Chapter 3

*"The scraps of affection she once had for you were worn away years ago."*

I shook my head violently.

*Impossible.*

We built this life from nothing. I saved her when we were young. I changed her destiny. She loved me. She would never betray me.

I tried to slam the diary shut, to silence the hallucinations.

But the next paragraph tore my heart to shreds.

*"Stop blaming yourself for the baby. It wasn't your fault."*

*"While you were home raising the child, Sarah claimed she was working. She wasn't. She was with Xavier Pruitt."*

*"The day the baby died? They were upstairs."*

*"Xavier knocked over a bottle of lubricant. That is why you slipped."*

*"When the ambulance took you away, Xavier was hiding in the nursery—the room you decorated with your own hands."*

*"While you were drowning in self-loathing, Sarah was comforting Xavier."*

*"And just now? Sarah didn't leave for work. She left because Xavier summoned her."*

*"They are at the Mid-Mountain Villa right now, plotting how to transfer your joint assets."*

*"Jayden Henson, wake up!"*

*"The only one who can save you is yourself."*

The handwriting deteriorated from neat script to frantic scrawls, vibrating with desperation.

I gasped for air, my chest heaving. The moonlight outside the window felt cold, mocking. The notification on her phone... the smoke... the "work" emergency.

It all coalesced into a black hole threatening to swallow me whole.

Was Sarah a monster?

Or was I finally losing my mind completely?

I didn't know.

But the Mid-Mountain Villa held the truth.

I grabbed my medication and shoved the diary into my bag. I hailed a taxi, giving the driver the address of the place I had vowed never to return to.

As the city lights blurred past, I opened the diary again, desperate to find a tether to the past, to the love I thought we shared.

The entries began from the day we met.

*December 30, 2015. Sunny.*

*First snow in Harbin.*

*I found a girl freezing on my doorstep. She said she was a student my father sponsored. Her grandfather passed away, her relatives seized her home. She had nowhere to go.*

*I couldn't tell her the truth—that my parents divorced, that my father abandoned us both. He wouldn't care if she lived or died. But looking into her eyes... I couldn't turn her away.*

*I let her stay in the shop. Room and board included. The wages are enough for her to survive.*

*They say good deeds are rewarded. I saved a girl; maybe Heaven will save my mom.*

*December 31, 2015. Sunny.*

*Sarah is a hard worker. She never stops moving. Having her here makes things easier.*

*She eats a lot, though. Our savings are hitting rock bottom.*

*I don't know when Mom will get better.*

*February 11, 2016. Sunny.*

*The hospital issued a critical notice for Mom.*

*The rain was torrential. No taxis. I ran all the way to the hospital and broke my leg in the fall.*