When the picture of Carlos Phillips’s kidnapping arrived, I ran out, eight months pregnant, holding a knife. By the time I reached the last door, I was covered in blood and holding my belly. I heard laughter inside.
“The bet ended in ten minutes. Do you really think Hannah could make it here with that bump?”
“Or make this sister kneel to me and we’ll forget the wine-throwing.”
“If anything happened to the baby in Hannah’s womb, I’d take the blame.”
Then Carlos’s cold voice cut in. “What? Afraid of losing?”
“No. I just knew how hard you’d worked for this child. You were risking your wife’s life over a bet. Had you thought what would happen if something went wrong?”
“Shut up. She wasn’t a plaything, she was everything to me. If I lost the child, I could have another. But I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.”
“Besides, I knew I’d win. Hannah would come.”
I gripped the knife tight in my hand, the taste of blood spreading in my mouth. What I thought was a kidnapping turned out to be nothing more than a bet Carlos made to protect another woman.
He had thrown away our eight-month-old child for her.
Carlos, you said those who betray will end up in hell. Let’s begin with you losing this bet.
——
I dropped the knife and leaned against the wall as I tried to calm my rough breathing. I took out my phone, sent a message to a strange number and stared at the photo it sent back. It was her.
More messages came.
“There’s no sound outside now. Looks like the result is…”
The mocking words were cut off by Carlos.
“It’s not over. Hannah fought through ten men for me. Your people are nothing to her. If it’s for me, she’ll fight until the end.”
A round of clapping followed.
“Compared to a kneel and apology, today’s bet was far more exciting. Thank you, Mr. Phillips, for feeding my urge to gamble. Nothing beats a game like this.”
Tears welled in my eyes as I remembered when I was eighteen and Carlos set fire to the nightclub where I was trapped, leaving a scar on his face that never healed.
He told me losing his face for my freedom was the best trade he had ever made and from that moment, he rose step by step, promising he would give me a better life.
As I watched his wounds grow deeper, I let go of my mother’s last wish and walked beside him on his path to becoming the feared Mr. Phillips.
I believed we would be the closest partners and the truest lovers, yet who would have thought this bond would last only ten short years.
Carlos, when I loved you, I gave up everything for you, but now we have come to the end.
“Nineteen eighty-seven six…” The victorious countdown from behind the door cut through my thoughts and those ten minutes felt endless yet gone in a blink.
I pushed myself up and as the count struck zero, I flung the door open.
In an instant, every gaze fell on me. I ignored Carlos’s shocked expression and went straight to the only woman there.
I yanked her hair and slapped her hard across the face.
“Hannah, why did you hit me?”
Everyone inside froze in disbelief, except Maya Rivera, who covered her cheek with both hands, her face full of grievance.
I stayed calm but pretended to be furious.
“This is how you act as an assistant? The boss is kidnapped and you’re here untouched. Who else should I strike if not you?”
After saying that, I motioned for the people behind me to come forward. “Teach her a lesson and show her how to be a proper assistant.”
Maya was the assistant Carlos had hired at a high price and he once said the business needed someone to handle it, that violence wouldn’t last and he wanted to free me and the child from worry.
Yet I never thought that in only eight months, Carlos would turn away from me and the child for her.
The men advanced with iron bars and Maya, terrified, fell to the ground behind Carlos while clutching his sleeve.
“Carlos, help me! Hannah wants to kill me…”
The bar came down and her screams of pain echoed through the room.
Carlos finally moved; though bound, he suddenly stood and grabbed the iron bar with one hand.
“Enough, Hannah! Can’t you see she’s only a foolish girl? You’re still pregnant, yet you’re shouting and lashing out like a killer!”
I sneered inside, because he hadn’t remembered I was pregnant when he lured me into this kidnapping, yet now he suddenly remembered when it came to Maya.
“Don’t you have anything to say?”
The sound of blood dripping from the knife’s tip mixed with my rough breaths against the floor.
He gave a laugh, let out a sigh and tugged at his wrinkled collar. “This was all for Phillips’s. Don’t you also want our child to be born into a better place? Mr. Landers agreed and if you had come just a second earlier, that piece of land in the south city would already be ours.”
I listened to his smooth lies, as if today’s mess was only because I had been late, as if he and Maya had been the ones fighting for Phillips’s.
“It’s true, I was blind.” I turned to the other man in the wager, whose amused face suddenly froze.
I spoke quietly, “Mr. Landers, we accept the loss. Let’s carry out the real bet now.”
With Carlos’s shocked eyes on me, I dragged Maya over and forced her to the ground.
“Hannah! She’s pregnant!”
His large hands pressed down on my shoulders. I paused before pressing my fist against my stomach.
I smiled at Carlo. “Do you want my unborn child, or hers?”
The weight on my shoulders eased as he let go, his hands falling away while he stepped aside with a blank face. I pressed harder until a dull ache spread through my belly, then rose slowly to my feet.
I tore a few sheets of paper from the table, wiped the blood from my hands and threw them at Carlos with disgust. “Will you write the divorce papers, or should I?”
Carlos’s eyes flickered at last. “I won’t divorce you, Hannah. I told you, only death will end us.”
The moment those words left him, I picked up a knife from the floor and swung it at him.
He looked at the blade without moving, his gaze the same as when he was eighteen, surrounded by men, fearlessly lighting gasoline.
The blade cut across his body and blood instantly soaked his custom suit.
He pulled the knife from my hand without any change in his expression and tossed it aside. “Hannah, one life is enough to ease your anger.”
Maya’s lower body was soaked in blood and the child was gone. I watched Carlos carry her away and said silently, “Carlos, it wasn’t just one, it was two.”
I stayed in the hospital for seven days and during that time, Carlos and Maya vanished from my world.
It was then that I reached out for the first time to the person I had least wanted to see.
“I want you to put people around Carlos.”
On the first night after I was discharged, I was packing for the funeral the next day when Carlos suddenly pushed the door open.
He stopped in his tracks when he saw me holding a book. Since I became pregnant, he had bought piles of books and read to our child every day, only because my Greenville University acceptance letter had burned in the fire.
He said this child would one day make up for my regret.
I heard his footsteps grow lighter as he came closer and with a long sigh, he snatched the book from my hands and tossed a medical report in front of me. “Hannah, are you satisfied?”
The word “hysterectomy” stood out on the paper. “She was just a young girl. First you hit her, then forced her to kneel and now she has lost the right to be a mother. Hannah, you’re so cruel.”
“I’m cruel?”
“Carlos, when you called me to save you, did you forget my child was already eight months along?”
“My child didn’t deserve protection; why should you guard her so carefully? Whoever made the mistake had to pay.”
“Carlos, my only regret was not killing her the day she first appeared.”
I completely fell apart, lifted my loose nightgown, trembled and rushed out to grab a knife and only then did Carlos notice my flat belly.
After the shock passed, he wrapped his arms around me from behind as if pulling me into him. “Hannah, this is all my fault.”
A tear slid down my neck and I shivered.
It was ten years ago again when we ran hand in hand from the fire, clinging together and feeling only the heat on our necks.
A cold breeze at the hem of my skirt jolted me awake. “Carlos…”
“Don’t be afraid, I’m here.”
Then turned and pressed my head into his chest in a gesture that comforted and denied at once. He still thought I was the same Hannah who let him persuade me to give in.
I pushed him out the door, but before I could close it, Maya’s voice came through.
“Carlos, what’s wrong? Give me your phone! I want the whole world to see she’s a bitch!”
“Maya….”
“Carlos, I’m asking you something. Where’s the photo? Did she beg you so much? Did you give in?”
“Carlos, the doctor says I can’t have children. Please let me in. I want her child buried with mine, so she can feel the emptiness of a woman without.”
As Maya’s voice grew more frenzied, Carlos quickly covered her mouth and carried her away. I couldn’t see his expression; I only heard his soft voice, drowning like water. “Don’t be afraid, Maya, I’m here. I will love you forever.”
Five years ago, when I lost my first child in revenge and was left in torment, he had made the same promise. “Hannah, whether we have children or not, I will always love you.”
But who could have known his “forever” would last only ten years. My nails dug into my palms, yet all I felt was the same ache as the blood flowing out of me.
Men’s promises were cheap and laughable.
The next morning, as I was about to go downstairs for my child’s funeral, Maya stopped me. She wore a nightgown and pulled open her collar to reveal a fresh kiss mark, her eyes filled with disdain.
“Hannah, don’t think you’ve won. You may never know that Carlos never loved you.”
“He just couldn’t bear to see me suffer with him, so he needed someone to take the burden and that’s why he chose you.”
“Now that you’ve lost your child, why are you still holding on here?”
I stopped, my eyes growing colder. “What did you just say?”
“I said, you’re only my replacement.”
Maya dragged out the word “replacement,” her face full of pride.
I froze for a moment, then saw Maya, her face twisted and grim, pull a dagger from behind and rush at me. “Hannah, pay with my child’s life. Go to hell.”
Carlos ran after her, but he was still too late. I dodged and Maya stumbled out of control, tumbling down the stairs as the dagger clattered on the steps.
I stepped forward, seized the dagger and struck toward Maya. By the time Carlos caught up, the blade had already cut across her neck. His face darkened and he quickly stood in front of her, his eyes filled with turmoil.
“Hannah, this ends here.”
“Carlos, she said I was your stand-in. Tell me, is that true?”
Carlos hesitated at my words and I used the moment to drive the dagger into Maya’s chest again.
My wrist was caught in a tight grip, but I clenched my teeth and ignored the tearing pain. A scream rang out as the blade finally sank into Maya’s chest.
Before I could pull it out, I was kicked hard to the ground, my already broken wrist crushed under a leather shoe and I gasped from the pain.
“Hannah, let’s divorce.”
How ridiculous. He had always said only death could part us, yet now he agreed so easily for Maya’s sake.
The divorce papers were thrown at me carelessly and then Carlos tried to carry Maya away. But she resisted, forcing herself to stand in front of me as she dropped the lighter.
Flames quickly devoured the things prepared for the funeral, books Carlos and I had once read to our children and toys we had chosen together.
I tried to grab them back, but my fear of fire pinned me helplessly to the floor.
She leaned against Carlos’s arms and sneered at me. “Hannah, that fire ten years ago should have taken your life.”
And Carlos only stood there watching. Hatred rose endlessly in my heart and I suddenly dropped to the ground and burst out laughing.
“Carlos, I haven’t seen you fall into hell yet, so how could I leave so easily? For ten years I’ve turned my blade on others and now it’s your turn to feel it. None of you are leaving today.”
As soon as I finished, the villa door slammed shut.
“Open it!”
Carlos kicked the door again and again, his face growing cold. “Hannah, you were the one who asked for divorce. Now that I’ve agreed, what more do you want? Do you really want to die?” He shouted at me in anger while holding Maya tightly.
The scars on his face didn’t make him look harsh; his protective stance only made him seem more striking.
I slowly stood and tore the divorce papers apart without pause. “Carlos, you said only death could end our marriage. How could I divorce you without you and Maya dying?”
A faint sneer touched Carlos’s lips. “Hannah, do you really think closing the door means you’ve won? You’re relying on those two people you’ve pulled to your side. I don’t want to argue with you about today. Maya needs the hospital. Open the door, now!”
“I said no one leaves today.”
At my words, a cold light flickered across Carlos’s face. “Hannah, you’ve forced me into this.”
He raised his hand, and in an instant, dozens of people filled the villa. “Kill her.”
But his order lingered in the air and no one moved. His eyes turned red as he shouted again at the leader, “Kill her! Anyone who refuses today will be my enemy!”
What came back were dozens of gun barrels pointed at him. “No one leaves without Miss Hannah’s order!”
“Hannah? What do you mean her?”
Carlos demanded, but silence filled the villa.
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