Our family carries a generational curse. The more one person gives in a marriage, the more the other will pay back tenfold after divorce. So, when Julian Hayes brought his pregnant secretary home on our ninth wedding anniversary, I didn’t cry or make a scene. Instead, I greeted him with a radiant smile. Julian casually instructed me: “Serena has a delicate palate; no repeating meals for her, ever again.” “She’s easily scared and needs company when she sleeps. Pack your things, move into the guest room.” At his words, everyone burst into laughter. “Mrs. Hayes? More like the CEO’s mistress’s nanny!” I lowered my head, desperately trying to suppress the triumphant smirk that threatened to lift my lips. They had no idea. The deeper Julian wounded me now, the more devastatingly the curse would rebound on him after the divorce. I couldn’t wait to see the look on his face then. In our nine years of marriage, I never once mentioned the curse to Julian. When we first got married, we were madly in love. I firmly believed he would never betray me. And I truly believed we would never divorce. Until I caught him cheating. The first time I discovered his infidelity, I asked for a divorce. But he locked me in the master bedroom of our villa for five days and four nights, exhausting three entire bottles of something. He explained, his face a mask of helplessness, “Claire, people in our social circle sometimes need a change of pace.” My friends also tried to convince me, claiming it was an unspoken rule in elite circles. No matter how deeply a couple loved each other, the wife had to silently accept her husband having a kept woman outside. They said the others were just temporary toys, and Julian’s true heart still belonged to me. But then Serena Stone appeared, and I knew he was genuinely in love. The first time I truly realized it was on my birthday. Julian shamelessly brought Serena along to the ski resort. Serena cooed at Julian, whining that the snowstorm was too heavy and she wanted my goggles. I refused to give them to her. “Does Mr. Hayes not even have enough money to buy his little mistress a pair of goggles? Why does she have to steal mine?” Serena burst into tears the moment she heard that. Julian instantly panicked. To soothe her, he ordered his men to strip me bare and abandoned me on the mountainside. After six hours in the snow, when rescue finally arrived, I felt utterly numb, dead inside. Later, when Serena found out she was pregnant and simply mentioned wanting my peace-and-luck bangle, Julian immediately demanded I hand it over. But he knew perfectly well that the bangle was a precious relic from my deceased parents. Meeting my reddened eyes, he was coldly indifferent: “Name your price.” What was nine years of a humiliating marriage, one that dragged me through the mud, truly worth? I couldn’t be bothered to calculate. I removed the peace-and-luck bangle and placed it on Serena’s wrist. I said to Serena: “May your baby be safe and sound.” Hearing my ‘blessing,’ Julian, for once, unexpectedly offered me an olive branch: “Claire, if you just behave, my child will be your child.” No sooner had he finished speaking than the bangle on Serena’s wrist suddenly slipped off and shattered. Seeing Serena’s leg cut, Julian scooped her up like a princess. He barked orders at Mr. Thompson to call the family doctor. I turned to leave, but he gripped my wrist with a cold glare: “Apologize.” “What—” Before I could finish, he dragged me to my knees at Serena’s feet. My knees scraped against the fragments of the bangle, staining the pristine white floor crimson with my blood. Seeing the bloodstains, Julian’s eyes flickered with disgust, and he released me. “You deliberately broke Serena’s bangle and caused her injury. Don’t you think you should apologize to her?” After marrying Julian, the words “I’m sorry” had become my mantra. The soup was too bland, I’m sorry. Worried he was drunk and unwell, I bothered him with a text message, I’m sorry. Accidentally seeing Serena’s text inviting him to a hotel, thus ‘invading his privacy’—my sincerest apologies… Biting the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood, I resignedly straightened up. After bowing a full 180 degrees to Serena and apologizing three times, I looked at Julian with an empty gaze. I asked softly: “Is that enough?” Staring at the blood at the corner of my mouth, his chest visibly heaved for a moment: “Claire, Grandfather Hayes, your biggest protector, isn’t here to save you. Who are you putting on this pathetic, disgusting act for?” Before I could reply, the family doctor rushed in. Shoving me out of his way, Julian led the doctor straight to Serena.
While his eyes were filled with nothing but Serena, I quickly walked out the front door, desperate to leave. However, before the iron gate could open, two bodyguards suddenly appeared, forcibly taking me back to the villa. In the study, Julian had me bound securely. He ordered someone to pierce my arm with a needle as thick as a child’s arm. Through the half-open door, I heard the doctor say to Julian: “Mr. Hayes, while both your wife and Ms. Stone have RH-negative blood, a rare type, Mrs. Hayes has a history of heart disease since childhood. Forcibly drawing blood could trigger acute shock. I think it would be better to go to the hospital first, and then proceed with a transfusion for Ms. Stone’s anemia…” “Don’t bother trying to persuade me.” Julian said coldly: “Your only task is to ensure Serena’s health. As for the rest, I know what I’m doing.” Hearing Julian’s approaching footsteps, I slowly closed my eyes. “Does it hurt much?” His voice was uncharacteristically comforting: “Just bear with it a little longer. It’ll be over soon.” I turned my head away, unwilling to waste my breath on him. After extracting 800 milliliters of blood, my lips had turned purple. At that moment, Serena, lying in the master bedroom, suddenly coughed. Hearing the sound, Julian immediately stopped the doctor from pulling out the needle, demanding he draw double the amount of blood. The doctor, sweating profusely, informed Julian that if they continued, I would likely die. After a two-second hesitation, Julian merely said: “Serena is pregnant; the pregnant woman comes first in everything.” “But…” I cut off the doctor’s protest: “Draw it. Just let me leave once you’re done.” Looking at my bloodless face, Julian’s eyes filled with cold fury, and he opened his mouth to speak. He was about to demand if I was done throwing a tantrum. Was I really going to run away from home over such a minor issue? Serena’s sweet, whiny voice chimed in: “Julian, honey~” And instantly, he was drawn away. After that, I collapsed from blood loss and was hospitalized. I didn’t realize then that, a month later, I would be back in the hospital again.
It started one evening when Serena suddenly blocked my bedroom door. She held a black bottle in her hand, eyeing me up and down with disdain: “Claire, I didn’t think you could endure so much. I’ve brazenly taken over your life and made you the laughingstock of the entire elite circle, yet you’re still stubbornly clinging to the Hayes family, refusing to leave.” “Then again, your grandmother died last month, didn’t she? Without that powerful protector, you’d be clinging to Julian like a drowning person to a life raft, wouldn’t you?” At this, Serena suddenly remembered something amusing: “Claire, remember that day you were crying and begging Julian to fly you by helicopter to the hospital to see your grandmother one last time? Do you know why he refused? Because, darling, he’d promised to take me to the beach to watch the sunset that day. Look, this kissing photo on my phone screen? That’s when we took it.” *Smash!* I knocked Serena’s phone from her hand, my patience snapping, and gripped her neck. The bottle in Serena’s hand slipped, and I immediately caught a strong whiff of gasoline. In the struggle, a flustered Serena accidentally ignited the gasoline on the floor. Thick smoke billowed, and flames raged. Having just been discharged from the hospital, I quickly became weak from the smoke, collapsing to the ground. That’s when I heard Julian’s voice: “Claire!” Followed by the maids’ frantic shouts of protest: “Sir, it’s too dangerous inside, you can’t go in yet! Wait for security to bring the fire extinguisher before—” “Get out of my way! Claire is still in there!” He, after all, disregarded the danger and rushed into the burning house. He just didn’t expect Serena to be in there too. “Julian, darling, help—”
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