Chapter 1

"Shirley, if you dare jump, I'll destroy the Rowes," Stephen Foster threatened.

He stood on the deck of a luxury yacht, arm around his beloved Lydia, his voice cold.

I touched my still-flat belly and gave a bitter smile. Because of his beloved Lydia, he had me tortured in a mental hospital for three months.

He said I didn't deserve his child, and planned to cut it from my womb on my due date to give it to her.

"Stephen, as you wish. I'm done with this life." I leaped into the icy sea and vanished.

Five years later, I returned with the badge of a world-class salvage guild, while he knelt on the shore, holding a fake corpse, crying until he could barely see.

*****

The sea wind was strong, salty, and sharp, stinging my face.

But I felt nothing.

My heart had died long ago.

I stood at the edge of the yacht's deck. Behind me, the dark open sea churned; below, a sheer drop into nothing. Even in summer, the wind here could cut straight to the bone.

Stephen stood five meters away.

He wore a perfectly tailored black suit, his posture straight and composed. The face I had once loved so deeply was now cold and distant.

In his arms, he held a trembling woman, Lydia Wynn.

"Steve, I'm so scared. Has Shirley gone crazy?" Lydia Wynn buried her face in his chest, her voice soft and tearful. But where he couldn't see, she shot me a smug smile.

There was nothing but malice in it.

My stomach turned.

That was the woman who, three months ago, fell down the stairs and blamed me for pushing her.

Stephen believed her. He wouldn't listen to a word I said, even though I was already two weeks pregnant.

To make it up to Lydia, for what he called 'atonement', he had me locked in a mental hospital.

That place was hell. Every day, nurses forced unknown drugs down my throat. In dark corners, people pinched my thighs and stuck needles into my fingertips, muttering, "Mr. Foster said, as long as she doesn't die, anything goes."

"As long as she doesn't die" those words burned into my chest.

I touched my still-flat belly. A small life had once been growing inside me. I had imagined so many times what Stephen's face would look like when I told him. Would he be surprised? Shocked? Would he spin me around in joy?

Instead, reality slapped me hard in the face.

Yesterday, I finally escaped, but I overheard his conversation with the doctor in the hospital hallway.

"Keep the crazy woman's child. Lydia can't have children. Once Shirley Rowe gives birth, you'll have her raise the baby." he said, "As for Shirley Rowe… kill the mother, keep the child."

In that moment, I was too numb to even cry.

I looked at this man in front of me. This was the man I had loved for seven years. Seven years...

I gave up studying abroad, cooked for him, and sacrificed myself just to protect him in the business.

And what did I get in return? "Kill the mother, keep the child."

"Shirley, are you done?" Stephen's voice came again, clearly impatient. "If you jump, I'll make the Rowes disappear. You know I can."

Threats. Always threats.

I used to be afraid, because I cared about my family, about my father who never truly loved me.

But now, I didn't care anymore.

I looked at Stephen and suddenly laughed.

The tears rolled down my face as I laughed.

"Stephen," I spoke, my voice hoarse and raw. "You're pathetic."

Stephen frowned, a flicker of disgust in his eyes. "What did you just say?"

"You love a vicious woman and treat her like a treasure." I pointed to Lydia Wynn. "You killed your wife for her, killed your own child. Stephen, how can you be so heartless?"

"Shut up!" Stephen shouted. "Lydia is innocent and kind. You're the evil one. A woman like you doesn't deserve to carry my child!"

Not deserve to carry a child?' I thought. What a joke.

My chest felt hollow, and the cold wind whistled through it. I took a step back and my heels were already hanging over the edge.

"Shirley!" Suddenly, a gasp came from the crowd. It was Stephen's assistant, the only one who knew the truth about my pregnancy. He tried to rush over, but the bodyguards blocked him.

Stephen's expression finally changed.

Maybe it was because the determination in my eyes was too real, or maybe because, in that moment, he remembered the warmth we once shared.

He instinctively let go of Lydia and stepped forward. "Shirley, come here. If you just listen to me, I can..."

"You can what?" I interrupted him, my eyes empty. "You can spare me a quick death? Or let me live a few more days until the baby is born?"

Stephen froze.

"Stephen, I lose this round." I took a deep breath, the salty sea air filling my lungs, and it actually felt fresher than the air in the mansion. "This life is over for me. And your child? You'll never have it."

"No—!" Stephen's eyes widened. He lunged forward.

But it was too late.

I closed my eyes and let myself fall backward.

The drop hit me instantly.

The sound of the wind howling in my ears, and Stephen's heart-wrenching scream.

"Shirley!"

Look at him, I thought how pathetic he is.

He doesn't appreciate me when I'm here. Then when I'm dying, he pretends to care. Who is he trying to fool?'

The freezing water swallowed me. Suffocating. Darkness.

In that final moment, I thought I saw a light shining from the depths of the sea.

It wasn't the light of heaven.

It was the flame of revenge.