Ms. Vance, what prompted you to liquidate your company’s entire asset portfolio and donate everything to charity today?"

Vanessa replied calmly, "The company was already struggling. Selling the assets to help those in need brings me immense peace."

"Of course, I also have a personal reason. I want to build good karma for the man I love. I pray he never faces suffering again, and that his path ahead is smooth."

As she spoke, she glanced at Julian, offering him a tender, adoring smile.

She added, "In a couple of days, my partner and I will be relocating to a quiet countryside estate. We plan to settle down there permanently and leave the chaos behind."

Brenda stared at the screen, letting out a slow, mocking round of applause. "Bravo! What a touching speech! Leaving the chaos behind, huh?!"

Without warning, she kicked the cage open and brought her heavy boot down on my rat-bitten shoulder, grinding her heel into my torn flesh.

"Your bitch of a wife played me!"

Still unsatisfied, she grabbed an iron rod and beat my bruised, fractured body mercilessly.

I curled on the ground like a dying stray, screaming until my throat tore, vomiting bile from the sheer shock.

Another thug rushed in waving a tablet. "Boss! She just sent a message through an encrypted app. She said she's too busy to come—we can do whatever the hell we want with him!"

A ragged, broken laugh escaped my lips.

How laughably naive I had been. She had finally gotten Julian back; they were reunited. Why would she ever want an inconvenient third wheel like me around?

They didn't just abandon me. They wanted me dead.

Enraged, Brenda smashed the burner phone and shattered the television screen with a metal pipe.

"She thinks she can play Brenda?! I'll make sure she spends the rest of her miserable life drowning in regret!"

"Bring out the wooden skewers! Drive them under his nails! They're still legally married—mutilating her husband is the same as spitting in her damn face!"

A circle of men pinned my limbs to the floor, driving sharp skewers deep beneath my nails and into my open wounds.

Driven by pure, primal survival instinct, I kicked frantically, scrambling backward until my heels caught empty air, sending me tumbling down a steep flight of concrete stairs.

Right before the world went black, through a veil of crimson blood, I saw heavily armed tactical officers breaching the warehouse.

When I opened my eyes again, two full days had passed.

Outside the glass doors of my hospital room, Vanessa and Julian were being questioned by detectives.

Julian coughed weakly, his voice dripping with sorrow. "I was a victim too, officer. I was tricked into that ring. I had no idea Nathan would recklessly offer his own life to swap for mine! If only he had shared his live location sooner, I would never have let him suffer like this!"

Vanessa patted his back with teary eyes. "Thank God the police found Nathan in time. Otherwise... I can't bear to imagine."

The detective glanced over and noticed I was conscious. He stepped inside, his tone grave. "Mr. Vance, can you hear me? Do you remember who did this to you?"

Vanessa rushed to my bedside, grabbing my hand tightly, her eyes overflowing with concern.

"Babe! You've been through so much! Tell the officers who hurt you—I swear I will make every single one of them pay!"

I yanked my hand away with disgust. The sound of her voice made my skin crawl.

Vanessa threw herself across my chest, sobbing uncontrollably. "Babe, are you still mad that I didn't come sooner? I promise, from now on, I will never break a promise to you! Didn't you want to start a new business? I'll be by your side the whole time, okay?"

I shoved her off with whatever strength I had left, glaring at her with cold indifference.

"What the hell are you yelling about? Who's your 'babe'?"

"I'm just a guy fresh out of college trying to launch my first startup. Why would I ever marry you?"

"Even for a scam artist, this is crossing the line!"