Maxwell was in a meeting when he accidentally opened a hidden folder, exposing sex videos of himself and his secretary, Vivian. To protect Vivian’s privacy, he forcibly dragged me onto the stage and publicly announced our ten-year relationship. “This is just a private hobby between Winona and me. It was my mistake. Please don’t judge her.” After we left the stage, I begged him desperately: “I’ve done everything you asked. Now please bring my mom back from the mountains. There’s a bear attack happening there!” But his secretary Vivian chose that moment to hand me a set of lingerie—the exact set she wore in the video: “Winona, to make sure everyone believes you’re the woman in the video, please put on this lingerie and take a few photos.” Under Maxwell’s coercion, I changed into the lingerie. Soon, my photos were circulating around the company. I became everyone’s laughingstock. I endured the humiliation, only hoping Maxwell would hurry and save my mom. But when I got home, the police delivered my mother’s suicide note.
“The bear is going to eat me. Winona, maybe it’s better if I die. Then you can finally escape Maxwell’s control.” A bloodstained piece of cloth, a few bone fragments—these were the last traces my mother left in this world. The officer delivering the note looked devastated. “Ms. Rivers, my condolences. By the time we received the distress call and reached the scene, this was all that remained. The bear had vanished without a trace.” My tears flowed uncontrollably. Maxwell—all the love I once felt for this man had completely dried up. After learning from the officer where they’d found my mother’s remains, I rushed to those mountains without stopping. Even finding just a little more trace of my mother would be a blessing. As I approached the location, I heard moaning sounds. When I got closer, I felt like I was going mad. “Maxwell, you’re so bad. Isn’t it enough that you torment me all the time? Now you have to exhaust me while camping in these remote mountains.” Vivian clung intimately to Maxwell’s neck, her face showing pure pleasure. “Maxwell, you really are heartless, making Winona take the blame for me. She’s been in a relationship with you for ten years.” “Getting to publicly announce our relationship made her so happy inside, how could she care about anything else?” “That woman gets so excited she can’t sleep all night just from hearing me say I like her.” Maxwell spoke these cold words so casually, and they pierced straight through my heart. My heart felt like it was being squeezed tight. Pain and bitterness surged up together. I had indeed loved him to my bones, willing to stay with him for ten years without any official status. Even when he used my mother to threaten me, I couldn’t bring myself to let go. But I never imagined that all my devotion was nothing but a joke to him, something he never took seriously. Bitterness spread through my mouth. I finally understood just how pathetic my one-sided love had been. Before I could retreat, Vivian’s sharp eyes spotted me and she shouted my name in fake surprise. “Winona, what are you doing here? Have you been stalking Maxwell this whole time?” “That’s so creepy.” Hearing my name, Maxwell’s smile vanished instantly. He stared straight at me. I lowered my eyes, unwilling to meet his gaze. I was afraid he’d see the flames of revenge burning in my eyes. But Maxwell thought I was feeling guilty. He threw on a shirt and walked up to me. He gripped my chin tightly, his voice ice-cold. “Winona, do you really like me this much? Enough to do something as disgusting as stalking?” “Since you like it so much, I’ll satisfy you.” The moment he finished speaking, he planted a heavy kiss on my lips. His kiss was full of domination and superiority, as if this was a reward he was granting me. But I only felt disgusted. His actions, his smell, his very existence—all of it disgusted me. I bit down hard on his lip. The taste of blood spread through my mouth. Maxwell pulled back in pain, staring at me in disbelief. The next second, he grabbed my throat tightly. “Stop playing these boring games with me.”
Before he could say anything more vicious, Vivian behind him let out a terrified scream. “There’s a bear!” In the distance, a massive bear was slowly walking toward us. Even Maxwell was trembling with fear. He released his grip on me. I gasped for air, then flashed him a brilliant smile. “Maxwell, I do love you.” “So let’s die here together, reunited in the bear’s belly.” Maxwell glanced at me in shock, treating me like I’d truly lost my mind. As the bear drew closer, his eyes darted between me and Vivian, hesitation in his gaze. No matter how fit he was, he could only take one extra person with him to escape. In the end, he grabbed Vivian’s hand and ran for their lives. “I’m sorry, Winona. Once I get outside, I’ll immediately call for help to rescue you.” Between me and Vivian, he made his choice. After Maxwell’s abuse, I didn’t even have the strength to run. I could only watch helplessly as the bear approached. I closed my eyes and silently prayed. Mom, I’m coming to see you. The bear was so close I could smell the stench from its mouth. Just as the bear was about to strike, the crack of a gunshot rang through the air. The bear’s head was pierced by a bullet. Its body crashed to the ground. I stood frozen, not yet understanding what had happened. A middle-aged man dressed like a hunter emerged, holding a rifle. He had only one piece of advice for me: “Girl, next time you choose a man, remember to use your eyes.” I smiled bitterly. I couldn’t agree more with those words. The look in Maxwell’s eyes as he left was burned into my mind. Though it was full of regret and hesitation, his body was more honest than his heart. The people Maxwell called arrived quickly at the scene. Surrounded by bodyguards, he rushed up to me and pulled me into a tight embrace. “Are you hurt anywhere? Winona, I’ll take you to the hospital right now. I’ll find you the best doctors in all of Sea City.” “Don’t worry, I absolutely won’t let anything happen to you.” I stared blankly at the man before me. The concern in his eyes and words seemed genuine. But it only made me feel worse. Because it proved he wasn’t incapable of loving me—there were just things more important to him than his love for me. Like Vivian, for instance. Seeing us embrace, a flash of malice crossed her eyes. Suddenly she cried out and collapsed, claiming she was in shock. Maxwell immediately let go and rushed to support Vivian, whispering comfort in her ear. As for me, he simply waved his hand and had a bodyguard take me to the hospital. When I left the hospital, I took all of my mother’s remaining belongings and had them cremated. Holding the lightweight urn, I returned home with a numb expression, planning to confront Maxwell and end everything. This relationship that had lasted ten years had exhausted me. It was time to end it. But as soon as I opened the door, I saw Vivian acting coy with Maxwell. Maxwell’s eyes were full of laughter as he recorded everything on his phone. Hearing the door open, both of them looked over at once. I froze in place, my mind blank. Maxwell’s brow was furrowed at first, but when he saw the urn in my hands, understanding dawned. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I didn’t expect you to actually be into this kind of thing.” “Considering your performance in the mountains today, I suppose I can play along with this little act of yours. Call it compensation.” “Vivian, hold my phone. Record this scene.” As he spoke, he took off his shirt and strode toward me. Not until his arm wrapped around my waist and his hot breath fell on my ear did I snap out of it. “Let go of me right now. Maxwell, what are you trying to do?” “I didn’t expect you to get into character so quickly. Have you been rehearsing?” As his actions grew more brazen, I slapped him hard in my fury. His eyes instantly turned cold and hard as he stared at me.
“Winona, what exactly are you trying to do? Weren’t you the one who wanted to make a video with me? Now you’re playing hard to get?” “My patience isn’t unlimited. If you want to film, let’s get on with it.” After I understood the meaning behind his words, I was too disgusted to speak. I looked at him like he was a stranger. How had the man I once loved so much become this filthy and ugly? Or perhaps he’d always been this way, and I was only now seeing the truth. “Open your damn eyes and look carefully. This is my mother’s ashes!” “Saying these things in front of a dead person—aren’t you afraid of karma?” He looked uncertain, staring blankly at the urn in my arms. But Vivian rushed over at that moment and whispered in his ear. The doubt in Maxwell’s eyes vanished, replaced by intense disgust toward me. “Before I had your mother placed in those mountains, I had Vivian arrange a team of mercenaries to protect her. How could anything have happened?” “Winona, just to win my affection, you’d even fake your own mother’s death. What disgusting thing wouldn’t you do?” He snatched the urn from me, opened it, and let out a cold laugh. “What normal person’s ashes would be this little? Winona, if you’re going to fake something, at least make it believable.” But the ashes were so sparse because there was so little left of my mother’s body. My heart was full of grievance, but Maxwell gave me no chance to explain. I could only swallow it down. “Since you already bought the props, I might as well put them to use.” “Vivian, help me finish that scene from earlier.” By the time I remembered what scene he meant, the two of them were already performing it right in front of me. Right in front of my mother’s ashes. Maxwell tied me up with rope. I could only watch helplessly as they defiled my mother with their actions. “No, please don’t. I’m begging you.” Tears streamed down endlessly, but they didn’t stir even a hint of mercy in Maxwell. He even spoke mockingly to the urn: “Your daughter’s boyfriend of ten years is with another woman. Can you see this from below?” By the end, I’d gone numb, watching them expressionlessly. When they finished, I picked up the urn without a word and left that disgusting place, not sparing them another glance. They disgusted me to the point of nausea. Worried that Maxwell might find my temporary residence and do something disgusting with my mother’s ashes again, I’d rather carry the urn with me to work. Ever since the scandal from the meeting had spread, my reputation at the company was completely ruined. Wherever I went, I could hear people whispering behind my back. “She acts so proper normally, but she’s so shameless in private.” “Only our Mr. Hunt would want her. Who else would like this kind of slut?” The source of all these rumors was Maxwell’s current woman, Vivian. But this life was finally about to end. Today I was here to resign. However, when I knocked on Maxwell’s office door, I was told Mr. Hunt wasn’t in his office—he was downstairs at the company entrance. I looked down through the floor-to-ceiling window in confusion and saw countless gorgeous, brilliant flowers. In the middle of a heart shape made of bouquets, Maxwell knelt on one knee. Just by reading his lips, I knew what four words he was saying: “I like you.” But the object of his confession wasn’t me. It was Vivian, her face full of bashful delight. Ten years. I’d waited ten years for his confession. Whenever I wanted to make our relationship public, he always found excuses to put me off. I never imagined the reason it would finally be made public would be this absurdly laughable. And the confession I’d waited ten years for was stolen by someone else. Falling in love with Maxwell truly was the biggest mistake of my life. Vivian accepted Maxwell without question. The two embraced excitedly and kissed passionately on the spot. I didn’t spare them another glance. After placing my resignation letter on Maxwell’s desk, I returned to my workstation to pack my things. All my colleagues were discussing the confession that just happened, openly and subtly scorning me. “Those two are so well-matched. Vivian is so much better than that Winona.” “Some ten-year relationship—probably just Mr. Hunt being kind to save her face. I bet she’s the one who’s been pestering him for ten years.” These words flowed through my mind like water, unable to stir even a ripple. But when I returned to my desk, the urn that had been sitting there was gone. My heart sank to the bottom. Ignoring others’ contempt, I frantically asked the surrounding colleagues. After learning Vivian had taken it, my vision went black and I nearly fainted. That woman would definitely do something terrible to my mother’s ashes. My mother’s ashes couldn’t afford any mishap. I headed to the CEO’s office once more. When I arrived, I saw Vivian had poured all the ashes into a flowerpot with several vibrant roses planted in it.
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