Chapter 2

The deck erupted in laughter. "Alice still thinks she's the Hart family princess!" "A housewife cut off from her family looking down on Nina who earns her own living?" "Mr. Cole disciplining his spoiled wife, teaching her to treat employees well!" "Bet she'll be crying for help in ten minutes."

The seawater drained my body heat, the evening dress heavy as chains around me, every movement exhausting my strength. I sank several times, surrounded only by darkness and pressure, suffocation clutching my throat.

Above, the drone's red light stared coldly, while another transmitted his amplified voice: "Want me to fish you out? Apologize to Nina, then shout three times 'Alice is a bitch.' Otherwise, wait for the sharks."

Nina's fake trembling voice followed: "But ma'am is a Hart family daughter—making her apologize to me would be too much, wouldn't it?"

"Noble?" He laughed coldly. "The Harts cut ties long ago. As Ethan Cole's wife, you follow my rules. When I tell her to kneel, she doesn't get to stand."

Each word cut like a knife. For him, I'd defied my family, signed away my inheritance. I thought I was marrying love, but all I got was the deep sea.

He continued his accusations: "I warned you not to bully Nina. She's kind and sweet, while you're stubborn and need teaching."

"Kind?" I remembered her "accidentally spilling coffee on herself" act that got me scolded; her new dress post captioned "being favored feels so good" that he liked; her period stain on her skirt that he also blamed on me; that night he took a paper cutter and sliced my arm, refusing to let me bandage it, coldly saying: "This way you'll know how it feels to be bullied."

Seawater flooded my nose and mouth again. I looked up at the red light, clearly mouthing the words: "Ethan Cole, I want a divorce."

Commotion on the deck. "Did she say divorce?"

He was obviously stunned. Nina immediately "advised": "Mr. Cole, have someone rescue ma'am. She might just be speaking in anger. She is, after all, a Hart family daughter—what if the Harts retaliate against the company if she gets desperate?"

Adding fuel to the fire. He was furious: "A discarded daughter thrown out by the Harts—she's nothing!"

He ordered: "Throw fish bait into the water. Let's see what she threatens me with."