Category: English

I gave him a child and spent seven years in this marriage, yet even seeing my own son depended on the mood of him and his assistant. They thought I would never leave this marriage. Until the day I overturned every last bit of their so-called dignity at the family table and threw the divorce papers straight in his face. From that moment on— this marriage was officially over. On our eighth wedding anniversary, my husband sent me a massive bouquet of roses. As soon as I came out of surgery, I called him and calmly asked for a divorce. On the other end of the line, his girlfriend sobbed an apology: “Mrs. Parker, it’s all my fault. Please don’t be angry with Mr. Parker.” Liam Parker gently comforted her for a while, then coldly said to me: “As you wish.” When I saw him again, it was already half a month later. “Make me some pasta, will you?” Liam Parker returned home early in the morning, but didn’t see the usual hot meal waiting on the dining table. He frowned instinctively, giving me a couple of instructions before heading to the bathroom. When he emerged surrounded by steam, I was still absentmindedly staring at the TV. He took several designer handbags out of his suitcase: “Take a look, do you like them?” The pink bags seemed to be the styles young girls favored most. In the past, when he tried to make up with me, he would always cater to my tastes. Now, he was just trying to appease me with thoughtless gifts. I couldn’t be bothered to look, so I picked up the remote and changed the channel, asking him: “When do you have time to get divorced?” Liam Parker was very busy; even our anniversary gift was chosen by his female secretary. When it came to scheduling, I had to accommodate him. “Stop being difficult. Olivia didn’t know you hate roses. I’ll remind her next time.” The man poured himself a small glass of red wine and sat down in the armchair opposite me, with an ambiguous smile. Olivia was Liam’s childhood friend. She had liked him since they were young, so as soon as she graduated, she quickly became his personal assistant. Their relationship was so close that they even stayed in the same suite during business trips. Actually, I didn’t blame Olivia for pursuing Liam. After all, it takes two to tango. If he didn’t want it, no woman could climb into his bed. I exaggeratedly yawned, tears unconsciously welling up in my eyes. After not hearing my reply for a long time, Liam Parker thought the matter was over. He asked about our seven-year-old son’s recent test rankings. I shook my head: “I don’t know.” I wasn’t refusing to tell him because I was angry. I really didn’t know. The Parker family pursued elite education, so our son had been attending boarding school since he was young, with a packed schedule of various courses every day. Laughably, even though I gave birth to this child, I rarely got to see him. I cried and made a fuss about it, but the Parker family remained unmoved. In their view, my marrying into the Parker family was already my greatest honor. As for anything else, I couldn’t even dream of it. Liam Parker pinched the bridge of his nose, telling me to focus more on our child: “If this continues, Olivia will become more like his mother than you.” I understood. Yesterday was Friday, the only day I was allowed to pick up our son from school. I arrived an hour early and waited until the sky darkened and the school gates closed. Then Olivia called to tell me that Mrs. Parker had asked her to pick up the child and take him home for dinner. On the other end of the line, I heard Liam’s voice. He was laughing and asking Olivia if she wanted some soup.

I snapped back to reality and said to Liam with a mirthless smile: “Isn’t this what you wanted? I’ll leave right away and make room for her.” I don’t know which word struck a nerve with Liam, but he fell silent for a few seconds before exploding in anger: “My patience has limits. Chloe Bennett, stop being so difficult.” The man stood up and took a couple of steps before I calmly said: “I forgot to tell you, I had a miscarriage.” One month ago. That night, he received a call from Olivia and rushed out just to help her avoid drinking, while I was in so much pain I nearly fainted. I drove myself to the ER. The doctor told me I had been pregnant for over two months, but the baby had no heartbeat and had already miscarried. When I learned the child was gone, I actually felt relieved. Lying alone in the hospital room, I thought it was time to end this marriage. In the living room, Liam Parker stood with his back to me, gripping his wine glass tightly, his knuckles turning white. He didn’t ask why I hadn’t called him. He knew very well how many times I had called him that night. Unfortunately, no one answered. “It doesn’t matter if you lost it. The fact is, you’re not capable of being a mother.” Liam Parker walked to his study and skillfully closed the door. In seven years of marriage, there had been countless arguments. I was always the first to back down. However, this time, Liam Parker never heard the sound of a pleading knock on his door. Half an hour later, he opened the door and searched the entire house, but couldn’t find me anywhere…

I was Liam Parker’s first love. No one would have imagined that a well-mannered, handsome rich boy would fall in love with a rebellious, party-loving girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Our first meeting wasn’t pleasant. In a stinking alley, the honor student was being threatened by some thugs. I happened to be passing by when someone whistled at me. So I rode my bike into the crowd, inadvertently solving a life crisis for the introverted rich kid while teaching the thugs a lesson. From then on, Liam Parker kept following me around. He would follow me after school, and I couldn’t get rid of him no matter what. He sent me roses, and I coldly threw them into the toilet to soak, then tossed them back onto his desk. He personally made me an extremely expensive lunch, and I gave it to a beggar on the street. My girlfriends teased me about having a rich and enthusiastic puppy following me around. Everyone could see that he and I were from different worlds. But it was this person who, when I couldn’t go to school because my alcoholic father had beaten me, forcibly barged in and carried me to the hospital. While the doctor was stitching me up, he stood with his back to me, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably as he kept wiping his face. The doctor asked him, bemused, why he was crying when he wasn’t the injured one. He said he didn’t know why, but his chest hurt terribly. He even asked the doctor, foolishly, if he needed an ECG. In the hospital room, Liam Parker clumsily peeled some fruit. “I don’t want to feel this way anymore, Chloe. Please don’t get hurt again.” I ate the ice cream he bought and mumbled okay, then glared at him: “So will you be my boyfriend?” For the whole day, we both blushed and couldn’t speak. I told Liam Parker a secret. Every time my dad got drunk and beat my mom half to death, a wilted rose would appear in our house the next day as an apology. So if one day he wanted to break up with me, there was no need to say it out loud. Just give me a rose. “Silly girl, we’ll be together forever.” The 18-year-old boy hugged me tightly, not allowing me to say any more foolish things. To escape my father’s unreasonable behavior, Liam Parker took me abroad to study. To force us to break up, his father cut off all his financial support. At that time, besides going to school, we had to work two part-time jobs each day. Those days were so difficult and busy, but Liam and I couldn’t help teasing each other even while brushing our teeth. In our tiny apartment, we laughed and bickered, our eyes full of nothing but each other. If only we could have spent the rest of our lives like that…

“Miss Bennett? Are you alright?” The doctor’s words pulled me back to reality. Today was the third day since I had moved out of the mansion, and my old insomnia problem had worsened again. I took the prescription the doctor wrote and ran into Olivia while picking up my medication. “Mrs. Parker, why did you come to the hospital alone?” Olivia blinked innocently, and seeing that I didn’t respond, she looked at me with sympathetic eyes: “I heard from Liam that you lost the baby… Don’t be sad, you’re still so young, you’ll definitely have another chance.” “Don’t worry, there won’t be another chance.” As soon as I finished speaking, I saw Liam walking over with a dark expression. I noticed he was tightly gripping an inhaler, though I didn’t know why he was angry. Olivia coyly told me that she had slightly sprained her ankle when going downstairs because she wasn’t paying attention. It was such a minor injury that she didn’t need to see a doctor, but Liam had insisted on bringing her, causing her to miss work. Seeing the medication bag in my hand, Liam couldn’t help but ask: “Are you feeling unwell?” Seeing that I was ignoring him and about to leave, he actually snatched my medication away. “When did the insomnia start?” “Chloe Bennett, I’m talking to you. How long are you going to keep this up?” Liam Parker thought I had left home out of anger, as a ploy to get his attention. So until now, he had never tried to find out where I was living or what I had been doing these past few days. He unconsciously raised his voice, causing people around to stop and stare at him. A flash of weariness crossed my eyes as I snatched back the medication from his hand and said softly: “I’m not acting up.” Perhaps my tone was too gentle and calm, because Liam Parker thought I was backing down. He suggested taking me home first, then driving Olivia back to the office. But I shook my head. “Work is more important. I can go by myself.” By “go back,” I meant back to my own home. My alcoholic father died in a car accident, leaving me a huge settlement. And the house I once desperately wanted to escape had now become my only refuge. Watching my desolate figure walk away, Liam Parker pursed his lips, about to take a step forward when Olivia grabbed his arm. The woman told him, her face pale, that she suddenly felt very unwell. It was probably a hypoglycemic episode. Liam Parker hesitated for a moment, but didn’t follow me. He turned and walked towards a nearby vending machine.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “325326”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic #重生Reborn

He suddenly gripped the back of my neck and bent down to kiss me. My breath was stolen, my body trapped in his arms. I should have pushed him away—but I froze. He stopped, his forehead resting against mine, his voice nearly breaking. “Don’t leave me again.” In this life, I feel no fear. Given another chance, I finally understand— he would never hurt me. Because the man who kissed me is my brother. I blinked, and I was twenty-two again, standing beneath the hawthorn tree in our miserable backyard. Mark’s arms were around me, his voice a sweet poison at my ear. “Just pour it in his drink,” he murmured. “He trusts you. This’ll knock him out. Then we leave. Tonight.” His fingers pinched my wrist. I didn’t look at him. I looked through the kitchen window. Leo stood in the doorway, white T-shirt, sleeves rolled up. A knife hung loose in his hand, forgotten. His face was pale, expression blank, winter-gray eyes locked on Mark’s grip on me. Memory slammed into me—those same eyes red and ruined as I left him bleeding, his voice echoing from beneath the dirt. I shoved Mark back. “What’s wrong with my brother?” I asked flatly. “He’s dangerous,” Mark snapped. “He’s trapping you.” A slow smile cut across my face. “He just loves me too well.” I turned away from my killer and walked toward the house—toward my jailer, my savior, my sin, my only home. The moment I stepped inside, Leo grabbed my arm and dragged me into the dark living room without a word. His silence was worse than shouting. Last time, I’d fought and screamed while he tied me to this chair, watched his face shatter as I called him a monster. He’d finished silently and told me dinner was meatloaf. My favorite. This time, I stayed quiet. I watched his scarred hands bind my wrists with his belt—careful, precise. He tucked cloth beneath the knot so it wouldn’t hurt. The tenderness nearly broke me. “You don’t have to tie me up,” I said softly. He didn’t believe me. His eyes held no trust. To him, this was just a smarter lie. Words were useless. So I spoke the only language he understood. I let my shoulders slump, let my voice tremble. “Leo… it hurts.” Three seconds. Then he was on his knees, panicked, fumbling with the belt. The control vanished. His hands shook. I reached up, fingers sliding into his hair. He froze. I traced the corner of his eye and whispered, “This time… let me protect you.” I meant it. Mark and Chloe wouldn’t use his love as a weapon again. I would end it—quietly, carefully—without dragging him back into the dark for me. Not this time.

“Lily, what was that?” Mark cornered me behind the 7-Eleven the next day, irritation cracking through his polished act. “You were supposed to drug him. We had a plan.” Last time, I’d believed him. Now I saw the spoiled coward underneath. “If you don’t do it tonight,” he hissed, “don’t expect me to rescue you. Stay with your psycho brother forever.” Forever. Once a threat. Now, a dark promise. Memory flashed—me pouring powder into Leo’s milk, his trusting eyes, his body fighting the drug, the fall, the snap, his bloodied hand clawing for me. They’re bad. Trust me. I’d called it madness then. Now I knew it was truth. I focused back on Mark. “This won’t kill him, right?” Before he could answer, Chloe slid in beside me, smiling sweetly, slushie-red lips curved in mock concern. “Just enough to knock him out,” she whispered. “Your brother’s a creep anyway.” The word lit something cold and lethal in me. But I swallowed it, nodded, played afraid. Inside, I was already dismantling them. That night, Leo knew. The second I shut the door, his voice was at my neck. “You saw him again.” He was burning with fever, stubbornly upright, hurt masked as control. When he finally sagged, I guided him to the couch. For the first time, I cooked for him. Soup, simple and real. He watched every move like it might be poison, then ate anyway. I talked—about the future, about leaving, about something better. He listened, wounded disbelief in his eyes. “Prove it,” he said finally. The power cut. Darkness swallowed the room. His presence closed in—fear, need, devotion tangled tight. Not violence. A plea. “Don’t leave me,” he whispered. Last time, I ran and destroyed him. This time, standing in the dark with everything broken between us, I chose differently. I stayed.

The shaky peace we made in the dark got tested in the light. Leo’s fever broke, but a new, watchful tension took its place. He watched me all the time, his eyes like chips of ice. The memory of my kiss seemed to mess with his head as much as it claimed him. A few days later, he was feeding me dinner. Again, my hands were tied. It was our new normal—a quiet admission that trust was still broken. “Leo,” I said, drawing out his name, putting in a sweetness I used to save for Mark. The spoon stopped right at my lips. “Lily.” His voice was flat, a scientist stating a fact. “Last time you used that voice, you almost got me sent to jail.” He was talking about when I planted stolen stuff in his room and called the cops, a nasty, desperate try to be rid of him. He was just telling it like it was, but under the table, my leg brushed against his. He went still. A faint pink hit his pale cheeks, making him look weirdly young, exposed. If I hadn’t felt him lose control in the dark a few nights before, I might have bought the act. “Leo,” I tried, “you ever believe in fate?” No answer. Just those wary eyes. “I had a dream last night. About the future.” I leaned in as much as the ties let me, holding his stare, trying to beam truth into him. “In the dream, I married Mark. You broke your leg trying to stop me. Later, Mark and Chloe plotted to kill me for my money. You… you dragged that busted leg of yours all over the world. You hunted them. You got revenge for me.” My voice got thick with the memory of a death I actually lived. “So now, I really, really hate Mark.” I put every ounce of real feeling I had into it. Leo’s face didn’t change. His eyes stayed cold and blank, like a frozen pond. “Oh yeah?” he said finally, leaning in so close I felt his breath on my neck. “Funny. I had a dream too.” His whisper was a snake in the grass. “In mine, my little sister was so desperate to get away from me, she made up a beautiful, perfect lie. She tricked me into buying it, made me think I finally had her… and then she left me behind. She put me to sleep and walked right out the door.” A chill that had nothing to do with the AC slithered down my spine. For one scary second, I wondered if reality had cracked, if he remembered a past life too. Because in my last life, that was exactly what went down. The night I drugged him, I held his face, looked into his hazy eyes, and whispered, “I’ll never leave you, Leo. I promise.” Then I watched his eyes close, turned around, and walked out without looking back. If that was the dream haunting him, no wonder he wanted me tied to this chair. I let out a soft, airy laugh, a sound with no humor in it. He frowned. “What?” “Never mind, Leo.” I met his look, dropping all my guards, showing him the tired, stubborn truth underneath. “Do whatever you want to me. I’ll take it.” But going along with his crazy didn’t mean giving up my mission. Mark and Chloe were getting antsy. Their clock was ticking, and so was my chance to get proof from inside their game. To do that, I needed freedom. I needed Leo to take me somewhere he couldn’t follow, and then I needed him to leave me there. The plan was simple, brutal, and I knew it would cut him deeper than any slap. But it was the only way. I turned the shower to ice-cold and stood under the blast until my teeth chattered and my skin was covered in goosebumps. Later, with my hair still wet, I hit it with the cold setting on the hairdryer, driving the chill right into my bones. I’d always gotten sick easy; it was one of the many things Leo worried about. By that evening, the ache was in my sinuses, my throat was scratchy, and a familiar heat was brewing behind my eyes. Perfect. When I walked out of the bathroom, towel on my head, Leo was on the couch, a book open but ignored in his lap. His dark eyes tracked me like a hawk. I didn’t have to fake the stumble. The room tilted a little as a real wave of dizziness hit. I let out a soft “whoa” and fell forward, not to the floor, but right into his lap. His arms came up on instinct, catching me, holding me. For a weird second, I felt like one of those sneaky spirits from old stories, using weakness as a trap. But Leo’s look had no charm in it, just a deep, scary stillness. “You’re burning up,” he stated, his palm flat on my forehead. The worry was there, but buried under layers of doubt. “Think I got a fever,” I mumbled, letting my head drop against his shoulder, breathing in his pine-and-storm smell. He didn’t ask questions. In one smooth move, he scooped me up, grabbed his jacket, and was out the door, carrying me to the taxi stand. In the back of the cab, I leaned on him, shivering, clinging to his coat. He pressed his hand to my forehead again, and I felt the tiny shake in his fingers. He always panics because of me, I thought with a guilty twist in my gut. He’s perfect in every messed-up way, and I’m his one big flaw. At the ER, he was a storm of quiet panic. He rushed me in, his voice tight explaining to the nurse. He sat me in a hard plastic chair in the packed waiting area, his hands fussing over me, fixing my coat, tucking my hair back. “Stay here, sweetheart,” he murmured, his rough voice softer than I’d ever heard it outside. “I’ll go take care of the paperwork. I’ll be right back. Be good, okay? You’ll feel better soon.” He leaned down and pressed a quick, desperate kiss to the corner of my mouth—a mark, a promise, a plea. Then he was gone, swallowed by the bright, busy halls. I waited until he turned the corner. My heart was beating like a wild thing. With shaky hands, I slipped off his big coat, leaving it in a heap on the chair like a shed skin. I stood up, the room swaying just a little, and walked out of the hospital, into the cold, empty night. The city at night was a different animal. The spot Mark gave me was a busted-up warehouse in the industrial south side. The sky was starting to lighten to a dirty gray, but the warehouse was a pit of shadows. It felt less like a spot to run away to and more like a place you get murdered. I couldn’t believe how stupid I’d been. As I walked, my phone buzzed nonstop in my pocket. Forty-five missed calls. All from Leo. The screen glowed in the half-dark like a guilty conscience. I silenced it, the action feeling like a punch to the gut. I got to the far end of the huge, empty space. The rising sun painted the broken windows in weak gold and pink. And there, lit up by that sad light, was the scene. Mark was tied to a metal chair, a rag stuffed in his mouth, his eyes huge with animal fear above it. He wriggled weakly against the ropes. And behind him, leaning casual against a rusty post, was Leo. My brother. His hands were in his jeans pockets. He was fiddling with something small and plastic—a phone’s SIM card. He looked totally calm, totally in charge, like an artist looking at a finished painting. Right then, all the pieces smashed together with a final, deafening click. The weird voice on the phone. The callback that was too easy. Mark hadn’t been testing me. It had been Leo all along. He’d grabbed Mark, taken his phone, and played me. And I’d walked right into it, saying the things I needed to say to convince “Mark.” “Leo? I can’t even stand to look at him.” “He’s just a dog that won’t stop following me around.” “The day he dies? I’ll throw a party.” The words echoed in my head, each one a nail in the coffin of his trust. I’d said them to save us, to buy time, to play my enemies. But he’d heard them as my real, honest truth. Oh, crap. I was so, so totally screwed.

The rising sun cut a sharp, bright line across the dusty floor, splitting the warehouse in two—light and dark. Leo and I stood on opposite sides of that line. I was frozen, my throat tight. “Leo…” His name came out a dry croak. He tilted his head a little, the move of a predator. His beautiful, empty eyes fixed on me. “You here to beg for him?” He nudged Mark’s chair with his boot. The metal legs screeched. Mark whimpered behind the gag, his eyes pleading with me. “Leo, listen… I’m not on his side,” I blurted, the words too fast. “But we can’t… we can’t just do this. We can’t break the law.” Even to me, it sounded weak, like something a bystander would say. “So,” he cut in, his voice flat, totally empty of the stormy feelings I was used to, “you are here to beg for him.” This Leo was a stranger. Cold. Detached. It was the calm before he broke himself, and it scared me more than any of his rages ever had. What could I say? That I was collecting evidence? That the drug was for testing? That every cruel word was a lie for the bigger plan? He wouldn’t buy it. Any excuse would sound like another layer of the beautiful lie from his dream. The thin string between us was stretched to snapping. I thought he’d yell. I thought he’d drag me home and tie me up again. This quiet giving up was worse. It felt like sinking in quicksand—slow, silent, and suffocating. After forever, he sighed. It was a soft, broken sound that seemed to hold all the hurt in the world. “Lily,” he said, and my name in his mouth had never sounded so final. “You know I love you, right?” He wasn’t looking at Mark anymore. He was looking only at me, and his eyes were pits of a pain so deep it had iced over. “I’m scared of a lot of things. And every single one is about you. I’m scared you’ll get hurt. I’m scared you’ll get lost. I’m scared you’ll leave me.” He took a step, not toward me, but along that line of light, like he was walking the edge of a cliff. “For days, I’ve been asking myself… how much do you hate me? Hate me enough to wreck yourself just to get away from me?” He stopped and looked at me, really looked, and what I saw in his face broke me. “Now I know.” His voice cracked, just once, but his expression stayed carved from ice. “I know that even if I hold onto you with everything I’ve got, you’ll still walk away. So, Lily, I’m done trying to stop you.” He turned and gave Mark’s chair a hard, final shove, sending it sliding into a patch of shadow. Then he walked away, his figure getting smaller, swallowed by the dark at the other end of the warehouse. “You and him,” his voice floated back, already fading. “Have a nice life. Don’t forget to go to the hospital. I won’t be taking you anymore.” And he was gone. The silence he left behind was huge. It was filled only with Mark’s frantic, muffled grunts. I stood there, the truth of his words seeping into me like poison. He’s letting me go. The one thing I’d fought for last time was now the one thing that felt like a death sentence. Leo didn’t want me anymore. He had finally, really, given up.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “325327”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic #重生Reborn

Seven years after the breakup, I was stopped at the entrance of an ultra-exclusive private gala—by my ex. He looked immaculate in his tailored suit, his smile laced with pity and mockery. “I didn’t expect you to fall so low,” he said. “Sneaking into events like this now?” Before I could respond, he had already rewritten my past for me— the woman who gave up her future for him, the woman mocked by the elite, the woman he personally discarded when she was no longer useful. Just as he signaled for security to escort me out, the hosts rushed over. They double-checked the guest list in front of everyone, lowered their voices, and apologized. Because tonight, I was the only guest personally invited by the board. I promised to transfer schools with my bullied boyfriend, but the day before we were supposed to finalize the papers, he backed out. His friend joked, “Seriously, dude? All that fake bullying just to get Olivia Parker to leave?” “But you’re her boyfriend. Are you really going to let her go to a new school all alone?” Carter Brooks shrugged, his voice indifferent. “It’s just another school in the same city. How far could it be?” “I’m tired of her clinging to me all the time. This works out perfectly.” The moment I heard the truth, my heart violently shuddered. For the past month, Carter had been ganged up on and falsely accused too many times to count. I tried my best to protect him from harm, but there were always slip-ups. Finally fed up, I suggested he transfer schools. Carter had just been drenched in ice water, his handsome face pale and pitiful. He helplessly clutched my hand. “Olivia, I’m scared to go to a new environment alone.” Carter and I had practically grown up together. We’d been walking to and from school together since kindergarten, a routine that hadn’t changed in over a decade. Besides, I secretly had a crush on him. So, in a rush of emotion, I promised him, “Don’t be afraid. Wherever you go, I’ll go with you.” But only now did I realize that everything he’d done was an elaborate charade just to get rid of me. I couldn’t help but wonder, did Carter Brooks really hate me that much? The voices in the private room continued, “Olivia Parker is completely devoted to you, you know.” “Aren’t you afraid she’ll fall for someone else if you send her to another school?” “Her?” Carter scoffed, as if he’d just heard the funniest joke in the world. “She dared to break up a group beating for me. She got beaten black and blue, didn’t back down an inch, and you think she’d change her mind about me?” Someone whispered, “But what if she does? Olivia Parker isn’t the type to be pushed around.” Carter’s voice was lazy. “There’s no ‘what if.’ There are plenty of rich guys at this school. When have you ever seen her even look at anyone else?” His voice couldn’t help but be tinged with contempt. “All she does is follow me around. Even a lapdog isn’t as clingy as she is.” Harsh laughter filled the room, feeling like a slap across my face. I wanted to leave, but my feet felt rooted to the spot, making me listen, and making me ache. Someone clicked their tongue in surprise. “First time I’ve seen someone actively push away a girl who’s head over heels for them. I gotta hand it to you, man.” “But if you don’t like Olivia Parker being so clingy, why don’t you just tell her? Olivia doesn’t seem like the type to beg or chase you.” Carter ‘tsk’ed, growing impatient. “Olivia Parker’s too… assertive. If I just told her directly, it wouldn’t be easy to get her to leave.” He changed the subject. “Besides, Maya gets so insecure and sad whenever she sees her. She only feels better when I’m around.” “For Maya’s sake, I had no choice but to do this. Olivia will just have to be inconvenienced for a while.” At that, everyone instantly understood. Doing the math, Carter decided to fake being bullied exactly one week after Maya Foster transferred to our school. Someone laughed and cursed Carter. “You sly dog, you fell for the sweet, innocent act the second she showed up?” “But Maya really is genuinely delicate and charming, with a fragile personality. It’s only natural for a man to be attracted to her.” “Not like Olivia Parker. Her personality is so stern, always wearing a cold face and keeping everyone at arm’s length. Doesn’t matter how pretty she is.” The unrestrained comments about me surged like waves, one after another, in the private room. And Carter Brooks, who I’d secretly liked for years, didn’t stop them, didn’t refute them, and even agreed with them now and then. Standing outside the door, my heart sank heavily into an abyss, feeling empty and numb, yet aching with a dull pain. For a moment, I wanted to open the door and loudly confront Carter. Ask him why he lied to me. Ask him if he ever felt a flicker of guilt or compassion, watching me get beaten for protecting him. Ask him if he ever thought about our decade-plus friendship when he did all of this. But then my mother’s words echoed in my ears: Don’t do anything unnecessary. People don’t just rot overnight. I turned and left that private room.

A creeping ache, one I only fully registered later. I wouldn’t have been this upset normally; it would have just been a friend’s betrayal, no big deal. But that line, the one that kept us just “friends,” Carter was the first to cross it. The day I decided to transfer schools with Carter, he took me to a bar to celebrate our “freedom” with a drink. The dim, intimate lighting enveloped us. I looked at the person I had secretly liked for years, feeling a little dazed. So, when he leaned in to kiss me, I didn’t resist. Years of suppressed feelings surged wildly to the surface. Unable to control my emotions, I couldn’t help but ask for confirmation, “Carter, what are we now?” Carter affectionately kissed my forehead again. “Silly girl, what other relationship could it be?” Cheers erupted in the private room, the atmosphere electric, mirroring the burgeoning passion within me. I never imagined that just two days later, I’d hear Carter himself shatter my one-sided affection. I smiled, but tears streamed down my face uncontrollably. So that ambiguous rhetorical question, that was also just Carter trying to trick me and get me to leave quickly for Maya, right? The wind chimes in my bedroom tinkled, slowly drying my tears. My broken heart slowly pieced itself back together. Carter was wrong. He was the illegitimate son of the Brooks family, and I was the sole heiress of the Parker family. We truly shouldn’t be so intertwined. Because we were a mismatch. The transfer application in my hand was soaked with my tears, the ink bleeding, making it messy and unreadable. But it didn’t matter. This one was ruined; I’d just get a clean one. The Parker family never lacked options. I reprinted a new form. But when it came to the “transfer to school” section, I called my mother. “Mom, that international high school you mentioned wanting me to attend, which one was it?” “Yes, I’ll go alone.” The wind chimes in my room made a clear, melodious sound, as if celebrating for me. I gently closed my eyes. This time, it wasn’t Carter Brooks’s face that appeared before me. A man who bore a faint resemblance to Carter, but was far more handsome and striking, smiled at me, with the same certainty and earnestness as two years ago. “Olivia Parker, sooner or later, you’ll give up on Carter Brooks and choose me.” Back then, I thought he was joking. Now, I silently repeated to myself: Carter Brooks, I really don’t want you anymore. After filling out the new application form, I let out a long breath, my heart already quietly calm. The knock on my bedroom door suddenly startled me. I froze. I lived alone in this house. The only person who knew the password was… I opened the door and, sure enough, saw Carter Brooks’s face. His voice was as gentle as ever. “Olivia, you haven’t come to say goodbye to our friends for a long time. I was worried about you.” I tried to keep my voice calm. “I’m not feeling so well, so I’m not going.” Just as I was about to dismiss him, my peripheral vision caught an unexpected figure. Maya Foster’s petite figure huddled next to Carter, and she flinched the moment our eyes met. Carter, attentive to her every move, immediately pulled her loosely into his embrace. “Olivia, you scared Maya.” It was always like this. Maya always put on this fragile demeanor, as if she was afraid I’d bully her, making me out to be some evil villain. But I hadn’t done anything. My expression turned cold. “I told you, I don’t like people coming to my house.” Carter frowned slightly, annoyed. “Maya isn’t an outsider.” “Besides, she only came because she was worried about you.” Before I could argue, Maya’s eyes suddenly welled up. “Olivia, I’m so sorry. I know you’ve always had a problem with me because I don’t come from as much, but I promise I’m careful.” Tears streaming down her face, she added, “I won’t dirty your beautiful home…” Hearing this, Carter immediately frowned, looking at me with displeasure. “Olivia, Maya just has a difficult family background, but she’s not as bad as you’re making her out to be. Your attitude towards her truly disappoints me.” Maya carefully tugged at Carter’s sleeve, appearing forgiving and understanding. “Carter, it’s okay, please don’t argue with Olivia…” She sniffled, forcing a wronged yet stubborn smile. “After all, Olivia said you two are childhood sweethearts. How could I ever compare to a relationship like that…?” “What are you talking about? You’re unique.” Carter tenderly cupped Maya’s face, coaxing her in soft tones. Then he turned to me, his face as cold as ice. He spoke gravely, “Maya’s upset, so I’m taking her home now.” “You should take some time to reflect. And don’t forget to finalize those transfer papers.” I did reflect—on my terrible judgment of character. Then I promptly changed the password to my front door. The pent-up frustration in my heart finally found a moment of release.

The next day, I took my new application form to school to get it signed. Watching that bright red mark, signifying my departure, being firmly stamped on the paper, my heart suddenly felt empty for a moment. After a brief愣怔 moment, someone blocked my path. Carter Brooks frowned slightly. “Olivia, you changed your front door password?” “I went to your place right after dropping Maya off yesterday, but the door wouldn’t open…” I cut him off, concisely. “Yeah, I changed it.” He seemed displeased, as if nothing had happened, and asked intimately, “What’s the new password? So I can come to your place and take care of you.” I said calmly, “No need. I won’t be living here after I transfer.” Carter looked at the folded application form in my hand, as if suddenly remembering. “Oh, I completely forgot about that.” “Olivia, don’t worry, I’ll come get mine signed tomorrow.” Such casual chats, walking side-by-side with Carter, had become increasingly rare since Maya transferred to our school. I closed my eyes, indulging in a moment of reluctance, then tentatively said, “Between us, what’s there to worry about?” Carter was silent for a long time, then abruptly spoke. “Olivia, actually, I…” Maya suddenly appeared behind Carter, carrying a stack of notebooks. She complained to him affectionately, “Carter, didn’t you say you’d help me with my tutoring? Why did you suddenly disappear?” Saying this, she handed Carter the notes. “I saw your study plan goes out two months, so I prepared the corresponding study materials.” She winked playfully. “Carter, you won’t mind me peeking, will you?” “Of course not…” Carter’s smile was strained. He nervously glanced at me. Seeing no reaction from me, a faint look of disappointment crossed his face. So, while pushing me away, you were already planning a future with someone else. Just a future that never included me. I tried my best to maintain a dignified composure, but deep inside, a bitter taste spread like a rich wine. I squeezed my palm, forcing myself to clear my head. “You two chat. I’m leaving.” Maya feigned surprise, acting as if she had just noticed me, as if I had startled her. “Ol-Olivia…” “Are you upset because Carter and I are studying together?” “But I come from a modest background, not like you with all your resources…” As she spoke, she started to sniffle again. I didn’t want to play along with her act, so I said coldly, “Move.” The sparse guilt in Carter’s eyes vanished. He grabbed my wrist, his voice laced with anger. “Olivia Parker, what kind of tone is that?” Without another word, he dragged me in front of Maya and yelled, “Apologize to Maya!” The last sanctuary in my heart silently crumbled into desolate rubble. This time, I didn’t hesitate. I raised my hand and slapped Carter Brooks hard. “Carter Brooks, the one who should be apologizing is you.” “But not to Maya Foster. To me.”

I started sorting through all the things Carter had given me over the past decade. This necklace was his eighteenth birthday gift to me. I wore it to school once, and not long after, I saw Maya wearing an identical one. She bashfully said, “Carter told me that anything anyone else has, I’ll have too…” Only the box of the limited edition teddy bear remained. Carter took the bear, saying he liked the perfume I’d sprayed on it. But the very next day, I saw it sitting on Maya’s desk. And the high heels for my eighteenth birthday, the indigo aromatherapy diffuser… It turned out that what I thought was uniquely mine had already been given equally to others by Carter. Or not even equally. I recalled Carter’s boundless protectiveness and endless favoritism towards Maya. A cynical smile tugged at the corner of my lips. If that was the case, these things had no reason to exist. I booked a flight for the next day, preparing to spend my last night in peace. At two in the morning, I was woken by a phone call. I groggily answered, but the line remained silent. Just as I was about to hang up, Carter’s voice came through. “Olivia, I’m sorry.” My mind instantly cleared. If he was finally going to tell the truth… Carter’s voice deepened. “Maya self-harmed. I can’t leave her alone right now, so the transfer application, I’ll get to it a bit later…” My heart, which had soared with a sudden hope, crashed back down to earth, pathetic and ridiculous. I suddenly wanted to ask Carter, what about all the pain I suffered because you faked being bullied? Carter’s voice continued, “Just apologize.” I thought I’d misheard him. “What did you say?” Carter’s voice was firm. “Olivia Parker, you really should apologize to Maya.” “Can you honestly say Maya’s self-harm has nothing to do with you?” I was suddenly speechless. Because I suddenly understood that with Maya around, every word I said would be wrong. Carter spoke again, his voice like cold steel. “Olivia Parker, you truly disappoint me.” “Just apologize, and I can pretend none of this happened. I’ll even come to the new school with you in two months.” “Are you really going to be so selfish and throw away all these years of our connection?” I heard the threat in his words. But there was no longer any resentment or sadness, only annoyance. I sharply hung up the phone, blocked his number, and deleted his contact. I eagerly anticipated my flight tomorrow. The foreign scenery felt fresh and new, and someone took my luggage. I looked up and met the eyes of the legitimate heir of the Brooks family. “Olivia Parker, long time no see.” I reached out, a gentle smile on my face. “Long time no see, Ethan Hayes.” My phone rang, interrupting our pleasantries. I swiped the screen, only to find it was one of Carter’s friends’ numbers. Puzzled, I answered. Carter’s voice, faintly anxious, came through. “Olivia, which class did you transfer to at Northwood High?” “Why does everyone in every class say they haven’t seen you?”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “325328”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic

I went to prison for my husband’s company for three years. The day I was released, he gave his mistress a one-million-dollar bonus—and handed me a one-dollar check. He said it was for the company’s image. Our marriage had to stay secret. I couldn’t ride in his car, couldn’t acknowledge him at work, and could only call him “Boss.” The department manager position he once promised me was given to her instead. At a charity gala, he even allowed her to frame me for stealing a three-million-dollar diamond ring. So I signed the divorce papers and walked straight into the arms of his most hated rival. By the time he begged me to come back, I no longer needed him. I spent three years in prison to protect my husband Alexander’s company. The day I was released, the company held its grand opening. As Alexander’s wife, I stood beside him at the ceremony and received a bonus envelope. Inside was a single dollar. At first, I thought there had been a mistake. Then I noticed the woman next to me—Chloe, Alexander’s assistant. She opened her envelope as well. It also contained one dollar. Relieved, I told myself it must be a symbolic gesture for the opening. I pushed the doubt aside and stayed with Alexander until the ceremony ended. That night, I was scrolling through social media when I saw Chloe’s post on Instagram. She had uploaded a photo of a check. “Congrats on the grand opening, boss! One million dollars—so generous!” The comments were filled with congratulations and teasing. Everyone was praising her and hinting at her special relationship with “the boss.” I went to Alexander for an explanation. Instead of denying it, he distanced himself from me at once. “You just got out of prison,” he said calmly. “It’s not appropriate to make our relationship public right now. For the company’s sake, our marriage stays secret. At work, just call me ‘Boss.’” A moment later, he liked Chloe’s post. I wiped away my tears, took out the one-dollar bill, and dialed his business rival. “I’ll come work for you.” There was a brief silence on the other end of the line. “You were willing to go to prison for Alexander’s company,” he said. “And now you want to leave? Didn’t he promise you the department manager position when you got out?” I stared at the dollar in my hand and let out a bitter laugh. “Mm, I don’t want it anymore.” Just as I said that, Alexander suddenly appeared in front of me, asking suspiciously: “What don’t you want?” I calmly hung up the phone and told the truth: “The department manager position.” Hearing this, a flash of relief crossed the man’s complex expression. “Good. I was planning to give it to Chloe anyway. You can start as a clerk for now.” Hearing these words, I couldn’t help but frown. Back then, I endured three years behind bars for Alexander’s company. He had repeatedly promised me that when I got out, the position would be mine and mine alone. Who would have thought that in the end, I’d become nothing more than a lowly office worker. At this moment, Alexander was breaking the promise he made three years ago with his own mouth. But I couldn’t see a hint of guilt in his eyes. My eyes burned as an unstoppable pain flooded my heart. Seeing I didn’t respond, Alexander took out a contract from his briefcase and tossed it on the coffee table. He said nonchalantly: “This is a secret marriage agreement, for the sake of the company.” The words “Secret Marriage Agreement” stung my eyes badly. Three years ago, the day before I went to prison, Alexander and I got our marriage certificate. The only thing that kept me going was the thought of a happy married life after my release. But now, I had become something he was ashamed to mention. He even wanted me to disappear without a trace. I laughed bitterly to myself, picked up the pen without a second thought. Alexander suddenly turned his head, frowning as he watched me about to sign. She who once couldn’t wait to announce this marriage to the world, how could she suddenly be so decisive? He instinctively grabbed my wrist, his words puzzling: “You’re not even going to think about it?” I didn’t even look up, signing immediately. Getting the secret marriage agreement as he wished, he fell oddly silent for a moment. After a while, he cleared his throat, his voice turning gentle: “Olivia, don’t worry. Once the company stabilizes, I’ll definitely make it up to you properly.” I responded with a noncommittal “mm”, just as the company WhatsApp group lit up. Chloe had become the company’s first department manager, with all the employees offering congratulations. “You’ve been by the boss’s side these past three years, we’ve all seen it. This position is well-deserved!” “I think Chloe will be the boss’s wife soon, right? We’ll have to get on your good side from now on.” Immediately after, Chloe sent a shy emoji, tacitly accepting everything. “I still think Olivia is luckier. She went to prison for three years and can still be a clerk at the company. The boss really spoils her!” Knowing the truth, she was clearly mocking me. I struggled to look away from the screen, inadvertently catching Alexander staring at his phone. The smile on his lips was a tenderness I had never seen before. It made me wonder. Was his secret marriage to me really for the company, or was it for Chloe?

To fulfill the secret marriage contract, Alexander moved from the master bedroom to the guest room. Besides that, he also made it crystal clear: I wasn’t allowed to ride in the same car as him. I couldn’t talk to him at the company, only call him boss. And his relationship with Chloe was just an act, I wasn’t allowed to make a fuss about it. After explaining everything, Alexander disappeared for three days. It wasn’t until I took a day off work with a fever that he bothered to call me: “You’ve only been working a few days and you’re already taking time off. Aren’t you being a bit dramatic?” “You’ll have to go to the hospital yourself. I’m still on a business trip, I can’t take you.” An expected result. I mumbled a vague “mm”. But just as I finished speaking, a coquettish female voice came through the phone: “Alexander, my zipper’s stuck! Come help me quick!” Although Alexander quickly hung up, I still heard the sound of his hurried footsteps. Looking at Chloe’s Instagram again, she had already changed her profile picture. It matched Alexander’s as a couple. I remembered when we were dating, I always pestered him to use matching profile pictures. But he always had countless reasons to refuse me: Too much trouble, childish, tasteless… I don’t know what came over him, but he started frantically texting and calling me. I only replied once: “This is my rest time, please understand, boss.” After finishing the IV drip, I returned to the company. My coworkers were as cold to me as ever, piling work on my desk. In their minds, I was probably just a lucky ex-con taken in by the boss. I should naturally take on more. I adjusted my mood and packed all the couple items from the storage cabinet into a black garbage bag. If I had known they would never see the light of day, I wouldn’t have worked so hard to bring them to the office. I was about to go throw them away when Alexander unexpectedly returned. Before I could react, he angrily dragged me all the way to the stairwell. Seeing the garbage bag in my hand, the man’s face darkened: “You have time to clean up garbage but not to return my calls?” The strong perfume on him made me take a step back involuntarily as I said calmly: “I replied to your message.” Hearing this, Alexander seemed to catch fire, demanding: “Why did you call me ‘boss’ on the phone?” What’s the difference between on the phone and in person? He was the one who told me to, so why was he upset when I did? Seeing I had no intention of explaining, he let out a cold laugh: “You know I don’t like willful women. You’d better not turn into someone I hate.” As he spoke, he snatched the bag from my hand and hurled it to the ground with all his might. Amid the thunderous crash echoing through the stairwell, he strode away. Looking at the shattered photos and couple mugs, my heart trembled. Just like our years of feelings would ultimately be broken to pieces. I cleaned up the fragments and called a lawyer to draft a divorce agreement. After getting the document, I printed a copy in the copy room. Just as I had mentally prepared myself and was about to knock, Alexander opened the door first. Meeting his icy gaze, I calmly handed over the document: “Sign it when you have time.” But Alexander didn’t even look at it, flipping straight to the last page to sign. Then he handed it back casually, instructing: “Come out with me to a charity gala later. Be smart and remember to help block the drinks.” I was puzzled – Alexander could usually hold his liquor well, why did he need me to block drinks? Before I could ask, Chloe bounced out from behind him: “Boss is so thoughtful! You even remembered I have a cold and can’t drink!”

Chloe sat next to Alexander wrapped in a blanket, her head resting directly on his shoulder. Seeing me, she frowned and complained: “The boss is just overreacting. It’s only a cold, but he won’t let me drink or go to work. If I hadn’t begged him, he wouldn’t even bring me to this charity event.” Hearing her say this, Alexander fondly tapped her nose. “I don’t care what you say. Just don’t cry when it’s time to take your medicine.” The two people before me were clearly a couple in love. His gentle humor was also a side of him I found unfamiliar. Clutching the divorce agreement in my hand, I felt oddly relieved. Arriving at the event venue, Alexander exchanged pleasantries with the sponsors and prominent guests for a while. Then he stepped back and began introducing everyone. “This is Chloe, our company’s department manager.” When introducing me, one of the main donors frowned slightly. “I remember clearly, this young lady went to prison for owing money. Mr. Smith, you really are loyal to old friends.” Alexander tensed up, glancing at me before laughing it off in agreement. During the networking portion, Alexander and Chloe’s seats were pressed close together. He kept giving me looks, telling me to proactively help block drinks for Chloe. At the table, someone noticed their intimate gestures and couldn’t help teasing: “Mr. Smith and Miss Chloe look so well-matched. I wonder if the boss is married?” As soon as the words fell, Alexander looked at me, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. The next second, we said in unison: “No.” Even though we gave the same answer, he abruptly turned his head to stare at me in shock. It wasn’t until the guests went to the restroom that he messaged me: “It’s all just an act, don’t take it to heart.” Alexander said it was acting, but I was telling the truth. After all, he had already signed the divorce agreement. I glanced at the message and flipped my phone face down. Seeing this, Alexander was about to get up and come over, but I turned and went to the restroom. Coming out of the stall, I ran into Chloe. She stood with her arms crossed, clearly with a victorious attitude. “Olivia, you’re truly pathetic as a woman. To be so despised by your husband – if it were me, I definitely wouldn’t have the face to show myself in public.” I washed my hands nonchalantly, saying coolly: “That’s not for Miss Chloe to worry about.” Drying my hands, I prepared to leave. But Chloe darted in front of me, looking me up and down. “How can the boss’s wife still wear such rags?” “Oh I forgot, Alexander must have spent all the money buying me haute couture. Sorry about that.” The expensive brands she wore seemed to constantly remind me of the difference between 1 and 1 million. In an instant, the bitterness that had built up in my heart exploded, and I fled in a panic. Back in the private lounge, I picked up my bag to leave. Alexander hurriedly came over to stop me, his tone gentle: “Don’t go yet, I’ll take you home later.” I was about to refuse when Chloe suddenly burst in crying. Instantly attracting everyone’s attention. Alexander immediately let go of me and ran over to ask what had happened. Chloe was frantically rummaging through her bag and all her pockets. Then she cried out in dismay: “My custom diamond ring is missing!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, everyone in the room started looking for Chloe’s ring. While searching, she kept muttering: “This was a birthday gift from Mr. Smith, worth over $3 million. I can’t bear to lose it!” Though I didn’t know what game she was playing, I just wanted to leave immediately. But just as I reached the door, Chloe blocked me. “Olivia, let me check your bag. Otherwise you won’t be able to clear your name.” Whether or not I stole her ring, I knew the truth. “I’m tired. Miss Chloe can look for it herself.” Seeing I was determined to leave, Chloe actually grabbed my bag directly. In the struggle, the contents of my bag spilled all over the floor. And among the scattered items, there was indeed a sparkling large diamond ring. I stared at the ring in shock, suddenly meeting Chloe’s provocative gaze. “Why are you framing me?” Turning around, I found everyone looking at me with contempt. Especially Alexander, who frowned with disgust in his eyes. I instinctively tried to explain to him: “I didn’t take this!” But my explanation seemed so feeble in the face of the glaring “evidence”. Next, Chloe picked up the ring and started crying even harder. “This ring means so much to me. How could Olivia steal it?” “I thought Olivia had reformed in prison, but I never expected she’d still do anything for money. I don’t dare work with her anymore…” Chloe’s words made everyone’s expressions turn ugly. The lead donor spoke up first, breaking the awkward silence: “Mr. Smith, let’s call off this sponsorship discussion!” With that, he stormed out of the room with his people. I wanted to chase after them to explain, but was met with a solid slap from Alexander. Meeting my incredulous gaze, there wasn’t a hint of regret in his eyes. “I never thought you’d be the type to see money and lose your mind!” “I brought you out, not for you to steal things!” Alexander’s words completely convicted me. Didn’t he know what kind of person I was? Had he also forgotten why I went to prison? Seeing the anger in his eyes, I knew he would never believe me. I could only laugh bitterly and hand him my phone. “Then call the police.” He looked down at the phone, then frowned at me again, still not moving. The long stare seemed to let me see through the man before me. After a while, Alexander snorted coldly, “Ridiculous!” He turned around, helped Chloe put on the diamond ring, and gently coaxed her to leave. In the room, only I remained, along with the mess on the floor. I picked up my scattered belongings and headed straight for the airport without hesitation. In the late night waiting area. I was about to draft a resignation letter when I received a dismissal notice from Alexander first. His words were filled with anger: “Don’t come to the company anymore. Stay home and reflect on yourself!” Seeing his absurd demands, I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. Without thinking, I sent him a photo of the signed divorce agreement. Along with the text: “Alexander, I wish you and Chloe a hundred years of happiness and growing old together!” “But first you need to get our divorce certificate, otherwise I’ll report you for bigamy.” After I sent this, Alexander started frantically calling me like his life depended on it. This is the cutoff point

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “325329”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic

I had just undergone stomach cancer surgery and survived daily immunotherapy. Then I saw it on social media—my wife had transferred our house to her “old friend.” She said he was just a single father and told me to be more understanding. But to accompany him on a test drive of his new luxury car, She not only forgot my birthday, she also left me alone at the hospital on a rainy night. That was the day I stopped waiting for her to turn back and contacted a divorce lawyer instead. My wife Skylar Anderson’s “old friend,” Caleb Thompson, posted a photo of a deed on Instagram. The caption read, “Huge thanks to my big sister for signing this house over to me.” I looked at the address on the deed, stunned; it was our home. I commented with a single question mark, “?” Moments later, Skylar called, snapping at me, “He’s a single dad, drowning in bills and trying to keep a roof over his daughter’s head in a good school district. It doesn’t affect where we live.” Her tone was all reproach. “Can’t you show a little compassion?” From the other end, I could even hear Caleb’s mumbled complaints. A half hour later, Caleb posted again, tagging me to make sure I’d see it. This time, it was a brand-new, fully paid-for Mercedes-Benz. The caption: “As the saying goes, where a woman’s money goes, so does her love.” I knew it was Skylar’s gift to pacify him. But this time, I’d made up my mind—I was going to file for divorce. When Skylar got home, I swallowed my daily dose of immunotherapy meds, washing it down with a piece of birthday cake. This was the medication I needed after surgery for stomach cancer. I’d bought the cake in advance, hoping to surprise her and share the news about my surgery while she’d been away on business. I’d been waiting since morning, but she wasn’t picking up, not even responding to my messages. It was only when I commented on Caleb’s post about the deed that she immediately called back—angry and accusatory. Before I could even get a word in, she’d hung up and blocked me. My wound reopened from the stress. She barely glanced at the cake or the medication on the table, wrinkling her nose. “Whose birthday is it? Yours?” In silence, I put the meds away and tossed the cake in the trash. “Not mine—it’s for a friend.” A flicker of relief crossed her face. “Good, I thought it was the 28th. Today’s only the 8th.” Five years married, and she got my birthday wrong every single year. The funny thing? She remembered someone else’s perfectly. She sat down beside me and handed me a toy car. “Caleb asked me to give this to you. He was pretty shaken by your passive-aggressive attitude. You should apologize.” The little car was a Mercedes-Benz keychain, probably one of the trinkets they throw in when you buy the car—smudged with oil, no less. “No thanks,” I said flatly. Skylar’s expression turned sour. “What’s with the attitude? He even offered you a peace gesture. Can’t you show a bit of grace and apologize?” When I didn’t respond, Skylar grabbed my arm, pulling me up with such force that my injured leg struck the coffee table. It was the same leg that had been burned last week by scalding hot porridge she’d accidentally spilled when texting Caleb. Seeing blood seep from the wound again, she looked worried. “Let me take you to the hospital.” I didn’t refuse. “Fine.” As soon as we were in the car, her Bluetooth connected, and Caleb’s voice filled the silence, playful and warm. “Welcome back, big sister! Keep making money for me to spend, okay?” Skylar’s face tightened. “It’s just something he left in my car last time. I’ll get rid of it.” “Don’t bother,” I muttered. Silence filled the car, and she looked at me, surprised. “You’re not angry?” I pressed my lips together. Caleb used to matter to me. But now? I could hardly even care about Skylar, much less her pet. “Just drive,” I said quietly. “It’s late.” The hospital was only a half-mile away, just a straight drive and a U-turn. But Skylar’s phone rang, and I heard Caleb on the line, asking her to take him for a ride in the new Mercedes. “Something’s come up with Caleb,” she said, pulling over. “You can just walk the last fifty yards, right?” She was practically itching to go. “I can’t walk,” I said, holding her gaze. Her expression turned frosty. “Are you serious? You’re a grown man, not an invalid!” She opened the door and practically pushed me out, saying to call her once I’d taken care of my bandages. Her tires splashed filthy water over my leg as she sped off. Rain started to fall, soaking through my bandages. I took a few steps before pain shot through my abdomen, and I collapsed on the crosswalk, unable to move. I barely avoided getting hit, thanks to the hospital’s security guard, who rushed over and helped me in. Back home, barely settled, Skylar stormed in, furious. “I told you to call me once you’d changed the bandages! I waited at the hospital for an hour, but your phone was off!” I stared at her.

I’d spent two hours on an IV and eventually had to call a cab when I couldn’t take the pain any longer. My phone had only just died, but clearly, she’d never been at the hospital. Once, she’d cared so much. When had she turned so cold? “You blocked me, Skylar,” I said. “I couldn’t call you even if I’d wanted to.” Her face softened slightly, and she pulled out a takeout container. “I figured you’d be hungry. Brought you some porridge.” I looked at the bowl. It was plain, just a sprinkle of scallions—no meat, no eggs, as if it were someone’s leftovers. An hour ago, Caleb’s Instagram Story had shown Skylar cooking in the kitchen. “Who says good women don’t exist? She not only took me for a midnight ride in her new Mercedes, but when I got hungry, she whipped me up some porridge, too.” I stirred the bowl, feeling a wave of nausea. “I don’t want it.” Skylar’s expression turned dark. “What’s wrong with you? I brought this for you, and you’re throwing a tantrum?” “So what if I signed the house over to Caleb? You still get to live here. All he did was say thank you. And you embarrassed us both by commenting. Have I even gotten mad about that?” With fresh stitches in my stomach and an injured leg, I barely had the strength to speak. “I was just shocked it was our address on his post…” But Skylar cut me off. “Shocked? Caleb’s right—you’re just that kind of person. Always quick to anger, no empathy, no tolerance. Anytime I speak to a man, you get all paranoid. You’re the one with issues!” In the past, I would’ve tried to reason with her. But this time, I just stared, letting her rant until she was breathless. When she was done, I said, “You finished? Mind turning off the light?” She shot me a cold glare before slamming the door. After she left, I slept soundly for the first time in a long time. The next day, I contacted a friend for a divorce lawyer. She’d been gone for three days since that argument, but when I saw a new photo Samantha posted from their beach trip, there was Skylar in matching clothes with Caleb, beaming by his side. I liked the photo without a second thought. Skylar called back immediately. “I’ll pick you up later. My friends are meeting us at the beach.” She paused, adding, “I wasn’t planning on inviting you. Consider it a reward for good behavior.” “Sure,” I replied, hiding the ongoing divorce process. When Skylar arrived, it surprised me that Caleb wasn’t in the car, too. At the beach, Samantha greeted me with an apology. “I planned that meet-up last time—I should’ve given you a heads up. I’ll make up for it later.” I forced a smile. “Been swamped with work.” “Word is, you’re planning to open a branch in Aspen Ridge. Congratulations!” Samantha said, laying it on thick. I nodded. “It’s still in the works. Not sure if it’ll pan out.” Skylar walked over, face taut. “You’re moving to Aspen Ridge? Since when? Did I say you could go?” I met her furious gaze, unflinching. She continued to rant while Samantha tried to smooth things over, ushering us toward the cookout. As we sat by the grill, Skylar whispered, almost nervous, “Caleb and I agreed. After his daughter finishes elementary school, he’ll sign the house back over. Don’t get so worked up—it’s my property. I didn’t even have to explain.” “Alright,” I said, nodding calmly. As I replied, I noticed a familiar figure approaching. A young woman with them shouted, “Caleb! Skylar’s over here!” Everyone froze.

Samantha kicked the girl, cursing her for being so tactless. I stood and excused myself, heading toward the restroom to gather my composure. When I returned, they were playing games by the fire. Caleb and Skylar sat close, laughing. I found a spot farther away, watching quietly. “Alright, truth or dare!” Samantha suggested, trying to revive the mood. Skylar won the first round, and Caleb chose “truth.” “What’s made you happiest recently?” Skylar asked, giving him a pass. Caleb smiled, staring meaningfully at her. “I met an incredible woman who gave me a house and a car. She even took me on a midnight ride in her new Mercedes.” He glanced at me with a triumphant smirk. Everyone knew the house and car were Skylar’s doing, but they’d kept quiet out of politeness. But here, laid bare, the tension was thick. Samantha cleared her throat. “Alright, round two! Let’s see what we’ve got next.” This time, Caleb chose me. “Truth,” I said. Caleb stepped up with a grin. “How about a dare, Nathan?” I shook my head. “Truth.” He looked put out, his gaze drifting to Skylar. “Didn’t Skylar say you’re an amazing swimmer? Why not show us?” I refused, “I’m not feeling well.” Caleb glanced at Skylar with a hurt look, and she pressed, “It’s your specialty! Why not just swim a lap? It won’t kill you.” Ignoring my protests, they pulled me to the water’s edge, taunting me with every step. My abdomen throbbed from recent surgery, but they kept pushing. Finally, Skylar shoved me into the freezing water. I coughed as salt stung my throat and lungs, waves crashing over my head. I barely surfaced, gasping for air. As I struggled to shore, Skylar smiled at Caleb, whispering assurances. Then, she turned to me with a sneer. “Apologize to Caleb and take a drink—or else.” I looked at her, heart pounding with exhaustion and anger. “Skylar, I’ve already contacted my lawyer. We’re getting divorced.” She stared at me, eyes wide with shock. I stumbled back to the road. Before I could make it across, everything went black. I heard someone yell, “He’s bleeding—call an ambulance!”

I don’t know how much time passed before I regained consciousness, but the first thing I heard was Lucas Mitchell’s furious voice by my bedside. “Skylar, are you out of your mind? Forcing him to swim? He just had surgery to remove a stomach tumor! You didn’t know that?” “He… he just had surgery? Why didn’t he tell me?” Skylar’s voice sounded shocked, laced with a pang of regret. Lucas was fuming. “Are you blind? Haven’t you noticed how pale he’s been? Or have your eyes been glued to Caleb the whole time?” If it weren’t for the hospital setting, I could imagine Lucas slapping her right then. “I… I really didn’t know…” He scoffed. “Oh, but you knew about signing the house over to that wannabe hero and buying him a car, didn’t you? You think it’s a mystery why he’s so drained? It’s because you stressed him out so much his stitches tore open!” “I…” “Enough. Just seeing you is annoying. Leave.” As the room fell silent again, I opened my eyes slowly. Lucas sat next to me, eyebrows furrowed with worry. “You awake? Are you in any pain?” I managed a weak smile. “You know everything, don’t you?” Lucas sighed, looking disappointed. “Didn’t I tell you from the start not to marry her? Now look where it’s gotten you. Too little, too late.” Thinking back, I felt a pang of regret myself. If I hadn’t been so infatuated, my parents would have never allowed this marriage, despite Skylar’s family’s wealth. I remembered overhearing Skylar’s mother in the restroom during a family dinner before the wedding. She was on the phone, saying, “Oh, the wedding costs? Sure, they’re being reasonable. But her fiancé’s family… let’s just say their contribution isn’t quite what we hoped. We’ll match their energy, that’s all.” That night, I couldn’t help but tell Skylar what her mother had said. It wasn’t about the money; it was the contempt in her mother’s voice. Skylar promised to talk to her mother and settle the matter, but it was never mentioned again. Three years into our marriage, Skylar drunkenly confessed, “Of course I knew about scaling back the contribution. My mom asked me first. Nathan, you’re just so gullible—no wonder they say devoted men are the easiest to fool.” Seeing her in that cold light now, I realized how shallow she truly was. At some point, Skylar walked back into the hospital room, staring at me with a hint of sorrow. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you’d just had surgery…” I looked at her, a chill running through me, and interrupted her coldly, “I know you like Caleb. Let’s just get divorced so you can be with him. I wish you two all the best.” “I don’t want a divorce!” Skylar’s voice rose, and she stammered, “He and I… there’s nothing going on. I married you because I wanted to be with you, not him.” I let out a bitter laugh. “Really? Skylar, you’re the one who said that night you’d be with Caleb if you could. You even said you regretted accepting my proposal and would marry him if we divorced.” That night, Skylar had come home drunk, with Caleb practically carrying her in. I’d been sleeping in the guest room, but I heard everything clearly. Skylar clung to Caleb’s waist, whispering, “I regret it… How did I let myself say yes to him?” Caleb glanced towards the guest room, smirking as he replied, “And if you got divorced? Who would you marry then?” “You, of course. If I got divorced, I’d marry you in a heartbeat. Stay with me tonight, please?” That night, Caleb left, disgusted by the mess Skylar had made all over herself. Now, looking back, I knew that the fact I hadn’t burst into the room to fight him meant I’d already lost hope in Skylar. The time we spent together after that was just a process of slowly letting go. Lucas finally managed to get Skylar to leave the room. But soon after, my phone buzzed nonstop as Skylar pulled me off her blocklist. Message after message appeared on my screen: “I asked around, and chicken soup is good for recovery. I’ll make some for you later.” “You shouldn’t eat cold stuff; I ordered some supplements for you.” “I know I messed up. Can we just start over?” I set her messages to “Do Not Disturb” and asked the nurse to transfer me to a VIP suite, making it clear I didn’t want any visitors. When Skylar called to say she wanted to see me, I finally answered, irritation evident in my tone. “Skylar, I don’t want to see you right now. Let’s finalize the divorce after I’ve recovered, okay?” There was silence on the other end before she responded softly, “I’ll just look at you from afar; I won’t bother you.” I ended the call and turned off my phone. Three days later, as I was discharged, Skylar was already waiting at the hospital entrance, a smile lighting up her face. “Leaving already? Let me take you home.” I didn’t argue, climbing into her car. As soon as she started the engine, the Bluetooth connected, and Caleb’s voice filled the car. “Welcome back, big sister! Keep working hard and making that money for me!”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “325330”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic

“Get your best doctor in here!” I had just stepped out of the staff elevator when I saw my husband, Derek Hayes, yelling outside the operating room. What was he doing here? Didn’t he say he was on a business trip today and couldn’t be with me for our seventh wedding anniversary? Before I could react, he stormed over to a nurse, making a scene: “You have to save my wife and child, or I’ll make sure this hospital goes bankrupt!” His wife? The words hit me like a lightning bolt. If she was his wife, then who was I? I stood frozen, still processing, when a young doctor hurried towards me. “Dr. Miller, perfect timing. All the chief physicians are in surgery and can’t break away… Please, get into the operating room!” I took a deep breath, clenched my fists, and walked towards the double doors. Derek rushed over, blocking my path, his eyes blazing. “You’re the surgeon?” He didn’t recognize me? Even though I was completely covered by a surgical cap and mask, he couldn’t be so blind that he couldn’t recognize his wife of seven years! Maybe he just didn’t expect me to be here. I’d been temporarily assigned to this community hospital last month as part of a temporary rotation. I remembered telling Derek about it. At the time, he was engrossed in his phone, not really listening. Through my mask, I told him, “Family, please step aside.” I moved past him, but Derek shouted, “There aren’t any male doctors in there, are there? I don’t want any male staff in the room with my wife!” You must be out of your mind, I thought. My curiosity spiked. Who exactly was this “wife” Derek kept talking about? After sterilizing, I entered the operating room. A pregnant woman lay on the bed, barely conscious. When I saw her face clearly, my heart lurched. It was Tiffany Reed, Derek’s cousin-in-law! Derek’s cousin, Major Ryan Davies, was a military man, often deployed. Tiffany would often call Derek over with excuses like broken appliances or water outages. I was usually busy with work and hadn’t paid much attention to their frequent encounters. I never imagined… they were having an affair behind my back! A nurse handed me the patient’s chart, and I quickly scanned it. Tiffany was eight months pregnant. Her contractions were caused by intercourse during pregnancy, leading to a threatened miscarriage. Eight months… I remembered Derek’s cousin hadn’t been back in almost a year. So, the baby in Tiffany’s belly… was Derek’s? My vision blurred. Suddenly, some clues clicked into place. Derek and I had been married for years and hadn’t conceived. My periods were always irregular. Last year, I couldn’t help but want him to get checked, but he flat-out refused, insisting he was fine. Even my mother-in-law sided with him. Now I knew why. He had already gotten another woman pregnant! No wonder he was so confident! So, my mother-in-law was in on it too? My assistant asked, “Dr. Miller, should we prepare for a C-section?” I looked at the fetal heart monitor and the ultrasound results. At eight months, the baby could survive. It was sickeningly ironic. I was about to perform a C-section on the very woman who had cuckolded me. But as a doctor, bound by my professional ethics, I had no choice. I took a deep breath. “Yes, prepare the anesthesia.” We were busy with pre-op preparations when Tiffany on the operating table suddenly cried out, “Let my husband in! I don’t want to be alone!” The nurse tried to reassure her, “Ms. Reed, that’s against hospital policy…” “Against policy? Don’t husbands always accompany their wives in labor on TV?” Once the anesthesia took effect, Tiffany’s contractions eased, and she became fully energetic, yelling and demanding. The nurse patiently explained, “Those require prior application, and our hospital doesn’t have such a precedent…” Tiffany threatened, “My husband is an executive at a listed company! Be careful, or I’ll make sure you all pay!” Your actual husband is an active-duty military officer, I thought. Cheating with Derek means you’re both violating military marriage laws, which is a criminal offense! Clearly, Tiffany and Derek didn’t care. They openly referred to each other as husband and wife. Tiffany declared, “If you don’t let my husband in for the delivery, I’m not giving birth!”

My assistant asked what to do. I suppressed my anger. “Call the director for approval. I can’t authorize this!” Director Thompson quickly responded, agreeing to let Derek in for the delivery. The application forms could be completed later. Soon, Derek entered, wearing green scrubs. Seeing him, Tiffany immediately whined and played the damsel in distress. “Oh, darling, I’m in so much pain, I can’t take it anymore…” She’s blatantly lying, I thought. She’s semi-anesthetized; she wouldn’t feel any pain right now. Derek squeezed her hand, his voice full of feigned tenderness. “Honey, just hold on. After the baby is born, I’ll give you a big reward.” “I want that limited edition bag from H brand…” “Okay, okay, I’ll buy you as many as you want.” By now, seeing that scummy couple, I felt no more anger, just a cold detachment. I only had myself to blame for being so stupid! Derek had been distant lately, forgetting my birthday and our wedding anniversary, and I actually thought he was just overwhelmed with work! I kept telling myself internally. Chloe, you’re a doctor. You have professional ethics. Even if your enemy is on the operating table, you have to do your job! After bracing myself mentally, I picked up the scalpel. I skillfully made the first incision. Derek, who had leaned in to watch, suddenly rolled his eyes and collapsed. I ignored him, continuing to cut through the second layer. Tiffany shrieked, “Darling! What happened to you?!” She even tried to sit up, but my assistant quickly stopped her. “Ms. Reed, please lie still!” Two nurses rushed to help Derek to the side. I knew exactly what was wrong with him. The guy was a hemophobe, yet he still forced himself to come in for the delivery. Guess he really loves Tiffany. I scoffed internally. We successfully delivered the baby: a tiny, skinny boy. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, and his body was purple. Tiffany asked anxiously, “Is the baby out?” The assistant told her, “It’s a boy.” She beamed, then asked, “Why isn’t he crying?” The assistant didn’t answer. I calmly cleared the mucus from the baby’s airways, held him upside down, and patted his feet. A moment later, the baby finally let out a cry. Hearing the cry, Derek was about to get up, but seeing the baby covered in blood and vernix, he immediately stretched his legs out and fainted again. The midwife measured the baby’s length and weight, then brought him over for Tiffany to hold, explaining, “Your baby is a bit weak and needs to go into an incubator.” Tiffany yelled, “An incubator? Are you trying to scam us because you think my husband is rich?” My patience had worn thin long ago. I said in a low voice, “Premature babies with underperforming vitals must go into an incubator! If Ms. Reed doesn’t trust this hospital, she can request a transfer!” She bristled. “What’s with your attitude?! Transfer then! My husband has plenty of money! If it wasn’t for…” She paused, then continued, “Who would want to give birth in this rundown place!” I probably knew what she was going to say. If it wasn’t for me being a doctor at a top-tier hospital in the city, and their fear of exposure, they wouldn’t have chosen this small hospital for the delivery. I couldn’t be bothered with her anymore, leaving the remaining work to my assistant and the nurses. I walked out of the operating room, intending to get some rest, when I saw a woman adorned in jewelry yelling like a fishwife: “How could the baby be born before his due month?! I’ll sue you all! I’ll sue you until you lose everything!” It was my mother-in-law, Shirley Hayes!

Shirley was blocking the midwife, preventing her from taking the baby to the NICU. The midwife, exasperated, could only explain, “Ma’am, the mother was at risk of a threatened miscarriage, which is why we performed the C-section…” “What? A C-section?!” Shirley shrieked, her voice rising. “Naturally delivered babies are smarter! Who told you to give her a C-section?! Get your director out here!” I never knew she was so ignorant. I really learned something new today. My emotions were a complicated mess, and I desperately wanted to avoid getting involved in their mess. I’d go home, divorce Derek, and get away from these toxic people! I started to walk around Shirley. But Shirley noticed me, and with a swift move, she blocked me. “Was it you? Did you give my daughter-in-law a C-section?” I said coldly, “The C-section was performed with the patient’s and family’s consent! If you have a problem, ask your son!” Shirley didn’t recognize me either. She shouted, spitting everywhere, “Hey! How dare you talk to me like that? Do you know who I am? Who do you think you are? Just a damn doctor!” The midwife quickly took the opportunity to push the baby into the elevator. Shirley, caught between two fronts, couldn’t stop her. She directed her full fury at me. “How dare you make my grandson come out so early! What’s your agenda?! Do you want to make my grandson stupid?!” The other patients’ families waiting outside couldn’t stand it anymore and started chastising her. “How can you be so unreasonable? Your daughter-in-law was premature, the doctor was just following protocol…” “Exactly, your son and daughter-in-law both signed off on the C-section, what does it have to do with the doctor?” Some people had already secretly taken out their phones to record. Shirley aggressively retorted, “None of your damn business! Who else to blame but her?! My grandson wasn’t supposed to be born for another two months! It’s all this quack’s fault!” “Honestly, she saved your daughter-in-law and grandson, and you’re so ungrateful.” The two sides argued furiously. Shirley actually swung a fist at an elderly lady. I quickly intervened, warning Shirley, “Ma’am, if you keep causing trouble, I’ll call security.” “How dare you! Just try to touch me!” Shirley roared in a fit of rage. I shielded the elderly lady and stepped back, then told her, “Ma’am, please step aside for a moment…” When I wasn’t looking, Shirley pushed me hard. I staggered back a few steps, lost my balance, and fell to the floor. My head swam, and a heavy, dragging pain shot through my lower abdomen. Several family members quickly rushed to help me up. “Doctor, are you okay?” I swayed, unable to stand steadily. Shirley, the villain, was already playing the victim. “What are you faking? I barely touched you!” I clutched my stomach, too weak to argue with her. To my horror, a gush of warmth flowed down my inner thigh. I froze, too afraid to move. Just then, Derek came out with Tiffany, who was still on the gurney. Seeing Shirley, Derek asked, surprised, “Mom? What are you doing here?” Shirley immediately found her rock, twisting the facts as she spoke: “Your assistant told me you brought Tiffany here to have the baby! Tell me, son, did this quack trick you into a C-section? You didn’t even consult me about such a serious matter! These dishonest hospitals deliberately trick you into thinking your baby’s in danger, making you spend a fortune on ‘rescue’ just to scam you!” Several medical staff, unable to bear it any longer, said sternly, “Don’t you dare slander us!” “The mother’s water broke; the C-section was unavoidable!” Shirley put her hands on her hips and retorted, “How could my daughter-in-law’s water break for no reason? Don’t try to fool me!” I couldn’t stand her constantly saying “my daughter-in-law” anymore. I gritted my teeth through the pain and told her, “Because your son and your ‘daughter-in-law’ had intercourse during pregnancy, which caused the miscarriage!”

Derek nervously kept quiet. Shirley was clearly stunned, then immediately exploded. “Nonsense! My son would never do such a thing!” A nurse came over to help me. “Dr. Miller, don’t mind her. Let’s go…” Shirley wouldn’t let up, pulling and grabbing at me. “Stop right there! You think you can just run off? You’re responsible for my grandson!” A searing cramp twisted my lower abdomen. This wasn’t good! Cold sweat poured down me. In a panic, I flung Shirley away, and she hit her back against the wall. She immediately pretended to clutch her head. “Ouch! My head! You evil quack!” The nurse pointed out, “You hit your back! How could your head hurt…” Shirley started to whine. “I don’t care! Apologize to me, or this isn’t over!” She shouted at Derek, “Your mother’s being bullied, what are you standing there for?” Derek, who’d already been annoyed with me in the operating room, seized the opportunity. He pointed at me and commanded, “You, apologize to my mother!” I gasped for air, whispering to the nurse, “My… stomach hurts, please take me away first…” The nurse tried to help me leave, but Derek roughly grabbed my arm. “Where do you think you’re going? Don’t even think about leaving without apologizing!” The nurse tried to stop him but was shoved aside violently. “Derek! Look closely at who I am!”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “325331”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic

My childhood friend dragged me to the circus, only for me to witness a shocking scene: a bear riding a female acrobat, to thunderous applause… Jake called me, buzzing about this amazing new spot he’d found. Super exclusive, members only, he said. Curiosity got the better of me, so I went along. What I saw there left me speechless. I never imagined the animals from our local town circus had this kind of purpose! I’m a psychologist, but I had to quit my city job and move back to our small town to take care of my sick grandmother. I opened a private practice here, hoping for the best. Business was slow, bordering on non-existent. Thankfully, the town offered some grants, which kept my office barely afloat. Then, one day, I got a bizarre house call. It was from the town circus. I figured one of the circus performers was overwhelmed with stress and needed therapy. Turns out, they wanted me to counsel their animals. I was beyond annoyed. I’m a psychologist, not a vet… But with my business struggling, even a request this insane was something I had to accept, albeit with a heavy sigh. I barely stepped through the entrance when Eleanor Vance, the circus director, practically yanked me inside. “Dr. Miller, right? You have to see our lion! He hasn’t been able to perform lately, completely lethargic, and we don’t know why.” Eleanor was a stunning woman in her early thirties, her fiery red curls swaying with every move. Her face, with its delicate dimples, was innocent yet captivating, a perfect blend of purity and allure. And beneath that sweet face was a figure that defied her delicate features – a perfect 36D. Many men in town, both openly and secretly, had pursued her. But she always said she was married, her husband working out of town, and she’d refuse all advances. What was strange was that no one in town had ever actually seen her husband. Everyone said she was a good woman, fiercely loyal to her absent spouse. She’d been running this circus since I was in high school. She was even the subject of my first wet dream. “Eleanor,” I asked, puzzled, “why haven’t you called a vet?” She lowered her gaze, fidgeting slightly. “We did. They all said there’s nothing wrong…” I followed her into the big top. Inside, dim fairy lights cast eerie shadows, making the atmosphere unsettling. “Dr. Miller, this way…” Eleanor led me to the very back. All the animals were kept in the back enclosures. I immediately spotted the listless lion. As I got closer, a strong, pungent, musky odor hit me, mixed with a sickly sweet, fishy scent that couldn’t be masked. On the wall behind the cage, I saw several whips and electric prods hanging. Everything about this place made me feel deeply uncomfortable. “Eleanor, do you have visitors this early?” I looked up. A woman in a skimpy bikini, barely covered by a sheer wrap, was leaning against the doorway. “Don’t be silly,” Eleanor frowned, “this is Dr. Miller. He’s here to see Little Wild.” She immediately turned to me, a forced smile on her face. “Sorry, Dr. Miller, Little Wild is the lion.” The woman scoffed. “Dr. Miller, you simply have to fix Little Wild. I just adore Little Wild’s…” I glanced at Eleanor from the corner of my eye. She was frantically motioning at the woman to shut up. The woman smirked, licking her lips. “I mean, I love Little Wild’s back… it’s so easy to step on…” Eleanor let out a relieved breath. “Daisy, why don’t you go back inside? It’s rude to see guests dressed like that.” I waved a hand, indicating it was fine. Daisy defiantly puffed out her chest. “Whatever. Boring.” With a provocative sway of her slender hips, she walked away. I gave an awkward laugh. “Eleanor, let me take a look at him first.” Eleanor’s cheeks flushed. She nodded. “Of course, Dr. Miller. Thank you for coming.” I knelt down for a closer inspection. The lion lay listlessly in the corner, panting heavily, as if it had been severely overworked. “Eleanor,” I asked casually, “what does this lion do in the circus? Why does it seem so exhausted?” Eleanor froze for a moment, her already flushed cheeks turning a deeper crimson. “Uh… nothing special. Just normal performances…” With that, Eleanor also knelt beside me. The subtle scent of jasmine, likely from her, instantly filled my nostrils. But to my surprise, the moment Eleanor knelt, the lion suddenly let out a low growl, as if it strongly resented her presence. Or perhaps, it resented anyone from the circus. Because I, an outsider, had been standing there for quite some time, and it hadn’t shown any defensive behavior towards me. My sharp eyes caught sight of a small, locked door on the right side of the cage. I pointed to it. “Eleanor, what’s that small door for?” Eleanor replied, “That’s for feeding the lion.” “…” I knew Eleanor wasn’t telling the truth. There was already an opening at the top of the cage. If it were just for feeding, there wouldn’t be a need for two separate openings. I cleared my throat. “Well, Eleanor, it seems like prolonged activity might have led to depressive tendencies in the lion. I suggest you give him a break for a while and see if he improves. Also, try to keep people away from him, as he might become aggressive.” Eleanor gasped in surprise. “Depressive tendencies?…” It took her a moment to recover. “Alright, then. I’ll instruct everyone to remove Little Wild from the schedule for now.” I nodded. Turning back to the lion, I instantly felt my eyes widen. The lion had stood up, giving me a clear view of its lower abdomen. Its reproductive organ was a deep purplish-red, with barbs unnaturally erect, a truly sickening sight. “Eleanor, um… there’s another possibility. Lions need to mate regularly…” I struggled for a moment before saying, “Could it be that he hasn’t been able to release himself for a long time, so…” Eleanor immediately cut me off. “No! He always has…” She instantly realized her tone was too sharp. “I mean, Little Wild has a steady partner. He’s just been loaned out recently, so it shouldn’t be that reason.” I nodded, not making a big deal out of it. I just prescribed some animal-safe medication for the lion. Before leaving, I repeatedly stressed that it absolutely shouldn’t be overworked anymore. Its condition was already critical. Eleanor walked me to the gate and then went back inside. As soon as I stepped out, my foot landed in a puddle of liquid. I cursed under my breath, looking down. It was a used condom – extra thick and enlarged. “Dammit, what rotten luck…” I wiped my shoe on the grass nearby, not giving it much thought.

A week after I got home, my childhood friend, Jake, called. “Bro, are you free this Friday? The town circus is putting on a show, and I got us two ‘special’ tickets!” I thought back to my strange house call last week. “I already checked it out for you,” I retorted. “It’s just a bunch of old, sick, and weak animals. Nothing to see.” Jake chuckled into the phone. “Nah, who said anything about watching animals? We’re going for the beautiful performers, man!” I suddenly remembered the woman who’d come out in just a bikini top and sheer wrap last week. Daisy, was it? Well… she certainly had a lot going on. “Fine. Come by my office on Friday.” Being a small business owner meant I was chained to the store, barely making ends meet, with no money to hire help. Jake laughed. “That’s the spirit! Your little shop’s practically empty anyway, nothing to look at there.” “Gotta go, a client just walked in.” “You’re lying…” I hung up. I wasn’t lying to Jake. A client really had walked in. It was Eleanor Vance. Today, she wore a stunning strapless green gown, her fiery red hair loosely swept up with a clip, two delicate strands framing her face, a look both seductive and sweet. Eleanor held up a small box, smiling. “Dr. Miller, I specially came to thank you. That lion you saw last time has started eating again. If I didn’t think you’d blush, I’d practically nominate you for an award.” I managed a faint smile. “Don’t mention it. I’m just glad he’s doing better.” Eleanor ran a hand through her hair. “Well, I won’t keep you from your work. Come see a show sometime. We’re open every day except this Friday.” My mind went blank for a second. I nodded mechanically, watching Eleanor sway her hips as she walked out the door, my thoughts miles away. I just couldn’t snap out of it. I remembered Jake had invited me for this Friday. Why did Eleanor say they wouldn’t be open to guests that day? I pulled out my phone. Jake had sent me a picture of the tickets. Right there, it clearly read: “This Friday, July 28th, ‘Charm Circus’ welcomes you.” My heart pounded with anticipation. I grew increasingly curious about what kind of “special show” Jake’s tickets were for!

After two days of agonizing anticipation, Friday finally arrived. And wouldn’t you know it, that jerk Jake was late. I was tapping my foot incessantly at the coffee shop across from the circus. The moment he picked up, I ripped into him. “Are you serious, man? The show’s already started! Any later and we’ll be watching the finale!” “Hold on, hold on, I’m here! Come out now!” I looked up and sure enough, there was that idiot, Jake, looking around frantically at the entrance. “You—” Jake grabbed my arm. “No time to argue, let’s go!” We handed over our tickets. As we walked in, we could already hear the announcement: [Ladies and gentlemen, next up: The Chest Crush!] We found our seats. I glanced around and noticed the audience was entirely male. And most of them looked to be around forty years old. Their faces were flushed, their eyes glued to the stage. “Whoa!” I exclaimed. The woman on stage was Daisy, the one I’d seen that day. She was dressed even more provocatively than when I first met her. While no vital parts were exposed, there wasn’t much left to the imagination either. She still wore the sheer wrap from that day. Her curves, while not as generous as Eleanor’s, were pert and perfectly sculpted. Daisy gave a coy bow, left and right, then dramatically ripped off her sheer wrap. Her chest, a symphony of movement, bounced and swayed with every sensual twist of her body. The entire audience erupted in an astonished “Woah!” Then she brazenly lay down, spreading her legs. Two other girls, dressed in bunny outfits, brought a stone slab onto the stage. It was then I realized that this circus was no longer the one I used to watch years ago. But what truly made my pupils tremble was the next part of the act. The two bunny-clad girls led a small bear forward. Then, one of the girls placed a step stool next to Daisy’s platform. The bear stepped onto the stool, one paw after another, and climbed onto the stone. Thud! The stone slab shattered. Daisy let out a seductive gasp. Jake leaned into my ear, whispering, “Holy shit, she’s wild. I’m telling you, she’s the hottest one here!” Then Jake’s eyes widened, fixated. “Unbelievable!” “Unbelievable wha—” My gaze followed his to the stage. Daisy was cupping the bear’s face, gently licking its nose. The bear’s paw brushed against Daisy’s breast.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “325319”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic

My fiancée’s male assistant, Trevor, threw a half-eaten eggplant into her bowl right in front of everyone at the company dinner. Chloe didn’t even hesitate. She just picked it up and ate it. That same day, as soon as we got home, I told her I wanted to call off our arranged marriage. She bristled, “Just because I ate the eggplant he gave me?” “He ate a bite, didn’t like it, and then gave it to you,” I corrected her. “Honestly, saying you’re jealous is an understatement. You always blow things out of proportion.” “Fine,” I shot back, “You want to break up? No problem. Just don’t come crawling back, begging me to get back together.” She was so sure I loved her too much to ever leave. But what she didn’t know was that even the deepest love can erode, chip away, until nothing’s left but dust, especially with constant hurt. This time, I was truly done. That same day, I told my parents I wanted a different fiancée for the arranged marriage. They were a bit surprised, but they respected my decision. After that, Chloe went into her usual cold war mode. My phone number, all my social media, even our shared game accounts – deleted, blocked, the whole package. That was her routine whenever we argued. She was confident I couldn’t bear to lose her, certain I’d swallow my pride and win her back. But this time, I stared at the red “friend request” button and, for once, didn’t press it. A week later, a notification popped up in the company’s SnapChat group: “It’s Chloe’s birthday today! Chloe’s treating everyone, mandatory attendance, no excuses!” I didn’t want to make things awkward for everyone else, so I went. As I stepped into the private dining room, I saw Chloe at the head of the table, and Trevor sitting so close to her, practically glued to her side. Trevor’s lips were pressed against Chloe’s ear, as if sharing some secret. They seemed to exist within their own bubble, impenetrable to outsiders. A moment later, they both burst out laughing, their faces so close they were almost kissing. I couldn’t stand to watch anymore. I found a corner and sat down. Everyone started giving Chloe gifts, but I ignored it all. I poured myself a drink, sipping it slowly, when suddenly, a shadow fell over me. I looked up to see Chloe’s perfectly sculpted face, her expression still etched with that familiar impatience. “Liam, why didn’t you get me a gift?” Normally, on an important day like Chloe’s birthday, I’d have started planning months in advance. One year, I even spent over six months hand-making a life-size replica of the flying house from her favorite movie, Up. When the balloons lifted off, she told me we’d grow old together, just like the characters in the film. I believed her then, never imagining her promise wouldn’t even last three years. Faced with her persistent questioning, I simply replied, “I forgot.” My attitude clearly infuriated Chloe. She completely lost her patience. “Liam, are you done being dramatic? Is such a trivial thing worth an entire week of this nonsense?” I looked at the faint trace of Trevor’s lip balm on her lips, a sickening feeling churning in my stomach. “I’m not being dramatic. And I’m serious about calling off the engagement.” Chloe’s expression froze for a second, but then Trevor squeezed her hand, and she regained her composure. “Liam, please don’t misunderstand,” Trevor said, his voice deliberately soft. “I only gave Chloe my food because I didn’t want to waste it. If you dislike me so much, then next time we have a company dinner, I’ll just skip the table. I’ll wait to eat everyone’s leftovers.” Trevor’s words immediately melted Chloe’s heart. “Trevor, don’t say that! You deserve the best things in the world. Liam’s the one who shouldn’t be here. Who does he think he is? Does everyone have to cater to his whims?” “Chloe, don’t say that about Liam. He might be a little sensitive, but he’s still your fiancé. You should still try to smooth things over. I really don’t want you two fighting because of me.” “Smooth things over with him? Who does he think he is? If my parents hadn’t begged me to go through with this arranged marriage, I wouldn’t be with him. He gets mad over every little thing; it’s so annoying.” Trevor walked over to me, patting my back. His voice was laced with a patronizing tone. “Liam, honestly, from one guy to another, you really are being a bit much this time. Chloe hasn’t been able to sleep for days because of you. Even though I think you two aren’t a good match, you’re still engaged. You should both try to compromise.” I slapped his hand away, a cold laugh escaping me. “Trevor, you know what I admire most about you? It’s how you pretend to be noble while doing the fakest things—and how you can steal someone’s girlfriend with your sugary words, yet still look completely innocent.” Trevor’s smug expression instantly vanished. Chloe exploded. “Liam, who gave you permission to slander Trevor like that?” “Slander? Then tell me, why does he have one of everything you buy me, and then flaunts it in front of me at the office? Why does he always twist our arguments and spread them around the breakroom? And why does he know your—” “Enough!” SMACK! Chloe slapped me across the face in front of everyone. The world around me instantly blurred and became muffled, but my eyes clearly saw the pity, scorn, or disgust on the faces of everyone in the room.

When my hearing finally cleared, I heard Chloe’s loud declaration: “From today on, everyone’s welcome to like my photos with Trevor! If we hit a thousand likes, I’ll drop Liam and go register our marriage with Trevor!” With that, she grabbed Trevor’s hand and walked out without a backward glance. Before leaving the private room, Trevor shot me a triumphant, taunting look. After they left, people in the room started filing out. Some gloated, “Doesn’t even know his place and starts acting up. Now he’s gone too far, bet he regrets it.” Others offered well-meaning advice, “Pride is temporary. Just swallow it, apologize quickly, or Chloe really will go marry Trevor.” I knew perfectly well this was Chloe’s way of forcing me to beg her. But this time, I refused to bend. Not even if it killed me. The once lively room quickly emptied, leaving just me. I grabbed the remaining strong liquor and chugged it. The burning alcohol scorched my throat, then my stomach, bringing tears to my eyes. Decades of a relationship, just over. And yet, it felt almost… anticlimactic. Maybe if I went to an arranged marriage thousands of miles away, to a city down South, she wouldn’t bother me anymore. But for some reason, my face was wet with tears again. I went home and immediately started packing, preparing to leave. Chloe and I had grown up together. More than half of our short lives had been spent side-by-side. The depth of our bond meant I had so much to sort through. This little gold star sticker was the first award Chloe ever received in kindergarten. She’d toddled over to me on her tiny legs and given it to me. I vaguely remembered her saying, “I’m going to give Liam all the best things.” This photo was one she secretly took of me grimacing in pain after I severely sprained my ankle during my first basketball game. Back then, I thought I’d be paralyzed and sadly told her we might not be able to play together anymore. She didn’t say a word, just helped me up and walked me straight to the infirmary. Later, we became a couple. But different colleges forced us into a long-distance relationship. Our memories became a stack of train tickets. For four entire years, 193,700 kilometers was the distance we traveled to be with each other. Back then, she only had eyes for me, and she never once complained about being tired, no matter how long the journey. My fingers brushed against a small, hard box containing the matching rings we had made together. For her, I moved back to this city up North right after college graduation. The day I returned, she dragged me to get these rings made. I still remember her slipping the ring onto my finger and saying, “Liam, with this ring, you’re stuck with me for life. You’ll never get to leave me.” Neither of us knew then that in the end, it wouldn’t be me who let go, but her.

The day Trevor interviewed at the company, he performed terribly. Chloe openly disliked him. I also didn’t give a second thought to an applicant with such poor qualifications and ability. But for some reason, he was eventually hired against all odds, and slowly, from being a barely noticed background character, he became Chloe’s executive assistant. I truly started to notice something was off when I saw our matching ring—the one meant only for Chloe and me—on Trevor’s hand. At first, when I questioned her, Chloe would patiently explain things and try to smooth things over. But gradually, her patience wore thin, replaced only by impatience. My repeated reluctance to let go, my tolerance, my attempts to please her, only made her favoritism for Trevor more blatant. Company dinners would only feature dishes Trevor liked. Trevor worked only half-days a week; the rest of the time, he spent with Chloe, going out, eating, and having fun, while Chloe pushed all his assistant duties onto me. Chloe’s mentions of him became more frequent in front of me. At first, it was unconscious praise and admiration, but later, she started comparing me to him, complaining that I wasn’t as thoughtful or considerate as he was. Until one afternoon during a company tea break, Chloe said the coffee she ordered was delicious, and Trevor said he wanted to try it. Without a word, Chloe handed her coffee to him. He didn’t even bother to change the straw, just took a big sip from the one Chloe had used. Chloe even took the coffee back and continued drinking from the same spot Trevor’s lips had touched. In that moment, my heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, a mixture of bitterness and searing pain. From then on, Trevor, her “good buddy,” crossed more and more lines. Fearing Chloe would get a sunburn, he directly applied sunscreen all over her body. I, her fiancé, made her lunch, but he made her lunch too. He’d always eat the lunch I made for Chloe, claiming my cooking was “too good to waste,” then make her eat his own instead. Chloe even canceled my birthday celebration because Trevor had a cold. But every time I expressed my unhappiness about these things, Chloe would impatiently snap, “Liam, you really have a twisted mind. You see dirt everywhere. Trevor and I have the purest friendship. Don’t project your filthy thoughts onto him.” Yet, the more she said it, the less conviction she had in her voice. The most infuriating thing was a major industry event organized by our professional association. The organizers required attendees to bring their partners, but Chloe never told me. She just took Trevor. I only found out later when people kept asking me if Chloe and I had broken up. When I confronted her, Chloe got even angrier than I was. “I only took Trevor to network and cultivate talent for the company. Why are you so petty?” That time, we gave each other the cold shoulder for a long time, so long that I actually thought we’d finally split up. Until she sent me a message late one night: “Hubby, my stomach hurts so bad.” All my feigned indifference crumbled in an instant. And so, the terrible cycle of me questioning, her getting angry, me trying to smooth things over, and her forgiving me, began all over again. I closed the ring box and tossed it into the trash can. Deep in the drawer, I found a note Chloe wrote when she was 18, an apology for accidentally missing one of my messages. She really cared about me back then. But now, she only cared about Trevor. I took out the apology letter, tore it into pieces, and threw it in the trash. After thoroughly clearing out decades of emotional baggage, the house felt much emptier. My heart, it seemed, had been emptied along with it. The company’s SnapChat group was still flooded with photos of Trevor celebrating Chloe’s birthday and making her laugh. Knowing Chloe’s favoritism toward Trevor, colleagues eagerly provided them with emotional support. “OMG, Chloe and Trevor are such a perfect match!” “You should definitely find a boyfriend like Trevor, not some petty, sulking guy like Liam.” “Liam only got where he is because of his family. Trevor, on the other hand, made it all on his own. There’s no comparison between them.” I couldn’t stand to look anymore. I called my lawyer directly and instructed him to withdraw all my investments from Smith Corp.

The next day, I went to the company to pack my things, only to find Trevor in my private office lounge, wearing a tank top and with his feet propped up on my desk. His belongings were scattered everywhere, and all of mine had been unceremoniously dumped outside the door. This was my private office lounge, a space Chloe had specifically designed for me. Everyone in the company knew it, and no one dared to enter. Trevor’s actions were a blatant display of disrespect, practically spitting in my face. I couldn’t be bothered to argue with him. I just called the police. In the mediation room, Trevor panicked. “I was just helping Chloe get some documents. Did you really have to call the police?” “That’s my private space. Did I give you permission to just walk in?” I said coldly. “Taking something without asking? That’s stealing, plain and simple.” Trevor didn’t retort, but his expression suddenly shifted to one of profound victimhood. I immediately sensed something was off. And sure enough, when I turned around, who else would be standing there with a stormy face but Chloe? “Chloe!” The moment he saw her, Trevor immediately embraced her, his voice full of feigned injury. “I really just wanted to help you get those documents, but Liam seems to dislike me so much. He keeps insisting I stole something. You’ve given me so many things, my sixty-square-meter villa can’t even fit them all. Why would I need his pathetic belongings?” This small room was a gift from Chloe to me, a return gift for the little wooden cabin I built for her. We shared so many sweet memories in this room. I always thought at least this sanctuary would remain untainted, like the last vestige of dignity in our love. But Chloe, it seemed, still wanted to personally shred my last shred of hope. Chloe consoled Trevor while explaining to the officers, “It’s all a misunderstanding. We all know each other. Sorry to bother you.” Then she turned to me, her voice filled with disgust. “Liam, what has gotten into you? Why are you so jealous all the time? Does it give you great satisfaction to use your power to hurt innocent subordinates like Trevor? You really disappoint me.” Her reproaches rained down on me, and before I could even object, Trevor started his drama again. “Chloe, don’t blame Liam. It’s my fault for being careless. At most, I’ll spend a few days in jail, and people can laugh at me. It’s fine. Just don’t let this cause trouble between you and Liam.” Chloe grabbed Trevor’s hand, her face full of concern. “Trevor, you’re just too soft, that’s why people always pick on you.” Then she turned to me, her tone firm. “Liam, let me tell you, this isn’t just going to blow over. You need to apologize to Trevor immediately.” “Chloe, he entered my private space without my permission. And you want me to apologize to him? You still think he’s the victim?” The moment I spoke, Trevor started looking tearful again. Chloe scoffed. “Your private space? That lounge belongs to Smith Corp, don’t forget. The entire Smith Corp is under my name; you only have temporary usage rights. If you keep this attitude, I won’t hesitate to have you charged with false accusation.” With that, she dragged Trevor away to settle things. Her words were like a sharp spike, piercing deeply into my heart. My heart, which I thought had long gone numb, began to ache all over again. For so many years, I had poured my heart and soul into supporting Smith Corp, believing I was fighting for our shared future. Only to be told, in the end, “you only have temporary usage rights.” Before Chloe and Trevor left the mediation room, she gave me a warning. “Just a friendly heads-up: the likes have already reached 990. If you keep this attitude, I’m really going to go register my marriage with Trevor.” I looked at Trevor’s sneering eyes behind her and suddenly realized my own pathetic situation. Trevor’s tactics had always been clumsy; the intelligent Chloe couldn’t possibly have been blind to them. She simply chose to ignore them. The scales of love in her heart had long since tipped. All of this was just her way of getting rid of me, her stage-five clinger. And I, like an idiot, kept trying to make peace again and again. Once I fully grasped this, the last bit of love I had for Chloe died completely. During the days leading up to my departure for the city down South, some gloating colleagues would privately message me, giving me updates on the “like” count. “The likes are at 994! If you don’t grovel now, someone else will steal your fiancée!” “Tsk, tsk, tsk, 997 likes already. Looks like you’re destined to be single for life.” “Oh, sticking it out for a long time this time, huh? Did you pee your pants and run away because you think you can’t compare to Trevor, hahaha?” I blocked and deleted all of them, ignoring their taunts. When the likes reached 999, and I still hadn’t shown up to beg, the tension around Chloe was suffocating. No one in the company dared to press that final “like” button. Just as Chloe was wondering how to deliver another warning, someone suddenly burst into her office, shouting, “Chloe, the 1000th like has been achieved!”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “325320”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic

The villainous mother and her two daughters in this story were tearing each other apart over the male lead. It was my intervention that changed their fate. The older daughter later inherited the family business, and the younger one got into a top-tier university. But at the company’s annual gala, the sisters jointly pleaded with their mom, asking her to bring back Ryan, the man who had lost his wife. “Mom and Ryan have already missed out on a decade together, Dad. You need to be reasonable and generous.” On the day of Katherine’s wedding to Ryan, I didn’t cry or make a scene. Instead, I summoned the God of Destiny who had sent me here. “I need to leave this messed-up place.” I stood in the pouring rain until the music in my earbuds stopped. I swayed, letting myself topple into the freezing, biting river. I wasn’t from this world. I’d been sent here on a mission to save a family of antagonists from a story. The God of Destiny had tasked me with preventing their tragic fate of tearing each other apart over the male lead. The condition was the healing of my own critically ill body. But tragically, the moment the original love interest was out of the picture, my wife and daughters couldn’t wait to welcome the widowed Ryan into our home. The God of Destiny’s voice echoed: 【Mission failed. If your body in this alternate world perishes, your body in your real world will awaken. However, your time there is also running out. Are you certain you want to leave here?】 I nodded slightly. With the precious little time I had left, I only wished to spend it with my own family and friends. But the expected sensation of drowning never came. A powerful grip seized my arm from behind, yanking me upwards. “What do you think you’re doing? It’s Ryan’s big day, and you just had to pull this stunt?” I turned to see my stepdaughter, Alex. She was gasping for air, her bright eyes burning with fury. She was one of the targets of my mission in this world, and in the later parts of the book, the most fanatical antagonist. She would become so obsessed with Ryan that she’d turn crazy, fall out with her family, and eventually become an outcast everyone avoided. When I became Katherine’s husband, Alex was only six years old. Her birth father had died young, and her mother was constantly busy with work. The young Alex roamed the streets getting into trouble, desperate for attention, but often just messing things up and getting bullied by other kids. I brought her home, cleaned her up, and planned for her future. Alex wasn’t interested in academics, so I encouraged her to pursue business instead. Little Alex had a dream for the first time. Her eyes red-rimmed, she asked me, “Can I call you Dad? Everyone laughs at me for not having a dad, for being unwanted…” After I agreed, she gently hugged me. “Dad, when I grow up and make a lot of money, the first thing I’ll do is buy you a huge house and make sure you’re set for life.” But when she actually achieved her dream, her first demand was for Ryan to become her new father. She stopped calling me Dad. She even hated my guts because of a single comment from Ryan – that I had intentionally let him be abducted by thugs, preventing him from coming back to see her in time. The young woman before me overlapped with the memory of that child who called me Dad, but her eyes now held only a chilling coldness. “No need to keep up the act. You just want to get our attention, right? If you really wanted to die, why pick a spot on my way home from work, timing it perfectly?” I was speechless. I just wanted to find a not-too-ugly way to die, choosing a picturesque spot, and completely hadn’t expected to run into Alex. Seeing I didn’t respond, Alex scoffed, “If you really want to die, go somewhere far away. Ryan loves this river. He walks here when the weather’s nice, don’t you dare…” Her words abruptly cut off. I quickly dashed to the other end of the broken bridge and leapt off. Ryan likes this river, huh? Then I hope he never comes here again. Every time he does, it just fills me with disgust.

My body grew heavier and heavier. In a daze, I heard the beeping of hospital equipment. Mom, Dad, wait for me! Your son is coming home soon! Just as I thought I had succeeded, a powerful force dragged me back to the shore. Alex was drenched, her eyes misted over with water, making it impossible to tell if she’d been crying or if water had just gotten in them. Seeing Alex like that, I joked, mocking her, “You don’t want me to die?” Alex’s face twisted in an awkward expression. “You’re overthinking it. Your death has nothing to do with me. Even if you really wanted to die, I wouldn’t stop you, but not today! I don’t want Ryan to be upset thinking about you every year on his wedding anniversary!” It was for Ryan, of course. Seeing that I was uncharacteristically quiet, Alex grabbed me and started walking towards the house. “Just go home for now. Anyway, you can’t die today. If you really want to die, find somewhere far away, at least somewhere I won’t see you!” Alex was strong; I couldn’t break free. As we reached Katherine’s front door, we ran into Sophia, my daughter in this world. She was dressed in a crisp suit, looking incredibly sharp. She had just rushed over from school. Seeing Alex and me soaking wet, she glanced past me, barely giving me a look, and simply called out, “Alex.” Alex nodded. Sophia then instructed, “Why are your clothes all wet? Be careful not to catch a cold, Alex. Go change quickly. Ryan and Mom’s wedding is about to start.” Throughout the entire exchange, she didn’t spare me a single glance, as if I weren’t her father but a stranger on the street. The book said Sophia was lost at birth and grew up in foster care, developing an extremely gloomy personality. Ryan was supposed to be the only light in her life. But I came. I found her and brought her home. I had such high hopes for this child. In my mind, she was connected to me by blood, not just a character from a book. She wouldn’t need me to meticulously “complete a mission”; she would naturally be on my side. I cherished Sophia like a precious jewel, terrified she would get lost again like in the book. I was hands-on with everything, ensuring Sophia grew up safe and sound. And Sophia indeed grew into an outstanding young woman, completely different from the troubled girl in the book. She was humble, polite, had a sense of family responsibility, cared for her sisters, and even became a star student at school. I never doubted myself. My own daughter, how could I not manage? But the moment Ryan appeared, the usually attentive Sophia changed completely. She started doing all sorts of things I forbade, using them to express her dissatisfaction and rebellion against me. “Why does Dad always have a problem with Ryan? It’s clearly Dad who’s wrong!” I never expected that all the lessons I’d taught Sophia, all those books we’d read together, would turn into weapons against me. “Dad is just jealous of Ryan, which is why he cruelly let Ryan be kidnapped and tortured. He has no kindness in his heart. How can someone like you be my dad?” At that moment, I was standing dumbfounded, holding the breakfast I had woken up early to prepare specifically for her. I felt like I didn’t recognize the daughter I had personally raised. She then slapped the tray out of my hands, declaring she’d never eat anything I made again. The pain in my heart was inexpressible. I sternly reprimanded her, and she looked at me as if I were her enemy. From that day on, my daughter and I never exchanged another word. Hearing Sophia’s question, Alex’s expression was mortified. “Just now… he really jumped into the river.” Sophia frowned slightly, her cold tone utterly devoid of emotion. “Alex, don’t let him trick you. With you there, how could he possibly die? He’s just seeing Ryan come home and throwing a tantrum, resorting to these little tricks. Do you really think he’d give up all the comfort and luxury of this home…” Sophia hadn’t finished her sentence when I slammed my head into the doorframe. I kept sighing inwardly. Ugh, I wanted to die with a bit of dignity, but these two girls are just too noisy. Hot blood streamed down my face, and the world before me plunged into darkness. Just before my consciousness completely faded, I thought I heard someone scream “Dad” in anguish.

When I opened my eyes again, my forehead throbbed faintly. The lavish, modern chandelier above me came into view, and I knew: I hadn’t managed to leave this world again. Every night, I hovered at the edge of death, meaning my time with my family in my original world was shrinking. Time was precious to me. I stared at the chandelier, wondering if I could use it to end everything. The moment I stirred, a hand gripped mine tightly. “Liam, please, stop this nonsense, okay? It’s a good thing you’re weak; you didn’t hit your head too hard. Otherwise, you would have terrified the girls.” It was Katherine, my wife in this world and the company CEO, who spoke. Her brows were tightly furrowed, her gaze fixed on the bandage wrapped around my forehead. Her eyes were deep, making it impossible to guess what she was thinking. In the original story, Katherine was Ryan’s most passionate admirer. Unable to have him, she eventually turned dark, even committing extreme acts of betraying the company and harming others, all to get closer to Ryan. My first act upon arriving in this world was to drug Katherine, making her fall unconscious and unable to pursue Ryan, thereby cutting off the source of all her future wrongdoings. When Katherine woke up, she wanted to end me immediately. But I knew the story inside out and was well aware that Ryan wouldn’t be harmed. It wasn’t until she witnessed Ryan and his love interest living a happy, loving life together that Katherine gradually let go of her prejudice against me. She tried to understand me, to care for me. During that difficult period, she mistakenly thought I was being bullied and personally stood up for me. In that challenging moment, two hearts quietly drew closer. Later, I reined in my temper, managed the household, and supported my wife and daughters. Katherine, too, became like any ordinary wife who cherished her husband. We relied on each other, promising to be together in the next life. Her fate was slowly changing; my mission was nearing completion. At that point, my terminal illness in my original world would be cured, and I could even choose to pause time in my original world to first spend this happy lifetime with Katherine’s family. However, the change came without warning. One stormy night, Ryan returned alone. He cried, throwing himself into Katherine’s arms, pouring out the inhumane suffering he had endured all these years. The usually composed Katherine actually shed tears of heartache. When she learned that I had maliciously hindered Katherine and pushed Ryan into his predicament, Katherine’s entire family – mother and daughters – erupted in fury. They kept Ryan at home, caring for him meticulously, while completely ignoring me. On Sophia’s birthday, I prepared a table full of steak and salad, all their favorites. But I waited until deep into the night, and no one returned. It turned out the three of them were out dining with the dejected Ryan, simply to cheer him up. The day I found Sophia and brought her home was one of the happiest days of my life. Katherine had promised then that she would bring the children to celebrate with me every year because I had given Sophia a home. But now, they had all broken their promises. When Katherine’s family returned, they simply glanced at the table of cold food and blandly said, “Ryan doesn’t like your cooking. You don’t need to make it anymore.” Recalling these past events, I coldly pulled my hand free from Katherine’s tight grip and calmly said, “I’m not being difficult. I just… don’t want to live anymore.” Katherine suddenly seemed annoyed. She leaned over and helped me up; I couldn’t break free. A moment later, she finally spoke, her tone tinged with helplessness. “Liam, don’t say such angry things, and don’t threaten me and the girls with death anymore. Our feelings for each other won’t change. I’ll make sure to discipline the girls well. You will always be the man of this house.” Katherine’s words sounded sweet, as if she still loved me as before. But then, she cautiously observed my expression and mentioned Ryan. “I’ve already assured you, Ryan won’t take your place. You wronged him before, and now he just needs a place to stay… So, where did you hide him? Tell me, and I can pretend nothing happened. We can continue our peaceful life as a family, wouldn’t that be better?” I scoffed inwardly. Ryan’s gone missing again? And Katherine still thinks it’s my doing? Seeing me smile, Katherine couldn’t maintain her detached façade any longer, her tone growing urgent. “Liam, you don’t need to act anymore. I’ve searched. Ryan’s watch was clearly hidden in your closet. You both disappeared simultaneously this morning… Tell me, where did you hide Ryan?” It seemed Ryan was impatient to expel me, even willing to use his own wedding as a scheme. After all, as the male lead, he craved universal adoration; how could he share a woman with another man? What he wanted was to be the only one in the hearts of Katherine and her daughters. I suddenly burst out laughing, “Ha, yes, I did it. Ryan’s dead! I was jealous of him, so I killed him. Do you want to avenge him? Then kill me! Unless… you can’t bear to?” Katherine would stop at nothing for Ryan. If she laid a hand on me to kill me, I could finally go home. Katherine was visibly enraged. Losing all reason, she directly wrapped her hands around my throat. “Liam! How did you become like this…? Ryan has suffered enough; why do you keep harassing him!” Actually, it wasn’t me who changed, but the three women of her family. I didn’t resist, letting my breath gradually weaken. Good. Finally, everything will end. The door was abruptly shoved open, and Alex and Sophia walked in, supporting Ryan.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “325321”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic

“Tell Eleanor, my engagement tomorrow depends entirely on her presence.” It was an ultimatum. A concession, in Adam’s mind. A few minutes later, the assistant stammered.”Sir, She said… to go to hell.” Eleanor’s POV Three hours ago, Adam Hayes called. It was the first time he’d reached out in three months. His voice was as cool and detached as ever, brief and to the point “Eleanor, come to my villa. I need to talk to you.” Then the line went dead. No room for questions. Just an order, like calling a dog he owned. I admit, for a split second, that stagnant pool in my heart, long since silent, rippled with a pathetic hint of hope. After all, I’d been that pet for seven years. I even stood in front of the mirror, carefully covering the shadows under my eyes with my most expensive concealer. I spritzed on the woody scent he liked and slipped into the white dress he’d once said looked nice on me. Seven years of feeling, of bending and yielding, had carved this sad reflex into me. He crooked a finger, and I’d run to him like a trained thing, eager for approval. Even though I knew another carefully orchestrated humiliation probably awaited me. The car smoothly pulled up to Adam’s villa. Mr. Henderson, the butler, saw me and a complicated look flashed in his eyes. He seemed about to speak, then stopped. My heart sank, but I managed a small smile and nodded at him, walking straight inside. In the foyer, a pair of unfamiliar pink high heels lay crookedly on the floor, scattered next to a man’s suit jacket and tie. I stopped. No tears, no outbursts. My expression didn’t even flicker. I just quietly changed into slippers and walked up the stairs, one step at a time. Every corner of this villa was painfully familiar to me. I could walk to his study with my eyes closed. The study door was ajar. From inside came muffled, intimate sounds and a girl’s petulant whine. “Adam, stop…you’re crushing my dress…” I pushed the door open. Inside, Adam held a young woman against him. Her face was buried in his chest, only the pale curve of her neck visible. Three buttons of his shirt were undone, his usually immaculate hair was messy, and a smile I’d never seen before, tinged with desire and indulgence, played on his lips. He glanced up at the sound. When his eyes met mine, that smile died, replaced by a flash of impatience and distaste. “Eleanor, don’t you know how to knock?” The girl in his arms startled like a deer, lifting her head timidly. A face of pure innocence, with wide, round eyes now brimming with tears, stared pathetically up at me. I recognized her-Selena Blake, a film academy sophomore who’d recently gotten some attention from a web drama. My own social media still had traces of posts I’d written defending her from trolls. had called her a “promising talent” and asked me to take care of her.” So this was how he took care of her. “Adam, who is this?” She whispered, her voice sweet and cotton-soft, perfectly timid. Adam didn’t answer her. He slowly straightened his collar, then turned his gaze back to me. “Now that you’ve seen, I won’t bother hiding it..” He pulled a velvet box from the desk drawer and tossed it onto the coffee table between us. “This, it’s yours.” I looked down. Inside the box lay a pair of diamond rings, the ones Adam’s grandmother had given us when we got engaged. Adam’s indifferent voice sounded above me. “I want to marry Selena. So, let’s call off our engagement.” No hint of guilt, no trace of hesitation. I didn’t look at the rings. My gaze fell on my left wrist. It was a silver bracelet, the one Adam had given me for my eighteenth birthday. He’d said I should wear it forever, just as he’d be with me forever. For seven years, I had never taken it off. It had long become a part of me, more familiar than my own skin. I raised my eyes, calmly meeting his gaze. “Understood.” My calm seemed to throw him. Then he said mockingly. “What, no performance this time? I expected tears. Screaming. The usual threats. Eleanor, that act is getting stale.” I didn’t answer. Instead, I lifted my left hand and began working the bracelet loose. I’d worn it for so long the clasp had stiffened. It caught against my knuckle, grinding the skin red and raw. The harder I tugged, the more it seemed to cling. Selena covered her mouth in a show of concern. “Eleanor, please don’t. Adam didn’t mean it like that. You’ll only upset him if you hurt yourself.” Her words sounded like an act, and a challenge. Adam crossed the room and seized my wrist. “Eleanor, what’s the game now? Trying to play hard to get?” I gasped, wincing in pain, but then I laughed. “Adam,” I said. “You ended the engagement. This bracelet is yours. Why wouldn’t I give it back?” He stared intently at me, as if trying to find even the slightest trace of pretense on my face. But he failed. On my face, there was nothing but the tears brought on by the pain. It seemed a broken heart really made no sound. He finally released my hand, his gaze unreadable. With all my strength, enduring the sharp pain, I finally tugged the slender silver bracelet off my wrist. A raw, red mark was seared onto my skin, a stark sight. I gently placed the bracelet on the coffee table, next to the diamond rings. “Adam, I wish you and Selena a happy marriage.” Then I turned and walked out of the study. I didn’t look back. Driving away from the villa, I finally couldn’t hold back anymore. My tears poured down, a torrent. Seven years. It turned out to be as short as a single slap. Loud. And agonizing.

Eleanor’s POV It was past eleven when I got home. The living room lights were blazing. My ‘dear’ father, Robert Vance, and my stepmother, Brenda, sat stiffly on the sofa, clearly waiting up for me. The moment I stepped inside, Brenda spoke in that familiar, needling tone. “Oh, look who finally decided to come home. We thought you’d be spending the night at Adam’s again-forgetting where you belong.” I was too exhausted to lift my head. I walked past her without a word and headed for the stairs. “Stop!” Robert roared, slamming a tablet hard at my feet. “Look at this yourself!” On the screen was a statement just released by Hayes Group’s PR department, announcing the happy news of Mr. Adam Hayes’ upcoming engagement to Ms. Selena Blake. The accompanying picture was an intimate shot of Adam and Selena. He had his arm around her waist, smiling broadly. How fast he was, Adam. Less than three hours after we broke up, he was desperate to announce it to the world, to cut ties with me, afraid that I, his clingy little pet, might tarnish his reputation even slightly. “Eleanor! What did you do?” Robert’s face was livid. “Why has Adam called off the engagement? ” He never asked how I was. Only whether his ladder to the Hayes family had snapped. I was too drained to speak. All I wanted was my room, my bed, and silence. Brenda saw her opening. “Robert, why bother asking? Have you seen what’s being said online? They’re calling her a barren hen, saying she trapped Adam with every dirty trick in the book. Her name is mud now. And the Hayes family-what would they want with a daughter-in-law like that?” When had those rumors even started? It was probably three years ago, when I drank myself into alcohol poisoning, damaging my body, trying to cover for Adam at a crucial business dinner. The doctor said it would be very difficult for me to conceive in the future. I had only told Adam about it. I looked at the two snarling faces in front of me and suddenly found it all very laughable. “I was the one who ended the engagement,” I said, flatly. Robert looked as if he’d heard the funniest joke. “You? What right do you have? Eleanor, I’m telling you, your brother and sister’s tuition and living expenses for studying abroad this month haven’t been sent yet! If you can’t sort things out with Adam, they can just pack their bags and come home!” It was the same old trick. Threatening me with the family members I cared about most. For the past seven years, this was why I’d lived like a dog in front of my own parents and Adam. But now, it was different. I looked up, meeting his gaze calmly. “So? What do you want?” My reaction stunned both Robert and Brenda. They were used to my meek compliance and hadn’t expected such a calm retort. Brenda’s eyes flickered, then she pasted on a sweet, false smile and took my hand. “Eleanor, don’t be upset with your father. He just wants what’s best for you. Since Adam is no longer an option, we can’t let you go to waste. Do you remember the Sterlings of Virginia? Their eldest son is seeking an arranged match. We were going to send your sister Lily, but she’s still so young and silly…” The Sterlings of Virginia. The top tier, the unimaginably wealthy family rumored to have a disabled heir. Alexander Sterling, who had turned volatile and cruel after an accident in his youth. No attendant lasted more than three months. No woman dared enter that fire. So this golden opportunity fell to me. The one Adam had thrown away. The scandalous one. The one who might never bear children. It sounded like a bargain. They were selling me, wringing out every last drop of value. “If you agree, the Sterlings will give us three hundred million. They’ll also cover your brother and sister’s Ivy League tuition-everything,” Brenda’s voice was laced with temptation. Three hundred million. My high school siblings. My life. In Robert’s eyes, that was my total worth. I looked at his greedy face, my heart turning to ice. Out of the fire, straight into the furnace. But at least, Virginia was far away from here, so far that I would never have to see Adam again, never have to live in the shadow of the past seven years. At least, this time, it was my choice. My marriage for my siblings’ future and my own freedom. It was a worthwhile trade. I pulled my hand from Brenda’s grasp, looked at Robert, and clearly uttered two words. “I agree.” Robert and Brenda’s faces instantly lit up with the wild joy of immense relief. Adam Hayes. This city, this relationship, these awful people and things. I was done with them.

Eleanor’s POV Three days after agreeing to marry into the Sterling family in Virginia, I met my best friend, Chloe Miller, at a Western restaurant downtown. It was a farewell, and a change of scenery. Chloe was the only genuine friend I had in our circle. As soon as she sat down, she grabbed my hand, her eyes red. “Eleanor, I know everything. Adam, that jerk, how could he do this to you? And Selena, that little bitch, if you hadn’t spoken up for her back then, she would’ve been drowned by her haters’ comments!” I smiled, handing her a tissue. “Why are you crying? I’m not the one who should be crying. I asked you out today to tell you I’m getting married.” Chloe’s crying stopped abruptly. “Married? To whom? Did Adam change his mind? No way, if he came back, I’d break his legs first!” “Not him.” I stirred the lemon water in my glass, my voice calm as if talking about someone else’s business. “It’s Alexander Sterling from the Sterling family in Virginia.” Chloe gasped, her face instantly looking worse than mine. “Alexander Sterling? The one rumored to be crippled and have a terrible temper?” I nodded. “Yes, him.” “Eleanor, are you insane?!” She shot up, drawing stares from nearby tables. “You’re going from the frying pan into the fire! What kind of pressure did the Vance family bloodsuckers put on you? If you need money, I have it. Don’t do anything stupid!” I pulled her back down, a wave of warmth washing over me. I knew she truly cared. “Chloe, listen to me,” I looked into her eyes, earnestly. “This is my own choice. You know what my family is like. If I don’t leave, my parents will control me forever. Marrying into Virginia, far away from this city, at least I’ll be free. And… the Sterling family offered me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” I told her about the Sterling family’s promise to cover all my siblings’ educational expenses. Chloe fell silent. After a long pause, she sighed. “You’re always like this, carrying everything alone. But what about you, Eleanor? When was the last time you thought about yourself??” Myself? It had been so long since I’d asked that question. For seven years, my life had orbited Adam. I learned what he liked, shed what he didn’t. I’d nearly forgotten who Eleanor was. Maybe marrying a stranger-a disabled man-was the first real choice I’d made for myself in years. We were still talking when a familiar figure paused beside our table. It was Selena. She wore a crisp new Chanel suit, her makeup flawless, a limited-edition Hermès bag over her arm. She looked nothing like the wide-eyed girl from the villa three days before. Adam wasn’t with her. “Eleanor, what a coincidence.” She spoke with a beaming smile, but her eyes were like poisoned needles, stabbing directly at me. Chloe was about to erupt, but I held her back. I shook my head at Chloe, then looked up at Selena, forcing a small smile. “Not a coincidence. I specifically chose this restaurant, one you couldn’t afford, to avoid people like you.” Selena’s smile froze for a moment, then she recovered it. “You’re so funny. Oh, by the way, Adam and I are getting engaged next week. You absolutely have to come, you know? It just wouldn’t feel right without a blessing from the ex.” As she spoke, she deliberately tossed her hair, revealing a dazzling diamond necklace around her neck. I recognized that necklace. Adam had bought it at an auction. It was his twenty-fifth birthday gift to me. So, the things he gave me could be worn by another woman in an instant. My heart, though numb, still felt that dull ache. “Ms. Blake,” I put down my fork and knife, leaning back in my chair, looking at her languidly. “Does wearing someone else’s discarded belongings give you a sense of accomplishment?” “You!” Selena’s facade finally cracked. “What are you talking about? Adam gave this to me! He said he’d never given anyone such an expensive gift!” “Is that so?” I laughed softly. “Then do you know the name of the necklace you’re wearing? It’s called ‘Eternity.’ When he gave it to me, he said it stood for forever. It seems Adam’s forever has a rather short expiration date” Selena snapped. “What do you have to be so proud of?” she burst out. “You’re just a woman Adam grew bored with! Do you think I don’t know? You can’t even have children-a useless hen! What could you possibly have over me?” She lowered her voice on that last sentence, but it struck my most painful spot. All the blood in my body rushed to my head in that instant. She continued, her voice filled with malicious glee. “Oh, right, I forgot to tell you. Adam bought the rooftop where your mother jumped off. He said the view was nice, and he’s going to turn it into a sunroom. We can have afternoon tea there, plant flowers. Your mother’s anniversary is coming up, isn’t it? Do you want to come up and join us then?” Smack! A sharp slap echoed through the entire restaurant. I stood there, my palm stinging. Selena clutched her face, staring at me in shock. Her eyes welled up instantly. “You…you hit me?” I could stand her flaunting Adam’s affection. I could endure her taking what was mine. But using my late mother to taunt me? That was a line she never should have crossed! “That slap,” I looked at her, my voice cold, “was for my mom.”

Eleanor’s POV The commotion in the restaurant attracted the manager, and then, Adam. He arrived so quickly,  like a dog guarding its bowl. Without a glance at me, he pulled a weeping Selena behind him and turned a look of cold disdain in my direction-a look I’d never seen on his face before. “Eleanor, what is wrong with you?” Selena, still tucked against him, pointed a trembling finger at me. “Adam, I only asked her to our engagement party… and she hit me.” His expression darkened further. He stared at me as if I were some deranged stranger. “Apologize to her,” he commanded. I looked at him, and a chilling thought settled in my chest: the man before me was a stranger.. Seven years. He had never once asked why. No matter the fight, no matter the reason, he would always make me back down, make me apologize. Because in his world, I, Eleanor Vance, was meant to be the sensible, accommodating, utterly trouble-free accessory. “I won’t repeat myself. Apologize.” When I didn’t move, he warned. Chloe, trembling with rage beside me, couldn’t help but speak up. “Adam, are you blind? She was the one who provoked Eleanor with her mom’s death! She’s the one who should apologize!” Adam’s gaze swept over Chloe, and he said coldly, “This doesn’t concern you.” Then, his eyes landed on me again, filled only with impatience and disappointment. “Eleanor, don’t make me completely lose the last bit of consideration I have for you.” The last bit of consideration? So, seven years of our relationship, to him, had dwindled to this. I laughed, but tears streamed down my face. I looked at Selena, protected in his arms, at his blaming face, and asked him, word by word, “Adam, what if today, I say no?” His brows furrowed tightly. He seemed surprised by my defiance. “Eleanor, don’t push me.” Push him? What had I pushed him to do? Had I pushed him to fall in love with someone else? Had I pushed him to break off our engagement? Had I pushed him to trample on my dignity? Smack! Another sharp slap. But this time, it landed on my face. The entire world fell silent. My cheek burned, a searing pain that soon turned numb. My ears rang, making me unable to hear the gasps and whispers around me. I only saw Adam with his hand raised, a flicker of shock on his face, as if he hadn’t expected himself to actually hit me. And behind him, Selena’s lips curved into a fleeting, triumphant smile. So, this was the end. This slap, more than the broken engagement in the villa, more than seeing my necklace on another woman, finally sobered me up. I raised my hand, wiped away my tears, then looked at him and said, incredibly calmly: “Fine, I apologize.” Adam seemed to relax, believing I’d finally given in. I turned toward Selena, met her expectant gaze, and spoke slowly. “I’m sorry.” Then, under the stunned eyes of everyone, I looked straight at Adam and went on. “Adam, I’m sorry for loving you these past seven years.” “I’m sorry I gave up myself and my dignity for you.” “I’m sorry I was blind enough to mistake a stone for a jewel.” Adam’s expression turned terrifying. “Eleanor! You-” “Adam,” I cut him off, forcing a smile. “You were the one who let go first.” “I promise you. From today on, I will never appear before you again.” “Never again. Just as you wish.” With that, I picked up my bag and, leaning on a worried Chloe, walked out of the restaurant without a backward glance. Behind me, Adam’s furious shout echoed through the dining room. But I didn’t care anymore. The wind outside was bitingly cold. But that was good. At least it could freeze a person clear.

Eleanor’s POV The day after returning from the restaurant, I started packing. ‘Luggage’ wasn’t really the right word. I disdained to take anything from the Vance house, and just looking at the things Adam had given me was painful. I cleared out all the designer bags, high-end fashion, and jewelry from my walk-in closet, piling them in the center of the room. Finally, I took out a heavy red velvet keepsake box from the safe. Adam had given it to me for my twentieth birthday. He’d said that every year, he would put a piece of jewelry he thought best suited me inside. When the box was full, he would marry me. Seven years later, the box was already overflowing. Inside were the tiny diamond earrings he bought me with his bonus after he landed his first project. There was the antique brooch we found at a flea market during our first trip abroad to Paris. And his mother’s sapphire ring, meant for his future wife… Each item had once been treasured. But now, they were just a pile of cold stones. I closed the lid of the box and, along with the blank wish card he’d signed when he was younger, promising to grant my every wish, placed it into the cardboard box meant for return. That wish card was my last resort. Back when Adam’s grandfather was still alive, to reassure me, Adam had signed this card in front of both our families. He’d said that as long as I held this card, no matter when or where, I could make a request, and he would never refuse. I once believed this card would be the most romantic fulfillment of a vow when I married him. Later, I thought it would be my final card to play to win him back. But now, I just wanted to return it to him. I didn’t want to owe him anything anymore. I called Adam’s assistant, Mark, gave him the address, and told him to come pick up the items. Mark’s voice was his usual business-like tone. “Ms. Vance, Mr. Hayes is very busy these days, preparing for his engagement party with Ms. Blake. I’m afraid he doesn’t have time for these irrelevant matters.” “Irrelevant matters?” I controlled my emotions. “There are his personal belongings in the box, very important ones.” Mark’s tone grew impatient. “Ms. Vance, I know you’re upset, but Mr. Hayes is truly starting a new life. Why cling on in this way? It would be better for everyone to maintain some decency, wouldn’t it?” He thought I was playing games, trying to cling to Adam. I took a deep breath and said as calmly as possible, “The box contains Mr. Hayes’s personal insignia and important tokens. You must come and collect them before five this afternoon. Otherwise, if anything goes missing, you’ll be responsible.” There was a few seconds of silence on the other end, then he reluctantly agreed. “Understood, I’ll be there this afternoon.” At four-thirty that afternoon, Mark arrived as promised. He didn’t even step inside, just stood at the doorway. I pushed the few large cardboard boxes I’d packed towards him. “Ms. Vance,” he said pointedly, while instructing his driver to move the boxes, “you need to look forward. Mr. Hayes and Ms. Blake are a perfect match, everyone knows that. You’re only making yourself look worse.” I didn’t explain, nor did I argue. Arguing with someone living in their own delusion was the most foolish thing in the world. I just looked at him and said blandly, “Check the items thoroughly. Take them back to him. From now on, we’re even.” After they loaded everything into the car, I closed the front door.

Eleanor’s POV Three days later, a black stretch limousine pulled up to my house. I wore a simple white dress, carrying a small suitcase. Under the complex gazes of Robert and Brenda, I got into the car, bound for Virginia. After a flight of over ten hours, the plane smoothly landed on a private airstrip at Virginia Airport. A middle-aged man in a black suit came forward, bowing respectfully to me. “Ms. Vance, I presume? I am Mr. Alexander Sterling’s butler, Mr. Davies. Mr. Sterling is waiting for you at the hillside villa.” “Hello, yes, thank you.” I responded with a smile. Mr. Davies seemed surprised by my polite demeanor. He paused, then offered a kind smile. “Ms. Vance, please get in the car.” The black Rolls-Royce drove smoothly along the mountain road. The scenery was entirely different from the city I had left behind. The car finally stopped in front of a white villa nestled among green trees. The villa’s design was minimalist and modern, exuding luxury in a subtle way. The butler opened the car door for me and led me into the living room. In the center of the living room, a man in a wheelchair sat with his back to me. He wore a simple white shirt, his figure slender and tall. Even seated, his excellent proportions were evident. Hearing my footsteps, he maneuvered his wheelchair, slowly turning to face me. In that instant, my breath caught. The man before me bore no resemblance to the gloomy, violent image I’d conjured of someone disabled. His features were strikingly handsome, almost perfect, and his deep eyes seemed to see right through me. He was Alexander Sterling. I instinctively clutched the hem of my dress, breaking the silence first. “Mr. Sterling, hello. I’ve arrived.” He lifted the corner of his lips slightly, and his cool demeanor softened somewhat. “I know. I’ve been waiting for you.” His gaze slowly moved from my face down to my tightly gripped suitcase handle. “Mr. Davies, show her to her room. It’s been a long flight; she must be tired,” he ordered softly, his eyes never leaving me. “Yes, sir.” Mr. Davies stepped forward, ready to take my suitcase. “No, thank you, I can manage.” I quickly refused, not wanting to seem delicate right after arriving. I pulled my suitcase, ready to follow the butler upstairs, but just as I turned to pass his wheelchair, the suitcase wheel unfortunately caught on the edge of the rug. The entire case suddenly tipped to one side. “Careful!” Mr. Davies exclaimed. I instinctively reached out to steady it, my body also losing balance. I tumbled forward unexpectedly- I didn’t fall to the carpet. My hands landed on something warm and firm. Through a thin layer of shirt fabric, I could clearly feel the smooth, powerful lines of muscle beneath my palms. My cheek was only a few centimeters from his neck. I could even smell his clean, fresh scent. I… I had practically fallen into Alexander Sterling’s arms. My hands were pressed against his chest. My mind went blank, my cheeks flushed crimson, feeling as though they could start bleeding. In all my life, aside from Adam, I had never had such intimate contact with any man. I fumbled to get up, clumsily pushing against his chest, but the more I rushed, the more my strength failed me. All the while, Alexander Sterling sat steadily in his wheelchair, without even a tremor. He didn’t push me away, nor did he help me. He just sat there quietly, letting me struggle clumsily in his arms like a startled rabbit. I could feel his steady, powerful heartbeat, tapping against my palm, a rhythmic thud, then another. My heart, however, felt like it was about to pound out of my throat. Finally, with a burst of effort, I pushed against his chest and straightened up, retreating a few steps in disarray, my head bowed so low it almost touched my chest. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to!” I stammered, my face so hot it felt like it could fry an egg. He still didn’t say anything. I secretly lifted my eyes, quickly glancing at him. He maintained his calm expression, as if I hadn’t just thrown myself into his arms. He slowly reached up and smoothed the wrinkles on his chest that I had caused. Then, his thin lips parted, his voice a few shades deeper and huskier than before. “Eleanor,” he said, “we’ve just met. Are you that eager?”

Adam’s POV My bachelor party took over the penthouse suite of the city’s most exclusive club. The place was packed-friends, hangers-on, top-shelf liquor, beautiful faces. The air hummed with decadence. Yet I, the guest of honor, couldn’t focus. I sat slouched on the sofa, a cigar smoldering between my fingers. My gaze drifted through the haze, seeing nothing. My friend Garrett North leaned in, offering a glass of whiskey. “Adam. You’re getting engaged tomorrow. Why are you so upset?” I ignored the drink, tugging at my tie. “Nothing.” Garrett followed my absent stare toward Selena, who was holding court across the room, laughter too loud. He snorted. “Still hung up on Eleanor? Honestly, Adam. Why trade a woman like her for someone so common? Look at her. You can practically see her head inflating.” Eleanor again. My expression hardened. “Eleanor and I are done.” “Done?” Garrett scoffed again. “Come on. It’s been seven years of this dance. When has she ever been the one to walk away for good? Give it three days. She’ll come crawling back, tears and all. That stunt at the restaurant? Just her playing hard to get. Again.” My friends were quick to agree. “Exactly. Eleanor’s crazy about you. She won’t just walk away.” “She’s jealous, that’s all. You know how women are. Just smooth things over a little.” “You’re getting engaged tomorrow, Adam. I’d bet anything Eleanor shows up to make a scene!” I took another drink. My irritation had little to do with them. It was Eleanor’s silence these past few days that grated on me. Ever since the restaurant disaster, she’d disappeared. Vanished. No calls, no texts, not a single social media post. It wasn’t what I’d expected. The script called for her to be blowing up my phone by now, pleading for another chance. But she wasn’t. And that loss of control-it churned in my gut, a blend of pure annoyance and the first cold trace of panic. I picked up my glass and downed the burning liquor. It did nothing for the tightness in my chest. I pulled out my phone and tapped Eleanor’s chat window on instinct. It was blank. “Damn woman!” I cursed under my breath and threw the phone onto the table. Garrett watched me, eyes glinting with a mischievous idea. “If you’re that worried, Adam, just call her. Make up an excuse-tell her to bring you something. If she comes, she still cares. If not…” “She’ll come,” I sneered, utterly confident. I waved my assistant Mark over. “Call Eleanor,” I ordered, sinking back into the sofa. “Tell her I’ve drunk too much. I need hangover soup. She has thirty minutes.” It was an old trick. No matter the hour or what she was doing, one call from me and Eleanor would drop everything, make the soup, and drive across the city to deliver it. Because Eleanor adored me. “Tell her,” I paused, adding, “my engagement tomorrow depends entirely on her presence.” It was an ultimatum. A concession. This was the greatest concession I’d ever grant. Mark nodded and stepped away to make the call. He returned a few minutes later, his expression strained. “Mr. Hayes,” he said, leaning in close. “Ms. Vance answered.” My brow lifted. A cold, knowing smile touched my lips. Just as I’d predicted. Eleanor couldn’t stay away. “What did she say? Is she crying? Ask her where she is now.” Mark stammered. “She… wasn’t crying, Sir. She said… to go to hell.” My smile froze.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “324463”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic #重生Reborn #校园School #励志Inspiring