I loved and fought with Lucas Stone for five years. During the time he went missing, I became his half-brother’s mistress. Later, he used every means to force me to divorce, Calling me a cheap slut in front of his new girlfriend, But I refused to let go. Today, however, I handed him the divorce papers myself. Because I’m going to marry his brother. “What are you up to now?” Lucas Stone stared at the divorce papers on the table, his eyes full of disgust and impatience. I wasn’t surprised by his reaction. For the past year, I had clung to him like a madwoman, desperate to keep him. I’d gone crazy, made scenes, even cut my wrists. But today, I saw Lucas at the hospital accompanying his girlfriend for a prenatal checkup. My battered heart finally died. I sniffled and put on a carefree smile. “Lucas Stone, you’re so boring. I don’t want to play anymore.” Lucas’s face darkened as he grabbed my neck forcefully. “Aria James, are you asking for death?” He gritted his teeth, seeming ready to kill me. Just as I was about to suffocate, Lucas’s phone rang, saving me. A girl’s soft sobs came from the other end: “Lucas, don’t be hard on Aria. I don’t need any status…” Lucas gently comforted her. The speaker was Chloe Zhang, the girl I had adopted and who was now Lucas’s girlfriend. After hanging up, Lucas swiftly signed the divorce papers, as if afraid I might change my mind. I wasn’t upset and moved on to discuss the property division. “You can have the house and the money. I just want this ring.” It was the wedding ring Lucas had given me. Back then, his proposal was broadcast non-stop on the mall’s big screen. The whole world knew Lucas Stone loved me. Now, only this ring could prove he once loved me. Lucas frowned deeply. “Stop acting.” He threw the divorce papers in my face. “Aria James, you disgust me.” I silently picked up the scattered papers from the floor. “I’ll move out as soon as I find a place.” After Lucas left, I collapsed onto the sofa in relief and called Nathan Stone. “It’s all over now. Are you satisfied?” I sat in Nathan’s car, clutching the divorce papers tightly. “Aria,” Nathan pulled over and smiled at me. “Lucas never loved you. If you were really as materialistic as he claims, why did you risk everything for him back then? He’s just afraid to investigate.” “None of that matters anymore,” I interrupted him, asking where we were going next. “I remember you haven’t been home in a long time.” I laughed bitterly, “I don’t have a home anymore.” When my mother found out I had become Nathan’s mistress, she slapped me hard. She said she had sacrificed everything to save Stone Corp, but never imagined her daughter would betray her life’s work. She refused to acknowledge me anymore. I had knocked on our home’s door countless times, but the servants avoided me like the plague. My mother adopted a girl who looked just like me. I watched them from afar at an amusement park, the three of them riding the merry-go-round together. From that moment, I knew I no longer had a home. Nathan stroked my head, his eyes as deep and unfathomable as an abyss. “Aria and I are the same now. Aria only has me, and I only have Aria.” He had schemed to make me become like him. “So Nathan, can we not go home?” Nathan’s lips curved slightly upward. “But how can our wedding not have our parents’ blessings?” I returned to the James house alone. The housekeeper was surprised to see me when he opened the door, as if he hadn’t expected my visit. “Miss, the madam isn’t home today.” I tilted my head to look inside. Chloe was lounging lazily against Lucas’s side, while Lucas adjusted the butterfly hairpin on her head. My mother was taking photos of them with a camera. I recognized the butterfly hairpin. It was a birthday gift my mother had once given me. Now the hairpin was hers, my mother was hers, and Lucas was hers too. I was the outsider. My mother stood up and walked towards the door, her face full of smiles until she saw me and froze. “How dare you come back? Why don’t you just die!” She angrily pushed me, shouting for me to die. I lost my balance and stumbled backwards, falling hard down the stairs. I was dizzy and disoriented. My mother still wore a cold expression, showing no concern as she watched me struggle to get up. My head was spinning, my body ached, and so did my heart. Chloe came out of the living room arm-in-arm with Lucas, feigning surprise. “Aria, why are you here? Mom, didn’t you say Aria wasn’t allowed back…” Her voice trailed off, clearly meant for me to hear. Lucas looked at me with disgust. He stood protectively in front of Chloe, as if afraid I might hurt her. My mother also quietly urged her to go back inside, moving to close the front door. I grabbed the door handle. “Mom, I’m going to marry Nathan Stone.” A gust of wind blew past my ear, and my cheek stung with pain. “You shameless wretch! Why did I ever give birth to you!” My mother slapped me and grabbed my collar, cursing me at the top of her lungs. Chloe covered her mouth in disbelief. “Aria, how could you… That’s Lucas’s brother!” Her act made me sick. I turned to leave. But my arm was seized in an iron grip. I looked back to meet Lucas’s gloomy eyes. “So you were in such a hurry to divorce because you’re marrying him? Aria James, you’re such a slut!” “Yes, but Lucas Stone, you’re the one person I’ve never wronged in this life.” I looked at him through tear-filled eyes, enunciating each word. He pushed me to the ground and looked down at me: “Aria James, you’ve wronged me your entire life.” I returned to the small apartment where Lucas had proposed to me. Right here, Lucas had said: “Lucas Stone will love Aria James forever.” He forgot, but I didn’t. I raised my ring finger, now bare. The back of my hand was bleeding from a scratch. As I was leaving, Chloe noticed I was still wearing the wedding ring from Lucas. She tearfully asked Lucas if he still had feelings for me. Lucas coldly said I wasn’t worthy. He forcibly yanked the ring off my finger, ignoring my protests. In the struggle, the ring cut my hand. The symbol of our love became a weapon he used to hurt me. He was unmoved, repeatedly wiping the bloodied ring, as if I had tainted it. But I clearly remembered when Lucas proposed, he was so nervous he went from kneeling on one knee to both knees, too choked up to speak. He said Aria James deserved all the beautiful things in this world. Those almond-shaped eyes made me drown in an ocean of tenderness. But he broke his promise. Chloe flashed me a victorious smile when Lucas wasn’t looking. She had won. I had to admit, she was truly a great actress. She publicly slandered and insulted me, while playing the innocent victim in private. She wanted me to be abandoned by everyone. She wanted rumors and gossip to drown me. She wanted to replace me. No matter what I did, it was wrong. Everyone knew that when Lucas went missing and was presumed dead, I got involved with his brother. No one believed me. I didn’t want to argue anymore. I got up clumsily, my thin clothes fluttering in the wind. Looking at Chloe’s tear-stained face, I said flatly: “I’m giving it all to you.” “I don’t want anything anymore.” I didn’t want to love Lucas Stone anymore. It was too painful. I sat by the floor-to-ceiling window watching the sun rise and set. But the sun in my heart would never rise again. The sun would never shine on me again. When I went back to the Stone house to pack my things, I found my fingerprints could no longer open the door, and the passcode had been changed. Chloe let me in. I hadn’t expected Lucas to be so eager to move her in. He must really love Chloe. The way he once loved me. Chloe acted every bit the lady of the house. “Lucas went out to buy me lychees. I didn’t want him to make the trip, but…” She lowered her head and stroked her belly, smiling smugly. “He said we can’t let our baby go hungry no matter what.” Although I had known about her pregnancy for a while, hearing her say it herself still felt like a stab to the heart. The man who once loved me so much now had a child with someone else, and I didn’t even have the right to question him. After all, in everyone’s eyes, I was the one who betrayed him first. I said nothing, so Chloe started to push her luck. “Aria, stop trying to get Lucas’s attention like this. It only makes him hate you more.” I rolled my eyes at her, not wanting to engage further. “Excuse me, I’m just here to collect my things. I’ll leave right away.” She didn’t budge from the doorway, pointing to a nearby trash can instead. “Your things are all in there.” The trash can was empty. The garbage collectors must have already taken everything away. I didn’t have many possessions, but there were some very precious items to me. Just as I angrily demanded to know why she threw out my things, Lucas returned. He stood in front of Chloe protectively. Glaring at me fiercely. “I told the housekeeper to throw it out. Chloe’s pregnant and can’t be around dirty things.” His protectiveness silenced any words I might have said. In his eyes, all my belongings were dirty. Even I was dirty. Chloe dramatically collapsed against Lucas’s shoulder, tears falling again. “Aria, it was just a charm. Why are you making such a big deal?” Lucas’s expression flickered for a moment. I think he probably hadn’t forgotten either. Nor had he expected that someone as materialistic as me would treasure such a worthless charm. Three years ago, I fell seriously ill with no apparent cause. Even the doctors were at a loss. When I was drifting in and out of consciousness, Lucas went to Lingyin Temple and kowtowed three times every nine steps, crawling up the stairs to obtain this charm for me. After wearing the charm, my illness miraculously improved. Back then, Nathan was still a carefree young master, and we had a good relationship. He told me: Lucas kept begging the Buddha, his forehead bleeding from kowtowing, all while murmuring: “I offer my life in exchange for my wife’s.” After hearing this, I stubbornly refused to wear it anymore, crying that I didn’t want Lucas to die. Later, I kept it in a box like a treasure. Now, it had become “dirty” in Lucas’s words. It had become a small pile of ashes in some incinerator. I wonder if Lucas still remembered that my life was exchanged for his devout prayers when we were young. I was once the person he would have given his life to protect. Before leaving, I stared at the lychees Lucas was holding and reminded him: “Lychees are cooling. They can cause miscarriage if eaten during early pregnancy.” Chloe immediately bristled at this, accusing me of cursing her child. She dropped her innocent act completely. She cried and threw a tantrum at Lucas, demanding that he kill me, that I should die. But this time, Lucas said nothing. He just stood there silently watching me leave. I went to the airport to pick up Hazel Greene. When she saw me, she burst into tears. She said I had gotten so thin she barely recognized me. Looking at myself in the airport bathroom mirror, I examined my face repeatedly. My pallid face was devoid of color, my eyes hollow and lifeless. There wasn’t a trace left of the radiant girl I once was. No wonder she didn’t recognize me. I couldn’t even recognize myself anymore. She cooked a feast of all my favorite dishes, saying I needed to eat more to regain my strength. I sat at the table and picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork. “Lucas and I are divorced. I’m marrying Nathan on the 8th of next month.” Hazel’s hand trembled violently, dropping her chopsticks on the floor. She looked up at me in confusion. “Aria?” “He didn’t want me anymore.” I ate the sweet and sour pork, only tasting bitterness. “This past year while you were gone, I suffered so much.” “No one believed me. Even Lucas bullied me.” Hazel angrily smashed a bowl. “How dare he! Doesn’t he know that back then you…”
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