At old Alpha Eldric’s hundredth birthday feast for the Silverpine Pack, my husband’s cousin Lola showed up cradling a newborn baby boy and slammed a genetic report right in my face. Her face was still pale from childbirth. In front of all the pack leaders and elders, she smiled with smug satisfaction. “Seren, my son with Eliot is the first legitimate heir of the Silverpine Pack.” “If you’re smart, you’ll step down as Luna on your own. I might even let you be the godmother.” The entire hall erupted in chaos. Everyone knew the iron law old Alpha Eldric had established: the first person in the family to produce offspring would inherit millions of acres of prime hunting territory. But Eliot and I had barely seen each other since our marriage. Three years in, and I still hadn’t gotten pregnant. In a werewolf pack where bloodline was everything, a Luna who couldn’t produce pups had no ground to stand on. Especially when that Luna was just an ordinary human without a drop of werewolf blood. Just when everyone present thought I was about to be kicked out of Silverpine Pack, I stared at the tiny, inconspicuous text on the last line of the report and suddenly smiled.

The genetic match report hit my face, papers scattering across the floor. The hall, which should have been full of celebration, fell deathly silent in an instant. Lola stood in the center of the hall wearing a blindingly white gauze dress, holding the newborn baby. Her smile stretched practically to her temples. She deliberately raised her voice high, as if afraid Alpha Eldric in the seat of honor wouldn’t hear. “Seren, don’t blame me. After all, my child is the only legitimate bloodline of Silverpine Pack. He has to come back and be recognized.” Eldric sat in his wheelchair, his clouded eyes opening slightly. He looked at the child in Lola’s arms, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest. He said nothing. Every guest in the hall turned their gaze toward me. Each one waited to see how I, the human woman who’d held the Luna position for three years without getting pregnant, would be publicly humiliated and driven from the pack in disgrace. I bent down and picked up the report from the floor. My eyes scanned the nearly invisible line of text in the corner, and I suddenly smiled. I looked at the smug Lola and spoke calmly. “This child can never inherit any of Eldric’s assets.” Lola scoffed at my words, thinking I was just putting on a brave face. “Seren, don’t tell me being Silverpine Pack’s Luna has made you stupid.” “The genetic report says it clear as day. Eliot is this child’s biological father.” “According to Alpha Eldric’s iron law, the first offspring in the family inherits all of Silverpine Pack’s resources.” “If you request to leave Silverpine Pack now, I’ll even let the child recognize you as godmother.” Just as Lola finished speaking, Eliot’s mother Elara’s voice came from outside the door. “My dear Lola, I heard you brought my grandson. Let me see him.” The moment Elara saw the baby, she rushed over. “The resemblance! Incredible! Just like Eliot when he was little! This is definitely Silverpine Pack blood!” Afraid I would cause trouble, Elara immediately called two guards to stand in front of me. “This is the pack’s precious treasure. We must take good care of him.” Then she immediately switched to a loving expression and pulled Lola toward Alpha Eldric. “Lola, you’re a hero to our Pack. Sit down and rest, don’t tire yourself.” “I’ll call the council of elders right now to transfer the inheritance rights to you!” Then she turned and shot me a disgusted glance. “Unlike some people who can’t even lay an egg after three years.” “If I were you, I’d pack up and leave now to save myself the embarrassment of being thrown out of Silverpine Pack.” But I just stared fixedly at the baby in the nanny’s arms. “No need to call the elders, because she can’t get this inheritance at all.” Lola looked me up and down, speaking as if bestowing charity. “Seren, face reality. You’re just a lowly human without our noble wolf bloodline.” “Everyone knows what tricks you used to marry Eliot back then.” “But lowly is lowly. Only a pure-blooded wolf like me deserves to bear Silverpine Pack’s heir.” The whispered discussions in the hall grew louder. Everyone had different thoughts, their eyes darting between Lola and me. After all, this was the richest hunting territory and mineral veins in the North, spanning millions of acres. Countless packs were envious. Whoever could claim it would become the most powerful Luna in the North. “This is Eldric’s family feast. What are you all causing a scene for?” Eliot’s father Gideon pushed through the crowd. When he saw the child in Lola’s arms, his previously tense face instantly bloomed into a smile. “We’ve been waiting for you! Alpha Eldric has been hoping for an heir so long his eyes nearly wore out! The council of elders is already on their way. We’ll announce the inheritance publicly. No one can find fault with that!” Elara hurriedly scooped up some herbal medicine and brought it to Lola’s lips. “This is freshly brewed precious herbs. Drink up.” “You’re a great hero to our Silverpine Pack. You need to nourish your body properly.” I looked at the three people in front of me, acting like a harmonious family. The sight was painfully glaring. “Mom, Dad, setting aside that Eliot and I aren’t even divorced yet.” “Are you really so certain she can claim Alpha Eldric’s assets?” Hearing this, Lola nearly spat out the herbal medicine in her mouth. She pushed past Gideon and Elara, walked up to me holding the child, the viciousness in her eyes completely unconcealed. “So what if you’re not divorced? Silverpine Pack would never keep a barren slut!” “Who knows what you were doing coming home so late every night? You probably can’t get pregnant because you’ve been fooling around with other Alphas.” “When my son grows up, he’ll never marry a lowly human like you.” Elara helped Lola sit down, glanced at me and sneered. “Exactly! This child looks just like Eliot as a baby. If he’s not our Silverpine Pack blood, whose could he be?” “Some people’s bodies just can’t deliver, and they can’t stand to see others succeed!” Lola’s face filled with smugness again. “Seren, I know you’re upset that I gave birth to Eliot’s son.” “But genetic test results can’t be faked. Are you jealous that I produced a child?”

The murmurs spread like a tide. The words from the branch family members grew more and more cutting. “No wonder Eliot married her three years ago with no results. Turns out the human woman’s private life isn’t clean, so she can’t conceive pure blood!” “Thank goodness Lola came through and gave birth to a pure-blooded grandson, or Silverpine Pack’s legitimate bloodline would’ve been cut off by this human!” “I think she’s gone crazy with jealousy and is deliberately slandering them!” Hearing this, Lola’s eyes instantly reddened. She leaned into Elara’s arms, her sobbing voice carrying throughout the hall. “Please don’t say that, everyone. Seren is just feeling unbalanced right now. I don’t mind. As long as the child can be properly recognized, I can endure any amount of grievance.” As she spoke, she cast a timid glance at me, looking for all the world like I had mistreated her somehow. Elara’s face instantly twisted with distress, her voice rising so loud it hurt people’s ears. “Who dares make my precious grandson suffer even a little? I’ll tear their mouth off first!” “Look at these eyes, this nose! It’s like Eliot as a baby was carved from the same mold! Does it even need testing? If this isn’t our Silverpine Pack’s own grandson, whose could it be!” I looked at her vicious expression before me, feeling a bone-deep chill in my heart. She used to always smile kindly when she saw me, calling me “good child” constantly. I’d sincerely treated her like my own mother. But now, for the sake of a child of unknown origin, she looked at me like she wanted to devour me. Gideon’s face darkened like the bottom of a pot. He slammed his hand on the table and roared at the guards. “What are you standing there for! Drag this crazy woman out! Don’t let her ruin Alpha Eldric’s celebration!” I looked around, staring hard at Gideon and Elara. “You really think just because Lola gave birth to a son, she can claim Eldric’s inheritance?” “Even if the council of elders comes, she won’t get a single penny!” The air froze for an instant, so quiet you could only hear breathing. Gideon was so angry his cane pounded hard on the floor, his face turning the color of liver. “Outrageous! Outrageous! Drag her out! I don’t want to see this lunatic anymore!” Two guards immediately stepped forward to grab my arms. I suppressed my anger and shook them off hard. “Don’t touch me. I’m pregnant.” I pulled out my pregnancy test results from my bag and slapped them on the table with a “thwack.” The black text on white paper was crystal clear: twelve weeks pregnant, fetus developing normally. Gideon and Elara exchanged glances and laughed coldly. Lola reached out and snatched the pregnancy test results. After looking for a few seconds, she burst out laughing. “So what if you’re pregnant?” “My child is the first one born in the family.” “What right do you have to compete with me for the inheritance?” She turned toward Alpha Eldric, who had remained silent in the seat of honor. She stepped forward holding the child and dropped to her knees on the carpet with a thud, her voice choked with emotion. “Alpha Eldric, please grant justice for me and the child. I don’t ask for status. I only ask that you recognize this legitimate Silverpine Pack bloodline and don’t let him wander outside.” This act of kneeling completely ignited the emotions in the hall. Gideon immediately stepped forward and bowed respectfully to Eldric. “Father, Lola has given birth to Silverpine Pack’s only legitimate heir. This is cause for great celebration. Please announce on the spot that you recognize this child and make Lola Eliot’s Luna to oversee the inheritance matters!” Elara also quickly knelt down. “Yes, Father! You’ve waited so many years for this day!” The branch family members also chimed in. “Please, Alpha Eldric, recognize the heir!” Everyone’s gaze focused on Eldric in the wheelchair. Alpha Eldric’s fingers continued tapping lightly on the armrest. His eyes slowly swept over Lola kneeling on the ground, the Gideon couple, and finally landed on me. He didn’t speak immediately. The entire banquet hall was utterly silent. Meeting his gaze, I spoke calmly. “Alpha Eldric, I object. This child has no right to inherit any of your assets or authority.” “You’re talking nonsense!” Lola screamed, raising her head. “The report says it plain as day. He’s Eliot’s biological son!” She moved to hand the test report up to him. “I’m not talking nonsense.” “If you don’t believe me, run the genetic test again.” Gideon flew into a rage, pointing at my nose and cursing. “Seren, don’t push your luck! Putting a newborn baby through testing, what are your intentions? I say he’s legitimate, so he’s legitimate!” “My intention is to protect the legitimate bloodline.” I stared back at him unflinchingly. “Does Gideon want to violate the iron law Alpha Eldric personally established for the sake of a child of unknown origin?” “You—” Gideon’s whole body shook with rage. He raised his hand to strike me. “Stop.”

An aged but extremely authoritative voice suddenly rang out. Eldric finally spoke. Gideon’s hand froze in mid-air, not daring to move an inch. Alpha Eldric slowly raised his head and looked at the elder standing to the side. “Go get Dr. Reed and bring a complete set of genetic sequencing equipment. Right here. Test on the spot.” His gaze fell on Lola’s pale face, his tone devoid of any emotion. “An iron law is an iron law. Whether or not he’s my biological grandson, the instruments will tell. If he is, I’ll recognize this grandson on the spot and all inheritance rights go to him. If not—” He paused, his eyes suddenly becoming sharp as knives. “Anyone who dares forge reports and deceive the pack will be dealt with according to pack law.” The entire hall erupted in chaos. Lola collapsed on the ground. The baby in her arms started wailing from fright. And I stood in place, looking into Alpha Eldric’s deep eyes, and breathed a soft sigh of relief. Half an hour later, Dr. Reed strode in with an anxious expression, two assistants following behind him. I stared fixedly at the child in Lola’s arms. “Full genetic testing. Check thoroughly!” Elara grabbed Dr. Reed’s hand worriedly. “Dr. Reed, will all this testing on such a small child cause problems?” Dr. Reed said nothing. He just took the child. His assistants set up the instruments and began a thorough examination. Soon, Dr. Reed removed his testing glasses. “The child is very healthy. You don’t need to worry.” Lola’s expression relaxed. “See? During pregnancy, I specially went deep into the mountains for a three-thousand-year-old wolf clan folk remedy. How could there be problems with the child?” Hearing this, Elara patted her chest and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Gideon’s eyes went round with fury. “Smack!” A slap sent my ears ringing. “Seren, I’ve treated you well for the sake of you being my daughter-in-law. Don’t be ungrateful!” “My grandson is perfectly healthy. If you curse him again, Silverpine Pack doesn’t take that lightly!” With that, he threw a mate dissolution agreement in front of me. “Sign it, then get lost back to your human world.” The slap on my face burned painfully. But the pain couldn’t match the coldness in my heart. “I won’t sign. I have to wait for the genetic test results.” At those words, Elara also flew into a rage. “Crazy woman! Eliot’s eyes, Eliot’s nose—can’t I recognize my own son’s features?” Lola’s eyes turned red. She rushed forward, her hands clamping down hard on my shoulders. “You think I forged the genetic identification report? You think everyone is as disgusting as you?!” “Fine! I’ll let you die understanding today!” She whipped her head around and barked at Dr. Reed. “Isn’t it just genetic identification? Do it now!” Then she glared at me viciously, like a demon from hell. “If the identification results confirm the child is Eliot’s.” “You, Seren, will abort the baby in your belly, sign the mate dissolution agreement, and leave Silverpine Pack completely!” Neither Gideon nor Elara objected. I clenched my fists tightly, unprecedented emotions surging through me. If I really backed down, Eliot would have his Luna switched without knowing, and gain a son who couldn’t inherit anything.

Before I could agree, Elara grabbed me with undisguised disgust and dragged me to the makeshift medical room. “I want to see what else you have to say!” Dr. Reed and his two assistants quickly set up the testing equipment. Everyone present stared fixedly at the operating platform. A young assistant in a white coat rushed in, carrying a sealed sample bag. “Dr. Reed, we’ve obtained Alpha Eliot’s hair sample.” My heart stirred slightly. I’d never seen this assistant before. The one who usually followed Dr. Reed was a different, older assistant. But before I could think further, Dr. Reed had already taken the sample and begun testing. During the wait for results, the room was deathly silent. All the elders and branch family of Silverpine Pack sat in a row, staring at me with dark expressions. As if I weren’t Silverpine Pack’s Luna, but some heinous criminal. Eldric in the seat of honor coughed lightly. No one dared speak. I looked at the hateful faces before me, unable to suppress the turmoil in my heart. One of Silverpine Pack’s elders sneered with narrowed eyes. “When the results come out, let’s see what you have to say.” After what felt like forever, the machine emitted a cold notification sound. One test report after another was printed out. A sharp beep sounded. The top clearly displayed: “Genetic testing confirms biological father-son relationship between male infant and Eliot.” “See that! This is my biological grandson!” Elara was the first to rush forward and snatch the report, her voice piercingly shrill. “Seren, what do you have to say now! You jealous woman!” Gideon let out a long breath, his face showing uncontrollable satisfaction. “Wonderful! Silverpine Pack finally has a legitimate heir!” Elara grabbed my wrist and dragged me toward the vehicle outside the door. “Go to the medical center right now and abort that bastard in your belly! Sign the dissolution agreement and get lost back to your human society!” “Wait! Let me go!” I struggled desperately, my nails digging deep into her arm. “This test report has problems!” “Still stubborn!” Lola kicked me hard from behind. I lost my balance and my forehead slammed hard into the metal table edge. My vision instantly blurred. Two guards held me and dragged me toward the car. In desperation, I used all my strength to shout at Dr. Reed. “Dr. Reed! Read the complete report! There’s additional testing below!” Lola’s expression changed. She shouted sharply. “Don’t listen to her nonsense! The paternity is already confirmed. What additional items are there to look at! Drag her away quickly!” Dr. Reed bent down and picked up the complete report scattered on the floor. The next second, his face suddenly turned deathly pale, his breathing instantly rapid. He rushed forward and blocked the vehicle that had already started, pounding hard on the windshield. “Wait! Stop! You can’t abort the child! There’s a problem with the report!” “Luna Seren’s child is Silverpine Pack’s last hope. You can’t abort it!” “No one can leave!” The vehicle stopped. Gideon looked impatient. “Dr. Reed, you did the identification yourself. What problem could there be!” “This male infant is Silverpine Pack’s pure-blooded heir!” Dr. Reed swallowed with difficulty and handed over the identification report in his hand. “You should look at this first before making a decision.” “Hmph! Let me see what tricks you’re playing!” Gideon impatiently took it. The next second, his eyes suddenly widened!

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My boyfriend Ethan Blake was always busy with work. He set a rule with me that our dates couldn’t exceed one hour. On our fifth anniversary, I went to the restroom during dinner. When I came back, he’d already paid the bill. He said impatiently, “This date has already gone three minutes overtime. I don’t have time to stay with you.” I looked at the unopened cake sitting nearby. Calmly, I said, “Then I’ll take a cab home myself. You don’t need to give me a ride.” But the next day, I saw a reminder on his phone. [Cancel everything. Wait for Madison’s call.] So he did have time. He just didn’t want to spend it on me. In that case, I wouldn’t waste my life on him anymore. Ethan grunted in acknowledgment and turned to leave. No extra explanation. He didn’t even look back at me once. The waitress approached. “Excuse me, Mr. Blake only paid for his portion.” She paused, pushing another bill in front of me. “This is yours.” I stared at the numbers on the bill, precise to the decimal point, my fingers slowly curling. Even our anniversary dinner, he wanted to split. I swiped my card calmly. Walking out of the mall, a torrential rain poured down. The icy rain hammered against me as I stood by the roadside, watching taxis with their “occupied” lights speed past. On my phone screen, the ride-share app’s queue number didn’t budge. I retreated back to the mall lobby and found a corner seat, sitting alone until it got dark. The rain gradually lessened, and I finally got a ride. Back at our apartment complex, even the short walk left me completely soaked. I opened the door in a sorry state. The living room lights were off, pitch black. Only a box of fresh lychees sat on the dining table. I found it strange. Ethan had never bought me fruit before and didn’t know I liked lychees. The study door suddenly opened. Ethan said coldly, “Why did you call me earlier?” “That was my scheduled work time. I told you not to disturb me.” I gripped my phone, the screen still showing the unanswered call from half an hour ago. The rain had been pouring then. I just wanted to ask if he could bring an umbrella and meet me at the complex entrance. Now, I only said, “It was nothing.” “Don’t do meaningless things like that again.” He dropped that line. His gaze moved to the table. “Peel the lychees and put them in the fridge.” I asked, “For whom?” A trace of impatience entered his voice. “A colleague. Why are you asking so many questions?” A colleague. Who else besides Madison? The study door closed again. The living room was dark once more. I picked up the box of lychees, peeled one, and put it in my own mouth.

I didn’t touch any more, left them as they were, and walked into the bathroom. When I came out after showering, Ethan was on the phone on the balcony. The door wasn’t fully closed. His deliberately lowered voice drifted through the gap, carrying a gentleness and patience I’d never heard before. “The day after tomorrow morning? I have plans… Yeah, I can cancel them.” “Your car is more important. I’ll wait for your call. Let me know when it’s fixed.” I leaned against the wall, staring blankly at the floor. The day after tomorrow morning was our long-scheduled visit to a traveling exhibition by a painter I really loved. The painter had visited three times. I’d missed every single one. This time I’d scheduled a month in advance to finally get time with Ethan. He said he hated unplanned events. But apparently, he only hated unplanned me. When Ethan finished his call and returned to the bedroom, he saw several of my clothes draped over the closet door. They weren’t hung neatly. The corners crossed the dividing line he’d set. He frowned. “Put them away properly. This is messy.” I hummed softly in acknowledgment. Then I pulled out all the black, white, and gray clothes that matched Ethan’s aesthetic and threw them in the trash. Ethan watched my actions, his face showing no ripples of emotion. He didn’t ask why. He didn’t say a word. He just turned over, his back to me, and went to sleep. The next day, I woke up burning with fever. Last night’s rain had caught up with me after all. Ethan was already fully dressed, standing by the bed. “It’s seven fifteen. You didn’t prepare breakfast according to plan and disrupted my morning schedule.” My head was splitting. I tried to sit up, but my vision kept going black. He unlocked his phone screen and tapped on his notes app a few times. “Your relationship behavior score, minus five points.” I walked out of the bedroom in a daze. On the dining table was his finished breakfast plate. Fried eggs, toast, milk. The same as his usual. But there was no plate for me. In the laundry basket, the shirt and dress pants he’d changed out of yesterday were gone. But my soaked dress still lay there quietly. He’d only washed his own clothes. I forced myself to take a cab to the nearest hospital. The emergency room was noisy and chaotic. I felt weak all over from the fever. The doctor prescribed medication and put me on an IV drip. After taking my temperature, she said, “102.5 degrees. We need a family member to stay with you and sign.” I gripped my phone, hesitating for a long time before finally calling Ethan. The phone rang for ages before someone picked up. “What is it?” My voice was hoarse. “I’m at the hospital. I have a fever. The doctor says they need a family member…” “You’ve seen my schedule. This morning is completely booked.” He cut me off. “It’ll only take a little of your time. Just to sign.” Silence on the other end for a few seconds. “I can spare forty minutes at most. Twenty minutes round trip from the office to the hospital. Twenty minutes for care.” I closed my eyes and said softly, “Okay.” “Could you buy me a hot water bottle from the hospital convenience store?” The call ended. A moment later, my phone buzzed. It was a link to a delivery app from Ethan. “You can order one for delivery.” Ten minutes later, Ethan appeared in the ward right on time. He signed the form, took out his laptop, and started working. The medication dripped into my body drop by drop. My arm was numb with cold. Looking at Ethan’s tightly pressed lips nearby, I didn’t speak. I ordered a hot water bottle. The nurse came to change the IV and saw my hand, frowning. “Why is it so swollen? Are you allergic?” Only then did I notice my hand was covered in a large red rash, itchy and painful.

Just then, Ethan’s phone alarm went off. He closed his laptop, didn’t even glance at me, stood up, and left. I instinctively called out, “Ethan, my hand…” He stopped and looked back at my swollen hand. “Time’s up. I have an important industry conference this afternoon.” Then he turned and walked away. The nurse, unable to watch anymore, pressed the call button for me. An elderly woman in the next bed handed me a hot water bottle. “Here, dear, use mine.” The doctor and nurses rushed over, changing my IV and treating the allergic reaction. I lay alone in the hospital bed, enduring the worst hours. By evening, the fever finally broke a little. I leaned against the headboard, mindlessly scrolling through my phone. On Instagram, Madison had posted several updates that afternoon. Every post showed Ethan playing with her golden retriever. In the photos, his face showed a smile, patient and focused. I looked at the swelling on my hand that still hadn’t gone down and the bruises left by the IV. Then I opened a secondhand trading platform. I listed the matching smartwatch Ethan had specially customized for me. That electronic shackle designed to accommodate all his schedules, reminding me every moment what I should be doing. I didn’t need it anymore. After leaving the hospital, I packed up everything I’d bought according to Ethan’s preferences, one by one. His preferences, the rules he’d set, his whole aesthetic—all went into boxes. The apartment was half empty, but I felt an indescribable lightness. At dawn, when Ethan got up, he didn’t find the glass of water at the perfect 113-degree temperature on his nightstand. Walking into the closet, there was no ironed shirt either. He habitually checked his watch. “Your slacking today has delayed my morning routine by eight minutes.” I sat at the dining table, eating the pancakes and coffee he’d never allowed me to touch. Steaming hot, it was a long-missed aroma of real food. I didn’t even look up. “That’s your own problem.” Ethan’s face darkened. He probably thought I was still throwing a tantrum about our anniversary. He said nothing more, got his own water and found his own clothes with a cold face, then slammed the door on his way out. That afternoon, the door lock clicked. Ethan had brought Madison home. He had a strong sense of territory and had set a hard rule against letting outsiders into the apartment. Once my best friend was going through a breakup and came to stay for just one night, and he sent her away on the spot with a cold face. But now, Madison was wearing my slippers, sitting on my couch as if she owned the place. She held a box of ice cream. Cream dripped onto the carpet, leaving large stains. Ethan saw it. He just walked over and gently handed her a wet wipe. “Be careful. Don’t get it on your hands.” Not a hint of reproach. But last time when I accidentally spilled a few drops of coffee, he threw away my entire coffee set. Along with the coffee beans I’d painstakingly collected from all over the country. I ignored them, continuing to pack my things, putting the last few books into a box. Madison stood up curiously and walked straight into my studio. “Wow, you’re so talented.” The paint I’d arranged by color system according to Ethan’s requirements was now a mess from her handling. She held a cup of coffee, walking with interest toward my easel. The next second, her hand tilted. An entire cup of coffee spilled onto the painting I’d spent six months on. That was my work. I’d prepared for half a year to enter it in a competition. Hearing the commotion, Ethan came in. Seeing the mess everywhere, he blamed me first.

“I told you to take proper protective measures.” Then he softly comforted Madison. “It’s just a worthless piece of paper with no commercial value. No big deal if it’s ruined.” Looking at the painting, completely disfigured by coffee stains, I felt not even a trace of heartache. I picked up the painting and stuffed it into the paper shredder in the corner. The machine roared to life. I looked at Ethan’s shocked face and smiled calmly. “You’re right. Just waste paper. Should’ve thrown it out long ago.” That evening, Ethan did something rare and apologized to me. “I didn’t mean your painting was garbage,” he explained. “I was just trying to comfort Madison.” “Make a list of whatever materials you need to repaint. I’ll have someone get them.” How rare. In the past five years, he’d never cared what I lacked or needed for painting. In fact, he didn’t even know what I was painting. This concern I’d waited so long for finally arrived, but I only found it annoying. I turned over and refused. “No need.” The next day, I had to pick up my grandmother’s belongings. Ethan had promised to take me, but with Madison around, I didn’t expect him to actually go with me. But Ethan kept reminding me from the moment he woke up. “We’re going to get your grandmother’s things later. Don’t be late.” He paused and added, “Even if you’re late, it’s fine. I’ve cleared my whole morning.” I looked at the inexplicable emotion in his eyes, not understanding what it was. Guilt? I’d lost more than just one painting over five years. Why bother? On the way to the watch shop, Ethan’s phone rang. It was Madison. With tears in her voice, she said the exhibition model she was responsible for had the wrong dimensions and the client was giving her hell on-site. She urgently needed Ethan to come support her. According to Ethan’s rule of never getting involved in other people’s basic mistakes, he should have refused. Just like he’d refused to bring me my admission ticket, causing me to miss the research institute exam. But I knew. The caller was Madison. Sure enough, without a moment’s hesitation, Ethan made an illegal U-turn right on the highway bridge. Sharp honking erupted behind us. I watched the route on the GPS instantly veer off course and reminded him, “The watch shop closes at five.” His voice was ice cold. “A broken watch won’t disappear if you pick it up late, but Madison’s project involves millions in company profits.” “Your emotional outbursts are seriously interfering with my efficiency. Can’t you tell which is more important?” The car stopped outside the exhibition hall. The sky had darkened at some point, and rain began to fall. Ethan unbuckled his seatbelt. “Wait in the car. I’ll be quick. I’ll take you to get the watch as soon as I’m done.” With that, he locked the car and walked toward Madison, who was waiting anxiously at the entrance. I watched the time on the dashboard tick by, second by second. Forty-five minutes passed. Two hours passed. The sky grew dark. Through the blurred rain, I could see Ethan on the second floor by the floor-to-ceiling windows, bent over, patiently helping Madison revise blueprints. On the table sat an elegant dessert box he’d specially ordered for Madison. But in the car, there wasn’t even a bottle of water. That alarm of his that always went off on time, reminding him which step of his schedule to proceed with— For Madison, he’d turned it off too. His phone was completely silenced. No one could disturb their time. Much less my calls. The sky turned completely dark. Seven whole hours. The watch shop owner sent a final message: [We’ve already closed. I’ll keep your things for now, but I’m leaving town tomorrow.]

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There is a viral trend online lately, using a fake account to test your boyfriend’s loyalty. “I have a girlfriend. I love her so much. Check my Ins. She is all over it.” That was Ethan Shaw’s reply when I tested him with my burner account. But when I clicked on his Ins, the pinned photo showed him with his arm around my best friend, Chloe Williams. For ten years, his posts were visible to me, but the rest of the world saw a completely different version. I hadn’t even started crying when I heard the door unlock. He walked in, covered in snow, and leaned down to kiss away the tears at the corner of my eyes. “Why are you crying? Did you fight with your family again?” I gripped my phone tighter and shook my head with a smile. But from that moment on, I started packing my bags. I booked a one-way ticket to Sweden for a month from now. Ethan Shaw, you had better never find out. I’m not planning to attend the wedding a month from now. Aria’s POV There is a viral trend online lately, using a fake account to test your boyfriend’s loyalty. Even though Ethan Shaw and I have been together for ten years, even though we are getting married in two months, I was still curious whether Ethan would stay true to his principles. After I added him on the fake account, Ethan’s attitude was cold. Once he figured out my intentions, he sent back a blunt reply. “I have a girlfriend. I love her so much. Check my Ins. She is all over it.” My heart felt so warm and sweet. But the moment I opened his Ins, I completely froze. The pinned photo wasn’t of me. It was of my best friend, Chloe Williams. The caption was intimate, clearly showing off his girlfriend. I opened my real account on another phone to compare, and that’s when I discovered Ethan had been lying to me all along! All the posts about me on his Ins were only visible to me and a few close friends. But the posts about Chloe, everyone could see those. I gripped my phone tightly. My blood ran cold. I could barely breathe. I didn’t want to cry, but hot tears blurred my vision anyway. My mind flashed back to when Ethan proposed to me. That mature, steady man showed nervousness for the first time. His whole body was trembling. So even the deepest love can’t survive the test of time? The man who said he would love me forever, his heart had already left me long ago. I was lost in thought when the front door clicked open. Ethan walked in, bringing the cold wind and snow with him. He saw my red eyes and frowned slightly, touching my face with concern. “Why are you crying? Did you fight with your family again?” Ten years. Ethan knew me better than anyone. I’d been by his side since he was broke, and it caused constant fights with my parents. But now he was the one hurting me the most. I looked up into his eyes. My heart churned with bitterness. I wanted so badly to cry and demand to know why he was doing this. We were so close to our happy ending. Why did he stop to hold someone else’s hand instead? But I held it in. Mississippi was full of Ethan’s connections. If I wanted to leave, I couldn’t let him know. Otherwise, stopping me would be the easiest thing in the world for him. I turned my head away. My voice was hoarse. “It’s nothing. I’m used to it.” Ethan nodded, but he didn’t comfort me gently like he used to. “Sorry, I was supposed to spend our anniversary at home with you today, but something came up at work. I need to go back to the office.” “Get some rest early.” He casually set down a gift, then grabbed the most formal coat from the closet and left in a hurry. I saw the gentle smile that unconsciously appeared on his face as he looked at his phone. His lies were so obvious. I could see right through them with just one glance. The door closed completely. I took out my phone and saw that Chloe had posted on Ins. The location was a famous upscale restaurant. She said her boyfriend was taking her to dinner. His face wasn’t visible, but I recognized the Rolex on his wrist immediately. It was Ethan’s. I scrolled through Chloe’s Ins. That’s when I realized that three years ago, when I introduced Ethan to Chloe, they had already gotten together. Behind my back, Chloe had been showering Ethan with care and attention. Maybe because he was on a business trip that year and felt lonely, or maybe because of the thrill of something new, he allowed Chloe to cross the line. And it had continued until now. There was also a conversation between the two of them. Chloe had messaged Ethan. “Did I leave my hair tie at your place?” Ethan’s reply made me sick to my stomach. “It fell in the master bedroom. Come get it next time. I’ll keep it safe for you.” No wonder Ethan had suddenly started locking his little box. It wasn’t just filled with our photo albums and our memories. It had his memories with someone else too. The thought of my fiancé and my best friend getting intimate in this bed made my heart twist in pain. A wave of nausea surged up my throat. I ran to the bathroom and threw up. I don’t know how long I cried or how long I was sick. I had no strength left. My heart went numb. I quickly packed my things and moved to the guest room. Then I walked to the balcony, letting the wind hit my face as I called my mom. My voice was thick with tears. “Mom, I’m sorry. I should have listened to you.” “I broke up with him. Didn’t you want to immigrate to Sweden? I’ll go with you.” My mother still loved her daughter in the end. She comforted me for a long time before hanging up. I calculated everything. I needed to liquidate all my assets. Getting the money would take at least a month. Then I bought three one-way tickets to Sweden for a month from now. That night, I didn’t go to bed early. Instead, I got up and cleaned the whole house until it was spotless. I threw away everything related to Ethan. Looking at the anniversary gift Ethan had given me, I pulled at the corner of my mouth and decisively threw the necklace into the trash. Ethan Shaw, I’ve been with you since I was fifteen. I’ve been by your side for ten whole years. You really have no heart.

Aria’s POV The next morning, I woke up to find myself back in the master bedroom. Ethan walked in wearing loungewear and set the breakfast he was holding on the nightstand. Like before, he reached out to hug me. “Why did you run off to the guest room? I spent forever looking for you.” I caught the scent of unfamiliar women’s perfume on him and noticed poorly concealed red marks on his neck. I closed my eyes, suppressing the stabbing pain in my heart, and calmly rolled out of his embrace. “I accidentally spilled water on the bed last night, so I switched rooms.” Ethan didn’t notice anything unusual about me. Or maybe he just didn’t care anymore. He hugged me from behind, resting his chin in the curve of my shoulder. His voice was deep and intoxicating. “Aria, I have good news.” “Chloe just got hired as my intern assistant. You’ve always said you were worried about her getting bullied at work, right? With me looking after her, she won’t be mistreated at the office.” I fell silent. I almost wanted to laugh. A prosecutor known for being efficient and extremely focused on competence. How could he allow a graduate with zero internship experience to be his assistant? At first, I had also asked Ethan about working at the prosecutor’s office so I could spend more time with him. It would have just taken one word from him. But he refused. He said it would be unethical, that it would damage his reputation. I believed him. But now, how much effort had he put in behind the scenes to get Chloe into the prosecutor’s office? I looked up at him. “Really? That’s good then.” I pushed Ethan away and got straight out of bed. Today I didn’t wait to go to work with Ethan. Instead, I called a cab and went to the law firm on my own. During lunch break, I was eating at a nearby restaurant. I sat in a corner booth and happened to run into Chloe walking in with her arm linked through Ethan’s. Ethan went to order food first. Chloe wanted to find a seat. The moment she looked up, our eyes met. Her gaze flickered, but she quickly recovered and walked over to sit across from me casually. “Aria, why didn’t you reply to my message yesterday? I was worried all night.” “Oh, by the way, Ethan left this at my place last time he came over. I can finally give it back to you.” Chloe pulled a worn-out plushie from her bag. My grip on my knife and fork suddenly tightened. This plushie, I had made it by hand for Ethan when we first got together. He cherished it so much. He kept it hanging on his briefcase and never took it off. Now it had become trash he could casually throw away. I smiled. “I have something for you too.” Looking at the familiar hair tie in my hand, Chloe stayed completely calm. She smiled, a hint of smugness flashing in her eyes. “So you finally know?” The pain of betrayal from my closest friend made my voice rough. “Why?” Chloe laughed coldly. “Don’t you know? You’ve always looked down on me because your family has money! Why do you get to be better than me at everything? Finally, I get to win against you for once!” I couldn’t believe Chloe had been seeing me this way all along. I’d always known her family was poor. Since we were kids, I’d let her have her way. I even picked out expensive gifts for her just to satisfy her vanity. If that’s how it was, I didn’t need to care about our past friendship anymore. “Chloe, do you really think Ethan is serious about you? If he truly loved you, he would have broken up with me and married you already. You’re nothing but a disposable toy in his life. You think you can win against me by relying on some man?” “As long as I’m around, you’ll always be nothing but a homewrecker who can’t show her face in public!” My words struck the nerve Chloe was most sensitive about. Her face turned red with anger and humiliation. Her voice became shrill. “What do you know! I’ll show you right now who Ethan really cares about!” She grabbed the pot of boiling hot water next to her and threw it directly at me! It felt like flames were burning from the inside, trying to tear through my skin and explode outward. The dense, needle-like burning pain made it hard to breathe. I gritted my teeth and shoved Chloe away hard, but before I could take a step, the pain made me bend over against the wall. Hearing the commotion, Ethan rushed over. When he saw my disheveled state, his heart jumped. He immediately came forward to carry me out. But a weak crying voice stopped him. “Ethan, my leg hurts so much…” He turned around and saw Chloe collapsed on the floor. Her swollen ankle had a huge gash, and blood was everywhere. Ethan pressed his lips together. His expression was conflicted. In the end, he turned around and went back. “Aria, Chloe has a blood clotting disorder. If we wait any longer, her life could be in danger. I’ll take her to the hospital first and then come back for you.” Suffering from the pain, Ethan’s voice seemed so distant. Just like the distance between our hearts. I used all my strength to lift my head, only to see his panicked retreating figure. From beginning to end, he never once looked back at me.

Aria’s POV When I woke up in the hospital, a nurse Ethan had hired was sitting beside me. The skin with extensive burns had already blistered. The moment I moved, the pain made me groan. The nurse helped me sit up and poured me a glass of water while telling me how lucky I was. “Your boyfriend really loves you. As soon as he found out you were hospitalized, he hired a nurse and bought a ton of supplements.” I looked at the gift boxes on the floor and said nothing. I figured Ethan was still with Chloe right now. Where the body is, that’s where the heart is. So did he really love me? After the nurse applied my medicine, I took out my phone and saw that Chloe had sent me a one-minute video. The thumbnail showed Ethan half-kneeling on the ground, carefully lifting her calf to apply medicine. “Ethan, are you going home to be with Aria tonight? Can you stay a little longer? Please stay with me a bit more.” After applying the medicine, Chloe leaned into his arms. Her voice was fragile. Ethan was silent for a moment. “Not tonight. I’ll stay with you when I have time.” Chloe looked up at him with her tearful eyes, looking pitiful. “Anytime? I bought tickets to Disneyland this Wednesday. Will you come with me?” “I don’t mind not having a title. As long as you can spare time to be with me, I’m satisfied.” Ethan ruffled her hair and replied softly. “Okay.” My fingers trembled. My phone fell onto the bed. Ethan knew perfectly well that this Wednesday, both families were supposed to have dinner together to discuss the wedding. Why did it have to be that day? He knew that choosing Chloe on such an important day was what would make her happy. Even though my heart felt dead, sadness, despair, and grievance, all these complex emotions surged and churned in my chest. My chest felt heavy and sore. My eyes stung. Tears poured down like rain. Ethan said he would come pick me up. I didn’t wait. I paid the bill myself and left the hospital. That evening, I received an invitation to a class reunion. The next day, I arrived at the private room only to find that Chloe and Ethan were there too. I acted like I didn’t see them and sat down in a corner. Everyone had a few drinks, and the atmosphere gradually heated up. Someone suggested playing games. The first round was truth or dare. Ethan drew a dare to kiss the person next to him for ten seconds. At first, no one dared to say anything. But seeing that I didn’t react, everyone got tipsy and started egging them on. Someone nearby got impatient and pushed Chloe. She cried out and fell toward Ethan. Her red lips barely touched his. Ethan instinctively wrapped his arm around her waist. His eyes darkened with heavy desire. The room erupted with cheers and jeers. When time was up, Chloe pulled away from Ethan’s embrace with a red face. The next second, I received a message from Ethan. “It was just to complete the game. I didn’t want to ruin the mood. Don’t overthink it.” I pulled at the corner of my mouth without replying and got up to go to the balcony for air. Right after, Ethan also received a call from his secretary and followed me out. The game continued. This time it was Chloe’s turn to draw truth. Everyone told her to reveal the most explosive secret she knew. Chloe thought for a moment and smiled. “Of course I have one.” “It’s about Aria Bennett. You don’t really think she’s some innocent good girl, do you? In private, she’s quite wild.” When I came back from getting air on the balcony, Ethan and Chloe were gone. Someone said Chloe had drunk too much and was having stomach spasms, so Ethan took her to the hospital. I didn’t want to think about whether it was true or not. I just nodded. But somehow, I felt like everyone was looking at me strangely. The next second, the private room door was locked from the inside. Alarm bells went off in my head. I stood up to leave, but a man next to me grabbed my wrist and pinned me down on the couch. “I thought you were some pure innocent woman. Turns out you like hooking up with guys on apps when your boyfriend’s out of town. And one guy isn’t even enough for you… Lucky for you, there are five of us here. Why don’t you stay and play with us?” Before I could react. The next second, a pair of hands started tearing off my clothes!

Aria’s POV I was so scared my heart nearly stopped. I struggled with all my strength, but I was no match for the man’s brute force. Feeling my clothes being stripped off one by one, I fell into complete despair. Tears streamed down my face. The man pressing down on me felt a surge of tenderness and leaned down to kiss my face. I seized the opportunity and bit down hard on his neck! A painful howl echoed through the room. I used all my strength to push him off and crashed through the door, running out. “You fucking bitch! If I catch you, you’re dead!” Several men charged out after me. The one I’d bitten spoke through gritted teeth, his voice vicious. I was terrified beyond belief. I ran while trembling, fumbling for my phone in my pocket. I opened my contacts to call the police but accidentally pressed the first number in my list. The moment the call connected, my voice was shaking. I instinctively cried for help. “Please… help me…” But what came from the other end was heavy, magnetic male breathing and Chloe’s seductive moans. “Ethan… slower… it’s too fast, I can’t take it…” My phone fell to the ground and shattered into pieces. It wasn’t until I ran out onto the street and saw a police officer walking toward me that I looked back. The group of men didn’t dare follow anymore. I knew I was safe. My body went weak. I collapsed right there on the ground. A sharp pain hit me. Looking down, I realized my elbow and shin had gotten scraped when I fell. Blood was slowly staining my white dress red. The joy of surviving and the lingering terror swallowed my heart. I covered my face and finally broke down crying. By the time Ethan got the news and rushed to the hospital, I was at the front desk window paying the bill while holding my wound. “Miss, your health insurance wasn’t paid last month. You need to pay the full amount out of pocket now. Remember to renew it if you need to.” I shook my head. “No need. I’ll be leaving here soon anyway.” “Aria, leaving? Where are you going? We’re about to get married.” I turned around and saw Ethan walking toward me. I lowered my head. My tone was flat. “Just a business trip in a little while.” Ethan nodded without thinking much of it. In the operating room, I got thirty stitches total. By the time I came out, my face was already pale as paper. It was late at night. The doctor said I should have family with me while getting my IV. The infusion area was eerily quiet. I closed my eyes tiredly. For the first time, I didn’t lean against Ethan. “Aria, those men have been arrested. They said it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. They’ve already confessed.” I opened my eyes and looked at him. My voice was calm. “Ethan, what if I told you that Chloe deliberately spoke badly about me and incited them to do this? Would you believe me?” Ethan frowned slightly. “Chloe isn’t that kind of person. I know you usually look down on her, but if you still consider her your friend at all, don’t make up rumors and ruin her reputation.” “I’ve been working with her at the prosecutor’s office these past few days. I know what kind of person she is.” I pulled at the corner of my mouth. My heart felt like it was being stabbed with needles. How long had he even known Chloe? Yet Ethan dared to defend her so confidently. But we’d been together for ten years. And in his heart, I had this kind of malicious image. I was too exhausted to even argue back. Ethan’s phone rang. It was a special ringtone. Ethan’s expression instantly became tense. He answered the call and lowered his voice. “What’s wrong?” I heard Chloe crying on the other end. “Ethan, I think someone broke into my house. I’m too scared to go in. Please come quickly. I’m so scared.” “I’m coming now.” After hanging up, Ethan’s expression returned to normal. “Something came up at work. I need to go work overtime. I’ll come check on you later.” Even after Ethan’s figure completely disappeared, I didn’t say a word. I suddenly felt like I’d been so stupid before. Ethan’s terrible acting had actually fooled me for three years. I’d seen what it looked like when he loved me. So now that he didn’t love me anymore, it was equally obvious. In the middle of the night, I dozed off. I didn’t even notice when the blood bag filled up halfway. It wasn’t until the nurse rushed over that I woke up. “Where’s your boyfriend? He was just here. How did so much blood flow back without him noticing?” I pulled at the corner of my mouth and smiled. “You got the wrong person. That’s not my boyfriend.”

Aria’s POV After Ethan said he was going back to work overtime that day, he didn’t come back for three or four days straight. The next time I saw him was on a screen. He was representing the prosecutor’s office at a press conference, giving a legal education presentation to the public. Except this time, Chloe was sitting beside him. A reporter even captured their little hand-holding interaction when they stepped off the stage. Everyone knew how formidable Prosecutor Shaw was. Every case that passed through his hands was won. But in all these years, he’d never been this intimate with any woman in public. The live stream comments were all praising them as a perfect match, congratulating Chloe on her good fortune for winning over this iceberg. I turned off the news. Since Ethan wasn’t home anyway, I had some peace and quiet. I spent the whole day handling the remaining cases at the law firm. By the time I finished work, it was evening. Suddenly Ethan’s secretary called me. “Aria, something’s wrong! Something happened to Mr. Shaw. Get here quickly!” I pressed my lips together. But in the end, I went. Not because I was worried about Ethan, but because I happened to have case files from the law firm that needed to be delivered to the prosecutor’s office. As soon as I arrived, I saw chaos in front of the prosecutor’s office. A criminal that Ethan had sent to prison had been released and came back for revenge. He was holding Chloe hostage at the entrance to threaten Ethan. “Ethan Shaw, you destroyed my marriage and family! Now I’m going to kill your woman right in front of you and make you suffer for the rest of your life!” The man was extremely agitated. A six-inch knife was pressed against Chloe’s throat. She was crying, her whole body trembling. Ethan stood in front of the crowd with an ashen face. The police would need at least ten more minutes to arrive. The man was emotionally unstable. Chloe’s life could be in danger at any second. He couldn’t stall that long. I stood in the middle of the crowd, calmly watching it all. I was just about to turn and leave when I made eye contact with Ethan. Watching him walk quickly toward me, my heart jumped. Before I could react, I was already pulled out. “Look carefully! This is my fiancée!” “I’m letting her be your hostage. Let my assistant go.” I stared at him in disbelief, eyes wide. “Ethan Shaw, are you insane? Let go of me! I don’t want to!” But Ethan’s eyes were bloodshot. He clearly wasn’t listening to anything. The man laughed coldly. “Ethan Shaw, do you think I’m an idiot? If she’s really your fiancée, would you be willing to push her out? This morning I saw you kissing and touching that slut backstage! I saw everything!” “Blame your bad luck for getting mixed up with Ethan Shaw. Pray you don’t meet him in your next life!” The man raised the knife to strike. Chloe screamed. The next second, Ethan shoved me hard from behind, making my whole body lunge toward Chloe. The knife plunged into my chest. The pain nearly made me pass out. Chloe immediately pushed me away and ran straight into Ethan’s arms. “Ethan, I was so scared…” “I’m here. Don’t be afraid. I’ll get you out of here first.” Hearing their conversation, my heart twisted violently with pain. The man’s eyes had turned red with killing intent. He pulled out the knife and stabbed me twice more in the abdomen. Just as the last knife was about to plunge into my throat, I was in too much pain to struggle anymore. I could only close my eyes in despair. Fortunately, the police arrived in time and successfully shot the assailant dead. I collapsed on the ground. From excessive blood loss, my vision started going dark and blurry. My life flashed before my eyes. But it was all just Ethan’s cold face. I couldn’t even remember anymore how gentle Ethan had been to me at the beginning. The moment my eyes closed completely, I had only one thought. If there really is a next life, I will never be with Ethan Shaw again.

Aria’s POV After three days and nights of emergency treatment, I finally came back from hell. I opened my eyes and saw Ethan sitting beside me with a complicated expression. “Aria, you’re finally awake. You slept for three days. I was so afraid something would happen to you.” My voice was hoarse. “I think you were afraid nothing would happen to me. Otherwise you wouldn’t have pushed me out there.” Ethan’s expression froze for a moment. “The situation was urgent. If Chloe had gotten injured with her blood clotting disorder, she definitely wouldn’t have survived.” “She’s your friend too. Could you really bear to watch her die? Besides, you were rushed to the hospital for treatment right away. The doctor said as long as you rest properly, you’ll be fine.” So one stab to the chest and two to the abdomen. In his mind, that was “fine.” All the injuries I suffered couldn’t compare to two tears from Chloe. There was a knock at the door. Chloe stood in the doorway holding a thermos, her eyes red. Ethan frowned slightly and immediately got up to drape his coat over her shoulders. “Didn’t the doctor tell you to rest at home? Why did you come out?” “Aria got hurt so badly because of me. If I didn’t come visit her, I’d feel too guilty.” “Go get her medicine for me. I’ll take care of her here.” Ethan nodded and left the room. As soon as he left, Chloe’s face changed completely. She looked at me with disgust. “You’re so lucky. You actually survived.” I looked at her calmly. “You don’t really think Ethan would marry you if I died, do you?” “Stop dreaming. You have been hooking up with rich guys since college. Look at all those men who claimed to love you. Which one of them actually married you in the end?” Chloe got angry. A vicious smile curved her lips. “Really? How do you know he won’t marry me if we don’t try?” She unscrewed the thermos. The smell of fish soup filled the hospital room. But as soon as I smelled it, I couldn’t help covering my mouth to keep from gagging. I’m allergic to fish. Seeing Chloe pick up the thermos to throw it at me, I couldn’t hold back anymore. I reached out and shoved her away, then slapped her hard across the face! “Don’t touch me! Get out!” Chloe fell down on cue. The scalding hot soup spilled all over the floor. “Aria Bennett!” Ethan came back just in time to see Chloe on the ground with red eyes and a bright red handprint on her face. Anger surged in his chest. He picked her up and shielded her behind him. His voice was cold and impatient. “Haven’t you had enough? Chloe came here out of kindness to take care of you, and this is how you treat her!” “Just because you got hurt and she didn’t, you’re taking all your resentment out on her? When did you become so vicious!” Looking at the disappointment in Ethan’s eyes, I laughed coldly. “I’m vicious? Ethan Shaw, who do you think is responsible for my injuries? Do you even remember whose fiancée you are?” “I just can’t stand you being so unreasonable!” “I will never marry such a vicious woman! Reflect on your behavior. I’m postponing the wedding. When you realize your mistake and apologize to Chloe, then we’ll have the wedding!” Watching Ethan leave angrily with Chloe in his arms, I didn’t try to stop him. I quietly packed my things and took a cab straight to the airport. Mom and Dad were already waiting for me at the entrance. I opened my phone and saw that Ethan had sent me several more messages. “Chloe has been blaming herself and crying for days because of what happened to you. If you really have any conscience, come apologize to her.” “Aria, stop being so unreasonable. I’m only postponing the wedding, not canceling it. After ten years together, no one can take your place.” I laughed. Then I blocked him on everything. Thank god fate gave me a second chance. Thank god I finally woke up. Without Ethan Shaw, I know I’ll have a better life ahead. I pulled my suitcase behind me and walked decisively into a spring without Ethan Shaw.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “416025”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster

Ethan thinks I’m dirty because I drive for Uber. If my hands touch his shirt after touching the steering wheel, he has to disinfect it. For seven years of marriage, he constantly tells me I’m an embarrassment, that I’m just a poor driver who doesn’t deserve a university professor like him. That night, after dropping off my last passenger and preparing to clock out, the female passenger had a six-year-old boy with her. As soon as they got in, she called her husband saying she was coming home for their anniversary. The voice on the phone sounded exactly like my husband, Ethan. Clinging to one last shred of hope, I asked the boy his father’s name. He lifted his little face proudly and said: “My daddy’s name is Ethan Morrison. He’s a university professor! He even got his PhD just to marry my mom!” My hands gripping the steering wheel went ice cold. Throughout our seven-year marriage, he said he wanted to focus on his career and didn’t want kids. But I never imagined his illegitimate son was already six years old. When I got home, just as I was about to confront him, I heard him on the phone with his father: “Arrange a car accident for Anna to give her amnesia. Once she’s out of it, we’ll take her money and bring my wife and son home.” I didn’t argue or make a scene. I just opened my mom’s chat and sent one message: [Mom, I agree to the Lancaster arranged marriage. I want to take everything from the Morrison family.]

After my shower, Ethan placed a bowl of soup on the table. “You’re back so late today. Busy?” He was still playing the role of devoted husband, as if he wasn’t the one who’d been cheating for six years. Ethan rarely had time to cook. Usually I rushed home to make him dinner. The old me would have been so touched by this bowl of soup. But I didn’t touch it. I just sat down and looked at him quietly. He sensed something was off but still asked patiently. “What’s wrong? Bad day? Didn’t get many rides?” “Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. About having kids, there’s no rush.” I laughed bitterly inside. Right, your kid is already that big. What’s the rush? Throughout our marriage, Ethan had always used his rising career as an excuse to refuse having children. I thought he felt our life wasn’t stable enough, and I felt bad that his professor job was so demanding. So I worked myself to the bone taking rides, from 4 AM until midnight. Now it’s clear—he just didn’t want to have children with me. Thinking of our seven years together, I still held onto one last sliver of hope. “Ethan, is there something you’re hiding from me?” “If you tell me now, I can pretend nothing happened.” Ethan’s body stiffened. Clearly I’d hit a nerve. “What do you mean?” I was too tired to explain further. “I mean, who’s the person you’re cheating with?” Ethan’s expression changed. He set down his spoon and looked at me coldly. “Anna, you have nothing to do all day but sit here with these paranoid thoughts?” “Imagining your husband cheating with someone else—don’t you disgust yourself?” I clenched my fists. The last trace of affection vanished completely. “I disgust myself?” “When you had your dad plot to hurt your own wife, why didn’t you find yourself disgusting?” Ethan froze for a moment, then frowned in disgust. “You were eavesdropping on my phone call?” After a few seconds, he regained his composure and looked at me coldly. “Since you heard, I’ll be straight with you. Nina and I have been together for years. If she hadn’t gone abroad that year, and if you hadn’t saved me, why would I marry someone useless like you?” Just then, his phone screen lit up. Ethan saw something that made him smile broadly. I sneered inwardly. So that woman was also his first love, his white moonlight. My chest began to ache belatedly, and a dull pain spread from my ribs. That was the aftereffect from saving him back then. My breathing quickened. “Ethan, get my medicine… my rib injury is flaring up…” But Ethan didn’t even glance at me. He grabbed his coat and walked out the door. “Anna, playing the victim card works once, but not twice.” “You owe Nina so much. Apologize to her properly, and we can go back to how things were.” “I’m going to celebrate our anniversary with Nina. Think it over and come find me.” My heart went completely numb. In his eyes, everything I’d sacrificed for him was just playing the victim. The pain intensified. I struggled to move and find my medicine. Just after taking it, the housekeeper Lily called me. “Miss, the arranged marriage with the Lancaster family is set for three days from now. Please be ready.”

I packed my things to go home when a coworker texted me. [Anna, why are there bad reviews about you all over the Uber platform?] [The company fired you and locked your car.] I felt nothing inside. I didn’t need to guess—this was Ethan’s doing. He wanted to use this to force me to apologize, to force me to endure it. But that was fine. I was going to quit anyway. This saved me the trouble. But the next message truly made me freeze. [Oh right, Professor Morrison is actually our boss’s son!] Ethan was the son of Richard Morrison, owner of Morrison Group? My heart sank. No wonder my supervisor always deliberately made things difficult for me, gave me so few assignments. No wonder he could get his father to sabotage me. But from our wedding until now, he’d lied to me, saying his parents lived in a remote countryside and couldn’t come to the city. I’d never met his parents. They didn’t even attend our wedding. I didn’t care about his rich family background, but I couldn’t tolerate being deceived for seven years. From the very beginning, he never intended to accept me, and after all these years, still didn’t. Just as I was about to block all of Ethan’s contacts, an unfamiliar number called. “Is this Anna? I’m Ethan’s father. Do you have time to come to the house for dinner?” After thinking it over, I agreed. These seven years of feelings deserved some closure. When I arrived at the Morrison villa, it was opulent inside, with many of their relatives present. After dinner, out of politeness, I helped clear the table. That’s when I heard people talking about me. “Is this the person Ethan has never brought home? She’s pretty enough, but why does she look so shabby?” “Oh, she’s just an Uber driver who saved him once. How could she compare to Nina?” “Exactly. Nina may not work, but she comes from an excellent family background.” My expression didn’t change, but my heart ached again. Back then, for Ethan’s sake, I refused the family’s arranged marriage, fought terribly with my mom, and was kicked out of the house. I worked hard to give Ethan the best life I could. He despised me for being incompetent, but the woman he loved devotedly was just a trophy who did nothing. Love and lack of love—it really was obvious. Mr. Morrison scoffed: “What wife? The marriage certificate is fake.” “My son said she’s just a housekeeper he hired.” All the blood in my body seemed to freeze. I stood there rigidly. The marriage certificate was fake? I thought about the marriage certificate I’d prepared yesterday to file for divorce—so light, with so much of the color faded. I’d thought it was just old, but it turned out to be a fake document. The year we got married, Ethan and I walked out of the marriage registration office together. He held the marriage certificate and smiled at me for the first time. “Anna, I’ll treat you well.” I was so excited I couldn’t sleep all night. How moved I was then—that’s how ironic it is now. Mr. Morrison even pulled out photos of their family of three to show everyone. “This is my son’s real wife. The child looks just like his father, doesn’t he?” Just then, a news segment played on the TV. “The Morrison family heir has officially announced his longtime girlfriend, Miss Nina.” “According to the couple, they will hold the wedding of the century at the end of this month.” Watching the two of them on the TV screen, smiling and leaning sweetly against each other. I finally understood Mr. Morrison’s intentions. He called me here just to make me leave on my own, to establish in front of everyone. That I was the homewrecker who destroyed their family. After composing myself, I pushed open the door to leave, only to run straight into Ethan, who’d just returned. Behind him stood the child and Nina. Seeing me, Ethan’s expression turned icy. “Anna, you dare make a scene at my house?” “In front of all these people, what are you trying to pull?” After all these years, he still jumped to conclusions without asking, never caring about my feelings. I steadied my breathing. Perfect timing to make everything clear in front of everyone. “Ethan, I came to tell you that not everyone is like your kept mistress.” “I, Anna Hart, haven’t used a penny of your money or asked you for a single favor.” “From now on, you have nothing to do with me. Understand?”

Ethan’s normally arrogant face showed disbelief and panic. “What do you mean? You want a divorce?” I laughed coldly. “Divorce? The marriage certificate is fake. There’s no divorce to speak of.” “All these years with you, I was just a free housekeeper, wasn’t I?” The Morrison relatives seized the opportunity to join in. “Ethan, this woman just claimed to be your wife. What’s your relationship with her?” Ethan’s earlier panic vanished in a flash. He gripped Nina’s hand tightly. “Impossible. The one I’ve always loved is Nina.” “Would I, Ethan Morrison, ever fall for an Uber driver?” Then Nina smiled and wrapped her arm around his shoulder, looking me up and down. “Oh, so it’s you, that driver from the other day. Just as I thought—dirty car, dirty person.” I clenched my fists, holding back again and again. Forget it. Arguing with people like this is a waste of life. But just as I brushed past them, Nina lowered her voice and leaned close to my ear. “He hasn’t let you touch him in a long time, has he? Want to know why?” “Because he only has me in his heart. And you—dirty and weak, you can’t even hold onto your own man.” Hearing those words, I couldn’t suppress my anger anymore. Although I was already numb to Ethan’s cheating, I couldn’t tolerate the mistress’s constant provocations. But before I could speak, Nina suddenly let go and fell backward down the steps. She crashed hard at the villa entrance, blood seeping from the back of her head. The Morrison family members cried out in alarm. Ethan shoved me aside roughly and ran down to help Nina. “Nina, Nina are you okay… does it hurt…” Seeing his heartbroken expression, I just felt it was laughable. Once, to save him, I broke two ribs and used my body to pry open a crushed car door. Ethan turned his head, eyes red, and shouted at me. “Anna, have you lost your mind? To get me, you want to kill Nina?” This was the first time I’d seen him this furious. I said coldly: “She fell by herself. Are you blind?” Before I finished speaking, a sharp pain shot through my hand. It was Ethan’s illegitimate son. He was hitting my arm with a scalding hot water kettle. “Bad person! Don’t bully my mom!” I frowned and pushed the child away. Ethan suddenly rushed over and confronted me. “You crazy woman, now you want to hurt my son too?” “Anna, do you only know these dirty tricks?” Mr. Morrison picked up his phone and aimed it at me. He was livestreaming. “Everyone come look—the homewrecker making trouble at the real family’s home, trying to kill the man’s partner, and even attacking the child!” Watching this absurd scene unfold, I suddenly felt so tired. No matter how I explained, no one would believe me. They didn’t care about the truth. They just wanted to destroy my reputation. Ethan kept accusing me, his eyes full of hatred. “Anna, I must have been blind to ever show you mercy!” “You’ve occupied Nina’s place for so many years—how dare you lay a hand on him!” “Get on your knees and apologize to him right now!” I was so angry I laughed. “Why should I apologize for something I didn’t do?” “You chose to marry me, you chose to cheat. What do I owe Nina?” I looked at them one last time, coldly. “Ethan, you lied to me for seven years. You’re the one who owes me.” “I hope you never regret this for the rest of your life.” With that, I ignored everyone’s curses and walked straight out. I told Lily to pick me up and stood by the roadside waiting for the car. But the next second, a black car came barreling toward me. I couldn’t dodge in time and crashed straight into the hood.

When I woke up again, I was lying in the Hart family’s private hospital. My head was spinning badly, and my left leg hurt terribly. But compared to when I saved Ethan, this injury was nothing. My mom’s hoarse voice sounded: “You’re awake?” I turned my head to see her sitting by the bed, eyes red and swollen. “Mom.” Seven years. I’d finally seen my mom again. She gently held my hand, as if only then daring to confirm I was really awake. “How long was I asleep?” “Five days.” Five days. Only then did I learn that Ethan, to get revenge on me, had deliberately arranged for a car to hit me. Fortunately, Lily arrived in time and sent me to the best hospital for emergency treatment, which is why I woke up. Luckily there were no major injuries, just a mild concussion and external wounds. I braced my arms to sit up. A dull pain shot through my ribs. My mom said she’d already sent people to deal with the hit-and-run driver, but as for those two people, she’d leave them to me. I nodded without asking more. Of course I wouldn’t let them off easily, but not now. Then I remembered something else. “What about the Lancaster arranged marriage?” Lily hesitated: “Mr. Lancaster said he can wait a bit longer.” I frowned and immediately threw off the covers to get out of bed. “No more waiting. Let’s do it today.” “Making Adrian Lancaster wait so long—what would that look like?” My mom came over and patted my shoulder gently, saying nothing. Finally, I got in the car heading to the Lancaster house. On the way, I opened my phone. There was a message Ethan had just sent. I didn’t open it. I just deleted it. When I arrived at the Lancaster house, Adrian was already waiting for me. He wore a well-tailored dark suit. When he saw me get out of the car, he paused slightly. I walked over and extended my hand. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Lancaster.” He smiled and placed his hand in my palm. “Just call me Adrian.” At the Morrison villa, Ethan adjusted Nina’s collar. “Nina, today is the Lancaster family’s young heir’s wedding. I’m going to discuss a project.” “Many elites will be there. It’s a good chance for you to meet them.” He got in the car to the Lancaster house with Nina, opened his chat with Anna, still feeling uneasy. [Haven’t you had enough of your tantrum these past few days? When you’ve thought it through, come apologize to Nina.] [As long as you apologize sincerely, I won’t hold it against you. We can go back to how things were.] But she hadn’t replied to a single message these past few days. After thinking, he sent another one. [About the marriage certificate—that was my fault. Whatever compensation you want, I’ll give it to you.] After sending it, he entered the Lancaster venue with Nina. Inside, it was packed with business elites. Once everyone arrived, the Lancaster family announced they would present today’s newlyweds. Nina said enviously: “I just heard the woman marrying into the Lancaster family has an even better background. I wonder which heiress she is.” As soon as she finished speaking, I walked into the venue with a smile, holding Adrian’s hand. The guests below applauded in congratulation. After seeing my face clearly, Ethan froze in place. The wine glass in his hand nearly slipped.

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Benjamin, the new intern at the company, accidentally ate some hallucinogenic mushrooms and started tripping. He lunged at my fiancée Audrey and kissed her wildly. Not only did Audrey not push him away, she actually ran her fingers through his hair. Then Audrey explained to me, “He didn’t mean it. Stop looking so serious.” I laughed bitterly. “Even if he wasn’t in his right mind, why did you kiss him back? You even used tongue.” Audrey raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t! It was just a reflex.” “If you don’t like it, then quit. Once you’re not an employee here, you won’t have to see any of this anymore!” She never expected that on the day that intern got his permanent position, I actually resigned. From that day on, I disappeared from her world. Five years later, Audrey met with me as a partner of my company. She had no idea what my position was now. She looked at me with pity. “After all this time away, you’re still just an assistant. If you apologize, I’ll let you come back to work for me.” I closed the file and made a phone call. “This partner doesn’t meet our standards. We’re canceling this deal.”

I got up to leave. Benjamin pressed his hand on my files. “William, you’re already here. Don’t rush off. We haven’t even started talking yet!” “Blanchett Family Group is a Fortune 500 company. Surely your employees have better manners than this?” Carter, a former colleague, snorted and crossed his arms. “Clearly just some errand boy who’s never seen the real world. Does he really think one phone call can make or break a project?” “Hey, don’t talk about William like that!” Benjamin frowned and glared at Carter, though the reprimand seemed superficial. “After all, he has some special history with Audrey. Since things didn’t work out, he’s holding a grudge and won’t negotiate with us. It’s understandable.” I glanced at my watch. “Fine. You have twenty minutes to say whatever you want. I have another meeting after this.” “William, getting addicted to this act?” Audrey spoke up slowly. She leaned back in her leather chair, looking lazy. “Since you want to play, I’ll play along. We’re all old friends here. Don’t be too harsh on the price.” As she spoke, her eyes swept over my plain shirt and stopped on my left ring finger. I wore a simple, humble ring there. No gemstone embellishments. Not even gold. Benjamin followed her gaze, his lips curling up. His tone was light. “William, you actually got married? Why didn’t you invite us to the wedding?” Carter immediately chimed in, nudging Benjamin with his elbow. “When are you and Audrey getting married? I saw you picking out wedding rings yesterday.” “Carter!” Benjamin playfully punched his shoulder, though his ears turned red. “Don’t talk nonsense. Audrey and I are just colleagues.” Audrey’s lips curved slightly as she deliberately reached out to adjust Benjamin’s collar. This gesture drew ambiguous jeers from Carter and the other colleagues. I looked down and organized my files, completely unmoved. I’d been through the same thing five years ago. This little provocation was nothing. The door to the private room opened and a server came in with coffee. I had no intention of staying to watch their performance. I turned to leave. “Wait, William!” Benjamin rushed up but deliberately shoved the server. Coffee splashed all over my back. My white shirt was instantly soaked through with the brown liquid. “Oops!” Benjamin exclaimed, though he couldn’t hide the smile at the corners of his mouth. “William, are you okay?” The server frantically handed me napkins. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to…” “It’s fine.” I took the napkins, my voice calm. “Someone pushed you.” Benjamin’s expression changed. “What are you trying to say? You weren’t careful and now you’re blaming others?” Carter immediately backed him up. “Exactly. We all saw it. You clearly turned around too fast.” I turned back. The soaked white shirt had become semi-transparent. Coffee dripped from the hem onto the floor. The situation was pretty bad. “William,” Audrey finally spoke, her tone tinged with faint annoyance. “Stop embarrassing yourself.” She casually grabbed a suit jacket from one of her subordinates and tossed it on the sofa nearest to me. The meaning was obvious. I didn’t touch the jacket. I just calmly turned around. “I’m going to the restroom.” I barely managed to clean up my back with water when my phone buzzed with a message: [Car’s downstairs] I replied with a simple “okay.” As I walked out of the restroom, I heard hushed voices from around the corner. “I heard when he suddenly quit back then, he’d gotten some woman at the company pregnant. It was a whole thing…” “Keep your voice down… but I heard about that too. Something about not handling it cleanly, almost ended up in a lawsuit…” Halfway through their conversation, they saw me and immediately fell silent. Benjamin raised his hand to adjust his shirt collar, his tone casual. “William, Audrey said she’ll give you one more chance. Sign at the price we stated, and she can throw some other projects your way.” I walked right past them and pushed open the door to the private room. Audrey was flipping through my files. When she saw me come in, she didn’t stop. She just glanced up. “This report isn’t bad.” She closed the file and pushed it forward lightly. “Come back to Rayjedo Company. I’ll give you double the salary.” “No need.” I took back my files. “Today’s negotiation ends here.” “William!” Audrey’s volume suddenly spiked. “You think working at Blanchett Family Group makes you special? They only hired you because you’re cheap! Where’s your supervisor? How could they let you handle a project worth hundreds of millions?” I didn’t respond. I just turned toward the door. As my hand touched the doorknob, her voice rang out again. “William, it’s been five years. Haven’t you had enough of this tantrum?” I paused. A tantrum? How arrogant did someone have to be to think that five years of separation was just throwing a tantrum? “Audrey,” I said calmly. “My time is valuable.” Her expression darkened. “What are you acting so high and mighty for? If it weren’t for me back then, do you think you could have become team leader?” She looked at me with contempt. “You go work odd jobs at Blanchett Family Group and forget who’s responsible for that impressive resume of yours?” I didn’t bother with this lunatic. I just got in the elevator.

The air before a storm was hot and sticky. I sat in the car, watching messages constantly pop up in my class group chat. Class president @everyone: [Tonight at 7 PM, Parson Hotel. Bring your families! Dr. Andre will be there too!] Of course it had to be tonight. We hadn’t been in touch for five years. I never expected Audrey had already become the second-in-command at Rayjedo Company Group. The person who was supposed to show up at today’s negotiation was originally a vice president from Rayjedo Company. They changed it at the last minute. Made me step in shit. Someone @’d me: [William, why aren’t you responding? You have to come! Dr. Andre always cared about you the most!] I stared at the screen and finally replied “okay.” Dr. Andre had been kind to me. I couldn’t disrespect him just because I didn’t want to see Audrey. That evening, Audrey booked the Presidential Hall at Parson Hotel and let everyone party freely. Our class of 36, plus family members, made for a lively crowd. As soon as I pushed open the door, I heard Benjamin’s laughter. He stood next to Audrey, surrounded by several classmates flattering him. Someone saw me and immediately stirred up conversation. “Oh, William’s finally here!” “I heard after you quit, you haven’t had steady work? Man, they say the closer you are, the better your chances. You and Audrey got recruited by the same company right out of school. Why didn’t you know to hold onto her?” I smiled and didn’t respond. I found a corner to sit in. The class president was already drunk. He suddenly slapped the table. “What do you guys know! William back then… *hic*… to go to the same school as Audrey, he could have gotten into Harvard!” “Oh my god! Really?” “Of course it’s true! His family told him to think carefully, but he insisted on going to the same school as Audrey!” Everyone sighed. Audrey swirled her wine glass, smiling faintly. “Everyone has their own fate.” I couldn’t help but think of that youth that would never return. Back then, I really was stupid enough to downgrade my school application. At eighteen, I believed some things were worth sacrificing all rationality for. Now, hearing her casual tone, I just felt laughably naive. Benjamin laughed loudly nearby. “Whatever you say about William’s feelings back then, they were real and brave. Come on, everyone raise a glass to William!” Someone immediately chimed in. “Benjamin really has class! Now you and Audrey have both career and love. That’s true fulfillment!” “Some people, well, they chose their own path and have to deal with the consequences. Can’t blame anyone else.” I looked down and sipped my coffee. The coffee was warm, but it couldn’t warm the coldness in my fingertips. My phone vibrated. It was my mom calling. I got up and went to the balcony. Her voice on the other end was slightly angry. “What time are you coming back? Go pick up the kid.” I turned to the side and lowered my voice. “Soon. Right away.” When I hung up, I turned around and found two female classmates standing at the balcony door, their expressions odd. “William, did you have a wedding ceremony? We’re all old classmates. Why didn’t you invite us?” I shook my head. “No ceremony.” “But we just heard you say… you need to pick up a kid?” I smiled, half-joking. “Yeah, my job now is picking up and dropping off kids.” The two exchanged glances, their expressions somewhat strange. When I returned to the private room, I learned Dr. Andre had something come up and couldn’t make it. I grabbed my jacket from the back of the chair. “Enjoy yourselves, everyone. I need to go.” A drawn-out teasing voice came from behind me. “Oh my, the employer’s kids need their driver to pick them up!” Everyone laughed. I turned to look at the female classmate who’d just talked to me on the balcony. Is this what she told them? I didn’t bother to argue. I pushed open the door and left. Outside the hotel, rain poured down. I waited for a while, but the rain didn’t let up. People from the party gradually started leaving the hotel. Audrey held a black umbrella and walked up beside me. “Where do you live? I’ll give you a ride.” “No need.” She stared at me and suddenly said, “William, what exactly do you want?” I looked at her like she was an idiot. “I don’t want anything. But Audrey, aren’t you afraid your fiancé will be jealous if you give me a ride?” Audrey frowned. “I was forced into what happened with Benjamin back then. He was delirious from the poisoning. What could I do? If there was really something between us, we’d have kids by now.” I looked at her calmly. “Then I wish you both many children. Is it too late for that?” “You—” I didn’t wait for her to finish. I walked straight to a taxi that had stopped by the curb.

On the day I went to a business reception, the financial news broke the story about the failed partnership between Rayjedo Company Group and Blanchett Family Group. Dozens of unknown numbers suddenly appeared on my phone. I could guess it was Audrey. When we broke up years ago, I blocked all her contact information. If she wanted to find me, besides making a public announcement in the class group, she could only bomb me with calls from new phone numbers. Actually, this project could have been a win-win situation. I didn’t want to bring personal matters into work. But every word out of her mouth was about how I wasn’t worthy to negotiate with her. Since she hadn’t learned to respect people, I didn’t need to save her face either. “William?” The familiar voice made me stop in my tracks. I turned to see Audrey with her team standing by the red carpet. Benjamin stood beside her, his well-fitted formal wear overly conspicuous under the spotlights. “This kind of event requires an invitation.” Benjamin deliberately raised his voice. “William, you didn’t sneak in following your boss, did you?” Carter immediately helped. “Want me to talk to security? They can let you in to take care of your master.” His fake concern drew sideways glances from people around us. Audrey frowned at me. “That’s enough. Stop embarrassing yourself.” She reached out to pull me away. “As my subordinate in the future, you’ll naturally have chances to come to events like this and see the world. Don’t be childish just to spite me. There are reporters inside.” I calmly pulled my hand back. “Audrey, seems like Rayjedo Company has a lot of free time? The deal fell through and you still have the mood to attend receptions?” At the mention of the deal, her expression instantly darkened. “All because a server accidentally spilled coffee on you?” “William, did you feed everything you learned to the dogs? Blanchett Family Group actually lets someone like you handle negotiations?” A male colleague behind her scoffed. “Audrey, don’t overestimate Mr. William. If he had the ability to ruin a partnership between Blanchett Family Group and Rayjedo Company, he wouldn’t be dressed like this at a reception!” “Like a beggar!” This seemed to comfort Audrey. “I wouldn’t go so far as to think a small-time employee like him could control the whole situation.” Benjamin immediately added, “Right. William’s wearing cheap knockoffs without a single brand name. He can only dream about being a leader!” Carter fake-sympathetically tried to smooth things over. “Don’t say that. Back then, William insisted Audrey choose between letting you get your permanent position or keeping him. He probably didn’t do so well after leaving Rayjedo Company in a huff!” I looked down and adjusted my cuffs. This outfit was from my mom’s small independent brand. The colors and style suited my personality. I didn’t see anything wrong with it. “Are you done?” I said calmly. “If you’re done, please move. I’m in a hurry.” Audrey looked displeased. “Do you not understand what people are saying?” Seeing I wasn’t responding, she finally softened her attitude. She turned and took the guest pass off Carter’s neck. “Since you want to go in so badly, just stay by my side and behave.” I was about to speak when Mr. Jason from the event’s organizing committee jogged over. He interrupted our standoff. “Mr. William, your speech is ready. Mr. Brown is asking if you want to review it first?”

Audrey’s expression froze instantly. The smile on Benjamin’s lips that hadn’t yet faded stiffened. He looked at the newcomer with some disbelief. “Excuse me, I think you’ve got the wrong person. A speech? Only three people are giving speeches at today’s reception…” I took the folder and said to Mr. Jason, “These people are not allowed inside.” Audrey grabbed my wrist. “What do you mean?” “Exactly what I said.” I gently pulled my hand back. A rare flash of confusion crossed her eyes. She probably still thought I was the same fool from years ago who would interpret her slightest consideration as special attention. Who would feel warm inside because she forcefully took the coffee from my hand and replaced it with hot milk. Who would have his heart race because she threw my proposal on the desk in front of the whole department and said “redo it,” then stayed up all night helping me revise it. Times had changed. That kind of “kindness” only made me feel violated now. Not long after entering the venue, my phone suddenly vibrated. I answered and heard my mom’s anxious voice. “The kid fell playing with toys and keeps crying for you…” I immediately told a colleague, “I need to make a video call. If I’m not out when it’s time, you’ll give the speech for me.” Then I quickly walked toward the lounge. … After hanging up the video call, I got a message from my colleague: [Speech went well!] I let out a long breath and prepared to return to the venue. Just as I reached the corner of the hallway, I heard voices from Audrey’s team coming through the half-open VIP room door. “I’m so pissed! He wouldn’t let us in, but luckily I was smart. I paid a few guests to swap passes with us. Audrey, you better reimburse me when we get back!” “That William just bluffs. He wasn’t even one of the three speakers. What an act!” “Who does he think he is, keeping us out with one sentence? Is his employer really that powerful?” “No matter how powerful his employer is, they wouldn’t help a driver flex like that, right? Unless…” “Everyone shut up!” Audrey’s voice carried irritation. “This reception is full of potential clients. Don’t you understand what situation Rayjedo Company is in right now? Stop gossiping about irrelevant people.” She glanced at her watch. “In half an hour, Business Weekly is doing my interview in the first-floor interview area. Check all the materials again.” I shook my head helplessly and turned back to the venue. After it ended, I prepared to go home. Passing through the first-floor lobby, I saw a well-known financial talk show doing a live broadcast at the hotel. Audrey sat in the interview seat as an invited “young business representative.” She wore a sharp suit, her makeup perfect, her expression composed. The host smiled. “Ms. Audrey, you’ve had impressive achievements in the industry in recent years, but you seem to keep your personal life very private?” Audrey smiled faintly. “Career comes first.” “I heard you once had a first love, but ultimately didn’t end up together. What’s your view on men who use marriage to achieve class mobility?” The host’s question was loaded. Audrey frowned slightly, seeming unwilling to discuss it. Benjamin, sitting in the audience, immediately picked up the topic. “Everyone, don’t pressure Ms. Audrey to talk about private matters. She really was almost deceived by a certain scumbag back then.” He sighed as if helplessly. “But now that man’s older, he’s fallen to being some rich woman’s driver and has to pick up kids.” My steps that had been moving away paused. This man he was referring to was me? This interview was being broadcast live. Once spoken, those words couldn’t be taken back! I took out my phone and opened the interview’s live stream. The comments had already exploded. [How could a scumbag like that be content as a driver? He’s definitely after the rich woman, lol!] [Ms. Audrey is so beautiful and capable. It’s inevitable she’d meet a scumbag or two!] [I heard that man was Ms. Audrey’s first love. Ms. Audrey has stayed single all these years. She must have been really hurt!] I didn’t need to guess who was directing this narrative. Back then, I gave Audrey a choice. If she let Benjamin get his permanent position, I would resign. Although it ended unpleasantly, I left Audrey with her dignity. From beginning to end, no one knew we had been a couple. After Benjamin attended our class reunion and heard some old stories, he must have guessed some of the reasons why I was hostile toward her. But without knowing the full story, could he just slander me like this? I sneered and closed the live stream. Benjamin had sharp eyes. He immediately raised his voice. “Oh, isn’t that the first love of Ms. Audrey you just mentioned?” He deliberately directed the camera toward me. Some reporters eager to sniff out gossip rushed forward with their microphones. “Mr. William, is it true that you rejected an invitation from a prestigious school just to latch onto Ms. Audrey?” “There are rumors that after you were fired from Rayjedo Company Group, you specifically became a driver for rich women?” “Are you here today to use Ms. Audrey for publicity?” Benjamin stood to the side, his lips slightly curved. The business interview instantly turned into entertainment gossip. The next second, the venue doors suddenly burst open and a boy in a custom-tailored little suit ran in. All the cameras instantly switched direction. “It’s the son of Caitlyn, the youngest female billionaire in the capital!” someone exclaimed. “Oh my god, seeing him in person for the first time!” The whole venue erupted. Even Benjamin’s eyes lit up as he stared at the noble little figure. After all, this was the heir to a truly elite family! A tiny bit from him could sustain an ordinary person’s entire lifetime of struggle. Benjamin, who was closest to the child, reacted fastest. He immediately crouched down, his face breaking into a sickeningly sweet smile. “How come you’re here all alone?” He reached out to touch the child’s hair, but the little boy’s eyes suddenly lit up as he called out sweetly, “Daddy!” Benjamin was shocked and delighted. “Oh my god! The kid called him daddy! So Benjamin is Caitlyn’s husband?” “No wonder Ms. Audrey treats him so specially!” “Turns out he’s the real elite!” Benjamin thought perhaps the child’s mother was selecting a husband. He stammered happily, “B-baby, say it again?” The little boy wrinkled his nose. I couldn’t help but want to laugh.

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That day, during the parent-child event, I was sweating buckets inside that heavy mascot costume, jumping around just to get a few more laughs out of my son. When I stepped off stage, Chloe handed me a bottle of water, saying casually: “While you were bouncing around up there for half an hour, Liam and I were making out backstage.” “He said he felt bad seeing me struggle with Leo alone.” Liam was a struggling student I’d sponsored for four years. Just ten minutes earlier, he’d clapped me on the shoulder, his face earnest as he promised: “Ethan, don’t worry. If Chloe ever betrayed you, I’d be the first to stand against it.” Chloe stood in front of me, her voice dripping with contempt: “Choose now. Are you going to finish this act with your son, or are we going to fight about divorce again, like always?” I watched my son, who’d just been calling me Dad, now clinging to Liam, whining and calling him “Mr. Liam.” A wave of pure disgust washed over me. This toxic wife, this ungrateful son – I wanted none of them anymore.

“Why him, of all people?” I clenched my fists, asking in a low voice. Chloe just chuckled. “Ethan, what are you pretending to be clueless about?” “Liam is young, smart, and understands me… not like you, who spends all day either fussing over Leo or nagging about trivial details and endless chores.” This self-righteous arrogance was even more repulsive than the infidelity itself. “Dad!” Seven-year-old Leo rushed over, clutching a handful of colorful candies. He stuffed the candy into his pocket, then pointed at the insulated lunch box in my hand and complained. “Dad, your homemade lunch is so gross. It’s all vegetables, no flavor at all.” Leo pouted, then proudly held up the candy in his hand like a trophy. “Mr. Liam gave me this candy, and it’s so sweet! He even said he’d bring me some every day from now on.” I looked at the cheap, artificially colored candies in his hand, preparing to take them away. “Leo, your cough isn’t gone yet. You shouldn’t eat anything this sweet…” Leo pushed my hand away, his little face scrunched up. He hid behind Chloe, muttering softly. “Dad, are you going to start fighting about divorce again…” “Today’s a school event, can you just let me enjoy it?” Even my son had started calling my pain a “fight.” I froze, a chill running through me. Just then, Liam walked over, his eyes red-rimmed. “Ethan, I’m so sorry…” He lowered his gaze, his voice timid. “Chloe and I just made a mistake. Don’t blame her, it’s all my fault.” As he spoke, he naturally squatted down, hugged Leo, and gently patted his back. “Don’t worry, Leo. Adults will sort out adult problems. Mr. Liam will always be on your side.” Leo hugged his neck tightly, nodding repeatedly. Chloe, in front of several other parents, reached out and patted Liam’s shoulder, shielding him. “Ethan, it’s a school event today. Don’t embarrass our son in front of the whole school. If you want to fight, do it at home.” I held back, not wanting to make a scene, until the crowd gradually dispersed. I reached out to take Leo’s hand and lead him home. But he forcefully pulled away, turning to run towards Liam. He looked up, his eyes full of anticipation, and asked. “Mr. Liam, can you come to our house for dinner tonight?”

That evening, Chloe actually brought Liam home. Liam changed into a pair of dark blue slippers that Chloe had bought just a few days ago. I had asked her why she bought men’s large, and she’d said they were on sale at the supermarket. He walked into the kitchen as if he owned the place, pulling fried chicken and sweet sauce out of a bag. “Leo, come wash your hands! Your favorite fried chicken is here!” He smiled brightly, a hint of challenge in his eyes. “Chloe specifically told me Leo’s been craving this lately, so she asked me to bring some.” I stood in the entryway, watching him naturally open the cupboard and take out plates and forks. I suddenly realized that Chloe had already prepared this home for another man. At the dinner table, Leo ate, his mouth greasy, not even glancing at the vegetables I’d made. “Dad’s food has no flavor. Mr. Liam’s takeout is so much better.” He loudly declared, gnawing on a drumstick. I frowned, looking at the dipping sauce: “Leo is allergic to peanuts. Is there any peanut in this sauce?” Liam immediately put down his fork, frowning as he looked at Chloe. “Ethan, I checked the ingredient list. Absolutely no peanuts.” “Are you being too sensitive, or do you think I would intentionally harm Leo?” Chloe reached out and ruffled Leo’s hair, her tone clearly annoyed. “Ethan, stop being so dramatic.” “It’s because you’re so paranoid all the time that you’ve made the child so spoiled.” “Liam is a professional preschool teacher. Wouldn’t he know these things? Stop making such a big deal out of nothing.” Watching Chloe’s self-righteous expression, seeing their “happy little family” scene, I found the meal impossible to swallow. After dinner, Liam voluntarily offered to do the dishes. When I walked into the kitchen to get water, he had his sleeves rolled up, deliberately exposing an old silver watch on his wrist. The watch was a distinctive style, with a small star engraved on its face. It was the wedding anniversary gift Chloe had given me three years ago. I loved it back then and wore it for a long time, only putting it away when the clasp broke. “That watch…” I stopped at the kitchen doorway, my voice tight. Liam continued washing dishes, speaking softly. “Chloe said you don’t like these little things, and it was just gathering dust in a drawer, so she gave it to me.” Every word sounded like an apology, but every syllable declared his claim over her. “It’s fine, you can keep it.” I walked out of the kitchen with my glass of water. Chloe grabbed my arm and pulled me onto the balcony. She closed the sliding door, lit a cigarette, and looked at me coldly through the smoke. “Ethan, I’m warning you, don’t keep bringing up divorce.” “Do you think divorce is some kind of fun game?” She exhaled a smoke ring, then began to list our three previous reconciliations. “The first time, Leo had a high fever in the middle of the night, and you couldn’t handle it alone. You called and begged me to come back.” “The second time, your dad collapsed with high blood pressure and was hospitalized. Who ran around paying bills and dealing with everything?” “And the third time… you can’t leave this home, and you can’t leave me.” “Liam is sensible and obedient, he won’t threaten your position. You’d better be smart and not mess things up.” Every time I softened, every compromise I made for the child and the family, became her leverage to humiliate me today. Back in the bedroom, I pulled open the bottom drawer. Neatly stacked inside were three divorce decrees, and three photos from our reconciliations. In the photos, Chloe smiled lovingly every time. And I, every time, foolishly believed she had truly changed for the better. But it turned out, she was just increasingly convinced that I would never leave. Late that night, I got up for water. Passing Leo’s room, the door was ajar. Liam’s hushed voice came from inside: “Leo, if Mom and Dad really separate, who do you want to live with?” I stopped, holding my breath. The room was silent for a long time. Then, I heard the son I had raised from infancy say: “I want to be with Mom, and Mr. Liam.”

The next morning, I took my transfer request to Principal Thompson’s office at the kindergarten. I didn’t want Leo to stay in Liam’s class. I was afraid he’d be a bad influence. But the principal looked at my application with a troubled expression. “Mr. Miller, actually, Mr. Liam is usually very attentive to Leo.” “And, I’ve heard from other parents that you’re too strict with your son, and he’s under a lot of stress.” I was stunned: “Other parents?” As I walked out of the office, several parents who were usually active on the SnapChat group immediately gathered around. “Mr. Miller, it’s normal for young teachers to be close to kids. You shouldn’t be so sensitive.” “Exactly. What dad isn’t stressed about raising kids these days? You should be happy a teacher is willing to help out more.” It was then I understood: Liam had already painted me as an overly controlling man to everyone. At the end of the hallway, Liam suddenly emerged from a storage room and cornered me. “Ethan, do you know why Chloe likes me?” I looked at him coldly: “Because you’re a jerk.” He didn’t get angry, instead he said softly: “Chloe says I’m like you when you were younger. But she also says you’re too boring now.” He took a step closer. “Chloe has actually told me a lot about you.” “Like your college roommate, and the person who took care of you after your surgery, and your old gym buddy.” “Chloe says every single one of them knew how to please her, how to make her happy, better than you did.” Liam chuckled scornfully, “Ethan, you’re a real failure as a person.” My mind exploded. All those years, what I thought were misunderstandings and coincidences, were actually all humiliations Chloe had carefully arranged for me. I went home at noon, slamming my bag onto the couch, and confronted Chloe, who had just gotten off work. “Is what Liam said true?” “My college roommate suddenly moving abroad, my post-surgery caregiver bringing you soup in the middle of the night, and my gym partner leaving the group… was it all because of you?” Chloe paused, her hand on her jacket, and frowned impatiently. “Ethan, what’s wrong with you? Those are all in the past, do we really need to dig up old dirt?” She stepped closer to me. “Didn’t you already know what kind of person I am?” “All these years, haven’t you been the one clinging to this family, insisting on giving Leo a complete home?” All those years of what I thought were misunderstandings, what I thought were friendships falling apart, were actually all chronic humiliations Chloe had inflicted on me. In the evening, Leo returned from school. He was carefully holding a handmade award medal made of colorful construction paper. As soon as he walked in, he shouted excitedly. “Mom, look at my medal, isn’t it pretty? The class is having a parent-child event on Friday!” I walked over, wanting to see his artwork. But he stepped back, hugging the medal tightly to his chest. “Don’t touch it! Don’t mess up the little flower on it, Mr. Liam helped me glue it.” My hand, suspended in mid-air, slowly withdrew. On the back of the medal, clumsily written in English, were the words: Mom, Me, Mr. Liam. Leo hugged the medal to his chest, looked up at me, and added softly. “Dad, can you not come to the event on Friday?” “I’m afraid you’ll get upset again and make Mr. Liam angry.”

I still went to the parent-child event on Friday. The classroom was decorated warmly and festively. Each child was on stage, displaying their drawing of “My Family.” When it was Leo’s turn, he proudly held up his drawing. I wasn’t in the picture. Only him, Chloe, and Liam. The parents in the class politely applauded. Liam, sitting in the front row, had red-rimmed eyes, nodding repeatedly with emotion. The teacher hosting the event seemed a little awkward and asked softly: “Leo, who did you draw? Why isn’t your dad in the picture?” Leo clutched the corner of his shirt, his voice clear. “Dad always scolds me, won’t let me eat candy, won’t let me watch TV.” “Mr. Liam plays with me and buys me yummy food. I want Mr. Liam to be my dad.” Kids are brutally honest, and sometimes their honesty cuts deepest. A few embarrassed laughs rippled through the classroom, and some parents tried to smooth things over, saying children don’t know any better. I stood up, striding to the front of the stage, wanting to take Leo home. Chloe suddenly grabbed my wrist from the side. “Ethan, what are you doing?” Apparently, in her eyes, even my disappointment and sadness had to be timed so she wouldn’t lose face. I forcefully pulled my hand away from hers and stormed out of the classroom. Just as I reached the stairwell, Liam *pretended* to follow me out. “Ethan, don’t be mad at Leo…” He mumbled apologies, but forcibly shoved a photo from the parent-child event into my hand. In the photo, Leo was standing on tiptoes, hugging Liam’s neck, while Chloe stood beside them, smiling gently and indulgently. Liam leaned close to my ear. “Ethan, children are actually more honest than adults. They know who is better to keep around.” “Staying in this family will only make everyone miserable.” I crumpled the photo into a ball and tossed it into a nearby trash can, leaving the kindergarten without looking back. Soon after I got home, Chloe returned with Leo. She walked directly to the coffee table, pulled a document from her briefcase, and pushed it heavily towards me. It was a divorce agreement. “Ethan, since no one is happy, let’s just get divorced.” She leaned back on the couch, her tone as calm as if discussing the weather. “You can stay in this house for now, but I must have custody of Leo.” “You’ve seen how unstable Leo is right now. He can’t be without Liam’s care.” I looked at the neatly printed agreement and suddenly found it utterly absurd. “Chloe, are you asking me to give my wife and son to a homewrecker?” She frowned, her voice full of impatience. “Don’t say such nasty things!” “We’ve gotten to this point because you weren’t good at managing a family. Even our son rejects you, so don’t blame anyone else.” “Just sign it. Let’s part ways amicably.” Leo hid behind Chloe’s legs, tightly hugging the teddy bear Liam had given him. I squatted down, looking at the son I had raised from infancy, my voice tight. “Leo, do you want to come with Dad? Dad promises that from now on…” “No!” Leo hugged the bear even tighter, tears welling in his eyes. He backed away repeatedly, crying and shouting at me. “Dad, can you stop pushing me!” “I don’t want to choose you! I want to be with Mom and Mr. Liam!” In that moment, I suddenly didn’t want to fight anymore. I stood up, walked to the bedroom, and retrieved the three divorce decrees. And a cross-district school transfer application form I had already stamped. I pushed all these documents towards Chloe. Chloe’s face finally changed when she saw the transfer application, her brow deeply furrowed. “Ethan, what do you mean? What game are you playing now?” I picked up the pen on the table and swiftly signed my name. “It means that this time, I’m not looking back.”

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The day before we were supposed to get our marriage license, my fiancée Clara Jones confessed to me: “Steve Richard, I need to tell you something. I slept with Charles Brooklyn because I’m going to have his baby.” “His mother is seriously ill. She hopes to see her grandson born before she dies.” My heart ached so badly from her sudden confession that I couldn’t breathe. Finally, I let out a sigh. “If that’s the case, then I’ll let you go.” Clara smiled and patted my chest: “I knew you’d be the most understanding. Don’t worry, as soon as I have the baby, I’ll come right back and we’ll get our marriage license.” “Remember, we’re not breaking up.” After saying that, she carefully protected her belly and left. Until the day she gave birth, my wife was in the same delivery room. I smiled and greeted her: “Congratulations on your son. My wife had a beautiful daughter!” Clara and I had been together for five years. I proposed seven times. Each time I carefully set up the perfect atmosphere to propose, but it would always be ruined by a phone call from her childhood friend Charles. My friends felt indignant on my behalf, saying their relationship crossed boundaries and telling me to break up with Clara. After all, she was a woman I’d loved for five years. Letting go was easier said than done. I made a bet with myself—if this last proposal got ruined too, I’d let her go. To my surprise, she said yes. But when it was time to get our marriage license, she confessed that she needed to have Charles’s baby. I broke down emotionally and demanded: “Clara, why?” “Charles’s mother is in poor health. She hopes to see him get married and have children before she dies.” As soon as she finished speaking, I fell silent for three seconds, then laughed. His mother was in poor health, so she didn’t hesitate to choose to have Charles’s baby. My mother was also in poor health, but Clara chose to be indifferent. I sighed. “If that’s the case, then I’ll let you go.” I meant we were breaking up, but Clara refused to acknowledge it as a breakup. She smiled and patted my chest: “I knew you’d be the most understanding. Don’t worry, as soon as I have the baby, I’ll come right back and we’ll get our marriage license.” After saying this, she carefully protected her belly as she left, as if she were already pregnant with his child. The staff at the office were probably encountering this situation for the first time and stood there stunned for a moment. I stood up, gave a bitter smile, and left dejectedly. At the door, I saw Charles running toward Clara with an umbrella. The two of them kissed passionately like star-crossed lovers reunited after a great ordeal. I thought I had truly let go, but witnessing it in person still hurt. Charles noticed me and waved. “Steve, thank you for being understanding. I promise you, once Clara has the baby and fulfills my mother’s wish, I’ll send her right back to you.”

Use her and then send her back to me? What am I, a recycling center? Through the rain, the three of us made eye contact. Clara was tense, Charles looked hopefully expectant, making me seem like the villainous home-wrecker. Passersby who didn’t know the situation pointed at me, insinuating I was a shameless third party. My heart grew cold. “I wish you both a healthy baby.” After dropping that line, I turned and left. Without an umbrella, the rain soaked me completely. I looked pathetic, like I was running away. What she didn’t know was that my blessing was permanent, because I had agreed to get back together with my ex-girlfriend. Daisy was thrilled. She held me all night and wouldn’t let go. I drank, she drank with me. I poured out my bitter feelings, she listened quietly. When I got drunk, I said a lot of nonsense to her. That night, we were wild until dawn. I had planned to introduce her to my mother, but unexpectedly her family business had some changes and she needed to go abroad for a while. As for Clara, after that day, we barely had any contact. Not until after she got pregnant, when Charles couldn’t wait to post on Instagram. In the photo, he was kneeling down kissing her belly while Clara stroked his head. They both looked so happy, with congratulatory comments flooding in below. Someone who didn’t know the situation left this comment: “Clara, you’re pregnant with Charles’s baby? What about Steve?” “We were so busy congratulating them, we forgot that Clara and Steve were the ones who were engaged.” I smiled and replied: “What choices she makes are none of my business.” I didn’t get a chance to type out the word “breakup” before I was met with countless mocking and contemptuous comments. They laughed at me for being pathetic, saying the only reason I was putting up with this was because I wanted Clara’s family money. Even though they phrased it as joking, I knew they were serious. I was done with Clara. Whatever decisions she made naturally had nothing to do with me. As I put down my phone, Clara’s call came through. “Steve, don’t mind what they’re saying.” “We just need to live our own lives well. I didn’t realize you loved me this much and had become so understanding. I almost feel guilty toward you.” “Don’t worry, after I have his baby, I’ll come right back and marry you.” She kept talking, but then I heard her gasp. Afraid I’d notice something, she hastily explained that Charles was giving her a massage and tried to hang up the video call. However, the video didn’t close, and I saw everything they were doing. “That idiot Steve is really generous with you!” “Don’t talk about him like that. If he weren’t so magnanimous in letting me have your baby, you’d never get to be a father!” “Be careful, the doctor warned us.” I’m not a pervert. I don’t have a hobby of watching other people in bed. I hung up the video, took a shower, and slept until morning. Until I was woken by a phone call. I didn’t even remember to change my clothes and ran to the hospital in my slippers. Aunt Sarah had a handprint on her face. From the force, whoever hit her must have struck hard. My mother sat in a wheelchair, tears streaming down her face. Across from them were Clara and Charles. I immediately understood what had happened. There were many onlookers discussing who the real home-wrecker was. I pushed through the crowd and walked in. When my mother saw me, guilt washed over her face. “Son, you’re here.” “Isn’t Clara your fiancée? You two are engaged. She’s still wearing the engagement ring I picked out for you both.”

“Why is she pregnant with someone else’s baby? When I came closer and heard more, I learned she said she won’t break up with you, that the wedding is just postponed until after she gives birth.” “What kind of situation is this?” “Our Richard family may not be wealthy and powerful, but we’re decent people. How can we allow this kind of nonsense?” Before I could speak, Charles stood in front of Clara, using his body to shield her from everyone’s judgmental stares. “What are you implying?” “Are you saying we’re indecent?” “No, young man, but aren’t you being indecent?” Someone pointed at Charles with moral outrage. “That woman is someone else’s fiancée, yet she’s pregnant with your child. That’s not just indecent, it’s morally corrupt.” There were many onlookers. They weren’t helping my mother and me—they were just bored and looking for drama. The accusations grew louder. Charles and Clara were encountering this situation for the first time. I looked at the handprint on Aunt Sarah’s face and asked Charles with a dark expression: “Did you hit her?” “Yes. She had a foul mouth and insulted Clara.” “Bam!” I hit him back with equal force. Clara screamed. “What are you doing? Charles didn’t hit the wrong person.” “You should control your aunt’s mouth instead of hitting Charles.” As she spoke, she angrily took off her engagement ring and threw it at me. “Everyone, please quiet down. We’re not the kind of people you think we are.” The surrounding noise died down. Once it was quiet, Clara helped Charles face the crowd. “He and I are the real couple. As for him—” Clara pointed at me. After a moment of hesitation, she spoke: “We broke up a long time ago. He’s been shamelessly stalking me, saying his mother is seriously ill and dying soon. He’s using moral guilt to make me feel too bad to hurt him.” “Tell me, what should I do?” As soon as she finished speaking, the criticism that had been directed at them turned toward my mother and me. My face was full of anger. “Clara, you’re talking nonsense.” “First, the day I found out you were going to have someone else’s baby, we broke up.” “Second, I never stalked you. Third, my mother’s health really isn’t good, and she didn’t know anything about…” “Not stalking? Then what was that just now?” “You humiliated me and attacked Charles.” “You almost made us look like the indecent ones.” I stared hard at Clara. After meeting my eyes for a few seconds, she guiltily looked away. Charles gripped her hand tightly, giving her courage. My mother cried and tugged at my hand. “Son! Did you two really break up?” “Were you really the one shamelessly stalking her?” “Mom, I didn’t…” “Tsk, you say you didn’t, but then why would your mother attack that young man?” “Exactly. If you two hadn’t broken up and she had wronged you, we could understand you hitting him. But that’s not the case!” “Right, make her apologize.” Aunt Sarah believed me, but everyone else insisted I was shamelessly stalking her. Finally, my mother slapped me and then knelt down before Clara and Charles. I couldn’t stop her in time and could only watch as she apologized to Charles. “I apologize on behalf of my son. He was immature and caused you trouble.” “From now on, please rest assured, Steve Richard won’t stalk you anymore.”

Clara also looked at me with panic. She hadn’t expected things to develop this way either. Seeing she had no reaction and just kept looking at me, Charles pulled her into his arms. “That’s more like it. Tell him to stop stalking my wife from now on.” “Let’s go!” Clara bit her lip, said nothing, and showed no intention of leaving. Finally, Charles just picked her up and carried her away. As soon as they left, my mother collapsed heavily on the ground. “Mom!!” I quickly crouched down to help her up. She seemed to be holding on to her last breath to say one final thing to me. “Steve, don’t stalk her anymore. It’s… not good.” I shook my head, full of guilt: “I didn’t. I really didn’t.” “From the day at the license office when she said she was going to have Charles’s baby, I broke up with her.” I was about to tell her about getting back together with Daisy when she closed her eyes with a look of regret. No matter how I called to her, she wouldn’t wake up. When the doctor told me she was gone, my whole body went rigid. My mother hadn’t even learned about Daisy and me getting back together. How could she just leave? I lay by her bedside, overwhelmed by guilt, my face covered in tears. Clara called me. I didn’t answer, so she kept calling. Finally, I picked up. “Steve, how is your mom doing now?” “I’m sorry. I really didn’t expect to run into your mother at the hospital.” “You have no right to mention her to me.” I practically roared. “I told you we broke up that day at the license office. I never stalked you…” “And I told you, we’re not breaking up.” “Having Charles’s baby is because his mother’s health is poor. What’s wrong with me giving him a baby?” “After she has a grandson, maybe she’ll perk up and fight off her illness.” “I thought you understood me. I didn’t expect you to be so selfish, just like your mother.” After saying this, she hung up. From then on, she never called me again. My mother’s death made me start to detest Clara, yet she was still waiting for me to contact her. After I returned to my hometown to handle my mother’s funeral, I went out to see the world. I visited Daisy. She was too swamped with work to get away. She said things would get better after these few months and asked me to wait for her. Meanwhile, Clara, who hadn’t contacted me for months, suddenly started calling me like crazy. I wanted to block her, but I knew she’d just use a new number to keep calling. When I answered, she immediately laid into me. “Steve, why didn’t you tell me you quit your job? You disappeared for months—where did you go?” I didn’t respond to her questions, so she softened her tone. “Are you still mad about last time?” “Then I apologize, okay?” “Just wait a little longer. When the time comes, I’ll personally go apologize to your mom.” “No need. She doesn’t need your apology.” “You don’t deserve her forgiveness either. After all, she always treated you like her own daughter. You loved steak, so she made it for you. You liked pretty dresses, so she saved money to buy them for you.” Bringing up the past, my heart felt no pain, only hatred. Perhaps because Clara had been separated from me for so long, and afraid of provoking me into never coming back, she kept lowering her tone when speaking to me. Finally, I hung up on her. I didn’t leave. Instead, I stayed to be with Daisy. Because she was already pregnant with my child. I was so overjoyed I didn’t know how to express it.

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The day the Wilson family came to take back their biological daughter, Mrs. Elena said in front of everyone: “Don’t worry. I’ll be a better mother than you, her adoptive one, ever were.” I didn’t say anything. I signed the papers and let go. After that, my daughter Aria called me once a week, her tone ten times sweeter than before. “Mom, the Wilsons hired a nutritionist for me. I’ve gained several pounds.” But the collarbones in her video call looked even sharper than when she left. “Mom, Blake took me to the amusement park. I had so much fun.” But there was a band-aid over her right eyebrow. She said she bumped into the carousel. “Mom, they transferred me to a private school. All my classmates are really nice to me.” But when I looked up the school, there was no enrollment record for her at all. The last time we spoke, she said the Wilsons were taking her abroad to study, so it might not be convenient to stay in touch. Right before hanging up, she suddenly lowered her voice and said quickly: “Mom, there’s a diary in the second drawer of my closet.” I found the notebook that same night. Inside was a photo of the Wilson family’s son. On the back, in Aria’s handwriting, were four words: “He’s not human.”

“Who is he? What inhuman thing did he do?” I stared at those words in the diary—”He’s not human.” My fingers wouldn’t stop trembling. My fingertips pressed so hard they nearly tore through the thin photo. “Mom, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you sleeping?” My son Adrian rubbed his sleepy eyes and pushed open my bedroom door. “Adrian, go get dressed.” I snapped the diary shut, my voice hoarse like I’d swallowed sand. “Where are we going this late?” Adrian looked at me, confused. “New York.” I stood up and grabbed my jacket from the couch. “To find your sister!” Adrian froze for a moment, then panic flashed in his eyes. “Did something happen to Aria?” He didn’t ask another question. He just turned and went to grab his backpack. The 3 AM flight. The entire cabin was so quiet it made me anxious. I stared out at the pitch-black sky. All I could think about was Aria’s trembling voice at the end of our last call. “Mom, I miss you so much.” That was the only time she hadn’t forced a smile since the Wilsons took her away. The plane landed in New York just as dawn broke. I pulled out my phone and sent Aria a message. “I have some work that suddenly brought me to New York. Mind if I stop by to see you?” My heart was in my throat. A full half hour passed before she replied with a single line. “Oh Mom, bad timing. My parents took me on vacation. We’re not in New York right now.” I looked at those words, my hands and feet going ice cold. She didn’t even send an emoji. That wasn’t like Aria at all. “Mom, what did Aria say?” Adrian leaned over to look at the screen, his brow instantly furrowing. “She says she’s not in New York.” I pocketed my phone and strode toward the exit, dragging my suitcase. “So where are we going now?” “To the Wilson estate.” The Wilsons lived in New York’s most exclusive neighborhood. Their standalone villa halfway up the hill had its gates shut tight. The security was intense. They wouldn’t let outsiders in. Adrian and I stored our luggage at a convenience store at the bottom of the hill and changed into plain workout clothes. Following the landscaped perimeter of the estate, we circled around to the back wall of the Wilson property. There was a bamboo grove here that didn’t get much foot traffic. I crouched in the grass, eyes fixed on the closed wrought-iron back gate. “Mom, is Aria really in there?” Adrian kept his voice low, his fists already clenched tight enough to crack. “Wait here. I’ll go ask around.” I spotted a middle-aged woman in a cleaning uniform walking past with a bag of trash. I immediately approached her. “Excuse me, did the Wilsons go on vacation today?” The cleaner looked startled and sized me up. “Vacation? No, the whole family’s inside.” My heart dropped. Aria had lied. Or someone had been lying with her phone. “I bet the Wilsons are thrilled to have found their biological daughter. They must spoil her rotten, right?” I forced a smile, trying to sound casual. The cleaner looked around, then curled her lip. “Spoil her? That house is a living hell!” My blood turned to ice. “What do you mean?” I pulled two hundred dollars from my pocket and discreetly slipped it into the cleaner’s glove. Her eyes lit up and her voice dropped even lower. “You don’t know—that son of theirs, Blake, he’s got something wrong with his head.” “He used to enjoy torturing small animals. When he got bored of that, he started torturing people.” “Several housekeepers have been beaten so badly they quit!” I dug my nails into my palm, forcing my voice to stay steady. “What about their biological daughter?” The cleaner sighed and shook her head. “They say they brought her back to live the good life, but really she’s just a toy for that psycho!” “Just yesterday I heard her screaming in the yard. They said she fell down the stairs.” “Mrs. Elena even yelled at her for not watching where she was going and ruining the new carpet.” My head erupted with a deafening buzz, like someone had taken a sledgehammer to my skull. My baby, the one I’d raised for eighteen years, the one I couldn’t even bring myself to yell at—in their house, she’d become a plaything for a lunatic? “I’m gonna go in there and kill them!” Adrian had crept up beside me, his eyes bloodshot, already lifting his leg to kick down the door. “Get back here!” I grabbed him around the waist and dragged him into the bamboo grove. “Mom! Let me go! They’re hurting Aria!” Adrian struggled violently, tears streaming down his face. Just then, a piercing siren wailed closer and closer. Not a police car—an ambulance! The ambulance screeched to a stop at the Wilson estate’s front gate. I shoved Adrian aside and looked over.

The gate was violently pushed open from inside. Blake walked out in expensive designer pajamas, cursing under his breath. “Hurry up! Don’t let her die in the house, it’s bad luck!” “So disgusting. All that blood. Makes me sick.” He walked while shaking water droplets off his hands in disgust. Those droplets had an unmistakable tint of red. Right behind him, Mrs. Elena followed in high heels, clicking rapidly. Her hair wasn’t even mussed. Her makeup was flawless. “Blake, watch your step. Don’t let that filth touch you.” She pulled out a handkerchief, looking at him with nothing but sympathy, and wiped his hands. “It’s all that damn girl’s fault. Couldn’t even cooperate with a simple game. Ruined everything!” Blake kicked the doorframe. “It’s okay, sweetie. I’ll buy you that new sports car. Don’t be upset.” Mrs. Elena coaxed him gently, her tone dripping with indulgence. Two paramedics rushed out pushing a gurney. The person on it was covered by a white sheet already soaked halfway through with blood. A lifeless hand dangled off the side of the gurney, so thin it looked like it would snap in the wind. Around the wrist was a deep ligature mark. In that moment, I felt my breathing stop. That was my Aria! The Aria I’d raised from a tiny baby with my own hands! I’d thought being reunited with her biological parents would be a blessing. “Move! The patient has lost too much blood and needs a transfusion immediately!” The ER doctor, drenched in sweat, shouted at Blake, who was blocking the path. “Are you blind? How dare you talk to my son like that?” Mrs. Elena’s eyes flashed. She pointed right at the doctor’s nose and started screaming. “Do you know who we are? One phone call and I’ll make sure you never work in New York again!” The doctor’s face went pale with rage, but a life was on the line. He could only grit his teeth and bear it. “Family needs to come with us. We need signatures!” The nurse pushed the gurney into the ambulance and urged them anxiously. “I’m not going to that depressing place!” Blake took a step back, his face full of revulsion. Mrs. Elena frowned and covered her nose. “Why would we go? Blake’s been traumatized. He needs rest. Just take her. I’ll pay double the medical bills!” “Are you even human? That’s your biological daughter in there!” The nurse finally couldn’t take it anymore. Her eyes red, she shouted. “Smack!” The sharp sound of a slap rang out in the quiet morning. The nurse clutched her face, staring at Mrs. Elena in disbelief. “Who do you think you are to lecture me? I gave birth to her. Her life belongs to me. Whatever I tell her to do, she does!” Mrs. Elena shook out her hand, sneering. “Get lost! Stop blocking my view! I’ll go to the hospital myself later.” The ambulance doors slammed shut and it roared away. I hid in the bamboo grove, shaking like a leaf. My teeth bit into my lip until it bled, the taste of rust spreading through my mouth. I clamped my hand over Adrian’s mouth. He was already crying so hard his whole body convulsed, like an injured animal desperate to break free. “Don’t move! Going out there now won’t change anything!” I pressed my mouth to Adrian’s ear, my voice shaking but carrying an undeniable ferocity. “They have money and power. You can’t beat them, and you’ll just get yourself destroyed!” Adrian looked at me in despair, tears falling in fat drops onto my hand. The Wilsons turned and went back into the villa. The gate slammed shut with a bang. I let go and pulled Adrian to his feet, running down the hill. “To the hospital!” We flagged down an Uber and headed straight for New York Central Hospital. In the car, the driver kept glancing at us in the rearview mirror. “Going to the ER this early in the morning?” I forced down the churning in my gut and nodded. “Did you see that ambulance just now?” The driver sighed and jerked the wheel. “I saw it. What a tragedy. That came from the hillside estates, right?” “You know about it?” I asked tentatively. The driver snorted. “Anyone who drives Uber in New York knows about that bastard from the Wilson family.” “That Blake kid is a born psychopath.” “I heard when he was little he liked torturing animals. As he got older, it only got worse.” “Too bad they’re rich. They can throw money at any mess he makes and it all goes away.” I gripped the hem of my jacket. “No one does anything?” “Do anything? Alexander only cares about money, and Mrs. Elena only has one son. She loves him like he’s the center of the universe.” The driver lowered his voice. “I heard from a driver who worked for them—the Wilsons recently found their biological daughter.” “They call her their daughter, but really they just brought her back to be that psycho’s punching bag.” “After all, beating outsiders causes trouble if it gets out. But your own family? Even if you beat them to death, who’s gonna say anything?” My heart felt like it was being fed through a meat grinder, crushed over and over. My Aria, that sweet angel who felt sorry for stray cats. In that house of horrors, she’d been treated like a toy for an animal! “Mom.” Adrian grabbed my hand. His hand was freezing. “I’m going to kill him.” I squeezed Adrian’s hand back, staring at the hospital building ahead. “You don’t have to.” “I’ll send them to hell myself.”

The light outside the ER was blindingly bright. Adrian and I sat on a bench around the corner of the hallway, wearing masks. Less than thirty feet away, I watched Alexander arrive in a hurry. He wore a sharp suit with a perfectly knotted tie. He didn’t look like a father called in the middle of the night for his daughter’s emergency. He looked like he was heading to an important business meeting. “What happened? How did she end up in the hospital?” The moment Alexander saw Mrs. Elena, his brow furrowed deep enough to crush a fly. “There’s a major acquisition this morning. Don’t you know we can’t have any negative press right now?” He didn’t ask if Aria was dead or alive. His first concern was his stocks. Mrs. Elena rolled her eyes and shot back defensively. “Why are you yelling at me? Blake had a little too much to drink last night and got a bit rough, that’s all.” “Aria’s usually pretty tough. Who knew she’d be so fragile today? One bump into the coffee table and her head split open.” Her breezy tone made it sound like she was talking about a broken vase. My nails dug deep into my flesh, my palm sticky with blood. “Aria’s a curse. We never should have brought her back after abandoning her.” Alexander irritably loosened his tie. “Should’ve just let her rot with that poor excuse for an adoptive mother.” “This is all for Blake, isn’t it?” Mrs. Elena lowered her voice, but it carried right to my ears. “Better to have a sister at home for him to take his anger out on than have him kill someone on the outside!” I shot to my feet, the last thread of rationality in my mind snapping with an audible crack. Adrian wanted to rush over and tear those inhuman mouths right off their faces! I grabbed Adrian’s arm and shoved him back down into his seat. “Patience! Don’t ruin the plan!” Adrian sobbed. I clenched my fist, nails digging into flesh, suppressing my own urge to charge forward. I had to save Aria. And I had to make them pay a price worse than death! The ER door opened. A doctor walked out, exhaustion written all over his face. “Who’s the family for Aria?” Alexander walked over impatiently. “I am. She’s not going to die, is she?” The doctor froze, a flash of anger in his eyes. “The patient has multiple soft tissue contusions, a mild concussion, and most seriously, a fractured ulna in her right arm that requires immediate surgery with pins!” “And…” The doctor paused, his tone turning severe. Alexander let out a cold laugh. He pulled a check from his pocket and stuffed it directly into the doctor’s white coat. “Dr. James, don’t say things you shouldn’t. Be careful what comes out of your mouth.” The doctor’s expression changed several times. Finally, he let out a deep sigh and didn’t return the check. “Go pay for the surgery.” The doctor dropped the words coldly and turned back into the ER. Alexander turned to Mrs. Elena. “Go pay the fees, then have Tom take her to the old villa in the suburbs.” “Having her at home is an eyesore. Don’t let Blake see her and get upset.” Mrs. Elena pursed her lips. “I know. You better get to the office. This place is filthy.” Alexander left without looking back. Mrs. Elena glanced disdainfully at the line at the payment counter and walked toward the VIP lounge. The hallway was left with only a few scattered family members of other patients. This was my only chance. I pulled Adrian up and walked quickly toward an empty patient room. Inside were isolation gowns and masks the nurses had changed out of. I quickly pulled one on and pressed a nurse’s cap down low. “Adrian, go downstairs and call a car. Park it in the alley behind the ER back door.” “Keep the engine running and wait for me in the car.” Adrian looked at me with worry. “Mom, can you do this? Let me go in with you!” “You’re too conspicuous.” I pushed him away. “Remember, no matter what happens, protect Aria!” I took a deep breath, picked up a stainless steel tray from the hallway cart, and walked toward the ER observation room with my head down. The door was slightly ajar. The moment I pushed it open— My tears fell uncontrollably.

“Don’t come near me… Please don’t…” The person on the bed shrank into the corner. She held her head in her hands like a cat traumatized beyond reason, shaking like a leaf. Her once-beautiful long hair had been hacked off unevenly, and there were even a few bald patches on her scalp. The face I’d kissed a thousand times was now swollen, with dried purple-black blood crusted at the corner of her mouth. The oversized hospital gown couldn’t hide the purple and blue whip marks covering her entire body. Her right arm hung limply, secured in a temporary splint. This was the Aria the Wilsons said they’d hired a nutritionist for, the one who’d gained several pounds! “Aria…” I threw down the tray, ripped off my mask, and rushed to the bed. Her body went rigid. She looked at me timidly through her fingers. In that moment, I clearly saw the disbelief and extreme fear in her eyes. “Mom…” Her lips trembled as she let out a sound as faint as a mosquito. “Mom! Why did you come? You need to leave! They’ll kill you!” She suddenly pushed at me frantically, though she had no strength at all. Tears mixed with blood streaked down her face. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here. I’m taking you home.” I pulled her tightly into my arms, feeling her skeletal body trembling violently. My heart was torn into pieces. “No… we can’t leave…” Aria clutched desperately at my clothes, her eyes fixed on the door in terror. “Blake will get angry. If he finds out you came, he’ll kill you. He’ll kill Adrian!” “He’s insane. He’s really insane!” She sobbed incoherently, clearly suffering from severe psychological trauma. “Listen to me, Aria.” I cupped her face and looked directly into her frightened eyes. “Adrian’s waiting for us downstairs. That animal Blake—I’ll deal with him myself!” “Right now, we’re leaving. Understand?” I didn’t dare delay. I threw back the covers. Around her ankles were raw, chafed marks from iron shackles! Animals! Worse than animals! I gritted my teeth and lifted her onto my back. She was as light as paper. My tears flooded out again. I wrapped her tightly in an oversized white coat and put a mask on her. Head down, I walked quickly out of the observation room. Mrs. Elena was still in the VIP lounge making an appointment for a manicure. The nurses in the hallway were busy resuscitating another patient. No one noticed me carrying a patient toward the fire escape. The stairwell was long. I carried her down step by step. My knees ached from the weight, but I felt nothing. All I felt was the warmth on my back—Aria’s silent tears. I pushed open the ground-floor safety door. A blast of cold morning air hit us. Adrian’s Uber was parked thirty feet away, doors wide open. “Aria!” Adrian rushed over and took Aria from my back. The moment he saw her condition, he dropped to his knees and wailed. “Aria! How could they… how could they do this to you!” “Adrian, don’t cry…” Aria weakly lifted her uninjured left hand and touched Adrian’s head. “Get in the car!” I shoved them both into the back seat. “To the train station! Fast as you can!” I threw a stack of cash at the driver. Without a word, he floored it. After a few blocks, I confirmed we weren’t being followed. I let out a long breath and turned to the back seat. “Adrian, I booked the next train out. Take Aria to Houston in the south.” “I had an old friend rent us a place there. I’ve also contacted a discreet private clinic.” “You don’t need to worry about anything. Just take care of Aria.” Adrian’s head snapped up, staring hard at me. “What about you?” “I’m not leaving.” I looked out at the passing streetscape, my voice cold as a knife dipped in ice. “They tortured Aria like this and think no one will touch them?” “Mom, don’t do anything stupid!” Aria struggled to sit up, panic written all over her face. “The Wilsons have connections everywhere. You can’t fight them! Can’t we just go to the police?” “The police?” I turned around and looked at Aria’s scarred face, letting out a cold laugh. “The police would be letting them off too easy.” What I wanted was their ruin. Their family destroyed. To see them on their knees, begging like dogs for my forgiveness! “Adrian, take Aria and go.” I opened the car door, preparing to get out at the red light. “But—” “No buts!” I cut him off sharply, my gaze fierce. “If you think of me as your mother, take Aria as far away as you can!” The car door shut. I stood in the cold morning wind and watched the Uber disappear around the corner. The game was officially beginning. I was going to make the Wilson family suffer, starting today! “Just wait, Mrs. Elena,” I murmured. “I told you—if you couldn’t be a good mother to Aria, then let me, her adoptive mother, do it.”

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Rowan was obsessed with me.Madly,irrevocably. It almost made me regret the day I decided to drag his injured body back to my hideout.He had been bloodied and weak,shifted into his wolf form as he lay on the floor.It took me a lot of effort to take him back,but I couldn’t just leave an injured fellow wolf out in the woods to die. Little did I know that one act would change the direction of my entire life. According to him,the moment he opened my eyes to see me,he decided:“No one else.Only you.” And he was serious.He took me away from he Alpha I was to be mated to.And to win me over,he imprisoned me for three years in a private,warded villa hidden deep in his territory—far from his pack,far from anyone.Every day,he tried to court me with gifts,attention,even tenderness. But I never loved him.He was my abductor and there was no way I would ever want him. But now…he had a substitute.A she-wolf named Maria.She was from his pack and from the videos I received from Rowan,she looked frighteningly similar to me. They had been flaunting their bond for months—running through the forest together,curling up in front of the hearth in the Alpha’s den.The rumours were everywhere. To provoke me,Rowan would sometimes forward me mind-linked visions—flashes of him and Maria nestled together,laughing,kissing. Today was one of those days. I sat in the courtyard trying to focus on the peace and quiet,but faint mental echoes of his latest memory with Maria flashed through the mind-link. Until,I heard noise from outside the villa. I frowned.Rowan wasn’t due to visit for another few days.But I wasn’t hallucinating.There were voices and footsteps. “Didn’t Alpha Rowan say this place is off-limits?” “He did.I heard the last wolf who peeked through the fence got his paws shattered and his eyes clawed out.” “Then why the hell are we here,Maria?” “Because he loves me.He won’t mind.I want to see what he’s hiding in here so badly.” I froze.My chest tightened.Someone was heading this way. They had no idea what they were walking into. I knew better than anyone:Rowan didn’t just guard me.He hoarded me.I wasn’t allowed to go outside and no one was allowed inside. At first,he was only jealous of other males—ranked wolves or not. Once,a curious omega caught a glimpse of me through the curtains.The next day,Rowan crippled him and wiped his memory clean before sending him into exile. Later,when Rowan saw me smile—just a casual smile at one of the housemaids,he dismissed every servant in a jealous rage.Since then,he’d done everything himself—bringing food,changing bedding,brushing the dust from the windows. No one was allowed to lay eyes on me but him.If they came in,they wouldn’t just be in danger.They’d die and he’d see to it himself. I jumped to my feet,rushing to the door,hoping—foolishly—to warn them before it was too late. But the moment I opened it,I saw someone who looked almost the same as me.It surprised me. Before I could speak,her hand struck me hard across the face. “Who the hell are you?”she snarled.“How dare a rogue like you pretend to be me and hide in Rowan’s villa?You think you can seduce my Alpha?I’ll rip you apart!”

My face burned red with pain from the small. “You cheap bitch who used a witch to change your face!”Maria snarled,her claws twitching as she stepped closer.“Do you even know where you are?You dared to sneak into the Alpha’s restricted territory without permission?” Her voice echoed through the courtyard,sharp and venomous. “You forced your way in here to tempt Rowan,didn’t you?Changed your scent.Altered your face.Anything to crawl into his arms.” That’s when it finally clicked. The woman who had slapped me across the face—the one who looked disturbingly like me—was Maria Berg.The substitute. The one Rowan had found after I rejected him.Because of his obsession with control,I had kept my distance—even though we were forced into a bond. I never let him touch me and I never gave in.Maybe out of resentment,or to soothe his bruised pride,Rowan searched everywhere for someone who could replace me.And Maria was the one who came closest. Now she stood in front of me,seething,her eyes full of twisted rage. “You slut,”Maria spat.“You knew Rowan is madly in love with me,so you made yourself look like me!Are you trying to replace me as his Luna?!: She was arrogant and flamboyant,completely blind to the truth.I didn’t care about her rude behaviour,but she had to leave. I said kindly,“You shouldn’t be here.Before Rowan shows up,you need to leave.Or you’ll regret it.” But Maria didn’t back down.Not even close. With a snarl,she lunged and grabbed my hair,yanking me down violently. “How dare you call the Alpha’s name,you slut?!”she screamed.“I have every right to walk through Alpha Rowan’s territory.You,on the other hand,are terrified of being exposed.Afraid I’ll destroy your little fantasy and show everyone that you’re nothing but a copy.” Suddenly,she kicked me viciously.It knocked the breath from me and sent me crashing into the jagged rocks by the courtyard wall. My head hit hard,blood trickling down my forehead. I raised my hand to the wound,but my voice stayed calm.“Aren’t you afraid Rowan will find out what you’ve done?” Maria scoffed.“I am the woman he’s been searching for.His fated.If I scratch my face,he literally panics.If I cry,he loses his mind.Do you think he’d care about you?” Her entourage of she-wolves laughed behind her,just as cruel. “Exactly.Alpha Rowan imprinted on Maria the moment he saw her.” “This bitch is just some desperate rogue who paid to look like her.” “Let’s give her a lesson so the next tramp knows what happens when she tries to take what belongs to the future Luna.” Their eyes gleamed with malice as they closed in.But I stood tall,blood streaking down my face. “You better ask the Alpha who I am,”I said evenly. Maria sneered.“You?A fake-faced nobody?You really think I’d ask about you?My family is Alpha Rowan’s Pack’s strongest ally.Rowan is mine.Who the hell do you think you are to challenge that?” She gave a sharp nod to her friends.”Strip her!” I froze at her words,but she continued.“Let’s see if she changed her body to match mine too.” My heart beat furiously and others pounced—grabbing at my clothes,claws out,laughter loud. I struggled,fury bubbling in my chest. “STOP!”I roared.”I am Rowan’s WIFE!”

Hearing what I said,they immediately stopped what they were doing. Maria stood aside,squinting at me. “You said you were Rowan’s wife?” I said seriously,”Yes.You are the substitute he found.If he knows you hurt me like this…he won’t let it go.” Her expression blanked and I felt relieved.I thought that telling the truth would make her retreat.That maybe,she’d finally understand the mistake she was making. But unexpectedly,they all burst into laughter. “This bitch!Is she that desperate to take the Luna’s place?”one sneered. “Just because she looks somewhat like Maria,she thinks she can claim to be his wife?”“Everyone knows the Alpha takes Maria everywhere.She’s his Luna in all but name.He is just busy with pack work.” “And you,”one of them hissed,”a sneaky rogue,how dare you call yourself the wife of the Alpha Rowan?” Maria smiled viciously.”Seriously,I expected more from you.You had the nerve to disguise yourself as me just to seduce Rowan.But now I see you’re nothing but a brainless fraud.” She stepped closer.”I’ve been by Rowan’s side for so long…and I never even heard of a wife.Are you really that bold?Or just that stupid?” “If you were his true mate,his Luna,would you really be rotting alone in this forgotten villa with no one to protect you?”She scoffed. “Strip her.Leave nothing behind.” Her friends didn’t hesitate.They grabbed me,their claws tearing at my clothes like rabid animals and their claws sinking into my flesh. They didn’t know the truth—why this villa was so deserted. Rowan bought this entire stretch of land.No one could enter without his permission. At first,there were bodyguards,servants.But because of Rowan’s jealousy,he drove them all away.He didn’t want anyone looking at me,even thinking about me.He refused to announce my existence.He didn’t want anyone to even whisper my name. And now,all of that—the very things he did out of obsession—was now proof to them that I was a liar. Seeing my clothes torn to shreds,I panicked and shouted:”I really am Rowan’s wife!If you don’t believe me,call him!” But they just became more vicious. “Liar!”one spat,slapping me across the face. “Let’s see how long you can keep up the act!” Pain exploded across my skin.My face was burning.My body was bruised and exposed. Maria narrowed her eyes.“This bitch’s hair is getting in the way.She wants to show off her body so badly?” Her lips curled into a cruel smile as she pulled out a lighter. “Let’s help her out,then.” The flame flickered once—then caught my hair. The fire spread fast.I screamed,the burning pain searing through my scalp.My cheeks,ears,everything felt like it was melting. I tried to slap the flames out,but they held me down.Held me there—while the fire consumed me. By the time it died out,my hair was gone.My scalp was scorched and raw. Maria looked at me and laughed.“Look at you now.Bald and pathetic.Who’s going to fall for you like this?A stinky old male?” Her friends clapped and giggled behind her. I stared at them,trembling.And then I shouted,through clenched teeth:“You will regret this.” Rowan had threatened me before—used my family’s lives to bind me to this prison.He kept me hidden,locked away in this silent villa for years. The more I dwelled on it,that grief and despair turned into something sharper.Darker.Hotter. Maria stepped forward and pressed her heel down on my cheek. “How dare you challenge me?Since everything you say annoys me….Let’s make sure you never speak again.” She turned to her girls. “Cut out her tongue.”

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I had a dream. In it, I stood at the altar in a white gown, Noah gently holding my hand, his forehead resting against mine. He was my Alpha, my husband by the laws of the pack, and the only one I thought would stay. “Sadie,” he whispered, “once you’re carrying our pup, I’ll announce to the world that marrying you was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me.” Back then, I believed him. I was just a low-born Omega, but I dared to think I was enough for the most powerful Alpha of the North. Until the day that dream shattered like fragile glass. “I want a divorce.” That’s what Noah Greaves, Alpha heir to the Greaves bloodline, told me—calmly, clinically—across his office desk. I clutched a folded ultrasound report in my coat pocket. I had just come from the healer’s hut. Six weeks along. Our pup, finally. “What… did you say?” “I said,” he repeated, adjusting his silver cufflinks, “we should get a divorce. This arrangement has run its course.” My mind went blank. “I’m pregnant,” I blurted out. “Six weeks. I had the scan this morning.” For a moment, just a flicker, something cracked in his expression. But it vanished as quickly as it came. “Then get rid of it.” The words didn’t register at first. “You—what?” Noah stood, towering above me with the cold control of a born Alpha. His pheromones hummed through the air like frostbite. “Don’t try to trap me, Sadie. We both know this marriage was a transaction. Don’t make this messier than it needs to be.” “We’ve been married for two years. You said—” “I said what I had to,” he snapped. “To shut my mother up. To keep the Council quiet. But I never said I loved you.” He stepped closer. “And I never said I wanted your pup.” Before I could process anything, the office door opened. Aria Linford walked in—the very picture of a gentle, elegant Omega. Pale blue dress, soft curls, and a face I had seen too many times in Noah’s old photographs. His ex. His “true mate.” Her voice was soft. “You two are still fighting?” I could barely breathe. “Why are you here?” Aria cast her gaze down. “I never wanted to come between you. But you two… it’s not working. And I can’t keep pretending we weren’t meant to be.” “I’m carrying his child!” I screamed, shoving the ultrasound into her hands. She glanced at it, then smiled faintly. “Are you sure it’s his?” My hand struck her across the face before I even realized it. Noah shoved me back, fury lighting his eyes. “Have you lost your mind?!” He shielded Aria with his body. That was the moment I knew. It was over. I ran through the rain, cradling my belly like it was the last real thing I had left. I didn’t even feel the cold. But fate hadn’t finished with me yet. The alley was dark. The blow came fast. I collapsed against the stone, the pain in my abdomen sharp, searing. I was bleeding. “No…” I gasped, fingers trembling as I pulled out my phone. I called him. One ring. Two. No answer. I tried again. This time, someone picked up. “Noah—please—I’m bleeding. Our baby—save us—” Silence. Then a woman’s voice, soft and sweet as poison: “Sadie, you poor thing. I hope next time you stay dead.” It was Aria. I woke seven days later in a place I didn’t recognize. “She’s stabilizing,” a voice said. Calm. Female. “Stronger than I thought,” said another—deeper, male. I opened my eyes. A woman in a white cloak leaned over me. Her badge bore a silver vine sigil. “You’re safe now,” she said gently. “I’m Rima Solas. Omega. High-ranking tribal healer.” I blinked. “Where—my baby—” Rima nodded. “Still with you. Still fighting. It was your pup’s spiritual surge that saved you. You both would’ve died otherwise.” My throat closed up. “He’s… awake?” “More than that,” she said. “He stabilized your entire nervous system in utero. I’ve never seen anything like it.” She handed me a spiritual resonance chart. Twin pulses—one mine, one glowing in silver and gold. “Your child carries the Silvertail bloodline,” she said softly. “The mark of the Moon’s heir.” That’s when another figure stepped into the tent. He was tall, cloaked in silver and black, long white hair framing a face full of gravity. “Alric Nyven,” he said. “Delta. Elder Council Executor.” My skin crawled. “We’re not here to hurt you, Sadie,” he said. “We’re here for your child.” I stared. “Why?” “You are a descendant of the Silvertail line—wolves once chosen by Lunara herself. Your child… may be the first Spiritborne in centuries.” My blood turned to ice. “So the attack…” “Yes.” Alric’s eyes darkened. “They knew.” I looked down at my belly. So did Noah. And he still chose to leave me to die. That was the moment I stopped waiting to be saved. I’d already died once for love. Now I’d rise—for war.

I once thought the worst kind of pain was watching someone you love walk away. But no—true pain is knowing they let you die, even when they knew you were carrying their child. It’s been ten days since I woke up in the Moonscar Tribe’s healing tent. This place was far from the northern capitals, a neutral sanctuary under the Elder Council’s quiet protection—built to shelter Omegas and Alphas suffering from pheromonal instability or violent awakenings. I had no title. No resources. No family. Worst of all, my name had been deleted from the Greaves family registry. In wolf society, that meant I was no longer a recognized citizen. I had become a ghost. “You must learn to control your spiritual pheromones, Sadie.” Rima Solas, Omega, chief tribal healer, stood by my side. Her scent was clean—grasses, herbs, and quiet steadiness. I bit down hard, trying not to cry out. Since my rescue, my spiritual energy had gone feral. With my pregnancy and partial awakening, every night brought pain and hallucinations. I saw Noah’s face. Heard him say, “Get rid of it.” Heard Aria’s voice over the phone, whispering, “You really are that stupid, Sadie.” I wanted to scream—but all I could do was choke on silence. “Your child is reversing the energy flow, protecting your core,” Rima said. “It’s causing an unnatural spike in spiritual bond fusion. Even your body can’t handle this.” “So I’ll die?” “No,” she replied quietly. “You’ll awaken. Or lose control completely.” I leaned back against the cot and gave a bitter laugh. “Sounds lovely.” “Unless,” she said, “you agree to undergo a guided lunar imprint ceremony.” My eyes snapped to hers. “The Moon Imprint?” She nodded. “The Silvertail mark within you has already begun to surface. If you don’t let the Moon’s will guide you, your system will continue to break down.” I was silent. I was an Omega. I didn’t want to depend on any Alpha—not even the Moon goddess. But I had a child now. And I couldn’t afford to die. “I’ll do it,” I said. Three days later, Alric Nyven returned. He was a Delta—one of the Elder Council’s top arbiters. He possessed rare empathic pheromone powers, capable of calming near-feral Alphas with a word. He was here today for me—an Omega branded unfit for recognition. “Your registration has been terminated,” he said plainly. “By pack law, an unbonded Omega must undergo spiritual testing and, if passed, submit to re-bonding with a qualified Alpha.” “I won’t bond with anyone,” I said coldly. He looked at me for a long moment. “Then you must survive the Moon Imprint Trial.” “I’ll take it.” “Even though the survival rate is below twenty percent?” I smiled, cold and sharp. “I’ve already died once. What more is there to lose?” That night, beneath a violet moon, I stood on the mountaintop in ceremonial robes, holding a dagger of lunar silver. The tribe circled around in solemn formation. Rima stood behind me, weaving energy runes into the ground. Alric carved ancient glyphs in the snow. A projection of Lunara, the Moon Goddess, flickered into existence above the circle. “Sadie Hale,” her voice echoed, “do you wish to sever your bond with your former Alpha, and walk freely as your own?” “I do.” I raised the dagger and slashed across the inner line of my wrist. Pain. Real, raw, soul-crushing pain. The severing. It wasn’t just physical. It was mental annihilation. I heard the psychic bonds snap inside my brain, each one screaming as it unraveled. I saw Noah’s imprint—the signature of his pheromones—ignite like paper and vanish. I collapsed, soaked in blood, but even then, I heard it. A whisper. “You did well, Sadie.” Lunara’s voice. The voice of the moon. “You are no longer his. You are your own.” When I awoke, Rima was weeping softly. “You’re the first to survive a bond severing during pregnancy. And the only one to awaken after.” I looked down. The silver crescent now pulsed on my wrist—a mark of an Awakened. Sadie Hale, for the first time, belonged to no one. A few days later, I saw Riven Cross. Once a Beta, now an honorary Alpha and commander of the Redwing Guard. He stood tall, armored in silver and red, battle-scarred and composed. He had once been my upperclassman—the boy who gave me orange juice at the Greaves banquet, when I was too nervous to speak. “You’re here,” I rasped. He smiled faintly. “You’re alive. That’s all that matters.” “I’m not the same person anymore.” “You never should’ve been the person they forced you to be,” he said softly. “This you… is finally someone they can’t ignore.” That night, beneath the moon, I pressed my palm against my belly. The child within stirred gently. “We’ll finish this,” I whispered. “Together.” Not for revenge. But because I would never bow again.

They say the deadliest thing in a wolf pack isn’t fangs—it’s deception. Noah Greaves had always been good at hiding things. He could smile and walk Aria down the red carpet for the cameras, while I lay in a pool of blood, phone call unanswered, and post a memorial for me the next day. “May the deceased rest in peace. You deserved better in your next life.” —@NoahGreaves The comments section went wild. “You’re too kind.” “Let’s hope she won’t disturb you and Aria anymore.” “Finally, you and Aria are official!” Meanwhile, I was in the Southern Moonscar Tribe’s valley, piecing my shattered soul together after severing my Alpha bond. “They buried me well,” I muttered, scrolling through trending topics. [#HeirOfGreavesEngagedAgain] [#FormerOmegaWifeMissing] [#BabyScandal: Sadie Was Never Pregnant?] The last one was posted by Kara Venn, a Beta, Aria’s best friend, and now self-proclaimed “Chief Organizer of the Engagement Committee.” She even released a falsified DNA report claiming my child didn’t belong to Noah. I clenched my jaw and closed the screen. My son Caelum—barely six weeks inside me—had already been judged and condemned by the world. “You really want to go public?” Rima Solas, the healer, stood by the window, looking concerned. “I have to,” I said. “But your awakening isn’t complete. Your spiritual core is unstable.” “Exactly,” I smiled coldly. “Let them see that I’m no longer the docile, obedient ‘contract mate.’” “What are you planning?” “A broadcast.” That night, I stood atop the Moon Shrine, dressed in the tribe’s white ceremonial robe, and activated the live stream. Over eight million viewers flooded in within minutes. 【Wasn’t she dead?!】 【What is this—some rural ritual cosplay?】 【Wait… if she’s alive, what does that say about Noah?】 I stared into the lens, voice cool and sharp: “My name is Sadie Hale, Omega. I’m the one you called missing, unstable, or dead.” “I didn’t die. And I’m not insane.” “I was betrayed.” Two minutes in, the tide began to turn. 【She’s pale. Looks desperate.】 【She’s lying for sympathy. Noah’s a good guy.】 【Wait, is that a healing sigil on her belly?!】 I calmly lifted the protective charm from my abdomen, revealing the glowing symbols and a stabilizing fetal rune. “I’m alive because I had to protect my child.” “You said he wasn’t Noah’s? Then explain this spiritual resonance report—authorized and verified by the Elder Council.” I displayed the documents in full. The stream glitched for several seconds. Several major accounts disappeared from the viewership list. In the North, chaos exploded. Noah went from “beloved Alpha fiancé” to “predatory scumbag,” Aria was labeled “homewrecker moonlight,” and Kara got every one of her platforms banned. They hadn’t expected me to fight back—certainly not like this. But most of all, they hadn’t expected me to survive. Three days later, a formal request arrived from House Greaves. “They’re asking for mediation,” Rima said grimly at the council meeting. “Claiming you’re mentally unstable and must be ‘re-admitted’ into treatment.” I laughed. “Then let’s show them how unstable I can be.” That night, I sat in my meditation chamber when my head split with agony. An unauthorized psychic connection tore through my mental barriers. “Alpha imprint detected—attempting reconnection.” “Noah,” I hissed. He was forcing a bond reactivation—trying to awaken old subservience buried in my Omega core. “Don’t you dare…” I gasped, sweat pouring down my face. A sudden surge exploded from within me—my child’s energy fused with mine, awakening something deeper. A flash of silver. I unleashed my spiritual energy with a scream— Boom. The chamber shook. Devices cracked. Rima and several Deltas rushed in. “She’s countering it!” Rima shouted. “But the overload—” “I said, don’t touch me!” I roared. When I opened my eyes, the link had been burned away. Alric arrived shortly after, his expression unreadable. “Sadie Hale,” he said, “as of this moment, you are officially recognized as a Silvertail Awakened—provisional heir.” I looked at my hand, the silver lines glowing faintly. I wasn’t a victim anymore. I was a threat. And then Riven brought news. “There’s a Lunar Bonding Ceremony next week. The Council wants you to attend.” My brows furrowed. “That’s an Alpha-Omega pairing ritual.” “Yes,” Riven replied. “But this time, you’re the ‘exception.’” “…What does that mean?” He hesitated. “Noah will be there.” I turned toward the distant sky, moonlight slicing across my face. Fine. If he wants to see me again— Then I’ll show him exactly what he lost.

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