A Mountain and Its Shadow
Then I discovered our marriage was a lie—his legal wife wasn’t me. When he begged me to abort our long-awaited child for the sake of his other family, I agreed. Seven days later, I jumped from a skyscraper.
And he went mad.
1
My hand instinctively went to my stomach as I fought back the urge to scream, to rip the world apart with my questions. The storm of emotions inside me finally subsided, leaving behind only the bitter taste of ash. I forced the tears back, blinking them away until my vision cleared. I looked up at the man who had once sworn to shield me with his life, and my voice was a hollow echo of itself.
"So that's it, Caleb? You're not going to explain this marriage certificate? You just want me to get rid of the baby we tried for three years to have… to make way for your little lover?"
His eyes instantly reddened. He reached for me, but the dead, empty stillness in my gaze made him flinch back.
"Elara… I'm so sorry…" His voice was a raw, ragged whisper. "But I can't just stand by and watch Seraphina die."
"During my undercover years," he continued, his words tumbling out in a desperate rush, "she saved my life. Not once, but multiple times. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have been able to avenge your parents. I wouldn't have even made it back to you alive!"
"She's… damaged because of me. The trauma left her with severe depression, crippling anxiety. She has no one else, Elara! Only me!"
His voice cracked with a pleading desperation. "Just let her have her baby first. I swear, after that, my life, everything I have… it's all yours to make up for this. I'll spend the rest of my days atoning."
"Atoning?" A sharp, twisting cramp seized my lower belly. "I endured three years of medication, countless injections, of vomiting until I passed out, all for this child. And you want me to kill him?" My voice rose, trembling. "This is a life, Caleb. A living, breathing life. What could possibly compensate for that?"
I finally broke. The control I’d been clinging to shattered. "If you try to trade my child's life for hers," I shrieked, my voice raw with agony, "I swear to God, I will die right in front of you!"
"Elara!" he roared, his face flashing with raw frustration. "You're going to pressure me too? Why can't you just understand?"
"Seraphina is a… a 'Player'! It's complicated, but she's part of some system. If she doesn't successfully give birth to this child, the system will erase her! She'll cease to exist!"
"You're stronger than she is," he pleaded, his logic a poisoned knife. "You have me, you have everything we've built. But she only has me. All she wants is a chance to live. I'm begging you, Elara. Understand. Just this once. Give her a chance to live."
He couldn't meet my eyes. He spun his wheelchair around with a jerky, panicked motion and fled the room, slamming the door behind him. The sound echoed the splintering of my heart.
I collapsed to the floor, my arms wrapped around my stomach, the tears finally flowing in a silent, scalding torrent.
How did we get here? How did the man who once held me tight through thunderstorms, the man who would press his face to my belly and whisper, his stubble tickling my skin, "It's okay, little one, Daddy's here," become this stranger who would so easily cast that same life aside for another woman?
I don't know how long I lay there before my phone rang, piercing the silence. Seraphina's voice, laced with a triumphant, sickly sweetness, stabbed at my eardrums.
"Elara, sweetie. As one woman to another, I'll give you a second of my pity. I'm in such a good mood today, I'll even let you in on a little secret. Caleb left you to be with me… for my prenatal check-up. You know, he looks incredible when he stands. It's a shame he never told you he could."
My blood ran cold.
"Oh, and sweetie? You're a smart girl. You must know I'm not some 'Player' in a game. And I'm certainly not depressed. That was just a little act."
"I pretended to have a breakdown," she purred, her voice dripping with venom. "Forced him to choose between your baby or me and mine. A little test, you see, to show you who really matters to him."
"You may have been his childhood sweetheart, but that's nothing compared to the bond forged in darkness. The woman who stood by his side, who bled for him when he had nothing… that's a bond you can never break."
"Did you really think your five years of marriage were happy? He never stopped looking for me. We've had our own little home on the west side of town for three years now."
"And that marriage certificate? He wanted you to find it. He was hoping you'd just give up, you see. Do us all a favor and set him free." She paused, her tone hardening into pure malice. "Don't make him lose that last little bit of affection he has left for you."
The video she sent seconds later shattered the last vestiges of my world. There was Caleb, standing tall and straight, gently, carefully guiding her through the clinic. My hero, the man who had faced down a criminal empire for me… now stood for her. He was a stranger.
A nurse smiled at them. "Mr. Hayes, you take such wonderful care of your wife."
He only frowned slightly. He didn't correct her.
That single, tender moment obliterated every fantasy I had ever held.
A tidal wave of furious, helpless despair consumed me. I scrambled to my feet and ran to the balcony, fumbling to dial his number.
"Elara? What is it? Have you thought things through?" His voice was weary, but underneath it, I could hear the hopeful expectation that I had finally bent to his will.
I looked down at the city lights below, a glittering, merciless abyss. My own voice was terrifyingly calm. "Caleb."
The line went quiet. He must have sensed the change in me.
"I'm standing on the balcony," I said softly. "Twenty minutes. I'm giving you twenty minutes."
I took a deep breath, enunciating each word with chilling precision.
"If you're not here," I said, "I'm going to jump. I'll take this child you're so desperate to kill, and I will disappear from your life forever."
2
A raw, guttural roar of pure terror ripped through the phone.
"Elara, don't you dare! Stay right where you are! Don't move! I'm coming! I'll be right there! Do you hear me?!"
I ended the call, letting the cold rain soak through my clothes, chilling me to the bone.
Less than two minutes later, a text from Seraphina buzzed on my phone, incandescent with rage.
You bitch! You actually copied my suicide act? What a pathetic move!
You think you've won just because you made Caleb leave me alone at the hospital in a storm? I'll make you pay for this. I swear it.
My face was a mask of stone. I screenshotted the messages and sent them to Caleb. I wanted him to see the true face of the "lonely," "depressed" woman he was sacrificing everything for.
On the nineteenth minute, a car screeched to a halt below.
Caleb didn't bother with the wheelchair, didn't bother with the charade of being disabled. He stumbled out of the car and sprinted into the building, bursting into the apartment a moment later, drenched and wild-eyed. He yanked me back from the ledge, his arms trembling as he crushed me against him.
"Elara, I was wrong! We'll keep the baby! Just don't do this, I'm begging you, never do this again… I can't lose you…"
I shoved him away with all my strength, wiping the rain and tears from my face. My voice was flat, devoid of all emotion.
"I was going to give you divorce papers. But my lawyer informed me that I haven't been your legal wife for three years."
I watched the color drain from his face as I delivered the final blow.
"Caleb, I'm already divorced, so I can't exactly divorce you again. Let's just break up."
"Get out. I don't want you anymore."
"I don't want to see you again. I don't want you to… to destroy the image I have left of the nineteen-year-old boy who would have died for me."
My gaze dropped to his legs, straight and strong. "And congratulations. On being able to walk again."
It was as if all the strength had been ripped from his body. Caleb staggered, reaching for me again, his voice thick with anguish and self-loathing.
"Elara, I'm so sorry! I wasn't trying to hide it from you! I wanted… I wanted to wait until I was fully recovered, to surprise you! I never, ever thought about leaving you. I can't live without you…"
There was a time I would have believed every word without question.
Now, each syllable was a nauseating lie that crawled under my skin.
Seeing my resolve, he grew more frantic. "Don't listen to anything Seraphina sent you! She's having a depressive episode, she's not in control of what she says! I'll handle her, I promise! I'll never force you to do anything again."
"I will fix the mess with Seraphina and I'll make it right with you! Please, just stop this. Don't leave me…"
I was tired. So incredibly tired.
I whispered a single word: "Okay."
He reacted as if he'd been granted a divine pardon. He swept me into his arms, carried me to bed, and began gently toweling my hair and skin dry, treating me like a priceless, fragile treasure as he coaxed me to sleep.
I closed my eyes, feigning exhaustion and surrender.
As I expected, not fifteen minutes later, once he was certain I was "asleep," he rose from the bed. He moved quietly but quickly, slipping out of the room and closing the door behind him.
That desperate, hurried retreat extinguished the last ember of hope in my heart.
I got up immediately, threw on a coat, and followed him out.
I needed to see it for myself. I needed to see what his idea of "handling it" and "making it right" truly looked like.
I followed the red glow of his taillights through the rain. As I was about to hail a cab, a windowless van screeched to a halt beside me. A large hand clamped over my mouth, dragging me violently inside as a sickly chemical smell flooded my senses.
Just before my consciousness faded, I saw them. Not far down the road, Caleb was pulling Seraphina, who was huddled and crying in the rain, into a fierce, protective embrace, his eyes filled with nothing but aching tenderness.
3
When I woke again, it was to the cloying stench of rust and mildew in a derelict warehouse.
I thrashed wildly, the coarse ropes biting into my wrists, tearing the skin, but it was useless. I heard hushed voices outside and immediately squeezed my eyes shut, pretending to be unconscious.
"The boss's orders. Rough her up good. Teach her a lesson for the missus."
"Just don't go all the way. And don't kill her. Anything else is fair game."
The next three days were a descent into hell. They used every method imaginable to torture me, to strip away every shred of my dignity. I curled up on the filthy floor, my arms wrapped protectively around my stomach, begging them over and over.
"Money… I have money… I'll give you anything you want… please, just don't hurt my baby… Call my husband… he'll pay the ransom…"
They laughed at my naivete, but to my surprise, they actually dialed Caleb's number and put it on speaker.
"We've got your wife. Five hundred grand for her and the kid in her belly. Or you get two corpses!"
In that moment, a flicker of hope ignited in the abyss of my despair. But the voice that came through the phone was cold, impatient, and utterly dismissive.
"Who is this? Some kind of prank call? My wife is perfectly fine at home. Call me again and I'm reporting you to the police."
The line went dead.
One of the kidnappers spit on the floor. "Hear that? Your old man doesn't want you!"
I broke down, sobbing and pleading. "No, that's impossible! Call again! Please! Let him hear my voice!"
They dialed again. It went straight to voicemail.
That robotic, impersonal voice crushed the last bit of life within me.
The torture intensified. Finally, amidst a searing, gut-wrenching agony, I felt a warm gush of liquid between my legs…
My child was gone, reduced to a pool of blood on the concrete floor.
One of the kidnappers checked my pulse and, assuming I was dead, cursed under his breath before they finally left.
I don't know how much time passed. Running on a single, desperate breath, I dragged my blood-soaked body out of the warehouse and began the agonizing journey back. As I neared our home, I heard the sound of laughter and conversation from inside.
I hid in the shadows, peering through the window. I saw Caleb, gently applying ointment to a small cut on Seraphina's finger. Around him, the men he once called his brothers were talking loudly.
"I bet the wife has learned her lesson this time. A little taste of the real world should teach her that a man of Caleb's status having a few women on the side is normal."
"Exactly. Caleb's been patient with her for years. It's just a baby. So what if Seraphina has one first? The girl needed to be put in her place."
"I don't know, man. She's not the type to share."
"You know how she is. Can't stand a single grain of sand in her eye. You really think she'll tolerate sharing Caleb with another woman?"
"And aren't you guys worried this went too far? This whole thing, Caleb not sending anyone to protect her… it feels like playing with fire."
"What if she finds out this whole kidnapping was his idea? That he did it to get rid of the baby and 'discipline' her? You think they have a future after that?"
Someone scoffed. "Please. I'll bet a million bucks she loves him so much she can't live without him. Even if she knew the truth, she'd forgive him. She's just throwing a tantrum right now. Give it time, she'll compromise for love."
Their words were poison-tipped needles, plunging deep into my already ravaged heart.
So this was it. The hell I had endured, the loss of my child… it was all his design. A calculated cruelty to make me more "obedient," to appease Seraphina.
Just then, Caleb frowned, cutting them off. "All of you, shut up. Keep a close eye on things. Don't let anything actually happen to Elara."
He turned to another man. "And the rest of you, get the house on the west side ready. Finalize the arrangements for the cars and the ceremony tomorrow."
"I owe Seraphina this wedding. It has to be perfect."
"And after tomorrow, arrange to have my wife brought home, completely unharmed."
One of them asked, a strange note in his voice, "Caleb… now that you have two wives… do you still love Elara?"
He didn't hesitate. His voice was clear and firm. "Yes. More than my own life. And I will spend the rest of my days making it up to her."
I clamped my hand over my mouth to stifle a sob, scrambling away from that house of horrors, that place of sickening betrayal. The cold rain mixed with my blood and tears as I stumbled through the city, finally collapsing at the foot of my parents' grave, the last of my strength giving out as I wept until my soul felt hollowed out.
4
I woke in the downpour before my parents' tombstone, my body frozen, but my heart colder still. With trembling fingers, I pulled out my drenched phone. The screen was shattered, but it still worked. I dialed a number I hadn't called in years.
It was answered on the first ring. A calm, steady voice came through the line.
"It's me. Elara." My own voice was a hoarse, unrecognizable rasp. "Can you help me…?"
There was a moment of silence on the other end, then a single, firm word: "Yes."
Just before he hung up, he added, "Don't be afraid. I'll take care of everything."
By the time I made my way, ghost-like, back to the city center, Caleb and Seraphina's wedding was the only thing anyone was talking about. The news was everywhere, plastering their faces across every screen, gushing about the lavish, billion-dollar fantasy wedding the CEO of Hayes Corp. had created for his beloved bride.
I wore the simplest clothes, a specter haunting the celebration from afar. I went to the observation tower across from their wedding venue.
The Spire. It was where the city's elite came to watch the stars, to make grand romantic gestures. It was where Caleb had once proposed to me, where he had sworn his wedding vows to me under a canopy of constellations.
I stood at its base and looked up. Through the vast panes of glass, I could see the glittering party, the swirl of expensive gowns and the clinking of champagne glasses.
Caleb was there, devastatingly handsome in a tailored suit. And beside him, Seraphina wore the wedding dress he had once designed exclusively for me, the one he said was for "my Elara, who deserves something one-of-a-kind in this world."
But the final, soul-crushing blow was the necklace adorning her throat. The sapphire pendant, the last thing my mother had ever given me. The one he had promised to treasure for me forever.
In that instant, my sanity snapped.
I ran toward the hotel like a madwoman, driven by a primal need to reclaim what was mine. But before I could even reach the doors, four familiar faces blocked my path—my kidnappers. They clamped a hand over my mouth, grabbing my hair and brutally dragging me away.
"Ms. Thorne," one of them sneered, "Mr. Hayes gave specific orders. No one is to disturb the wedding today. Don't humiliate yourself any further."
I fought back with the strength of the damned, sinking my teeth into one man's hand. He cried out in pain, his grip loosening just enough for me to break free. I sprinted back toward the hotel, toward the life that had been stolen from me.
But there were too many of them. They surrounded me again, forming a human wall between me and that path of roses, a beautiful shore I could never reach.
From a distance, I saw Caleb slide the ring onto Seraphina's finger. I saw the men who were once my friends raise their glasses in a toast to the "happy couple."
And suddenly, I stopped struggling.
I turned around. With the last ounce of my strength, I ran into the tower across the street, all the way to the top.
The wind howled around me as I stepped onto the ledge and switched on the massive public address speaker.
A low hum echoed across the plaza, turning into a piercing feedback squeal that instantly captured the attention of every guest at the wedding below. I saw Caleb's head snap up, his triumphant smile freezing on his face, morphing into a mask of pure horror.
I leaned into the microphone. My voice, terrifyingly calm, boomed across the wedding venue and beyond.
"Caleb Hayes, congratulations on your wedding day."
"I wish you and Seraphina a lifetime of happiness together."
"And I hope you and your brothers never forget today. I hope you remember your little 'lesson.' I hope you remember how my unborn child was washed away in a pool of blood."
His face went ashen. He started running toward me, screaming my name, but the wind snatched his words away.
"You all bet that I would forgive you, didn't you?"
Facing the wind, I smiled. It was the first time I had smiled in three days, and it was my last. A thing of tragic, desperate beauty.
"Well, now I'm making a bet of my own. I'm betting my life that you, Caleb Hayes, will never know a moment of peace for the rest of yours."
And with that, as he watched, his eyes wide with frantic, disbelieving terror, as the crowd below gasped in a collective wave of shock, I took one final step forward and leaped from the top of the world.
First, search for and download the MotoNovel app from Google. Then, open the app and use the code "252727" to read the entire book.
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