Chapter 3

I froze. "What?"

"Get rid of this baby." Lily raised her head, her eyes frighteningly red. "Then leave him. Now. Immediately!"

I thought I'd heard wrong.

"Lily, do you know what you're saying---"

"I know!" She suddenly raised her voice, grabbing my wrist with painful force. "Serena, listen to me. You can't have this baby. He'll destroy you. He'll---"

"Enough!"

I shook off her hand, angry at her for the first time.

"I don't know what you've been through or why you hate Marcus so much, but we're complete strangers. He's my husband. I love him. This is our child. How can you say such things?!"

Lily took a step back, looking at me. Something shattered in her eyes.

"...You love him." She repeated, her voice as soft as a sigh. "Right, of course you love him. You always have..."

"Lily, I understand you might have issues with marriage because of family problems, but Marcus isn't like that. He's good to me. We---"

"It's all fake!"

She cut me off, tears falling, but her expression was cold. "He's good to you now because you're still useful. Once you have the baby, once you can't run away, he'll change. He'll control you, monitor you, hit you, and finally---"

"Shut up!"

I was shaking with anger.

Marcus heard the noise and rushed in. Seeing me crying, he immediately pulled me behind him.

"Lily, I understand you're upset, but you can't talk to Serena like this. She's pregnant and needs to stay emotionally stable."

He held me tightly, warmth spreading through my whole body.

Looking at Lily's face, I doubted for the first time whether I'd made a mistake.

I should have taken her to the police station from the start.

"Emotionally stable?" Lily laughed, the sound uglier than crying. "When he torments her to death, she'll be stable forever."

Marcus's face darkened. "You're still living here because Serena is kindhearted, but you keep cursing her!"

"You're no longer welcome here. Leave this house immediately!"

"You're the one who should leave," Lily stared at him, enunciating each word. "You don't deserve her. You'll only get her killed!"

"Enough!"

My voice came out shrill, startling even myself.

I pulled away from Marcus's embrace and stepped forward, my fingertip almost touching her nose.

"What exactly do you want? Since you appeared, you've done nothing but slander my husband, curse my marriage, and now you won't even spare my unborn child!"

"This is my home, this is my husband, this is my child!"

"Get out of my house right now!"