Seeing my mangled finger, Victoria's face hardened."I didn't know!"
Didn't know?
Impossible.

That voice after every beating—it was hers.
"What's going on?"
She grabbed my hand, eyes wide, but I pushed her away.
"Whether you did or not doesn't matter anymore."
"Victoria, I'm a disabled man now."
Truth or not, it didn't matter.

She was the one who tricked me into that basement.
If not for her" marital duty" to punish my obsession with Ryan, I wouldn't be this way.
"I want nothing. The company's yours.I'll leave with nothing. Tell me where my parents are buried, and I’ll have divorce papers drafted by tomorrow."
My face was ashen, my stomach aching—a lingering issue from three years of raw rice, spoiled greens, and sludgy porridge.

Panic flickered across Victoria's face, a look I hadn't seen in years."Ethan, I really didn't know. You think I'm lying?"
"Vicky, you think he'd really divorce you?" Ryan interjected." He's bluffing. Remember when your project tanked? He took the fall, quit, and never ratted you out. He's got no one but you!"
Ryan was right.
After my parents died, Victoria was all I had.
When she botched a major project, she begged me not to let her get fired. Her dream was to be a powerhouse, not mocked by those she'd once dismissed.
That day, she sobbed."Ethan, help me.I'm pregnant. We're starting a family. You've done so much for the company—even if you take the blame, the board will just chew you out. Quit, let me cover for you, and the company stays ours."
"You've worked so hard. Let me take over. Stay home, care for our baby. Okay?"
I sacrificed for her and the child.
But we lost that baby.
The day Ryan returned, Victoria went to pick him up and got in a wreck.
I arrived to find her bloodied.
She later sneered," Ethan, still pulling this guilt trip? If you had the guts to divorce me, I'd respect you more!"
"Enough. Go rest. Ryan and I have work—unlike you, just mooching."
She led Ryan to the study, the door slamming shut.
Whether they worked or did something else, I didn't care.
I grabbed my old hiking bag from the guest room, packed a few things, and left.
They were still inside, faint sounds leaking through the door.