Chapter 1

Just as I reached out to take the locket Amelia Green was handing me, it slipped through my fingers and cracked in two on the floor.

Amelia gasped, staring at the broken pieces. Her eyes instantly welled up. "Scarlett, if you don't like me, you could have just said so. You didn't have to humiliate me like this, throwing my gift on the ground. I..."

Before I could get a word out, my husband Owen immediately stepped in front of her, shielding her from me.

His eyes blazed as he looked at me. "Scarlett, that was too much. Amelia was just trying to be nice, offering you that locket, and you threw it on the ground? Apologize. Now."

I was still processing his reaction when golden text flashed before my eyes.

[Here we go, the classic poor heroine suffering arc. Waiting for her to fall off a cliff and lose her memory so Owen can have his regretful chasing phase.]

[And it's just the start. Amelia fakes dropping the locket; Owen just wants an apology. Next up: forced abortion drink, cuts out Scarlett's heart. Brutal.]

[Can't she just jump off the cliff now? I just want to see her wreck both of them. Like, destroy them.]

I blinked.

I had to jump off a cliff first before I could fight back?

Why not now?

*****

Watching Owen shield Amelia like she was something precious, I felt dazed.

The golden text said he'd force me to drink something to end my pregnancy. He'd cut out my heart's blood for her to drink. I'd be framed, humiliated, broken, until I jumped off a cliff.

How could he ever do that to me?

When I didn't respond, he frowned. "Look, I get it. Ever since Amelia's family fell from grace, people have looked down on her. But you can't do stuff like this.

"She's like a sister to me. We grew up together. She offers you a gift, and even if you don't like it, you don't throw it on the ground."

He turned and patted Amelia's shoulder reassuringly, shooting her a comforting look.

Amelia, who'd been quietly sniffling, suddenly broke into full sobs. "Owen, I... I didn't know Scarlett disliked me this much. Maybe... maybe I should just leave."

"No." As she made a move to go, he grabbed her arm. "Scarlett. Apologize to Amelia. And get her a nicer locket to replace this one."

He glared at me like I was the villain of this story.

Watching the two of them perform, I let out a quiet laugh.

Part of me wanted to believe the golden text was lying, that Owen could never do those things to me.

But this? This over a broken locket? If he was this worked up over nothing, maybe the rest was true too.

The way he shielded her reminded me of something. Right after we got married, he used to shield me like that.

I remembered how, one time, I was walking through the courtyard and Amelia dumped a whole basin of ice-cold water on me.

It was freezing that day. I ran a fever by nightfall.

Owen was furious. He stormed over to her house and demanded she apologize to me.

Her family interfered, so nothing really came of it, but things between them were never quite the same after that.

I was bedridden for three days before I recovered.

Later, I found out Amelia had always been in love with Owen. Her father just didn't approve.

Owen always used to say, "It makes sense she resents you. I let her down. Just... be understanding."

Yeah, right.

If I'd known about their history, I would have married anyone but him.

Now her dad's been disgraced, her family's exiled. I thought Owen brought her here just to be kind, taking pity on an old friend.

But seeing him now? He was practically begging me to step aside.

Well, he could keep dreaming.

I opened my mouth to speak, but more golden text flashed.

[Don't you dare apologize. That locket is a cheap trinket from some street stall. Worthless. She's just messing with you.]

[Today it's an apology, tomorrow it's a beating, the day after she's taking your life. Do not apologize.]

[Can't watch. She's gonna refuse, and then the jerk's gonna make her kneel and apologize.]

Kneel?

Apologize on my knees to some disgraced official's daughter?

I shot a glance at Owen, who was still fuming, then bent down and picked up the broken locket.

I turned it over in my hands and let out a cold laugh.

"Amelia, your taste really has gone downhill since your family fell from grace. This thing isn't worth the dirt on the ground. You gave this to me as a gift, or as a power move?"

Her face went pale. "I..."

"And for the record, it hit the floor before my fingers even touched it. Owen, are you blind?" I added.