Chapter 3

I couldn't bear to hear any more. Slamming the door behind me, I locked myself in my room.

My phone buzzed with a new message, the sound sharp and intrusive. I opened the message, and a video began to play.

The moment I saw it, my heart stopped. Rowena's screams filled the room, and I froze, unable to move.

In the video, my three-year-old daughter lay in a pool of blood, her tiny body marked with the terrible, cruel lashings she had endured. She looked directly into the camera, her lips trembling as she whispered, "Mommy... save me..."

The message that followed felt like a slap to the face.

[I'm guessing you didn’t know your daughter wasn't dead when the accident happened. Spencer gave her to me and let me do whatever I wanted to her to get back at you.

[So I locked her in the basement and tortured her for three whole days. She begged me to stop up until the second she died.]

"Lorelei, your daughter's just like you—useless and pathetic."

I spun around at the sound of Melanie's voice, her smug smile burning into me. "Do you know why Spencer was so eager to have the body cremated? Because your daughter was tortured to death. He didn't want you to see the scars and target me.

"Five years ago, you were my defeated enemy. Five years later, you're still nothing more than a loser."

"Ahhh!!" I screamed, a guttural cry of rage clouding all my senses. One thought consumed me—Melanie had to pay for what she had done to Rowena.

Seeing the stairs behind her, I surged forward, using every ounce of strength I had to charge at her. But just before I reached her, she flashed me a smile and, without hesitation, stepped backward, falling.

My heart lurched as a terrible feeling washed over me.

Then, Spencer's voice rang out from behind me, full of fury.

"Lorelei!"

He rushed over in an instant, kicking me hard in the chest.

"If anything happens to Melanie or the baby, I won't forgive you!"

He scooped up Melanie, who was still moaning in pain after falling down the stairs, and hurried out of the room to head to the hospital.

I collapsed to the floor, clutching my chest in agony.

With the entire Ford family gone to the hospital, the vast mansion felt eerily empty.

Unable to walk, I used my arms to drag myself back to my room, inch by painful inch.

As night fell outside, the door to my room opened. Spencer entered, his expression solemn.

"Melanie lost the baby," he said through clenched teeth. "Lorelei, you bullied Melanie in school—you made her fail her exams and pushed her to the brink of suicide. Now you've caused the death of her baby!"

It was the first time he had confronted me about the bullying directly.

"I didn't bully her," I replied, my voice calm despite the fury burning inside.

Before I could say anything else, he threw a diary at me.

I picked it up, and a single glance was enough to recognize it—it was a diary I'd kept in high school.

Every word inside it was a record of the abuse Melanie had subjected me to.

But now, the cover of the diary had her name written across it.

"Open your eyes. Every word in this diary is proof of your cruelty! I never imagined that beneath your gentle exterior, you could harbor such a vicious heart.

"You hid it so well. Despite knowing your sins, I still couldn't help but fall in love with you... You deserve to die."

He was so close now that I could see the veins on his forehead throbbing with rage.

"I was going to give you a chance to atone, but now it's clear—you're beyond redemption."

His hand raised, and for a moment, I thought he would strike me.

Suddenly, I was transported back to the years of torment Melanie had put me through. The fear and the pain I'd tried to escape from flashed through my mind.

His eyes softened when he saw my terrified reaction.

"Spencer, you have to avenge my baby!"

Melanie burst into the room, tears streaming down her face. "Don't you remember what she did to me? She stripped clothes off me, dragged me to the bathroom, and beat me senseless! Have you forgotten?

"Now it's her turn, and you feel sorry for her? What about the pain I’ve gone through?"

Her voice broke with emotion as she stormed to the window, as if preparing to jump. "If you've fallen for her, I might as well die!"

"Melanie!"

Spencer took a deep breath, finally speaking up. He stepped forward, grabbing her before she could make any rash moves.

He turned his gaze to me, silence stretching between us before he spoke.

"Lorelei, when you do wrong, you have to face the consequences."

His eyes briefly lingered on my legs, and his voice dropped low. "The wedding's tomorrow. She can kneel in the guest house until morning to repent."

Melanie was furious. "But she killed my baby! One night of kneeling isn't enough! I want her to pay with her life!"

"Melanie!" Spencer's voice grew harsh, and he turned to her, his tone commanding. "Don't say such things again. She's going to be my wife..."

He softened his voice as he glanced at Melanie's reddened eyes. "I promise you, once the wedding is over, I'll let you do what you want with her. But you can't kill her."

I lowered my head, a cold smirk tugging at the corner of my lips.

She wouldn't get to do anything to me because I would be gone tomorrow.

I clutched the USB in my hand—my wedding gift to Spencer.

Inside it, I had recorded everything Melanie had done to me in high school: the beatings, the insults, everything.

I wondered if, when Spencer finally knew the truth, he would regret what he had done to me.

-

The day of the wedding came, and Spencer ordered someone to pick Lorelei up early.

He had spent the entire night thinking it through, and finally, he had made up his mind.

He loved Lorelei.

Even though he had orchestrated their first meeting with a hidden agenda, after five years of being together, Lorelei's name had become permanently etched in his heart.

So, despite Lorelei's mistakes, he believed she had paid for them in full. Once they were married, Spencer planned to take Lorelei away and start a new life, just the two of them.

Having made up his mind, Spencer wanted to look for Lorelei.

But Courtney stopped him. "There's no rush. You'll see her at the wedding."

Spencer hesitated for a moment, then relented, deciding to go to the venue first.

He took in the decorations, nodding in approval at the wheelchair covered in flowers that he had specifically arranged.

As he saw the red roses and white ribbon twisted together, his mind flashed back to that day, to the sight of Lorelei covered in blood.

Even though he was behind the accident that broke Lorelei's legs, he still wanted to see her happy.

Guests began arriving, and the large screen began showing pictures of Spencer and Lorelei from the past five years.

He watched the photos with a small smile tugging at his lips.

He couldn't wait to see Lorelei's reaction when she saw those memories, wondering if she would cry.

But just then, his phone rang.

"Spencer, I have bad news! Lorelei... Lorelei's dead!"