My wife exploded in rage. All I'd done was press a mere inch deeper into her during intimacy.

“Who gave you the gall? To dare to covet a place even Jasper has never reached!”

“You shameless wretch, I’ll make you remember your place!”

She ordered my legs broken, had the word “filth” carved across my skin, and then forced me to pay her a hundred million dollars in emotional damages. I toiled from dawn till dusk, working seven jobs a day just to pay off the debt. But my wife found my common labor an embarrassment, so she locked me in a custom-built, electrified kennel for “reflection.” My young son, crying as if his heart would break, managed to sneak me out when the bodyguards weren’t looking. For that, my wife had him beaten viciously and then left for the stray dogs outside.

“You damned little bastard! How dare you defy my orders! This is what happens!”

Watching my son, his small body mauled and bloody, I knelt, frantically apologizing, begging her for just a sliver of money for medical care. But she just smirked, flinging an outrageous bill for a billion dollars in my face.

“You two useless pieces of trash, you owe me so much, and you have the audacity to ask me for money! If it’s not paid in full within twenty-four hours, prepare to collect that little beast’s corpse!”

My heart turned to ash. As I crawled back, clutching the few hundred dollars I’d gotten from selling my blood, my son’s body was already stiff and cold. Meanwhile, news of my wife lavishing billions on a global art exhibition for her childhood sweetheart was sweeping through the city’s elite circles. I clutched my son’s mangled remains, tears streaming down my face, the grief a dull blade gouging at my heart, searing deep into my bones.

1

In a hushed corner of the hospital, my son lay still, lifeless in a spreading pool of blood. His small body was a map of grotesque wounds, his face barely recognizable. I collapsed beside him, my hands trembling as I reached out, wanting to gather him into my arms, yet terrified to touch. A tidal wave of agonizing pain consumed me, drowning out everything else.

Nurses bustled past, oblivious, their excited whispers about the trending news piercing the suffocating silence.

“Oh my god, spending a fortune just to make her childhood sweetie smile. Is this what rich people’s love looks like?”

“Of course, only a genius artist like Jasper Davies deserves a top-tier female CEO!”

“Another love story, and I’m crying over it!”

Their shrill voices, repeated over and over, flayed my soul. My hand touched the thin stack of bills in my pocket. I couldn’t even afford a proper urn. In desperation, I dialed Valerie’s number.

After a long, agonizing wait, her furious voice blared through the receiver: “Caleb Thorne! You have the nerve to call me! I put you in that cage for reflection, to give you a chance to reform! Who gave you the audacity to escape? Breaking the kennel means you owe me another hundred million! Or I swear, I’ll feed that little brat to the dogs!”

Another absurd excuse. For seven years, Valerie had found endless ways to humiliate me. I had grown accustomed to it, but then a man’s voice filtered through the line. “Thorne, you messed up, so you deserve the punishment. My sister was merciful enough not to kill you, why can’t you learn to behave?”

My heart was a raw, throbbing wound. But to give my son a proper burial, I had to crush my pride. My voice was barely a whisper. “Please, just a thousand dollars more. I’ll find a way to pay you back. I just want to bury my so—”

Valerie shrieked, cutting me off, a shrill, hysterical sound. “Shut up! Don’t use that worthless brat as an excuse! He’s dead, and he’s not worth a penny to me! I’m warning you, if you don’t pay up, it won’t just be broken legs this time!”

Her scream threatened to shatter my eardrums. I collapsed to the floor, tears streaming down my face. Around me, the nurses’ laughter rippled, oblivious. Outside, on the massive screen, endless loops of my wife and Jasper kissing sweetly played on. In that moment, my heart turned to ash.

I took the last few dollars I had, crawling to the crematorium gates, begging until my head bled and my knees were bruised purple. Only then did they grudgingly agree to cremate my son. The raging flames devoured everything, along with my last flickering hope, reducing it all to dust. I couldn’t even afford an urn for his ashes, so I stripped off my shirt, wrapping his remains inside to carry them home.

The moment I pushed open the door, a sticky, cloying scent hit me, sickeningly sweet and opulent. I gagged, stumbling towards my son’s bedroom, hand clamped over my mouth. Torn stockings and lace lingerie lay scattered across the floor, tangling around my feet, as if mocking my helplessness. I frantically kicked them away, but their filthy residue clung to my shoes, the glistening streaks a blinding, nauseating glare.

I fought back the urge to cry, reaching under the bed for a crumpled photograph. In it, I held my son, smiling, while Valerie stood behind us, her back to the camera, distant and cold. She had never been affectionate with Leo; this secretly taken picture was his only keepsake of her. The least I could do was let it accompany him on his final journey. I carefully tucked the photo into the ashes, preparing to leave.

Footsteps sounded suddenly outside the door, and a harsh, familiar voice echoed: “Well, if it isn’t Valerie’s lapdog, stripped bare and crawling back home?”

Jasper leaned against the doorframe, his eyes brimming with contempt. I merely looked at him, saying nothing, tightening my embrace around the cloth-wrapped ashes. His eyes narrowed. He stepped forward, reaching out to snatch the bundle from my arms. “What did you take?!”

I clutched it tighter, my voice raw. “Don’t touch my things!”

At my words, Jasper scoffed, his tone dripping with disdain. “What in this house is yours? Not even your wife, she’s mine. A man as useless as you might as well just die!” He puffed out his chest, revealing faint, suggestive marks there, a blatant display of triumph.

In the past, I would have fought him, even if it killed me. But now, all I wanted was to properly lay my son to rest. I didn’t even glance at him, just numbly tried to walk past him, out the door.

But Jasper suddenly exploded, kicking me hard in the lower back. He grabbed my hair, brutally yanking away the cloth containing the ashes. “You worthless piece of garbage! You don’t deserve to touch anything of mine!”

The cloth ripped, and the pale-gray ashes scattered across the floor. A heart-wrenching scream tore from my throat. I stumbled, desperate, scrambling on hands and knees to gather the ashes. But a high heel crushed my fingers, pinning me down. I looked up, following the leg, to see Valerie towering over me, her eyes overflowing with unconcealed disgust.

“Caleb Thorne, you are truly disgusting.” Her icy voice cut through me like a sharp blade, piercing directly to my soul. I bit down, teeth clenched, but no sound escaped.

Jasper, brazenly wrapping an arm around Valerie’s waist, whined pitifully, “I was just worried that he might take the wrong thing, and then he just attacked me all of a sudden. I guess I shouldn’t have interfered. After all, he’s the man of the house… I guess I deserved to get hit.”

I reached for the photograph, my voice a pathetic whisper as I knelt on the floor. “I’m sorry. I just want my things back. I promise I’ll never appear before you again.”

Valerie looked down at the photo beneath her foot, then bent to pick it up, shaking off the ashes. As the image became clearer, she chuckled, a cold, dismissive sound. Without a hint of hesitation, she tore it to shreds.

“No!” My eyes burned, bloodshot, as a desperate scream tore from my throat.

“A worthless piece of paper, and you cherish it so much? How ridiculous!”

The fragments fluttered down, mirroring the shattered pieces of my own heart. I lifted my head, my throat raw and hoarse, demanding: “Valerie Stone, do you have a heart? Leo was your own flesh and blood! He was so small, he used to clutch your picture even in his sleep and call for ‘Mommy’!” “What did he do wrong, that you wanted him dead?!”

No sooner had the words left my lips than Valerie’s hand flashed out, delivering a stinging slap across my face. “What are you, some kind of saint, to lecture me? You two useless parasites, you eat my food, use my money, and you dare defy me?” Her voice rose to a shrill crescendo. “His only mistake was having a worthless father like you!”

I clutched my burning cheek, blood seeping from the corner of my mouth. Jasper stepped forward, a smug grin plastered on his face, feigning concern. “My bad, I honestly didn’t know you’d wrap his ashes in your shirt. But he’s dead, and keeping his remains is just bad luck. How about I clean it up for you?” As he spoke, he picked up a vacuum cleaner, ready to switch it on.

Blood rushed to my head. I lunged forward, pushing him with all my might. But before I even touched him, Valerie’s foot lashed out, kicking me to the ground where I retched up a mouthful of blood. “How dare you lay a hand on Jasper?” Her voice was laced with menace. “Touch him again, and I’ll make your life a living hell!”

I clutched my chest, gasping for air, my eyes filled with a desolate despair. “Valerie, let’s get a divorce.”

At my words, she scoffed, as if I’d just uttered the most hilarious joke. “You owe me money, and you think you can just divorce me? You don’t deserve to!” Her voice sharpened, venomous. “Until that debt is paid in full, you won’t take a single step outside this house!”

I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to stand, tears welling in my eyes. The once kind and gentle Valerie had died long ago, buried in distant memories. The ridiculous truth was, until this very day, I had still clung to a sliver of hope. That someday, she would remember the good in me, and our family could return to what it once was.

Through blurred vision, I managed a bitter laugh, meeting her gaze once more, my voice resolute. “Fine. I’ll pay you back.”

No sooner had the words left my lips than I snatched the dagger from the table, plunging it fiercely into my abdomen! The wet, tearing sound of the blade sinking into flesh echoed eerily in the silent room. Valerie’s brow furrowed, her pupils dilating in shock. I swallowed the metallic tang in my throat, a grim smile on my face as I looked at her. “Will my organs be enough to pay you back?”

Valerie froze for a second, then her face contorted in furious disbelief. “Caleb Thorne, what the hell are you doing?!” Her voice was shrill. “Don’t think this pathetic stunt will make me go soft on you!”

The pain was a raging fire, searing through my insides, but it couldn't compare to the shattering despair of my heart. Blood dripped onto the floor, blooming into a crimson stain. “Not enough? Then let’s try again!” I pulled out the blade as if unfazed, then aimed for my chest and plunged it in again.

Valerie rushed forward, snatching the knife from my hand, her voice seething with anger. “What are you doing?! How much is your pathetic life worth, anyway?!” A string of insults, too vile to be repeated, flowed from her lips. “I’m warning you, you owe me money, and not a single cent will be missing!”

Jasper cowered behind her, timidly tugging her sleeve. Valerie immediately, tenderly, wiped the blood from his face, then roughly shoved me to the ground. “If you want to die, get out of here! Don’t scare Jasper!”

I pushed myself up, clutching the last of the ashes and the photo fragments to my chest. Covering my bleeding abdomen, I stumbled to the door and pushed it open. “Thank you for letting me go. When I save up enough money, I’ll file for divorce.”

Valerie scoffed, her voice dripping with mockery. “You? A worthless piece of trash no one would even pay for on the street. You wouldn’t pay off that debt in eight lifetimes!” She spat. “You’ll come crawling back to me on your knees, begging!”

I said nothing more, just gave her a cold, hard look. Gritting my teeth, clinging to consciousness, I stumbled out of that cage. Jasper, clinging intimately to Valerie’s hand, feigned concern, but his eyes burned with a murderous hatred for me. “He just left like that. He won’t… do anything drastic, will he?” Valerie merely glanced at him, her tone dismissive. “Don’t worry, that good-for-nothing leech, he’s too afraid to die.”

My body swayed in the biting wind, but it couldn't match the desolation in my heart. “I’m so sorry, Leo. Your dad… your dad was useless.” I stumbled along, two long bloodstains snaking behind me on the pavement. Under the strange stares of passersby, I crawled to the organ donation center. Lying on the cold operating table, my consciousness began to blur. Yet, a look of profound relief touched my lips.

My son, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. Let your father, with this broken body, send you off on your final journey.

…

A week later, Jasper Davies’s art exhibition tour began as scheduled. Valerie, looking at the bustling crowd, felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of unease, as if some crucial detail had slipped her mind.

“Valerie, what’s wrong? You look awful.” Jasper approached, his voice laced with concern.

Valerie squeezed his hand, forcing a strained smile. “Nothing. Just a little tired lately, I guess.” She closed her eyes, and Caleb’s bloody image flashed in her mind again. Just then, her phone vibrated violently. A cold sweat broke out, and she fumbled for it, her fingers trembling. The screen blared a notification: a transfer of a billion dollars.