The day I married Damian, my childhood sweetheart, was the same day my grandfather’s ruthless business tactics drove his father to ruin, ultimately leading to his death. For five years after, Damian tortured me in every way imaginable. He not only caused my grandma’s death but also kept a substitute of me, trapping me in his family’s mansion to serve them. He made me kneel in the pouring rain, just for daring to join them at the dinner table. He threw me out into the scorching sun, letting me burn, all because I accidentally brushed against Serena, his replacement. He even stripped me naked and left me in a bar, letting anyone do whatever they wanted to me, just to protect that girl. After the 99th time I felt utterly broken, I knew I had to leave… Lying in a hotel bed, a stranger’s breath brushed against me, and the aches in my body brought me sharply back to reality. Last night, Serena was cornered by her company’s CEO, and Damian, in his twisted affection for her, personally pushed me forward to take her place in a drinking game. Drunk and disoriented, I was taken to this hotel, my clothes stripped away. The man didn’t stop, pushing me again and again. I quickly dressed, leaving a check on the nightstand. My body trembling, I fled the hotel, glancing at the number I’d jotted down in my phone’s notepad. Tears streamed down my face, a bitter ache consuming me. I took a shaky breath, gathering every ounce of courage, and sent a SnapChat message to Damian: “I need to see you. At the place we first met.” I hailed a taxi to the cat cafe, ordered a latte in advance, and sat by the entrance, waiting. Three hours later, my patience had worn thin when Damian finally arrived, striding in late as always. He glanced at the latte in my hand, then at the time on his phone, his face darkening with annoyance. “What do you want? Mochi needs a bath, and Serena needs my help.” His eyes were cold, and the way he looked at me always carried a distinct malice. I stood rooted to the spot, extending the latte to him, my voice tight with nerves. “Damian, I know you hate me. But you’ve found someone you love now. Can’t you just… let me go? Let me start over?” Before I could finish, his hand whipped out, a stinging slap across my face. His reply was sharp, unwavering. “No! What’s this pain you’re feeling? It’s not even a tenth of what I went through! What makes you think you deserve to be let go?” His eyes blazed with an inferno of hatred. He raised his hand, pouring the latte directly over my head. Suddenly, every eye in the cafe was on me. He grabbed my chin, a cruel sneer on his face. “Amber Zhou, you tricked me into marrying you. Your grandfather used me, used our wedding, to force my dad to suicide.” “Don’t try to fool me with these pathetic pleas. I won’t fall for your tricks again.” Soaked to the bone, tears welled up in my eyes again. “Damian, I’m so sorry, but Grandpa truly didn’t mean for that to happen…” Before I could say another word, his phone buzzed with a FaceTime call. “Damian, Mochi still needs his bath, why aren’t you back yet?” Hearing her voice, the frown that had been etched on his face since he walked in finally softened. He looked at her, a gentle smile in his eyes as he replied: “Almost there. I’ll be back as soon as I deal with this mess. Be a good girl, don’t try to do it yourself, or you’ll get wet and catch a cold, okay?” The girl on the video call beamed, her bright smile and youthful innocence almost identical to how I used to be. Damian gave her a tender instruction, then hung up. His face instantly clouded over when he looked back at me, his voice dropping several degrees. “Since you love making a spectacle of yourself, stand right here until your clothes dry. And you’d better behave. I’ll have someone watching you.” With that, he turned and walked away without a backward glance. I watched him go, the apology I wanted to utter dying in my throat again. The icy air conditioning blasted over me, making me shiver uncontrollably. Under the curious stares of strangers, my body finally gave out, and I collapsed onto the floor, losing consciousness. 2 I woke up again in Damian’s mansion. Through the haze, I thought I heard Skipper’s agonizing cries. When my eyes finally opened, Serena stood triumphantly by the bed, a smug smile playing on her lips. She looked at me, her voice dripping with satisfaction. “Amber Zhou, this must hurt, right? You and Damian really have nothing left to remember, do you?” My gaze landed on the urn she held in her arms. Skipper’s tiny cat tag dangled from it. Seeing my reaction, she just kept on talking, gloating. “Do you know how he died? That pathetic cat bit Mochi’s fur. So Damian burned him alive.” Skipper was my three-legged cat, a tiny furball Damian and I had adopted when we were kids. Even with three legs, he always hobbled towards us. Damian had promised me he’d take care of him, but now, the human Skipper trusted most, the man who promised, had burned him alive, reducing him to nothing but ash. My expression froze instantly. A loud roar filled my ears, and my mind simply shut down. I scrambled forward, not caring about anything but grabbing Skipper’s ashes. “Give him back! Serena, give him back! Skipper was so afraid of pain, how could you burn him alive?!” But she only toyed with me, tossing the urn back and forth between her hands. Then, I heard Damian’s footsteps on the stairs outside the door. Before I could react, Serena deliberately flung the urn, sending it crashing to the floor. At the same instant, she dramatically fell by the floor-to-ceiling window, letting out a piercing scream. “Oh, Amber! How could you try to push me out the window?!” Damian opened the door just then, his eyes instantly blazing with fury directed at me. Without a word, he lunged forward, kicking me to the ground. My knees hit the ground, grinding into the glass shards, and a sharp gasp tore from my throat. But he wasn’t done. He roughly seized my hair, pulling my head back. I cried out in pain, my mouth gaping open. He seized the moment, forcing Skipper’s ashes into my mouth, shoving them deep. He kept spitting hateful words. “Your grandfather killed my father, and now you want to kill the woman I love?!” “Since you want them so badly, here, have them back!” My throat protested, a suffocating feeling rising. I coughed, my face turning crimson, but he just slapped me again, without hesitation. “What are you playing at now? A little ash isn’t going to choke you to death, is it?” I lay there, utterly limp and defeated, watching with despair as he scooped her up in a bridal carry and walked out of the room. As she left, Serena turned her head and looked at me, like I was nothing but a pathetic clown. In his eyes, Serena was his cherished love, the one he longed for. Me? I was just a murderer. My heart ached with a constant, throbbing pain. I gripped the edge of the bed, forcing myself to stand despite the stinging cuts. My eyes drifted to the lawn outside the window. This was the fifth-floor attic of the mansion, a place Damian had specially designated for my “atonement.” I silently counted the times he had hurt me. 1 time… 2 times… 35 times… 36 times… 95 times… 96 times… 97 times. By the end, my heart felt numb to the pain. Only one thought echoed in my mind: If I jumped from here, it would all be over. 3 I pushed open the window and leaned halfway out, only to be spotted by Damian, who was in the garden below. He rushed back into the attic, slamming me against the glass window, his hands clamping tightly around my throat. His gaze was dark, filled with an unspeakable resentment. “Amber Zhou, you want to just end it all, huh? I’m telling you, that’s not happening. You’re not leaving me until you’ve atoned for your sins.” He gritted out each word, his grip tightening. Oxygen slowly drained from my body, yet I felt no desire to live. My eyes stared blankly at him. I used every ounce of strength to raise my hand, wanting to touch his face. I had loved this face for over a decade, but now, I couldn’t bring myself to hate it. Seeing my attempt, he frowned, twisting his body to avoid my touch. My hand fell back, limp and useless. Just before I lost consciousness from the choking, Serena’s voice pierced the air from behind him. She rushed forward, screaming in alarm: “Damian!” His hands, clamped around my throat, paused. But I, due to the momentum, fell backward, tumbling out the window. A sensation of weightlessness enveloped me, but the next second, as I hit the ground, searing pain ripped through my entire body. I felt the tearing of skin, the warm gush of blood, but I was too weak to even curl into myself. Through the haze, I only heard Damian’s frantic shouts: “Amber Zhou! You damn well better not die!” But I couldn’t care less about anyone else. My eyelids grew heavy. In the darkness before I passed out, I silently marked down the number. If I was still alive, this would be the ninety-eighth time, right? Just one more time, and I could finally be free. The wail of an ambulance siren filled my ears. I felt someone lift me onto a stretcher. After the vehicle had been moving for a while, I suddenly felt a violent impact. The ambulance siren mingled with police sirens. I only heard Damian’s urgent, trembling voice, filled with desperate pleading: “Serena! You’re all I have! You have to live, you can’t let anything happen to you!” Lying in the ICU, I slowly regained consciousness. The doctor explained that I had a concussion and needed to be hospitalized for observation. But I didn’t see Damian anywhere, so I couldn’t help but ask: “Doctor, did you see the man who brought me here?” The doctor hesitated for a second, then pulled out a voluntary blood donation consent form. He spoke slowly: “On the way to the hospital, Ms. Serena’s vehicle was involved in a multi-car pile-up. She’s been rushed into surgery.” “Mr. Damian is with her. He said as soon as you woke up, you had to sign this to donate blood to Ms. Serena.” My hopeful gaze turned vacant as I saw the words on the consent form. “Though I warned him repeatedly that your body can’t handle such a large amount of blood loss, and it could even lead to hypovolemic shock…” “Mr. Damian wouldn’t relent. But don’t worry, as long as you don’t sign, he can’t force you.” A chill swept through my eyes. Ignoring the doctor’s warnings, I firmly signed my name on the contract. As I looked up, I noticed a hint of familiarity in the doctor’s eyes, but I had no time to ponder it. A nurse wheeled me towards the operating room. As I passed Damian, I opened my mouth and silently mouthed to him: “Ninety-nine times.” He frowned, his gaze still filled with resentment. But my heart had long since died, and I no longer cared if he remembered that promise. He was escorted out of the operating room, and I lay on the gurney, turning my head to see Serena’s face, so strikingly similar to mine. Despite the bitter ache, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. As the anesthesia was injected, I completely lost consciousness. Only one more time left. Then I would finally be free. 5 Alex quietly handled my discharge from the hospital. During that time, Damian came to see me more than once. But every time he tried to talk to me, Serena would call him away without fail. Gradually, his visits became fewer and farther between. After being discharged, I returned to Damian’s mansion one last time.
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