Chapter 1
Three days before our wedding anniversary, my husband, who hated the sea, surprisingly wanted to take me on a luxury cruise.
But an anonymous video shattered the sweet illusion. Victor Lewis and his cronies were actually betting on my unborn child and me.
They were betting on whether I'd collapse in tears when he proposed to his mistress in front of everyone.
The bet? That they'd force me, six months pregnant, to put on a swimsuit and jump into the sea.
The worst part was the truth about my brother's death on the operating table. Victor moved that donor heart himself, and he did it to make his mistress smile.
It turned out my three-year marriage was nothing but a slow soak in poison.
I signed the old prenup that had been sitting in a drawer for years, the one that could strip him of everything.
During the lavish cruise banquet, he dropped to one knee in front of his new flame.
I flashed my ace, smiled, and turned to embrace the "lunatic" I once feared.
Victor, your game was over, and I was the one flipping the table.
A shark cage? He was the one who belonged down there.
*****
Three days left until our third wedding anniversary.
Victor, my husband who always acted like the ocean was his worst enemy, did something totally out of character. "Let's go on a cruise for a few days. For our anniversary."
The glow from my phone screen caught the tension in my brows as they suddenly furrowed.
Something was off.
My finger hovered over the dial button for a few seconds before I finally pressed it.
"Hello?" His voice came through, with some background noise on his end.
"You always hated the smell of the ocean. Even the beach makes you complain your feet get dirty," I said, trying to keep my voice calm. "So what's with the sudden interest in a cruise?"
There was a short pause on the other end, so short that it almost felt like something I'd imagined.
Then came his usual, impatient tone.
"Tsk, wasn't it you who kept going on about wanting to go? You've talked about it so much, my ears are numb.
"Now you're turning around and questioning me, after I finally give you what you wanted?
"If you don't want to go, whatever. I'll just cancel it, so you won't keep nagging me next time."
Victor throwing it back at me made my doubts fade a bit.
Maybe I really was being paranoid.
"I'll go," I said quickly, afraid he'd back out. "Of course I'll go."
The moment I hung up, the screen was still lit.
A new message slithered in, silent and cold as a snake.
There was no words.
Just a video that started playing automatically.
The footage was shaky, the lighting dim and hazy, smoke curling through the air as if the whole room was ablaze.
"Three million! I'm putting three million on it!" a voice shouted, so keyed up it cracked. "Three days from now, on that cruise, Victor drops to one knee for Lily, and Hazel breaks down and cries right in front of everybody."
A hollow ringing filled my ears and drowned out everything for a second.
My mind went blank, as if somebody had taken a sledgehammer to it.
My fingers clamped the edges of my phone so tight, my knuckles turned white.
The video kept rolling.
Another voice, laced with dirty laughter, jumped in.
"Victor, how about this bet? You propose to Lily right in front of Hazel, and we watch her fall apart.
"And for the stakes, well, let's make Ms. Grant, six months pregnant, put on a swimsuit and do a little show for us in the sea. What do you say?"
"That's insane. I'm adding six million."
"I'm in!"
"Count me in!"
Shouts and wagers echoed around the room, like hyenas fighting over scraps.
The camera swept past, and through the smoke I caught the face I knew down to my bones, clear as anything.
He held a cigarette between his fingers, and he looked like he was smirking.
"Alright, I'm betting—"
I didn't catch a single word of what he said after that.
My finger, as if it had a mind of its own, stabbed the screen, killing the video.
The world went dead silent.
All that was left was my ragged breathing and the sharp, cold smell of hospital disinfectant.