Chapter 4

The following afternoon, Julian went to the office.

I sat in the guest bedroom, replying to an email from an overseas clinic.

Chloe strolled in uninvited, holding a velvet jewelry box.

"Serena, this room barely gets any sun. How can you stand sleeping in here?"

I didn't answer.

Unfazed by the cold shoulder, she drifted toward my desk, her eyes locking onto a worn wooden box.

It was the only possession I had carried out of the master bedroom.

Inside was a vintage jade pendant left by my mother, along with a few handwritten letters.

"Serena, this wooden box is peeling and damp," Chloe said, pushing her velvet case forward.

"Julian bought me a new designer set yesterday, and this large case is extra. Why don't you use it instead? Wouldn't want your cheap little trinkets getting ruined."

Before I could react, her hand reached out to grab my mother’s box.

"Don't touch it." I shot up, slamming my palm down to pin the box.

My hand clipped the back of hers. Chloe flinched dramatically, her eyes instantly brimming with tearful grievance.

"Serena, I was only trying to help..."

Instead of pulling away, she pinched the other side of the box and yanked upward.

"Let go."

My voice hardened as I tried to pull it back.

At that exact moment, the front door downstairs clicked open. Julian was home early.

Chloe abruptly released her grip.

The wooden box crashed onto the hardwood floor. The latch snapped open.

The jade pendant my mother gave me split clean into two.

I froze, staring down at the shattered stone.

"Oh no!"

Chloe shrieked, dropping to her knees to gather the pieces.

As her manicured fingers touched the sharp edge, she jerked back with precision.

"Ouch!"

Julian stormed into the room, his face darkening the second he took in the scene.

"What happened?"

With glistening eyes, Chloe held up her slightly reddened knuckles, her voice drowning in self-blame.

"Julian, it’s my fault! I saw how battered Serena’s box was and wanted to give her my new case. I guess she didn't want my charity... we pulled, and I lost my grip."

She dissolved into delicate, trembling sobs.

"I'm so sorry, Serena! I really just wanted to help protect your things. I didn't mean to break your jade!"

Julian shoved me aside violently, grabbing Chloe’s hand to examine her skin.

Seeing there was no blood, he whipped around to glare at me, eyes blazing.

"Are you completely insane, Serena? Chloe went out of her way to give you a designer box, and not only are you ungrateful, you put your hands on her?"

"Her hand is red! She plays the piano for a living! If you damaged her fingers, could you ever afford to compensate her? Since when did you become so vicious and petty?!"

Watching him cradle Chloe like a piece of spun glass, my stomach heaved.

"She dropped it on purpose," I said, my voice eerily steady.

"Enough!"

Julian cut me off with a vicious roar, his face twisted in disgust.

"I literally walked in and saw her on the floor picking up the pieces for you! She's crying and apologizing, and you're still blaming her?"

"It's just a cheap piece of rock! Is it worth putting on this pathetic victim face over?"

His command left zero room for argument:

"Apologize to her. Right now."

I looked down at the severed pieces of jade.

My mother had fastened that pendant around my neck on her deathbed.

She had whispered that it would keep me safe, that it would guide me to a good man who would cherish me.

I had found a man. I had married him.

And now, the jade was broken.

Slowly, I knelt down and gathered the two cold fragments into my palm.

"I'm sorry."

I looked up at Chloe, my voice so flat and hollow it felt alien even to my own ears.

"I'll have my assistant buy you ten better jade stones tomorrow," Julian sneered coldly. "Just wipe that dead-eyed expression off your face."

The very moment those words left his mouth,

A violent, deafening screech tore through my left ear.

And then, the world went completely, flawlessly mute.

I watched Julian’s lips move rapidly.

He was still barking insults, his sneer thick with arrogance and disdain.

Yet not a single sound reached me.

The wind outside, the rustle of clothes, Chloe’s melodramatic sobs—everything vanished into thin air.

He would never know.

At the exact moment he forced me onto my knees to apologize for Chloe's fake kindness,

My entire world fell forever silent.