Chapter 5

And so I went with Lucas to Chloe’s birthday party.

She really was a rich girl. The private dining room on the hotel’s top floor was over-the-top, and every guest was from the same exclusive circle.

The thing was, I didn’t know a single one of them, and every single one of them knew me. Their faces kept changing color like a paint palette.

“Lucas actually brought the crazy woman?”

“Keep it down. It’s not a surprise. Wherever Lucas goes, she has to tag along. She’s a total control freak.”

“Ugh. She doesn’t think Lucas and Chloe have something going, does she?”

“Nailed it. I heard she got hit by that car on purpose, just so Lucas wouldn’t go to Chloe’s welcome-back party.”

“Oh my God, she’s really ruthless with herself. But come on, they’re childhood sweethearts. If they wanted to be together, they would’ve been by now. How does she even rate? Chloe beats her at literally everything. What right does she have to be so paranoid?”

The whispers rose and fell all around me, as noisy as a farmers’ market, and I caught every single word.

I looked at them coldly. These people were all friends of Lucas or Chloe.

So this is how vicious I looked to everyone else.

How old was I, that people were already calling me “the crazy woman”?

Seven years married to Lucas, and I’d sunk so low that any random outsider could kick me. How could I not end up twisted? How could I not end up pitiful?

Maybe all those scars on my body were from me trying to find some way out of the pain.

The main table was full. There wasn’t a single empty seat. Everyone could see it: I was the only one standing.

Lucas had already sat down. He’d even very naturally pulled on a pair of gloves and started cracking a lobster for the woman beside him.

“What’s she even doing here? Isn’t this awkward for her?”

“Awkward? Please. She just has to stare at Lucas and she’s full.”

I gave a cold look to the gossip who was pretending to whisper. “I’m starving. Mind if I eat human flesh?”

His face froze. He clearly couldn’t believe I’d actually dared to talk back today.

Lucas set the lobster meat on Chloe’s plate and finally looked up—only to snap at me again. “Don’t make a scene.”

Oh, great. My pride and dignity were getting trampled into the floor, and my husband was helping the people doing the trampling.

That feeling of betrayal sent me completely over the edge.

I gave a creepy smile. “Eat? Eat this!”

Before anyone could react, I put every ounce of strength I had into it and flipped the whole table over.

In an instant, wine glasses and plates were shattering everywhere.

All that beautifully prepared food went splattering onto the floor, leaving a bunch of people frozen with their forks in the air, mouths hanging open.

Even Chloe and Lucas were stunned.

What a sight. Absolutely spectacular!

Watching all their shocked, shaken faces, the pressure in my chest finally let up a little.

If I’m not having a good time, then nobody gets to!

I gave a cold little huff and walked out with my head high.

If I didn’t run now, I might get jumped. Behind me, I could faintly hear people sucking in their breath.

“That’s it, even Lucas can’t keep the crazy woman in line anymore?”

“Oh my God, look at Chloe’s face!”

“Please. I bet you ten minutes, tops, she comes crawling back in tears to apologize to Lucas…”

…

The more I thought about it, the better I felt. I wandered aimlessly around the hotel, and then I spotted a sign.

So the hotel had a shopping center underground. Well, I couldn’t let Lucas’s black card go to waste.

I got into the elevator. Just as the doors were closing, Chloe slipped in.

In that tight little space, it was just the two of us. She stopped pretending. She looked at me like I was something filthy, sharp and cold.

“Ivy, you’re really not what I expected. You’ve got a thick skin, I’ll give you that.”

I gave her a contemptuous glance. “Somebody’s mad. Party got ruined, and now you’re about to explode, huh?”

Seeing that no one had followed her in, I went in for the kill. “What, Lucas isn’t coming to protect his delicate little princess?”

Chloe gave a creepy smile. “I think you’ve misunderstood something. I am not some delicate little thing.”

I didn’t bother to reply. I just leaned back in the corner of the elevator, not interested.

But she came closer, slowly, and that put me on alert.

I couldn’t figure out why she looked so excited, until she asked me, “Ivy, which of us do you think Lucas cares about more?”

Ugh. Lucas again.

I kept my face blank. “Let me make this very clear for both of you. As long as nobody hurts me, I’ll happily let you two have each other. And one more thing: there are a lot of kinds of love, but what you two have isn’t one of them. If you really love someone, you don’t drag a third person in to use as a prop to prove how deep your feelings are. That’s called being a fraud.”

Chloe raised her voice, mocking. “Please. That’s only because you got lucky! I’m the one who was supposed to find Lucas back then. You barged in and broke us up! Even overseas, I heard about all the disgusting things you did to hang on to him. The only reason he hasn’t divorced you is because he feels sorry for you. You’re an orphan!”

I didn’t say a word. I kept my cool, planning to set things straight once we were out of the elevator. But I couldn’t shake a strange, ominous feeling.

And sure enough, things went sideways.

Chloe’s face suddenly twisted, and she started pounding on the elevator walls. Then she lunged at me. The whole elevator began to shake.

“Stop moving! The elevator’s going to fall!”

I’d only just come back to my senses. These days, the thing I was most scared of was dying.

All I could do was use every bit of strength I had to hold her down with one hand, and hit the emergency button with the other.

In the struggle, her nails left several bloody scratches across my neck.

By the time she finally stopped losing her mind, the elevator had lurched to a stop—clunk—on the twenty-third floor. And the shopping center I’d wanted was down in the basement.

What was going on with this elevator? I knew for a fact I’d pressed down!

At this height, if the elevator lost control and dropped, both of us would be smashed flat.

I was stunned by how insane she’d been, and all I could do was pray someone would come save us soon.

I don’t know how long we were there.

Even the emergency lights inside the elevator switched themselves off.

I’m terrified of the dark.

But just as the darkness swallowed everything, I finally heard footsteps outside. There was hope.

I patted Chloe and signaled her to scream for help with me.

Lucas’s voice came from outside the elevator. My husband had finally, for once, come through.

The doors were quickly pried open a little, but the gap was only wide enough for one person to squeeze through.

He was covered in a cold sweat. He obviously couldn’t hold it long. “Hurry, come out, Chloe.”

I saw the tenderness in his eyes. It just wasn’t meant for me.

Chloe slipped quickly out of my arms. Lucas let go, and the doors slammed shut at the same moment.

At that dull thud, my body went limp, and I crumpled to the floor.

In that moment, I gave up all hope.

The terror of being swallowed by the dark, like my own death countdown had started, had me gulping for air.

My mind even started inventing scenes of me escaping the elevator safely.

All fake.

Only one thing was real: my husband, Lucas Thorne, with both me and Chloe trapped in that elevator, had saved her.

A sharp pain stabbed through my heart, and I collapsed in the elevator.

Even though I’d lost my memories, even though I didn’t love him anymore—

I swear, hate lasts longer than love.

If I lived through this, I wouldn’t ask for anything else in this world. I’d just pray, for the rest of my life, that those two got exactly what they deserved…