Chapter 3

The next day, Fiona and I were discharged together.

Elias drove to pick us up.

I didn't want to ride with them, but Elias forced me into the car.

Not long after we got home, a fire suddenly broke out. The flames were fierce. A burning wardrobe tilted and fell straight toward me.

In that critical moment, Fiona suddenly rushed over and pushed me aside. She was struck hard by the burning wardrobe herself.

When Elias reacted, he saw Fiona lying there after being hit while protecting me.

He instinctively rushed toward Fiona, but when his eyes met mine, he seemed to snap back to reality.

"Violet, thank god you're okay."

Even as the ambulance took Fiona away, he never looked at her again.

But in the empty hospital room, Elias pinned her beneath him, his eyes suppressing anger.

"Who told you to block it? Do you know you're pregnant?"

"Do you have to torture yourself to death before you're satisfied?"

The next second, Elias kissed her fiercely.

She was pregnant again.

I felt inevitable pain in body and soul, but deep inside I was numb. I quietly withdrew.

Elias didn't come home that night.

It wasn't until the next morning that he stood by my bed, eyes full of disappointment:

"I investigated the fire. Someone deliberately set it."

I looked up in disbelief: "You suspect me?"

Elias sighed: "I told you, I'm only using Fiona. Once I'm done with her, I'll send her away. She's no threat to you. She even risked her life to protect you. Why can't you tolerate her?"

In the middle of summer, I felt ice cold all over.

Elias truly didn't believe me.

In the days that followed, he deliberately gave me the cold shoulder.

But I didn't care anymore, because in two days, I would take my son Jack and leave for good.

The day before I was to leave was our fifth wedding anniversary.

I thought he would still ignore me, but he chartered a luxury yacht to celebrate.

Yet the moment we boarded, his subordinate told him Fiona had disappeared again.

That night, Elias practically turned the entire Grimshade pack upside down but still couldn't find any trace of Fiona.

He smashed a vase, shards scattering near my feet.

"Violet, tell me—where is Fiona?"

I shook my head: "I don't know... I really don't know..."

This wasn't the first time he'd suspected me because of Fiona, but my chest still felt like it was being torn open.

Someone handed over Fiona's phone. Her last call before disappearing was to me.

Elias rubbed his throbbing temples:

"Violet, the evidence is right here. Are you still going to deny it?"

I laughed coldly: "Just because of one phone call, you've decided I had someone kidnap Fiona?"

I remembered the call Fiona made before she disappeared—

"I hurt myself all over. I deliberately started the fire too. I knew it wouldn't really hurt me, so I threw myself at you to put on a show."

"A man's heartache and guilt are the strongest chains. I want Elias to soften toward me bit by bit, to compensate me, until I completely replace you."

Her ambition was crystal clear on that call.

"Luna Violet, I know you and Elias have a child together. Want to make a bet?"

"Let's bet on whether Elias cares more about you and your child, or me and the baby in my belly."

So Fiona's disappearance was completely staged by herself, but Elias didn't believe a word I said.

He looked at me with disappointment: "Violet, Fiona is crucial to the pack's plan. Can you stop making a scene?!"