Chapter 2

William snapped out of his shock, his face instantly turning grim.

He stood up, brushed the dust off his knees, and the groveling look from earlier disappeared. Now he was back to acting like he was above everyone else.

"Grace, four years and you've turned so mean? Back then, I had no other option but to save Olivia. She was the one in danger. If I hadn't helped her, people online would tear me apart for letting her die!

"You could swim, and you were strong. I thought you'd be fine!"

The more he talked, the more self-righteous he sounded, like he wasn't the guy who abandoned his pregnant wife back then. He even sounded like he was blaming her.

"Besides, that was about the greater good—when lives are at stake, personal feelings have to be set aside.

"What you're doing now is just narrow-minded, letting love turn into hate!

"How can you still hold a grudge over that little thing years ago, and now refuse to help an innocent child?"

I let out a bitter, mocking laugh—I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

A little thing? Three lives lost, and he dares to call it a "little thing"?

So his so-called greater good is throwing away his wife and child, just to cover up his dirty affair with his stepsister?' I thought.

"William, your sense of 'greater good' is twisted. If you were so noble, why didn't you hand your own life jacket to Olivia? Why didn't you just sacrifice yourself instead?"

William's face turned livid with anger, and he raised his hand, ready to strike.

"You..."

Just then, a shrill cry rang out from the doorway. "Will, Max can't hold on! He's spitting up blood!"

Olivia stumbled in, clutching a deathly pale little boy. Her hair was a mess, her face streaked with tears—she looked so fragile and pitiful, anyone might have felt sorry for her.

As soon as she saw me, she paused, and for a moment, her eyes flickered with barely concealed malice. But she quickly switched to her helpless victim routine.

"Grace? Is that really you?

"Oh my god, you're alive? Why did you pretend to be dead and fool us all this time?

"Do you even know how guilty Will and I have felt these past four years? Every year, we paid our respects to you, thinking you were gone!"

She clutched the boy, tears streaming down her face in a pitiful display, but then her tone suddenly shifted and her gaze flicked to the two kids standing behind me.

"Grace, these two kids... they look like they're about three years old, right?" Olivia said, feigning surprise.

"After you vanished in the shipwreck, there was no word from you. So whose kids are these?

"Don't tell me you were out there with someone else..." Olivia let her words hang, the implication obvious.

She didn't finish her sentence, but it couldn't have been clearer—she was hinting I'd been unfaithful, suggesting no one even knew who the father of these kids was.

William had been wavering because of the kids' looks, but as soon as he heard that, his face darkened like a thundercloud.

'Yeah, he watched me disappear beneath the waves back then—how could I possibly have survived?' I thought.

'Unless I'd already had a backup plan, or maybe I'd run away with another man before it all happened!'

He might think these two kids... are that guy's kids!'

"Grace, you better explain yourself!" William pointed at me, his eyes bloodshot with rage. "Were you cheating on me all along? So that's why you were so desperate to go on that cruise—so you could elope with someone else!"

Looking at those two shameless hypocrites twisting the truth, I felt my stomach churn.

"Betrayal? William, did you forget whose child Olivia was carrying back then? Who really betrayed whom?" I shot back.

Olivia's face went ghostly pale. She clutched her kid even tighter, crying so hard it looked like she might pass out.

"Grace, how could you accuse me of something so awful? Max has nothing to do with this!" Olivia sobbed, her voice shaking.

"You can hate me all you want, but don't risk a child's life just to get back at me!

"Please, I'm begging you, save Max! Will watched him grow up—he's like a real son to him!"

Watching Olivia break down, William couldn't stand it—his heart ached for her.

He pulled Olivia into his arms, shot me a vicious glare, and barked, "Grace, I order you—save Max, right now!"

"If you don't, I'll call the cops and tell them you faked your death for the insurance payout!

"That big chunk of money your mom got? It was all dirty cash from fraud!

"If you don't want to rot in prison, and if you don't want these two brats to end up motherless, you'd better do what I say!"

Threats?

Threatening me with jail?

I looked at him coldly, as if he were a clown.

"Sure, go ahead and report me. I'd actually love to see the police investigate that shipwreck to find out if it was really an accident. And as for that compensation money, let's see if it all went straight into this bitch's pocket!" I shot back.

William's gaze wavered for a moment—he was clearly rattled and guilty.

But determined to stand up for Olivia, he braced himself and barked, "Don't do this the hard way! I'm giving you one last chance—save him, now!"

Arms folded, I looked him dead in the eye and said just one word, cold as ice: "Leave."