I was drugged at a business party. The next day, explicit videos of me spread like wildfire through our social circle. The whispers and stares around me were almost unbearable. My fiancé, Zack, held me gently, “Don’t worry, Aria. I’ll take care of those videos. I’ve even found the best hypnotherapist to help you forget all this.” As the hypnosis device was placed on my temples and his low voice guided me into darkness, I thought this was my salvation. But before I completely lost consciousness, I heard the hypnotherapist’s playful laugh: “Bro, just because she broke your stepmom’s bracelet at the engagement party, you let those thugs have their way with her? Are you fucking insane?” My heart sank. That bracelet was broken because Vanessa deliberately bumped into me! Then she played the victim, accusing me of looking down on her as a stepmother. “She intentionally humiliated Vanessa at the party,” Zack’s voice was ice-cold. “Vanessa cried all night, saying even her future daughter-in-law looks down on her. I had to teach her a lesson to ease my anger.” So, all this torment I’ve endured was just because he thought I upset Vanessa? Leo chuckled lewdly, “Since she’s already been played with and now I’m hypnotizing her, why don’t I… have some fun too?” My hair stood on end. In my heart, there was still a pathetically weak hope that Zack would retain some last shred of conscience. However, he casually uttered two words, as if throwing away trash: “Whatever.”
“Really? She is your fiancée after all.” Zack kicked the therapy bed carelessly, “Just rub against her outside, don’t go in. Get your kicks and be done with it.” He was meticulously cleaning a scalpel, suddenly pressing the blade against my neck. The coldness made me shiver. “That thug only touched her and filmed it. I didn’t let her actually get violated.” “You’re such a good guy!” Leo sneered, “You had us film it and send it to you, then called us to delete it. Who knows which idiot leaked it online? How could it possibly be completely erased?” Zack chuckled, “I told you to delete the video just to put on an act in front of her.” He cut open the ribbon on my collar with the scalpel, instantly exposing me. “When the jade bracelet broke, she should have understood that upsetting Vanessa was a sin. So I continued spreading the video online, to let her taste what it’s like to be gossiped about.” Three days ago, he had held my trembling body and sworn: “I’ve taken care of that thug and the videos online. Aria, I will never let another man see your body.” So it was all an act! But at the engagement party, I really didn’t mean to embarrass Vanessa. On the contrary, she suddenly let go of my hand, causing the jade to shatter into pieces on the floor. “Aria, it’s okay if you look down on me, but you shouldn’t have broken Auntie’s gift…” Her tearful expression caused an uproar among the guests. Zack gently defused the situation for me, “It’s fine, we can just buy a new one.” “Hurry up.” The click of Zack’s lighter and the camera shutter sound went off simultaneously, “I want to show Vanessa the live recording later.” Leo fumbled with his belt, panting as he gripped my waist, “I warned you to please Vanessa. Zack can’t stand to see her frown.” Yes, at the dinner before Zack took me to meet his family, a drunk Leo had cornered me in the club hallway, “You’re just a pretty face. Otherwise, a commoner like you would never be able to marry Zack, the prince of this city.” He looked me up and down lewdly, “But compared to his stepmom, your body is far inferior.” “Zack protects his stepmom like the apple of his eye. If Vanessa was ten years younger, you wouldn’t stand a chance.” How did I respond then? I said nonchalantly that Zack could distinguish between family love and romantic love, just like he could distinguish between champagne and red wine. In the midst of the pain from Leo’s disgusting touch, I vaguely recalled when we first started dating, Zack had used his suit jacket to cover my shoulder after a drunk man touched it. His eyes were red then, his voice shaking: “If anyone dares to touch you again, I’ll cut off their hands.” Through my lashes, I saw Zack leaning against the window smoking a cigar. Through the smoke, he smiled slightly as he dialed a number, “Vanessa, I’ll show you something good later to cheer you up.” The red recording light blinked on and off, just like the fireworks he set off for me on the night he proposed. That night he knelt on one knee and solemnly vowed: “I will always be your safe harbor. I’ll never let you suffer even the slightest grievance.” Tears gathered in my eyes. Now, the safe harbor had turned into a slaughterhouse.
When I opened my eyes, Zack’s fingers were tracing the bruises on my wrist. “Do you remember what happened last night?” His voice was as sweet as honey, but his eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses were scrutinizing me. I tried to get up, but my body, ravaged by both the date rape drug and hypnosis drug, wouldn’t move. Lowering my eyes in silence for a moment, I looked up and blinked in confusion, deliberately unfocusing my gaze. “I don’t remember… My head hurts so much… My body hurts too…” He patted my head, his face full of doting affection, “Silly girl, you don’t even remember falling and hurting yourself.” I shrank into the blanket, my nails digging hard into my palm. The pain kept me alert, and also reminded me how disgusting his fake tenderness was right now. After all, he had given me an unforgettable lesson. Vanessa arrived just in time for dinner. “Oh my, Aria has gotten so thin!” She casually tossed her silk shawl onto the sofa, revealing her alluring collarbone, causing Zack’s eyes to darken. “Those videos online…” Zack coughed lightly, “Vanessa, Aria hit her head and forgot some things. Let’s not bring up the past.” Vanessa’s face froze for a moment, then she smiled again and took the bird’s nest porridge from the maid to feed me, “Then we need to nourish you well.” The freshly cooked porridge was scalding hot. She saw the steam rising but still shoved it into my mouth. I was burned and knocked over her bowl, spilling the sticky porridge all over her skirt. The moment Zack frowned, I immediately trembled like a frightened rabbit: “I’m sorry… my hand shook…” His gaze lingered on my reddened lips for a moment, but he finally sighed and got up to help Vanessa wipe her skirt, his fingers caressing the back of her hand soothingly. That night, I was finally able to walk on my own. When I tried to escape through the front door, I found guards posted there. I overheard their contemptuous discussion, “The young master’s fiancée looks so pure and innocent, who knew she’d moan even more seductively than a nightclub girl in that video when she was unconscious.” I felt like I’d fallen into an ice pit. Just how many people had seen that private video of me? As I stumbled back to my room in a daze, I saw through a crack in the study door that Vanessa was placing a glass of milk on Zack’s desk. The strap of her silk nightgown was slipping off her elbow in a suggestive manner. Her well-maintained skin glowed like a young girl’s in the moonlight, looking nothing like a stepmother twelve years older than Zack. Vanessa deliberately leaned forward, her chest brushing against Zack’s right arm as he typed. I clearly saw his Adam’s apple bob. Zack restrained himself from touching her, but his gaze was fixed on her fallen strap. “Vanessa, it’s cold at night. Put on a robe.” Vanessa grasped his wrist as he held out a robe, caressing it as if touching a lover. An ambiguous atmosphere flowed between them. The sound of me stepping on my skirt startled them. Zack immediately stood up to open the door. When he saw me, the air froze for a moment.
After a moment of deadly silence, he broke the silence of our eye contact. “When did you come? Can you walk now? Why are you out here?” I lied in panic, looking up at him with moist eyes, “I just came. I felt anxious when I couldn’t see you, couldn’t sleep.” Zack seemed surprised and touched by my “dependence”. He came forward and picked me up in his arms, his movements as gentle as if I were made of porcelain. “Be good, I’ll tell you a story to help you sleep.” I looked up and saw Vanessa’s twisted face behind him, full of malice. It seemed that because I had ruined Vanessa’s plans, her hostility towards me became even more obvious. The next morning, she cornered me in the stairwell. “Aria looks so pale,” her fingers with wine-red nail polish dug into my shoulder, “You’re not pretending to be sick to get Zack’s attention, are you?” I winced in pain and tried to pull her forceful hand away, but she grabbed my wrist instead, squeezing so hard it felt like she would crush the bone. “Aria? Where are you?” Zack’s voice calling for me came from around the corner of the stairs. Just as I was about to call for help, Vanessa suddenly pressed my hand against her waist and threw herself down the stairs like a self-destructive snake. “Be careful!” I reached out as she fell, but only grasped thin air. When Zack rushed over, he saw her fall like a broken-winged butterfly down the long, high staircase. Blood seeped from her knees, arms, and forehead, blooming like red plum blossoms on the white marble. “It wasn’t me…” My trembling explanation was cut off by a slap. Zack pinned me against the wall by my throat, his pupils crawling with bloodshot: “How dare you?!” “She pushed me…” Vanessa pointed at me, shaking, tears falling, “She hates me…” Zack’s eyes turned completely cold. His fist fell. By the time I counted to the hundredth blow, I finally heard the crisp sound of three of my ribs breaking. The taste of blood rose in my mouth. Before my vision blurred, I saw Vanessa’s curled lip – it was a victor’s smile. In the darkness, I was thrown onto the cold floor. Opening my swollen eyes, I saw Zack gently wiping Vanessa’s tears with a silk handkerchief, his lips pressed against her earlobe as he whispered: “She really never learns. Vanessa, I’ll get revenge for you. This time, I’ll let you watch in person as a group of men ravish her.” Vanessa’s light laugh was like a poisonous snake’s hiss, “Can I choose the men myself?” “Of course, whatever makes you happy.” As the basement door lock clicked shut, I fumbled to break off my necklace. Cold tears mixed with blood splattered onto the screen of the mini communicator hidden in the necklace. As I pressed the SOS button, the screen’s cold light illuminated the black and blue handprints on my collarbone. “Brother, I lost the bet. Come save me…” Five years ago, I ignored my brother’s objections and went on a hunger strike to be with Zack, the notorious playboy prince of the city. My brother looked at me with disappointment, “I’ll agree for now, but you must hide your identity as the princess of the Jiang family in the capital. If you can last ten years together, I’ll give you all the Jiang family’s vast fortune as your dowry.” I smiled naively, “Brother, he’s already reformed and sworn to love me in this life, the next life, and for all eternity. You can put your mind at ease…” Hah, back then I was confident we would love each other for ten years, a hundred years… but in reality, we couldn’t even make it to five years.
The pain from my broken ribs made me convulse in my unconscious state. As Zack’s shoe tip ground into my tailbone, an extreme pain simultaneously shot through my abdomen. He dragged me up the stairs by my hair. The blood flowing from my lower body left a winding red trail on the steps, like a skinned snake. Vanessa sat primly on the leather sofa, her freshly done almond-colored nails tapping lightly on a wine glass. Six men stood in front of her. The shortest one had a snake tattoo on his arm – It was the same hand that had pressed down on the back of my neck in the video of the thugs violating me. “Zack…” I crawled over and grabbed his pant leg. Blood foam seeped from the corner of my mouth. “We’ve been together for five years. You said you would protect me forever…” His pupils behind the gold-rimmed glasses constricted slightly, but after Vanessa’s light laugh, he violently kicked me away. I crashed into the coffee table. Shards of glass pierced my palms, the pain making my vision go black. “Remember this lesson.” Zack sat down next to Vanessa. “Next time you dare disrespect Vanessa, I’ll have them take you out in public to humiliate you.” The men laughed lecherously as they surrounded me. Rough hands reeking of cigarettes tore open my collar. I looked at Zack. He was lowering his head to fix a strand of Vanessa’s hair, as if our five years of love had been nothing but an absurd dream. “Stop!” The sound of an explosion shattered the floor-to-ceiling windows. My brother burst in with a SWAT team just as I was being pinned to the blood-stained carpet. “Take them all away!” The police handcuffed Zack. He struggled to turn back and look at me in disbelief, his glasses askew revealing bloodshot eyes underneath: “When did you call the police?” My brother’s suit jacket wrapped around my shaking body. He pressed my head to his chest, not letting me look back: “Don’t look at him. He’s filth.” Three days later in a VIP hospital room in the capital, the news was reporting that Zack had paid an enormous bail and was released on bail pending trial. He stood on the steps of the detention center, his eyes sinister as he faced the media cameras. I flinched reflexively. My brother turned off the TV and pushed a sedative into my IV drip. “Aria, don’t be afraid,” he wiped away the cold tears from the corner of my eye. “No one can find you here.” When Zack kicked open the front door of his house, the lingering smell of my blood still hung in the foyer. He looked at the empty home, his hand pausing as he loosened his tie. Like a suddenly abandoned wolf dog, his nostrils flared as he tried to catch my last scent. The sound of Vanessa’s high heels approached from behind: “I told you so. She ran off with some man long ago…” “Shut up!” A crystal vase shattered against the wall. Three days ago, this was where he had pinned me by the throat, demanding to know how I dared hurt Vanessa. He frantically dialed his private investigator, shouting, “Find out who the man was that took Aria away!” Vanessa threw the framed wedding photo of me and Zack from the coffee table into the trash, venting her anger. “That man looked so intimate with Aria. Who knows how long she’s been cheating on you behind your back…” Zack suddenly flipped over the entire coffee table, startling Vanessa into silence. A week later, a haggard Zack began throwing money at accessing all the city’s traffic camera footage. He stared intently at the last image of me on the city’s surveillance – In the footage, I was wearing a mask, being carried into a black Maybach by a tall man. “Enhance the license plate!” When the license plate “A·88888” came into clear view, Vanessa’s coffee cup suddenly crashed to the floor beside him. This license plate belonged to someone extremely wealthy and powerful. Afterwards, Zack barged into my best friend Rachel’s bridal shop, demanding to know when I had seduced the Maybach’s owner. Rachel calmly trimmed a veil with scissors, “The princess of the Jiang Group doesn’t need to seduce anyone.” “All these years Aria pretended to be poor, and you actually believed it?” She chuckled lightly. “Your family’s assets aren’t even a tenth of the Jiang Group’s. Yet you thought she was after your money and status, how little you thought of her!” Rachel’s expression suddenly changed. She hurled the scissors at Zack’s face, cutting a bloody gash. “You even dared to have people violate her?! Prepare to die! Adrian won’t let you off!”
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