He Couldn't Quit Her, So I Left Him Nothing

Six months after Ryan Holt returned to our marriage, he was still trying to quit Winnie Lowe. For his birthday, I made him a chocolate cake from scratch. The moment he saw it, he said without thinking, "Too bad she prefers matcha." I'd never been afraid of thunder. But one night, with lightning flashing and thunder crashing outside, he pulled me into his arms in his sleep and murmured, "Don't be afraid." On Winnie's birthday, I watched him enter a long string of numbers from memory. He tossed and turned all night, but somehow stopped himself from making the call. He even set our wedding photo as his lock screen. Across it, he'd written in red: "Remember, this is the woman you love." "You have a responsibility to this family." He had to constantly remind himself because although he'd come home physically, emotionally, he was still with Winnie. And suddenly, I realized there was no point in clinging to this marriage anymore. Maybe it was time to let go. Chapter 1 Shay's POV I stared at Ryan Holt's phone after the screen went dark again. I hesitated for all of three seconds before entering Winnie Lowe's birthday as the passcode. The phone unlocked. After Ryan and Winnie broke up, Winnie changed her number and disappeared completely. That long string of digits Ryan kept typing from memory was the only way he still had to reach her. The call rang for barely three seconds before someone answered. I hadn't even had time to say, "I'm planning to divorce Ryan," when Winnie's choked, tearful voice burst through the speaker. "Ryan! You finally called me! "I knew you couldn't really let me go. We love each other so much we'd give up our lives for each other. "How could you just leave like that? We said we'd face everything together. You have ALS. It's not an immediate death sentence. And even if it were, I'd still stay with you. I'd die with you if I had to. "I know you don't want to burden me, but... I'm really scared Ms. Moore won't take good care of you. What does she know how to do besides get jealous and act crazy?" Her sobs mingled with the faint static on the line. The truth hit me like a crack of thunder. All at once, I remembered that night six months ago. Ryan had stood in front of me looking exhausted, his voice hoarse. Then he tore up the divorce papers and said, "Shay, can we not get divorced?" By then, the marriage had already drained me. From the day I caught him cheating to the day I forced him to end things with Winnie, I'd behaved like someone possessed. I told people everywhere we went that he'd betrayed me. I slapped him twice in front of his parents. I made him get on his knees and swear he'd never betray me again. Every time he brought me another set of divorce papers, I tore them up. I clung to the marriage with everything I had. Ryan and I had grown up together. We'd had twenty years between us, and I kept telling myself Winnie was just one wrong turn he'd taken. I believed we still had a chance. But when Ryan finally put that chance in front of me himself, I lost my nerve. "Why?" I asked. Ryan stayed silent for a long time. In the end, he didn't explain. Only now did I finally understand. He was sick. He couldn't bear the thought of burdening Winnie. But burdening me was apparently fine. I thought the realization would hurt. I thought it would tear through me the way it had the day I discovered his affair. But strangely, it didn't. While Ryan had spent the past six months trying to get over Winnie, I had been slowly getting over him too. A bitter smile tugged at my lips. I ended the call and deleted it from his call history. Ryan had just finished showering when he stopped behind me. His voice was a little hoarse. "Who were you calling?" "Someone I just met," I said casually. Ryan paused before replying, just as casually, "Oh. She sounded a lot like someone I used to know." I lowered my eyes, hiding the mockery in them. Even with the shower running, he'd recognized Winnie's voice. What else could that be but love? I must have been out of my mind six months ago. I'd clung desperately to a cheating man who didn't deserve it, and I had nearly committed the rest of my life to caring for someone who was dying. When I got up, Ryan stepped forward and reached out as if he wanted to pull me into his arms. I evaded him. Then I looked him straight in the eye. "I have a physical tomorrow. Do you want to come with me?" His hands paused in midair. A moment later, his gaze shifted. "I just had a checkup last month. I'll skip it." "How did it go?" "I'm perfectly healthy." Ryan smiled faintly, took my hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Don't stress yourself out. Even if something is wrong, we can face it together." His eyes flickered, almost as though he were testing me. "If something ever happened to me, you'd stay with me too, wouldn't you?" No, Ryan. I wouldn't. The Shay Moore who had once loved you with everything she had would have stayed. But the Shay Moore you came back to because you needed someone to clean up the mess wouldn't. I calmly pulled my hand from his and left his question unanswered. "Let's get some sleep. I have a physical tomorrow, so I can't stay up late." Ryan frowned and instinctively stepped toward me, looking as if he wanted to say something else. Before he could, his phone suddenly started ringing. He looked at the screen once, and his expression changed immediately. I knew at once who it was. Winnie was calling him back. Thunder exploded outside, and a flash of white light lit up Ryan's face. For six months, his eyes had been quiet and dull. Now, for the first time, they came alive with a brightness I'd never seen before. He stood frozen in the living room for so long that I almost thought he was going to let the call ring out. Then he answered. A second later, he grabbed his umbrella and coat and headed for the door. "Something urgent came up at work. I need to go in." He didn't even wait for me to respond before the door slammed shut behind him. I stood alone in the dark living room for a long time before I went into the study, opened the bottom drawer, and pulled out an old divorce agreement. Ryan had signed it back when he'd been desperate to get rid of me. Under the terms of the agreement, he would leave the marriage with nothing. I wondered if Winnie would still be willing to take care of him once she found out he'd be broke and disabled. Chapter 2 I signed my name at the bottom of the divorce agreement, taking my time with every letter, then sent it to my attorney. She quickly confirmed what I needed to know. "The agreement is valid. Once the mandatory thirty-day waiting period is over, the divorce can be finalized. "If your husband refuses to transfer the assets as agreed, you can take him to court. "With this agreement in place, I'd estimate your chances of winning at around ninety percent." I thanked her and had just ended the call when a loud commotion erupted outside. The next second, the bedroom door flew open with a bang. Ryan stood in the darkness, soaked to the skin, his expression black with fury. "Shay Moore, why did you use my phone behind my back?" I paused, then calmly looked up at him. His eyes locked on mine. "I haven't contacted Winnie in months!" he demanded. "I did exactly what you wanted. I cut her out of my life and came back to this marriage. So why can't you leave her alone?" Ryan stalked toward me. Lightning flashed outside, making the look in his eyes even more intimidating. "Do you have any idea what happened because of that call? Winnie came rushing out to find me and fell so badly she couldn't even get up!" His accusation was so ridiculous that I laughed. "She fell, and somehow that's my fault too? What, did I push her?" Ryan's hands curled into fists. He looked furious. I rose to my feet and met his gaze, speaking each word slowly and clearly. "Since we're talking about it, let me correct one thing. "I didn't call her because I wanted to do anything to her. "I called because I wanted to tell her that I'm divorcing you." Ryan froze. Thunder rumbled outside, and the room sank into pitch darkness. Behind him, Winnie limped into view. The moment she heard what I'd said, excitement flashed across her face. She opened her mouth, clearly about to say something, but Ryan gave a scornful laugh before she could. "Shay, you don't need to tell such childish lies. "You think threatening me with divorce is going to make me back down? Everyone knows how you practically lost your mind trying to keep this marriage together. "Do you really expect me to believe you now?" Winnie stopped short. Then she stepped up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her voice turned feather-soft as she tried to soothe him. "That's enough, Ryan. Don't say anything else. You'll only hurt Ms. Moore. "I'm fine, so don't blame her. I only fell because I wasn't watching where I was going." Then her voice trembled. "It's my fault. I missed you too much. The second I saw your call, I couldn't control myself anymore... "I wanted to see you. I wanted to see you so badly." Ryan finally turned around and pulled her hard into his embrace. He held her with such care, such fierce tenderness, that I realized I'd never once been held that way by him in all our years together. My gaze moved past their tangled figures to the mess outside the bedroom. Ryan and Winnie were both drenched from the rain. They had been in such a hurry when they came inside that neither of them had even changed their shoes, trekking mud all over the floor. More than a dozen overlapping footprints stained Ryan's favorite white rug. Ryan was obsessive about cleanliness. He couldn't stand so much as a speck of dust or a single stray hair anywhere in the house. Once, after I'd injured my leg in an accident, I'd asked him to pick up my shoes for me. He had covered them with tissues before touching them, his face twisted with obvious disgust. And that white rug was even more precious to him. His late grandmother had made it by hand, and it was one of the few things she'd left him. He never let me step on it with slippers. Not even brand-new ones. But now... One muddy footprint after another covered the white fabric. Looking at them, I suddenly thought of our marriage. Once something had been stained this badly, no amount of scrubbing could make it clean again. I laughed bitterly and looked away. By then, Ryan had already lifted Winnie into his arms. Without the slightest hesitation, he took her mud-covered foot in his hand and looked at me. "Bring me the first-aid kit." He paused, then continued before I could respond. "If you hadn't called her, Winnie wouldn't have rushed out to find me, and she wouldn't have gotten hurt. "So whatever you're upset about, keep it to yourself. "Starting today, Winnie is staying here until she recovers." He lowered his gaze, hiding the emotion in his eyes. "Don't worry. This won't affect our marriage. "Once her injury heals, I'll take her back to Jadebrook myself. After that, I won't contact her again." Then he looked back at me. "And please don't pull another stupid stunt like this. You're only making it more obvious how jealous you are." Chapter 3 Ryan never came back to the master bedroom that night. He stayed in the guest room with Winnie. She took the bed while he slept on the couch. Nothing physical happened between them, but their voices carried through the walls all night, buzzing in my ears and getting under my skin. They talked about everything from poetry and literature to life and philosophy. They called each other "soulmates." And without the slightest hesitation, they admitted that if it weren't for me, they would have spent their lives blissfully happy together. In one night, they talked more than Ryan and I had in the past six months combined. I thought I'd be up all night, but to my surprise, ever since I decided to divorce him, I'd felt much more at ease. At one in the morning, I fell asleep to the sound of their voices and got the best night's sleep I'd had in six months. My alarm went off at eight the next morning. When I opened my eyes, I could still hear Winnie talking next door. "Ryan, sometimes I wish my leg would never get better. "Then I'd have an excuse to stay by your side forever..." A mocking laugh escaped me as I shut off the alarm and rolled over with a pillow pressed over my ears, intending to go back to sleep. I was just starting to drift back to sleep when Ryan suddenly yanked me out of bed. "Shay Moore, how dare you put broken razor blades in the face wash?" Caught completely off guard, I slammed hard into the edge of the table. My vision went dark for a second, and I sucked in a sharp breath. Ryan threw the bottle at me. It struck me, and two tiny pieces of metal fell onto the floor. I stared at them in disbelief. "That's impossible..." Winnie stood behind Ryan, a glint of challenge in her eyes. Everything clicked. My expression went cold. "It wasn't me," I said, enunciating every word. Ryan let out an angry laugh. "There are only three people in this house. If it wasn't you, who was it? Me? "Your alarm went off half an hour ago. You turned it off, so you must've used that time to mess with the face wash. "You knew Winnie came over in a rush and would probably need to borrow yours. How could you even think of doing something this vicious? "If she hadn't noticed in time, her face could've been scarred!" He had already decided I was guilty and had no intention of hearing anything I have to say. Every bit of anger I'd been holding back came rushing to the surface. I grabbed the bottle, shot to my feet, and looked straight at Winnie. "Anything you'd like to say, Ms. Lowe?" Winnie avoided my eyes while hers immediately reddened as she put on a wounded expression. "I'm sorry, Ms. Moore. If you're uncomfortable with me staying here while I recover, I'll leave right now." She turned as though she were about to go. I caught her wrist before Ryan could react and yanked her back. Then I squeezed a large amount of the face wash straight onto her face. Using the sleeve of my pajamas over my hand, I scrubbed it hard across her skin. Winnie screamed. "Ah! It hurts!" Small cuts appeared across her face. I looked at her and gave a cold laugh. "Since you've both already decided I did it, it hardly seems fair for you to walk away without a scratch. "If you're going to play the victim, at least commit to it." Then I turned to Ryan and raised an eyebrow. "There. Now your precious Winnie really was hurt by me. "So, Mr. Holt, is there anything else you'd like to accuse me of?" Ryan stared at me in disbelief. His eyes reddened with rage. "Shay, you... How dare you?" He stepped forward and reached for my wrist. But Winnie was already clutching her face and crying out in pain. "My face! Ryan, my face is ruined! It hurts so much..." Ryan stopped immediately. Whatever he had been about to do to me no longer mattered. He swept Winnie into his arms and rushed for the door. He knocked me to the floor on his way past. A sharp crack came from my arm as he stepped on it without slowing down. Pain shot through me so violently that my vision blurred. By the time I could focus again, all I saw was Ryan disappearing through the doorway with Winnie in his arms. I lay on the floor, drenched in sweat from the pain, with the spilled face wash and bits of metal scattered around me. Later, while I was at the hospital getting my broken arm treated, Ryan's mother, Elizabeth Hartley, called and asked when I would arrive. Only then did I remember. It was her birthday. Ryan's parents had always treated me well. After they found out about his affair, they had done everything they could to convince me not to leave him. I wasn't ready to tell them about the divorce, so I kept my explanation vague. "Elizabeth, something urgent came up. I'll be there in about an hour." Afterward, I stopped at the mall and picked out a birthday gift for her before heading to the Holt family home. But just as I reached for the door, Ryan blocked my way. "Shay Moore, what gives you the right to have the hospital turn Winnie away?" Chapter 4 The storm from the night before still hadn't fully passed. The heavy rain had faded into a light drizzle, but by the time I closed my umbrella and realized Ryan had no intention of letting me inside, my hair was already damp. The cold was biting. I sneezed, and what little patience I had left disappeared with it. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Move. I want to go inside." Ryan stood in the doorway in a long black coat, one hand braced against the frame so there was no way around him. "Don't forget whose house this is." His expression was cold, his voice full of accusation. "Stop pretending you don't know. You were the one who called the hospital, weren't you? You told them not to admit anyone named Winnie Lowe." His jaw tightened. "Do you have any idea what it was like to rush her there with blood all over her face, only to have them turn her away at the door?" Then he looked at me with open disappointment. "Shay Moore, you used to be kind. How did you become this jealous and vicious? Are you not going to stop until you've completely destroyed Winnie?" That look in his eyes cut deeper than I expected. For some reason, it brought me back to our freshman year of high school. My entire class had suddenly started excluding me, and not long after that, everyone began accusing me of bullying the girl who sat beside me. Before I knew it, the whole class had turned against me. Even our teacher said she was going to call my parents. Ryan had stepped in front of me without hesitation, spreading his arms as if he could shield me from all of them. "Shay isn't that kind of person. I believe her." Then he'd looked at everyone else and demanded, "If you're going to accuse her, shouldn't you have actual proof? There are cameras all over the school. Why don't you check them?" He spent the next three days going through everything he could find. By the time he finally uncovered footage proving another girl had been the real bully, his eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep. He had cleared my name. Back then, he had believed me even when there was no evidence in my favor. Now, he was just as quick to decide everything was my fault without a shred of evidence. A humorless laugh escaped me. "Ryan, you're awfully quick to pin this on me when you don't have a shred of proof." He froze. For a moment, genuine confusion flashed across his face. I didn't know whether he had remembered that summer too, but his fingers slowly curled at his sides, and a crease formed between his brows. "You..." He seemed about to ask me something when Elizabeth's cold voice came from behind him. "It was me." Ryan spun around. Elizabeth stepped forward. "I'm the one who contacted an old friend at the hospital and told them not to admit her." Her expression hardened. "Ryan, have you forgotten what you promised us? You said that once you came home, you'd cut that woman out of your life for good. So what exactly are you doing now? "If I hadn't asked someone to look into what happened today, I wouldn't even know how badly Shay had been treated. Your wife has a broken arm, and you..." She never got to finish. Ryan slammed his fist into the wall. When he pulled it back, his knuckles were split and bleeding, but he didn't seem to notice. His expression darkened as he turned and strode into the house without another word. Elizabeth came over and wrapped an arm around me. "Ignore him. No matter what happens, your father and I are on your side." I suppressed the bitter amusement rising inside me and gave her a calm smile. "Thank you, Elizabeth." Ryan and I didn't speak once during Elizabeth's birthday dinner. He spent most of the meal making call after call, trying to get Winnie transferred from the small clinic that had taken her in to a larger hospital. Eventually, Ryan's father, William Holt, had enough. "Stop calling. No hospital in Jerriton will accept Winnie Lowe, and neither will any hospital in the surrounding cities." Ryan looked at me with such obvious disgust that there was no mistaking what he thought of me. I ignored him and finished my meal in silence. When dinner was over, I said goodbye to Elizabeth and headed outside. I never expected disaster to strike just as I was about to leave. A huge pane of glass overhead suddenly came loose and looked like it was about to fall. My expression changed, and I started backing away to safety, only for a large, strong hand to reach out and hold me firmly in place. I turned in disbelief and found myself staring into Ryan's cold, emotionless eyes. His voice rang out like a death knell. "Don't blame me for this, Shay." His voice was slow and deliberate. "Winnie can't get into a hospital under her own name, so she'll have to use yours." He held me even tighter. "From now on, you're Winnie Lowe, and she's Shay Moore." The glass came crashing down. Ryan had me pinned so firmly that I couldn't move. It shattered over me, and pain exploded through my body as I collapsed to the ground. My vision blurred red. Through the ringing in my ears, I heard Elizabeth frantically calling for help. "Call 911! Get an ambulance here now! Shay needs the best care available!" Her voice seemed to drift in and out. I tried desperately to say something, but the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth and made it hard to speak. "We can't wait for the ambulance." Ryan bent down and lifted me into his arms. "Mom, stay here. I'll take Shay to the hospital." William and Elizabeth didn't suspect a thing. They simply watched as he carried me to the car. Ryan drove away from the Holt house at full speed. The moment we turned the corner and disappeared from view, he pulled over at the side of the road. Apparently afraid I would interfere again, he took out a length of rope and tied my wrists and ankles. I stared at him with bloodshot eyes. It took everything I had just to force the words out. "Ryan... are you seriously leaving me on the side of the road?" He opened the car door without the slightest hesitation. "I'll come back for you as soon as Winnie is admitted." His tone was matter-of-fact. "I'll be quick." A faint, bitter smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. "No. You don't need to come back." Ryan frowned, irritation flashing across his face. "Relax. I'm not actually going to abandon you here. "Whatever happens between us, you're still the wife I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with. I'm not going to leave you here and pretend you don't exist." I slowly closed my eyes. When I spoke again, my voice was cold. "No. You can choose to abandon me." I paused before finishing quietly, "Because from this moment on, if you ever run into a tight spot, I'll choose to abandon you too." Ryan stopped mid-step. For the first time since we'd left the house, his expression changed. "What do you mean?" Chapter 5 Ryan studied me, clearly trying to figure out what I meant. "Why are you suddenly saying something like that?" I scoffed and was about to answer when his phone suddenly started ringing. The moment he saw who was calling, the darkness in his expression vanished, replaced by a tenderness he never bothered to hide. "Don't be scared, Winnie. I won't let anything happen to you. "You're not going to be disfigured. I'm coming right now, and I'll take you to the hospital myself. "You'll have access to the best medical care in all of Jerriton." That should have been mine. Instead, I was lying helplessly in his Maybach, bound hand and foot, covered in blood and waiting to die while he promised another woman the medical care I desperately needed. All at once, all words left me. I simply closed my eyes and let him walk away. In his rush to get to Winnie, he'd even forgotten to unlock the car. I stretched toward the door with everything I had, desperate to get myself out, but I couldn't reach it. The air inside the car grew harder to breathe, and I pounded my fists against the window again and again until the backs of my hands were raw. "Help... somebody... help me..." The red haze clouding my vision gradually faded to black. Just before I lost consciousness, I saw someone smash through the car window. "Ma'am, wake up! We need a family member to sign off on your surgery!" Through the fog, I vaguely heard one of the medical staff call Ryan. The moment they mentioned my name, he cut them off impatiently. "I'm busy right now." Then he hung up. The dead tone rang in my ears, and everything went black. When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in a hospital bed with layer after layer of gauze wrapped around my face. A dull stinging sensation made me instinctively reach for the bandages, but a nurse rushed in and stopped me. "Don't touch them! You just had extensive cosmetic surgery on your entire face. You need to keep it protected from the light." Cosmetic surgery? On my entire face? A chill shot down my spine. "What do you mean, cosmetic surgery on my entire face?" Panic took over. Ignoring the nurse, I tore the bandages off. The moment I saw myself in the mirror, I froze. My face was so swollen and distorted that I barely recognized the woman staring back at me. My eyelids had been surgically altered to make my eyes unnaturally wide. The tip of my nose had been broadened, and my lips had been made thicker. Someone had deliberately changed my entire face. I couldn't hold back any longer. "I was cut by broken glass! All I needed was for my wounds to be cleaned and bandaged. Who gave you permission to operate on my entire face?!" "I did." The door swung open. Ryan stood there, completely calm, his eyes cold and indifferent. "I authorized it." My fingers clenched around the blanket so tightly I nearly tore it. Ryan Holt. It had been Ryan Holt. "Winnie has a scar on her face," he said, looking at me evenly and emphasizing every word. "If it weren't for you, she never would've been hurt in the first place. And if you and my mother hadn't kept her out of the hospital, her treatment wouldn't have been delayed, and she wouldn't have that scar now." His voice remained cold. "You did something wrong, so now you have to face the consequences." He stepped closer, grabbed my chin, and forced my face upward. Something vicious flashed through his eyes. "Tomorrow is Winnie's birthday. "Your face is my early birthday present to her." His grip tightened until it felt as though he might crush my jaw. Tears streamed from my eyes from the pain, but all I could feel was hatred. I sank my teeth into his wrist as hard as I could. "Let go!" Ryan recoiled in pain. His gaze lingered on the tears running down my face, and for a moment, his expression turned complicated. "You..." I didn't give him the chance to finish. I grabbed the phone beside me and called 911. "Hello. I need to report a crime. "Someone had extensive cosmetic surgery performed on me without my consent." Ryan's face changed instantly. He reached over and ended the call, his teeth clenched in fury. "Shay Moore, have you lost your mind? You're really going to make a mountain out of a molehill over something this minor? "You and Winnie aren't the same. She's young, unmarried, and she cares about her appearance. One scar on her face could change her entire future." Then his voice turned mocking. "But you? "Haven't you already decided you're going to cling to me for the rest of your life? No matter how ugly you become, I'll still take you." I spat straight at him. "Get over yourself, Ryan. What makes you so sure I'll never leave you?" I picked up my phone, opened the divorce confirmation my lawyer had sent me, and shoved the screen right in front of his face. Chapter 6 Ryan's brow furrowed as his gaze dropped to my phone. "What does that mean?" But just as he was about to read the message, the door was shoved open. "Who called the police?" Ryan's expression darkened at once. Before I could say anything, he pulled me tightly against him. "Officers, this is all a misunderstanding." I struggled in his arms. "I called! He had my entire face surgically altered without my consent!" Ryan tightened his grip until it felt like he might crush my arm. "This woman is my wife. I can show you our marriage certificate." His voice was calm and steady, the kind that made people instinctively want to believe him. "She has severe anxiety and has struggled with her appearance for years. This time, she decided to have extensive cosmetic surgery because she was unhappy with how she looked." He continued without missing a beat. "Unfortunately, the surgery didn't turn out the way she wanted. It aggravated her condition, and now she's experiencing symptoms of schizophrenia." I stared at him in disbelief. "Ryan Holt!" "Be good and listen to me." He held me even tighter, his voice gentle enough to sound loving, yet there was something chilling underneath it. "Officers, I have her medical records right here." Ryan pulled up a copy of my diagnosis on his phone. I did have severe anxiety. But it had never had anything to do with my appearance. I'd been diagnosed during the worst period of our marriage, right after I discovered Ryan's affair. I cried constantly, barely slept, and spent every waking hour terrified that the relationship I'd devoted myself to was coming to an end. When Ryan begged me to take him back, he'd sworn to me, "Shay, it's only anxiety. I'll stay with you until you're better." That diagnosis should have been proof of what he'd put me through. Now he was using it against me, not to help me, but to drag me even deeper into hell. I lunged forward and knocked the phone from his hand. "Yes, I have anxiety, but I never agreed to that surgery. I would never have chosen to..." "That's enough, honey. Can you please stop wasting police resources?" Ryan covered my mouth before I could finish and calmly watched the officers leave. That was when I realized I couldn't sit there and let him control what happened next. The moment his guard dropped, I drove my foot up between his legs as hard as I could. Ryan cried out and folded instantly. His body went weak, and he collapsed onto the floor, unable to get back up. The realization came almost immediately. His ALS had probably started progressing. His face drained of color as he called after me. "Shay..." I didn't stay to hear the rest. A mocking smile touched my lips as I turned and walked away without hesitation. Why should I care if my soon-to-be ex-husband was getting sick? The moment I left the hospital, I called 911 again. The phone had barely started ringing when pain exploded through the back of my head. Someone struck me from behind. Everything went black. When I woke again, my hands and feet were tied, and I was lying in a stark white hospital room. The walls were covered in the same four words, written over and over in black marker. LET ME OUT. A terrible feeling rose in my chest. I kicked the headboard as hard as I could. A few seconds later, two nurses in white coats walked in with gentle expressions. Their movements were anything but gentle. One of them pressed a stun device against me. My vision went dark around the edges as electricity tore through my body. The nurse kept speaking in the same calm, soothing voice. "Ms. Moore, please try to stay calm. We're going to provide you with a full course of treatment. Once your condition is stable, you'll be allowed to leave the psychiatric hospital." Then they held a phone up to me. Ryan's voice came through the speaker. "Shay, why can't you just behave? "Since you insisted on calling the police, I couldn't risk dragging Winnie into this. I had no choice but to do this." His tone remained maddeningly calm. "Don't worry. Once Winnie has recovered and I've taken her home, I'll come get you myself." The words hit me like a thunderclap. Ryan had put me in a psychiatric hospital. My whole body started trembling. I stared at the stun device in the nurse's hand and nearly begged him. "No. Ryan, no. Come get me out of here right now!" The only answer was the dead tone. The room seemed to close in around me as the stun device came toward me again. The nurse sounded almost regretful. "Ms. Moore, we told you to cooperate. If you refuse to listen, we'll have to teach you how." The next seven days were a nightmare. They punished every attempt I made to resist. Needles were driven into my fingertips again and again. My head was forced into filthy water. I was shocked until I barely had enough strength left to stand. Eventually, word finally came from Ryan. "Mr. Holt wants you taken to Central Hospital," one of the staff members told me. "He says there's something very important he needs to discuss with you." For the first time in days, they gave me my phone back. I opened my unread messages one by one. The first was from my attorney. "Ms. Moore, your divorce has been finalized. You can now file with the court to enforce the agreement and require Mr. Holt to transfer all assets covered under its terms." The next was from the hospital. "To the family of Mr. Ryan Holt: Mr. Holt's condition is critical. We need you to come to the hospital as soon as possible so we can discuss the next stage of his treatment." The final message was from Ryan himself. "Shay, I'm sick. Come to the hospital immediately and stay with me for the tests." I looked at the messages and smiled coldly. Then I raised a hand and hailed a cab. "Take me to the courthouse." Sorry, Ryan. At this point, I didn't want the husband anymore. I wanted the assets.