Chapter 5

Liam frowned deeply and snapped impatiently, “Your mother is fine in the hospital. What the hell are you freaking out about?”

“Vanessa said she sent someone to pull out my mom’s oxygen tube.” I stared straight into his eyes, my voice shaking beyond control. “She said if my mom doesn’t die, she won’t be able to swallow this anger.”

The moment those words left my mouth, Liam’s expression darkened sharply. Anger surged in his eyes as he reached out and grabbed my wrist, the force so brutal it felt like he was about to crush my bones.

“Clara!” he barked. “How can you be this vicious? Making up lies to frame Vanessa out of thin air! I know exactly what kind of person she is. She risked her life to save me back then—pure-hearted and kind. How could she possibly do something like this? You’ve disappointed me beyond words.”

He didn’t believe me.

From beginning to end, he had only ever believed Vanessa.

I looked at the contempt and fury in his eyes and felt nothing but bitter irony and sorrow. Seven years of marriage couldn’t compare to a single careless lie from Vanessa. In his heart, I had always been this despicable.

Just then, his phone rang sharply. On the screen flashed the name “Vanessa.”

He glanced at it, released my wrist without a second thought, and his tone softened instantly as he answered the call. Turning away, he hurried out of the room without offering me a single explanation.

The hospital room fell into dead silence.

The pain in my legs and the pain in my chest intertwined, so intense I nearly passed out. But I couldn’t care about any of that. I threw off the blanket and yanked out the IV needle from the back of my hand. The needle tore through the vein, blood seeping out, yet I felt nothing.

Staggering, I braced myself against the wall and moved step by step toward my mother’s ward.

The hallway lights were a bleak white, illuminating my unsteady figure like a dying lone goose.

As I passed a room at the corner, the door slightly ajar, I glanced inside by chance—and saw a scene that was painfully warm.

Liam sat by the bed, carefully massaging Vanessa’s hand. She had sprained it when she pushed me down the stairs. Noah was curled in her arms, whining and calling her Mom. Vanessa smiled radiantly, lifting a hand to stroke the child’s hair.

The three of them leaned together, looking exactly like a real family of three—peaceful, harmonious, timeless.

The sight stabbed into my eyes.

Yet I felt nothing at all.

Their lives, their warmth, had nothing to do with me anymore.

All I wanted now was to find my mother.

I clenched my teeth and quickened my steps, finally forcing myself to the door of her ward. The moment I pushed it open, the large room was completely empty.

The bed was neatly made, spotless, devoid of any warmth. On the bedside table, my mother’s usual thermos was gone as well.

My heart stopped abruptly.

A freezing chill shot up from the soles of my feet straight to my scalp.

“Where is my mom?!” I rushed out like a madwoman, grabbing a passing nurse. My nails dug almost into her arm as I shouted hoarsely, “Where is the patient from Bed 302? Where did she go?!”

The nurse was startled and shook her head in panic. “I—I don’t know. Someone just came claiming to be your husband and took her away. As for where they went, we really don’t know.”

I grabbed a doctor. I grabbed a caregiver. People moved back and forth through the hallway, yet not a single person could tell me where my mother had been taken—or whether she was even alive.

Panic and despair swallowed me whole.

My hands trembling, I sent Liam a message, every word soaked in blood:

Liam, tell me—where is my mom?

The message vanished into silence. No reply. Nothing.

I leaned against the cold wall. The pain in my legs nearly sent me collapsing, my vision darkening in waves. Just as I stood on the edge of complete breakdown, several black-clad bodyguards suddenly rushed over, grabbing my arms with brute force and dragging me toward the elevators.

“What are you doing?! Let go of me!” I struggled desperately, screaming. “I need to find my mom! My mom is missing!”

“Mr. Wright has ordered that you just underwent surgery and need to return to your room to rest,” one of the bodyguards said expressionlessly, his voice cold, his grip unrelenting.

Only then did I understand.

Liam never intended to let me find my mother.

He believed Vanessa. He protected Vanessa. And my mother’s safety meant absolutely nothing to him.

I was forcibly dragged back to my hospital room. The door was locked from the outside. The large room became a cage built just for me.

I collapsed onto the bed, staring at the heavy night outside the window. The pain in my legs had long gone numb, but the hollow in my chest only grew wider and deeper.

Liam.

Vanessa.

Noah.

What you owe me, what you owe my mother, what you owe my seven years of life—I, Clara, will remember every bit of it starting today.

I no longer beg for your love.

I no longer beg for your trust.

All I ask for now is that my mother be safe.

Once I find her and protect her, I will leave this nauseating prison forever.

I will reclaim my former self—the Clara who once stood on the podium, blazing with light. The Clara who had not yet been ground down by love, not yet destroyed by schemes.

And then—

I will return with a blade in hand.

Blood debts will be repaid in blood.

Just then, my phone lit up.

A message had arrived—from Mr. G.