Chapter 2

Summer POV

I didn't know how I made it back to the luxury villa.

When I arrived home, I was soaked through, like someone just pulled from water. The villa was empty, with only endless darkness and cold wrapping around me.

I'd just changed out of my wet clothes when a violent dizzy spell hit my brain. I leaned over the sink and vomited a large mouthful of fresh blood. The red liquid looked terrifying against the white ceramic basin.

Trembling, I rinsed away the blood and fished two painkillers from my pocket, swallowing them dry.

Just then, the roar of a car engine sounded from downstairs.

Nathan had returned, and he'd brought Evelyn.

I steadied myself against the wall and walked downstairs, just in time to see Evelyn intimately hugging Nathan's neck as she surveyed the villa's decor. "Nathan, after we get married, let's redo all this decoration. I don't like this cold style."

"Whatever you want." Nathan's voice carried rare tenderness.

Hearing footsteps, they both looked up.

Seeing me, the tenderness on Nathan's face instantly vanished, replaced by extreme disgust. "What are you doing down here?"

Before I could speak, Evelyn's gaze suddenly fell on my neck. There hung a sapphire necklace. The only keepsake from my late mother, and the most valuable thing I owned.

"Nathan, that necklace is so beautiful. My birthday wish tonight was to have a sapphire necklace just like that." Evelyn leaned against Nathan's chest, her voice coy.

Nathan looked at me coldly and commanded without any warmth. "Take it off. Give it to Evelyn."

I clutched the pendant at my chest tightly, my knuckles turning white. "No! This is my mother's keepsake. Nathan, you can't take it!"

For three years, no matter how he tortured me, I endured silently. But this necklace alone was my last connection to this world.

"Keepsake?" Nathan sneered, strode forward, and gripped my chin, with force that seemed ready to crush my bones. "A vicious woman like you doesn't deserve keepsakes. When you killed Ryan, did you think about how he didn't even leave a last word!"

I was forced to tilt my head back, my eyes red-rimmed, my voice violently trembling. "That fire wasn't set by me! I've explained countless times!"

"Shut up!" Nathan interrupted me brutally, his eyes churning with intense hatred. "I won't listen to your excuses. The necklace. Either you take it off yourself, or I call the hospital to cut off Mason's medication right now."

Mason was my younger brother, my only living relative who'd become a vegetable after being severely injured in that incident three years ago.

Hearing Mason's name, all the strength seemed to drain from my body instantly.

The severe pain in my brain surged violently again. My vision became blurry in an instant. I laughed miserably as tears finally slid down my cheeks.

"I'll take it off."

With trembling hands, I unfastened the clasp at my neck. The sapphire, still warm with my body heat, was handed over by my own hands.

Evelyn happily received it and put it on immediately. "Thank you, Nathan. I love it so much."

"As long as you're happy." Nathan didn't even glance at me again. He put his arm around Evelyn and headed upstairs. "The air's too dirty down here. Let's go back to the room."

I stood alone in the spacious living room, hands clutching my head tightly, the pain almost suffocating.

Late at night, the basement was cold and damp. This was the bedroom Nathan had arranged for me.

I curled up on the narrow hard bed, my pain nerves tortured madly by the tumor. I bit the blanket to keep from making any sound, until a bloody taste welled up deep in my throat.

I suddenly coughed up a large pool of dark blood that stained the rough sheets red.

Three months...

I looked at the blood in my palm, my lips twisting into a smile uglier than tears.

Nathan, wait three more months. You'll never have to see me again. This life of mine. I'll return it to you soon.