Seven Years of Love, One Fake Marriage

Everything around me felt as though it were separated by a thin, invisible film.

In the second year after marrying Emmett, I adopted a puppy.

If there was anything I absolutely had to take with me when I left, it was my dog.

I staggered toward the room and pushed the door open—then froze.

Leanne was inside my room, holding black cookies and stuffing them into my dog's mouth over and over again.

My heart pounded violently. I snatched the cookies from her hand and immediately caught the scent of chocolate.

"You fed it chocolate?" I screamed. "Don't you know dogs can't eat chocolate?!"

My shrill voice startled the puppy. It spun anxiously at my feet.

I scooped it up at once, intending to rush it to the hospital.

At that moment, Leanne stepped in front of me.

"I fed it on purpose," she said smugly. "Sister, this dog is such an eyesore. Just let it die here."

She spoke with the same malicious delight she'd had every time she pulled a cruel prank when we were children.

"Get out of my way, you monster!" I shoved her aside, my hands shaking uncontrollably.

The next second, the door burst open.

Emmett and my two brothers appeared in the doorway.

"Camille, you've attacked Leanne again!" Jace roared. "She even brought food for your dog to apologize to you!"

"I told you long ago she should be sent to detention to clear her head," Antonio snapped. "She's completely insane. We should just send her to a mental institution!"

As he spoke, he grabbed my arm roughly.

Emmett looked at me with icy indifference. I saw nothing but hatred in his eyes.

"She fed my dog chocolate!" My voice trembled violently. The suffocating pain rose from my chest to my throat, making it hard to breathe.

Seeing my pale face, Emmett hesitated for a moment. He knew how much I loved my dog.

"Sister..." Leanne began to cry again. "I really didn't do it on purpose. I didn't know there was chocolate in the cookie."

"I can apologize," she said pitifully. "But I really don't want to kneel to a dog."

She was still pretending.

My vision darkened with rage. I wanted nothing more than to tear Leanne apart. But just then, the puppy vomited a mouthful of blood.

The bright red stained my eyes.

Its weak whimper shattered my heart.

I could no longer care about anything else. I only wanted to get my dog to the hospital—but Emmett grabbed my arm.

He looked at me coldly, as if I were a criminal.

"You should apologize to Leanne."

My brothers blocked my path as well.

"She fed my dog chocolate!" I clenched my teeth, refusing to back down.

Jace's expression darkened.

"Camille, it's just a dog. Leanne already said she didn't know there was chocolate in the cookie. How could you make her kneel to a dog? She's sick—don't you have any sympathy at all?"

"She took everything from me!" I screamed hoarsely. "Leanne isn't sick at all—she's pretending—"

Before I could finish, Antonio slapped me hard across the face.

He looked at me with pure disgust.

"Camille, you've completely lost your mind. No one would joke about their own health. If you don't kneel down and apologize to Leanne, I won't let you take this dog to the hospital."

The pain on my cheek left me stunned.

Before I could react, several hands forced me down, trying to make me kneel.

I struggled desperately. Even if my ankle broke, I wanted to leave.

But the miscarriage and two car accidents had already destroyed my body.

As I looked at the puppy in my arms, its breathing growing weaker and weaker, my knees finally gave way.

I knelt.

"I'm sorry," I said calmly. "Is that enough?"

At the moment my knees hit the ground, something inside me died completely.

Satisfied expressions appeared on their faces.

Only then did they allow me to rush toward the hospital with the puppy in my arms.

But it was already too late.

The doctor sighed and placed a small urn of ashes into my hands.

My body—and my heart—felt utterly hollow.

I accepted the ashes numbly, like an empty shell.

It had been a clumsy little stray, only three months old when I picked it up. I raised it for five years, and all it ever learned was how to fetch slippers.

Back then, I thought that I would be able to stay with it for a very long time.