Chapter 4

Maybe because he didn't see the hysterical reaction he expected, or maybe because my attitude was too cold, Noah froze. But he quickly sneered.

"Divorce? Evelyn White, aren't you tired of playing hard to get?"

"Your father owes me a life. Without my permission, you will die as a member of the Black family!"

"Besides, you were the one who crawled to me in the first place."

He flicked his lighter and burned the divorce papers to ashes.

"Remember, I am the only one who decides when this ends!"

"Take her to the top deck. Nobody let her down without my order."

My body froze. I looked at Noah in disbelief.

The top deck?!

Could it be... was he the one who texted me?

But he didn't look like he knew about the text. I was dragged to the top deck by the security guards.

The early winter wind mixed with sea spray cut through my bones.

Downstairs, the party was loud with classical music and laughter.

I had just finished my second D&C surgery. Under the freezing cold, my body curled up on the deck, shivering violently in pain.

Time dragged on in agony. Around midnight, footsteps finally sounded from the stairs.

The person who promised to tell me the truth was here.

When I saw her face, my heart stopped.

Chloe Gray!

"It's you!"

Chloe sneered at me. "Yes, I was the one who lured you here."

"Even after what I said, Noah's hands were shaking when he burned those divorce papers."

"I can't keep you around anymore. If you stay alive, you will eventually expose everything."

Expose everything?

I stared at her, my voice trembling. "Tell me... what is the truth? Who killed my father?!"

"Why did you frame my family?!"

Chloe leaned close to my ear and whispered maliciously, "It doesn't matter if you know now."

"The one who killed Noah's father on the operating table was my dad."

"Your innocent doctor dad was just a scapegoat for the Gray family!"

"And your mother, who kept trying to clear his name? My family took care of her too."

My eyes widened. My father was innocent. My family was clean.

We were just sacrificial lambs for the Gray family.

"Why? What did we do to you?! What did my babies do?!"

Chloe laughed like a maniac.

"I never had a pregnancy phobia."

"Before Noah's father died, he put his $2 billion fortune into a family trust fund. The clause said Noah could only unlock the money once he had his first legitimate child!"

"Noah was only eight back then and knew nothing about it. That's why we didn't kill you both back then."

"My family did all of this for that money. How could I let a piece of trash like you get your hands on it?!"

My eyes turned bloodshot. The images of my parents' deaths and my eleven lost babies flashed through my mind.

I lunged at Chloe like a madwoman, grabbing her throat and slapping her across the face.

"Give me back my babies! Give me back my parents!"

"I'll kill you!"

Chloe suddenly stopped laughing and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Evelyn! No! Please spare me!"

Despite her terrified face, she pulled out a steak knife and stabbed it deep into my abdomen, then kicked over a can of kerosene she had prepared.

Noah burst through the door onto the deck.

The fire erupted instantly, and the deck started to collapse.

A massive mechanical hook swung out of control, rushing toward us.

With the knife still in my stomach, I was thrown over the railing by the impact.

My chest hurt, and I was suspended over the dark, freezing ocean.

I used the last bit of my strength to scream, "Noah... save me... she is the one who killed your father..."

"She will kill you too."

Chloe collapsed near the edge of the deck, screaming hysterically, "Noah, save me! She wants to kill me! I'm so scared!"

Noah rushed over, his face filled with disgust as he looked at me.

"Evelyn White, you are such a vile woman. You can even make up a lie like that?"

"Stay there and think about what you did. Treat it as paying back your father's debt!"

He picked up the screaming Chloe without hesitation and ran out of the fire without looking back.

My heart died completely. Even when I told him the truth, he didn't care.

With a loud crash, the burning deck collapsed.

I fell like a broken doll straight into the freezing, dark ocean.

Before the dark waves swallowed me, I thought I heard Noah's frantic scream:

"No—!"