---- Chapter 8 Eliza POV: The police officer' s words were a distant buzzing in my ears. "An accident... slipped and fell... we' re so sorry for your loss." My world went white. My mother, who had been there just an hour ago, vibrant and fierce and full of life, was gone. The home | was so desperate to return to no longer existed. | didn' t cry. | couldn't. A cold, hollow numbness settled over me, a protective shell against a pain too immense to process. | signed the papers they put in front of me, my hand moving mechanically. | was a ghost, haunting the edges of my own tragedy. | found a deserted corner of the hospital waiting area and curled into a chair, clutching the list of soup ingredients my mother had written. Her handwriting, the last piece of her | had left Then, | heard a man' s voice from around the corner, low and urgent. "...make sure Ms. Yang is not mentioned in any report. This was a tragic accident. Nothing more." Catherine. The name sliced through my numb haze. | shot to my feet, my ---- body moving before my mind could catch up. | rounded the corner and saw a well-dressed lawyer speaking into his phone. "Who are you talking about?" | demanded, my voice a raw croak. | grabbed his arm, my nails digging into the expensive fabric of his suit. "What does Catherine Yang have to do with my mother's death?" Suddenly, strong arms wrapped around me from behind, pulling me away. "Eliza, stop. Calm down." It was Cash. | thrashed against him, a wild, desperate animal. "It was her!" | screamed, pointing a trembling finger at the lawyer. "Catherine was there! She killed my mother!" "No, 'Liza, no," he said, his voice trying to soothe me, but it only fueled my rage. "It was an accident. Catherine would never..." He didn't believe me. Of course, he didn' t believe me. He had never believed me. The fight went out of me, replaced by an arctic chill that froze me from the inside out. He was defending her. The woman who had murdered my mother. "I'm going home," | said, my voice dead. "Good," he said, relieved. "Let me take you..." ---- "Not your home," | cut him off. "My home. The one you' re not a part of." | looked him straight in the eye, savoring the shock and hurt that flashed across his face. "Did you see the news, Cash? The whole world knows about your engagement. Congratulations." | turned to leave. "We' re not over," he said, his voice hard, grabbing my arm "Don't even think about it." "A breakup doesn' t require your consent," | said, yanking my arm free. "And we are so far past over, it' s not even funny." | saw the confusion in his eyes, the dawning realization that he had lost control. "You know, for five years, | thought you were a hero," | said, my voice dripping with venom. "The man who sacrificed his own health to save me. But it was all a lie, wasn't it? The limp, the pain, everything. Just a pathetic trick to keep me chained to you." The blood drained from his face. He stared at me, utterly speechless. He never imagined | would find out. | smiled, a cold, sharp, joyless thing. "Goodbye, Cash." | walked away, and for the first time, he didn' t follow. | booked the first flight out of New York, a red-eye to anywhere. | just had to get away. But as | stood in the security line at JFK, ---- a sense of being watched prickled the back of my neck. | saw him then, standing near a pillar, his phone to his ear, his eyes locked on me. A moment later, two men in black suits were on either side of me. "Ms. Fuentes? Mr. Robinson has sent us to escort you." They didn' t give me a choice. They dragged me from the line, ignoring my protests. They forced me into a black SUV, blindfolded me, and took my phone and passport. One of them injected something into my arm, and the world dissolved into blackness. | woke up screaming. | was in a bed, in a room | didn' t recognize. The windows were barred. The door opened, and Cash walked in. He was smiling, a tender, loving, utterly insane smile. "You' re awake," he said softly. "You scared me, 'Liza. Trying to leave like that." "You can't do this," | whispered, my voice trembling. "This is illegal. This is kidnapping." "You promised you' d never leave me," he said, his smile never wavering as he sat on the edge of the bed. "You promised you' d take care of me forever. Remember?" ---- "That was before | knew you were a manipulative, cheating, pathological liar!" | shrieked, trying to scramble away from him. My hands were tied to the headboard. | was his prisoner. Day after day, he would visit. He' d bring me food, read to me, tell me about his day at the office. He never mentioned Catherine. He never mentioned my mother. He acted as if we were still the happy couple we had pretended to be, as if my imprisonment was just a minor hiccup in our love story. | went from rage to pleading to a dead, silent resignation. The fight drained out of me, leaving an empty husk. | would stare out the barred window at the small patch of sky | was allowed, feeling my mind and soul slowly atrophy. He was grinding me down into nothing. One morning, he seemed rushed. "Big day today, 'Liza," he said, kissing my forehead. "I have to go. Be a good girl." He instructed the stone-faced housekeeper to watch me closely. Hours passed. The silence of the remote family property was absolute. Then, | heard it. A faint sound from downstairs. Footsteps on the stairs, slow and cautious. The door to my room creaked open. A familiar figure stood there, his face a mixture of shock and horror. ---- It was Dane Wells. Cash' s best friend. "Eliza?" he breathed, his eyes taking in my gaunt frame, the ropes on my wrists, the deadness in my eyes. "My God. It's true. He really locked you up here." | stared at him, my mind slow to process. Was this another one of Cash' s games? He seemed to read my thoughts. He took a step into the room, his hands raised in a gesture of peace. "Cash and Catherine are getting married today," he said, his voice low and urgent. "And | think it' s time someone finally burned his entire world to the ground." He met my gaze, his own eyes hard with a resolve | didn' t understand. "Do you want revenge, Eliza?" he asked. "I can get you out of here. Right now. We can make them pay for everything." A tiny, dormant spark flickered to life within the cold ashes of my soul. Revenge. | thought of my mother. | thought of my lost baby. | thought of the past five years of lies. | met Dane' s gaze, and for the first time in months, | felt something other than despair. | nodded.