Behind Julian Sterling’s back, I arranged for his ‘little rose’ to study at a prestigious music conservatory in New York. Julian, who everyone always described as a detached ascetic, instantly went berserk. He was convinced I’d deliberately sent away his little rose. He marooned our five-year-old son, Leo, on a cruise ship heading for the Arctic, demanding I bring Seraphina back. I watched Leo cry in agony on the ship as it sailed further into international waters. Then, Julian’s assistant hoisted Leo, his small body dangling precariously outside the railing. Julian’s voice, chillingly low and sinister, echoed, “Eleanor, you have five minutes to decide. Otherwise, our son will sink to the bottom of the deep blue sea!” **Minute one:** I remembered the five years I’d secretly loved Julian, quietly becoming his unacknowledged partner. He came from an influential family in pharmaceuticals; I was just a girl from a humble background, with no standout looks. I’d chosen to be a secret, content without a title. **Minute two:** Sterling family had Julian set for an arranged marriage of convenience with an heiress right after graduation. But Julian pulled me straight to the courthouse and we got our marriage license. **Minute three:** I got pregnant, but the Sterling family refused to accept me. Julian took me away from his family, cut ties, and we had our son, Leo. **Minute four:** Julian adopted his friend’s niece. The night of Seraphina’s 20th birthday, I saw the raw, hidden love in Julian’s eyes when he looked at her. **Minute five:** I remembered Julian and his little niece, Seraphina, in bed, willing to die entangled in each other’s arms… Julian’s hand opened, and the personal charm he’d worn for nearly twenty years was gone. That charm, which I was never allowed to touch, was now fastened around Seraphina’s right ankle. Julian’s eyes were arctic, completely devoid of warmth. “Eleanor, I’m asking you one last time. Where is Seraphina?” A sharp pang of pain tore through my throat, and Leo’s desperate cries for “Mommy, save me!” hammered in my ears. The sea wind whipped at my face, stinging painfully. “Eleanor, do you want our son to die, is that it?” My chest ached, each breath a struggle. I lifted my tear-filled eyes to Julian. “Julian, Leo is your biological son! How could you threaten his life?” Julian’s thin lips curled as he spat, “But Seraphina is my life too!” Tears streamed down my face. So, Seraphina was his life now. What were Leo and I to him then? “Eleanor, as long as Seraphina comes back, you’ll still be my wife.” I swallowed, trying to control my emotions. “Julian, I don’t believe you’d actually sacrifice our son for Seraphina. Besides, I haven’t harmed her.” Julian’s voice turned cold. “Counting down five seconds. If you don’t tell me where she is, our son, Leo, will be thrown into international waters to feed the sharks!” “5… 4… 3…” Seeing him actually start to move, I couldn’t hold out any longer. “Seraphina is at the BK Music Academy in New York.” I crumpled to the ground. He actually dared. He dared to abandon our own son for Seraphina. My tearful eyes watched Julian immediately grab his phone and dial. He was clearly frantic. “Get a helicopter over here. I’m flying to New York.” He didn’t spare me another glance, his eyes glued to his phone. My trembling hand scooped up a handful of sand. For ten years, I’d quietly been Julian’s woman behind the scenes. Whether it was scientific breakthroughs or achievements, every single one of his projects had my help. He built Sterling Pharmaceuticals from the ground up, moving beyond pure research to become its CEO. I’d spent 24/7 in the lab, solely dedicated to developing the specific drug he wanted. I succeeded. Sterling Pharmaceuticals quickly rose to become a top-tier pharmaceutical group, rivaling the original Sterling corporation. That night, Julian held me close, kissing my neck with such tender affection. “Eleanor, you’re my other half! Woven into my very soul!” I thought everything was finally moving in the right direction. I could prove I deserved to stand by his side, the Sterling family had seen my results, and in the last two years, our relationship with them had softened. But the outcome was this: Julian had fallen in love with a girl nine years his junior. A girl who was innocently charming, who’d cling to him, constantly pouting and saying: “Julian, I want you to stay with me.” “Julian, I don’t get this problem, help me.” “Julian, you absolutely *must* come to Seraphina’s cello competition. If you don’t, I’ll forfeit…” “Julian, Seraphina really likes you.” Acting spoiled was something I’d never done with Julian. Confessing my feelings was something I’d never done with Julian. Julian, right under my nose, fell for that ‘little princess’ who was so utterly helpless she ‘could barely function on her own.’ This little princess needed him to pamper her, and he willingly took on that difficult task, treating it like sweet candy. The helicopter arrived quickly. Julian couldn’t wait for Leo’s cruise ship to return; he boarded the helicopter and flew to New York. I watched the helicopter disappear into the distance. I called Julian several times, but he hung up every time. I sent him a message directly: **[When is our son coming back?!]** His reply came: **[In three hours, Eleanor. Seraphina is just a friend’s niece I promised to look after. She even calls me ‘Uncle Julian,’ I can’t let him down.]** I managed a bitter laugh at his explanation. *Can’t let him down?* I was about to turn off my phone when another message popped up. **[Eleanor, so what if I love Julian? He wants to be with me, and we’re willing to die tangled in each other’s arms. He’s had no passion for you for ages. You’re just unwilling to let him go.]** **[Eleanor, Julian came to my school again tonight. We went to a hotel, and he really liked the bunny outfit I wore today.]** **[…]** There were also explicit videos, showing Julian’s unrestrained passion in vivid detail. I turned off my phone and sat numbly by the sea, waiting for my son to return. The sea wind had dried my tears. I once believed that my love for Julian was enough. When Julian cheated, I even thought men might just be looking for excitement; we had a son, we needed a complete family. But now, I knew I couldn’t do it anymore. I’d been alone since childhood, without parental love or family affection. I thought I’d found true love, but now everything was shattered again. I opened a contract on my phone. This was the divorce agreement I’d signed when Sterling Pharmaceuticals went public. It meant automatically forfeiting all my shares in Sterling Pharmaceuticals and waiving my claim to the marriage itself. Just before the IPO, Grandpa Sterling had found me. “Eleanor, if you sign this, I’ll help Julian’s company go public. He wants to list on NASDAQ, and with my help, Sterling Pharmaceuticals can rival the original Sterling corporation.” To reassure the Sterling family and for Julian’s sake, I secretly signed the agreement. I had never imagined Julian would leave me. Now, everything had changed. Soon after, I sent another message. **[I agree. I’m joining Ocean’s Gate.]** That was the world’s top marine medical research team, where the best minds from all over the globe gathered. The catch? You needed to be confined beneath the sea for 30 years before you could pass through that ‘Gate of Time.’ My only condition: I would take my son, Leo. Julian would never find Leo and me again! To go to a place without borders, I needed to take my unique research findings with me. But all the research data and samples were in the lab. Opening that lab required both Julian’s and my fingerprints and passwords simultaneously. Soon after, Leo finally returned. His face was stained with tears, and he was sleeping fitfully. I kissed his forehead. “Leo, do you want to leave with Mommy?” Leo’s eyelashes fluttered. He looked at me, crying, “Mommy, Leo almost went into the ocean.” A five-year-old already understood what that meant. It was Julian’s most trusted assistant who had held Leo. My eyes welled up. “Leo, if you come with Mommy, you won’t have Daddy anymore. Are you willing?” Leo wrapped his small arms around my neck and nodded. “Wherever Mommy is, Leo is.” I took Leo to the corporate building. My fingerprints and password allowed me access to the high-level research lab. But I couldn’t open that door. Through the glass, I could see the computers and various experiment samples inside. One set of experimental data, which I had developed entirely on my own, was the only thing I truly wanted to take with me. “Mommy, what should we do? Daddy’s not here, you can’t open this door.” My mind replayed Julian building this lab, recording my fingerprints and password. He’d held me, whispering in my ear, “Eleanor, don’t tell me your password, and I won’t tell you mine. This place holds the company’s most important treasures. Only when we’re here together can we open this door and see these things. This way, we’ll always be connected, never separated.” When two people are in love, it’s about mutual reliance. But when the love fades, it becomes the perfect way to guard against each other. Julian, did you ever consider this day, five years ago? I ultimately couldn’t open the lab door. I took Leo straight to our apartment on the second floor. For years, Leo and I had lived in the corporate building with Julian until Seraphina’s arrival prompted them to buy a villa, turning it into a home. Everything here was something Leo and I had put together ourselves, before Seraphina came along. I packed all my belongings: things Julian bought for me, things I bought for Julian, and all the matching couple items I’d secretly bought with hidden hopes. Leo also sorted all his things. “Daddy bought this, don’t need it. Mommy bought this, take it. This is our family photo, don’t need it.” The little guy used three bags, categorizing items quickly. I held back my tears, watching my son meticulously sort everything. Julian, do you know how smart Leo is? He didn’t say a word, but he understood you’d abandoned him. Leo ran over and hugged me tightly. His small hands wiped away my tears. “Mommy, you always wanted to go to that lab, didn’t you? You said the ocean makes up three-quarters of our home, and we have to protect it. You always wanted to be a warrior protecting the ocean. Mommy is the best. You’re just going to fulfill your dream, and Leo supports you, he’ll go with you.” I looked at a painting in the distance. Julian was a skilled painter. It was an oil painting he’d done of Leo and me when Leo was two. I walked over, opened a paint box nearby, grabbed a brush, and slowly painted over my own image. Leo immediately grabbed a small brush, mimicking me, and painted over his own image in the painting. The little guy said warmly, “Mommy, when Leo learns to paint, I’ll only paint for you. Leo is super talented, definitely better than this painting.” I smiled faintly, stroking his face. Once everything was sorted, I made a call, and the junk collection service hauled everything away. That included the bed Julian and I shared, the sofa, the kitchenware—everything. The cozy photos I’d arranged on the walls, Leo’s messy scribbles, I tore them all down and threw them away. I even bought new paint and brushed the walls over and over again. Until this 200-square-meter apartment was left with only its load-bearing walls, empty, not even a single needle left. The walls were stark white, not a trace visible. And in the kitchen, the stomach medicine I always kept for Julian? Not a single pill remained. It took me a day and a night to do all this. Leo fell asleep on the floor. I carried him back to the villa. Pushing open the door, I found the living room filled with cigarette smoke, a dozen butts overflowing in the ashtray. Julian’s usually stoic face was etched with a hint of despair, his eyes bloodshot. His voice was cold, deep, and menacing. “Seraphina was bullied the moment she got to school! She’s lying in her dorm, covered in bruises, and she doesn’t even have money for medicine!” Julian had been waiting for me, his face accusatory, his icy eyes chilling me to the bone, as if I were his enemy. I glanced at Leo sleeping in my arms. “Julian, whatever it is, don’t argue in front of our son.” I was about to head upstairs. Just then, Seraphina appeared at the top of the stairs. She was wearing a white nightgown, her cascading curly hair falling to her waist, her innocent face filled with panic. She nervously clutched the fabric of her nightgown. “Aunt Eleanor, I… I promise I won’t cling to Uncle Julian anymore. Please don’t send me abroad.” The girl stood not far away, deliberately calling me “Aunt Eleanor” to make me sound old and past my prime. She looked at me pitifully. Julian had already risen from the sofa and went straight to Seraphina on the stairs. He gently pushed back her long hair, revealing red finger marks on her fair face where she’d been slapped hard. Seraphina collapsed into Julian’s arms, weeping. “Aunt Eleanor, the students who bullied me were all from here. They said they were paid to do it. You sent me to a top music academy, so it couldn’t have been you bullying me, could it?” Julian’s eyes turned completely cold, his icy gaze fixed on me, standing downstairs. “Eleanor, you may not like Seraphina, but I told you I have to take care of her until she graduates with her master’s at 25, until her uncle returns. But my constant compromises have only led you to bully Seraphina again and again.” Their arguments were loud enough to wake Leo. He tried to turn his head, but I wouldn’t let him. “Leo, close your eyes. Don’t listen.” I struggled to compose myself. “Julian, the BK Music Academy is one of the top three institutions in the world. If there’s bullying, you can call the police, or investigate it yourself, instead of interrogating me here.” Seraphina continued to sob uncontrollably. “Aunt Eleanor, I was wrong, I was wrong.” She pleaded while kneeling on the floor. “Please, Aunt Eleanor, I just want to study here in Veridian City. I can even live on campus. I promise I’ll only come back once a month—no, even half a day is fine. Please don’t send me away. Those people will kill me.” Seraphina’s tears seemed to mesmerize Julian. He picked her up right in front of me, his eyes filled with ruthless fury as he looked at me. “We’ll talk in the study later. I need to comfort Seraphina first.” I numbly went upstairs, Leo’s childish voice saying, “Mommy, can we leave Daddy sooner?” Julian embraced Seraphina. I stroked Leo’s back, my heart aching. “Yes, honey. Once Mommy handles everything, I’ll try my best.” I carried Leo down the second-floor hallway towards his bedroom. As we passed Seraphina’s room, I noticed the door wasn’t quite closed, leaving a slight gap. Through the sliver of space, I saw Julian pinning Seraphina on the bed, his hand already disappearing beneath her white nightgown. My body instantly stiffened, my eyes filled with excruciating pain. Julian, is *this* how you’re taking care of her?
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