Category: English

The day the special police raided the scam operation, I was sitting on a small stool memorizing fraud scripts. Captain Luke Reynolds snatched the phone from my hand, his voice sharp with anger. “You could come and go freely. You even had your phone. Why didn’t you call the police?” I clutched my fraud notebook tightly to my chest and shook my head blankly. “Call the police? So you could send me back home? But Captain, even breathing is a luxury there.” Luke stood frozen in place. Since I was twelve, my grandmother had installed tiny cameras in my room — by my bed, at my desk, even in the bathroom — so she could monitor me around the clock. Every time I showered, I watched that little red light blinking, and I could barely breathe. I cried and begged my mother for help, but she only said: “Evelyn, I work so hard to make ends meet. Your grandmother only does this because she cares about you so much.” When I was sixteen, I saw a guy with bleached hair on the street and walked straight into that scam den. I couldn’t stand another second in that suffocating house.

When Luke grabbed the notebook from my arms, my instinct was to lunge forward and bite his hand. Two young officers held me back. I kicked my legs, eyes locked on that blue-covered notebook. “Give it back! It’s mine!” Luke flipped open the notebook and stopped. He turned page after page. There wasn’t a single fraud script inside. Just locks. All kinds of locks. Padlocks, deadbolts, security locks, combination locks. Each one had detailed cross-section diagrams with the internal mechanisms labeled. Even the number of pins was clearly marked. He closed the notebook, glanced at me, and shoved me into the back seat of the police car. The moment the door shut, my eyes swept across the corner of the ceiling. A small black sphere with a red light on top. A dashcam. I pressed my back against the car door, curled into a ball, and my teeth started chattering. “What’s wrong with her?” The young officer driving glanced at me in the rearview mirror. Luke turned around and frowned. “Turn off that dashcam in the back.” “But regulations —” “Turn it off.” The red light went out. My teeth kept chattering, but my body slowly relaxed. At the station, a short-haired female officer poured me a cup of hot water. Luke sat across from me, flipped through a file, and looked up. “Your family reported you missing. Did you know that?” I didn’t respond. “You were cleaning at that operation. You had freedom of movement. Why didn’t you think to call the police?” “What would you have done if I had?” “Sent you home, of course.” “I didn’t want to go home. Why would I call?” Luke’s pen stopped. “You can charge me with fraud,” I said. Luke put down his pen and reopened my file. After flipping two pages, his finger stopped on one line. “Evelyn Carter. Social Security number marked deceased.” He turned the file around to show me. “Two years after you disappeared, your legal guardian applied for a declaration of death.” “Legally, you’re already dead.” I looked at that line and smiled slightly. “Being dead is nice.” “What do you mean?” “Dead people don’t get watched.” Luke didn’t press further. He had the female officer take me to a single rest room. The room was small — one bed, one table, one incandescent bulb. The first thing I did after entering was stand on a chair, take off my jacket, and cover the smoke detector on the ceiling. That round white thing looked too much like a camera. After covering it, I climbed down from the chair and sat on the cot for a while. Then I lay down. The ceiling was stark white. Nothing there. No red lights. No reflective circles. No pinholes hidden in stuffed animal eyes. This was a clean room. Though it was a police station rest room, I slept soundly. In the hallway, Luke watched through the one-way glass as I curled up on the bed. He stayed silent for a long time. “Contact her family. Pull the police reports from back then.” Officer Foster acknowledged on the other end of the line. Luke glanced once more at me sleeping behind the glass and lowered his voice. “And find out when her family filed that death declaration.”

The next day, the station brought in a psychological evaluator. Dr. Morgan was a woman in her early forties wearing gold-rimmed glasses. She seemed kind. She pulled a voice recorder from her bag and placed it on the table. There was an indicator light on top of the recorder. When she pressed the switch, it lit up. Red. My stomach clenched violently. I vomited the oatmeal I’d eaten for breakfast all over the floor. Dr. Morgan jumped, quickly offering tissues. I pushed her hand away and dry-heaved several times. Tears streamed down my face. Luke heard the commotion and pushed through the door. He glanced at the recorder on the table with its red light and reached over to turn it off. “Put away anything with indicator lights.” Dr. Morgan opened her mouth but said nothing. She packed the recorder back in her bag. Luke pulled a pen and a palm-sized notebook from his pocket and set them on the table. “Nothing is watching you now.” He sat across from me. “You can talk.” I wiped my mouth with a tissue and stared at the table for a long time. “What do you want me to say?” “Start from the beginning.” I closed my eyes and began to remember. On my twelfth birthday, my grandmother gave me a teddy bear. Brown, palm-sized, fluffy, very cute. I slept with it for three days. On the fourth night, when I rolled over, my arm bumped the bear’s head. In the darkness, I saw the bear’s right eye flashing. Blinking red light. I took the bear to my desk lamp and dug the eye out with my fingernail. A pinhole camera, lens pointed right at my bed. Holding the now one-eyed teddy bear, I ran downstairs barefoot. My grandmother was sitting in the living room watching TV. “Grandma, what is this?” She glanced at the camera in my hand. Her expression didn’t change at all. “Your father’s dead, your mother’s not home. I’m an old woman who can’t keep an eye on you. What’s wrong with installing something to watch you?” I said I didn’t want it. She ignored me and changed the channel. I called my mother. On the other end, my mother’s voice was exhausted and tearful. “Evelyn, do you know how hard I work to support this family?” “You’re your grandmother’s only granddaughter. What’s wrong with her watching you? Can’t you understand what I’m going through?” I told her my grandmother had installed a camera in my room. My mother was silent for two seconds. “She’s old and worried about you. Don’t fight with her. I’m begging you, okay?” The call ended. The next day, the teddy bear’s eye was replaced with a new one. Still red. Luke’s pen stopped on the notebook. “And then?” Then there were more and more. One in the pencil holder on my desk. One on top of the wardrobe. One behind the alarm clock on my nightstand. One above the door frame. Every time I found one, I destroyed it. My grandmother just replaced it with a new one, hidden in a more concealed spot. The winter I turned fourteen, while showering, I happened to look up at the exhaust fan. Through the gaps in the metal blades, something was reflecting light. I stood on the wet bathroom tiles, completely naked, staring at that reflection for a full minute. Then I grabbed the showerhead and smashed it. The next day when I came home from school, my bedroom door was gone. The bathroom door was gone too. Even the door frames had been removed. The doorways gaped open. My grandmother stood in the hallway leaning on her cane. “You love smashing things? Fine. I removed the doors so you can’t close yourself in and do god knows what.” From that day on, I changed clothes, showered, and used the toilet without any doors. I tried using a shower curtain. My grandmother had someone remove the curtain rod. I tried blocking with a chair. My grandmother had all the chairs removed from my room. When I was fifteen, my uncle’s son Dylan came to stay during summer vacation. He was a year younger than me. He brought four or five male classmates. That afternoon I was changing out of my school uniform in my room. The doorway was wide open. I faced away from the hallway, moving quickly. Laughter echoed from the corridor. I turned around. Dylan was holding my grandmother’s phone, the screen showing a live surveillance feed. Four boys crowded behind him, watching together. “Hahaha, look at her.” I rushed over to grab the phone. Dylan shoved me away hard. He was half a head taller than me. The push sent me crashing into the door frame. The back of my head hit hard, raising a bump. I got up and went to find my grandmother. “Grandma, Dylan used the surveillance to watch me change.” My grandmother was in the kitchen making chicken soup for Dylan. She didn’t even turn around. “What’s there to see on a worthless girl like you?” “If you had half your cousin’s promise, would I need to watch you like this?” I said I’d call the police. When the cane came down, I didn’t dodge in time. Three strikes across my back. My clothes tore. Blood seeped through. My mother called that evening. I thought she’d stand up for me, but instead she said: “Evelyn, Dylan’s still young and doesn’t know better. Don’t hold it against him.”

She cried on the phone. “Do you know how hard it is for me out here alone? I’m so grateful your grandmother helps me take care of you.” “Just endure it. Once Dylan gets into college, things will get better.” But he wasn’t my brother. He was my uncle’s son. My uncle was my grandmother’s youngest son, her precious baby. And my father was the eldest son. An unwanted eldest son who was now dead. When I was sixteen, I found a waterproof camera in the bathroom drain. This time, I didn’t smash it. I started secretly saving money, skimming from my lunch money — one dollar, two dollars — hiding it in the lining of my backpack. I saved for two months. One hundred forty dollars. But my grandmother found the hidden compartment. That night, she locked me in the basement. All four walls of the basement were covered with screens. More than a dozen screens of various sizes — some old phones, some tablets. Every screen was playing surveillance footage. My room, my desk, me changing clothes, me using the toilet, me hiding under my blanket crying at night… Four years of footage, all there. My grandmother locked the basement door. From outside the iron door, her voice leaked through the gap. “You were born a Carter, you’ll die a Carter. Don’t even think about escaping my grasp.” I stayed in that basement for three days. Surrounded by images of myself. Countless versions of “me” staring at me from the screens. When I was released on the third day, I’d vomited six times. For the next month, I dry-heaved at the sight of anything reflective. Luke’s notebook was filled with writing. He never looked up. “Did your mother know about all this?” “She knew everything.” “What was her attitude?” “When she wiped the blood off me, she’d cover my mouth so I couldn’t cry out loud.” “She’d say, ‘Just endure it. Once Dylan gets into college, things will get better.’” When I was sixteen, my grandmother sent me to the store to buy eggs. When I reached the intersection, a guy with bleached hair shoved a flyer into my hand. “Health and wellness seminar. Free attendance, plus free eggs.” The back of the flyer had an address. Very remote. I held it and looked for a moment. The guy walked toward a white van parked by the roadside. The windows weren’t tinted. I could see the seats inside from outside. I scanned the interior. No cameras, no red lights. “Where’s this seminar held?” The guy turned back with a grin. “Get in the car and you’ll see. Real close.” I knew this was probably a scam. Those days, fraud operations were all over the TV news. But I turned and looked back the way I’d come. The doorless room, the basement plastered with screens, the waterproof pinhole in the bathroom… and my grandmother’s voice that rang out every morning at six sharp. “Evelyn, get up. I’m watching you.” Without hesitation, I got in the van. From that day on, I became one of them. Ironically, I finally had a room with a lock. I still remember that afternoon, holding the key to the storage room, standing at the door for a long time. Then I inserted the key and turned it. The bolt clicked out. I crouched on the floor, hugging my knees, and cried for a full hour. For the first time in four years, I had a door I could lock from the inside. Luke suddenly interrupted me. “Is that why you stayed at the scam operation?” I didn’t answer. I just lowered my head and looked at my fingers. “Mr. Reynolds, do you think the people at that operation were bad?” “Yes.” “They’re bad people. But those bad people gave me a lock.” “My own grandmother wouldn’t even give me a door.” Luke didn’t ask anything more. He picked up the peeled apple from the table and handed it to me. “Evelyn, no one will ever take your door away again.” I took the apple and bit into it. Suddenly, the door was pushed open. Officer Foster stuck his head in halfway, his expression grim. “The family’s here.” “Causing quite a scene outside.”

I heard crying from the hallway. “My granddaughter! My poor granddaughter!” It was my grandmother. Her legs didn’t work well, so she sat in a wheelchair, pushed by a caregiver. My mother followed behind, wearing a black cotton jacket, her face bare. They started crying as soon as they entered the station lobby. My grandmother’s crying was loud wailing, with slapping and shouting. My mother’s crying was silent, wiping tears, shoulders shaking. Several young officers on duty all looked over. “Don’t worry, we found the girl. That’s good news.” My grandmother grabbed the female officer’s hand. “I’ve been looking for her for four years!” “Her father died young. I’m just an old woman who raised her, and she just…” Halfway through, she clutched her chest, unable to breathe. The caregiver pulled out quick-acting heart pills and shoved them in her mouth. My mother dropped to her knees with a thud. “Officers, please, I’m begging you to let me see my daughter.” “I dream about her every night.” The officers who didn’t know the truth got teary-eyed. Someone went to open the interrogation room door. The moment the door opened, my mother rushed in and hugged me. Her arms locked around my back, her face buried in my shoulder. “Evelyn, my Evelyn, I finally get to see you.” All the officers nearby were wiping tears. How touching. But only I knew that the second she hugged me tight, her right index and middle fingers dug into the soft flesh at my waist. Her lips pressed against my ear, her voice masked by her crying. Only I could hear it. “If you say anything wrong, I’ll deal with you properly when we get home.” My body went rigid. Exactly the same feeling as when I was twelve. My grandmother’s wheelchair was pushed in front of me. She reached out her hand, trembling as she touched my face. In everyone else’s eyes, this was a white-haired old woman caressing her long-lost granddaughter. But I could feel her fingers searching through my clothes. From the collar to the back of my neck, from the roots of my hair to behind my ears. She was looking for bugs, for recording devices. She knew these things all too well. After finishing her search and finding nothing, her fingers stopped on my cheek, the pressure suddenly increasing. “If you don’t want to actually become a corpse… play dumb.” She released her hand, slowly lifted her face, tears streaming down as she turned toward Luke standing in the doorway. “Officer, this child isn’t mentally well. I need to take her home.” Luke stood in the doorway without moving. His gaze swept across my face and caught the two white fingerprints on my cheek. Then my mother pulled a medical record from her bag and handed it to Luke. “This is Evelyn’s psychiatric evaluation. Severe schizophrenia, diagnosed two years before she disappeared.” “No matter what she’s said, it can’t be taken seriously.” Ha. You’re really in a hurry. You don’t even know what I said, but you’re already rushing to discredit everything I’ve told them. Luke took it and flipped through two pages, glanced at me, and said nothing. My grandmother chimed in from the side. “We’ve already contacted a psychiatric hospital. She can be admitted today.” A white ambulance was parked outside, with two orderlies in blue uniforms waiting in the hallway. I clutched the table leg tightly. “I’m not going back! I won’t go back even if you kill me!” My mother lunged over and grabbed my arm. “Evelyn, you’re having an episode. Listen to me…” Two young officers who didn’t know the situation started to help. “Don’t move.” Luke stepped between me and that mother-daughter pair. “She’s a key witness in a major criminal case.” “No one’s taking her anywhere.” My grandmother’s face darkened. “She’s my own granddaughter. I have guardianship!” Luke slapped the medical record on the table. “The hospital that issued this record — Grace Recovery Hospital — had its license revoked three months ago for selling fake diagnoses.” “This thing is just a piece of waste paper to me.” My grandmother’s mouth twitched. Luke pulled out another paper from the file. “Also, Evelyn Carter is twenty years old, a person with full civil capacity.” “More importantly…” “Her Social Security number is marked deceased.” “You have no legal basis whatsoever to take away a dead person.”

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After my husband Ethan Morris cheated on me with his secretary Sienna Dawn, he insisted on divorcing me. When the divorce lawsuit began, my first love Adrian Foster offered to be my lawyer. I agreed. Later, Adrian fought tooth and nail to win my divorce case, and I walked away with 50% of Ethan’s assets. On the day of signing, however, I overheard a conversation between Adrian and Ethan outside the door. Ethan said smugly: “Adrian, thank you for pretending to be Lily’s lawyer and helping me hide my assets! If Lily knew that what she got wasn’t even worth one of Sienna’s diamond necklaces, she’d die of anger!” Adrian lowered his voice in warning: “Ethan Morris, I’m not doing this to help you. Everything I’ve done is for Sienna’s happiness. If you ever dare betray Sienna in the future, I’ll make sure you go bankrupt!” My hand trembled on the doorknob, and a sharp pain shot through my chest. I never imagined that both my ex-boyfriend and my ex-husband would betray me for the same woman.

I took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Both men turned around simultaneously, their expressions showing no trace of anything amiss. “Lily, sit over here.” Adrian spoke first, waving me over. With their earlier conversation still echoing in my ears, I clutched my bag tightly and walked toward Adrian. Adrian pulled out a handkerchief and thoughtfully wiped the water stains from my clothes. “I should have picked you up, but my car broke down halfway. It’s pouring outside—you didn’t get too wet, did you?” I shook my head. He explained while pulling out a chair for me. During our four years of college, Adrian had always taken care of me this attentively. Even after our reunion during the past half-year of litigation, he’d continued treating me well. Friends around us would tease him: “Adrian, she’s not even divorced yet. She still has a husband.” Plenty of people mocked him too, bringing up our breakup from back then. “Adrian, why are you still acting like a lovesick puppy? Did you forget how Lily dumped you in college?” But Adrian acted like he didn’t hear them. He’d cover my ears. “I already missed you once.” “This time, I absolutely won’t let myself miss you again.” I thought he still had feelings for me, that he genuinely wanted us to get back together. Now I knew better—I’d been deluding myself all along. The warmth before my eyes was a sweet trap custom-designed for me. Looking at the seat he’d pulled out, I placed my bag there and leaned toward him. “Organize the documents first. Let me take a look.” Adrian nodded, highlighting the key sections of the documents. When he leaned close, he brought with him a crisp, cool fragrance. I tilted my head, listening carefully. From time to time, I’d smile and whisper a few words near his ear. Ethan lounged lazily against his chair back and laughed: “Mr. Foster’s litigation services come with such excellent extras!” I said nothing, simply watching the two men before me quietly. Finding it all utterly ridiculous.

“Sorry I’m late.” Sienna Dawn pushed open the door. This time both men didn’t just turn their heads—they stood up. “Sienna, what are you doing here?” Ethan walked to Sienna’s side, brazenly wrapping his arm around her waist. From the corner of my eye, I saw Adrian’s fist clench tightly. “I was a bit worried about you…” “And this is such a major life event. I thought I should be here with you.” Halfway through her words, Sienna turned to look at me. I smiled faintly and lowered my head, fiddling with the ring on my finger, pretending not to notice. “Who’s the mistress putting on such a touching performance for?” “After Ethan Morris dies, who knows who’ll be lying next to him!” At these words, Ethan’s expression darkened instantly, his smile vanishing completely. “Lily, watch your mouth.” “I know you can’t bear to divorce me—that’s why this lawsuit has dragged on for two years.” “What, having second thoughts now?” I snorted coldly and glanced at Sienna, who wore an aggrieved expression. “Not this time.” “Ethan Morris, you always used to pester me asking about my first love, didn’t you?” “Well, he’s right in front of you now.” I looked toward Adrian, who sat one seat away from me. “You’re Lily’s first love?” “That first love she dated for four years—the one who made such a scene when you broke up?” Ethan spoke rapidly, staring at Adrian with a look that had become very subtle. His words even carried a hint of resentment. Adrian stiffened his spine, looking at me somewhat confused. I spread my hands and smiled. “We’ve been married five years, and you’ve always been a thorn in his side. But I kept my mouth shut—he investigated for five years and found nothing.” Adrian raised his eyes slightly, his gaze flicking toward Sienna. Finally, he nodded. “A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Morris.” Ethan’s face turned extremely ugly, his eyes darting back and forth between me and Adrian. “Stop looking. We’re just ordinary friends now.” “Sign the papers. Don’t keep your true love stuck as a mistress who can’t see the light of day.” I leaned forward to take the documents from Adrian’s hands. The thick stack of papers—I signed through them all in one go. The lawsuit with Ethan had lasted two years. We’d gone through mediation procedures three to five times. Each time, at the last moment, I’d backed out. Not because I loved Ethan so much—I just refused to lose to a woman like Sienna Dawn. The first time I met Sienna was in Ethan’s office. She’d just graduated and was job hunting. A clean, efficient high ponytail, plaid shirt, canvas shoes—her whole being radiated youthful energy. The first time I saw her, I thought of Adrian. Adrian as a college freshman had looked just as plain and simple, seemingly completely out of place in a city like Seattle. But I’d fallen hopelessly for Adrian anyway, chasing him crazily for three months. Finally, with a dark expression, he’d agreed: “Lily, you’re like a sticky plaster I can’t shake off. So annoying.” “Lily, let’s date for one year. After one year, we break up.” Later, we dated for four years. I was the one who initiated the breakup, on the eve of our graduation ceremony, the day before his birthday. Adrian knelt in the rain begging me all night long. I hid in my dorm building and never went down. Back then, everyone on campus said I was heartless, said Adrian had been toyed with by a rich girl and then kicked aside. After we broke up, I never saw Adrian again.

So when I saw Sienna Dawn, my heart inexplicably softened a bit. Ethan was flipping through resumes in front of me, his finger stopping at Sienna’s. “You’ve met this one. HR said she’s decent. But I think she looks pretty unsophisticated. I’m hiring a secretary, not sponsoring a charity case.” Ethan had a vicious tongue. He’d always liked flashy, superficial things—liked beautiful, attractive people. Like me. He’d liked me since childhood. Because I was beautiful and ignored him. That’s why when the Lily family went bankrupt and everyone avoided me like the plague, he came around proposing marriage. I pressed down on Ethan’s hand as he flipped to the next resume. “Let’s go with her. I think she’s good. She looks innocent, and her abilities seem solid too.” To make me happy, Ethan kept Sienna on. Back then, Ethan still found me novel and exciting. Every day, aside from work, he’d cling to me and refuse to let go. After each time, he’d pester me with questions: “What was your college boyfriend’s name?” “How far did you two go? Did he do this with you too?” “Who’s better, me or him?” “Lily, do you still love him?” Ethan was very immature. From the day we got married in a whirlwind, he’d planted a thorn in his heart. Everything he looked at reminded him of Adrian. Everything he did, he had to compare with Adrian. But I never breathed a word. The next time I saw Sienna, she wore a Chanel-style suit and sat outside Ethan’s office. Her exquisite makeup made her look young and beautiful, impossible not to notice. “Miss Lily, Mr. Morris is still in a meeting. Please wait outside for a moment.” Everyone in this building called me Mrs. Morris—only she called me Miss Lily. No one in this secretary’s office would make me wait outside—only she told me to sit and wait. I stared at the red marks on her neck and that expensive necklace. “Miss Dawn has excellent work capabilities.” “You’ve been at Pinecrane for less than half a year, and you can already afford a $100,000 necklace just like that.” “Someone gave it to me.” Sienna’s delicate face instantly flushed red. At that moment, I knew she’d latched onto Ethan. That necklace had been a purchase requirement when I bought a bag before. It had sat unworn in my jewelry box. A few days ago, Ethan had asked me for it. I thought it was for a client. Turned out it was for Sienna. Since marrying me, Ethan hadn’t continued his old ways of sleeping around like the playboy everyone knew him as. He’d stayed faithfully by my side for two years. Counting the days, his patience was probably running out. Someone like him would never stay put for anyone. This marriage, to me, was just decoration—a tool to keep the Lily family from collapsing. So I wasn’t heartbroken. Back then, I was thinking about how to prolong this marriage in name only, or how to get a share of the Morris family assets after divorce. But I never expected it would be Sienna Dawn—the woman he’d initially looked down on. And Sienna, as it turned out, wasn’t content to stay in her lane either. I was at a banquet hosted by the Morris family when Sienna sent me those obscene videos and photos. While dealing with Ethan’s parents pressuring me about having children, I was thinking about how to deal with Sienna. [Miss Lily, I’m pregnant with Mr. Morris’s child.] [Mr. Morris and I truly love each other. Please let us be together.] I pretended not to see it, pretended nothing happened. But I didn’t expect that same night, Ethan would come home dead drunk and confess everything. “Sienna is pregnant. The baby is mine.”

“I want her to keep it.” I stared blankly at Ethan sitting across from me. My mouth opened and closed. My hand resting on my lower abdomen involuntarily twitched. “Have you thought this through?” “If you really have, I’ll make room for her.” Ethan looked up at me in disbelief. Perhaps he hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly either. But his joy was fleeting. He grabbed my hand and demanded: “Lily, have you never loved me? Not even once?” “Are you still hung up on that damn first love of yours?!” “Cheating, divorce—even if I brought her home today to have the baby, you wouldn’t care at all, would you?!” I watched Ethan throw his tantrum, watched him smash an entire cabinet of liquor. I let him pin me down and take what he wanted without restraint, without any resistance. “Lily, could you just… even just a little bit, love me even just a little…” I said nothing. In the days that followed, Ethan often didn’t come home. He brought Sienna to all kinds of occasions. At events where I wasn’t present, Ethan would shield her from drinks, hold umbrellas for her, drive her to and from work—looking exactly like a couple deeply in love. Scandals flew everywhere, and each time I’d step in to smooth things over, buying off those tabloid stories. I sat securely in the position of Mrs. Morris, cleaning up Ethan’s mess. But Sienna couldn’t sit still. Or perhaps it was the baby in her belly that couldn’t wait. “Miss Lily, when will you agree to the divorce?” “I don’t want my child to be called a bastard when it’s born.” I stirred the coffee in front of me, finding it both laughable and pathetic. “Miss Dawn is too naive. Marriages of convenience in families like ours involve too many interests. Divorce isn’t that simple.” “Besides, it’s not that I won’t divorce—it’s your Mr. Morris who refuses.” Perhaps my words hit too close to home. That very night, Sienna attempted suicide. The baby in her belly wasn’t saved. Ethan came home with bloodshot eyes, nearly strangling me to death. “Lily, who told you to go see her!” “Do you know she almost died! Because of what you said, the baby in her belly is gone!” “Lily, do you want a divorce that badly?” “Fine! Let’s divorce!” I only learned later that Sienna had slit her wrists to pressure Ethan into divorcing, resulting in a miscarriage. She said it was me who went to see her. Her words “I love you so much” kept Ethan’s heart captive. Her words “Lily doesn’t love you at all” also severed the last thread of hope between Ethan and me. “Sienna wasn’t actually pregnant.” “She’s just a gold-digger trying to climb the social ladder, staging this whole drama herself.” “Speaking of which, Mrs. Morris is truly magnanimous—ready to divorce just like that. If it were me, I’d make that scumbag and homewrecker miserable for years before I’d be satisfied!” When these words reached my ears, the hand signing the divorce agreement stopped cooperating. “I’m not divorcing anymore.” “Ethan Morris, you’re the one at fault. I want you to leave with nothing.” And so, the lawsuit dragged on for two years. Long enough for Adrian to appear by my side. Actually, I didn’t care how much money I got from the Morris family. I just wanted to spite Sienna. Adrian’s appearance, the trap Adrian set—it suddenly all seemed pointless to me. I couldn’t even be bothered to investigate the relationship between them anymore. “Let’s sign.” I pushed the documents toward Ethan.

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Three days before we were supposed to get our marriage license, a massive fire broke out in the building where Ethan Gray’s startup was located. Ethan and I were trapped in the office on the sixty-eighth floor. While escaping, a load-bearing steel beam overhead came crashing down. I pushed him out of the way and got pinned beneath the debris. A piece of broken rebar pierced straight through my right shoulder blade, less than an inch from my heart. Blood gushed out instantly, staining my white shirt crimson. The thick smoke choked me until I coughed up blood. I looked desperately at the man before me—usually so calm and composed. “Ethan, call 911… or call the rescue team…” My voice was barely a whisper. Every breath sent searing pain through the puncture wound, and blood trickled from the corner of my mouth. Just one phone call to give our location, and we could survive. He was about to make the call when his expression changed after seeing a message on his phone. “Sorry, something happened to Vanessa…” Ethan knelt before me, his suit covered in dust, prying my fingers away from his arm one by one. “Chloe, you’ve always been strong. You’ll be fine. Vanessa is different.” Hearing his words, my heart sank bit by bit.

Vanessa Sullivan was Ethan Gray’s wealthy first love from high society. That girl had been pampered her whole life. She never had to support Ethan’s startup by living in a basement for three years eating bread, ruining her stomach, or drinking until she had a bleeding ulcer just to attract investors for him. All she had to do today, when Ethan had finally made it, was shed a few tears to throw him into complete chaos. “Ethan… it hurts so much…” I clutched my wound, trying to grab his pant leg. Ethan took a deep breath and avoided my hand. He fell silent for a moment, then finally took out his phone with only two percent battery left and dialed the number he knew by heart. The moment the call connected, his tense voice instantly became gentle and anxious: “Vanessa, did the power go out where you are? Don’t be scared. Just stay in the apartment elevator and don’t move. I’ll figure out a way to come save you right now.” The phone screen’s faint glow illuminated his sharp features. My heart, in that moment, felt hotter than the flames around us, yet instantly fell into an icy abyss. “Ethan Gray…” I called his name desperately. “I’ve lost so much blood. I’m going to die…” He covered the phone’s mouthpiece, turned his head, and scolded me with furrowed brows: “Chloe, just hang in there! The building fire caused a massive power outage in the area. Vanessa is trapped in her apartment elevator! She was locked in a basement for three days and nights years ago when she saved me—she has severe claustrophobia! Can you imagine how terrified she must be alone in the dark right now?” “But… the rebar went through my bone…” My whole body convulsed with pain, tears mixing with blood as they hit the ground. “Beep—” The phone died completely and went dark. Ethan irritably shoved his phone in his pocket, took off his designer suit jacket, and roughly pressed it against my wound. “Ahhh—!” The intense pain made me let out a piercing scream, and my vision went black. “Stop screaming!” His tone was cold and impatient. “Chloe, you’ve always been sensible and strong. What’s a little pain? You have a strong constitution. You can definitely hold on until the rescue team searches floor by floor. Vanessa’s mental state can’t handle this kind of trauma. I have to go make sure she’s safe.” He stood up, looking down at me from above. “Ethan Gray.” I stared at him intently, using the last of my strength to ask, “What if the rescue team doesn’t come and I burn to death?” His jawline tensed, his eyes completely devoid of warmth: “Are you using these extreme words to force me to give in again? I’m just making the most rational choice. Once I confirm Vanessa is okay, I’ll bring people to save you immediately.” With that, he turned without hesitation, his tall figure quickly disappearing into the smoke-filled corridor. Flames gradually closed in, the surrounding temperature so high it felt like it would melt a person. I lay on the scorching floor, watching the direction he left, the last bit of warmth in my heart completely burned to ashes.

I don’t know how much time passed before the door was violently split open with a fire axe. “There’s a survivor here! Quick! Stretcher!” Blinding flashlight beams shone on my face as several fully equipped firefighters rushed in. Seeing the horrific rebar through my shoulder blade and the huge pool of blood on the floor, even these experienced rescue workers gasped. “The victim has lost massive amounts of blood and is in severe shock! Start cutting immediately, prepare the cardiac stimulant!” The vibration from the saw cutting the rebar made me hurt so much I didn’t even have the strength to scream. In the second before I lost consciousness, I heard a voice come through the walkie-talkie from downstairs: “Captain, we found a male outside the building perimeter trying to force his way into the apartment building across the street that lost power. We’ve detained him…” I closed my eyes, a tear of despair sliding from the corner of my eye. When I woke up again, it was three days later. The smell of disinfectant was pungent. I struggled to open my eyes to see the white ceiling of a VIP hospital room. Hearing the sound, the man sitting on the sofa slowly uncrossed his legs. “You’re awake?” Ethan’s tone was flat, as natural as if he were asking what I had for breakfast. He walked to the bedside and opened a premium thermos on the table, ladling out a bowl of fragrant chicken soup. “This is from that exclusive restaurant you love. I had my assistant wait in line for two hours to get it.” He scooped up a spoonful, blew on it, and brought it to my lips. “Eat. The doctor said you need nutrition.” “Take it away.” My voice was as hoarse as sandpaper rubbing together, so weak I didn’t even have the strength to turn my head. Ethan’s hand froze in midair, a flash of impatience in his eyes. “Chloe, how long are you going to throw this tantrum?” He set the bowl down heavily on the nightstand, soup splashing out. “I told you, I can’t be an ungrateful person. You’re out of danger now, aren’t you? It’s just some superficial injuries. A few days of rest and you’ll be fine.” A nurse pushing a medication cart walked in just in time to hear this and turned pale with anger. “How can you talk like that as a family member?” The nurse pulled back my blanket and unbuttoned my hospital gown, revealing the horrifying scar with over twenty stitches. “The patient’s wound came within a hair’s breadth of piercing her heart. When she arrived, she was already in severe hemorrhagic shock. We spent a day and night in ICU resuscitation to bring her back! If you’re family, please get it straight—this is a severe penetrating injury, not some superficial wound!” Ethan’s expression instantly darkened, his cold gaze sweeping over the nurse: “This is our family business. It’s not your place as an outsider to interfere.” The nurse was frightened into silence by his terrifying look, her eyes reddening as she changed my dressing. Ethan turned his head, looking down at me from above. “I know you feel wronged. But these past few days I’ve been busy with the company’s post-disaster reconstruction, and I’ve had to take care of Vanessa after her shock. I’m already exhausted. Can you be a little more understanding?” He pinched the bridge of his nose, his tone carrying a patronizing compromise. “The day after tomorrow is the day we agreed to get our marriage license. After we register, I’ll take you to Europe to relax. You can pick out whatever bags you want. Let’s just turn the page on this, okay?” I looked at him quietly, suddenly feeling he was completely unfamiliar. He was used to my five years of unconditional devotion and compliance. He was certain I loved him to the bone, certain I couldn’t leave him. So he could brazenly trample my boundaries, treat my life as worthless, then hand out some cheap material compensation to dismiss me. Just then, his phone rang with a special ringtone. He answered almost immediately, his previously cold voice instantly becoming so gentle it could drip honey: “What’s wrong, Vanessa? Another nightmare? Don’t be scared, I’m coming right over.” After hanging up, he grabbed his coat from the chair without hesitation. “Vanessa’s emotionally unstable. I need to go see her.” He pulled a folded piece of paper from his suit pocket and placed it on the nightstand. “This is the marriage health certificate. Day after tomorrow at 10 a.m., I’ll wait for you at the county clerk’s office entrance. Don’t be late.” At the door, he stopped and looked back at me, his tone carrying a warning: “Chloe, don’t disappoint me.” The hospital room door closed. I looked at that red-stamped marriage certificate, and beside it, his blood-soaked shirt from when he pressed it against my wound that day in the fire—now dried and blackened. Using what little strength I had left, I swept both the marriage certificate and the bloody shirt into the trash.

The process of changing the dressing was like slow torture. The gauze tore at my flesh. I broke out in cold sweat, biting my lip hard until I tasted the strong metallic tang of blood. The nurse wiped my sweat with pity, her eyes red: “Your fiancé is too heartless. How could he leave you alone at a time like this to go be with another woman?” I said nothing, just managed a pale, transparent smile. It didn’t matter. I didn’t need him anymore. After the intense pain subsided, I leaned against the headboard and opened my social media. The first post was one Vanessa had just updated. In the photo, she leaned delicately against Ethan’s chest while he looked down cutting her steak, his eyes full of undisguised affection. The caption read: “No matter how terrifying the darkness, as long as you’re here, I’m not afraid of anything.” Below was her own comment: “Some things can’t be stolen through desperate clinging. Those who are favored will always act without fear.” I stared at the screen, my stomach churning with spasms. This was the “emotionally unstable” first love who had been “severely traumatized” according to Ethan. That afternoon, Ethan returned. He pulled out an exquisite velvet box from his briefcase and tossed it onto my blanket. “I’ve had my assistant transfer that hillside villa in the southern district into your name.” He pulled out a chair and sat down, his tone full of arrogant certainty: “Vanessa was badly traumatized this time. Her therapist says she needs long-term companionship. Let’s postpone getting our license the day after tomorrow by a month.” He looked at me as if looking at a subordinate throwing a tantrum. “That villa is worth fifty million. Consider it compensation. We’ve been together this long—you should know how to choose.” I looked at that velvet box and suddenly laughed. “Fine.” I looked at him calmly, my eyes completely emotionless. “I agree to postpone.” Ethan froze. He seemed not to have expected me to agree so readily. A flash of surprise crossed his eyes, quickly replaced by satisfied approval. “You really are sensible.” He reached out, wanting to pat my head like before. I turned my head away, dodging his touch with disgust. His hand froze in midair, his expression darkening slightly. Just as he was about to lose his temper, the hospital room door was suddenly pushed open. Vanessa entered carrying an enormous fruit basket, wearing three-inch heels and perfect makeup. “Ethan, I knew you’d be here.” She completely ignored me in the hospital bed, walking straight to Ethan and naturally linking her arm through his, pressing half her body against him. “Miss Hartley, I heard you were seriously injured. I came specially to see you.” Vanessa covered her mouth with an exaggerated look of shock and sympathy. “I’m so sorry. Ethan was too worried about me that day during the fire—he probably neglected you. You don’t blame him, do you?” Ethan frowned but his tone was gentle: “Vanessa, your body hasn’t recovered yet. Why did you come out?” “I was worried Miss Hartley might be angry at you because of me.” Vanessa bit her lip pitifully, her eyes instantly reddening. “After all, it’s almost time for you two to get your marriage license.” “Miss Sullivan’s information is really out of date.” I leaned against the pillow, watching her performance coldly. “Mr. Gray just postponed getting the license. He said he needs to leave time to properly accompany you, the psychological trauma patient.” Vanessa’s eyes lit up, a gleam of triumph flashing through them before she put on a look of panic. “Really? Ethan, that’s too unfair to Miss Hartley. She’s been with you for five years after all. Even without credit, she deserves recognition for her hard work. How can you postpone the wedding for me?” Ethan patted her hand reassuringly: “I’ve already given her the villa in the southern district as compensation. She deserves it. You don’t need to feel guilty.” Vanessa let out an exaggerated gasp. “Oh my God, Miss Hartley, you really hit the jackpot.” She released Ethan and walked to my bedside, looking down at me from above, lowering her voice to a volume only we could hear as she sneered: “But then again, for a gold-digger from the bottom like you, you could never earn this much money in your lifetime. Trading one month’s postponement for fifty million—that’s quite the deal. You might as well give up the position of Mrs. Gray now.” I looked at her utterly fake face, the rage in my heart no longer suppressible.

I grabbed the glass water cup from the table and threw it hard at Vanessa’s feet without hesitation. “Crash!” Glass shattered, water splashing everywhere. “Ah!” Vanessa screamed and collapsed to the floor, tears instantly pouring out like broken pearls. “Chloe, are you crazy!” Ethan flew into a rage, striding over and pulling Vanessa protectively behind him. “Chloe! What the hell is wrong with you!” he roared. I laughed coldly, my chest heaving violently with anger, pulling painfully at my wound. “Good intentions? She came to my hospital bed to show off and called me a bottom-feeding gold-digger—that’s her good intentions?” Vanessa hid behind Ethan, crying pitifully, trembling all over. “Ethan, I didn’t… I just thought Miss Hartley must be happy getting the villa, so I wanted to congratulate her. I don’t know what I said to anger her. Why would she do this to me…” As she cried, she secretly reached out and, while Ethan wasn’t paying attention, viciously grabbed my IV tube hanging by the bedside. She yanked hard. “Hiss—” The needle instantly slid roughly out of the vein in my hand, blood spurting out and dripping onto the white sheets. “You’re asking for it!” I forced myself to sit up despite the searing pain in my shoulder and back. Using all my strength, I slapped Vanessa hard across her pitiful face. “Smack!” The crisp sound of the slap echoed throughout the hospital room. Vanessa’s head snapped to the side from the force, five bright red finger marks instantly appearing on her pale face. She covered her cheek, staring in disbelief. “You dare hit her?!” Ethan completely lost it. Like an enraged lion, his hands clamped around my wrists like iron vises, slamming me back onto the hospital bed. “Chloe, you’re completely unreasonable! When did you become such a vicious shrew!” He pressed down on me from above, the fury in his eyes seeming ready to burn through me. I struggled desperately, my wrists marked with red welts from his grip. “Let go of me! Ethan Gray, you blind bastard!” During the violent struggle, I heard a teeth-grinding tearing sound from my right shoulder blade. Then, excruciating bone-deep pain swept through my entire body. The freshly sutured wound had been forcibly torn open by him. Warm blood instantly gushed out, rapidly staining my white hospital gown and spreading across the sheets in a large, horrifying red patch. Ethan looked down and saw that glaring blood. His pupils contracted sharply, veins bulging on the back of his hand, undisguisable panic and shock flashing through his eyes. “Chloe…” He instinctively released his grip, his voice trembling as he reached to cover my wound. But just then, Vanessa suddenly covered her face, moaning in pain, her body sliding limply downward. “Ethan, I feel so dizzy… I can’t breathe… I’m so scared…” Ethan’s movement froze. Between me, covered in blood, and Vanessa, “on the verge of collapse,” he hesitated for less than a second. “You brought this on yourself.” He abruptly withdrew his hand, issuing a cold order. “When you learn to control your emotions and apologize to Vanessa, then we’ll go get our marriage license.” With that, he scooped Vanessa up in his arms and rushed out of the room without looking back. “Doctor! Come quick and check on Vanessa! She’s fainted!” His frantically worried shouts echoed through the corridor. I collapsed on the hospital bed, watching the blood continuously flowing from my shoulder and back, my vision gradually blurring. With trembling hands, I pressed the call button. Doctors and nurses rushed in. Seeing the bed full of blood, their faces went deathly pale as they immediately wheeled me toward the emergency room. “Patient’s wound torn open a second time, massive hemorrhaging! Prepare blood plasma quickly!” The pain of being re-sutured was even more unbearable than the first time. Without anesthesia, each stitch piercing through flesh felt like slow torture of my soul. After the emergency treatment ended, I lay weakly in the hospital bed, my face paler than paper. I took out my phone and dialed an encrypted international number. The phone rang three times before being answered. “Hello, Grandpa. It’s me, Chloe.” On the other end, an elderly man’s trembling, excited voice came through, filled with incredible joy. “Chloe? You’re finally willing to contact Grandpa! I found out where you were three years ago, but you refused to acknowledge me as your grandfather for that poor boy’s sake, preferring to suffer! Have you come to your senses now? I’ll send the private jet to pick you up right away!” I closed my eyes, tears silently falling and landing on the pillow. “Grandpa, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have run away from home for a man. I shouldn’t have been so foolish. I want to come home.”

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The day I brought an umbrella to my boyfriend Alexander, I discovered I was nothing but his “poor girlfriend” used to provoke the woman he truly loved. “I’m only pretending to be poor with Lynn because Victoria found herself some broke boyfriend to spite me.” “Love her? Fuck off. A poor woman like that isn’t worthy of me.” Two years together, working three jobs to support him. Turned out I was just a cheap toy to make his true love jealous. That night, I signed the agreement to serve as a volunteer doctor in the border conflict zone. Between gunfire and death, I carved him out of my heart completely. Three years later, I returned home as the youngest director of cardiothoracic surgery. When he knelt at the airport, crying and begging me to come back, I held my new lover’s hand and smiled coldly. “Alexander, didn’t we settle everything long ago?” Lynn’s POV In my supervisor’s office, only the soft hum of the air conditioner broke the silence. I stared at the liability waiver on the desk. Without even blinking, I signed my name without hesitation. “I won’t back out. Half a month from now, I’ll depart on time.” Walking out of the hospital, the stifling summer wind hit my face. I looked down at the simple silver ring on my ring finger and pulled my lips into a self-mocking smile. When I returned to our rental apartment, less than three hundred square feet with barely functioning AC, Alexander Blackwood was cooking pasta in the narrow kitchen. He wore a faded white T-shirt. His broad shoulders tapered to a narrow waist, and his profile looked especially gentle under the dim yellow light. Hearing the door open, he turned around. His eyes lit up as he walked out carrying two plates of pasta. “You’re back? Got paid from my part-time job today, so I bought you your favorite cake.” I looked at the cake on the table, packed in a cheap paper bag. “Thanks, but I don’t feel like eating it right now.” Alexander wiped his hands and walked over, habitually pulling me into his embrace. His chin rested in the hollow of my neck, his voice low and slightly pleading. “What’s wrong? Tough day at the hospital? Once I graduate and get a permanent position, you won’t have to work so hard. I promised I’d buy you a big house and marry you properly.” If this had been three days ago, hearing those words would have made my eyes water with emotion. I would have hugged him back and told him I didn’t mind the hardship. But now, I only felt nausea churning in my stomach. Three days ago, I went to deliver an umbrella to him at his part-time job at an upscale club, walking through the rain. In the underground parking garage, I saw Alexander, the same man who claimed he couldn’t afford taxis and rode the bus with me every day, climbing into a multi million dollar sports car. The window was half-down. His rich-kid friends laughed without restraint, their voices echoing through the empty garage. “Mr. Blackwood, how long are you going to keep up this ‘poor student’ act? Living in that cramped apartment with that broke girl every day. Doesn’t it hurt your image?” Alexander held a cigarette between his lips, his expression lazy and cold. The smoke rings he blew obscured his refined features. “Victoria hasn’t broken up with Lucas Ford yet. I need something to do in the meantime.” “True. If Victoria hadn’t decided to date some commoner to ‘experience life,’ the richest guy in our circle wouldn’t have gotten petty enough to find himself a poor girl. But that Lynn sure is gullible. She actually believes Alexander could be interested in her. Working three jobs every day to support you. That’s priceless.” The rain was heavy that day. I stood in it for a long time. I don’t even remember when I dropped the umbrella. So our two year relationship was nothing but a cheap game, one man’s way of provoking his childhood sweetheart. What I thought was salvation was just a joke in everyone else’s eyes, one they could end whenever they wanted. I closed my eyes and pushed myself out of Alexander’s embrace. “I’m a bit tired. I’ll take a shower first.” Alexander looked at his empty arms, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. He walked to the table and picked up his phone. The screen lit up. It was a message. I happened to see the screen from where I stood. “Alexander, thank you for the necklace you gave me today. I love it.” Sender: Victoria Sterling. Alexander quickly swiped the message away and looked up in my direction. He smiled awkwardly. “Work message.” I nodded without saying anything and went into the bathroom.

Lynn’s POV Water rushed in the bathroom. I stood under the shower head, letting cold water wash over my body. I didn’t cry. My tears had already run dry in that heavy rain three days ago. Now I was terrifyingly clear-headed. After my shower, I dried my hair with a towel while handing Alexander his phone that he’d left on the sink. “Your phone vibrated just now.” Looking at me, Alexander’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He casually tossed the phone onto the bed, then stepped forward and pressed me against the closet. His hot breath fell on my neck as the ambiguous atmosphere rapidly heated up in the cramped room. “Lynn…” He called my name in a low voice, his hand wandering up along my waist. My stomach turned with physiological revulsion again. I pressed down on his wandering hand at my waist. “I’m not feeling well today. I don’t want to.” Alexander’s movements froze. This unexpected rejection left him somewhat stunned. After all, in the past, no matter how tired I was, as long as he wanted it, I would cooperate with flushed cheeks. I looked at him and repeated myself. Only then did he suppress the heat in his body and obediently fetch the hairdryer to dry my hair. “Okay, let’s rest early tonight then.” After tidying up, we lay in bed. Alexander habitually hugged me from behind and said softly, “Good night.” I stared at the mottled wall with my eyes open, not responding. A dreamless night. The next morning, the sound of me rummaging through things woke Alexander. I was throwing things into a large black garbage bag. Matching mugs, matching toothbrushes, the cheap stuffed animals he’d given me, even his old shirts… Everything I had once treasured. Alexander woke with a start and sat up abruptly. “Lynn, what are you doing? None of this is broken. Why are you throwing it all away?” “These things are old and taking up space, so I want to get rid of them.” I didn’t even look up. “I’ll buy new ones later.” Alexander froze for a moment, then walked over and ruffled my hair. “Okay, I’ll buy you a better set when I get paid next month.” I didn’t dodge his hand, just pulled my lips into a slight smile without speaking. I carried the garbage bag outside. As soon as I reached downstairs, the landlord called. “Why the sudden move? Did you have a fight with your boyfriend? He works odd jobs for you every day, runs over ten miles in the dead of winter to buy you cake. Such a good guy. Don’t be foolish!” Listening to the landlord’s advice, I laughed coldly. Yes, what a great performance. Even the observers were moved, let alone someone in the middle of it all. “There’s no future for him and me. Please process the move-out paperwork. I don’t need the deposit back.” I hung up and returned home. Alexander was changing clothes. Just then, Alexander’s phone rang. A few seconds later, Victoria’s tearful voice echoed clearly in the quiet room. “Alexander, my stomach hurts so much… Lucas won’t help me…” Just one sentence, and Alexander, who moments ago had looked so tender, completely changed expression. He grabbed his jacket, not even bothering to make up a decent excuse, and rushed toward the door. “Lynn, my professor suddenly needs me for something urgent. I have to go back to campus. Eat without me today.” I stood there, watching his panicked retreating figure, and spoke. “Is it your professor looking for you, or Victoria?” Alexander’s steps stopped abruptly.

Lynn’s POV The air seemed to freeze in that instant. Alexander turned around. A flash of barely concealed panic crossed his eyes, but he quickly regained his composure. He walked back, gripping my shoulders with both hands, his tone carrying helplessness and reproach. “Lynn, what are you talking about? Victoria is Lucas Ford’s girlfriend. What could I possibly have with her? It really is my professor. There’s an urgent issue with the project.” When he lied, his eyes always habitually focused on the tip of my nose. I used to think this showed his concentration. Now I knew it was proof of his guilt. “Really?” I looked straight into his eyes, not missing the evasiveness in their depths. “But I just heard her voice.” Alexander’s expression stiffened. Then he sighed and pulled me into his arms. “You heard wrong. Lynn, have you been too tired lately? You’re always so paranoid. Once I finish with this busy period, I’ll take you out to relax, okay?” He was always like this. Using the gentlest tone to push all the blame onto me. I didn’t struggle, letting him hold me. “Okay, go ahead. Don’t keep your ‘professor’ waiting.” Alexander breathed a sigh of relief, dropped a hasty kiss on my forehead, turned and quickly left the apartment. The moment the door closed, I took out my phone and looked at the date circled in red on the calendar. Fourteen days until departure. That afternoon, I received an unexpected call. It was from Victoria. “Lynn, I’m having a birthday party tonight at ‘Nightshade.’ Alexander will be there too. If you know what’s good for you, come see for yourself and recognize your place.” The voice on the other end was arrogant and full of malice. I was about to hang up, but then thought better of it and replied with one word: “Okay.” At eight PM, at the most exclusive private club “Nightshade.” I wore a plain white shirt and jeans, completely out of place among the wealthy heirs surrounding me. As soon as I walked in, I attracted quite a few contemptuous stares. Victoria wore a haute couture gown. Like a proud princess, she stood in the center of the crowd on her boyfriend Lucas’s arm, smiling radiantly. And Alexander, wearing that faded cheap casual outfit, stood not far away, his gaze glued to Victoria the entire time. Seeing me appear, a triumphant gleam flashed through Victoria’s eyes. She deliberately pulled Lucas over to Alexander and said coyly, “Lucas, I’m thirsty.” Before Lucas could move, Alexander had already reflexively picked up a glass of juice and handed it over. The people around burst into laughter. “Mr. Blackwood’s service attitude is even more professional than the waiters.” “Well, it depends on who it’s for.” Only then did Alexander seem to wake from a dream. He jerked his hand back, his expression ugly. He turned his head and met my gaze directly. Panic flashed through his heart. He strode over and grabbed my wrist. “Why did you come? This isn’t a place you should be. Let me take you home.” “Let go.” I looked at him. Just then, a server wheeled over a massive multi-tiered cake. As Victoria was cutting the cake, whether intentionally or not, her foot twisted. Her whole body lurched forward, and the wine glass in her hand flew straight at me. Almost instinctively, Alexander shoved me aside and rushed forward to catch Victoria. “Victoria! Are you burned?” He held Victoria tightly, the concern and heartache in his eyes impossible to hide. Even his voice trembled. Meanwhile, I fell hard onto the floor covered in broken glass. The one he’d violently pushed aside. Sharp glass shards pierced my palm. Blood immediately welled up, staining the white sleeve of my shirt. The surroundings instantly quieted. Everyone looked at me sitting in a pool of blood with eyes full of mockery.

Lynn’s POV Piercing pain shot through my palm, but I didn’t even furrow my brow. I looked at the two people embracing tightly not far away and suddenly found the scene absurdly comical. Lucas walked forward with a cold expression and yanked Victoria out of Alexander’s arms. “Alexander, you’re overstepping. Victoria is my girlfriend.” Alexander’s hand froze in mid-air. Only then did he snap back to reality. He turned around and saw me sitting in a pool of blood. His face instantly turned deathly pale. “Lynn!” He rushed over in a panic, trying to help me up. “I’m sorry, I was too anxious just now. I didn’t mean to push you…” I avoided his outstretched hand and pushed myself up from the floor using my uninjured left hand. Blood dripped from my fingertips onto the carpet, one drop at a time, shocking to see. I didn’t cry or make a scene. I didn’t even ask a single question. I just looked at Alexander calmly. “It’s okay.” I smiled slightly. “After all, she’s more delicate.” Alexander’s expression was terrible. An unprecedented sense of panic was written all over his face. “Lynn, let me explain. I just-” “I’m going to the restroom to take care of this.” I interrupted him, turned, and walked toward the restroom. Cold water rushed over the wound, washing out the glass fragments. The pain was excruciating. I looked at my pale face in the mirror and couldn’t help but curl my lips into a cold smile. The sound of high heels clicked behind me. Victoria stood behind me at some point, arms crossed, smiling wickedly and triumphantly. “Lynn, you’re so pitiful.” Victoria looked at my bleeding hand, her eyes full of mockery. “Do you think Alexander really loves you? He’s just using you to make me jealous. As long as I crook my finger, he’ll crawl back to me like a dog anytime. You’re nothing but a cheap toy he uses to kill time.” I turned off the faucet and pulled some paper towels to methodically wipe the blood from my hand. I turned around and looked at Victoria through the mirror. “Is that so?” I smiled slightly. “Then I wish you both, the bitch and the dog, eternal happiness. I don’t want this pile of trash anymore. If you like picking through garbage, keep it and play with it slowly.” Victoria was infuriated. She raised her hand to slap me. “You bitch, how dare you insult me?!” I grabbed her wrist and flung it away hard. Victoria staggered backward several steps, nearly falling. “Miss Sterling, don’t dirty your haute couture.” I glanced at her and left the restroom without looking back. It was pouring rain outside. I didn’t have an umbrella and didn’t wait for Alexander. I walked alone into the rain. The rainwater washed over my wound, but it made me feel more clear-headed than ever. At two in the morning, Alexander burst into the apartment, soaking wet. Seeing me sitting on the sofa, panic flashed through his eyes. He rushed over and hugged me tightly, his voice trembling. “Lynn, I’m sorry. I looked everywhere for you… I just saw she was about to fall and it was instinct. Please don’t be angry with me, okay? How’s your hand? Let me take you to the hospital…” I let him hold me. “Alexander.” I spoke softly. “Do you think I’m really easy to fool?” Alexander’s body stiffened. “What… do you mean?” “Nothing.” I closed my eyes and gently pushed him away. “I’m tired. Let’s sleep.” Thirteen days until departure.

Lynn’s POV Ten days until departure. The gauze on my hand had been changed three times. Alexander’s performance had lasted three days. During these three days, he canceled all his “part-time jobs” and stayed in the apartment like a child who’d done something wrong. He cooked for me in various ways, even clumsily following online tutorials to make bone broth. “Lynn, does your hand still hurt?” Alexander brought the soup to the bedside, his eyes full of careful flattery. I leaned against the headboard, looking at his flawless face, only feeling it was utterly unfamiliar. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.” I didn’t take the bowl of soup. “Just leave it. I don’t have an appetite.” Alexander’s hand froze in mid-air, panic flashing through his eyes. He set down the bowl and pulled an exquisite velvet box from his pocket. He opened it. Inside lay a star-shaped necklace. “Lynn, I saved up two months of salary to buy this for you. You’ve always wanted a necklace, right?” He looked at me with expectant eyes. I looked at the necklace. Crude workmanship, cheap rhinestones. Even the clasp gleamed with cheap metallic luster. Just yesterday, I’d seen an identical necklace on Victoria’s Instagram. Except the one around Victoria’s neck was a globally limited edition from a luxury brand, outrageously expensive. He gave the expensive genuine article to someone else, while using a cheap knockoff to placate me. “Thank you, I really like it.” I didn’t expose him. I just calmly accepted the box and casually set it on the nightstand. Seeing me accept it, Alexander breathed a long sigh of relief and pulled me into his arms. “Lynn, once I graduate, let’s get married. I’ll treat you well for the rest of my life.” I let him hold me, my chin resting on his shoulder. “Okay.” I said softly. “I’ll wait for you.” Just then, Alexander’s phone on the table started vibrating. His body stiffened. He quickly released me, grabbed his phone, glanced at it, and his expression changed. “Lynn, my professor suddenly needs me to verify some data urgently. I have to go to the lab.” As he spoke, he hurriedly put on his jacket. I watched his retreating figure without trying to stop him. I just nodded. “Go ahead. Be careful on the road.” The moment the door closed, I took out my phone and opened a post Victoria had made five minutes ago. In the photo, Victoria wore a hospital gown with an IV in her hand. The caption read: “Sick, and only you’re willing to drop everything to be with me.” In the corner of the photo was a glimpse of a man’s sleeve. It was the faded white T-shirt Alexander had changed into before leaving this morning. Five days until departure. Today was the two-year anniversary of Alexander and me being together. Before leaving this morning, Alexander solemnly promised he would definitely come home early tonight and take me to that private restaurant in the south part of town that I loved. “Lynn, wait for me tonight. I have something very important to give you.” He kissed my forehead, his eyes so affectionate they could drown someone. I looked at him and just smiled slightly. “Okay.” That afternoon, I went to the bank and calculated every penny Alexander had “borrowed” from me or spent on me over the past two years, with interest, and deposited it all onto a new card. A total of three thousand four hundred fifty dollars. That was all the money that man had ever spent on me. At seven PM, I sat in that restaurant, watching the food on the table gradually grow cold, calmly sipping lemon water. Eight o’clock. Alexander didn’t appear. Nine o’clock. His phone was unreachable. Ten o’clock. The restaurant closed and the staff apologetically asked me to leave. I paid the bill and walked alone in the cold late autumn wind. My phone suddenly vibrated. It was a picture message from an unknown number. In the photo was an extremely luxurious rooftop restaurant. Victoria wore an elaborate gown, holding a large bouquet of red roses, her face full of shy smiles. Standing opposite her was Alexander in a haute couture suit. Below the photo was a single line: “Lynn, he’s proposing tonight, but not to you.” I looked at the screen without my breathing even faltering. I casually deleted the message and blocked the number. When I returned to the apartment, it was past eleven at night. The room was pitch black. I turned on the light and began packing the last of my luggage. Clothes, documents, a few medical books. One suitcase contained my entire life here. At two in the morning, the door lock turned. Alexander stumbled in, reeking of alcohol and perfume. Seeing me sitting on the sofa, he froze, then overwhelming guilt flooded his eyes. “Lynn… I’m sorry…”

Lynn’s POV He walked over, trying to hug me, but I dodged to the side. He missed and collapsed onto the sofa, covering his face in pain. “There was a major problem with the lab data. The professor was furious and kept me there the whole time… My phone died too…” He was still lying. I looked down at him from above, looking at this man I had once loved with all my heart and eyes, and suddenly felt unbearably sad. “Alexander.” I interrupted his rambling. “Were you really at the lab today?” Alexander’s whole body shook. He jerked his head up. His bloodshot eyes flashed with extreme panic. “I… of course I was…” “Fine.” I didn’t press further. I turned and walked back to the bedroom. “Get some sleep.” One day until departure. The apartment had been cleaned completely. All my personal belongings, except for that one suitcase, were gone. Alexander had been in a state of extreme anxiety these past few days. He’d sensed the change in me. To keep me, he even went so far as to buy a real diamond ring. “Lynn, let’s get married.” In the cramped living room, Alexander knelt on one knee, holding up that expensive diamond ring, his eyes burning and crazed. “Tomorrow we’ll go register our marriage. I don’t care about graduating anymore. I want to marry you right now.” I looked at that ring flashing with blinding light, then looked at the oxidized, blackened silver ring on my own finger. “Okay.” I extended my hand. “Nine o’clock tomorrow morning. I’ll meet you at City Hall.” Alexander slipped the ring onto my ring finger and hugged me tightly. “Lynn, I swear I’ll never let you suffer the slightest grievance again!” However, his phone in his pocket rang with a piercing tone. It was Lucas calling. Alexander answered. His face instantly turned deathly pale. “Alexander, Victoria slit her wrists! She’s in the ER! She’s been clutching that necklace you gave her the whole time!” Alexander’s body froze violently. His phone nearly slipped from his hand. He shot to his feet and rushed toward the door like a madman, not even grabbing his jacket. At the doorway, he suddenly stopped and looked back at me sitting on the sofa. “Lynn, I…” His voice was shaking, his eyes full of conflict. “Go.” I sat in the shadows, smiling self-mockingly. “After all, in your heart, she’s the most important one.” “I’ll be right back! Tomorrow morning at nine, I’ll definitely be at City Hall on time!” Alexander looked at me deeply, then turned and rushed into the night. The door closed. I slowly removed the diamond ring from my ring finger and threw it into the trash along with the old silver ring. I stood up and pressed a bank card and a letter under the water glass on the table. Then, dragging my suitcase, I walked out of this prison that had confined me for two years without looking back. No tears, no hysteria. Only complete liberation. Seven AM, international airport. I changed into the medical team’s uniform. “Dr. Lynn, we’re ready to board.” The team leader called to me from a distance. “Coming.” I took out my phone and sent Alexander that photo of him and Victoria at the rooftop restaurant proposal scene. The message contained only one brief sentence: “Game over. I wish you and Miss Sterling eternal happiness.” After sending it, I removed the SIM card, snapped it in half, and threw it into a nearby trash can. I turned and strode toward security without ever looking back.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “383844”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster

I followed my husband’s mistress. She lived a luxurious life. A villa in a wealthy neighborhood, a car worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. She was rich. Even when meeting my husband, she always went home on time. She said her father was very strict with her. To protect my marriage, I secretly took photos and sent a message to her strict father. “Did you know your daughter is someone’s mistress?” After a long wait, he finally replied. “I know now.” “I’ve been betrayed.” Sophia’s POV I stared at my phone screen, confused for a moment. Why did he say he was the one betrayed? I was the one who’d been betrayed. Maybe he made a typo. After all, finding out your daughter is someone’s mistress would shake anyone up. I patiently corrected him. “I’m the one who’s been betrayed. Your daughter is secretly involved with my husband.” After thinking for a moment, I added, “If texting is inconvenient, we can talk on the phone.” He only replied with one sentence. “Let’s meet in person to discuss this.” Before this, I thought Renee’s father had to be at least fifty years old. I didn’t expect him to look so young. Even with money and good skincare, he shouldn’t look like the man sitting across from me. He wore a suit, strikingly handsome, with thick hair. But this was my first time doing something like this. How should I bring it up? “I didn’t expect you to look so young. You don’t even look forty yet.” He raised his eyes slightly, staring at me. “I’m thirty-three.” I froze. “What?” “Thirty-three.” He pressed his lips together. “…Oh.” I quickly took a sip of coffee. At the peak of my embarrassment, I blurted out, “You had kids really early then.” He paused, his fingertip touching the rim of his cup. “Actually, I’m not her… biological father.” I caught on. “You’re her stepfather?” “Something like that.” He lowered his head to drink. I nodded. “No wonder you’re so young.” He took a deep breath, glanced at me, then pulled out a business card from his pocket and placed it between us. “My name is Sebastian Hart. Let’s get straight to the point.” He withdrew his hand. “About Renee and your husband. I want to hear all the details.” I gripped my coffee cup tightly. “Alright.” … My husband, Ethan, ran a fairly well-known piano training center. Renee was his student. She’d been taking lessons for over a year. I didn’t know exactly when they got together. I only discovered them three months ago when I went to see him and caught them kissing on top of the piano. My heart stopped at that moment. I wanted to push open that door, but my pride and rationality weighed on me so heavily I couldn’t move. My vision blurred, but my mind stayed cold and clear. I memorized that girl’s face, went to the office, cross-referenced the student files, and found her name: Renee. She was young and beautiful, tall and slender. She’d enrolled in the premium course, five thousand dollars per session, and paid for thirty two lessons upfront. A total of one hundred sixty thousand dollars. “For a girl her age, a hundred and sixty thousand is a huge sum.” Sebastian listened to me expressionlessly. “Mm. I remember her asking me for two hundred thousand.” So she pocketed forty thousand for herself. I couldn’t help but grumble internally. Having a father willing to spend money on you must be nice. Since I’d only caught them once, I wasn’t sure if it was a fleeting affair or a long-term relationship, so I started following her. To my surprise, Renee lived an extravagant life. She didn’t work. She slept until afternoon, drove a luxury car worth hundreds of thousands, lived in a villa in a wealthy area, and spent her days having afternoon tea with friends, playing golf and tennis. I followed her for half a month and started feeling depressed. “Honestly, I was shocked. Her circumstances are too good. I don’t understand why she’d be interested in my husband.” Sebastian’s expression darkened, his lips pressed into a tight line. “Would you mind sharing your husband’s financial situation?” I spoke openly. “He has a PhD in music. He left academia a few years ago to start his own business. His annual income just reached… seven figures.” “A million?” Sebastian seemed incredulous at that answer. He pulled at the corner of his mouth, then looked me up and down, asking with certainty, “So is he extremely good-looking?” I held out my phone to show him Ethan’s photo. “Actually, he’s okay… Not as good-looking as you.” He looked up at me in surprise, narrowed his eyes, and said in a peculiar tone, “You think I’m better-looking than your husband?” I froze for a moment. Was that what I meant? “No, I mean…we’re ordinary people. Not like you two, father and daughter, with such superior looks.” He stared at me for a while, then suddenly grabbed my phone, his fingertip tapping the screen lightly. “He looks very ordinary. You don’t.” My heart skipped a beat. I gripped my phone tightly and pulled my hand back. “Mr. Hart, I came to you hoping you’d control your daughter.” “Of course I’ll control her.” He nodded, lifting his gaze to meet mine, his tone cool. “But I don’t understand. Do you really think doing this will win back your partner?” His words struck like a heavy blow to my most painful spot. “Of course not.” I put away Sebastian’s business card, stood up, took a deep breath, and looked down at him. “I just don’t want my ex-husband to have the chance to latch onto a rich heiress after our divorce.” Sebastian sat still, tilting his neck back to look at me with interest. “What’s your name?” I slowly extended my hand toward him. “Sophia.”

Sophia’s POV When I got home, Ethan was moving things into the study. I stood in the doorway and glanced at him. “Are you sleeping in the study?” He smiled at me, responding naturally. “I’ve been working late recently. I don’t want to disturb your rest.” “Oh.” I ignored him. Probably wants to tell his mistress he only has sex with her. I went into the master bedroom, pulled out the business card, and started searching online. Sebastian’s phone number was something I’d gotten from the property management at Renee’s apartment complex. Lucky for me, that property wasn’t registered under Renee’s name. I wanted to know what exactly he did for a living. To my surprise, searching Sebastian Hart’s name brought up countless associated companies, several of which I’d even heard of. He’s… that rich? No wonder he gave that helpless smile when he heard my husband’s seven-figure annual income. “Honey, want some coffee I made myself?” Ethan suddenly appeared. I immediately closed my laptop, afraid he’d see. A cup of hot coffee was placed in front of me. “I have a female student whose family is quite wealthy.” Ethan took my hand. “You know I’ve been busy trying to attract investors. I invited her over for dinner tonight to discuss investment opportunities.” I instantly understood his intention and looked up at him. “Which one?” “Renee.” Ethan mentioned the name casually, as if it had nothing to do with him. “Sure.” I smiled slightly. “Want me to cook?” “No need, I’ll do it.” Ethan suddenly reached out and touched my face, his eyes full of warmth. “You don’t need to do anything.” I looked into his eyes, feeling momentarily lost. Perhaps my taste differed from Sebastian’s. In my eyes, Ethan wasn’t ordinary looking at all. He was handsome, educated, gentle, the type of man who’d easily appeal to wealthy women. If he didn’t love me anymore, why did he keep up such a good act? At six PM, Renee came to our house. Ethan went to the kitchen to cook, leaving me to chat with Renee. “I didn’t expect you to be so beautiful.” She took the coffee, tilting her head and smiling at me. I maintained my smile. “Mm… Are you surprised?” Renee fell somewhat silent. “But isn’t this exhausting for you?” She looked away toward Ethan. “Do you know why I came to your house for dinner?” She turned back to face me. “Because the property manager at my building told me a woman’s been asking about me recently.” My heart lurched. Did she already know? Renee leaned closer, lowering her voice. “I came to warn you.” I froze in place, my heart racing, palms sweating.

Sophia’s POV “Dinner’s ready.” Ethan’s voice interrupted the strange atmosphere between Renee and me. At the table, Ethan chatted with her while serving me food. I didn’t eat a single bite. Who wants to perform in a play with no audience? Renee seemed unable to watch anymore either. She pointed toward the study. “Mr. Clinton, are you sleeping in the study?” Ethan responded gently. “We’re both so busy with work that we sleep separately. We rest better that way.” His words carried deeper meaning, making it sound like we’d already separated. I was too lazy to expose his lies. Sure enough, Renee believed him and gave me a provocative smile. I kept my expression blank, put down my fork, and stood up. “Excuse me, I need to use the restroom.” Then I turned and left. Ethan glanced at me. Only when Renee called him back did he return his attention to their conversation. He needed a ten-million-dollar investment to expand his piano training center. “Sure, my family actually wants me to try finding some investment projects anyway.” Ethan acted quite reserved. “Renee, don’t agree so quickly. Let me send you the business proposal. Read it carefully first.” “Okay, whatever you say.” She nodded. I stopped at the corner of the hallway, pulled out my phone, and sent that man a text. “Mr. Hart, Renee’s at my house. For such a renowned entrepreneur, if you can’t discipline your daughter, I’ll have to do it for you.” After a minute, he replied. “Go ahead and hit her. I don’t have time.” My eyes widened. This man was absurd. A moment later, I returned to my seat. Renee seemed in an excellent mood. She glanced at me. “Mr. Clinton, if we become business partners, we’ll be working together frequently. Won’t Sophia be upset seeing us meet so often?” Ethan paused, then said seriously, “We have a normal working relationship. She won’t be upset.” Renee kept provoking me. I lost all appetite for the food on the table. I studied Renee and spoke coldly. “But for such a large sum, can you come up with it on your own, Miss Renee?” She met my gaze fearlessly. “This is nothing for me. As long as I want it, my family will support me.” Ethan tugged at my arm. “Sophia?” He wanted to stop me. “I’m just worried she’s pushing herself too hard.” I smiled apologetically, then turned to Ethan. “I know you’ve been looking for investors. Why don’t you send me the proposal too? I happen to know a wealthy person who’s very interested in this.” I reached into my pocket, felt that thin card, and pulled it out without hesitation, placing it on the table. Ethan froze, reading the name aloud. “Sebastian Hart?” Across from me, Renee looked terrified, staring at me in disbelief. Her previous aggressive demeanor vanished completely. I quietly enjoyed watching her expression change. She was truly scared. The next second, Renee’s phone rang. The ringtone was sudden and shrill, startling us all. Renee gripped her phone and shot to her feet, looking extremely nervous. “Um, it’s my father calling… I need to take this.” She rushed into the guest bathroom and shut the door firmly. I couldn’t help but laugh. So Sebastian finally had time and knew to make a phone call. Ethan asked what I was laughing about. “Renee’s in her twenties and still so afraid of her parents. Don’t you find that funny?” “No, I don’t.” Ethan didn’t smile. He picked up the business card and looked at me. “How do you know Sebastian Hart?” “I don’t know him. A friend of mine knows his assistant.” I was about to take back the card when Ethan dodged my hand and tucked it into his pocket. “Then I’ll keep it.” In less than a minute, Renee came out. Her face looked terrible. She hastily made her excuses, saying she had to go home. Even when Ethan offered to drive her, she refused. Ethan closed the door, puzzled. “What… happened to her?” “Probably her father won’t let her come home too late.” I lost interest too. I turned to head back to my room. After just a few steps, I was suddenly embraced from behind. Ethan rested his chin on my shoulder, his voice very soft. “Sophia.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, pushed his arms away, and turned around. “Didn’t you just say you were sleeping in the study?” Ethan paused. “I…” He opened his mouth but said nothing. “Good night.” I walked into the bedroom alone.

Sophia’s POV Renee hadn’t come to class these past few days. Ethan told me. “Do you think something happened to her?” He kept checking his phone, but there were no messages. “Maybe she can’t come up with that much money for the investment, so she doesn’t want to contact you anymore.” I brushed past him toward the door. “Were you really counting on her?” Ethan frowned. He turned around and stared at me. “Where are you going?” “Meeting a friend.” I grabbed my car keys. “You seem to be going out alone a lot lately.” He seemed to be complaining. “Do you want to come with me?” I met his gaze. He nodded and was about to come over when suddenly his phone rang. He glanced at it, then looked at me apologetically. “I have something here, so…” “Fine.” I cut him off and walked straight out. The friend I was meeting was a divorce lawyer. “The divorce agreement is ready.” I handed the lawyer the photos I’d taken while following him and Renee on their dates, mostly hand holding, hugging, and other intimate interactions. “Using these as evidence of his marital betrayal isn’t sufficient enough.” I put the photos back in the folder. “What level of evidence do I need to collect before you’re confident you can help me claim all the assets?” “All the assets?” I looked up, confirming with her again. “Yes. Everything. I want to take away everything he has.” Before leaving, the lawyer told me I needed more direct evidence. More direct… I opened my phone, found the location tracker on Ethan’s car, and drove to the spot, a mountain road. Ethan and Renee stood by the roadside. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but when Renee tried to take his hand, Ethan coldly pulled away. I sat in my car, taking the opportunity to photograph them. But while checking the photos, I suddenly noticed Ethan looking in my direction. Not good. He recognized my car. My heart raced. I immediately drove off. In the rearview mirror, I saw Ethan’s car in hot pursuit. My heart pounded as I stepped on the gas, accelerating continuously. I’d barely managed to shake him off when a car came slowly around a bend. I slammed on the brakes and jerked the steering wheel, but still ended up with serious scraping. Damn it. A Bentley, too. I pounded the steering wheel. I had no choice but to get out. I was about to apologize when I discovered the person getting out of the car was Sebastian Hart. “It’s you?” At least he still remembered me. Sebastian glanced at my aggressive driving. “Practicing drifting?” I had nowhere else to turn, so I had to ask him for help. “I’ve been discovered. My husband’s car is behind me…” Sebastian was speechless. He had his driver take my car away. I got into Sebastian’s car. He drove while I sat in the passenger seat. Ethan’s name popped up on my phone screen. I declined. It rang again. Only when Sebastian told me to answer did I dare pick up. “Honey, are you nearby? I think I saw your car on the road.” There was unmistakable tension in Ethan’s voice. “My car got into a small accident. Someone probably drove it to get it fixed.” “Oh, I see.” Ethan relaxed. “Are you okay?” “I’m fine.” “Where are you now? Should I come pick you up?” I instinctively glanced at Sebastian, paused for a second. “No need. I got a ride.” The call ended. Sebastian gripped the steering wheel and chuckled softly. “You’re both excellent liars.” I fell silent for a moment. The car drove along the mountain road. The scenery outside was beautiful as an oil painting. “Mr. Hart, this doesn’t seem like the way back to the city.” “Mm.” He answered unconcernedly. “I have plans today. I’m meeting someone for dinner.” I was confused. “Ah, then what about me…?” “I gave you a ride because it was on the way. Wherever I’m going, that’s where you get off. Isn’t that right?” Sebastian turned to look at me. I frowned and opened my mouth. “What am I supposed to do at your dinner?” His fingertip tapped the steering wheel lightly as he slowly spoke. “If you leave, it’s a hit-and-run.” “I…” I was forced to join Sebastian for dinner. The place was hidden deep in the mountains and forest, a Michelin restaurant that required advance reservations. Sebastian’s friends were all waiting for him. “You’re always the most punctual. Why are you late today?” “Got in a car accident. Lucky I came out alright.” Everyone fell silent. I sat next to him, feeling extremely nervous. Especially during dinner when my phone kept ringing. Ethan was looking for me. I stood up. Someone looked over. Sebastian explained for me, “Her husband is very concerned about her whereabouts.” “…Huh?” Now everyone looked over at once. I stood there, opened my mouth, but decided to keep quiet. I turned to take the call. Through the receiver, Ethan’s voice sounded strained. “Why aren’t you answering my calls?” I glanced at the screen. Over ten missed calls. “I’m having dinner with a friend.” “What friend? Male or female? Do I know them…” I was getting a headache. “You don’t know them.” Ethan on the other end fell silent. I hung up and was about to go back when I overheard someone say, “I didn’t expect you to like this type now.” “Just an ordinary friend.” Sebastian focused on his meal. Everyone went quiet. After a while, I returned to my seat, pretending I hadn’t heard. But his friends suddenly became interested in me. “Sebastian, Miss… looks very young. How many years have you been married?” He looked directly at me. “How many years?” I felt awkward. “Three years.” His friend pressed on. “What does Miss… do for work?” Sebastian turned his head. “Right, you’re a…” “Music teacher.” I quickly took over. “That’s nice.” He nodded approvingly. His friend crossed his arms, glancing at him helplessly. “How do you know nothing about her?” Sebastian put down his knife and fork. “I know her husband found a mistress. Their marriage is broken and they’re about to divorce. Isn’t that enough?”

Sophia’s POV The whole table fell silent. No one spoke for a moment. “I… I’m full. I’ll head back now.” I hastily fled the scene. I didn’t expect to see Renee approaching in the distance as soon as I walked out. She was definitely here to find Sebastian. I turned to hide, but bumped right into someone’s chest. “Mm?” Sebastian took half a step back, looking down at me. “Still hungry?” I signaled him with my eyes. “Renee’s here…” Only then did Sebastian notice the figure in the distance. He grabbed my wrist and pushed me into the car alone, smoothly closing the door. Before he could get in, Renee ran over and started talking to him. I couldn’t hear their conversation. But Renee kept crying, seemingly emotional. Sebastian backed away, speaking expressionlessly. I quietly cracked the car door open a bit. The man’s cold voice drifted in. “You said you wanted to learn piano so you could play for me once you learned.” Renee’s voice was choked, breaking intermittently. “I didn’t… those things you mentioned… I don’t know who told you what…” Sebastian showed no emotion. “Who said it doesn’t matter. This is the end.” Just as he opened the car door and was about to get in, Renee rushed up in a few steps, forcefully grabbing the car door and actually kneeling down right there in front of Sebastian. “Mr. Hart, I know I was wrong…” I didn’t expect Renee, someone so proud, could humble herself to this degree just to apologize. Sebastian looked at her calmly. “You don’t need to do this.” At that moment, my phone made a sound. I instantly silenced it in fright. Renee froze, wanting to look into the car. Sebastian blocked her view with his body. She understood. Her expression turned awful in an instant. He got into the car, glanced at me, and slowly raised the window. “Eavesdropping?” I avoided his gaze, my heart racing uncontrollably. “You’re not her father.” “I never said I was, but I do think I count as her father in a way.” I fell silent for a moment before answering. “In what way are you her father?” Sebastian pressed the start button. “Sugar daddy. Doesn’t that count as a kind of daddy?” The car started down the mountain. He swiped his finger across the driver’s screen and played a song. I really felt like he was driving me crazy. I never imagined he wasn’t the mistress’s actual father. My first reaction was to apologize. “I’m sorry. My husband seduced your girlfriend.” “Ah, you’re a perfect wife.” He suddenly sighed. I was furious. “Mr. Hart, you seem to have a problem with me.” “No. I’ve been betrayed, so this is just how I talk.” He kept his eyes on the road ahead. “I hope you’ll be understanding.” He’d said everything there was to say… I replied quietly. “I’ve been betrayed too. Why should I be understanding toward you?” He turned the steering wheel with one hand, showing no sign of being offended. “Oh, so you only show understanding to your husband.” “You-” The car turned a corner. Due to inertia, I swayed back slightly, and my curse died on my lips. Lush green mountains entered my view. The song on the speakers had just reached its climax. “This is my favorite stretch of road,” Sebastian suddenly said. I quietly admired the mountain scenery. But my phone kept vibrating. Ethan was calling repeatedly. Sebastian noticed too. “He seems to call every ten minutes.” I dimmed the screen. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him lately.” Sebastian glanced at me. “Unfaithful people have less security than faithful ones. Because they know what they’re doing when they don’t answer the phone.” I almost laughed in anger. “Is he actually suspicious of me?” “Looks like you’re not planning to get revenge by betraying him back.” He quietly withdrew his gaze. I fell silent. After a while, the music suddenly cut off. Sebastian’s phone rang. He looked at the number, frowned, and pressed the answer button. “Hello?” “Excuse me, is this Mr. Hart’s assistant?” His Bluetooth was connected to the car, so the voice came through the speakers. Almost instantly, I recognized whose voice it was. My body went rigid. Why was he making this call? Sebastian was still unaware. “I’m Sebastian Hart. How did you get my private number?” The person on the other end fell silent for three seconds, his voice suddenly cold. “I’m Sophia’s husband.”

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I have a husband everyone envies—Kellan, the Alpha of Shadowreach Pack. But what everyone doesn’t know is that he’s addicted to cheating, and he has a peculiar habit of deliberately leaving traces behind. Over these past three months, I found a lace bra under the floor mat on the passenger side of his car. I dug out pink lace panties from under the bed in our forest vacation cabin. For the sake of the alliance between our two packs, I endured it all. But this time, at the Shadowreach Pack banquet, he had that little Omega, Lia, standing beside him. The spotlight shone on them both, as if she were Kellan’s mate. She looked at me provocatively, her arm wrapping around Kellan’s waist. I held my wine glass, turned, and walked back into the banquet hall without sparing her a single glance. I even smiled graciously at Kellan when he came over to take my hand. My indifference completely enraged Lia. She sent intimate photos of the two of them directly to my phone, every word dripping with provocation. 【You’re old now. Alpha Kellan has grown tired of your high-and-mighty act. Do you know how wild he gets when he pins me down on your marriage bed?】 I silently saved all the evidence, along with records of her embezzling Shadowreach Pack funds and colluding with rogues. She likes to show off, doesn’t she? Then I’ll make sure every Alpha in every pack sees their true faces.

Kellan stood in the bedroom doorway, his brow furrowed with disgust. He was Shadowreach Pack’s absolute Alpha, accustomed to controlling everything. Only in front of me would he ever lose his composure like he did when we were young. “Isobel, I didn’t call Lia here. She came on her own.” “You know she’s just a server at the club. It’s perfectly normal for her to serve drinks at a banquet like this.” I’d just pulled an all-nighter organizing materials, and my eyelids felt too heavy to lift. “There’s nothing to explain. You can like whoever you want. It has nothing to do with me.” “Isobel,” his tone turned harsh as he continued his self-justification, “I know you’re upset, but you’re my Luna. How can you say it has nothing to do with you?” “Are you finished?” I cut him off, standing up to walk past him into the bathroom, but he grabbed my wrist in a death grip. “Isobel, don’t you care at all?” I looked into his eyes, wanting so badly to tell him—I used to care. When I first found that bra, I smashed everything breakable in the house to pieces. Over these past three months, Kellan and I have fought countless times, but in the end, we never separated. Only because we are fated mates, witnesses to the alliance between Shadowreach Pack and Tundra Pack. At three years old, at the alliance banquet, he gave me a wolf-shaped wooden token and said, “Isobel, I’ll protect you from now on.” At ten, when we were ambushed by rogue wolves, he shielded me with his body and took a blade for me, leaving a permanent scar across his back. At seventeen, when my father fell gravely ill, he climbed through my window on the full moon night, held me tight, and said with absolute conviction: “Tundra Pack’s problems are my problems. I will always protect you.” Twenty-seven years of connection, like a dense net, trapping me inside. “Kellan, I’m really tired.” I tugged at my wrist but couldn’t break free, my voice full of exhaustion. “What do you mean?” His grip suddenly tightened, panic flooding his eyes. “Do you want to dissolve the alliance between our packs? Isobel, you wouldn’t dare!” “Let go.” “I won’t! You have to explain yourself today!” In our struggle, a decorative piece in the living room crashed to the floor with a thunderous shatter, the crisp sound of breaking echoing through the night. Silver fragments scattered across the floor, glinting coldly in the light. It was the wolf-head sculpture cast together by the elders of both packs during our bonding ceremony, engraved with our names and the oath of peace between our packs. I’d smashed countless things during our fights, but I’d never touched this one. Now, it was broken. Kellan flinched and instinctively released my hand. I collapsed to my knees among the fragments, sharp silver shards cutting into my kneecaps as blood instantly welled up. Silver is a werewolf’s bane—wounds from it hurt ten times more than ordinary injuries and heal a hundred times slower. His face went deathly pale, his voice trembling: “I’m sorry, Isobel, I didn’t mean to…” The blood kept flowing, but I didn’t feel the pain. I only felt a tightness in my chest. He frantically picked me up, used wolf clan secret medicine to treat the wound briefly, then drove urgently to Shadowreach Pack’s exclusive medical center. His hands shook on the steering wheel, even his breathing was erratic. We rushed into the medical center, and the attending physician came overnight to treat me. After the wound was treated, the hospital room door opened. Lia walked in carrying a thermos, her face displaying perfectly calibrated concern. “Alpha Kellan, I heard you were injured, so I specially made some calming soup…”

She stopped mid-sentence, as if just noticing me in the hospital bed, covering her mouth in feigned surprise. “Oh, I’m sorry, Luna Isobel. I didn’t know you were here too. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Kellan frowned, his tone turning cold: “Who told you to come in? Get out.” “I was just worried about you.” Lia set down the thermos and took two steps forward, pretending to help organize the gauze, but deliberately pressing her fingertips hard against my still-bleeding wound. Searing pain instantly overwhelmed me. I let out a muffled groan, my fingers clutching the bedsheet. Kellan exploded with rage, shoving her violently out of the way. She crashed into the metal door frame behind her with a loud clang. “Are you insane? Get out! If you dare come near her again, I’ll banish you from Shadowreach Pack!” Lia’s eyes instantly turned red, but Kellan didn’t even glance at her. He turned back and pressed down hard on my wound, his voice full of panic and guilt, his eyes never once straying toward the door. Kellan arranged the highest-grade recovery room for me, filling it with my favorite white roses. “We need to observe you for a few days. Wounds that touch silver are prone to infection. With the full moon approaching, your healing ability will be compromised. We can’t be careless.” He handed me warm water and medication, fussing over me with endless instructions, his tone full of caution. When I ignored him, he softened his voice further: “I’ll go buy you those macarons and berries you love, okay?” When he left and returned, he was carrying pastries and cut berries, cold air from outside still clinging to him. He hung his head, his ears burning red, not daring to look at me. He looked exactly like he did when he confessed to me all those years ago. Back then, things were so good. I closed my eyes and burrowed under the blanket, unwilling to look at him anymore. He didn’t disturb me, just quietly kept watch nearby. Just as I was drifting off to sleep, the door opened and Lia’s sickeningly sweet voice drifted in. “Alpha Kellan, I came to apologize to Luna Isobel. I was so clumsy yesterday, accidentally hurting Luna Isobel. I’ve felt terrible about it and came specially to make amends.” I lifted a corner of the blanket, just in time to see her deliberately press close to Kellan. Her chest was practically pressed against his arm, her fingertips tracing over the buttons of his shirt, her sweet scent wrapping around his wrist. “Alpha Kellan, please don’t be mad at me anymore, okay? I really know I was wrong.” “Lia.” Kellan’s voice dropped low. “This isn’t a place you should be. Leave.” “Hmm?” She moved even closer, her lips almost touching his ear as she spoke in a breathy whisper, “Alpha Kellan, your heart is beating so fast. Don’t you miss me, even a little?” I propped myself up to sit, my tone as cold as an ice-covered lake in winter. “Why don’t you two go outside to talk? Or I can leave and give you the space to properly ‘make amends’?” Kellan shoved her away violently. Lia stumbled and fell to the floor, her eyes instantly filling with tears. “Get out.” Kellan’s voice was ice-cold, devoid of any warmth. Lia scrambled to her feet, shot me a vicious glare, then ran out sobbing with her hands over her face. “Isobel, I…” “Sorry for interrupting you and your little lover’s flirtation.” I lay back down, turning my back to him and pulling the blanket up again. He stood there for a long time without speaking. He stood there for a long while, saying nothing more. Just then, his phone suddenly started vibrating. By the fourth ring, he finally answered. Lia’s shrill crying came through the speaker: “Alpha Kellan, rogues have cornered me at the back entrance. They’re going to hurt me. I’m so scared. Please come…”

Kellan hung up in silence, glancing at me with complicated eyes, his tone conflicted: “Isobel, I need to go out for a bit. I’ll be back soon. She’s on my territory after all—I can’t just ignore it.” The door closed softly. I pulled out my IV needle and contacted Tundra Pack’s guard unit to pick me up from the hospital. My knee still throbbed with pain, but that pain had long ceased to matter. I should have understood long ago—Kellan’s indulgence was never unintentional. He watched Lia provoke me right in front of him. It wasn’t that he didn’t know. He just didn’t care. He even secretly hoped I would make a scene, hoped my eyes would only hold him, like they used to. When Tundra Pack’s guard vehicle reached the redwood forest at the edge of the territory, I had them stop. This was a place we used to visit as children, where he once made me promises. But I never expected to see them here. Lia was half-draped over Kellan, her fingertips tracing along Kellan’s belt buckle, their intimate posture painfully obvious. Kellan’s free hand tried to pull her away, but Lia moved faster, sliding her fingers into his palm and interlacing them with his. He stiffened but didn’t shake her off. I stood frozen in place, my blood seeming to congeal in my veins. A werewolf’s keen hearing let me clearly catch Lia’s coquettish whining and Kellan’s helpless but indulgent response. Suddenly, as if sensing my gaze, Lia turned to look at me, a flash of triumph in her eyes. She leaned close to Kellan’s ear and whispered a few words. Kellan nodded, turned, and headed toward the medical center, saying he needed to get medicine for Lia’s injury. Lia stood there, and once he was far enough away, she slowly walked toward me, a victor’s smile on her face. “Luna Isobel, you’ve been discharged? Why didn’t you have Alpha Kellan take you? Could it be he doesn’t care about you anymore?” I ignored her, my gaze falling on her supposedly sprained ankle. Just moments ago she’d walked steadily, showing no sign of injury whatsoever. She shrugged nonchalantly, her smile growing even more smug: “See? He kept his arm around me the whole way, never let go. He’s an Alpha—how could he not tell I was faking? He just wanted to indulge me.” She tilted her head, feigning sympathy: “Though I understand you. After all these years, there’s no passion left between you, just the pack alliance and habit, right? You never knew how to please your Alpha.” “Are you finished?” I stopped walking, releasing an icy pressure that instantly made her face pale and forced her to step back instinctively. “Oh my, getting angry?” She quickly recovered, leaning in with a coquettish laugh. “You really expect him to stay faithful to you? I admire you, honestly—even now you can turn a blind eye. You really can endure.” “Lia.” I cut her off, my eyes devoid of warmth. “Do you know what’s most pathetic about you?” Her smile froze: “What do you mean?” “You’ve schemed and used underhanded tactics to steal someone who doesn’t even love you. Kellan’s indulgence toward you isn’t love. It’s boredom. You’re just a tool he uses to test me. In the end, you’re nothing but a pawn.” She suddenly grabbed my wrist violently, her eyes filled with madness and jealousy: “You’re lying! Kellan does love me! Once he divorces you, I’ll be Shadowreach Pack’s Luna!” “Let go.” I yanked my hand away forcefully, the momentum making her stagger backward.

She was completely enraged, a vicious look flashing in her eyes as she shoved me hard. Behind me was the steep slope of the redwood forest. The fallen leaves underfoot were slick, and I instantly lost my balance, falling backward down the incline. Survival instinct made me grab her wrist desperately. The massive momentum dragged both of us tumbling down the slope together. Mid-tumble, my back slammed hard against a thick redwood trunk. My vision went black for several seconds. When my consciousness cleared, I looked up to see Kellan rushing down toward us. Kellan almost instantly shifted into his black wolf form, leaping to our side. His first action was to grab the unconscious Lia in his jaws and shield her behind him. Lia woke up and threw herself into his arms, crying hysterically, trembling all over: “Alpha Kellan, Luna Isobel hates me for stealing you. She tried to push me down the slope to kill me…” Kellan said nothing, only held her tightly, his eyes falling on me with ice-cold disappointment, anger, and an unprecedented impatience. “Isobel.” His voice was heavy, carrying an Alpha’s oppressive force. “This is a life we’re talking about. If you’re angry, take it out on me. Don’t take it out on a little Omega. Don’t you have any dignity as a Luna?” I didn’t bother to defend myself, bracing against the tree trunk to try to stand. But a piercing pain shot through my right ankle. I couldn’t put any weight on it at all. Just then, Lia’s foot suddenly slipped, and she viciously kicked my ankle. Searing pain instantly consumed me. I fell to the ground again. But Kellan only frantically picked up the unsteady Lia and ran toward the forest edge, as if I were just some irrelevant stranger. I lay on the icy fallen leaves, my right ankle hurting so badly I’d almost lost all feeling in it, darkness closing in on my vision. Just as I was about to lose consciousness, several malicious presences closed in. Rogues. They advanced toward me step by step. I instantly understood—this wasn’t coincidence. Lia had arranged this. She wanted me dead here. I tried to shift, but the wound’s excruciating pain made it impossible. Just as their claws were about to reach me, Tundra Pack’s patrol arrived in time. In the chaos, one rogue fired at me. A bullet laced with wolfsbane tore through my right ankle. The burning sensation of wolfsbane spread through my bloodstream. I let out a pained groan, and before my consciousness completely blurred, the image that flashed through my mind was of young Kellan taking that blade for me, saying those words: “Isobel, I’ll protect you from now on.” How laughable. The person who once promised to protect me for life had ultimately indulged someone else in pushing me into the abyss. When I woke, I was lying in Tundra Pack’s recovery room. Kellan was slumped beside the bed, bloodshot eyes and exhausted expression showing he’d kept vigil for a long time. I moved my fingers slightly. He jolted awake immediately, joy and guilt flooding his eyes, his voice hoarse: “Isobel, you’re finally awake. I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have suspected you, shouldn’t have indulged Lia, shouldn’t have let you suffer so much.” He reached toward my face, his hand hovering in midair before pulling back. Finally, he pressed my hand against his cheek, warm tears dripping onto the back of my hand. “Once you’ve recovered, I’ll never see Lia again. I’ll spend my whole life making it up to you, okay?”

I moved my fingers, instinctively wanting to touch my right ankle. But that area sent piercing pain and a heavy sense of restraint. “My ankle—what happened to it?” My voice was terribly hoarse. The hospital room fell instantly silent. Kellan took a deep breath, his voice rough as he spoke: “Isobel, the bullet tore through your ankle bone. The wolfsbane has penetrated deep. We used every method available and saved your foot, but…” He paused, his voice full of heartache: “But the wolfsbane caused irreversible damage. You might never be able to shift again.” My mind went completely blank, as if all the blood in my body had frozen. I am the only daughter of Tundra Pack’s Alpha, the most gifted hunter in the pack, the only female warrior in North American werewolf circles who could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Kellan. Running, hunting, fighting—these instincts were carved into my bones, the pride of being Tundra Pack’s heir. But now, all of it had been completely destroyed. Wave after wave of tearing pain struck my chest, making it almost impossible to breathe. I clutched the bedsheet beneath me so hard my knuckles turned white, my nails digging deep into my palms. I looked at Kellan like he was a complete stranger. “Those rogues,” my tone was flat, devoid of any ripple, “Lia hired them, didn’t she?” Kellan’s eyes immediately shifted away. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he rushed to explain: “I’ve already investigated thoroughly. Those rogues have nothing to do with Lia. Your ankle was truly just an accident, Isobel. Please don’t overthink this…” “An accident? At my last checkup, Shadowreach Pack’s physician said my body was the healthiest and strongest in the entire pack. Even if I were poisoned with wolfsbane, it shouldn’t have caused consequences as severe as losing my ability to shift.” I stared hard into his eyes. “Kellan, what exactly are you hiding from me?” The air in the hospital room completely froze. He opened his mouth but couldn’t utter a single word. Just then, his phone vibrated. Lia’s name flashed on the screen. I clearly saw him breathe a sigh of relief, as if he’d found an excuse to escape. He stood up, his tone conflicted: “Isobel, I need to handle something. I’ll be right back.” I stared at the ceiling until the door opened again. Lia walked in, a victor’s smile on her face, holding a document. She walked to my bedside. “Isobel, how are you feeling? Your right ankle is ruined, you can never shift again—that must feel terrible, doesn’t it?” I snapped my eyes open, my gaze full of murderous intent. “Ah, don’t look at me like that.” She covered her mouth in mock surprise, tossing the document onto my bed. “Kellan didn’t tell you, did he? I hired those rogues. I originally wanted them to kill you outright, but I didn’t expect your guards to arrive so quickly.” She leaned down, bringing her mouth close to my ear, her voice dropping extremely low. “And also—the reason you can’t shift is entirely Kellan’s doing. He knew perfectly well there were ways to remove the wolfsbane, but he signed off on conservative treatment. Do you know why?”

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On my first day being sent to the branch office as CEO, I kept a low profile, wanting to observe privately. In the elevator, I saw a male colleague struggling with an armful of supply boxes and casually pressed the floor button for him. The female colleague next to me immediately slapped my hand away: “Why are you touching my husband’s hand?” The male colleague awkwardly tried to calm her: “What’s wrong with you? She was just helping!” The woman pinched him hard, then grabbed my collar with her other hand: “What, you’re addicted to being touched by her?! How dare you defend her!” I frowned, trying to explain: “Ma’am, please be respectful. I’m new here…” “New here and already trying to seduce my husband?” She cut me off with a scornful laugh. Seeing the elevator had arrived, I didn’t want to get further entangled and moved to leave. But she thought I was guilty, grabbed my collar and screamed: “You think you can just run after touching my husband? A slut like you can’t stay in this company—you must be fired immediately!”

“Everyone come look! Stop what you’re doing and come see!” The woman dragged me all the way from the elevator entrance to the main office area, deliberately raising her voice to shout: “This new employee who just joined the company is a slut who specializes in seducing other people’s husbands! Just now in the elevator, right in front of me, she dared to touch my husband!” Over a hundred employees stopped their work and stuck their heads out to look. The woman’s husband stood beside her, his face red with anxiety, explaining quietly: “It’s really not like that, she was just helping me…” “Shut up!” The woman pinched her husband again. The man gasped in pain and didn’t dare say another word. The surrounding colleagues began pointing at me, their eyes full of contempt and excitement at the drama. “Isn’t that Jocelyn Brown? This new girl really doesn’t have eyes—of all people to provoke, she chose her.” “Exactly. Who doesn’t know Jocelyn runs this place? This woman looks like a slut—she probably did something shameless.” “Daring to seduce Liam—isn’t that asking for death? She deserves to be caught red-handed.” All kinds of ugly comments drilled into my ears. So this woman was the legendary Jocelyn… I took a deep breath and looked coldly at Jocelyn: “Are you done making a scene? Let go.” “Let go? A slut like you can’t stay in this company. Today, if I don’t teach you a lesson your parents should have taught you, you’ll suffer even more in society!” Jocelyn raised her hand, about to slap my face. Just as I was preparing to retaliate, a rough shout suddenly came from the far end of the office: “What’s all this noise during work hours! Don’t you people have jobs to do!” The crowd parted, and a middle-aged man with a beer belly, hands behind his back, walked over with a swagger. As soon as Jocelyn saw this man, she immediately released my collar and greeted him coquettishly. “Mr. Walker, thank god you’re here!” Jocelyn pointed at my nose and cursed, “There’s someone here who just joined and is already looking for shortcuts!” “Just now in the elevator, she was seducing my man, and I caught her in the act! This shameless slut is corrupting the company culture—she must be fired immediately!” Richard Walker squinted his eyes and looked me up and down. His gaze was extremely sticky, sweeping from my face down to my legs with undisguised lewdness. “Pretty face,” Richard snorted coldly, his expression full of disdain, “but a shame her mind isn’t on the right things.” “Miss, if you want to climb the ladder, you need to know your place. Our branch doesn’t hire sluts like you.” I was so angry I laughed. I straightened my wrinkled collar, stood up straight, and looked at him coldly: “You’re Richard Walker, the branch’s vice president? As a company executive, to insult an employee with such language without knowing the facts—watch your mouth.” Richard froze for a moment, probably having never encountered a new employee who dared talk back to him like this. Jocelyn acted like she’d caught something damning, her voice sharp with anger: “Richard, look at her shameless attitude—she’s clearly a repeat offender!” “She probably got by using these slut tactics all along. Today’s the first day the new CEO takes office, and I heard she can’t stand any nonsense. We can’t let her see trash like this in the company!” Hearing this, Richard coldly ordered me: “Then we won’t waste words. You’re fired.” My tone was calm: “Richard, firing an employee requires due process. This is my first day reporting to work—I haven’t violated any rules. On what grounds are you firing me?” “On what grounds?” Richard laughed coldly. “Seducing colleagues, disrupting family harmony, seriously violating Article 3 of the employee handbook, creating a hostile work environment. Is that reason enough?” “Miss, I can see you haven’t experienced the real world yet. In this company, I have the final say on personnel matters. If I say you’re fired, you leave now!” I looked into his eyes and said word by word: “Is that so? But I’m not someone you can just fire at will.” “I’m the new CEO sent by headquarters to take over the branch. My name is Serena Smith.”

Richard froze for a moment, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. But Jocelyn immediately jumped out, pointing at me and cursing: “You dare impersonate the new CEO?” “Everyone working here knows the new CEO is coming today! Not only do you try to seduce men, but you also try to deceive people?” She turned to Richard, her face full of flattery: “Richard, don’t let her fool you! Young women these days are so scheming.” “If she really were the CEO from headquarters, wouldn’t headquarters’ special assistant, Zack Lee, be with her? I think she’s guilty and trying to buy time!” The surrounding colleagues chimed in: “Exactly. She doesn’t even draft her lies properly. Would a new CEO dress so shabby and take the regular elevator?” “Young people these days are crazy—they’ll say anything to avoid getting fired.” Jocelyn grew more pleased with herself, her voice louder: “And even if the new CEO really came today, so what?” “Our Richard is the chairman’s nephew! This branch is practically Richard’s domain. Even the new CEO has to respect Richard!” This statement was extremely arrogant, but among the hundred-plus employees present, not one person dared speak out against it. Everyone looked at Richard with awe and flattery. Richard basked in Jocelyn’s flattery, looking immensely satisfied. He walked up to me, looking down from his height: “Miss, did you hear that? Don’t think those ‘workplace reformation’ tricks from the internet work in real life.” “As your senior, I’ll give you some face today and teach you a lesson.” Richard pulled out his phone and said with a cold smile: “I’ll call Zack Lee at headquarters right now. If what you said isn’t true, not only will you get out of this company, I’ll also report you to the police for fraud!” He made the call in front of everyone and deliberately put it on speaker. “Hey, Zack, this is Richard from the branch.” Richard’s tone became extremely polite. “Where are you?” Zack’s slightly anxious voice came through the phone: “Richard, I’m on my way. There’s a bit of traffic.” Richard immediately reported as if seeking credit: “Oh Zack, you don’t know this, but a female scammer came to our company today, causing trouble and brazenly impersonating the new CEO. I’ve got her detained!” Zack’s tone changed instantly on the other end: “What did you say?! I’ll be right there! Don’t anyone do anything before I arrive!” Click—the call ended. Richard put away his phone and looked at me contemptuously: “Did you hear that? The new CEO is still on the way! You imposter, still trying to pretend?” I looked at his smug face and laughed coldly. “You don’t believe me? Fine, I’ll give you proof.” I pulled out the headquarters transfer document from my bag and threw it directly onto the nearby desk. “You say you’re the chairman’s nephew?” I stared into his eyes, my tone ice cold. “What a coincidence—I’m the chairman’s daughter.” “How come I didn’t know my father had such a poor relative working as vice president at the branch?”

Faced with the red-stamped transfer document I threw out, Richard first froze, his beady eyes fixed on the red seal on the paper, his expression changing. “Bullshit!” Richard suddenly grabbed the document from the desk, didn’t even look at it, tore it in half with both hands with a loud rip, and threw it viciously at my face. “You think you can impersonate the new CEO with some fake paper from a print shop on the street?” Richard pointed at my nose and laughed maniacally. “Take a good look at yourself! Would the chairman’s daughter wear cheap clothes like yours worth two hundred bucks? You think I’m stupid!” Seeing this, Jocelyn immediately incited all the employees: “Did everyone hear that! This woman is not only a slut but also crazy! Forging official seals can land you in prison!” She turned and pulled her cowering husband from the crowd, pushing him forward roughly: “Liam! In front of Richard and everyone, tell them what happened in the elevator again! Didn’t she actively seduce you!” Liam stumbled from being pushed. When he met my eyes, he visibly flinched. “I…” Liam opened his mouth, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. Richard spoke ominously from the side: “Liam, tell the truth. The company will back you up. If anyone dares threaten you, I won’t stand for it.” Liam closed his eyes and steeled himself: “Yes! It was her! When no one was in the elevator, she pressed herself against me and… and touched my hand! I couldn’t push her away!” “That’s a lie!” I shouted angrily. “Did you hear that!” With her husband’s testimony, Jocelyn completely exploded. “Why waste words with this slut! She’s probably from some sales company, saw my husband was honest, and wanted to use those dirty tricks to drum up business! Shameless whore!” Before the words finished falling, Jocelyn rushed at me and slapped me hard across the face with a loud smack. The slap was extremely forceful. My face instantly turned to the side, my ears rang, and I tasted blood at the corner of my mouth. “Hit her! Strip her clothes off and see how she seduces men then!” Jocelyn shrieked, calling over several female cronies she was close with. They swarmed toward me, frantically shoving and tearing at my clothes and hair. My scalp burned with pain, but I wasn’t one to take things lying down. I steadied my stance, grabbed Jocelyn’s wrist as she pulled my hair, bent it downward forcefully, and at the same time lifted my right leg and kicked her hard in the stomach. “Ow!” Jocelyn screamed, kicked backward several steps by me, and fell on her rear. Richard saw this and flew into a rage. He pointed at me and gave orders to all the employees: “What are you all standing there for! This woman isn’t just a fraud—she’s a corporate spy! She came to our company to steal secrets! Where’s security? Pin her down!”

Richard had been at the branch for so many years that he’d turned it into his personal fiefdom. Everyone feared his “chairman’s nephew” connections and didn’t dare provoke him—some even wanted to show their loyalty by taking this opportunity. Several security guards and male employees eager to curry favor immediately rushed at me. With two fists against many hands, I was quickly restrained by several burly men who pinned my arms and pressed me against a nearby desk, unable to move. Jocelyn got up from the floor, clutching her stomach, her face twisted as she walked up to me and kicked my shins twice. “Run! Try to kick me again!” She cursed through gritted teeth. Pinned to the desk, I stared coldly at Richard and Jocelyn, memorizing every single face present. Just as Jocelyn was about to continue her attack, the receptionist rushed in from outside: “Richard! Zack has arrived downstairs with people! They’re coming up right now!” Hearing this, the arrogance on Richard’s face instantly froze. If the new CEO and Zack saw the branch in such chaos on their first day, he as vice president would definitely be in serious trouble. “Quick! Get her out of here!” Richard panicked, lowering his voice to an angry roar. “Don’t let the new boss see her!” Jocelyn’s eyes rolled as she leaned in with a clever suggestion: “Richard, there’s a backup freight elevator at the end of the hallway that nobody uses.” “Let’s lock her in there between floors first. After the CEO finishes the inspection and leaves, we can deal with her slowly!” “Do it! Hurry!” Richard grabbed onto this like a lifeline, waving his hands frantically. Under Jocelyn’s direction, several security guards grabbed my arms and forcibly dragged me toward the depths of the hallway. “This is illegal detention!” I warned coldly, struggling with all my might. “Shut up!” Jocelyn pinched my waist hard and, together with the guards, roughly shoved me into the narrow, dark backup elevator. Bang—the elevator door closed. I heard Jocelyn press the emergency stop button outside. The elevator lurched to a halt with a grinding sound, stuck between floors. Jocelyn’s vicious voice came from outside the door: “Stay in there and behave! After the inspection, we’ll see how I deal with you, you bitch!” The elevator was pitch black, with only a weak emergency light flickering. I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth, took a deep breath, my eyes cold as ice. They were finished. A few minutes later, the glass door of the main office area was pushed open violently. Zack from headquarters, along with several headquarters executives, rushed breathlessly into the lobby. Richard immediately put on an extremely flattering smile and led all the employees to greet them: “Zack, you’re finally here! Where’s the CEO? Why didn’t she come up with you?” Zack ignored his flattery. His eyes fixed on the floor. It was covered with torn document fragments. Zack crouched down and picked up a piece of torn paper with half a bright red seal on it. His hands began to tremble uncontrollably. He suddenly looked up and roared at everyone: “Where did you take Miss Smith!!!”

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After my fitness trainer found out I was living off rental income, he started looking at me with pure disdain. I thought maybe my membership had expired, so I specifically asked if my card needed renewing. Instead, he slapped my butt hard: “Why would a girl build muscles like that? Hard and ugly—who the hell would want to sleep with you?” “A woman’s most important job is to spread her legs and have babies. That’s your duty!” I stumbled back two steps, instantly on guard. “What the hell are you talking about?” He looked annoyed and reached out to touch my abs: “Babies born to older mothers are more likely to be slow. I’m giving you a chance—have my baby now.” Then he pressed closer, wrapping his arms around me: “After you’re pregnant, I’ll handle collecting the rent. You just stay home and focus on the pregnancy!” I was completely bewildered and elbowed him hard in the ribs. He immediately got agitated. “Don’t be ungrateful! An old woman like you who flaunts herself in front of men all day—you should be grateful I’m even interested!” I was so disgusted I canceled my membership on the spot. He harassed me for a few days, then suddenly disappeared. It wasn’t until rent collection day that I discovered he’d been impersonating my husband and had collected three years’ rent from all my tenants!

“Ms. White, your husband already collected three years of rent from all of us in this building last month. He even gave us a 20% discount. Why are you trying to collect it again?” Looking at the payment receipt tenant Mr. Wilson showed me, I was stunned. “My husband? I don’t even have a boyfriend, let alone a husband!” Mr. Wilson stared at me with an unfriendly expression. “You’ve got to be kidding. That trainer, Evan Hayes, even showed me photos from your wedding!” “He said you’re trying to conceive right now and your emotions are unstable, so he didn’t want you worrying about collecting rent. That’s why he came early to handle it.” Evan Hayes was the fitness trainer who had canceled on me a few days ago and called me ungrateful. I clenched my fists. “Call the police! Right now! This is fraud!” A man’s voice came from behind me. “Honey, haven’t you made enough of a scene?” I turned around. Evan Hayes walked up and tried to hug me. He sighed. “I know you’re mad I didn’t buy you that designer bag, but we’re about to be parents. We need to learn to be frugal.” “I deposited all three years of rent in the bank. It’s saved for our son’s education fund.” My hands trembled as I pointed at him. “Evan Hayes, are you mentally ill! Who’s your wife? Who’s having your son!” Evan shook his head helplessly and patted my head. “Jasmine, it’s one thing to throw tantrums at home, but why are you acting like this in public?” “This building may be in your name, but since we’re married, it’s marital property.” “What’s wrong with me collecting rent for you? Do you really need to embarrass me in front of all these people?” After hearing this, the tenants started pointing and whispering about me. Mr. Wilson spoke up disapprovingly. “Ms. White, that’s not right. You can’t take your marital problems out on us tenants.” “Exactly. Your husband is just planning for your future. Why are you being so unreasonable?” I said angrily, “I don’t have time for this nonsense. I’m calling the police right now to get this straightened out!” Evan grabbed my wrist. “Jasmine White, don’t be ungrateful!” “I’m collecting rent for your own good. Do you really want to blow this up?” “You think I won’t expose all your dirty secrets!” I shook off his hand. “Go ahead! I’d love to see what you can possibly expose!” Evan pulled a stack of photos from his pocket and threw them on the ground. “Everyone look! This is her so-called single status!” The photos scattered across the floor. I looked down, and my hands and feet went cold. They were all photos of me working out at the gym, and several were creepy shots of me changing shoes outside the locker room. My face flushed red. “You pervert! You’ve been secretly photographing me!” Evan responded righteously, “What do you mean secretly photographing? As a husband, I’m just capturing my wife’s beautiful moments!” “You wear such revealing clothes to the gym every day—isn’t that just to seduce men?” “If I weren’t so generous and forgiving, who would want a slut like you!” The watching tenants whispered among themselves. “Can’t believe it. She looks so proper, but she’s so slutty in private.” “Evan’s pretty pitiful, marrying such a restless woman.” I raised my hand, but an older woman rushed out and sat on the ground, slapping her thighs. “Everyone come look! My daughter-in-law is hitting her mother-in-law and her husband!” “What did we do to deserve this? Marrying such a curse!” This crazy woman was actually Evan’s mother! I gritted my teeth. “You people are insane! I don’t even know you!” Evan’s mother got up from the ground and pointed at me. “Don’t know me? You’re carrying Evan’s baby in your belly and you dare say you don’t know me!” “Let me tell you, Jasmine White, we’re keeping this rent money today!” “If you dare call the police, I’ll make a scene at your office and in your hometown. I’ll make sure you can’t hold your head up for the rest of your life!” I pulled out my phone. “Hello, 911? Someone here has committed fraud, the amount is three million dollars!” Seeing me call the police, Evan said unconcerned, “Call whoever you want. This is just a family matter. Let’s see how you handle this today!”

Two police officers pushed through the crowd. “Who called the police?” I pointed at Evan seriously. “Officers, I called. This man is impersonating my husband and defrauded three years of rent from all the tenants in my building!” The lead officer turned to Evan. “Fraud? How much?” Evan wore a bitter smile. “Officer, don’t listen to my wife’s nonsense. She’s throwing a tantrum.” “She’s pregnant recently, and her temper’s bad. She’s insisting that me managing her money is fraud.” The officer looked at me. “What’s really going on?” Before I could speak, Evan pulled out a marriage certificate and handed it over. “Look, this is our marriage certificate.” “I’m her legal husband. Helping her collect rent—how can that be fraud?” I snatched it away. It had both mine and Evan’s information printed on it, and all the details matched up. “This is fake! I’ve never been married!” “Officer, this photo is from when I registered for a gym membership. He photoshopped it onto this!” The officer took the marriage certificate and handed it to his colleague to verify. Evan’s mother rushed over, crying. “Officers, you have to help us!” “This woman took eighty-eight thousand dollars in wedding gifts from our family, and now that we’ve spent all our money, she wants to kick us out!” I was furious. “Who took your family’s money? Who’s carrying your family’s baby!” “This is organized crime! This is outright fraud!” Mr. Wilson suddenly spoke up. “Officer, I can testify. Coach Hayes really is Ms. White’s husband.” “Last month when he came to collect rent, he showed us their chat records.” “Ms. White was calling him ‘honey’ so affectionately on SnapChat, and said all rent collection would be handled by Coach Hayes from now on.” I stared in disbelief. “Mr. Wilson, what are you talking about! When did I ever chat with him about this on SnapChat!” Mr. Wilson curled his lip. “Ms. White, that’s not cool. Coach Hayes waived two months of our rent and gave us a 20% discount.” “You two are having a fight—don’t drag us tenants into it.” “We already paid the money and have receipts. You can’t make us pay again, right?” Other tenants chimed in. “That’s right. Evan’s a good guy. He even helps us carry stuff sometimes.” “You’re so ungrateful. Married and still seducing men outside.” “Officers, don’t listen to this woman’s nonsense.” Evan lifted his chin. “Honey, everyone’s saying the same thing. Stop making a scene.” “Come home with me. Mom made your favorite chicken soup.” He reached for me, but I stepped back. “Don’t touch me! Officers, you can check my household registration! I’m definitely unmarried!” The officer who went to verify came back. “Ms. White, we just checked the system.” “The system shows your marital status is indeed married, and your spouse is listed as… Evan Hayes.” I was instantly stunned. “That’s impossible! Absolutely impossible!” “I’ve never even stepped foot in City Hall. How could I be married!” Evan spoke up. “Jasmine, did pregnancy make you stupid?” “Last month we went to City Hall to register our marriage. You were so happy you posted about it. Now you want to deny it?” From somewhere, Evan’s mother pulled out a set of red lace lingerie and threw it in front of the officers. “Officers, look at this! This is the lace underwear she changed out of last night!” “If they weren’t living together, where would I get her intimate clothing!” “This woman is a slut who seduces men everywhere. She’s trying to scam our family’s money to support her lover!”

I stared at the lingerie through clenched teeth. “You’re not just committing fraud—you’re also guilty of breaking and entering!” “Sir, that underwear was stolen from my balcony! This is a premeditated crime!” Evan spread his hands. “Honey, that’s a ridiculous lie.” “We sleep in the same bed every night. How is my mom helping you wash clothes breaking and entering?” “Even if you don’t want to acknowledge me as your husband, you can’t slander my mother like this, can you?” The tenants pointed and whispered about me. “This woman is too much. She can even say something like that.” “Right? Her mother-in-law helps wash her underwear and she’s not grateful. What an ingrate.” “Marrying a woman like this—you’ve had the worst luck imaginable.” The officer looked at me helplessly. “Ms. White, since the system shows you’re legally married, this rent issue is indeed a domestic property dispute.” “The police can’t directly intervene. We suggest you resolve this through negotiation or legal channels.” I grabbed the officer’s sleeve. “You can’t leave! This really is a scam!” “I haven’t been to City Hall recently. How could I have gotten married!” “They must have used some illegal means to tamper with the system information!” Evan yanked me over and whispered a warning. “Jasmine White, don’t refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit.” “I already invested your three million. You can scream your head off and it won’t help.” “Admit I’m your husband and I’ll help you manage this building from now on. Otherwise, I’ll ruin your reputation!” I forcefully shook him off. “Get away from me! You disgusting parasite!” Evan deliberately fell to the ground. His mother rushed over to check on him. “Murder! She’s trying to murder her husband! Sir, you saw it, right! This poisonous woman dares to assault someone right in front of you!” “Arrest her now! She’s trying to kill us!” The officer stepped forward to separate us. “Enough! Stop this!” “Since both sides have different stories, you’ll all come back to the station with me to give statements!” I nodded eagerly. “Fine, I’ll go to the station, but I need to go back to my apartment first to get my property deed and proof of single status!” “All my documents are in the safe in my bedroom. Once I get them, I can prove he’s lying!” The officer agreed. When we got back to my place, I pulled out my keys to unlock the door, but after turning it twice, the key got stuck. I tried to keep turning when Evan pulled me aside. “Honey, did you forget again?” “Yesterday you complained the old lock wasn’t safe and insisted I get someone to install a fingerprint lock.” “You just set the password yourself. How did you forget already today?” He pressed his finger to the scanner. Fingerprint recognized successfully. The door opened. All the furniture and decorations inside had changed. Wedding photos of Evan and me hung on the wall. Men’s socks were tossed on the sofa. Health supplements sat on the coffee table. I held onto the door frame, my whole body cold. His mother pushed past me and walked in. “This floor is so dirty. What kind of wife are you?” “Hurry up and get in here to mop! Don’t embarrass yourself out there!” I pointed at the wedding photo on the wall. “You photoshopped this too! What exactly are you trying to do!” Evan leaned close to me. “What am I trying to do? Of course I want to have a good life with you.” “Your house, your money, your body—they’re all mine from now on.” “If you dare disobey, I’ll let everyone online know that you, Jasmine White, are a marriage-scamming whore!” With that, he gently took my hand. “Let’s go explain everything properly to the officers at the station.”

Sitting in the mediation room at the police station, my hands were clenched into fists. Evan sat across from me and spoke. “Sir, I really don’t know what’s gotten into my wife today.” “She said before that collecting rent was too tiring for her, and she insisted on handing it over to me. She even wrote me an authorization letter.” He pulled out documents from his bag and handed them to the officer. “Look, it has her personal signature and fingerprint.” The officer took the authorization letter to examine it. “Ms. White, the signature on here really is your handwriting. Do you have anything to explain?” I stared at the signature on the authorization letter. It was indeed my handwriting. But I never signed this document. Suddenly, I remembered a few days ago when Evan had me sign what he called a fitness assessment form. I had just finished working out and signed it without thinking, even adding my fingerprint. “He tricked me into signing this! That was a gym assessment form, not any authorization letter!” Evan shook his head. “Jasmine, your lies are getting more and more ridiculous.” “You didn’t just sign it—you even recorded a video for me, saying you were worried the tenants wouldn’t believe me.” “Sir, I have video evidence.” He pulled out his phone and played a video. In it, I was sitting on a sofa, smiling and greeting the camera. “Hello everyone, I’m Jasmine White. Because I’m trying to conceive and not feeling well lately, all rent collection matters for this building will be fully handled by my husband, Evan Hayes.” “I hope everyone will cooperate with his work. Thank you.” The voice and expressions were exactly like mine. I reached for the phone. “This is fake! This is an AI-generated video! Look carefully! The lip movements don’t match! This is forged!” The officer pulled the phone away. “Ms. White, please calm down!” “From the evidence we currently have, you are indeed legally married, and you did authorize him to collect rent.” “If you insist the video and signature are forged, you need to provide solid evidence.” “Otherwise, we can only determine this is an ordinary domestic dispute.” I collapsed into my chair. The household registration system was tampered with, the signature was obtained through deception, the video was faked, and even my house was occupied. Evan had set up an elaborate scheme to swallow my assets. Mrs. Hayes rolled her eyes at me. “Sir, just ignore her. She’s pregnant and not thinking clearly.” “Once she has the baby, she’ll settle down naturally.” “Let’s go, son. Let’s take her home. Don’t embarrass ourselves here anymore.” Evan walked over and put his arm around my shoulder. With his back to the officers, he whispered to me, “You’re finished.” I looked at his face. “Evan Hayes, do you think you’ve already won?” Evan froze. “What trick are you trying to pull now?” I turned to the officer. “Officer, I’m involved in illegal fundraising. Please immediately freeze all assets under my name.”

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I can still remember the bloodstains at the village entrance that never washed away. Back then, my dad Ryan brought people to beat the human trafficker who tried to kidnap me to death right there. Years later, I left that isolated mountain village behind. I succeeded in my studies, and both my career and love life were thriving. My boyfriend was a cop, currently chasing down a trafficking case. One day, while chatting with him, I casually mentioned this old story. After hearing it, he stood frozen for a long moment. “Sophia, what kind of human trafficker goes deep into the mountains to kidnap children?” “Have you ever considered that the people your dad beat to death might have been your biological parents who traveled thousands of miles to find you?” Zachary’s words exploded in my mind like thunder. “Impossible!” I instinctively wanted to argue back. “My dad loves me so much. For me, he’d do anything!” My dad Ryan was known throughout the village as a genuinely good man. Growing up, even when our family was too poor to afford food, if I wanted meat, there’d be steak on the table the next day. The year I went to college, he sold our family’s only cow and cried at the village entrance like a child. What kind of human trafficker would treat a bought child this well? Zachary looked at me and smiled bitterly as he apologized. “Sorry, Sophia. My occupational hazard is acting up.” “This case has been so oppressive lately, I’m starting to see everyone as a suspect.” He was apologizing verbally, but I could see it clearly. That trace of doubt in his eyes hadn’t faded at all. That night, I struggled to fall asleep for the longest time. Every time I closed my eyes, those dark red bloodstains that had long since seeped into the soil at the village entrance appeared vividly before me. My father’s honest, weathered face from my memories now seemed blurry in my mind. The motion of him raising his hoe to strike that couple played over and over in slow motion, like a slideshow. “Bastards! How dare you traffic my daughter!” My father’s roar back then had been the warmest source of security in my heart. Now, it had become the nightmare that kept me from sleeping. I suddenly sat up in bed, drenched in cold sweat. At three in the morning, as if possessed, I got up and searched through boxes and cabinets, looking for old family photo albums. One, two, three… I flipped through them page by page. There was one of me at five with pigtails, sitting on my father’s shoulders and laughing happily. There was one of me at ten receiving an excellent student certificate, with my father proudly posting it on the most prominent wall in our home. There was one of me at eighteen getting into college, with my father secretly wiping tears as he saw me off at the village entrance. But I searched through all the albums and couldn’t find a single photo of me before age three. Not a single one. Doubt grew like wild grass in my heart, suffocating me until I couldn’t breathe. I had to go back. I had to personally verify that terrifying, suffocating suspicion. My hands shaking, I booked the earliest train ticket home. Because my hands were trembling, I entered the wrong payment password three times. After booking the ticket, I sent Zachary a text message. “Company suddenly arranged a team-building trip to a neighboring city. I’ll be back in three days, don’t worry.” I didn’t dare tell him the truth. I was afraid. Afraid of the what-ifs. Afraid of implicating him. Even more afraid that if my suspicion turned out to be true, since he was a cop, how could I face him? I set out alone on the journey home.

Train to bus, bus to small truck heading up the mountain. The road conditions got worse and worse. The vehicle jolted violently. Outside the window, the scenery gradually changed from a modern city of high-rises to endless barren mountain ranges. A sense of displacement emerged, as if I were falling from the civilized world back into the wilderness. I felt like I wasn’t going home. It was more like voluntarily walking into the gaping bloody maw of a giant beast. The bus stopped at the village entrance in a cloud of dust. A few old folks sitting under the big tree at the village entrance chatting saw me and immediately waved enthusiastically. “Sophia, you’re back! Haven’t seen you in so long, you’ve gotten even more beautiful!” “Your dad is so lucky to have raised such an outstanding daughter like you!” I snapped back to reality and smiled as I responded to each of them. Walking along the familiar dirt road, I saw our dilapidated courtyard in the distance. My father Ryan was shirtless in the yard, chopping wood. His back was turned to me, his spine slightly hunched from years of labor. Each swing of the axe came with heavy breathing. Hearing footsteps, he turned around. When he saw it was me, the shock on his face lasted only an instant. Then that wrinkled face burst into enormous joy. “Sophia? Why did you suddenly come back? You didn’t even say anything in advance!” He dropped the axe, wiped his hands on his patched pants, and quickly walked over, wanting to take the bag from my hand. That familiar scent of tobacco and sweat instantly enveloped me. My nose tingled and tears almost fell. All the fear and suspicion from the journey seemed to become somewhat ridiculous the moment I saw his delighted smile. “Company gave us time off, so I thought I’d come back and see you.” I made up a random excuse. “It’s good you’re back! It’s good you’re back!” My father was as happy as a child on Christmas, immediately bustling about excitedly. He ran to the chicken coop in the backyard and grabbed our fattest chicken, processing it with clean, efficient movements. Then he took out a bass he’d just caught that morning from the refrigerator—fresh and plump. The dinner table was soon filled with all my favorite dishes: Fried chicken, grilled bass, and a big plate of golden-baked mac and cheese. “Eat more. You definitely don’t eat well out there. Look, you’ve gotten thinner.” My father kept urging me to eat more while he himself was reluctant to eat. The warm, fragrant aroma of the food dispelled the gloom in my heart. I ate big mouthfuls of rice, pushing down all those terrible thoughts. I must have gone crazy, scared out of my wits by Zachary’s jinxing words. In this barren mountain village with nothing but rocks, it was my father who bent his back to help me walk out of these mountains. How could I doubt him? Even if this leave cost me my perfect attendance bonus, being able to come back and spend time with my father was worth it. At night, the mountain village was so quiet you could hear insects chirping. I got up to use the bathroom and passed by the main hall. By the faint moonlight streaming through the window, I noticed something new on the small table in the center of the main hall. Before, only a blurry old wooden cross had been enshrined there. Now, in front of the cross, on a piece of red cloth, a string of beads was solemnly placed. The bead string gave off a peculiar, oily luster in the moonlight, as if it had been worn by someone for a long time.

I found it somewhat amusing in my heart. When did my father become so superstitious? Out of curiosity, I walked over and took out my phone to snap a photo of the beads. Then I sent it to Zachary. With a teasing caption: “Look, my dad’s new find. Says it’s made from animal bones, can ward off evil and protect the home. Pretty cool, right?” Zachary video-called back almost instantly. When the call connected, his face on the screen was deathly pale, with the police station dormitory in the background. “Sophia, listen to me. Come back quickly. Don’t make a scene.” I was startled by his appearance, my heart jumping to my throat again. “What’s wrong? Don’t scare me.” “Those aren’t animal bones!” Zachary’s voice was urgent, so urgent it frightened me. “I got a perfect score in my forensic medicine elective! I couldn’t possibly be wrong!” “Look carefully at the bone structure and density! And that patina color from long-term handling!” “Those are human bones!” “And judging by the size, they’re finger bones from a minor!” A boom echoed in my brain, everything went blank. The phone nearly slipped from my hand. Human bones… Finger bones from a minor… I froze, cold spreading from the soles of my feet straight to the top of my head. Behind me, heavy footsteps suddenly sounded. The wooden floor made creaking sounds, especially jarring in the silent night. My father’s ghostly voice came from right behind my ear: “Sophia, who are you talking to so late at night?” In that instant, every hair on my body stood on end. I stiffly pressed the disconnect button and turned around. My father stood in the shadows, half his face hidden in darkness, his eyes dark and inscrutable. He was still holding that mug printed with a cross. “Dad…” I forced out a smile. “No… nobody.” “Just venting to a coworker about the company making us work overtime.” I didn’t dare look at him. As I spoke, I quickly put the bead string back in its original place. When my fingertips touched those cold beads, it felt like touching a dead person’s hand. My father didn’t speak, just stood there quietly watching me. I held my breath, palms full of cold sweat. Time seemed to freeze. Each second felt as long as a century. Just when I was about to suffocate, he suddenly grinned. “City bosses are all heartless. If you don’t want to work, then quit. I’ll take care of you.” Those yellowed teeth, stained from years of smoking, looked particularly sinister in the dim light. “Go to bed early. Stop playing with your phone.” I don’t remember how I walked back to my room. The moment I locked the door, I leaned back against it, gasping for breath, cold sweat instantly soaking through my clothes. That night, I was trapped in nightmares. I dreamed those human bone beads turned into tiny skulls, crying and screaming around me, demanding my life. I dreamed that the couple beaten to death at the village entrance—the “human traffickers”—crawled up from the ground covered in blood, their withered hands grabbing my ankles, calling me “daughter” over and over. I also dreamed Zachary was locked in a rusty iron cage, his tongue cut out, only able to make muffled sounds as he looked at me in despair.

When I woke with a start, my pillow was soaked through. Outside the window, dawn was just breaking, everything a gray-white. As my consciousness gradually returned, I realized I couldn’t just sit here waiting for doom. All my fear and suspicion stemmed from one question with an uncertain answer. Who was I, really? To find the answer, I just needed to get my father’s DNA sample for a paternity test, and all the mysteries would be solved. Scientific evidence was the only weapon that could end all this suspicion. I didn’t want to believe that the father who had raised me for over twenty years, who loved me with his entire life, could be a monster. As long as I could prove my father and I were biologically related, then everything would just be coincidence, just Zachary’s occupational hazard acting up. I had to get my father’s DNA sample. Hair—hair with follicles attached would be best. Or his nails, blood, even a toothbrush he hadn’t cleaned properly. I took a deep breath and made an incredibly firm decision. Whatever the truth was, I would uncover it with my own hands. Even if the result would completely destroy me, I needed to know what kind of world I was living in. I quietly opened the door and listened carefully to the sounds outside. Soft snoring came from my father’s room. A plan quickly formed in my mind. As soon as dawn broke, my father went to work at the farm. I snuck into his bedroom like a thief. My heartbeat thundered like drums, making my eardrums buzz. My father’s room was still as I remembered—simple but unusually tidy. I rushed to the bed, lifted the pillow, turned over the sheets, searching carefully. Nothing. Not a single hair. Clean to an unreasonable degree. Unwilling to give up, I went under the bed and checked every corner, but still found nothing. How could a man in his fifties, whose bodily functions were starting to decline, not shed any hair? That ominous premonition in my heart grew stronger and stronger. I ran into the bathroom. The bathroom was equally, eerily clean. The sink was spotless, towels hung neatly. I picked up my father’s toothbrush—there wasn’t even a trace of toothpaste foam on it. I got down on the floor again and carefully checked the cracks in the drain. My father had clearly showered last night, but the drain was completely empty. Forget hair—there wasn’t even a single strand of anything. A widowed, over-fifty old man living alone, yet his home was as clean as a sterile room. That itself was the biggest horror story. Despair slowly gripped my heart. I was about to give up. Just then, my gaze swept to the table in the living room. There was a nail clipper sitting there. In the trash can next to the nail clipper, there were several crumpled tissues. I rushed over and unfolded the tissues. Inside were several crescent-shaped nail clippings with yellowed edges. These were nails my father had clipped after showering yesterday. “Dad, I’m going to town to buy some feminine products!” I sent my father a voice message. Without waiting for his reply, I fled from the house. Running all the way, I caught the bus to town. My heart was pounding. The truth would soon be revealed!

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On the seventh day after my daughter’s tragic death in a car accident, the killer was sitting in my husband’s passenger seat. My husband, a top-tier lawyer, was mounting her defense. I scrambled for evidence outside the courtroom while he protected her inside. Until I fell gravely ill and remained in a coma for half a year. When I woke up, I stopped pursuing the truth. I stopped asking questions hysterically. Because I had started to forget my daughter’s voice. The sound of her calling “Mommy” had become blurred in my memory. Even her face was beginning to fade. And Ethan was still preparing late into the night for that killer. That day, he couldn’t find his case files and snapped at me impatiently, “Where’s the folder I asked you to put away the night before last?” I walked to the study doorway with empty eyes. “What?” He sneered coldly. “Playing dumb? You’re best at remembering these things, aren’t you?” I lowered my eyes and stayed silent for a long time. “I was just thinking,” I said softly, “what my daughter looked like. I can’t quite remember anymore.” The air suddenly froze. The documents in Ethan’s hands scattered across the floor. And I stood there, trying desperately to recall that little face that should have been carved into my bones. But now, all that remained was a blurry glow.

“Learned a new tactic? Trying to get my attention with this indifferent attitude?” Ethan’s expression was dark enough to drip water. “Tara, I know you’re angry—angry that I’m defending Rachel. But I’m a lawyer. I won’t abandon any client. Besides, Rachel is innocent.” I looked confused. “Why are you explaining all this to me? I didn’t even mention Rachel.” Ethan’s angry expression instantly froze. A flicker of guilt appeared in his eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Forget it. I’ll find it myself.” I turned and went back to the bedroom. Just as I was about to lie down and rest, Ethan’s gentle voice came through the door that hadn’t closed all the way, somewhat muffled. “Rachel, what’s wrong? Don’t cry, tell me slowly… Those reporters are making things up. I’m coming over right now.” After a while, the bedroom door was pushed open. “Rachel’s having some trouble. I’m her defense attorney, so I need to handle it.” He explained somewhat uncomfortably. “Oh.” Ethan froze. He seemed to be waiting for what I would say next. But I simply nodded calmly and gave him a slight smile. After all, I couldn’t even remember where that folder was—how could I be expected to remember someone named Rachel? Ethan left in anger and didn’t come home all night. The next evening, he returned. And with him came Rachel. Her eyes were red-rimmed as she cowered timidly behind Ethan. That face was indeed pure and innocent. Even at thirty, she still looked like a college student. No wonder Ethan couldn’t forget her. “Tara,” Ethan coughed uncomfortably. “Rachel’s address was exposed. It’s not safe. I’m letting her stay at our place for a few days.” Rachel’s voice was barely a whisper: “Tara, I’m sorry for intruding. I really have nowhere else to go. Those people are terrifying—they’re calling me a murderer…” “How fake,” I thought to myself, turning to go to the kitchen. At the dinner table, Rachel sat next to Ethan. She kept passing him the pepper, cutting his steak for him. Busy as a bee. “Ethan, you have a sensitive stomach. You can’t eat spicy food.” She placed the peeled shrimp into Ethan’s bowl and shot me a challenging look. Ethan glanced at me somewhat awkwardly, wanting to see my reaction. I just quietly sipped my soup.

“Tara, aren’t you going to eat some food?” Seeing my indifference, Ethan proactively pushed the plate of peeled shrimp toward me. “This shrimp is quite fresh.” Looking at that plate of shrimp contaminated with Rachel’s saliva, my stomach instantly churned. I felt utterly disgusted. “No, thank you,” I said flatly. “Tara, what are you making a fuss about now? You’ve been sulking ever since Rachel walked through the door.” “What happened to our daughter was an accident. Why do you insist on blaming Rachel?” Ethan’s voice turned cold. I looked at him in confusion, about to speak— But was interrupted by Rachel’s crying. “Ethan, should I not have come? Tara seems to really hate me… Maybe I should just leave, even if those people beat me to death…” “Don’t talk nonsense. This is my house. I can let whoever I want stay here.” “She’s just been in that place too long. Her temper’s become strange. Don’t pay attention to her.” Ethan coaxed her gently. Hearing these words, my heart felt nothing. Only numbness remained. And so Rachel moved in. She couldn’t sit still either. Every day she found new ways to assert her presence in front of me. Wandering around the living room in a silk nightgown. Looking for something, her eyes occasionally glancing my way. I found her behavior bizarre. I just thought there was something wrong with her brain. Ethan had been so busy these past few days that he’d been staying at his office. Who was she performing for? But I couldn’t be bothered. I turned back to watching TV. Then I caught sight of a small plush toy in the corner of the TV cabinet. The toy was dusty, one eye slightly loose. My heart clenched painfully. This was my daughter’s favorite. How could it be here? I was still pondering this when Rachel suddenly reached from behind me and snatched the plush toy from my hands. “Oh thank god, I thought I’d lost it.” I stared at her. “This is yours?” Rachel raised her chin, smiling smugly. “Yes, Ethan gave it to me. He said it suits my personality perfectly.” Ethan gave it to her? Fragments of broken images flashed through my mind. My daughter running toward me in a pink tutu, bouncing with joy. “Give it back.” I reached out to Rachel, my voice hoarse. “Why should I? It’s mine!” “This was my daughter’s. It can’t be yours!” I lunged forward and grabbed Rachel’s wrist. “Let go of me!” Rachel screamed. The front door burst open and Ethan, who’d left work early, rushed in. Seeing this scene, he said nothing and shoved me away. I crashed heavily into the corner of the table, sharp pain shooting through my waist. Ethan shielded Rachel and glared at me furiously. “Tara, have you lost your mind?!” I pointed at the plush toy, tears streaming down my face. “This was Nina’s. Ethan, why is she saying it’s hers?” A flash of discomfort crossed Ethan’s face. “That was a gift I gave Rachel!” “Now you’re even trying to steal this? Are you still sick?!” Those words were like a bucket of ice water poured over my head. I stopped arguing. Because I suddenly realized my memory had serious problems.

I raised my head and stared at Ethan for a long moment. Those eyes that once held so much love now contained only impatience and disgust. Splitting apart the gentle image in my memory. When I first met him, I was the notorious spoiled heiress of our social circle. Everyone said I was destined to die alone. That even for an arranged marriage, no upper-class son could tolerate my temper. Only Ethan. Back then he was just a fledgling lawyer, standing firmly in front of me. “Don’t listen to them. The way you love and hate so fiercely—it’s beautiful.” “I’ll spend my whole life protecting your pride.” For that promise, I didn’t hesitate to break with my family to marry beneath my station. I stood by him from having nothing to becoming today’s top attorney. But later, when I kept crying and making scenes over Rachel, he finally grew tired of me. “Tara, when will you finally fix that domineering personality of yours? It’s so annoying.” All my breakdowns and tears were nothing but unreasonable tantrums in his eyes. Remembering the past, sourness welled up in my nose. I’d never felt so wronged. “Ethan, did you really buy this plush toy?” His eyes flickered with panic for an instant, his voice unconsciously rising. “There are tons of similar plush toys out there! Do you have to imagine that the whole world is targeting you before you’ll be satisfied?” Rachel stood behind him, a provocative smile playing at her lips, though her voice was aggrieved: “Ethan, forget it. Since Tara insists, I’ll give it to her. Even though this was a gift from you, I don’t want you two fighting over a toy…” “Don’t give it to her!” Ethan looked at me coldly. “Tara, don’t forget that Nina’s ashes are still at the funeral home. If you keep making trouble, I don’t mind making her disappear forever!” My whole body trembled. My nails dug hard into my palms. Ethan was a man who meant what he said. I closed my mouth and said nothing more. After this incident, to appease Rachel, Ethan decided to throw a small gathering at home. “Tomorrow is Rachel’s birthday. I’ve invited some colleagues and friends over to celebrate. Since you’re home with nothing to do anyway, you can handle the food and decorations.” I was dazed for a moment.

Tomorrow was October 15th. An inexplicable sadness welled up in my heart. This date seemed very important to me somehow. But I couldn’t remember why. Seeing my delayed response, Ethan frowned slightly. “Rachel’s been through a lot lately. I want to make her happy.” “You’d better act gracious and not embarrass me.” I nodded mechanically. After he left, I directly called a home service team. The old me would never have let others handle such things. Back when Ethan was just starting out, he was so busy his feet barely touched the ground. He often skipped meals and frequently suffered from stomach pain. I felt so bad for him that I, a pampered young lady who’d never lifted a finger, forced myself to learn how to cook. But Ethan took it for granted and would even complain that the food I brought was cold. Feeding your sincerity to a dog—this must be what that felt like. Early the next morning, the house was decorated with flowers. Rachel smiled sweetly at Ethan. “Ethan, isn’t this cake beautiful? It’s my favorite—strawberry flavor!” Ethan wrapped his arm around her waist affectionately and smiled. “As long as you like it.” Soon after, the guests began arriving. Rachel sat in the center, accepting everyone’s well-wishes. “Wishing Rachel eternal beauty!” “Mr. White really is so thoughtful toward Rachel!” Rachel laughed cheerfully, her eyes drifting toward me in the corner now and then. “Actually, I have Tara to thank for today being so wonderful.” “Even though we’ve had some misunderstandings, all these fruits and desserts were personally prepared by her.” Everyone’s eyes instantly focused on me, filled with curiosity and mockery. “So this is Mrs. White? I heard that after her daughter’s accident, she fell seriously ill.” “She looks pretty normal, though. How could she…” Ethan frowned, seemingly not wanting people to pay too much attention to me. “Alright, let’s cut the cake.” The lights dimmed. Rachel closed her eyes to make a wish, the candlelight illuminating her blissful face. Just then, the doorbell suddenly rang. “Who is it? It’s so late.” Ethan opened the door with some displeasure. Standing at the door was a delivery person, holding a bouquet of white lilies, a stuffed bear, and a photo of my daughter from when she was alive. Ethan’s face turned iron-dark. “Who told you to deliver these things?!” The delivery person looked confused, pulling out a receipt to verify. “That’s right. Ms. Tara ordered these from us half a year ago. She said today was her daughter’s death anniversary and we absolutely had to deliver them to this address.” The delivery person peered inside as he spoke. My head began to ache again, my temples throbbing. I held my head and stepped back, bumping into the wine on the table. The wine bottle fell to the floor, glass shards flying everywhere. All the fragmented memories reassembled themselves in that moment. A red sports car crashed into a guardrail, its front severely deformed. My daughter lay in a pool of blood, eyes still open, staring fixedly ahead. And Ethan, the man I’d loved for five years— Was frantically pulling the alcohol-reeking Rachel from the driver’s seat, stuffing her into the passenger seat, then getting into the driver’s seat himself. He turned his head and looked at me as I rushed over, revealing a cruel expression. “Tara, this was an accident. Nina is already dead.” “But Rachel is still alive. She can’t go to prison.” Reality and memory slowly overlapped. I looked at the white lilies before me, at the festive red balloons filling the room. My whole body began to tremble, my eyes turning bloodshot. “Ethan, did you think giving me injections and hypnotizing me would make me forget all this?” “Impossible! I won’t forget that Rachel killed Nina, and you’re her accomplice!”

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