Six years ago, I was forced to marry Lily White in place of my brother. Every night since then, I’ve had to help her bathe and put condoms on her lover. I even had to babysit their child. “I’ve decided to make things official with Quinn,” she said, nestled in Quinn’s arms, completely disregarding my discomfort. “As for you, James, you can stay here and serve our little family.” Quinn didn’t like my face, so they broke my back, leaving me unable to lift my head. He complained about my sour smell, so they threw me into a freezing pool for nights on end. It was bitterly cold, and I was numb all over by the time they fished me out. But Lily just bragged to others scornfully, “He’s like a mangy dog, impossible to get rid of.” Then I got a call from my friend. “Your father has passed away,” they said. “His last wish was for you to be free. You can finally leave now.” I remained silent on the phone for a long while before simply responding with a quiet “Mm.” It’s better that Dad is gone. At least he won’t have to suffer mentally and physically every day anymore. The air conditioner blew out a steady stream of cold air. My icy clothes clung to my skin, but they couldn’t ward off the fever burning inside me. Shaking, I crawled towards the medicine cabinet and swallowed a few cold pills before being dragged in front of Lily. “We’re out of condoms,” she said. “Go buy some more. You know Quinn’s size. I’ll only wait twenty minutes.” But the nearest store was over an hour’s walk away. In the past, I never had the option to refuse her. Even that time I went out in a blizzard and nearly froze to death, I was slapped senseless as soon as I got back through the door. Quinn deliberately wrapped his arms around her and taunted me with a coy look. “Is big brother jealous of how well sis and I fit together? I just want to make her happy.” Lily completely ignored my frostbitten hands and feet. Convinced I was deliberately causing trouble, she banished me to the basement for a whole day. My memories blurred. I slowly stood up, my eyes lifeless. “You don’t need any. I’m not going,” I said flatly. Lily’s head snapped up to look at me, as if seeing me refuse her for the first time. The next instant, her palm cracked across my cheek. My forehead slammed hard against the corner of the table, blood trickling down. “James, it seems you still don’t understand your place!” Lily’s icy voice held the mockery I knew all too well. My place? Ha! Everyone in this house knew I was nothing more than a pathetic yes-man. She bore her lover’s child but dumped it on me to raise. On my birthday, her lover humiliated me, forcing me to crawl between his legs as I knelt on the ground. Even when they pushed me down the stairs and I cracked my head open, all she said was, “Get up and clean your filthy blood. It’s disgusting to look at.” I’d endured all kinds of torment, but now she lost it over one little retort. I turned away, struggling to keep my spinning head clear. “These six years must have been hard on you too. We should…” The word “divorce” caught in my throat as she cut me off. Lily had security hold me down, her eyes cold enough to kill. “So you’ve finally snapped,” she said, her tone dripping with disdain. “If it weren’t for your ruthless scheming, you wouldn’t even have the chance to be my dog.” As I struggled, her gaze fell on my mangled left hand and she faltered slightly. The last time she was kidnapped, I had gripped the attacker’s knife with my bare hand. I ended up losing a finger. She pressed her lips together, about to say something when Quinn came over with a pitiful expression. He “accidentally” stepped on my hand. As I tried to pull away in pain, he suddenly collapsed to the ground. Lily waved for security to release me. But Quinn started pleading, “Lily, I hurt my hand!” His long fingers were barely red, but Lily cradled them tenderly. The servants accused me of being jealous of his piano skills and ability to please Lily. I let out a slow breath and closed my eyes. I was used to being wrongly blamed by now. The medicinal soup I’d carefully prepared for him had been poisoned. He vomited and had diarrhea after eating it. But Lily was convinced I did it on purpose and forced me to eat all the leftovers. Just because I was a heinous sinner who could never atone for my crimes, even in death. “James! He’ll be the child’s only father. Don’t you dare try to harm him again!” she screamed, choking me as she pinned me down to warn me before rushing Quinn to the hospital. The high fever and blood loss finally overwhelmed me. I collapsed to the floor, unconscious. But I was grateful. I was finally going to be free.
When I came to, I was still lying in the yard. I struggled to my feet and had just reached the door when someone chased me away with a mop. “No filth allowed inside! You’re bad luck. Hurry up and clean up your mess!” the housekeeper spat at me, arms crossed. Anyone in this house could step all over me. All because Lily had said if I wanted to enter this house, I could only be the lowest, dirtiest dog. I didn’t argue with them. I just limped into the basement. I had very few possessions in the tiny room. Everything fit easily into one small bag. We’d been married for six years. But aside from a few tattered clothes, I still had nothing to my name. Laughter drifted down from upstairs where Lily was. She glanced at me coldly as I came up, then ordered, “Quinn fell. Come here and kneel down so he can sit on you.” But when I remained motionless, Lily’s face darkened. “If you don’t want to do it, then get lost! This isn’t a place for you to be willful!” Just like the past six years, she showed me no kindness whatsoever. Even though she could be so gentle with Quinn. I clutched my worn backpack, my heart aching as if torn open. She looked at me impatiently, but her brow furrowed when she saw the bag I was carrying. “Where are you going?” Six years ago, when we woke up in bed together, she glared at me with the same hatred. She said I had schemed against her, and let her bodyguards break my leg. The fracture site still ached dully. I unconsciously rubbed my right leg. Lily looked at me with great displeasure and had someone snatch the bag off my back. “You thief, were you planning to steal my things and sell them?” she accused. But when the bodyguard dumped out the contents, there was nothing of value except my ID. Lily’s expression grew even uglier. “I-I wanted to go say goodbye to Dad at the hospital…” I said quietly, keeping my head down as I tried to control my fear. Before, I had merely suggested we part ways once. For that, she had me tied to a cliff face. I have a crippling fear of heights. I went from begging to sobbing hysterically, but she just watched me coldly. She still thought I was faking to trick her. I kept my head down, not daring to anger her further. Seeing me so obedient, her expression softened somewhat. But one plea from Quinn had her leaving without hesitation. I took back my backpack and silently crouched down to gather my things. She glanced back, ordering coldly, “What use is it for you to go? He’s already dead.” Quinn turned his head too, asking in confusion, “Why is big brother being so thoughtless? The living are more important than the dead!” I still didn’t leave. My phone rang again and again. I stared at the familiar name on the screen but didn’t have the courage to answer. I had planned to sneak out in the middle of the night. But I didn’t expect to find Lily sitting on the living room couch when I came up. She waved me over, gesturing to the ointment on the table in front of her. “Come here, I’ll disinfect your wounds. We don’t want them getting infected.” But I remained rooted to the spot, not moving an inch. “Thank you for your concern, Ms. White, but I have thick skin. I’m not as delicate as Mr. Sullivan.” She let out a cold laugh, mocking my presumptuousness. “James, I’ve told you before. This is your retribution.” I was about to speak when an angry roar came from upstairs. Chaos erupted in the living room.
I was dragged into the cold, dark emergency stairwell. Fists and feet rained down on my body. I could only curl up, my whole body aching terribly. “You beast! You scum!” Lily grabbed my collar, her eyes blazing with fury as if she wanted to flay me alive. “How dare you hurt Little Treasure!” My vision kept going dark from the beating. I opened my mouth but couldn’t make a sound. “I didn’t…” I managed to get out three words before she whipped me hard. She even used the whip to choke me, pinning me brutally to the ground. Her voice was hoarse but filled with a hatred that chilled me to the bone. “I was going to abort that bastard child back then. So you did this to the baby for revenge?” “Don’t think that just because you became my legal husband, I’ll go soft on you!” I saw the madness in her eyes. She truly wanted to kill me. But I had never thought our relationship would be our lifeline. I was truly sorry about what happened back then. I had been trying my best to make amends, but she never believed a word I said. Doctors rushed in and out to save the child. Finally, one stood anxiously in the doorway and called out, “The baby’s liver is failing. We need to do an immediate transplant. Do any of you match for donation?” Lily shoved me forward, her voice cold. “Use him!” I closed my eyes, a bitter smile on my lips. It seemed she had truly forgotten that I once had my liver ruptured from a beating when I rescued her from kidnappers. The bodyguards twisted my arms behind my back and took me for testing. Soon, the results confirmed I was a match for donation. I was wheeled into the operating room. As I saw the doctor inject the anesthesia, my consciousness began to slip away and my vision blurred. Actually, I had known from the beginning that she had feelings for my brother Daniel. My mother couldn’t bear to let her pampered eldest son marry into the Lin family. So she faked Daniel’s death and sent him abroad. She locked me in a room with a drunk Lily. I wanted to resist, but my father fell gravely ill just then and needed a lot of money for treatment. After that night, I tried to explain, but news came of Daniel’s death. Lily was convinced I had killed Daniel to marry into the Lin family. She agreed to marry me, but only to avenge the man she loved. Seeing me forced to compromise again and again, stripped of all dignity, made her feel vindicated. But I was coerced into giving up everything, my heart breaking a little more each day. I couldn’t believe that sweet girl who used to hide behind me and call me “big brother” could be so cruel to me now. These memories kept swirling in my mind, filling me with unbearable sadness. As tears streamed down my face, I saw Lily sitting in front of me. Her face was weary, with a hint of guilt. “Are you still in pain?” I wiped away my tears and turned to look at her expressionlessly. “I want to go see my dad.” My voice was so weak it could have been scattered by a breeze. She lowered her eyes, staring at me for a long time. Just as she was about to speak, a commotion broke out where Quinn was. Lily immediately stood up, her face full of anxiety as she hurried over. Not long after, a doctor came to check on me. “Luckily Mr. Evans was a match from before. Though he’s passed away, his liver was donated to someone in need. Your wife just signed the papers on your behalf. My condolences.” I bolted upright in bed, my whole body shaking. I clutched my chest, feeling as if my heart was being slowly torn to shreds. So Lily’s belated concern was just out of guilt. I couldn’t even protect my father’s body.
I was alone again. Once, we had a child too. I had been overjoyed, begging her endlessly to keep the baby. I would do anything for her. But on Daniel’s birthday, she drank heavily, her eyes red. I knelt on the ground pleading with her to stop drinking, but she slapped me across the face. “James, you deserve to be abandoned by everyone!” she sneered. She tumbled down the stairs deliberately, just to see me suffer. I threw myself down to cushion her fall, but still couldn’t save the baby. The blood from that night became a nightmare I could never shake. “Save the baby…” I begged, still shielding her tightly despite being badly injured. Lily looked down at me with a complex expression when she came to her senses, but ultimately decided to abort the child. Perhaps she felt someone like me didn’t deserve to be the father of her child. Lily must have seen that I wasn’t making a fuss, so she magnanimously allowed me to attend my father’s funeral. “You go to the funeral first. I’ll join you after I finish shopping with Quinn.” I didn’t nod, just leaned back in the chair exhaustedly. These past few days, she had patiently cared for the child. The three of them looked like such a close, harmonious family. She was probably only letting me off the hook today because she had checked the security footage and discovered it was the bodyguard who always beat me the hardest who had drugged the soup. I guess she wanted to make it up to me by allowing me to attend my father’s funeral. But I no longer cared about any of that. From a distance, I watched as my father’s ashes were interred in the cemetery. Unable to pay my respects in person, I could only stand far away and kowtow several times to bid him farewell. “Dad, I’m so sorry.” After leaving the cemetery, I made an excuse to get rid of the others and successfully retrieved my small backpack. My friend arrived at the Lin house as promised. “Over here!” he waved, signaling that I could jump down from the back. There were no guards here. I landed silently and was pushed into a luxury car. I looked up and met a pair of familiar eyes. Someone held me tightly. Lily, who had just sent the others home, felt her heart skip a beat for some reason. The urge to see me was overwhelming, as if she would regret it for life if she was even a second late. My father’s funeral ended quickly. By the time she arrived, she saw my mother guarding the area with some people. As she approached, she heard my mother’s furious cursing. “Where’s that little beast James? Isn’t he supposed to care about his father the most?” “This time I’ll teach him a harsh lesson. Make him know he has to side with the Fang family!” Lily stormed in angrily to confront my mother. “Repeat what you just said!” Seeing her, my mother’s expression turned panicked. She stammered out a few excuses, but Lily didn’t catch a single word clearly. Until her phone rang. “Ms. Lin, Mr. Fang has escaped! We just received an express delivery with divorce papers for you inside.”
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