Eight Lifelines

After my eighth suicide attempt, my terrifyingly powerful mob-boss boyfriend finally settled down. No more underground poker games, no more strip clubs, no more mistresses. His bitter rival laughed at him, saying he was being treated like a dog on a leash by a woman. He just brushed it off with a smile. His crew whispered behind my back, saying I lacked the composure to be a boss's woman. Dominic's face instantly turned to stone. He turned to me, his voice softening just for me: "Clara, ignore their bullshit." "We survived the worst of it together. You think I’d let a couple of rumors break us now? If I did, then me cleaning up my act would have been for nothing." I believed him. Until one day, I came home early. Dominic looked up from the young girl tangled in his sheets. He gave me a look of deep regret. "I really didn't want to break your heart." "I hid it perfectly. Why did you have to come home a day early?" I stared at the wrecked state of the bedroom. I calmly walked over and poured myself a glass of water. His first instinct was to pull the girl tightly into his arms, shielding her. "Lily isn't like you," he said. "She's the reason I finally decided to settle down for good." "You can either pretend you didn't see this, or I can make her an official part of this family. You choose. I'll go with whatever you decide." In that moment, everything finally clicked into place. I had tried to kill myself eight times. I had caused massive, city-wide scandals. But his ultimate "reformation"? It was never for me. I set the water glass back on the table and spoke softly. "Either works." "So I'll step aside for her." ... Dominic froze. The cigarette still dangling from his lips, he tilted his head to look at me. "Either works?" He took the cigarette out of his mouth and let out a dry laugh. "Clara. Say that again." My hand was still resting on the glass. I didn't look at him. "Give Lily a title? Fine. Pretend I didn't see this? Also fine." "You choose." I threw his exact words back at him. Dominic stared at me for several long seconds. Suddenly, he pushed the young girl out of his arms. "Lily, wait outside." The girl bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes, giving me a timid, fearful look. Dominic was not a patient man. Seeing her hesitate, his brow twitched. But he couldn't bring himself to use the terrifying temper he reserved for his crew on her. He tilted his head and coaxed her gently: "Be a good girl. Listen to me. Just give me a minute." Only then did the girl walk out, her eyes red. Once the door clicked shut, it was just the two of us. And that lingering, sickening scent in the air. Dominic walked up to me and looked down at the glass of water in my hand. "You're really not mad?" I barely raised my eyes. "Do you want me to be mad?" He didn't answer. He reached out, took my glass, took a sip, and placed it back in my hand. His thumb brushed across my knuckles. "Clara, you can be mad, but don't play games with me. I don't have the patience to figure out what angle you're working." I looked down at the water ring he left on the rim of the glass and said nothing. He pinched my chin, forcing me to look at him. "When you threw tantrums before, I knew exactly how to handle them." "You run into traffic, I grab you. You slit your wrists, I wrestle the knife away. You jump, I catch you. If you react, I can fix it." "But now you're saying 'either works.' What the hell am I supposed to do with that? Hm?" I gently turned my head away. "Then don't do anything. Just do whatever you want." "To the outside world, you can still play the perfect, devoted partner. Inside this house, you can sleep in whatever room you want." The amusement at the corner of his mouth faded slightly. "And what about you? What's your endgame here?" I looked up at him. "Whatever you want me to be, I'll be." He blinked, clearly taken aback, a spark of intrigued amusement returning to his eyes. "Good girl." He reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "There's a reason I made you my wife, even if it meant making Lily wait." "If you really mean 'either works,' then fine. I'll set her up in the Eastside penthouse. She won't be in your way." In the past, I begged him to stay away from the women who threw themselves at him. He never listened to a word I said. Now, I tell him I don't care, and suddenly he's being accommodating. My expression remained blank. I turned and walked toward the bedroom door. "But I have one condition." I stopped, waiting for him to agree. "You have dinner with me at least once a week. Just the two of us." "I haven't forgotten my promises to you," he said. "In this lifetime, I, Dominic Vance, will only have one legal wife." I turned my face slightly. "When you say things like that... don't you feel ridiculous?" In his warped reality, having dinner with me fulfilled the entire obligation of a husband. He chuckled softly. "Ridiculous. Sure. But I worry you'll forget to eat." "There's no shortage of women in this world, but a man only gets one wife. It's only right I put a little effort into you." So, a single dinner was "putting effort" into me. I suddenly realized I had absolutely nothing left to say to him. I walked into the ground-floor guest room. I pulled out my phone. On the screen was a text message I received thirty minutes ago: [Ms. Clara, I found what you asked for.] [The three luxury condos and two shell companies under Mr. Vance's name were transferred entirely without your knowledge. The recipient is Lily Evans. The transfers were finalized three months ago.] Three months ago... That was the exact time of my eighth suicide attempt. I stared at the glowing screen for a long, long time. Then, I made a call. "Mr. Sterling, the divorce strategy we discussed last time? We don't need to wait anymore." Two seconds of dead silence on the line. "Ms. Clara, are you absolutely certain? A standard division of assets will leave you with next to nothing. Mr. Vance's legal team is ruthless..." "I don't care if I get nothing." I turned off the lights and lay down in the pitch black. "I'm letting him have what he wants." I hung up. I closed my eyes. From the master bedroom upstairs, I heard footsteps, followed by Lily's muffled sobbing. And Dominic's low, rough voice coaxing her. "Silly girl. So what if she saw? What are you so afraid of?" "But the way she looked at me... it gave me the creeps." Dominic laughed dismissively. "Relax. She'll torture me, she'll torture herself, but she'd never touch you." "With her connections, she could easily crush every other woman who came near me. Did you really think she needed to try to kill herself eight times just to force my hand?" "She knows the cracks in a relationship are never about the other women." "That's the one good thing about Clara. Her moral compass is too strong for her own good." I didn't open my eyes. My lips twitched. I honestly couldn't tell if I was smiling or crying. Early the next morning. Just as Dominic pushed open the guest room door, my phone buzzed with an incoming photo. It was an ultrasound. Sent by Lily. He leaned against the doorframe, watching me for a moment. "Didn't sleep well?" He walked over and bent down, his face inches from mine. He was undeniably handsome; even this close, his features were flawless. "Your eyes are swollen." He reached out to touch my face. I tilted my head, and his fingers brushed empty air. He paused, then smiled. "Still holding a grudge?" As he spoke, his eyes darted down to the glowing screen resting on my knee. The smirk on his lips froze for a fraction of a second, then immediately melted back into easy confidence. "Running full background checks on her again, like the old days?" I didn't look up. "She sent it to me." He stared at me for two solid seconds before straightening up. "Alright. If you say she sent it, then she sent it." His tone was light, condescending. Whatever you say, crazy. He didn't believe I hadn't hacked her phone. And he definitely didn't believe Lily would send it to me herself. In his mind, his sweet, innocent girl already suffered enough by sneaking around to be with him. He couldn't bear to assign even a single ounce of malice to her pure heart. But me? I was different. I had caused eight massive scenes. The quieter I was, the more certain he was that I was plotting something unhinged. He raised a hand and loosened his collar. "I was going to tell you in the next few days anyway. She's two months along." When those words left his mouth, a heavy silence crushed the room. After a long moment, I turned to look at him. "Dominic... do you remember when we talked about kids? What you said we'd name them?" His smirk didn't waver. "A boy would be Leo, a girl would be Hope. Brave like a lion, bright like the future." "And do you remember swearing to me that if I wasn't the mother, you would never have a child?" He paused, resting his elbows on his knees, holding my gaze. "Clara, promises are sacred. But let me be completely honest with you, and try not to get hysterical." "You've tried to kill yourself eight times. You can't even keep yourself safe. How the hell am I supposed to trust you to carry my child?" He reached out, the back of his knuckles gently brushing against my cheek. "Lily is different." "She's healthy. She's gentle. She doesn't throw psychotic, life-threatening tantrums every time she gets upset. If she has my kid, I won't have to spend every waking second terrified." "But I promise you this: when the kid is born, they will call you 'Mother.' I will never let her take your official place." He didn't say it like a negotiation. He expected me to nod and say, "Okay." I uncurled my fists. My voice was so steady it surprised even me. "You've got it all figured out." He chuckled. He reached out and ruffled my hair. "That's why I'm the man of the house, right?" At 3:00 PM, his driver, Marcus, knocked on the door. He was holding a thick manila envelope. "Ma'am, Mr. Vance asked me to drop this off. He said there are some routine company documents he needs you to review and sign off on." "Leave them on the table." Marcus set the envelope down but didn't leave immediately. He rubbed his hands together, looking hesitant. "Ma'am, I have something I need to report to you." "Go ahead." "It's about... that car you told me to keep an eye on. The black sedan with the plates ending in 666. I saw it parked outside the Westside Emerald Towers for several nights in a row." "I greased a few palms with the security guards there, and I found out... that Lily girl lives in that exact building." He took a cautious step back after saying it, fully expecting me to shatter a vase against the wall like I used to. I just gave a soft, "Mhm." "I understand. You don't need to follow that car anymore." Marcus looked utterly confused. "I don't? But Ma'am, you were so sure the owner of that car was targeting Mr. Vance..." "It was a misunderstanding. Get back to work, Marcus." Marcus walked out, scratching his head. I opened the envelope. Inside were standard corporate operation files. Tucked at the very back was a blank check. Dominic had already signed and stamped it. The amount line was empty. When it came to spoiling me with hush money, he had always been incredibly generous. I pulled the check out and slipped it into my purse. Dominic came home early for dinner. Seeing me sitting calmly at the table eating soup, he looked surprised. He walked over, sat across from me, rested his chin on his hand, and watched me for a moment. "You're awfully quiet today." He smiled, reaching over to thumb through the stack of documents on the table. Seeing the blank check missing, he raised an eyebrow. "Took the money?" "Was it not for me?" He let out a low laugh, tossed the files aside, and looked back at me. "It's yours. But I have a job for you." "I need you to attend the project board meeting tomorrow. Just show your face, say a few diplomatic words, and wrap it up." Before I could agree, his phone rang, and he hurried out of the house. I didn't even look up from my soup. Ever since his so-called "reformation," rushing in and rushing out had become the norm. During that period, the paparazzi hadn't caught him in a single scandal. I convinced myself he was just focused on his legitimate businesses, not jumping from bed to bed. But in the end, his "settling down" just meant he picked one specific flower from the garden and brought it home to keep. It never had anything to do with me. The next morning, I attended the board meeting in his place. There were six or seven people at the conference table. All of Dominic's senior project managers were there. Sitting at the very end of the table was a young man I didn't recognize. Halfway through the meeting, the lead project manager suddenly directed his fire at the young guy at the end of the table. "Ethan, the data you're responsible for is three days late! What the hell am I supposed to tell Mr. Vance?!" The young man, Ethan, didn't flinch. "The data needs to be audited. I'm not handing the boss fabricated numbers." The manager slammed his hand on the table. "Do you think you're still at your fancy tech institute? Mr. Vance only cares about results, not your precious process!" I remained silent, scrolling through my phone. These managers loved passing the buck. Dominic didn't show up today because he wanted me here to be their human shield. My lawyer, Mr. Sterling, texted me right at that moment: [The divorce agreement has been secured in the storage locker in your building's parking garage.] I locked my screen. I looked up at Ethan and spoke clearly. "Give Ethan three more days on the data. If there are any errors, I'll take the fall." The manager froze. "But Ma'am, Mr. Vance is expecting..." "I will handle Mr. Vance." The conference room went dead silent for two seconds. Ethan shot me a brief look, then immediately lowered his head. "Thank you, Ma'am." After the meeting wrapped, I was the last one to get up. Ethan was waiting by the door. As I walked out, he said quietly: "The data audit is actually finished. I just found a critical vulnerability yesterday, and I wanted to verify it 100% before reporting it." "Then report it when you're 100% sure." I gave him a brief nod and walked away without another word. That evening, I was making tea. Dominic had barely sat down when he said, without looking up: "I heard you went to bat for some new kid at the meeting today." I placed his teacup by his left hand. "His name is Ethan. He works for you. You don't know him?" He picked up the cup and blew on it. His eyes locked onto me through the rising steam. "You're certainly very protective of him." "He found a vulnerability. I had no reason to let them crucify him in public." Dominic smirked. A deeply unreadable, dangerous glint flashed in his eyes. "But you never used to speak up for anyone." "That was then. This is now." The smirk stayed on his lips, but his eyes went half a shade darker. "Someone told me they saw him getting out of your car." "Marcus took a personal day, so I asked Ethan to cover driving duties. Have a good night. I'm going to bed." As I turned away, he let out a low chuckle behind me. "Sure. Have a good night." My hand was on the doorknob. He casually added, his voice still carrying that lazy, arrogant drawl: "By the way, Ethan won't be coming in tomorrow. I transferred him to the overseas branch." I didn't look back. I opened the door and walked out. He didn't come home for the next three days. Marcus told me privately: "Mr. Vance grilled me about Ethan covering my shift. He looked genuinely furious." "You know how men are, Ma'am. If he's jealous, it means he still cares. Why don't you use this chance to soften up a bit and give him an out?" I looked at my phone. I had sent him eight texts saying, [I have documents that need your immediate authorization.] He hadn't replied to a single one. "Someone who cares doesn't ignore you for three days." By late afternoon, the harbor logistics team had called twice, desperate for signatures. I couldn't wait any longer. I drove straight to Lily's apartment. I pressed the intercom buzzer. Lily's voice drifted through the speaker. "Who is it?" "It's Clara." Two seconds of dead silence. Then, the heavy security door clicked open. Lily's eyelashes fluttered nervously when she saw me. "Dom is in the shower... please wait a minute." The sound of running water stopped. Dominic's voice called out from the bathroom, echoing slightly. "Who's at the door?" "It's me." Dominic stepped out in a bathrobe, his hair dripping wet. He froze when he saw me, his brows instantly crashing together. He marched over, grabbed my arm, and pulled me away from the center of the living room toward the front door. "What the hell are you doing here?" His eyes darted nervously toward Lily's stomach, an undeniable flash of panic in his gaze. I looked at him, not fighting his grip on my wrist. "I came to find you." "Find me?" He didn't loosen his scowl. "We'll talk later. Go home." "It can't wait." I pulled a thick manila envelope from my coat pocket and pulled out a stack of papers. "Sign this, and I'll leave immediately." Dominic glanced down at the documents. It was the formal partnership dissolution agreement for his oldest business partner, Julian. "You and Julian have been negotiating this for a month. Stop dragging it out." I handed him a pen. "He calls me every single day, and I'm sick of it. If you don't sign this right now, I am moving in." Before he could answer, Lily let out a soft, pathetic sniffle behind him. "Dom... I'm scared." Dominic threw a glance over his shoulder, his scowl deepening. He snatched the pen, flipped to the final page, and aggressively slashed his signature across the dotted line. "Done. Are you leaving now?" He tossed the pen onto the entryway table, his body already pivoting back toward Lily. I took the documents, flipped through them, and confirmed the signature page was clean and fully executed. I turned to the door and put my hand on the knob. He called out from behind me, his voice heavy with exhaustion. "Clara. Don't ever come here again." "She's fragile. She can't handle you terrorizing her." I tilted my head slightly, not looking back. "Don't worry. I'll never be back." The moment the door clicked shut behind me, my phone buzzed with a text from Mr. Sterling: [Ms. Clara, is the divorce agreement signed?] I looked down at the document in my hands—the one perfectly disguised as a "partnership dissolution agreement." I typed back: [Yes.] Inside the apartment, after Dominic had thoroughly comforted his trembling girl, he grabbed his coat to leave. "Dom, do you have to go? My stomach is really cramping..." "Be a good girl. I promised her I'd have dinner with her once a week. Today is the last day of the week." "Does she really care that much about one stupid dinner...?" "You greedy little thing. Clara is still legally my wife. I'm just giving her one dinner, and you want to take that away too? Be good. I'll be back later." "But Dom... she was so calm just now. Doesn't that mean she doesn't actually care about you anymore? Just stay here tonight." Dominic paused mid-step. He let out a scoff. "Doesn't care?" "Watch. If I don't go home tonight, my phone will absolutely detonate. She'll be screaming, demanding to know why I stood her up." "And what if she doesn't call?" Lily sat up on the sofa. "Dom, if she doesn't call... promise me you won't leave tonight?" Dominic looked back at her. His coat draped over his arm, he stood entirely still for a long time. "Fine." He dropped his coat and sat back down on the sofa. He pulled his phone out and placed it face-up on his knee. The clock ticked from 6:00 to 7:00, then from 7:00 to 9:00. Dinner time had long passed. Lily had fallen asleep against his shoulder. He scoffed, tossing the phone onto the coffee table. He closed his eyes and muttered to himself in the dark. "It's just one dinner... let her throw her tantrum." Early the next morning, his phone practically exploded. It was Julian yelling on the other end. "Dominic! Are you signing the dissolution papers or not?! If you don't sign, I'm taking you to court!"