Chapter 2

2.

In Silas’s mind, I was just a devious woman who staged everything for his attention.

Hidden from his view, Celeste curled her lips into a smug, triumphant smile. The “innocent flower” persona was completely gone.

After venting his anger, he waited for me to apologize and beg for forgiveness, as I usually did.

After all, that’s how it had always been. If Silas was unhappy, I would always apologize until he was pleased again.

Maybe in his eyes, I was nothing more than a pathetic lapdog.

Ten minutes passed, but there was still silence from the other end of the screen.

“That woman, she actually dares to ignore my message?” Silas fumed, not even realizing how much he cared about my response.

My heart was cold. He would never receive a response from me again.

Silas, as if he hadn’t vented enough, sent another voice message.

“Trying to go silent on me? I’m telling you, if you don’t listen, your brother can kiss his life goodbye. Get out of that hospital room today!”

With that, he made a cold, calculated call to the care facility where my brother was staying.

As I listened to the monotonous ringing on the other end, I felt like I was drowning in an icy lake.

My brother was my only living relative. He was a vegetable, and if he were kicked out of that ward, he would die!

Shaking with terror, I threw myself at Silas, screaming, “No! Silas, you can’t touch my brother!”

I was hysterical, begging him to stop and spare my brother’s life.

But he didn’t react at all. Instead, Celeste, that manipulative snake, seized the opportunity to interject, sounding oh-so-innocent. “Maybe Elara is just reluctant to dress up as me and lure the killer. Actually, I can understand her. Who would want to put themselves in such danger…”

Silas, who had been wavering slightly while looking at his phone, hardened his resolve after hearing her words.

“Celeste, don’t say another word. This all started because of her, and this is the debt she needs to pay!”

“If she won’t pay it now, I’ll make her brother pay. I don’t believe she won’t show her face if I do that!”

Silas was cold and absolute. He knew I cared about my brother, thinking he could hold him hostage to control me.

He slowly opened the takeout box, took out the carefully prepared chicken soup, and spooned it into Celeste’s mouth with meticulous care.

Celeste looked at Silas, touched. “Silas, you are so good to me.”

They were so close, their physical proximity shrinking until there was no space left. An outsider would have assumed they were the real couple.

I stood right there, watching the tension between them, the only thing missing was them finally crossing that final line.

Silas forced me to lure the killer for Celeste, never once considering how dangerous and depraved the person on the other side was, or how much he was risking my life.

I shuddered at the memory of the killer’s cold, fanatical eyes just before I died.

The trauma flooded back into my mind.

In that damp, dark basement, he had pulled out my fingernails one by one, replacing them with diamonds embedded into my flesh. He had even gouged out my eyes, replacing them with mercury.

Looking at Celeste, who was being pampered and protected, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy. Being loved wholeheartedly by Silas must feel wonderful.

Unlike me. In his heart, I was nothing more than an ant, there to be stepped on whenever he pleased.

This nightmare lasted for three whole days.

Each day was a new torture, as I witnessed Silas showering Celeste with immense patience and care.

As a world-class pianist who treated his hands like gold, he broke his own rules to cook for her, just so she could get proper nutrition.

He stayed by her side whenever she had a nightmare, refusing to sleep, just to attend to her every need the moment she woke.

Celeste was healthy and whole, yet Silas was willing to go through hell and back for her.

My body was left to rot alone in a basement, shattered and broken, not even deserving a single thought or glance from him.

My devotion had been nothing but a waste.

I felt more and more like my past self, the woman who had poured her entire soul into Silas, was a fool.

Just as I wondered how much longer this living hell would continue, someone arrived who could finally save me from the despair.

As Silas and Celeste were laughing and chatting, the door was kicked open with a loud bang.

My best friend, Jada Monroe, stormed in. Usually, she was bubbly and cheerful, but now she was radiating pure fury. “Silas Sterling, do you have any heart left? Elara has been missing for so long, and you haven’t done a thing! All you do is flirt with this woman!”

“Don’t you realize that this malicious woman was the one who drove a wedge between you and Elara?”

“Elara is in extreme danger right now!”

She glared at the pair, wishing she could lash them both with a whip until they begged for mercy.

Jada had always loathed Celeste, calling her a manipulative social climber to my face many times.

Celeste, seeing the confrontation, immediately reverted to her old tricks, playing the victim. “Jada, did Elara tell you to say that? I know she doesn’t like me. If she wants to come back, I’d be willing to be the one to disappear…”

As she spoke, she glanced at Silas. Seeing his face darkening, she almost couldn’t suppress her smug grin.