Once His Shadow, Now His Sentence

The message had just been sent when a phone call popped up.

Matilda's cries were piercingly shrill, "Max, Terra is trying to kill me!”

“Ahh, get away! Help! Max..." 

When Maximo arrived, the ward was a mess.

A white noise track of a torrential downpour played on a loop on the bedside table.

Matilda huddled in a corner, screaming hysterically whenever anyone approached.

Maximo rushed over and tenderly pulled her into his arms.

"Matilda, don't be afraid, I am here."

Her face was deathly pale, tears streaming down her face. "Terra called me a vixen, a mistress and said my sister deserved to die. She sent me a video saying if I kept bothering you, she'd torture me to death like my sister."

"Max, I'm so scared. Am I really a mistress? Will you leave me like my sister did? Will you abandon me?"

I stared at Matilda in shock, stunned by how well she acted.

She was the one who ran me over, yet even after I died, she still tried to blame me.

I can’t forget her eyes—colder than a viper’s—as she stepped on the gas and crushed me through the windshield.

Matilda wasn’t panicking. She meant to kill me.

I looked at Maximo, hoping that after three years together, even if he never chose me, he at least knew I wasn’t someone who’d do something so cruel.

But I forgot—when it came to Matilda, everything about me meant nothing.

Maximo was terrifyingly calm. He turned off the white noise and stared intently at the number I had sent, his eyes growing colder and colder.

He scooped Matilda up and placed her on the bed, gently wiping away her broken tears. His tone was gentler than I had ever heard before.

"Matilda, you aren't the other woman, Terra is."

After saying that, he took out the wedding ring from his pocket.

The one we had carefully chosen together, the one we planned to wear on our finger at our wedding in three days, the ring that symbolized our commitment for life.

And just like that, he resolutely slipped it onto Matilda's ring finger.

“From now on, Matilda is my bride.”

Matilda suppressed her joy, but feigned fear and whispered, “But, Terra is your fiancée. She’s been waiting to marry you. If I wear her ring, won’t she hate me even more?”

“She doesn’t deserve it!?” Maximo sneered. “She dared to insult your sister and threaten you; she should be prepared to bear the consequences.”

“Not only will I not marry her, I will also remove her from the medical profession. Someone as vicious as her doesn’t deserve that white coat.”

He immediately pulled out his phone.

He sent me an ultimatum, [I’m giving you five minutes. Come over here immediately and kneel down to apologize to Matilda.]

Maximo, waiting for a reply but receiving no response, laughed in anger, finally losing his patience.

He had always looked down on people who abused power, yet for Matilda, he did it for the first time.

He skipped every official review and, using his status as the Alvarez Group’s heir, issued an industry-wide blacklist against me.

I had spent half my life working nonstop, pouring everything into the career I loved.

And with one casual sentence from him, it all disappeared.

Matilda finally smiled through her tears, nestling contentedly into his arms. "Max, I knew you were the best to me." 

Maximo didn't respond, his hands gripping his phone tightly, his face dark and menacing as he stared at the screen.

He thought this would force me out.

But he didn't know, I would never appear again.

Watching my palm grow fainter in the wind, I wanted to smile, but tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.

Loving him cost me everything—my life, my name and even in death I’m trapped at his side like a lonely ghost.

How ridiculous.

The ward was bustling with activity; everyone was applauding this perfect moment, offering their blessings.

But just then, a sudden figure rushed in.

Before anyone could react, a slap landed hard on Maximo's face.

"Terra is already dead, why won't you let her go!"