Chapter 3
1282 Words
Mara’s pov
I don’t even know half of what happened. My head feels fuzzy, like I’m underwater, and Mother-in-law’s voice is scraping at my ears.
“If anything happens to my son, I’ll kill you.” She jabs a finger at my chest as if she can stab me with it.
That’s the last straw. The years of insults, the quiet, the pretending it all snaps tight inside me. I look at her. I’m done being small.
“When your son was the one nearly breaking me,” I spit, “where were you and your perfect family then?”
Her face goes white, lips thinning. “Did you just—”
The doctor’s voice cuts through us both. “It’s good to see you awake,” he says, calm and practised. “You’re in stable condition.”
I blink. “So I’m—”
“Fortunately, you only suffered minor injuries,” he continues, eyes sympathetic. Then his words hit like a cold slap. “But I’m afraid your husband is in a coma. He’s still unconscious.”
The world tilts. I taste metal. For a second nothing makes sense Daniel, the door slamming, the shouting and now a coma? My breath hitches. Around me, the room goes loud and distant, like I’m watching everyone move in a dream.
Mother-in-law’s face crumples into something hateful and worried all at once. “What did you do to him?” she snarls, but it sounds small, fragile.
I press my palms into the mattress until my nails hurt. My body remembers the blows, the fear, but my mind keeps trying to stitch the pieces together. Daniel in a coma. Me on a hospital bed. Accusations flying. None of it fits the life I thought I bought.
“Why—how—” I force out, but the doctor’s already scribbling notes,
I pulled the needles out of my skin and stood up, ignoring the sharp sting that shot through my arm.
“I’m leaving,” I said flatly.
Michelle tried to stop me, her hand reaching out, but one look from me that death stare I’d mastered and she froze.
After settling the bills, I walked out of the hospital and hailed a cab.
The ride was silent. Just me, my thoughts, and the ghost of the man I’d once thought I loved.
I was tired—tired of the lies I told myself, tired of pretending that any of this was my fault.
Daniel was always a lost cause.
And it took me two damn years to finally realize it.
Deep inside, a dark part of me whispered a truth I could barely admit:
I hoped he’d never wake up.
I hoped he’d burn in hell.
Better to be a widow than spend another day with that monster.
The cab rolled to a stop a few meters from the mansion.
I got out, handed the driver his fare, and just stood there for a moment staring at the house that had stolen my peace.
My stomach churned with nausea, and the arm where I’d ripped out the needles burned like fire.
I started up the stairs, too fast, too distracted and slammed straight into someone.
“Ah!” I yelped as my body hit the floor.
When I looked up, my breath caught.
It was him.
The stranger from the hospital.
“You,” he said, eyes narrowing. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?” His gaze lingered on me, steady and unreadable.
He was too handsome. It wasn’t fair. The kind of handsome that made you forget to breathe.
I swallowed hard, ignoring the sharp sting in my arm. “Umm… sorry.”
The word slipped out before I could stop it and I instantly regretted it. Why the hell am I apologizing?
“Sorry?” he echoed, raising a brow. “For what?”
He extended a hand toward me. I hesitated, then took it. His palm was warm, calloused grounding.
When I stood, I brushed the dust off my clothes, pretending to be occupied, anything to stop myself from staring at him.
Because no matter how cruel my marriage was, I was still married.
And I had no right to feel whatever this was.
When I finally looked up again he was gone.
My chest tightened.
Why does he keep disappearing like that?
I stripped off my clothes the moment I entered the room and stepped into the shower. The water hit my skin, hot and sharp, but my mind wouldn’t quiet.
I still couldn’t believe Daniel had cheated on me after everything I’d endured in this house.
My thoughts drifted, uninvited, to the stranger. I’d encountered him twice now, yet I still didn’t know his name or how he was connected to the family.
The way he looked at me like he wanted to grab me and never let go was still burned into my mind.
When I finished showering, I changed and went down for dinner.
The moment I entered the dining room, the air grew colder. Everyone’s eyes followed me as I walked past and took a seat.
The stranger sat opposite me calm, unreadable but his eyes hadn’t left me since I walked in.
Dinner was silent.
No one talked.
No one ever did.
This house was a mausoleum, and the only sound was the faint clink of cutlery against porcelain.
“You almost killed my nephew.”
Uncle Nicolas’s voice broke through the silence, low and deliberate.
I looked at him and forced a smile. “We all know you share no warmth for Daniel.”
His jaw twitched. He didn’t expect me to answer back.
If he thought he could gaslight me, he was wrong.
I knew every single one of them this family of liars and pretenders.
They all hated each other.
“Mind the way you speak, you peasant,” Grace hissed through clenched teeth.
I felt my confidence waver for a moment, my throat tightening.
“Have you no respect, Grace?”
The deep voice came from across the table him. He was speaking up for me.
But… why? We didn’t even know each other.
“And Nicolas,” he continued, his tone cool but cutting, “you don’t give a damn about your brother. So why bother defending the pretty one now?”
Nicolas’s jaw flexed, but before he could speak, his wife, Laura, placed a hand over his. A silent warning. She was always the quiet one gentle, calm. The opposite of him.
She and Nicolas were Black and white.
But their daughter… she was all Nicolas cold, proud, and hungry for chaos.
I turned my gaze back to the stranger.
So he was Daniel’s brother.
They looked nothing alike. He was composed, steady, with a darkness about him that somehow felt safer than Daniel’s rage.
Daniel had never mentioned having a brother. Then again, we’d never really talked about anything.
Our marriage had been rushed.
A deal sealed with signatures and lies my family trading me for resources to save their failing company.
I’d been sold off like livestock.
And once the deal was done, they’d disappeared.
No calls. No letters.
I heard they even moved out of the city to start over, leaving me behind like I’d never existed.
That’s how worthless I was to them.
“You should eat,” a low whisper broke my thoughts.
I blinked and looked up. His eyes were already on me.
My breath caught when I noticed the faint infinity symbol inked on his collarbone, peeking from his shirt.
My heart skipped.
It was the same tattoo I’d seen that night in the guest room.
He was the stranger.
- Writer
