"Ah! Don't hit me!" I shielded my head and slammed into the cold wall. I jolted awake, only to find myself sitting on the lace sheets I'd bought before the wedding. Memories of my past life exploded in my mind: their vicious grins as they grabbed my hair and beat me, the dull thuds of clubs striking my spine. My hatred was tempered into a blade.
"Mengmeng, don't worry. Once you marry into the Wang family, you'll be like my own daughter."
"You're right, Mom. Then you and Wang Hui should sign this prenuptial agreement and this property transfer registration contract."
The livestream topped the trending searches. As my sister-in-law tearfully put on a show, the speakers blasted the audio of my husband and my best friend plotting to "bleed me dry." As funeral smoke rose from the crematorium, the debt collectors kicked Wang Hui into the trunk of a van. Amid the drifting, scorching ashes of paper money, Liu Feng took my trembling hand. The childhood marble set in my ring caught the glow of the sunset, lighting the blazing stars in his eyes. "Those who claw their way back from hell find home at the end of the bloody road."
