After the bankruptcy, I was drugged and practically thrown into my childhood friend Liam’s bed. From that day on, he brought someone new home every night, then tossed a divorce agreement at me. “Ellie, beg me, and I won’t go through with it.” He’d look down on me, watching me grovel in the dirt again and again, just to get him to change his mind. He even openly ordered me to massage his new assistant, Chloe’s, feet right there in his office. Until the day Sterling Corp needed just ten million dollars to completely turn things around, Chloe blocked all my desperate calls for help. I waited a grueling twenty-four hours, until Sterling Corp utterly collapsed, and my parents, driven to despair, jumped from a building. Liam, however, walked in with Chloe, practically throwing the signed divorce papers at me again. “Ellie, weren’t you just looking for me to get money to save your family? Beg me. As long as I don’t divorce you, no one would dare touch Sterling Corp.” This time, I signed my name with a quiet, devastating calm: “Mr. Hayes, it’s not necessary. Sterling Corp doesn’t need your help anymore.”
The moment I signed the divorce papers, the smug triumph on Liam’s face instantly froze. He snatched the signed agreement, his eyes bloodshot, his fingers tightening around my throat, nearly insane. “Ellie! What new game are you playing now?!” “Don’t forget, you *begged* your way into my bed! You’d stop at nothing to marry me!” “What? Now you’re putting on a show of purity? Debasing yourself like that was all for money, wasn’t it?!” Each word was uglier than the last. For three years, he’d repeatedly brought up these things, constantly humiliating me. As if he was afraid I’d forget that it was I, Eleanor Sterling, who was shameless enough to slink into Liam’s bed. I would always cry and deny it. For three years, every day, I’d explain myself to him, believing that one day, he’d finally see my true feelings. But now, my heart was utterly dead. Whether he believed me or not no longer mattered. Watching him rage, his voice hoarse, I only felt an overwhelming weariness. That crushing weight, so deep it felt like it was in my very bones, made me think death wouldn’t be so bad. “Ellie! Say something! How dare you look at me like that! You’re the one who wronged me!” Liam’s furious shouting finally died down. After he had calmed slightly, I slowly raised my head. “Are you done talking?” “If you’re done, can I leave?” For the first time in three years, I felt this calm. Liam, however, panicked. He scoffed, trying to hide the fleeting alarm in his eyes. “Leave? Where do you plan on going?” “You want to leave? Fine. Every single thing on you, isn’t it all *my* money? You want to leave? Fine. Go back the way you came – with nothing!” He stood there, looking down at me, and through him, I somehow saw the Liam of my youth. Back then, he was so afraid I’d leave him, he’d pull me close every day, just begging me to say I loved him. But all of that had long since vanished with the wind. Now, standing before him, I only felt the utter humiliation of being stripped bare and shoved into his bed. Looking at his eyes, practically screaming “beg me,” I forced a smile. “Alright.” I took off the watch from my wrist. He’d threatened me this way countless times. Each time, I would cry and plead with him, begging him not to humiliate me like this, for the sake of our past. Back then, I still had hope for him and for our future. But now. Living was more torturous than dying. These humiliations were just icing on the cake of my suffering. It hurt, but it didn’t matter. I took off the last jacket he’d given me, then removed the wedding ring he’d bought. I stared at him, then let go of my fingers. The wedding ring clattered to the floor, a sharp, clear sound. Something I once cherished above all else now felt no different from a cold stone. I didn’t look back at his trembling form. Barefoot, I walked step by step toward the door. “Ellie! Are you insane?! Stop right there!” Liam’s furious roar echoed behind me. But the bruises marring my thin body – a canvas of black and blue – became the ultimate mockery of him. I walked faster and faster, heading toward the sunlight, leaving him completely behind. Watching my retreating figure, Liam, whether from rage or grief, trembled violently and collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air. “Mr. Hayes, Ms. Sterling is just being so ungrateful. She’s throwing such a tantrum just because you didn’t answer her call. Does she have someone else?” Chloe’s words were laced with insinuation. Liam suddenly pushed her away, his eyes blazing red. “Get out!” “Mr. Jenkins, take her clothes to her. How dare she leave? How dare she walk out on me!” “Ellie, you were the one who wronged me first!”
The biting spring chill made my body tremble as I walked barefoot on the asphalt road. I had walked this road countless times. The most degrading time was when disaster struck Sterling Corp. My family elders drugged me and shoved me into Liam’s bed like a piece of merchandise, all to buy Sterling Corp a lifeline. Now, Sterling Corp was completely gone. I no longer had to humble myself, and surprisingly, I felt a sense of liberation. “Ms. Sterling!” Mr. Jenkins’ voice called from behind, his footsteps hurried. Before I could turn around, a coat was draped over my shoulders. “Ms. Sterling, Mr. Hayes asked me to bring you this coat.” “Mr. Hayes still cares for you. You two love each other, why do you have to…” “Mr. Jenkins, please thank him for me.” I interrupted him. Mr. Jenkins sighed and said no more, turning to leave. I looked at the familiar coat on me, sinking into memories. Liam bought this coat for me. Back then, I was still the adored princess of the Sterling family. When he gave me the coat, his eyes were full of love. He promised to protect me for a lifetime. From childhood, he had always shielded me, never allowing me to suffer the slightest injustice. The first time I was bullied, he brought his friends and beat the person up. When my family found out, he faced severe family punishment. Even lying in bed, he couldn’t stay still, making funny faces to cheer me up. At that time, I cried with heartache, and he frantically wiped my tears. “Ellie, don’t cry. With me here, no one is allowed to make you cry!” In high school, I was cornered by some bullies from school. He rushed in alone, like a beacon of light, and was beaten black and blue. Even when my family arrived, he couldn’t stand straight, but still foolishly asked if I was scared. I laughed through my tears, exasperated by him. Back then, he never got close to any other girl except me. Every time, he’d proudly brag to his friends, saying, “My little jealous one keeps me on a short leash.” Liam and I were childhood sweethearts, innocent and inseparable. Everyone envied us, saying we were a match made in heaven. We were just waiting for the day our families had set, when we could walk hand-in-hand into marriage, becoming the most important people in each other’s lives. But fate had other plans. Sterling Corp faced a major financial crisis due to a flawed decision. They were afraid the Hayes family would back out of the engagement, so they drugged me and shoved me into Liam’s bed. And the glass of wine Liam drank, the one laced with drugs, I had handed to him myself. I explained to him countless times that I truly didn’t know there was medicine in the wine. But every time he looked at me, it was with the same look he’d had the moment he woke up in that bed. Full of disgust and contempt, looking down on me as if I were an object. He was convinced that I had used manipulative tricks, offering myself to him, to force his hand and save my family. From that moment, I was utterly condemned in his eyes, nailed to a pillar of shame. I no longer had any right to defend myself. Yet, he still honored the engagement. He gave me a grand wedding, making everyone envious. He still saved Sterling Corp. I thought he still had feelings for me. But on our wedding night, he brought a woman home. After that, he brought a different woman home every single day. Everyone in the city knew the rumors: Liam’s place had enough women to open a whole club. He found endless ways to humiliate me, seemingly only happy when he saw my pain. I endured it day by day, thinking that once he’d vented enough, he’d finally sit down and listen to me. That we would have a day when we reconciled. I never imagined that this endurance would last for three years. And what I finally got was… Sterling Corp’s complete collapse, and my parents’ desperate suicide.
Penniless, I had no choice but to walk barefoot from the Hayes family mansion on the hillside down to the city below. By the time I reached the park, my feet were bleeding and raw. Thankfully, the pen I’d used to sign the papers was still in my hand. I asked someone for a few sheets of paper and sat on the park steps, quietly sketching the scenery before me. This moment of tranquility seemed to transport me back to before I married Liam. I laid out the finished drawings, one by one, on the ground. Each one was small and intricate. Until a little girl knelt in front of me. “Miss, your feet are bleeding. Doesn’t it hurt?” I looked down, my gaze fixed on my feet. After walking such a long distance, the soles of my feet were already a bloody mess. But I felt nothing. It turned out the pain in my heart truly overshadowed any physical agony. Not wanting to scare the little girl, I tucked my feet away and smiled. “No, it doesn’t hurt.” The little girl tilted her head, then pulled out a crumpled ten-dollar bill from her pocket. “Miss, I only have this much. Can I buy one of your paintings? They’re so beautiful, they remind me of someone I used to know.” Hearing her speak like such a grown-up, I couldn’t help but smile. How old was she to have “someone she used to know”? “It’s enough that you like them. Take all of these. Thank you for your ten dollars.” I never thought. One day, the only ten dollars I had would come from a child. But I truly needed that money. Holding the bill, I walked into a small internet cafe, exchanging the ten dollars for an hour of online time. I opened the computer and logged into the social media account that had been my torment for three years. “A true woman is submissive and puts her husband first.” “Wives should be meek, compliant, and never voice a single complaint.” “A woman’s honor lies in her purity; she must guard it fiercely.” These sickening, pinned posts were all things Liam had forced me to publish. When we first got married, I still had hope for him. Every time he brought a woman home, I would argue with him. Later, the first time he punished me by making me kneel in the garden, making his mistress watch me as he read from some ancient treatises on female conduct he’d bought, I resisted fiercely. The consequence was that he forced me to post these things online. He told me I was merchandise he’d bought, and I should act like it. He said he wanted everyone to see what a ‘virtuous and benevolent’ wife I, Eleanor Sterling, truly was. After that, whenever I made him angry, he’d force me to publish these statements online. It became our twisted routine. And my account became a battleground for countless online users to condemn me. They called me a “brainwashed traditionalist,” a “feudal relic,” a “disgrace to modern women.” I couldn’t refute them, nor was I allowed to. Silence became my best escape from everything. Liam gradually grew dissatisfied with just that. He made me personally ‘attend’ to the women he brought home. The ones who even slept in his bed? I was forced to ‘prepare’ them myself. He’d sneer, “Someone as shameless as you knows best how to please a man.” Each time, he’d stand by, watching my humiliated, pained expression with a look of amusement and mockery. Later, I gradually grew numb. I no longer resisted, no longer argued. He found it boring, too, and stopped scrutinizing me. Instead, he changed his method, making me beg him, beg him not to divorce me. I compromised again and again for my family, but now, I had nothing left, and I no longer needed to beg him. Looking at the emptied page, I let out a long breath. As the last post was finally deleted. I felt as if the shackles on my body had shattered. I collapsed onto the table, utterly drained, my entire being emptied from the inside out. In that moment, I didn’t even know if I was alive or dead. Until someone gently tapped my back. “Ellie?”
I spun around abruptly, seeing a kind face with a hint of surprise. It was my university mentor, Professor Hayes. When the news of my marriage to Liam got out, he strongly opposed it, calling me countless times, and even didn’t attend my wedding. But I had my reasons, and I could never bring myself to tell him. Now, he was the only elder I had left. Looking at him, my eyes instantly welled up, my voice trembling involuntarily. “Professor Hayes, it’s me.” Just three short words, and my tears became uncontrollable. All the suppressed grievances I had kept buried erupted. “Don’t cry. The little girl who just bought your drawing was my daughter.” “Your professor is asking, do you still want to pursue further studies?” His gaze, just like it was back then, was full of expectation. I nodded, tears still in my eyes. If it weren’t for what happened with Sterling Corp, I would have gone abroad with Professor Hayes and held my first art exhibition. Professor Hayes and I went to complete the formalities, then headed to the airport to wait for our flight. Inside the Hayes family mansion. Liam paced restlessly in the living room. “You still haven’t found Ellie?” The butler shook his head. “Find her! If you can’t find her, then keep looking!” His voice was sharp and cold. His eyes, usually calm and emotionless, were now filled with panic. “Mr. Hayes, Ms. Sterling might just be out having fun. She has no friends, no family, what do you have to worry about?” Chloe, wearing my nightgown, leaned into Liam’s arms, twisting her body, trying every trick to kiss his lips, but he pushed her away sharply. “Get out!” Liam’s voice was icy, his gaze fixed on Chloe as if she were a dead woman. “Who gave you permission to wear her clothes? Take it off! None of you have the right to touch her things.” Chloe ran off, her eyes red. He sat on the couch, stubbornly waiting. Every tick of the second hand only amplified his frustration. He gritted his teeth, calling my number again and again. After countless times, the automated voice prompted him to leave a message, he let out a frustrated growl. “Ellie, you’ve gotten brave, haven’t you? Running away from home now?” “I’m giving you one hour. Get back here right now! Otherwise, I’m really divorcing you!” Another hour passed. He left me another message. “Ellie, if you don’t come back, even if you cry and beg me, I’m still divorcing you!” By the third message, his voice was starting to sound frantic. “Are you deliberately trying to see if I care about you? Just come back! Is it money you want? As long as you come back, I’ll give you whatever you need.” “Ellie, you’re the one who wronged me, why are you throwing a tantrum?!” “Just come back, say you love me, and I’ll let it go.” “Why don’t you care about all those other women but you can’t tolerate Chloe? I already sent her away, so come back quickly, don’t be so ungrateful!” He waited for a day and a night, calling me countless times, but he never received any news from me.
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