The day I brought an umbrella to my boyfriend Alexander, I discovered I was nothing but his “poor girlfriend” used to provoke the woman he truly loved. “I’m only pretending to be poor with Lynn because Victoria found herself some broke boyfriend to spite me.” “Love her? Fuck off. A poor woman like that isn’t worthy of me.” Two years together, working three jobs to support him. Turned out I was just a cheap toy to make his true love jealous. That night, I signed the agreement to serve as a volunteer doctor in the border conflict zone. Between gunfire and death, I carved him out of my heart completely. Three years later, I returned home as the youngest director of cardiothoracic surgery. When he knelt at the airport, crying and begging me to come back, I held my new lover’s hand and smiled coldly. “Alexander, didn’t we settle everything long ago?” Lynn’s POV In my supervisor’s office, only the soft hum of the air conditioner broke the silence. I stared at the liability waiver on the desk. Without even blinking, I signed my name without hesitation. “I won’t back out. Half a month from now, I’ll depart on time.” Walking out of the hospital, the stifling summer wind hit my face. I looked down at the simple silver ring on my ring finger and pulled my lips into a self-mocking smile. When I returned to our rental apartment, less than three hundred square feet with barely functioning AC, Alexander Blackwood was cooking pasta in the narrow kitchen. He wore a faded white T-shirt. His broad shoulders tapered to a narrow waist, and his profile looked especially gentle under the dim yellow light. Hearing the door open, he turned around. His eyes lit up as he walked out carrying two plates of pasta. “You’re back? Got paid from my part-time job today, so I bought you your favorite cake.” I looked at the cake on the table, packed in a cheap paper bag. “Thanks, but I don’t feel like eating it right now.” Alexander wiped his hands and walked over, habitually pulling me into his embrace. His chin rested in the hollow of my neck, his voice low and slightly pleading. “What’s wrong? Tough day at the hospital? Once I graduate and get a permanent position, you won’t have to work so hard. I promised I’d buy you a big house and marry you properly.” If this had been three days ago, hearing those words would have made my eyes water with emotion. I would have hugged him back and told him I didn’t mind the hardship. But now, I only felt nausea churning in my stomach. Three days ago, I went to deliver an umbrella to him at his part-time job at an upscale club, walking through the rain. In the underground parking garage, I saw Alexander, the same man who claimed he couldn’t afford taxis and rode the bus with me every day, climbing into a multi million dollar sports car. The window was half-down. His rich-kid friends laughed without restraint, their voices echoing through the empty garage. “Mr. Blackwood, how long are you going to keep up this ‘poor student’ act? Living in that cramped apartment with that broke girl every day. Doesn’t it hurt your image?” Alexander held a cigarette between his lips, his expression lazy and cold. The smoke rings he blew obscured his refined features. “Victoria hasn’t broken up with Lucas Ford yet. I need something to do in the meantime.” “True. If Victoria hadn’t decided to date some commoner to ‘experience life,’ the richest guy in our circle wouldn’t have gotten petty enough to find himself a poor girl. But that Lynn sure is gullible. She actually believes Alexander could be interested in her. Working three jobs every day to support you. That’s priceless.” The rain was heavy that day. I stood in it for a long time. I don’t even remember when I dropped the umbrella. So our two year relationship was nothing but a cheap game, one man’s way of provoking his childhood sweetheart. What I thought was salvation was just a joke in everyone else’s eyes, one they could end whenever they wanted. I closed my eyes and pushed myself out of Alexander’s embrace. “I’m a bit tired. I’ll take a shower first.” Alexander looked at his empty arms, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. He walked to the table and picked up his phone. The screen lit up. It was a message. I happened to see the screen from where I stood. “Alexander, thank you for the necklace you gave me today. I love it.” Sender: Victoria Sterling. Alexander quickly swiped the message away and looked up in my direction. He smiled awkwardly. “Work message.” I nodded without saying anything and went into the bathroom.

Lynn’s POV Water rushed in the bathroom. I stood under the shower head, letting cold water wash over my body. I didn’t cry. My tears had already run dry in that heavy rain three days ago. Now I was terrifyingly clear-headed. After my shower, I dried my hair with a towel while handing Alexander his phone that he’d left on the sink. “Your phone vibrated just now.” Looking at me, Alexander’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He casually tossed the phone onto the bed, then stepped forward and pressed me against the closet. His hot breath fell on my neck as the ambiguous atmosphere rapidly heated up in the cramped room. “Lynn…” He called my name in a low voice, his hand wandering up along my waist. My stomach turned with physiological revulsion again. I pressed down on his wandering hand at my waist. “I’m not feeling well today. I don’t want to.” Alexander’s movements froze. This unexpected rejection left him somewhat stunned. After all, in the past, no matter how tired I was, as long as he wanted it, I would cooperate with flushed cheeks. I looked at him and repeated myself. Only then did he suppress the heat in his body and obediently fetch the hairdryer to dry my hair. “Okay, let’s rest early tonight then.” After tidying up, we lay in bed. Alexander habitually hugged me from behind and said softly, “Good night.” I stared at the mottled wall with my eyes open, not responding. A dreamless night. The next morning, the sound of me rummaging through things woke Alexander. I was throwing things into a large black garbage bag. Matching mugs, matching toothbrushes, the cheap stuffed animals he’d given me, even his old shirts… Everything I had once treasured. Alexander woke with a start and sat up abruptly. “Lynn, what are you doing? None of this is broken. Why are you throwing it all away?” “These things are old and taking up space, so I want to get rid of them.” I didn’t even look up. “I’ll buy new ones later.” Alexander froze for a moment, then walked over and ruffled my hair. “Okay, I’ll buy you a better set when I get paid next month.” I didn’t dodge his hand, just pulled my lips into a slight smile without speaking. I carried the garbage bag outside. As soon as I reached downstairs, the landlord called. “Why the sudden move? Did you have a fight with your boyfriend? He works odd jobs for you every day, runs over ten miles in the dead of winter to buy you cake. Such a good guy. Don’t be foolish!” Listening to the landlord’s advice, I laughed coldly. Yes, what a great performance. Even the observers were moved, let alone someone in the middle of it all. “There’s no future for him and me. Please process the move-out paperwork. I don’t need the deposit back.” I hung up and returned home. Alexander was changing clothes. Just then, Alexander’s phone rang. A few seconds later, Victoria’s tearful voice echoed clearly in the quiet room. “Alexander, my stomach hurts so much… Lucas won’t help me…” Just one sentence, and Alexander, who moments ago had looked so tender, completely changed expression. He grabbed his jacket, not even bothering to make up a decent excuse, and rushed toward the door. “Lynn, my professor suddenly needs me for something urgent. I have to go back to campus. Eat without me today.” I stood there, watching his panicked retreating figure, and spoke. “Is it your professor looking for you, or Victoria?” Alexander’s steps stopped abruptly.

Lynn’s POV The air seemed to freeze in that instant. Alexander turned around. A flash of barely concealed panic crossed his eyes, but he quickly regained his composure. He walked back, gripping my shoulders with both hands, his tone carrying helplessness and reproach. “Lynn, what are you talking about? Victoria is Lucas Ford’s girlfriend. What could I possibly have with her? It really is my professor. There’s an urgent issue with the project.” When he lied, his eyes always habitually focused on the tip of my nose. I used to think this showed his concentration. Now I knew it was proof of his guilt. “Really?” I looked straight into his eyes, not missing the evasiveness in their depths. “But I just heard her voice.” Alexander’s expression stiffened. Then he sighed and pulled me into his arms. “You heard wrong. Lynn, have you been too tired lately? You’re always so paranoid. Once I finish with this busy period, I’ll take you out to relax, okay?” He was always like this. Using the gentlest tone to push all the blame onto me. I didn’t struggle, letting him hold me. “Okay, go ahead. Don’t keep your ‘professor’ waiting.” Alexander breathed a sigh of relief, dropped a hasty kiss on my forehead, turned and quickly left the apartment. The moment the door closed, I took out my phone and looked at the date circled in red on the calendar. Fourteen days until departure. That afternoon, I received an unexpected call. It was from Victoria. “Lynn, I’m having a birthday party tonight at ‘Nightshade.’ Alexander will be there too. If you know what’s good for you, come see for yourself and recognize your place.” The voice on the other end was arrogant and full of malice. I was about to hang up, but then thought better of it and replied with one word: “Okay.” At eight PM, at the most exclusive private club “Nightshade.” I wore a plain white shirt and jeans, completely out of place among the wealthy heirs surrounding me. As soon as I walked in, I attracted quite a few contemptuous stares. Victoria wore a haute couture gown. Like a proud princess, she stood in the center of the crowd on her boyfriend Lucas’s arm, smiling radiantly. And Alexander, wearing that faded cheap casual outfit, stood not far away, his gaze glued to Victoria the entire time. Seeing me appear, a triumphant gleam flashed through Victoria’s eyes. She deliberately pulled Lucas over to Alexander and said coyly, “Lucas, I’m thirsty.” Before Lucas could move, Alexander had already reflexively picked up a glass of juice and handed it over. The people around burst into laughter. “Mr. Blackwood’s service attitude is even more professional than the waiters.” “Well, it depends on who it’s for.” Only then did Alexander seem to wake from a dream. He jerked his hand back, his expression ugly. He turned his head and met my gaze directly. Panic flashed through his heart. He strode over and grabbed my wrist. “Why did you come? This isn’t a place you should be. Let me take you home.” “Let go.” I looked at him. Just then, a server wheeled over a massive multi-tiered cake. As Victoria was cutting the cake, whether intentionally or not, her foot twisted. Her whole body lurched forward, and the wine glass in her hand flew straight at me. Almost instinctively, Alexander shoved me aside and rushed forward to catch Victoria. “Victoria! Are you burned?” He held Victoria tightly, the concern and heartache in his eyes impossible to hide. Even his voice trembled. Meanwhile, I fell hard onto the floor covered in broken glass. The one he’d violently pushed aside. Sharp glass shards pierced my palm. Blood immediately welled up, staining the white sleeve of my shirt. The surroundings instantly quieted. Everyone looked at me sitting in a pool of blood with eyes full of mockery.

Lynn’s POV Piercing pain shot through my palm, but I didn’t even furrow my brow. I looked at the two people embracing tightly not far away and suddenly found the scene absurdly comical. Lucas walked forward with a cold expression and yanked Victoria out of Alexander’s arms. “Alexander, you’re overstepping. Victoria is my girlfriend.” Alexander’s hand froze in mid-air. Only then did he snap back to reality. He turned around and saw me sitting in a pool of blood. His face instantly turned deathly pale. “Lynn!” He rushed over in a panic, trying to help me up. “I’m sorry, I was too anxious just now. I didn’t mean to push you…” I avoided his outstretched hand and pushed myself up from the floor using my uninjured left hand. Blood dripped from my fingertips onto the carpet, one drop at a time, shocking to see. I didn’t cry or make a scene. I didn’t even ask a single question. I just looked at Alexander calmly. “It’s okay.” I smiled slightly. “After all, she’s more delicate.” Alexander’s expression was terrible. An unprecedented sense of panic was written all over his face. “Lynn, let me explain. I just-” “I’m going to the restroom to take care of this.” I interrupted him, turned, and walked toward the restroom. Cold water rushed over the wound, washing out the glass fragments. The pain was excruciating. I looked at my pale face in the mirror and couldn’t help but curl my lips into a cold smile. The sound of high heels clicked behind me. Victoria stood behind me at some point, arms crossed, smiling wickedly and triumphantly. “Lynn, you’re so pitiful.” Victoria looked at my bleeding hand, her eyes full of mockery. “Do you think Alexander really loves you? He’s just using you to make me jealous. As long as I crook my finger, he’ll crawl back to me like a dog anytime. You’re nothing but a cheap toy he uses to kill time.” I turned off the faucet and pulled some paper towels to methodically wipe the blood from my hand. I turned around and looked at Victoria through the mirror. “Is that so?” I smiled slightly. “Then I wish you both, the bitch and the dog, eternal happiness. I don’t want this pile of trash anymore. If you like picking through garbage, keep it and play with it slowly.” Victoria was infuriated. She raised her hand to slap me. “You bitch, how dare you insult me?!” I grabbed her wrist and flung it away hard. Victoria staggered backward several steps, nearly falling. “Miss Sterling, don’t dirty your haute couture.” I glanced at her and left the restroom without looking back. It was pouring rain outside. I didn’t have an umbrella and didn’t wait for Alexander. I walked alone into the rain. The rainwater washed over my wound, but it made me feel more clear-headed than ever. At two in the morning, Alexander burst into the apartment, soaking wet. Seeing me sitting on the sofa, panic flashed through his eyes. He rushed over and hugged me tightly, his voice trembling. “Lynn, I’m sorry. I looked everywhere for you… I just saw she was about to fall and it was instinct. Please don’t be angry with me, okay? How’s your hand? Let me take you to the hospital…” I let him hold me. “Alexander.” I spoke softly. “Do you think I’m really easy to fool?” Alexander’s body stiffened. “What… do you mean?” “Nothing.” I closed my eyes and gently pushed him away. “I’m tired. Let’s sleep.” Thirteen days until departure.

Lynn’s POV Ten days until departure. The gauze on my hand had been changed three times. Alexander’s performance had lasted three days. During these three days, he canceled all his “part-time jobs” and stayed in the apartment like a child who’d done something wrong. He cooked for me in various ways, even clumsily following online tutorials to make bone broth. “Lynn, does your hand still hurt?” Alexander brought the soup to the bedside, his eyes full of careful flattery. I leaned against the headboard, looking at his flawless face, only feeling it was utterly unfamiliar. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.” I didn’t take the bowl of soup. “Just leave it. I don’t have an appetite.” Alexander’s hand froze in mid-air, panic flashing through his eyes. He set down the bowl and pulled an exquisite velvet box from his pocket. He opened it. Inside lay a star-shaped necklace. “Lynn, I saved up two months of salary to buy this for you. You’ve always wanted a necklace, right?” He looked at me with expectant eyes. I looked at the necklace. Crude workmanship, cheap rhinestones. Even the clasp gleamed with cheap metallic luster. Just yesterday, I’d seen an identical necklace on Victoria’s Instagram. Except the one around Victoria’s neck was a globally limited edition from a luxury brand, outrageously expensive. He gave the expensive genuine article to someone else, while using a cheap knockoff to placate me. “Thank you, I really like it.” I didn’t expose him. I just calmly accepted the box and casually set it on the nightstand. Seeing me accept it, Alexander breathed a long sigh of relief and pulled me into his arms. “Lynn, once I graduate, let’s get married. I’ll treat you well for the rest of my life.” I let him hold me, my chin resting on his shoulder. “Okay.” I said softly. “I’ll wait for you.” Just then, Alexander’s phone on the table started vibrating. His body stiffened. He quickly released me, grabbed his phone, glanced at it, and his expression changed. “Lynn, my professor suddenly needs me to verify some data urgently. I have to go to the lab.” As he spoke, he hurriedly put on his jacket. I watched his retreating figure without trying to stop him. I just nodded. “Go ahead. Be careful on the road.” The moment the door closed, I took out my phone and opened a post Victoria had made five minutes ago. In the photo, Victoria wore a hospital gown with an IV in her hand. The caption read: “Sick, and only you’re willing to drop everything to be with me.” In the corner of the photo was a glimpse of a man’s sleeve. It was the faded white T-shirt Alexander had changed into before leaving this morning. Five days until departure. Today was the two-year anniversary of Alexander and me being together. Before leaving this morning, Alexander solemnly promised he would definitely come home early tonight and take me to that private restaurant in the south part of town that I loved. “Lynn, wait for me tonight. I have something very important to give you.” He kissed my forehead, his eyes so affectionate they could drown someone. I looked at him and just smiled slightly. “Okay.” That afternoon, I went to the bank and calculated every penny Alexander had “borrowed” from me or spent on me over the past two years, with interest, and deposited it all onto a new card. A total of three thousand four hundred fifty dollars. That was all the money that man had ever spent on me. At seven PM, I sat in that restaurant, watching the food on the table gradually grow cold, calmly sipping lemon water. Eight o’clock. Alexander didn’t appear. Nine o’clock. His phone was unreachable. Ten o’clock. The restaurant closed and the staff apologetically asked me to leave. I paid the bill and walked alone in the cold late autumn wind. My phone suddenly vibrated. It was a picture message from an unknown number. In the photo was an extremely luxurious rooftop restaurant. Victoria wore an elaborate gown, holding a large bouquet of red roses, her face full of shy smiles. Standing opposite her was Alexander in a haute couture suit. Below the photo was a single line: “Lynn, he’s proposing tonight, but not to you.” I looked at the screen without my breathing even faltering. I casually deleted the message and blocked the number. When I returned to the apartment, it was past eleven at night. The room was pitch black. I turned on the light and began packing the last of my luggage. Clothes, documents, a few medical books. One suitcase contained my entire life here. At two in the morning, the door lock turned. Alexander stumbled in, reeking of alcohol and perfume. Seeing me sitting on the sofa, he froze, then overwhelming guilt flooded his eyes. “Lynn… I’m sorry…”

Lynn’s POV He walked over, trying to hug me, but I dodged to the side. He missed and collapsed onto the sofa, covering his face in pain. “There was a major problem with the lab data. The professor was furious and kept me there the whole time… My phone died too…” He was still lying. I looked down at him from above, looking at this man I had once loved with all my heart and eyes, and suddenly felt unbearably sad. “Alexander.” I interrupted his rambling. “Were you really at the lab today?” Alexander’s whole body shook. He jerked his head up. His bloodshot eyes flashed with extreme panic. “I… of course I was…” “Fine.” I didn’t press further. I turned and walked back to the bedroom. “Get some sleep.” One day until departure. The apartment had been cleaned completely. All my personal belongings, except for that one suitcase, were gone. Alexander had been in a state of extreme anxiety these past few days. He’d sensed the change in me. To keep me, he even went so far as to buy a real diamond ring. “Lynn, let’s get married.” In the cramped living room, Alexander knelt on one knee, holding up that expensive diamond ring, his eyes burning and crazed. “Tomorrow we’ll go register our marriage. I don’t care about graduating anymore. I want to marry you right now.” I looked at that ring flashing with blinding light, then looked at the oxidized, blackened silver ring on my own finger. “Okay.” I extended my hand. “Nine o’clock tomorrow morning. I’ll meet you at City Hall.” Alexander slipped the ring onto my ring finger and hugged me tightly. “Lynn, I swear I’ll never let you suffer the slightest grievance again!” However, his phone in his pocket rang with a piercing tone. It was Lucas calling. Alexander answered. His face instantly turned deathly pale. “Alexander, Victoria slit her wrists! She’s in the ER! She’s been clutching that necklace you gave her the whole time!” Alexander’s body froze violently. His phone nearly slipped from his hand. He shot to his feet and rushed toward the door like a madman, not even grabbing his jacket. At the doorway, he suddenly stopped and looked back at me sitting on the sofa. “Lynn, I…” His voice was shaking, his eyes full of conflict. “Go.” I sat in the shadows, smiling self-mockingly. “After all, in your heart, she’s the most important one.” “I’ll be right back! Tomorrow morning at nine, I’ll definitely be at City Hall on time!” Alexander looked at me deeply, then turned and rushed into the night. The door closed. I slowly removed the diamond ring from my ring finger and threw it into the trash along with the old silver ring. I stood up and pressed a bank card and a letter under the water glass on the table. Then, dragging my suitcase, I walked out of this prison that had confined me for two years without looking back. No tears, no hysteria. Only complete liberation. Seven AM, international airport. I changed into the medical team’s uniform. “Dr. Lynn, we’re ready to board.” The team leader called to me from a distance. “Coming.” I took out my phone and sent Alexander that photo of him and Victoria at the rooftop restaurant proposal scene. The message contained only one brief sentence: “Game over. I wish you and Miss Sterling eternal happiness.” After sending it, I removed the SIM card, snapped it in half, and threw it into a nearby trash can. I turned and strode toward security without ever looking back.

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “383844”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster

On the seventh day after my daughter’s tragic death in a car accident, the killer was sitting in my husband’s passenger seat. My husband, a top-tier lawyer, was mounting her defense. I scrambled for evidence outside the courtroom while he protected her inside. Until I fell gravely ill and remained in a coma for half a year. When I woke up, I stopped pursuing the truth. I stopped asking questions hysterically. Because I had started to forget my daughter’s voice. The sound of her calling “Mommy” had become blurred in my memory. Even her face was beginning to fade. And Ethan was still preparing late into the night for that killer. That day, he couldn’t find his case files and snapped at me impatiently, “Where’s the folder I asked you to put away the night before last?” I walked to the study doorway with empty eyes. “What?” He sneered coldly. “Playing dumb? You’re best at remembering these things, aren’t you?” I lowered my eyes and stayed silent for a long time. “I was just thinking,” I said softly, “what my daughter looked like. I can’t quite remember anymore.” The air suddenly froze. The documents in Ethan’s hands scattered across the floor. And I stood there, trying desperately to recall that little face that should have been carved into my bones. But now, all that remained was a blurry glow.

“Learned a new tactic? Trying to get my attention with this indifferent attitude?” Ethan’s expression was dark enough to drip water. “Tara, I know you’re angry—angry that I’m defending Rachel. But I’m a lawyer. I won’t abandon any client. Besides, Rachel is innocent.” I looked confused. “Why are you explaining all this to me? I didn’t even mention Rachel.” Ethan’s angry expression instantly froze. A flicker of guilt appeared in his eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Forget it. I’ll find it myself.” I turned and went back to the bedroom. Just as I was about to lie down and rest, Ethan’s gentle voice came through the door that hadn’t closed all the way, somewhat muffled. “Rachel, what’s wrong? Don’t cry, tell me slowly… Those reporters are making things up. I’m coming over right now.” After a while, the bedroom door was pushed open. “Rachel’s having some trouble. I’m her defense attorney, so I need to handle it.” He explained somewhat uncomfortably. “Oh.” Ethan froze. He seemed to be waiting for what I would say next. But I simply nodded calmly and gave him a slight smile. After all, I couldn’t even remember where that folder was—how could I be expected to remember someone named Rachel? Ethan left in anger and didn’t come home all night. The next evening, he returned. And with him came Rachel. Her eyes were red-rimmed as she cowered timidly behind Ethan. That face was indeed pure and innocent. Even at thirty, she still looked like a college student. No wonder Ethan couldn’t forget her. “Tara,” Ethan coughed uncomfortably. “Rachel’s address was exposed. It’s not safe. I’m letting her stay at our place for a few days.” Rachel’s voice was barely a whisper: “Tara, I’m sorry for intruding. I really have nowhere else to go. Those people are terrifying—they’re calling me a murderer…” “How fake,” I thought to myself, turning to go to the kitchen. At the dinner table, Rachel sat next to Ethan. She kept passing him the pepper, cutting his steak for him. Busy as a bee. “Ethan, you have a sensitive stomach. You can’t eat spicy food.” She placed the peeled shrimp into Ethan’s bowl and shot me a challenging look. Ethan glanced at me somewhat awkwardly, wanting to see my reaction. I just quietly sipped my soup.

“Tara, aren’t you going to eat some food?” Seeing my indifference, Ethan proactively pushed the plate of peeled shrimp toward me. “This shrimp is quite fresh.” Looking at that plate of shrimp contaminated with Rachel’s saliva, my stomach instantly churned. I felt utterly disgusted. “No, thank you,” I said flatly. “Tara, what are you making a fuss about now? You’ve been sulking ever since Rachel walked through the door.” “What happened to our daughter was an accident. Why do you insist on blaming Rachel?” Ethan’s voice turned cold. I looked at him in confusion, about to speak— But was interrupted by Rachel’s crying. “Ethan, should I not have come? Tara seems to really hate me… Maybe I should just leave, even if those people beat me to death…” “Don’t talk nonsense. This is my house. I can let whoever I want stay here.” “She’s just been in that place too long. Her temper’s become strange. Don’t pay attention to her.” Ethan coaxed her gently. Hearing these words, my heart felt nothing. Only numbness remained. And so Rachel moved in. She couldn’t sit still either. Every day she found new ways to assert her presence in front of me. Wandering around the living room in a silk nightgown. Looking for something, her eyes occasionally glancing my way. I found her behavior bizarre. I just thought there was something wrong with her brain. Ethan had been so busy these past few days that he’d been staying at his office. Who was she performing for? But I couldn’t be bothered. I turned back to watching TV. Then I caught sight of a small plush toy in the corner of the TV cabinet. The toy was dusty, one eye slightly loose. My heart clenched painfully. This was my daughter’s favorite. How could it be here? I was still pondering this when Rachel suddenly reached from behind me and snatched the plush toy from my hands. “Oh thank god, I thought I’d lost it.” I stared at her. “This is yours?” Rachel raised her chin, smiling smugly. “Yes, Ethan gave it to me. He said it suits my personality perfectly.” Ethan gave it to her? Fragments of broken images flashed through my mind. My daughter running toward me in a pink tutu, bouncing with joy. “Give it back.” I reached out to Rachel, my voice hoarse. “Why should I? It’s mine!” “This was my daughter’s. It can’t be yours!” I lunged forward and grabbed Rachel’s wrist. “Let go of me!” Rachel screamed. The front door burst open and Ethan, who’d left work early, rushed in. Seeing this scene, he said nothing and shoved me away. I crashed heavily into the corner of the table, sharp pain shooting through my waist. Ethan shielded Rachel and glared at me furiously. “Tara, have you lost your mind?!” I pointed at the plush toy, tears streaming down my face. “This was Nina’s. Ethan, why is she saying it’s hers?” A flash of discomfort crossed Ethan’s face. “That was a gift I gave Rachel!” “Now you’re even trying to steal this? Are you still sick?!” Those words were like a bucket of ice water poured over my head. I stopped arguing. Because I suddenly realized my memory had serious problems.

I raised my head and stared at Ethan for a long moment. Those eyes that once held so much love now contained only impatience and disgust. Splitting apart the gentle image in my memory. When I first met him, I was the notorious spoiled heiress of our social circle. Everyone said I was destined to die alone. That even for an arranged marriage, no upper-class son could tolerate my temper. Only Ethan. Back then he was just a fledgling lawyer, standing firmly in front of me. “Don’t listen to them. The way you love and hate so fiercely—it’s beautiful.” “I’ll spend my whole life protecting your pride.” For that promise, I didn’t hesitate to break with my family to marry beneath my station. I stood by him from having nothing to becoming today’s top attorney. But later, when I kept crying and making scenes over Rachel, he finally grew tired of me. “Tara, when will you finally fix that domineering personality of yours? It’s so annoying.” All my breakdowns and tears were nothing but unreasonable tantrums in his eyes. Remembering the past, sourness welled up in my nose. I’d never felt so wronged. “Ethan, did you really buy this plush toy?” His eyes flickered with panic for an instant, his voice unconsciously rising. “There are tons of similar plush toys out there! Do you have to imagine that the whole world is targeting you before you’ll be satisfied?” Rachel stood behind him, a provocative smile playing at her lips, though her voice was aggrieved: “Ethan, forget it. Since Tara insists, I’ll give it to her. Even though this was a gift from you, I don’t want you two fighting over a toy…” “Don’t give it to her!” Ethan looked at me coldly. “Tara, don’t forget that Nina’s ashes are still at the funeral home. If you keep making trouble, I don’t mind making her disappear forever!” My whole body trembled. My nails dug hard into my palms. Ethan was a man who meant what he said. I closed my mouth and said nothing more. After this incident, to appease Rachel, Ethan decided to throw a small gathering at home. “Tomorrow is Rachel’s birthday. I’ve invited some colleagues and friends over to celebrate. Since you’re home with nothing to do anyway, you can handle the food and decorations.” I was dazed for a moment.

Tomorrow was October 15th. An inexplicable sadness welled up in my heart. This date seemed very important to me somehow. But I couldn’t remember why. Seeing my delayed response, Ethan frowned slightly. “Rachel’s been through a lot lately. I want to make her happy.” “You’d better act gracious and not embarrass me.” I nodded mechanically. After he left, I directly called a home service team. The old me would never have let others handle such things. Back when Ethan was just starting out, he was so busy his feet barely touched the ground. He often skipped meals and frequently suffered from stomach pain. I felt so bad for him that I, a pampered young lady who’d never lifted a finger, forced myself to learn how to cook. But Ethan took it for granted and would even complain that the food I brought was cold. Feeding your sincerity to a dog—this must be what that felt like. Early the next morning, the house was decorated with flowers. Rachel smiled sweetly at Ethan. “Ethan, isn’t this cake beautiful? It’s my favorite—strawberry flavor!” Ethan wrapped his arm around her waist affectionately and smiled. “As long as you like it.” Soon after, the guests began arriving. Rachel sat in the center, accepting everyone’s well-wishes. “Wishing Rachel eternal beauty!” “Mr. White really is so thoughtful toward Rachel!” Rachel laughed cheerfully, her eyes drifting toward me in the corner now and then. “Actually, I have Tara to thank for today being so wonderful.” “Even though we’ve had some misunderstandings, all these fruits and desserts were personally prepared by her.” Everyone’s eyes instantly focused on me, filled with curiosity and mockery. “So this is Mrs. White? I heard that after her daughter’s accident, she fell seriously ill.” “She looks pretty normal, though. How could she…” Ethan frowned, seemingly not wanting people to pay too much attention to me. “Alright, let’s cut the cake.” The lights dimmed. Rachel closed her eyes to make a wish, the candlelight illuminating her blissful face. Just then, the doorbell suddenly rang. “Who is it? It’s so late.” Ethan opened the door with some displeasure. Standing at the door was a delivery person, holding a bouquet of white lilies, a stuffed bear, and a photo of my daughter from when she was alive. Ethan’s face turned iron-dark. “Who told you to deliver these things?!” The delivery person looked confused, pulling out a receipt to verify. “That’s right. Ms. Tara ordered these from us half a year ago. She said today was her daughter’s death anniversary and we absolutely had to deliver them to this address.” The delivery person peered inside as he spoke. My head began to ache again, my temples throbbing. I held my head and stepped back, bumping into the wine on the table. The wine bottle fell to the floor, glass shards flying everywhere. All the fragmented memories reassembled themselves in that moment. A red sports car crashed into a guardrail, its front severely deformed. My daughter lay in a pool of blood, eyes still open, staring fixedly ahead. And Ethan, the man I’d loved for five years— Was frantically pulling the alcohol-reeking Rachel from the driver’s seat, stuffing her into the passenger seat, then getting into the driver’s seat himself. He turned his head and looked at me as I rushed over, revealing a cruel expression. “Tara, this was an accident. Nina is already dead.” “But Rachel is still alive. She can’t go to prison.” Reality and memory slowly overlapped. I looked at the white lilies before me, at the festive red balloons filling the room. My whole body began to tremble, my eyes turning bloodshot. “Ethan, did you think giving me injections and hypnotizing me would make me forget all this?” “Impossible! I won’t forget that Rachel killed Nina, and you’re her accomplice!”

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I lived with the Sterling family for ten years. Declan Sterling and I always minded our own business, never crossing the line. At the company, he was my ultimate boss, and I was one of his assistants. After work, he was just the son of my parents’ best friends—someone I rarely exchanged more than two words with. Until one day, we got married. He said, “I’m not getting any younger, and we know everything about each other. You’re a very good choice.” I smiled, hiding my true motives. “Then we both get what we need.” That was, until the rumors about me and the executive secretary started flying around the office. The usually aloof, untouchable CEO barged straight into the assistant’s bullpen. Under everyone’s shocked gazes, he personally fed me a bite of cake. “My wife is pregnant,” he announced. “Please take good care of her. Today’s afternoon tea is on me.” 01 In the morning, the moment I stepped into the office, the colleague next to me grabbed my arm. She looked desperate. “Chloe, my stomach is killing me. Can you please drop this file off in the CEO’s office for me?” I paused. Glancing at the time—exactly 9:00 AM. I had just parted ways with Declan ten minutes ago. At this hour, he should be in his office. I didn’t refuse. “Sure.” I put down my purse, took the file, and knocked on Declan’s door. “Come in,” a deep, magnetic voice answered. I pushed the door open. The office was spacious and immaculate. Declan had his back to me, one hand resting casually on the desk, talking on speakerphone. Seeing this, I stood patiently to the side. “Thank you, Arthur,” Declan said politely. “I’ll leave it all in your hands.” “You little brat, you’re absolutely ruthless in business,” the older man laughed. “I learned from the best.” “Bullshit,” Mr. Vance laughed softly, then his tone softened. “Listen, Declan. Are you and your parents free this Saturday night?” I blinked. What was going on? Why the sudden family small talk? I wondered if I should step out to give him privacy. Declan raised an eyebrow, glanced at me, and replied calmly, “I’ll have to check my schedule. Is there a special occasion?” “My daughter, Serena. You two used to play together as kids. She just got back from London. My wife and I want to book a restaurant to welcome her back. It’s always better with more people.” Uh. Was this a disguised blind date? Hearing this, I lowered my eyes, straining my ears while using my peripheral vision to peek at the man behind the desk. His face was expressionless as he flipped through the documents on his desk. He didn’t seem particularly interested in the setup. “I’ll pass the message to my parents. They should be free.” “You make sure to come too! You young people will have plenty to talk about…” Okay, that was way too obvious. He practically spelled it out. “I will.” Wait, what? He agreed? “Then it’s a date,” Mr. Vance said cheerfully. “See you Saturday night.” Then, with lightning speed, he hung up. Declan didn’t react much. He just tapped the end call button and went back to reading his files. I pursed my lips and slid the folder across his desk. “Mr. Sterling, this needs your signature.” He gave a slight nod, took the file, scanned it carefully, signed it, and handed it back to me. Smooth and efficient. As I took the folder, his fingertips brushed against mine. I shivered. It felt like an electric current snapping through me. Declan seemed to feel it too. He paused for a fraction of a second before looking back down at his work. I didn’t leave immediately. I stood right in front of him. With my eyes cast down, staring at the bold, sharp signature on the paper, my mind aggressively chewed over the conversation I had just overheard. “Is there something else?” he asked. I bit my lip and tested the waters. “Going on a blind date?” Declan lifted his gaze, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his leather chair. “What do you think?” His tone held a hint of amusement. I kept my head down, took a massive, deep breath, and summoned every ounce of courage I had. “Would you… consider me instead?” 02 “Are you sure?” he asked. His deep voice carried a sudden, rough edge. In an instant, the atmosphere grew incredibly tense. My heart pounded wildly against my ribs. I knew he was asking to give me an out. Declan had always been a deeply rational man. Silence spread through the air. After a long pause, I heard my own voice say softly, “I’m sure.” “I have conditions.” He stood up and took slow, deliberate steps toward me. Of course he had conditions. I understood. Rich people always needed to protect their assets. Especially since his marriage would impact the operations of Sterling Global. Even though I received a $30,000 payout from my own trust fund every month, compared to Declan’s net worth, it was less than a drop in the ocean. I was fully prepared to sign an ironclad prenup. Besides, I was only marrying him because… “Let’s go get the marriage license right now,” his voice rang in my ears. Huh? What??? I completely froze. By the time I snapped out of my daze, Declan had already closed the distance. He leaned in, planting both hands on the desk on either side of me, completely caging me in. I looked up, falling straight into his ink-black eyes. Didn’t I just say Declan was a rational man? Why was he suddenly acting crazier than I was?! 03 I skipped work. Actually, not just me. Declan skipped work too. On the way, Declan detoured to the most exclusive jeweler on Fifth Avenue and asked me to pick out a wedding band. The glass cases were filled with blinding, extravagant diamonds. The saleswoman was enthusiastic. “What girl doesn’t love diamonds?” She pointed to the centerpiece display. “This is a flawless, rare blue diamond, the kind you usually only see on European royalty.” I, however, pointed to a simple platinum band in the corner. “I want this one.” Halfway to our next destination, Declan stepped out of the car again. When he got back in, he was holding a bouquet of white Lisianthus. Getting married in New York wasn’t too complicated. We just needed to go to City Hall for the license, and the lawyers would handle the rest of the paperwork. Sterling Global had an entire legal department, but I thought about it and suggested we hire Fiona, a private attorney, to handle our application. I had my selfish reasons. First, Fiona was a close friend of mine. Second, I wanted to keep a low profile. I didn’t want to alert anyone inside the company. The fewer people who knew, the better. 04 It wasn’t until the drive back that I finally processed what had just happened. I was sitting in the passenger seat of Declan’s Range Rover. We were heading toward the Sterling estate in Greenwich. The sunset spilled through the car windows, glinting off the wedding band on my finger. I was married. And to Declan Sterling, of all people. I peeked at Declan’s hand out of the corner of my eye. He was wearing the matching band. His long, elegant fingers gripped the steering wheel. He kept his eyes on the road, looking completely calm and collected. It was different from how he looked at work. Right now, he had taken off his suit jacket, unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt, and loosened his tie. Without his usual intimidating aura, he actually looked a bit laid-back. This was the first time I had ridden in Declan’s personal car. Usually, I just took the subway or caught an Uber. He was always strict about keeping his personal and professional lives separate. Even though his mother had gotten me the job at the company, he never gave me any special treatment. At the office, he was my boss. After work, he was the son of my parents’ best friends. We rarely spoke. I had lived in the Sterling house for ten years. But in reality, my relationship with Declan was incredibly shallow. My mind flashed back to what Fiona said at the lawyer’s office, her face sporting a teasing smirk. “Dream come true?” A hot blush crept up my neck. Sorry, Declan. The car stopped at a red light. “Chloe, do you regret it?” Declan suddenly asked. I snapped out of my thoughts and shook my head. “No. Do you?” He turned to look at me, his gaze direct and serious. “I won’t regret it.” Out of habit, I lowered my eyes, avoiding his burning stare, and scrambled for a topic. “Can I ask why you wanted to get married?” “I’m not getting any younger, and we know everything about each other. You’re a very good choice. What about you?” “Me…” I couldn’t exactly say I had an ulterior motive, could I? I pressed a hand against my racing heart and went with a safe answer. “You’re handsome and rich. I couldn’t find a better catch with a flashlight. Marrying you isn’t exactly a loss for me.” It was the truth. Declan had always been the golden boy. The typical “perfect son.” Not only was he ridiculously good-looking, but he was brilliant at running the empire. He let out a low chuckle, the corners of his lips curving up. “I’m honored by your high praise.” I glanced at him and quickly looked down. He reached over and gently tucked a few stray strands of hair behind my ear. “I will do my best to be a good husband.” That was his promise. I smiled, revealing faint dimples. “Then we both get what we need.” 05 When we got home, the housekeeper, Martha, told us that Mr. and Mrs. Sterling were attending a gala and would be back late. Declan handed his briefcase to Martha and looked at me. “Let’s eat first.” I kept my head down, sipping my water, and hummed in agreement. It wasn’t until we quietly finished dinner that I suddenly remembered— Tonight was our wedding night! After dinner, Declan went up to his study on the third floor. That was his designated workspace. After showering, I paced back and forth in my room. Should I go to his room or not? Just then, my phone buzzed. It was Fiona. “Wedding night vibes! How is it? Are you excited? Is he a beast in bed?” No filter, as always. My face instantly burned. “How would I know if he’s a beast? I’ve never tried him out.” Fiona clicked her tongue disapprovingly. “Declan is such an old soul. You need to take the initiative. Push him down, seal the deal, and make him take responsibility for you forever.” “Who acts that crazy? If I actually did that, it would scare him away.” “Oh, please. You’re gorgeous, you have a killer body, and a sweet personality. If a premium catch like you threw herself at him and he ran, he’d have to be legally blind.” “I’m not talking to you anymore. You’re never serious.” After hanging up, I bit my lip, agonizing over it for another ten minutes. Finally, I chose to open my door. Better to devour him early so he wouldn’t have the chance to regret this. 06 There were four rooms on the third floor: Declan’s bedroom, my bedroom, the study, and a guest room. Light spilled from the crack under the study door. He was still working. The house was dead quiet. My heartbeat felt deafeningly loud. I tiptoed into Declan’s room. The style was completely different from mine. Beige walls, a navy blue duvet. Minimalist and sharp, just like the man himself. Only a single bedside lamp was on. I bit my lip, carefully climbed into the bed, and wrapped myself in the duvet he slept in every night. A faint, clean scent enveloped me. It was Declan’s scent. … Just as I was about to doze off. The door opened—Declan was back! I shut my eyes tightly, pretending to be fast asleep. In the darkness, I heard the door click shut, followed by footsteps. The footsteps paused for a moment by the bed. Then came the sound of a closet opening, running water… It wasn’t until I heard the shower running in the en-suite that I dared to peek. Through the frosted glass door, a silhouette shifted within the swirling steam. My heart hammered relentlessly against my ribs. Suddenly, the water stopped. My entire body tensed, and I slammed my eyes shut. I heard the bathroom door open, footsteps approaching, and then the covers shifted on the other side. He got into bed. Every tiny movement tugged at my nerve endings. Click. The lamp turned off. The wait felt like an entire century. Declan didn’t move an inch. I cracked my eyes open. The first thing I saw was his handsome profile in the moonlight. A sharp nose, defined jawline. I gripped the edge of the duvet, a million thoughts racing through my head. What should I do? If I kept hesitating, I was genuinely going to fall asleep. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and decisively rolled over, throwing myself straight into his arms. I was instantly met with his clean, fresh scent. I rested one hand on his chest. Even through his pajamas, the texture underneath was surprisingly solid. He sat in an office all day—how did he secretly build all these muscles? Instantly, Declan’s entire body jolted, and he went completely rigid. “Chloe?” His voice was deep, suppressed, sounding like a cello playing a mesmerizing chord. My cheeks felt like they were on fire. I shyly grabbed the hem of his shirt. Summoning all my liquid courage, I asked, “Declan… are we doing this or not?” 07 Silence blanketed us. The air seemed to thicken into amber, glowing faintly but dangerously in the moonlight. The distance between us vanished until I could hear his breathing. He finally spoke, his voice low and trembling slightly. “Are you… sure?” A large hand wrapped around my waist, lingering on my side. I looked up. Through the dark, I saw his tense jaw. I took a quiet breath. Was he… not capable? A woman literally threw herself into his arms, and he was hesitating? I don’t know where the courage came from, but I pressed my hand down his stomach, reaching lower… The next second, a breathless, panicked gasp escaped him. “Chloe!” Startled, I immediately let go. I patted my chest, letting out a sigh of relief. “Thank God. I thought you had a problem down there…” Before I could finish, my mouth was covered. “Mmph…” Suddenly, the arm around my waist tightened, and a hand cupped the back of my head. The next second, the world spun… … A long time later. A hand brushed against my forehead, gently wiping away the light sweat. Declan’s lips brushed my ear. “Chloe.” I felt like I was floating on an ocean, my voice catching in broken whimpers. “Mhm?” “Call me Declan,” he demanded hoarsely. “…” He pinched my waist. I gasped, crying out softly. “Ah…” Then, weakly, I surrendered to his demand. “Dec…” I felt his dark eyes gleam in the shadows. “Say it again.” “Declan…” Those words made the corners of his mouth lift into a faint smile. He leaned down and kissed me again. Over and over. Round after round. 08 The next day, I woke up from a dizzying haze. I opened my eyes, propped myself up, and looked around. The curtains were half-drawn. The room was empty. I let out a long breath. Thank God Declan wasn’t here. Otherwise, I truly wouldn’t know how to face him. Fighting through the soreness in my body, I quickly snuck back to my room. After washing up and changing, I slowly walked downstairs. As I reached the landing, I saw Eleanor and Declan chatting at the dining table. Eleanor was drinking milk, her face beaming with unconcealed joy. “Son, after all these years, you finally did something right.” “Chloe is so much sweeter than a biological son.” Declan looked like he had a headache. He put down his toast and laughed helplessly. “Mom, I never stopped you from legally adopting her as your goddaughter.” “You think I didn’t want to? Chloe was the one who didn’t want it.” Declan looked confused. “Why?” Eleanor glanced at Declan and sighed. “That girl just has too good of a heart. She said if we officially adopted her, what would happen if your future wife had a problem with it?” “She was worried about putting you in a difficult position.” Hearing this, Declan froze. Eleanor finished her milk, thought for a moment, and said, “I just talked to your father. Chloe isn’t lacking in money, but we might as well transfer the title of this Greenwich estate to her.” “I wonder if she’d like that?” “Mom, has she ever complained about anything you’ve given her?” As he said that, he looked up. And saw me slowly walking down the stairs.

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Carter Vance won a priceless pink diamond at an auction. I thought he was finally going to propose to me. After all, we had been dating for seven years. His best buddy congratulated him, saying we were finally about to tie the knot. But I heard Carter ask in return, “When did I ever say I was marrying Maya?” “Who else would it be?” “The Vances are old money. How could my parents ever allow me to marry an orphan with nothing to her name? My family has already arranged a marriage with a woman of equal social standing. I’ll be proposing to her in a few days and announcing our engagement to the press.” His friend asked, “Then what about Maya?” Carter scoffed. “How can you mix love and business? I’ll just keep her as a mistress after I’m married. With her background, she should be on her knees thanking me.” 1 “Damn, Carter, but with Maya’s personality, would she really settle for being your side piece?” The grating voice drifted out from the VIP lounge. Through the crack in the door, under the dim, amber lighting, a faint smirk appeared on Carter’s handsome face. “She’s always been clingy, like a little puppy. As long as she gets to stay with me, she’ll do whatever I tell her.” The doorknob in my hand suddenly felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. I couldn’t push it open. I didn’t want to anymore. I had been so full of joy, thinking he was going to propose to me tonight. I never imagined that he had factored me into his future in such an incredibly humiliating way—leaving me the disgusting, immoral position of a kept mistress. Anger flooded my mind. My emotions screamed at me to burst in there, slap him hard across the face, and demand to know why he was treating me like this. But my rationality reminded me that doing so would be pointless. It would only give their elite little circle another joke to laugh at about the poor girl who didn’t know her place. After weighing it in my mind, I let go of the doorknob and turned away. “Maya?!” A familiar voice called out. I turned around to see one of Carter’s friends walking down the hall. Inside the lounge, the loud voices eagerly guessing who their “new sister-in-law” would be abruptly went dead silent. “Did you just get here?” he asked. I forced a smile. “I’ve been standing at the door for a minute.” The moment the words left my mouth, the faces inside the room drained of color. From a short distance away, Carter and I looked at each other. Neither of us spoke. He still had that calm, breezy look on his face. He was absolutely certain that I loved him too deeply. He believed that no matter how awful his words were, I could never bear to leave him. Because of that, he was confident. He assumed I would do anything for him, even willingly become his dirty little secret. Suddenly, I found it all so meaningless. I turned and walked away. Behind me, I heard his friend’s worried voice: “Carter, is she going to be mad?” “You should go after her and coax her.” Carter let out a low, dismissive scoff. “It’s fine. I know her personality. she won’t make a scene.” We had been together for seven years and lived together for three. Carter thought he knew me inside and out. In his eyes, I was quiet, gentle, and understanding. When we first got together, he told me that was his favorite thing about me. He said I was like a wild orchid—blooming quietly, never fighting for attention. Looking back now, that description made me sick. His so-called metaphor was a severe desecration of such a pure flower. 2 I drove back to our shared apartment. I packed my bags to leave. I remembered when we first moved in together. Carter had wrapped his arms around me and said, “Maya, hand in your two weeks’ notice. I’ll take care of you.” At the time, we both worked at Vance Corp. The difference was that I was just a junior sales manager, while he was the CEO of the entire empire. Hearing him say he would take care of me sounded incredibly sweet. Unfortunately, as someone who grew up with zero sense of security, I firmly believed in the survival rule of relying on myself rather than others. So, I refused. Back then, Carter had frowned. “Vance Corp is my company. You busting your ass all month for that chump change… is it really better than letting me take care of you?” A base salary of $8,000 a month plus commission—in his eyes, it was just “chump change.” I knew the gap between us all too well. Billionaires marry billionaires. Nobodies marry nobodies. And sadly, I was entirely alone in this world. I didn’t even have a family to speak of. I never expected to walk down the aisle with him. To me, as long as he loved me and I loved him, that was enough. Even if we couldn’t make it to the end, we could part on good terms. But he got angry. On our very first day in the new apartment, he gave me the cold shoulder. He ignored me for an entire month. I swallowed my pride and begged him to come around. Every day after work, I’d cook his favorite meals, waking up at three or four in the morning to meticulously prep his breakfast. After a month of me quietly delivering lunches to his office, he finally softened. His tone was irritable and displeased: “Maya, you are way too clingy.” Back then, I thought “clingy” was just playful banter between couples. Now, I was just thankful I hadn’t given up my career for a fleeting moment of romance. Two large suitcases held everything I owned from the past few years. I drove to my new home. It was a small apartment I had bought entirely with my own money—only 500 square feet. When I was house hunting, Carter had laughed at me. He couldn’t understand why I would turn down the luxury mansion he offered me, only to insist on buying a tiny, trashy apartment where you could barely turn around. He didn’t understand me. Just like I had never truly understood him. For three whole days, Carter didn’t realize I had moved out. He didn’t even send a single text demanding an explanation. Even though I was now the VP of Sales, I rarely bumped into Carter at the office. If he wasn’t going to look for me, I couldn’t be bothered to look for him. But one day, an uninvited guest arrived at the company. It was Chloe Harrington, the spoiled princess of the Harrington Group—the family with equal social standing to the Vances. Carter personally went down to the lobby to receive her. I was walking a client out when I bumped right into them. Carter gave me a curt nod, as if we were just the most ordinary of colleagues. He placed a hand on Chloe’s slender waist, guiding her into his private executive elevator. She must be the one. The future wife he had mentioned. The owner of that priceless pink diamond. Before the elevator doors closed, Chloe cast an inquiring look my way. Carter didn’t even spare me a glance. The employee elevator stopped on way too many floors. By the time I reached my office, the receptionist was standing at my door, looking deeply uncomfortable. “What’s wrong?” I asked. The receptionist answered, “VP Maya, Mr. Vance said my skills aren’t good enough. He wants you to go to his office and make coffee for Miss Harrington.” 3 I was a little dazed. I thought I had misheard. The receptionist whispered a reminder: “Mr. Vance said to hurry. Miss Harrington is waiting.” I let out a breathless, angry laugh. What the hell was Carter doing? Did he seriously think he could make me serve coffee to the “official wife” before I even agreed to be his mistress? I was absolutely speechless and entirely repulsed. But I didn’t want to make things difficult for my coworker. “I’ll head over. You go back to your desk.” Looking grateful, the receptionist trotted back to her station. I went to the breakroom, brewed a fresh cup of artisan coffee, and carried it to the CEO’s office. I knocked on the door. Carter’s light, cheerful voice called out from inside, “Come in.” It was obvious that Miss Harrington, his new fling, pleased him greatly. I pushed the door open, only to see Chloe sitting directly on Carter’s lap, covering her mouth as she giggled flirtatiously. She was wearing a pastel designer tweed suit that perfectly complimented her flushed, delicate cheeks. She looked like a blooming, exquisite flower. Carter looked up at me. With a cold, detached expression, he tapped his finger on the desk, signaling me to place the cup there. But Chloe suddenly spoke up: “Hand it to me.” Standing across the large mahogany desk, I reached over to hand her the cup. Chloe didn’t reach out. She lightly tapped the desk, gesturing for me to walk all the way around and place it directly into her hand. Suppressing the intense discomfort in my chest, I set the coffee cup down on the desk instead. “Serving coffee is outside my job description, and Miss Harrington is not my client. I hope our CEO remembers the company’s HR policies and refrains from casually harassing his employees.” I turned to leave. But Carter barked, “Stop right there!” “Is Vance Corp too small to hold your massive ego now?” Was he using my job to threaten me? Thinking about the massive contract I was about to close—and the six-figure commission check attached to it—I held my ground. I stopped in my tracks. The moment I turned back around, I didn’t miss the fleeting sneer on Carter’s face. He was mocking me. Mocking me, the orphan with nothing to her name, for compromising because of his light threat. Perhaps he already knew I had moved out of our home, but he simply didn’t care enough to acknowledge it. He probably thought that as long as he gave the word, I would come running back like an obedient dog. Chloe giggled. “Carter, the people at Vance Corp really don’t respect the hierarchy, do they? If she were at Harrington Group, she’d be fired instantly with an attitude like that.” Carter looked at me with deep, meaningful eyes. His voice was heavy. “She definitely needs to be taught a lesson.” When you love someone, words like that can be interpreted as playful banter. But when the love is gone, they just sound unbelievably toxic. I picked up the hot coffee again, walked halfway around the desk, and handed it to Chloe. The moment Chloe wrapped her fingers around the handle, I let go. But suddenly, the scalding coffee splashed out, raining down on the back of my hand. In an instant, my skin flared an angry, blistering red. The cup shattered against the floor. Chloe shrieked and buried her face into Carter’s chest. “Carter! It burned my hand! It hurts so much!” she cried, playing the victim. She held up a slightly pink fingertip, sobbing to Carter. Carter’s face went dark. He glared at me with sheer irritation and cursed, “How the hell do you do things?! You’re as stupid as a pig! I don’t know how you ever got promoted to VP of Sales!” 4 The back of my hand was burning, sending shooting pain up my arm. His insult—stupid as a pig—put me in a daze. Years ago, when I secretly passed the interviews to join Vance Corp just to surprise him, I vividly remember him praising me for being brilliant. I had been at Vance Corp for six years. I put my life on the line for this job, just to close the gap between us and give our future a fighting chance. I saw reality clearly, but I refused to accept my fate. I climbed my way up from a regular employee to the VP position, step by step. Yet here he was, calling me stupid, saying I couldn’t even serve a cup of coffee. It was laughable. “Is the CEO questioning Vance Corp’s hiring matrix? If you disagree with my position as VP of Sales, you are welcome to file a motion with the board of directors. Instead of launching brainless, personal attacks at me in this office.” “And let me reiterate: my job description does not include serving coffee to irrelevant bystanders.” I clutched my scalded hand and turned to leave. Carter stepped around the desk and grabbed my wrist. “Apologize to Chloe.” His grip was incredibly strong. He yanked my freshly burned hand, sending a spike of agony through me. I couldn’t hold back a sharp gasp of pain. He instantly let go. The shocking, blistering red burn on my wrist and the back of my hand was fully exposed. I looked up at him, my voice ice-cold. “There are security cameras in the CEO’s office. It’s crystal clear who’s at fault here. I think Miss Harrington should be the one apologizing to me.” A flash of panic crossed Chloe’s face, but she quickly masked it. “I didn’t expect Miss Maya to be so good at playing the victim.” Doubt flickered in Carter’s eyes. I laughed out of sheer anger. “Say whatever you want. If you’re not satisfied, you and Miss Harrington can call the cops.” I turned and walked out. Despite Chloe’s obvious fury, Carter didn’t try to stop me again. Looking at the burn on my hand, I remembered there was a first-aid kit in the breakroom. As I approached the breakroom, I heard a few female employees gossiping inside. “Is Miss Harrington going to be our future CEO’s wife?” “It’s a done deal! Mr. Vance has never brought a woman to the office before. She’s the first!” “I heard from the receptionist that VP Maya was called in to serve her coffee. Maya is a Vice President! Making her serve coffee… Mr. Vance really values Miss Harrington.” Someone lowered their voice. “I honestly thought VP Maya and Mr. Vance were a thing. Guess I was wrong.” “Mr. Vance did treat Maya differently, but who wouldn’t like a capable leader like her?” “It’s all about old money marrying old money nowadays. Maya might be great, but compared to Mr. Vance, she falls short.” “More than just short! Word on the street is Maya’s an orphan. The Vances are billionaires. Even if they really dated, the Vance family would never let her marry in…” I walked in, and the chatter came to a dead halt. 5 Back in my office, just as I finished applying the burn ointment, Carter called my phone. “You blocked my number on your personal phone?” His first sentence was an accusation. “Mr. Vance, if it’s about work, you can reach me on the company’s messaging app.” “Maya. You’ve got nerve.” Even through the receiver, I could hear him grinding his teeth. “I’m waiting in Parking Level 1. Come down right now.” I frowned, about to refuse, when he added, “Don’t make a scene and embarrass us both.” Maybe it was time to make things crystal clear. I replied, “Fine.” In the underground parking garage, Carter was leaning against his car door, looking down, lost in thought. When he saw me, he opened the passenger door. “Get in. Let’s talk.” I gave a dry, exasperated smile. Nobody at the company knew about our relationship. Even if there were rumors, they were never confirmed. At first, I was the one who wanted to keep it a secret for the sake of my career. Later, he became the one who wanted it hidden. Now that he was getting married, did he really need to sneak around just to meet his girlfriend? He handed me a tube of prescription burn cream. I shook my head. “It’s already bandaged.” Carter let out a soft “Hmm.” “You always did know how to take care of yourself.” I smiled silently. “That’s why, Carter… let’s break up.” Carter froze. Then he gave a cold laugh. “Maya, we’ve been together for seven years, and now you’re telling me you want to break up?” A wave of powerless anger surged in my chest. “Carter, you’re getting married. Do you seriously expect me to stick around and be your dirty little secret? Seven years. You said it yourself, it’s been seven years. Do you even have a heart?” I turned my face away. I didn’t want to look at him anymore. He felt like a complete stranger. Carter tapped his long fingers against the steering wheel, his tone perfectly composed. “What’s wrong with being my mistress? You can still be the VP of Sales at Vance Corp. If you don’t want to work anymore, I’ll support you. You can have kids if you want, or not if you don’t. A comfortable, pressure-free life. What’s so bad about that?” “Is it really that hard to accept reality?” I looked up at him, unable to comprehend how he could say something so abhorrent with such a straight face. The man who used to look at me like I hung the moon, the man who promised to spend the rest of his life with me… how did he turn into this? So, his version of “spending the rest of his life with me” was keeping me stashed away in a penthouse, treating me like a useless trophy waiting to be fed? “Let’s just part on good terms. You wouldn’t want me ruining your family’s perfectly calculated, elite marriage, would you?” Carter’s calm facade finally cracked. 6 Truthfully, my savings were enough to sustain me for a very, very long time. I probably wouldn’t even need to work for the rest of my life. But I was greedy. The security that a man couldn’t give me, the numbers in my bank account could. The massive contract I was handling was almost finalized, and I couldn’t bear to walk away from that huge commission. So, I kept delaying turning in my resignation letter. After my ugly fallout with Carter, the next time I saw him was on a plane. It was a mandatory business trip to Chicago. I had no idea he was going to be there. Or rather, he went specifically because of me. The colleague who was supposed to accompany me bailed at the last minute, claiming an emergency. On this trip, it was just me and him. The hotel had also booked single rooms. He claimed the hotel was fully booked and there was only one room left. What a cheap, pathetic trick. I immediately turned around and booked a room at the hotel across the street. Carter’s face went pitch black. He asked me out to dinner. I refused. He offered to bring food to my room. I refused that, too. Since we broke up, I wanted a clean, absolute break. But he showed up at my door anyway. “Maya, give me the contract. I need to review it one more time,” Carter said in a low voice through the door. I grabbed the contract we were signing tomorrow, cracked the door open, and handed it to him. But Carter shoved his way inside. He kicked the door shut behind him, pinning my wrists and pressing me hard against the back of the door. His heavy breathing echoed in my ear. His voice was hoarse. “Maya.” “Maya.” “Why won’t you drop this useless pride and just enjoy being with me?” “Don’t you love me anymore?” I pushed back with all my might, but I couldn’t move him an inch. “Carter, don’t make me hate you!” I bit down hard on his shoulder, which only enraged him. He threw me onto the soft hotel bed and violently ripped my blazer open. The moment he pressed his body over mine, I braced my leg and kneed him as hard as I could right between the legs. He curled up in agony. I bolted out of the hotel room. The early spring night was biting cold. I remembered back in college, when the distinguished alumni returned to give a lecture. The university had chosen me to present him with flowers. He told me I had a beautiful smile, especially my dimples. That polite, charming gentleman was a stark contrast to the beast who had just assaulted me. The cold wind slapped my cheeks, leaving them freezing. I didn’t even realize I was crying. I wiped my face, telling myself to hold it together. I just needed to get through this one obstacle. It was nothing I couldn’t handle. I had made it this far. I was just one contract away. Even if I had to grit my teeth until they shattered, I was going to finish this project. I sat outside for a long time. Only after I saw Carter leave the hotel did I finally return to my room, my heart still pounding in my chest. The room was a mess, documents scattered everywhere. I spent ages organizing everything. The next day, I arrived at the signing venue as planned. Carter was already sitting there, his face unreadable. I could tell he was furious, so much so that his jaw was still tightly clenched. I checked the time. I was fifteen minutes early, and the client hadn’t arrived yet. “Mr. Vance,” I said, taking a seat with perfect composure. Carter gave me a half-smile. “Maya, did you know?” “This deal has been canceled.” 7 I couldn’t believe it. That was impossible. The terms were fully negotiated. We were at the finish line. Why would the client back out now? “Mr. Vance, is this a joke?” Carter looked at me, amused. “Do I look like I’m joking?” “What reason did the client give?” Carter said nothing. I pulled up the client’s number on my phone and dialed. The client sighed helplessly. “This was your CEO’s decision. Mr. Vance said Vance Corp is no longer interested in taking this project.” I stared at Carter in total disbelief. “What the hell are you doing?!” I yelled. A multi-million dollar project, and he just scraps it on a whim?! Did he know how many evaluations I ran, how much blood and sweat I poured into this? With a single, flippant sentence, he negated all the hard work me and my team had done. Carter lit a cigarette, the smoke curling around him. “I told you. Except for the title of ‘wife,’ I can give you everything.” “But naturally, if you refuse to behave, I will take things away.” I froze in place. I couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh. “I was too greedy.” Carter finally smiled, like a hunter who had successfully trapped his favorite prey. Grabbing my briefcase, I headed straight for the airport. In the departure lounge, I hit “send” on the resignation letter sitting on my laptop desktop. Exhausted, I finally made it back to my little apartment, only to find a scene that made me shake with rage. The hallway walls were spray-painted in bright colors with horrific slurs: [HOMEWRECKER], [SLUT], [TRASH]. My front door was wide open, the inside completely ransacked. My clothes, toiletries, and documents were scattered all over the floor. The furniture I had just bought was smashed to pieces. I trembled uncontrollably. An unknown number called my phone. I answered, and a familiar voice came through the speaker. It was Chloe Harrington. “Miss Maya, I wonder if you like the gift I sent you?” Her delicate giggles echoed through the phone, grating on my nerves. “There are some men that someone of your status shouldn’t even dream of. Let me give you some advice: stay far away from Carter Vance.” I hung up and called 911. Unfortunately, the hallway security cameras were conveniently broken. Without solid proof, the police couldn’t do anything. I packed whatever was salvageable and crashed at a friend’s place for a while. My resignation process hit a roadblock at the final step. Carter refused to sign off on it. HR told me Mr. Vance wouldn’t budge, and their hands were tied. I asked Carter to meet me. I smiled and asked, “Didn’t you want me to quit my job and stay by your side? What, you don’t want that anymore?” Carter’s eyes filled with affection. He leaned in and pulled me into a hug. “I was worried you had other plans. Maya, isn’t this so much better?” “Don’t live in that dump anymore. Let’s move to a mansion in the hills. “If you really want, we can even have a private wedding ceremony overseas.” Where he couldn’t see, my smile vanished. I whispered, “In your dreams.” 8 The day all my salary, commissions, and bonuses were finally deposited into my account. I changed my phone number and got on a flight to Seattle. The world is huge. Hiding from one person is incredibly easy. I heard from friends that Carter went crazy looking for me. When he found out Chloe had trashed my apartment, he personally went and smashed up Chloe’s favorite luxury villa, and even severed all business ties with the Harrington Group. But eventually, the elders of the Vance family suppressed the chaos. Carter’s father had quite a few illegitimate children, and even his mother had a daughter from an affair. Carter was merely the nexus of his parents’ financial interests. No one was going to let him throw a tantrum without consequences. When his father prepared to elevate one of the competent illegitimate sons to power, his mother intervened, and Carter finally surrendered. The pink diamond Carter had bought at a premium was finally slipped onto Chloe Harrington’s finger. On the day of their engagement, the media aggressively pushed the narrative of a perfect, elite “old money” fairytale. Meanwhile, I bet everything I had and took over the multi-million dollar project that Carter had killed. I convinced a few of my trusted team members to leave Vance Corp and start a firm with me. Without Carter, I realized I wasn’t nearly as heartbroken as I expected to be. I no longer had to endure his subtle jabs at my background. I no longer had to stress over his constant dismissal of my abilities. And I certainly no longer had to worry if we had a future together. Less emotional drain, more actual work. My life became richer and more fulfilling. At a standard business gala, I bumped into a handsome young man who looked oddly familiar. He laughed, saying I seemed very approachable, and handed me a few medium-sized contracts. My company steadily stabilized. The day he showed up at my office with a DNA test, I was completely stunned. He hugged me, crying his eyes out. “Sister! I finally found you.” Relying on the caution of a grown adult, I insisted we do another DNA test. When the results came back, I really was his biological sister. When I was four, my parents took me on a trip, and I accidentally got lost. While searching for me, they got into a horrific car crash. My father died on the spot, and my mother fell into a vegetative state. She was still lying in a hospital bed today. My childhood memories were so blurry I could barely remember any of it. I felt a wave of bittersweet emotion. I thought I had been alone my entire life. Turns out, I had a family. My brother, Leo, organized a small, private welcome-home dinner for me. Our family was small—just my stern, intimidating grandfather, Arthur Sterling, and my younger brother, Leo. After the dinner, Leo looked at me with aching eyes. “Sis, our family is loaded. You never have to work so hard ever again!” During my startup phase, I regularly worked past midnight, surviving on three or four hours of sleep. But I never felt it was a burden; I actually loved it. I knew my brother managed a massive fortune, but I had my own career to build. “I like working,” I told him. Grandpa Sterling chimed in: “If your sister likes it, let her do it. Hand over some of those major projects you’re holding onto and let her run them.” 9 I was in a daze. The projects Leo handed over to me were astronomically larger than I ever imagined. The Sterling family was vastly wealthier than I had assumed. I finally had the backing to stop hiding and evading Carter’s search. We ran into each other at a high-society cocktail party. Clutching a wine glass, his eyes red, he walked straight toward me. “Maya. You sure know how to hide.” He grabbed my hand, trying to drag me into a secluded corner. I violently ripped my hand away. “Mr. Vance, please conduct yourself.” Carter raised an eyebrow in shock, his voice thick with emotion. “Maya, do you really not miss me?” Miss him? Not at all. The name ‘Carter Vance’ had long been buried under my busy schedule. Aside from occasionally catching his name in the tabloids, reminding me he existed, I rarely ever thought about him. I gave a polite, tight-lipped smile. “Mr. Vance is a man of incredible status. How could a commoner like me dare to miss you?” He gripped my hand tightly, pleading in despair: “Maya, I was wrong. I was so damn wrong.” “Maya, I only feel at peace when you’re by my side.” “I’ll break off the engagement with the Harringtons. You and I can—” I cut him off. “We’ve gone our separate ways. Who you marry has absolutely nothing to do with me.” Carter tried to keep pestering me, but Leo stepped in and shut him down. The next day, Chloe Harrington marched up to me, slamming a stack of photos onto the table. They were pictures of Carter harassing me at the gala. She screamed at the top of her lungs: “Do you have no shame?! Carter is engaged to me! Why are you still seducing him?!” I set down my fork. A perfectly good meal, completely ruined by her. I had booked this exclusive restaurant weeks in advance. I finally found the time to enjoy it, only to be rudely interrupted. “Miss Harrington, you really never know who to blame, do you? You only ever target the people you think are weaker.” It was clearly Carter’s fault, yet she wouldn’t dare confront him. Instead, she came hunting for an innocent bystander to interrogate. Last time, she hired thugs to trash my apartment because Carter went crazy. And now, she only dared to come after me. Bullying the weak while fearing the strong—pathetic. I enunciated every word: “I think you need to get your facts straight. I am not seducing Carter Vance. He is the one harassing me.” Chloe completely lost it. She cried and screamed: “If you hadn’t suddenly shown up, he would never have changed his mind! I’m already pregnant, and he’s trying to call off the engagement! He’s so cruel!” I was shocked. I didn’t realize Carter’s moral baseline was that low. Chloe was pregnant, and he was refusing to take responsibility? And he was trying to use his “undying love” for me as an excuse to dump her? His character disgusted me even more.

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For two years, Carter Vance transferred $10,000 to me every time he spent the night at my place. That is, until one particular morning, when I received a notification for $100,000. [I’m getting engaged next month.] [Received.] I stared quietly at the pinned conversation on my phone. There was no further activity. An hour later, I placed my resignation letter on my office desk and drove through the night back to my hometown. Just as I was dreaming about using the money to buy a few properties and become a landlord, Carter suddenly appeared in front of me. Suppressing his fury, his voice was dangerously hoarse: “Quinn, who gave you permission to leave?” 01 When I received the text alert for the $100,000 deposit, my immediate thought was that Carter had accidentally added an extra zero. The next second, a message popped up in our pinned text thread: [I’m getting engaged next month.] I froze for two seconds before replying: [Received.] It was a brief exchange, no different from how we handled our daily business matters. I understood his meaning perfectly. This $100,000 was his way of telling me to leave. He was going to marry a wealthy heiress to merge their families. As his secretary and casual bedmate, it was no longer appropriate for me to exist in his world. I waited a long while, but no new messages appeared on the screen. He likely felt no need to explain further, assuming I would do exactly as he wished. After all, in his eyes, I had always been a woman who “knew her place.” I typed out a brief resignation letter, left it on my desk, took the millions I had saved up in my account, and drove through the night back to my quiet hometown. I wanted to rest. Being Carter Vance’s secretary for the past few years had completely exhausted me. 02 Before me, Carter had cycled through six secretaries. He was cold, dictatorial, and impossibly demanding. One wrong word and his face would instantly darken. He was a nightmare to serve. I had answered his calls at 3:00 AM, getting out of bed immediately to accompany him on last-minute business trips. I had pulled endless all-nighters with him and navigated countless corporate galas and drinking parties. I worked diligently and walked on eggshells, all for a very handsome salary. Everyone in the company knew I was Carter’s most capable secretary, yet he had never once given me a smile. He trusted me, but kept me at an icy distance. He once told me that the reason I was allowed to stay was because I “had a brain and knew where the boundaries were.” So, after our first absurd, alcohol-fueled night together, I didn’t ask anything. I didn’t say anything. Neither did Carter. Except… From that day on, on many late nights, he would follow me home. 03 Every time Carter stayed the night, he would transfer $10,000 to me the next morning. At first, I was furious. After all, the monthly salary he paid me was only $8,000. Giving me ten grand just to sleep with him felt like a massive insult to the grueling work I put in for him every month. But when Carter treated me like a workhorse at the office, reprimanding me with a dark face and zero mercy—completely ignoring the fact that we had been entangled in my bed just hours prior—my anger morphed into a realization. I earned that ten grand. I was acutely aware of the gap between Carter and me. He was a billionaire heir; I was a corporate employee. We were just two adults taking what we needed from each other. It had absolutely nothing to do with feelings. The $10,000 kept things dignified between us. The moment someone wanted more, it would turn ugly. So, when he mentioned he was getting engaged, I vanished from his world as quickly as possible. I handled it cleanly and efficiently, just as I did with all my tasks. The only hitch was when I went to block Carter’s number—my fingers trembled just a little. 04 My return home brought my parents overwhelming joy. They had always wanted me to come back, get married, have kids, and live a stable life near them. After staying home for a while, I suddenly didn’t want to leave. The millions Carter had given me over the years were more than enough to buy several nice houses in this quiet suburban town. Becoming a real estate investor, collecting rent, and doing something I actually liked sounded perfect. But my sweet dream was shattered just days later when Carter suddenly appeared in front of me. Seeing the black Mercedes SUV parked downstairs, I assumed it belonged to someone else. When I finally got a clear look at the license plate, I froze. Why was Carter’s car here? The next second, the man in the tailored suit stepped out of the vehicle and aggressively pulled me into the backseat. His fury was barely contained, his voice dropping to a gravelly rasp: “Quinn, who gave you permission to leave?” “You vanish without a single word. What do you take me for?” I looked at him, completely bewildered. “Aren’t you getting engaged?” Carter’s face darkened. “So what if I am?” I was speechless. “Carter, do you even hear what you’re saying?” “You transferred me a hundred grand. Wasn’t that your way of telling me to pack my bags?” Carter froze. “What hundred grand?” 05 I never imagined that Carter actually had just hit an extra zero by mistake. “Quinn, you couldn’t even ask me about it?” “A hundred grand is enough to send you packing? Are you looking down on me, or looking down on yourself?” His grip on my wrist tightened. He was genuinely furious. I honestly didn’t understand his anger. Even if I misunderstood his intention, did he need to be this mad? Driving all the way out here to find me was going to make me read into things. “Carter… Mr. Vance. Regardless of what happened, you are going to have a family soon. It’s not appropriate for me to stay by your side anymore.” “Even without that hundred grand, I would have left.” I looked quietly at Carter, slowly pulling my hand back from his grip. He had the capital to be reckless and act on whims. I did not. A dark storm surged in Carter’s eyes. His expression cooled inch by inch, a cynical smirk touching the corner of his lips. “So you’re just letting go, Quinn?” “Am I not even worth you fighting for?” My heart began to hammer wildly against my ribs. I spoke slowly, emphasizing every word: “Carter, aside from my $8,000 salary and those $10,000 nights, what exactly is our relationship? What exactly do you expect me to fight for?” 06 Carter didn’t answer me. He pinned me against the leather seat and kissed me fiercely. I covered my mouth, afraid to make a sound, listening to him growl low in my ear: “Quinn, are you out of your damn mind?” “I tell you I’m getting engaged, and you just reply ‘Received’? Were you trying to piss me off?” “I waited in the office for you to come find me, and instead you blocked me and ran! You bolted so fast, are you part rabbit?” … When I stepped out of the SUV, the flush on my face hadn’t faded. Carter rolled down the window and looked at me with deep, quiet eyes. “I’m not agreeing to the arranged marriage.” “I just need a little time to handle it.” I nodded, unsure of what to say. The driver got in and started the engine. Carter suddenly reached his hand out the window and brushed my cheek. His dress shirt was halfway unbuttoned in a messy disarray, and a faint smile played on his lips. “Wait for me.” As the car drove further away, my heart fell into total chaos. I had always been calm and rational. I knew how to bury inappropriate feelings in the deepest corners of my heart. But now… I decided to let myself indulge, just this once. The tenderness Carter had shown me—a side he never revealed to anyone else—was like a key, unlocking a door that had been sealed for years. It let a surge of hidden, chaotic emotions flood my body, impossible to stop. I became greedy. I wanted more. I waited three days. I waited a week. I waited a month… No news came. Eventually, just like I had done to him, Carter completely vanished. His number disconnected, his socials gone. Unreachable. Carter had disappeared. 07 I tried reaching out to former colleagues, but they all said Carter hadn’t been to the office in a long time. Feeling a creeping sense of unease, I finally called his best friend, Liam Sterling. “I don’t know what’s going on with Carter either.” “Sorry, I can’t help you.” The moment I heard those words, I suddenly felt pathetic and ridiculous. If it had been anyone else, maybe. But Liam claiming he didn’t know? He was definitely lying. The truth was, Carter just didn’t want me to find him. I should have known better, yet I eagerly tried to track him down anyway. What a joke… an unrequited, self-absorbed joke. I locked myself in my house, refusing to go out or see anyone. My parents were frantic but helpless. It wasn’t until my best friend Ava returned from abroad that I was finally dragged out of my misery. “Quinn, can we stop being so pathetic?” “You used to be so cool! You walked away when it was time to walk away. How did you end up like this?” Ava had been studying in Europe for two years, and her tongue was as sharp as ever. But even as she scolded me, she couldn’t hide the heartbreak in her eyes. I sighed, my voice muffled. “I thought I was cool too.” “But now, I just feel like a joke.” Ava sighed with me. “I know. You already made a clean break.” “But then he came looking for you, and you just…” My eyes burned as I turned to look out the café window. “Ava, I don’t get it. How did I suddenly become so stupid?” Ava looked at me in silence. After a moment, she said softly, “Quinn, feelings are messy. You can’t explain them.” “But… you know exactly what real love is supposed to look like.” 08 Ava’s words hit me like a physical blow. Yeah. Did Carter actually love me? In the two years I spent by his side, even though we did everything lovers do, he never once clarified what we were. He was always strictly professional at work, never showing me a sliver of favoritism. Even on the day he drove out here to find me, when I asked him what he wanted me to fight for, he didn’t give me a straight answer. He never took me to his house to spend the night. He never once said the words “I love you.” If a billionaire heir like him truly loved someone, would it really look like this? I couldn’t help but laugh at myself. “Ava, I was a fool.” “I mistook someone’s fleeting whim for deep affection.” “I brought this on myself.” Ava took a sip of her latte and tried to comfort me. “It’s not entirely your fault.” “Carter Vance is gorgeous, and he has a great body.” “Didn’t you say he was amazing in bed too? It makes sense why you fell in so deep.” I reached across the table to cover her mouth. “Can you keep your voice down…” Ava laughed, teasing me. “We’re all adults, what’s there to hide?” “Let me tell you, you just haven’t seen enough of the world. Once you experience a few more guys, you’ll…” Ava’s voice trailed off, all the color suddenly draining from her face. I followed her gaze and turned around, crashing instantly into a cold, painfully familiar stare. 09 Carter, who had been missing for so long, was standing right there. Ava looked at me, then at him, and let out a heavy sigh. She grabbed her purse and stood up, rolling her eyes dramatically as she brushed past Carter. Carter took the seat across from me. He leaned casually against the backrest, legs crossed, his gaze indifferent. Maybe it was just my imagination, but he looked thinner. “Who was that? Cut contact with her.” His tone was as dictatorial as ever, as if I were still his secretary. I gripped my trembling hands tightly, fighting to keep my composure. “Why are you here?” Carter’s brows furrowed slightly, seemingly surprised by my attitude. “It’s handled.” “I’m here to take you back.” His tone was entirely flat, devoid of any ripples. As if absolutely nothing had happened over the past month. Even though I had felt like I was dying from the pain of it. “Carter, do you not have anything to explain?” “Explain what?” I looked at the calm, collected man in front of me, forcing a smile through my red eyes. “Nothing.” “Except, Carter, I’m not going back with you.” 10 Carter stared at me quietly, his eyes turning pitch black. After a long silence, his deep voice resonated: “Quinn, what is that supposed to mean?” “Are you trying to break up with me?” The tears finally spilled over, trailing down my cheeks. “Carter, what do you mean ‘break up’? Were we ever actually together?” Carter watched me for a moment before letting out a cold scoff. “Quinn, what exactly did you think our relationship was, then? We slept in the same bed.” My voice was ice. “A ten-thousand-dollar transaction.” Carter glared at me, rage rolling off him in waves. After a beat, he snapped, “What kind of tantrum are you throwing?” I desperately wanted to turn around and walk away, to escape this suffocating space. But the anger and grievance building in my chest wouldn’t let me just leave. “Carter, you gave me illusions. You made me think you liked me, that we weren’t just casual bedmates. You gave me hope.” “But then you vanished for weeks. Total radio silence. Even Liam covered for you and kept me in the dark, making me look like an absolute clown.” “You don’t care about my feelings at all, and you don’t know the first thing about my life. You didn’t even know that Ava is my best friend. You have no idea how much you trampled on the rationality and self-respect I was always so proud of.” “Carter, we are from two different worlds. So please, stop messing with me. Okay?” 11 Carter was silent for a long time. He had never seen me like this. To him, I never talked back. I certainly never accused him like this. I had always adapted to his rhythm and style, flawlessly executing every task he gave me. “I had no way to contact you because I didn’t have my phone for a while.” “I told you to wait for me, so I was always going to come back.” “You’ve always understood my intentions. I didn’t think we needed to explain so much between us.” See? Carter still saw me as his secretary. I was just supposed to execute his orders unconditionally, without asking any questions. I stood up and looked him in the eye. “Carter, maybe to you, there’s no difference between a secretary and a girlfriend.” “But it’s different for me. Once feelings are involved, I become sensitive, selfish, and irrational.” “That version of me isn’t the one you want. And you… are not the kind of boyfriend I want.” Without a second glance, I turned and walked out of the café. I could feel his gaze burning into my back the entire way, but… he didn’t chase after me. I figured, this time, it was truly over between us. That night, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. I got up and walked out to the balcony for some fresh air, only to freeze when I saw a car that didn’t belong parked downstairs. I checked my phone. It was 2:00 AM. A faint light glowed inside Carter’s car, illuminating a blurry silhouette. He was in the car.

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I was bored out of my mind, so I started dating a guy. Turns out, he was an obsessively possessive psycho. He locked me up in his sprawling mansion, personally washing my face and spoon-feeding me every day. His only demand was that I could never, ever leave him. My eyes practically lit up. Are you telling me this kind of jackpot actually exists? He was a possessive psycho, and I was a lazy, affection-starved girl. It was a match made in heaven. 01 Today marked the fifth day of my imprisonment in Caleb Sterling’s mega-mansion. I was lounging lazily in a hanging egg chair, soaking up the sun, sipping a glass of ’82 Château Lafite, and feeling delightfully drowsy. So comfortable. God, this is the life. I genuinely couldn’t understand why the female leads in those romance novels always tried so hard to run away. Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of the main gates swinging open. A sleek black Porsche slowly pulled into the courtyard. Caleb was back. I immediately vaulted out of the hanging chair, sprinted back to the master bedroom, and threw myself onto the massive California King bed. I curled my body into a tight ball, squeezed my eyes shut, and forced out two pitiful tears. Slowing my breathing, I waited quietly for Caleb to come in. The doorknob turned without a sound, and Caleb silently padded over to the edge of the bed. I cursed him in my head. This guy literally makes zero noise when he walks. If his tall frame hadn’t blocked the sunlight and cast a shadow over me, I wouldn’t have even known he was there. Despite my internal grumbling, I kept my eyes gently shut, my brows furrowed in distress, leaving tear streaks on my pale cheeks. It was a picture of pure, tragic melancholy. Anyone who saw it would feel their heart break. Aside from my breathing, the room was dead silent. If I couldn’t feel the burning intensity of his gaze on me, I would’ve thought Caleb dropped dead. Just as I was about to lose my patience and curse him out, Caleb finally moved. He let out a soft, ragged sigh. His warm palm gently cupped my cheek as he muttered in a low voice, “Do you really want to leave me that badly?” I made my eyelashes flutter right on cue, then slowly opened my eyes, staring directly into Caleb’s gaze. He didn’t have time to hide the deep loneliness in his eyes. He looked so fragile, like he might shatter at a single touch. Acting perfectly, I jolted backward in “fear,” my eyes rimmed red. I put up my guard while secretly observing him. Caleb stared at his empty hand lingering in the air. He froze for a second before slowly pulling it back. He forced a bitter smile. “You don’t want to see me? Did I disappoint you by coming back so early?” I bit my lip hard and glared at him coldly. My face showed nothing but silent disgust, while my inner voice was screaming: Why the hell did you come back so late?! What took you so long? I missed you to death! Caleb seemed used to my coldness. He frowned, looking at my almost-bleeding lower lip, and ordered coldly, “Let go of your lip.” I didn’t move. Suddenly, he leaned down and captured my lips with his. Fireworks practically exploded in my brain. My entire being was enveloped by his scent. But, of course, I didn’t forget my “character setting”—I struggled fiercely. The more I struggled, well… the harder he kissed me. It wasn’t until I tasted a hint of copper in my mouth that Caleb finally pulled away. He brushed a thumb over my swollen lips, his expression melting into pure tenderness. “What do you want to eat? I’ll go cook.” I gave a cold huff. “I’m not eating.” He just smiled, scooping me up into his arms like a child. He carried me steadily down the grand staircase, rattling off a menu of dishes entirely unbothered by my lack of response. I rested my head on his broad shoulder. Where he couldn’t see, I licked my lips, absolutely hooked. Good lord, Caleb was so freaking hot just now. God knows how much I love this kind of overbearing, forceful romance. Caleb set me down on the plush living room sofa, arranged a spread of fresh fruits and snacks in front of me, and turned on the massive TV. He kissed my forehead, his tone incredibly gentle. “Don’t eat too many snacks, okay? Dinner will be ready soon.” How is this man so perfect and domesticated? Whoever marries him is going to be the luckiest girl alive. Oh wait, that’s me. I frowned, keeping my mouth shut. The kitchen had an open layout, meaning Caleb could see me the second he looked up. It had been like this for all five days. Aside from today, when he absolutely had to leave for work, I had to be within his line of sight at all times for him to feel at ease. Otherwise, he would lose his mind—smashing things, hitting his head against the wall, self-harming. 02 Caleb and I met online. We chatted for a while, and once we got familiar, he asked to meet up. I rejected him without a second thought. I was too lazy to exist, let alone put on makeup and leave my apartment. Unless I was starving and needed groceries, I didn’t go outside. But Caleb was relentless. During a video call, he “accidentally” showed off his perfectly sculpted abs to tempt me. I suddenly decided that going outside wasn’t such a bad idea after all. But I regretted it right after we met. When I tried to break up with him, Caleb’s eyes went completely red. He gripped my hands tight and begged me to grant him one last request: to go somewhere with him. I figured it was the last time anyway, so I humored him. And that’s how I ended up locked in here. Caleb hugged me tightly from behind, his expression dark and sickly obsessive. “Harper, now you can never leave me.” I looked around the ridiculously luxurious mega-mansion. An entire accent wall was encrusted with rare blue and pink diamonds. The 5,000-square-foot walk-in closet was stuffed with designer jewelry, bags, and haute couture. The bathtub alone was bigger than my entire old apartment. My heart was beating so fast it practically leapt out of my chest with joy. Caleb showed me around room by room. “I prepared all of this for you. Do you like it? As long as you don’t leave me, you can have anything you want.” Like it? I freaking love it! Why would I ever leave? This is literal paradise! I forced down the corners of my mouth that were desperately trying to curve upward and asked coldly, “What is the meaning of this? Are you imprisoning me?” Imprison me, please! You’re a psycho captor, and I’m a girl with severe social anxiety. It’s perfect! Caleb seemed unable to handle that word. He panicked, explaining desperately, “No, I just want to be with you forever, Harper.” He confiscated my phone and gave me a modified new one, cutting off all my contact with the outside world. Caleb stayed by my side 24/7. I could do whatever I wanted, but there was one ironclad rule: I could never leave his sight. The second he couldn’t find me—even for just a few seconds—he would go completely feral. I had “attempted” to escape a few times, getting caught by Caleb every single time. I did it on purpose. I was intentionally triggering his paranoid, possessive streak. I figured it out early on: Caleb had a deeply obsessive personality. If he were in a novel, he’d be the textbook yandere male lead. And I loved his toxic, do-or-die level of obsession. I just didn’t know how long this extreme devotion would last. So, I couldn’t let my true feelings show. If I acted too happy, he might lose interest. After all, the things you can’t quite grasp are always the most tantalizing. From then on, I lived a life where I didn’t even have to lift a finger. My only job was lying in bed playing video games. When I got hungry, someone fed me. When I needed to use the bathroom, someone carried me there. Thank god for Caleb. Otherwise, I would’ve never experienced such luxury in my life. I was born deep in the backwoods of the Ozarks. My parents pumped out seven daughters before finally getting their precious golden boy, “Junior.” I was the fourth daughter, the most ignored, the most invisible. Freezing, starving, doing grueling farm chores, and acting as a punching bag for Junior—that was my daily routine. So, I ran away. I ran to a city where no one knew me to start a new life. I worked odd jobs to put myself through school, constantly terrified that my family from the backwoods would come drag me back. Because of that, I was deeply insecure and affection-starved. I wanted a lot of love, and a lot of money. Caleb gave me a mansion to live in, endless cash to spend, he was incredibly hot, and he loved me to a terrifying degree. I couldn’t escape this maze-like mansion even if I tried—and trust me, I didn’t want to. And those leeches from my hometown could never find me here. What the hell did I have to complain about? “Baby, dinner’s ready.” Caleb walked over, but when he saw me staring blankly out the window, his face darkened. “Thinking about running away again?” 03 I acted like he “startled” me, shrinking back against the glass. Tears welled up in my eyes. “Yes. I just don’t want to be trapped with a monster like you.” Even though I was “terrified,” I bit my lip to hold back my tears, pretending to be brave. I looked exactly like a tragic, unyielding heroine who refused to bow to wealth—a fragile white flower caught in a storm. Brilliant, Harper. You are a generational acting talent. The pacing was absolutely flawless. I mentally patted myself on the back. Caleb recoiled as if he’d been struck, muttering, “Monster? “Harper… you think I’m a monster? But before, you clearly said you liked me the most…” His eyes grew bloodshot. He took a massive stride forward, cupping my face with both hands, desperate for validation. “You said you liked me!” I turned my face away, my 98-degree lips spitting out absolute ice. “Who could ever like a monster? I hate you. I—” Before I could finish, my lips were ruthlessly crushed. He kissed me with the ferocity of a tiger tearing into its prey. Beautiful! Caleb, you really are a well-trained guard dog. I absolutely loved this suffocating feeling, like I was being kissed to death. Whenever I was craving a heavy make-out session with Caleb but couldn’t just ask for one, I would intentionally provoke him like this. It made him lose control, go feral, and kiss me senseless. After about ten minutes of aggressive kissing, Caleb’s emotions finally leveled out. I was left gasping for air. He licked the tears off my cheeks, his voice dangerously low. “Harper, please don’t hate me.” My tears weren’t fake acting this time—they were squeezed out from the sheer intensity of it. God damn, that was a brutal kiss. Hurt like hell, but felt so good. Caleb’s lips were already swollen and red, with a few fresh scabs. I didn’t even need a mirror to know what my own mouth looked like. As if the intense interlude hadn’t just happened, Caleb smiled brightly, scooped me up, and sat me at the dining table. I stared “coldly” at the spread of gourmet dishes, secretly swallowing my saliva. Caleb really knew how to cook. After being “forced” to eat a massive meal “against my will,” Caleb smirked in satisfaction. He carried me upstairs, in a fantastic mood. “Our Harper is such a good girl when it comes to eating. You never mistreat your own stomach.” Me: “…” Was I that obvious? I thought I was showing great restraint. 04 Aside from that one day when an emergency forced him into the office, Caleb never left the house again. He stayed locked inside this castle with me, terrified I would escape. I cried, I screamed, I begged him to let me go. None of it worked. I could do whatever I wanted, as long as I stayed directly beneath his eyelids. I can’t even describe how amazing these past few days were. I threw tantrums whenever I wanted. If I felt like smashing priceless vases or designer jewelry, I did it. Caleb’s only concern was whether I might accidentally cut myself on the shards. If I was in a bad mood because I lost a ranked match in my video game, I’d slap Caleb across the face. I’d glare at him and say, “It’s your unlucky breathing that made me lose! This is all your fault!” Caleb would lower his head and whisper, “I’m sorry.” I’d snap, “I need to use the bathroom. Carry me.” Caleb would put down whatever fruit he was peeling for me and steadily carry me to the en-suite. Sometimes, the “Defeat” screen would pop up, and before I could even react, Caleb was already leaning his face in close, offering his cheek for me to slap. Truly a perfectly trained good boy. He would only ever ask if my hand hurt from hitting him. When I got tired of acting or bored with video games, I would go to the kitchen and cook aggressively. From dusk till dawn, and dawn till dusk, nonstop. No matter how crazy I acted, Caleb accepted it all with a loving smile. It was as if anything I gave him, even abuse, was a blessing. But I didn’t like how peaceful and complacent things were getting. There was zero challenge, no waves to ride. Plus, with me being so quiet lately, Caleb seemed to be dropping his guard and getting too comfortable. That wouldn’t do. Life was getting a bit too cozy. I needed to periodically stimulate him, keep him anxious and terrified of losing me. Otherwise, a comfortable wolf turns into a docile dog. So, I decided to play with fire again. I was going to escape. I meticulously engineered the perfect plan. It had to show my absolute, unwavering determination to run away, which would trigger Caleb’s paranoia. But it also had to result in me “accidentally” getting caught by Caleb, so I could return and continue enjoying my billionaire lifestyle. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Just thinking about it made me rub my hands together in excitement. Caleb, sitting nearby, asked cautiously, “Harper, what are you thinking about? You look so happy.” I instantly suppressed my rising smirk. “Nothing. This web novel I’m reading is just really good. I’m going to leave a like for the author.” As soon as I said that, Caleb suddenly leaned his head over, staring at my phone screen. “What are you doing?” Caleb said with dead seriousness, “I’m memorizing the author’s pen name. I’m going to find her and pay her ten million dollars to write stories exclusively for you every day.” Me: “…” My mouth twitched. I let him read a few lines of the book. Watching him study the screen like he was taking the SATs, I couldn’t resist teasing him. “Don’t you think the male lead in this story is exactly like you? Extremely controlling, possessive, and constantly going crazy.” Caleb nodded. “Does the male lead eventually live happily ever after with the female lead? Does that mean I get to be with you forever too?” Me: “…” Is that really the takeaway here?! 05 I put my plan into motion. I stopped crying and throwing tantrums. I ate, drank, gamed, and cooked normally, acting like a completely ordinary couple with Caleb. Because of this, Caleb relaxed his iron grip slightly. I was finally allowed to disappear from his line of sight for a few minutes at a time. When he wasn’t paying attention, I snuck into the closet and found the purse I had on me the day he locked me up. Inside were the anti-anxiety meds I used to carry everywhere. I raised an eyebrow. After I escaped the backwoods, I had terrible insomnia, constantly terrified I’d be dragged back. A doctor had prescribed me these heavy sedatives. I never thought they’d come in handy like this. That night, I handed Caleb a mug of warm milk. “Drink?” Seeing that I had made it myself, Caleb didn’t hesitate for a second and chugged the whole thing. Clatter. The mug hit the floor, and he collapsed instantly. “Caleb. Wake up.” I slapped his cheek twice, joking, “If you don’t wake up, I’m leaving.” The man on the floor didn’t twitch. I clicked my tongue. Wow, these meds really don’t mess around. The keys to the front gate were in his safe. I tried my birthday as the passcode, and it popped right open. Seriously, it was exactly like the cliché psycho CEOs in novels. I was going to just bolt, but looking at Caleb lying on the hardwood floor like a dead pig, I sighed. Considering how well he had treated me, I used every ounce of my strength to drag his heavy body onto the bed and tuck him in. Then, I walked out like a boss. The moment I stepped out the front gates, I let out a string of curses. This damn mansion is literally built halfway up a mountain! It was the dead of night, in the middle of nowhere. I added a huge tip on the Uber app, but no one was taking the ride. How long was it going to take me to walk down these winding mountain roads? My legs were going to snap. By the time I reached the bottom, Caleb would probably wake up and catch me. What was the point of this? Was I trying to experience the Little Mermaid’s pain of walking on land? Just as I was debating whether I should turn back, go to sleep, and pretend none of this ever happened, high beams flashed in the distance. I waved my arms frantically and hitched a ride, spinning a random sob story. The driver introduced himself: “I’m Ethan. What’s your name?” I discreetly sized him up. He looked like a fresh college grad—clean-cut, casual clothes, driving an average sedan. “I’m Harper Smith. I got into a fight with my boyfriend, and he kicked me out.” I lowered my head and let out a few soft sobs. Ethan instantly went into panic mode, handing me tissues and aggressively cursing out Caleb. “What kind of guy does that?! Kicking his girlfriend out in the middle of the night on a mountain? That’s so dangerous! He’s absolute trash.” Ethan righteously comforted me the whole drive down, but I just asked him to drop me at the nearest bus stop. After waving Ethan off, I took a cab straight to the night market. After being force-fed wagyu beef and lobster by Caleb for days, I was desperately craving some good old-fashioned greasy street food. Fully stuffed, I made my way back to my old, crappy rental apartment. It was exactly how I left it, just covered in a thick layer of dust. I didn’t have any friends or family who cared about me, so my disappearance hadn’t been noticed by a single soul. After getting used to a 5,000-square-foot custom mattress, this rock-hard rental bed was sheer torture. By now, the sun was starting to peek through the blinds. Damn it, what is wrong with Caleb?! Why hasn’t he come to catch me yet? I was dying of anxiety. Yes, I wanted to escape, but I didn’t want the escape to be successful! I did not want to leave my billionaire mansion to become a street rat again! Why wasn’t Caleb waking up? Did I put too many pills in his milk? Or was I truly just too much of a mastermind, and Caleb couldn’t outsmart me? Right when I was on the verge of stressed tears, the door to the rental apartment was violently kicked open. Caleb stood in the doorway, radiating a terrifying aura. Seeing Caleb, I let out a massive sigh of relief, then happily “fainted” right into his arms. 06 When I woke up, I was back in the familiar, luxurious surroundings. Caleb had finally caught me. I breathed a sigh of relief. I had almost accidentally said goodbye to my life of endless wealth. He was standing right beside the bed, his face terrifyingly dark. That was when I noticed a nasty gash on his temple. It was covered in dried blood. “What happened to your head?” Caleb closed his eyes, saying dismissively, “I rolled down the stairs and hit it.” I stayed silent. Looks like I really went overboard with those meds. Overdosing on that stuff causes sudden blackouts and severe dizziness. He must have stumbled trying to come after me. I tried to sit up, only to hear the clinking of metal. I looked down and realized my wrist was bound by a pair of cold handcuffs. I licked my lips. A surge of excitement vibrated through my bones. What is this? Forced confinement play? Oh, I love this. I instantly put on my “cold” face. “What is the meaning of this? Let me go.” Caleb stroked the metal chain, his voice deathly low. “This is the punishment for Harper being a bad girl. Now, you can never leave me.” Punishment? Oh, I consider this a reward. I hadn’t expected this fake escape to yield such fantastic bonus content. The handcuffs were lined with soft velvet so they wouldn’t chafe my wrists. That night, Caleb held me in a suffocatingly tight embrace. The metal chains clinked softly every time I moved, until I eventually fell into a deep sleep. From initial crying and struggling, to eventual cold indifference—I cycled through all my acting phases, but Caleb absolutely refused to unlock the cuffs. After satisfying my craving for drama, I started getting bored. Lying in bed all day was making my back ache. So, I started begging him, pretending to submit, and whispering every sweet nothing I could think of. “Caleb, please unlock it. I promise I won’t run away again.” “Caleb, I’ve really thought it through. Take it off, and let’s just live a good life together.” Caleb ignored my pleas entirely and instead asked abruptly, “Who was the guy who drove you down the mountain?” I paused for a second before realizing who he meant. “I don’t even know him! I just begged a random passing car for a ride. Don’t go hurting innocent people.” After I explained, Caleb’s dark expression finally lifted a little. And after a lot of relentless coaxing, he finally took the handcuffs off. However, his surveillance over me became suffocatingly strict. He practically glued himself to my side, acting completely paranoid 24/7. I had trained him exceptionally well. But it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t fully satisfied. If you want a relationship to stay spicy, a good game of cat-and-mouse is mandatory.

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In the fifth year of my engagement to Carter Harrison, he secretly threw an extravagant wedding for his mistress. When I arrived at the venue, they were passionately kissing amid the cheers of the crowd. Seeing me, Carter raised an eyebrow and smiled lazily. “The girl just wanted to experience a wedding. Don’t worry, we didn’t get the license.” I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream. I simply turned and walked away. He thought I was just throwing a tantrum—until the heir to the most powerful family in New York posted a picture of our marriage certificate on Instagram. Carter abandoned his mistress and banged furiously on my door. When I opened it, my face was still flushed, the remnants of passion lingering on my skin. “Don’t worry,” I said, echoing his words. “We just got the license. We haven’t had the wedding yet.” Liam Sterling, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, strolled down the stairs and wrapped an arm around my waist. “Oh? Does that mean I’m just your secret lover?” 01 The wedding reception was loud and chaotic. The guests below the stage cheered, urging the newlyweds to kiss. The girl in the wedding dress looked up shyly. Carter wrapped a hand around the back of her head and pulled her in, deepening the kiss. I stared blankly at the two people passionately making out on stage. One of Carter’s groomsmen turned, saw me, and panicked. “Chloe.” In an instant, the rowdy atmosphere dropped into a dead, suffocating silence. I walked toward Carter. The young girl awkwardly tried to hide behind him. Carter didn’t look the least bit embarrassed about being caught by his fiancée. He wrapped an arm around the girl’s waist playfully, raising an eyebrow. “Mia was throwing a fit about wanting to marry me. Relax, we didn’t sign any papers. You’re the only one who will ever officially be Mrs. Harrison.” Carter and I were childhood sweethearts. We grew up together. Right after college, our families arranged our engagement. He was famously a playboy in our social circle. He changed girlfriends like he changed clothes, completely humiliating me time and time again. I gave a faint smile. I pulled a small, square velvet box out of my purse. “This is the heirloom bracelet your family gives to their daughters-in-law. I’m returning it.” Carter took it, tossing it lightly in his hand. He laughed, a mocking sound. “You’re pulling out the heirloom bracelet just to break up with me this time?” I didn’t miss the absolute disbelief in his eyes. “Carter Harrison, as of today, our engagement is void. We are free to marry whoever we want. We have nothing to do with each other anymore.” Carter’s face instantly darkened. “Chloe, say that again!” Seeing things escalate, his groomsman quickly stepped in. “Chloe, calm down. This wedding doesn’t count. Carter is just playing around. You’re the one he’s actually going to marry.” I had just watched my fiancé marry another woman in a massive, theatrical display. I didn’t cry. I didn’t make a scene. I calmly turned and walked away. “Carter, you better go after her.” Carter spoke with absolute certainty. “What is there to go after? It’s not like this hasn’t happened before. Give her a few days, and she’ll come back behaving.” “You’ve never taken it this far before! No woman can handle seeing the man she loves marry someone else. I’m telling you, you should go check on her.” Carter glanced at the door, his dark eyes narrowing slightly. Mia suddenly tugged at his sleeve. “Can I see that bracelet?” 02 After leaving the venue, I called my best friend, Ava, and asked her to meet me at a bar for a few drinks. By the time she arrived, she looked at the two empty bottles of wine and immediately understood. “What’s going on? You fought with Carter again? Is it another celebrity this time, or a college student?” Hearing his name felt like needles piercing my heart. “He got married today.” After hearing the whole story, Ava grabbed an empty wine bottle, ready to go smash it over that scumbag’s head. “You should have dumped him years ago! I’ll add you to a group chat right now. It’s full of the most eligible, high-quality bachelors in our circle. Take your pick.” My phone suddenly started buzzing non-stop. I glanced at it. In less than a minute, over thirty guys had sent me friend requests. “I’m going to the restroom.” In the hallway, a man was leaning against the wall, smoking. He wore a suit that looked out of place in a club, the top few buttons of his shirt casually undone. He looked incredibly dangerous. Perhaps noticing my gaze, he frowned and looked over. Liam Sterling? What was he doing here? I walked over, offering a slight smile. “Mr. Sterling, got a spare cigarette?” He raised an eyebrow. “I thought you turned into the perfect, obedient good girl after getting together with Carter. Aren’t you afraid he’ll find out you smoke?” I didn’t say anything. He leaned in, his tone infuriatingly mocking. “I heard he threw a massive wedding for another woman today. Did you finally break up with him?” I reached out, taking the cigarette and lighter straight from his hand. I lit it expertly, blew out a soft cloud of smoke, and gave him a half-smile. “Liam, want to come to my place tonight?” Our eyes met. Between adults, the implication was crystal clear. Liam extinguished his cigarette and chuckled. I suddenly remembered he was famous in our circle for being completely uninterested in women. I was just about to say I was joking. I didn’t expect him to actually say yes. 03 Liam used my fingerprint to unlock the door, and the next second, he pinned me against it. His large hand cupped the back of my head, and he kissed me hard. “Chloe, are you part dog? Bite a little softer.” I frowned slightly. “Can you stop talking? At a time like this, your job is to make me unable to speak.” … For the entire night. Liam physically demonstrated the meaning of “careful what you wish for.” I finally fell asleep around dawn, only for my phone to start ringing. I couldn’t open my eyes, so I just blindly patted the bed, searching for it. A soft chuckle came from beside me. Liam found the phone. Seeing it was a FaceTime call from Carter, his expression instantly darkened. He handed me the phone and pulled the blanket up to cover my collarbone. I answered, forcing my sleep-heavy eyes half open. Carter smiled coldly. “Didn’t you say yesterday we had nothing to do with each other? How did it only take you one day to go crying to my mom about Mia?” “Who went to your mom? Are you psychotic?! Calling me at the crack of dawn to throw a tantrum!” As soon as I spoke, I froze. My voice was completely hoarse. Completely wrecked. Carter frowned in confusion. “Do you have a cold?” I smiled. “Why pretend you don’t know what this is?” He realized what I meant. His voice suddenly spiked, and he leaned close to his camera. “Where are you?! Who are you with?!” “Mr. Harrison, we have no relationship anymore. Where I am and who I’m with is none of your business.” I was too exhausted to keep talking, so I just hung up. At the bar, Carter’s face was livid. “Carter, did Chloe just hang up on you? Is she actually serious about breaking the engagement this time?” “No way! This is just her old trick to threaten him. If she really wanted to break it off, you think she could bear to actually do it?” “It’s obviously an act. She’s pretending to be with another guy to make you jealous, waiting for you to cave and go find her. It’s the oldest trick in the book.” The crowd laughed in agreement. Only then did Carter’s expression relax a little. 04 The phone call had ruined my sleep, waking me up just enough to be annoyed. I frowned in irritation. Liam watched me. “What is so great about Carter Harrison? He slept around before you were married, and he’s not going to be loyal after. He doesn’t deserve you.” I looked up, confused. ? Liam grabbed his cigarette box from the nightstand, tapped one out, lit it, and suddenly looked very serious. “If we’re talking about corporate alliances, the Sterling family is not inferior to the Harrison family.” “What are you trying to say, Mr. Sterling?” Liam glanced at me. “I know you’ve been trying to win the East District development project. But with your current resources alone, it’s going to be extremely difficult. If we get married and combine our power, it’ll be a walk in the park.” I was completely awake now. “With the Sterling Group’s capital, you could easily take the project for yourself. Why share a piece of the pie with me?” “Maybe I don’t want to sleep with you for free?” My mouth twitched. I thought for a few seconds, then extended my right hand. “Happy to be doing business with you.” Forty minutes later, Liam and I walked out of City Hall. Looking at the marriage certificate in my hand, I still felt like I was floating in a dream. “Let’s go.” “Huh? We’re going to see a client right now?” Liam reached out, patted my head, and laughed. “Honeymoon.” 05 We put on scuba gear and submerged into the deep blue ocean, surrounded by the mysterious beauty of the sea. Gorgeous coral reefs and schools of fish swam right past my hands. Liam made a hand signal, gesturing for me to look up. When I tilted my head back, I saw an ocean of stars filtering through the water. When we got back to the shore, the staff told me my phone had been ringing non-stop. I unlocked it, and dozens of messages flooded the screen. [Hello Miss Chloe, I am the manager of Vera Wang. When will you be available to come in for a dress fitting?] [Hello Miss Chloe, I am the lead wedding planner. What kind of flowers do you prefer? We need to arrange the air freight in advance.] [Hello Miss Chloe, Mr. Harrison ordered a custom diamond ring for you at our boutique. When can you come in to try it on? If the sizing isn’t right, we can adjust it.] Wedding dress? Flowers? Ring? The more I read, the tighter my brow furrowed. Was my phone number leaked? Just then, the phone rang again. I looked at the screen. It was Carter. “Hello!” He immediately started demanding answers. “Where are you? I’ve called you a million times and you didn’t pick up. Your company said you took a month off.” “Where I am is none of your business. Don’t forget we broke up.” Carter didn’t care. He actually laughed. “Are you just throwing a tantrum because I gave Mia a wedding? Fine, I’ll give you one too. You should have gotten the texts and calls from the planners. Just tell them what kind of dress and venue you want, and they’ll handle it.” I was speechless. “Are you insane?!” Even though I couldn’t see him, I could easily imagine the look on Carter’s face hearing that. “Chloe! You threw a fit about the wedding, so I agreed to throw you one too! What more do you want?! Enough is enough! Let me tell you, you only get this one chance. If you don’t want to marry me now, you can stay single for the rest of your life!” Carter was always like this. As long as he offered you a step down, if you didn’t take it immediately, it was entirely your fault. “You’re a psychopath. We broke up. Stop calling me. You can marry whoever the hell you want.” Carter said “Fine!” three times into the phone. “Chloe, I gave you a chance. You rejected it yourself. Don’t come crawling back.” Psycho! Liam finished changing his clothes. “Carter’s call?” I took a deep breath. “Yeah. He thinks I’m mad because of the wedding, so he thought throwing me one would fix it. I don’t know how I was blind enough to date him.” Liam smiled but didn’t say anything. For the next month. We went to Iceland to see the blue ice caves. We rode hot air balloons in Turkey. 06 The day I got back, Ava asked me out. I used several layers of concealer, but I still couldn’t cover the marks on my collarbone. I had to dig a silk scarf out of my closet and tie it around my neck. As soon as she sat down, she downed two glasses of wine. “I am so mad! Carter Harrison has officially lost his mind. He bought out every billboard in Times Square just to play a birthday video from A-list celebrities for that girl… Mia whatever-her-name-is. And he’s playing it on loop for a month! Does he even care about how you feel?!” I held my glass, my tone calm. “I got married.” Ava didn’t believe me at first, until she saw the picture of the marriage certificate. “Liam Sterling! “Isn’t he famous for hating women?! How did you bag him?!” “Never mind that, the point is Carter doesn’t even compare to him. I really want to see the look on Carter’s face when he finds out you married Liam.” Her anger vanished instantly. “We need to celebrate. Drinks are on me tonight.” Ava was a lightweight. After a few bottles, she was completely dizzy. I put my glass down. “Stay here. I’m going to go order you some hangover tea.” In the hallway, I bumped into Liam’s friend, Noah. He hurried over, acting overly friendly. “Chloe, you’re here! Carter and the guys are in VIP Room 6.” “Carter and I have nothing to do with each other anymore. Just call me by my name. Have fun, guys.” Noah just assumed I was still mad. “What Carter did was out of line, I know. But just give him a chance to apologize to your face! We’re in Room 6, I’ll head back first. Come over whenever you’re ready!” To get back to Room 3, I had to walk past Room 6. I heard a familiar voice. I stopped at the door and looked through the crack. Carter was leaning lazily against the sofa, his shirt unbuttoned halfway. Mia’s lips were swollen red. Anyone with eyes could tell what had just happened. “Carter, I just ran into Chloe outside. See? I told you she couldn’t let you go.” “I didn’t expect her to hold out this long without contacting you.” “It’s only been a month. She probably heard you were throwing a birthday party for another girl and couldn’t take it anymore. So she came running.” Carter looked indifferent. “Who told her to come? We already broke up.” “Alright, enough. This is the first time she’s gone this long without calling you. Don’t push it until you can’t fix it.” “Yeah! Carter, you should probably tell this girl to leave. You don’t want Chloe getting mad again when she walks in.” Carter looked sideways at the obedient Mia next to him. She kept her head down, her voice weak. “Carter, today is my birthday…” I touched the silk scarf tied around my neck, took it off, and pushed the door open. Every single pair of eyes in the room snapped to me. The marks on my neck were far too obvious. Even in the dim club lighting, Carter saw them immediately. He shot up from the couch, his eyes narrowing. “What is on your neck?” Thinking of Liam acting like a rabid dog last night, leaving marks all over me. I smiled and said, “Hickies.” Carter kicked the table next to him, the dark fury in his eyes impossible to miss. “Who did it?! Chloe, are you seriously going behind my back to find other men?!” “Who did it is none of your business. Carter, a good ex should act like he’s dead.” He sneered. “Chloe, if I ever contact you again, I’m a fucking dog!” Ava drank her hangover tea and asked, “What took you so long? I was about to come looking for you.” Hearing the sound of things smashing in the room next door, I said, “Just tying up a loose end. I don’t want flies buzzing around me anymore. It’s annoying! Let’s go!” Since we both drank, we called an Uber. 07 Not long after. The girl Carter had thrown the wedding for graduated and officially entered the entertainment industry. Once she gained a little traction, she actually hired a bot army to flood my company’s official social media accounts. [Mr. Harrison treats Mia so differently. He was willing to throw her the wedding of the century.] [Forget the wedding, he bought her a pink diamond without even blinking.] [I advise someone to just let it go peacefully. Stop shamelessly holding onto the title of fiancée.] [In a relationship, the unloved one is the real homewrecker. Would it kill you to just step aside and let Mr. Harrison be with Mia?] My assistant handed me the tablet. “Miss Chloe, should we delete the comments guiding the narrative?” “Find all of Mia’s dirty laundry and leak it to the paparazzi. Then notify every media company we partner with: they are strictly forbidden from giving her any resources.” “Understood. I’ll get on it right away. But what if Mr. Harrison tries to interfere?” “Ignore him. Just do what I told you.” An hour later, Mia’s comment section was a warzone: [You homewrecker! It’s one thing to sneak around in the dark, but how dare you openly provoke the actual fiancée!] [I went to college with Mia. She acts all sweet and innocent, but she used her family’s money to lead the bullying against me. I have burn scars all over my arms from her. And she stole an award that was supposed to go to my team.] [So she was always like this in school too? I was her stand-in on set. Unless it was a shot that explicitly needed her face, she made me do everything else. She didn’t even shoot a third of her own scenes. She relied entirely on stand-ins and post-production editing.] [I was her assistant. We had a scene where she had to go into the water to retrieve an item. She complained the water was too dirty and forced the crew to buy bottled mineral water to fill a pool before she would get in. I’ve been an assistant for A-listers, and I’ve never been this exhausted.] [I think the worst one is Carter Harrison! Changing girlfriends every few days. Men like him belong in the trash.]

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When Elias Sterling, the untouchable scion, hit rock bottom, I used a hearing aid to lure him into my bed. He always despised flashy, ostentatious women like me. But I loved taking off his hearing aid in bed, whispering the things he hated most, and forcing him into the most compromising positions. Later, when he made his comeback, the childhood sweetheart he had been engaged to regretted leaving and came crawling back. They announced their engagement. Afraid Elias would finally retaliate once he realized what I’d done, I made a swift decision and flew across the ocean. It was only when I heard he was happily married with a daughter that I finally felt safe enough to return home. But who could have guessed? The moment I stepped out of the airport, a hand clamped over my mouth, and I was dragged into a waiting car. That day, I begged for mercy until my voice went hoarse. But Elias just took off his hearing aid, casually tossed it out the window, gripped my waist, and chuckled hoarsely. “It’s no use, Princess. I can’t hear you.” 01 The room was lit only by a dim, amber nightlight. Under its glow, Elias’s sharp, refined features held an extra hint of allure. I hooked my arms around his neck and lazily commanded, “Kiss me.” Elias’s eyes darkened, and he lowered his head without a second thought. As our lips met, the intimate sound of our kiss seemed magnified in the quiet room. I don’t know how much time passed, but it was only when I couldn’t catch my breath and kicked his leg that Elias reluctantly let me go. Our eyes met, our breathing suddenly scorching. His gaze was deep, and he leaned in to kiss me again. I dodged him. “Coming home this late? Which little girl was keeping you busy?” I put on a demanding facade. Elias’s cool fingers pinched the back of my neck. His voice was still raspy. “There’s no little girl. I was negotiating with a partner the whole time.” “That’s more like it.” I kissed the corner of his mouth as a reward. Elias turned his head, capturing my lips in a desperate kiss. His other hand was already reaching for my shoulder strap. I stopped his hand. “You’re late. No exceptions.” I turned and sat on the sofa, gently kneading his earlobe, whispering softly, “Your punishment is to kneel and serve me tonight.” As the last word fell, I took off his hearing aid and tossed it onto the nearby table. Elias didn’t like girls who were too bold, and he absolutely hated girls who were too open. Coincidentally, I was both bold and open. So, I really enjoyed taking off his hearing aid in bed and leaning close to his ear to say whatever shameless things came to mind. After all, once the hearing aid was off, he couldn’t hear a thing. 02 I had coveted Elias Sterling for years. In college, he was the untouchable golden boy, always inseparable from his childhood sweetheart and fiancée. During the day, I watched them go to class together, and at night, I practically consulted tarot cards and horoscopes, praying for them to argue and break up. When they were still going strong in grad school, I had to settle for a boyfriend who looked a bit like him just to satisfy the craving. I thought I’d never get a chance in this lifetime, but then the Sterling family suddenly faced a crisis. His father’s business failed, and under immense pressure, he committed suicide. His mother witnessed the jump and suffered a sudden heart attack, ending up in the ICU. Elias, who was out of state, rushed back upon hearing the news, only to get into a car accident that left him deaf. His childhood sweetheart chose to move abroad with her parents at that time, not leaving a single word behind. The former golden boy fell from grace, so destitute he couldn’t even afford a hearing aid. When I heard the news, I immediately dumped my boyfriend, ended my vacation, and flew back. Everyone thought I was going to be Elias’s savior. But I wasn’t. I was there to take advantage of his misfortune. 03 When I found Elias, he was in a cramped, rundown apartment. I tossed a hearing aid and a few bank cards in front of him, then typed a sentence on my phone for him to read. “Sleep with me, and all this is yours.” Elias glanced at me, his eyes dead and devoid of any emotion, like someone who had given up fighting against a miserable life. It wasn’t until we rolled into bed that my head was still spinning. The man I had dreamed about for years was now naked, holding me, and kissing me. Who wouldn’t be dizzy? Especially since… I bit my lower lip, sneaking a glance, and sighed inwardly. Having settled for that knockoff for so many years, I really was starved. “Is it uncomfortable?” Seeing me distracted, Elias thought his technique was lacking. “No.” I smiled, leaned close to his ear, and whispered something so explicit it would make any decent person blush. He frowned deeply and suddenly pulled his head back, distancing himself a bit. Only then did I remember: Elias had always deeply despised girls who were overly forward with their affection, to the point where he couldn’t even muster a polite rejection. He probably preferred gentle, dignified girls. I wasn’t that, but his childhood sweetheart was. Since he didn’t like hearing me talk, then I wouldn’t let him hear. I reached up, took off the hearing aid that was already slick with sweat from his ear, and threw it on the floor. I’m not going to suffer for anyone. Running my hands over Elias’s abs, I spouted whatever nonsense I wanted without restraint. 04 It had been four years, and Elias had been trained by me to be very well-behaved. If I made a sound, he knew whether to go lighter or heavier. Even if he occasionally got carried away and lost control, he never crossed my bottom line. The downside of having a perfect bed partner was that I woke up late and didn’t get to see Elias deliver my birthday surprise in person. I picked up the small box on the nightstand and opened it gently. Inside was a simple silver ring, plain and unadorned. I carefully slipped the silver ring onto my ring finger. Not too big, not too small. It fit perfectly, like it was custom-made. I held up my hand, admiring it happily in the sunlight. It wasn’t until the housekeeper, Maria, called from downstairs that breakfast was getting cold that I reluctantly put my hand down. “Maria, does it look good?” Once downstairs, I happily spun around, holding out my right hand to show off to Maria. “Elias gave it to me.” “It’s beautiful, very beautiful.” Maria knew how much I liked Elias. She teased, “I didn’t see you this happy when Mr. Sterling sent over bags, clothes, and sports cars. But this little silver band, you treat it like a treasure.” “It’s different!” I sat on the sofa, opening my phone while retorting to Maria, “Because it’s from Elias…” A photo popping up on my Instagram feed made me go silent. It was Chloe, the childhood sweetheart who had been engaged to Elias, whom I hadn’t heard from in years. In the photo, Chloe wore a long dress, her finger adorned with a massive diamond ring, holding a thin card. Written on the card was a touching romantic phrase: “Thinking of you in the quiet moments, everything feels incredible.” And behind her, Elias—who had left early saying he had an emergency—was turned away from the camera, looking down to adjust his cufflinks, his profile gentle. The caption read: “Turns out, even icebergs can say sweet nothings.” Elias’s friends, who usually ignored me, left comments. “No wonder he wouldn’t let us pick her up. His heart was already there.” “The golden boy bending the knee for you. Chloe, you’re the best.” “I’ve been waiting for your wedding invitations forever. Give us a date already.” Chloe replied to the last comment: “Soon. When the time comes, I’ll have Elias ask you to be a groomsman.” I stared at Chloe’s pigeon-egg diamond ring for a long time. Then, I looked down at the plain silver band on my own hand. I don’t know how much time passed before a loud crash of thunder startled me. I turned to look out the window. The sky had turned dark, and a torrential downpour had begun outside. 05 When Elias returned, I was still in bed. The mattress dipped beside me. He pinched my ring finger and gently shook it. “Maria said you’ve been sleeping all day. Do you want to eat the pasta I made?” I didn’t look at him, just gave a slight nod. “Mia.” I was eating with my head down when Elias suddenly spoke up. “Why aren’t you wearing the ring I gave you? Do you not like it?” I paused, then replied evenly, “It’s fine. It’s just a bit too plain.” Actually, it was quite nice, but compared to Chloe’s, it was embarrassing to wear. The room fell silent, save for the ticking of the clock. After a long while, he finally said softly, “My new company is slowly getting off the ground. I’m negotiating a big deal recently. Once it’s successful, I can secure even more investment. “When the time comes, I’ll give you a better one, and buy that beachfront villa you like.” What did that mean? Chloe lives in the Sterling house, and I live by the beach? He wants to keep me as a mistress on the outside? I closed my eyes. Is this Elias’s revenge after his comeback? I treated him like a gigolo, so he gets married and treats me like a mistress, never letting me through the Sterling family’s door. If he actually succeeds, who knows what else he has waiting for me. Thinking about the things I had done and said to him in bed, I shivered violently. 06 Early the next morning, as soon as Elias left, I scrambled out of bed, ready to run. But the moment my feet hit the rug, my legs gave out, and I almost did a full bow. Cursing Elias in my head, I threw open the closet and frantically stuffed clothes into my suitcase. “Miss, where are you going so suddenly?” Maria asked, coming upstairs to clean. I didn’t even look up. “Running away… I mean, going on vacation. Return date TBD.” Before I left, I grabbed Maria and repeatedly warned her never to tell Elias where I went. If he asked, she was to tell him I went abroad to get married and tell him not to harass a married couple. After giving my instructions, I tossed my SIM card, deleted all my social media accounts, and hurried onto a flight across the ocean. … Five years passed in a flash. Maria told me Elias never got married, but he did have a daughter. I couldn’t believe he was so traditional deep down! I almost felt sorry for Chloe. It’s the 21st century, and they’re still playing the “have a son before you get the title” game. Who knows how much she has to suffer marrying him. It had been so long. Elias was now a new business tycoon in the country, with a wife and daughter. He had probably long forgotten me. So, I didn’t tell anyone and quietly slipped back into the country. But who could have guessed? The moment I stepped out of the airport, a hand clamped over my mouth, and I was dragged into a car. The man’s embrace was hard and burning hot. His rough fingers traced the silver ring I was wearing, and a low, ambiguous chuckle vibrated in his throat. “Princess, didn’t you go abroad to get married? Why are you still wearing the ring I gave you on your ring finger?” 07 It had been five years, and Elias had changed so much I barely recognized him. He used to love white dress shirts, looking clean and crisp. When his eyelashes drooped, he looked so innocent and pure, it drove me crazy. Now, there was no stray hair on his forehead. Dressed in a dark, impeccably tailored suit, his brow was sharp and cold, making people weak in the knees with just a glance. He kept tracing my ring finger. It felt like a fire starting from my knuckle, gradually spreading. The temperature in the car kept rising. I shrank into the corner, too afraid to even breathe loudly. Elias chuckled, loosened his tie with one hand, and looked at me with an air of absolute control. “Mia Sterling, is your husband so poor he can’t even afford a decent ring?” I couldn’t stand his arrogant, victorious look. I shot back: “I am the only daughter of the Sterling family. Even if my husband were a pile of mud, I could prop him up. No need for Mr. Sterling to worry. As for the ring, I was in a rush today and just grabbed the wrong one by accident.” Watching Elias’s face grow darker, I laughed lightly: “Mr. Sterling, you don’t think I still have feelings for you, do you?” The grip on my wrist suddenly loosened. I seized the opportunity to open the car door and make a run for it, but I was yanked back again. “The ring. Give it back.” Elias’s voice was a bit hoarse, his dark eyes like a deep pool, suppressing a surging storm. “This is mine!” I instinctively protected the ring. He still wouldn’t let me go, saying flatly, “What kind of ring does the Sterling heiress not have? This silver ring is too plain, it doesn’t suit you. It’s better if you give it back to me, lest you grab the wrong one again.” Even at his lowest, he wanted to buy the best ring for Chloe. Now that he had won back the one he loved, he wouldn’t even let me keep this simple silver band. Looking at Elias’s cold, heavy expression, my eyes stung. I gritted my teeth, pulled off the ring, and threw it at his chest. “Take it back! Go find someone who matches it! I, Mia Sterling, don’t care!” Without looking at him again, I fiercely shook off his hand and got out of the car without looking back. 08 When I got home, a friend from our circle called, saying they had organized a welcome-back dinner for me at a hotel and asking when I’d arrive. I looked at my still-red eyes in the mirror, ground my teeth, and said: “I don’t want to eat at a hotel. I’m going to a bar to find someone to cook for me.” Flynn took me to his own bar. The lights in the bar were chaotic. He casually pulled a hot girl from the dance floor into his arms and called out to me: “Tell me if you see anyone you like. It’s my place, don’t be shy.” I swirled my drink, walked a lap, and returned to the booth, uninterested. “No one caught your eye?” Flynn, looking satisfied after a kiss, rubbed the waist of the woman in his arms and joked with me: “Princess, how about you consider me? I have money, plenty of dating experience, and I’ll never let you feel wronged.” I couldn’t be bothered to reply, but the woman in his arms took it seriously. “Flynn, your wedding ring is so hard, it’s hurting me.” “Spoiled brat.” Flynn casually tossed the wedding ring onto the coffee table, gave the woman a firm pat on the lower back, and spoke suggestively, “Is it still hard now? Hmm?” I couldn’t listen anymore. I stood up, ready to find another spot. Before I left, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Flynn’s wedding ring lying abandoned among fruit peels and trash. I paused and added one more thing: “Put the ring away. Sarah will be angry if she finds out.” Flynn lifted his head from the woman’s embrace and scoffed. “If she’s angry, she can leave. Do I look like I’m afraid of her?” Being in the same circle, it wasn’t good to be too explicit. Having said my piece, I didn’t offer any more advice. I turned and walked out of the private room, which was already filled with suggestive sighs. 09 I found a slightly quieter spot and sat drinking alone. Guys kept coming up to hit on me, one after another, but every single one of them looked like a train wreck to me. I couldn’t even bear to look. “Mia.” I don’t know how long I had been drinking, but an angry voice suddenly rang out. I groggily raised my head, squinted for a long time, and suddenly frowned: “You look really familiar.” “Heh.” The man sneered and pulled me into his arms: “Look closer. Even more familiar now?” I blinked my eyes, everything a distorted blur, and blurted out: “It’s true! Handsome, you look just like my husband.” “Mia, just how many husbands do you have?” he asked, grinding his teeth. I rubbed my burning face against his cool chest, sweet nothings tumbling out effortlessly: “Only one husband. I don’t want anyone else, just you.” He seemed too lazy to argue with a drunk. He picked me up and walked out. But I wasn’t behaving. My hands kept sneaking under his clothes. Squeezing here, touching there. In that short walk, Elias broke out in a sweat. “Mia, if you keep touching me, I can’t guarantee there won’t be an accident.” He threw his jacket over my head and pressed me tightly against his chest, stopping me from moving. With my arms pinned, I looked at his bobbing Adam’s apple, blinked, and took a bite.

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My husband was the most saintly doctor in the hospital—valued by his superiors, beloved by his subordinates, and deeply respected by his patients. In everyone’s eyes, his only flaw was me: his unreasonable, unaccommodating wife. So, when the eight-year-old girl clutched her heart again and demanded that my husband marry her mother before she would agree to surgery, I smiled. I gladly agreed. 1 “I want Uncle Liam to be my daddy!” The little girl’s subtle crying echoed faintly in my ears. My vision was still blurry, and the sharp pain in my back from crashing against the wall was so clear that I instinctively grabbed the wall for support. Until another sorrowful woman’s voice rang out: “Chloe, be a good girl. Don’t cry.” “No, Mommy! Chloe is scared.” The little girl held her chest with one hand and tightly grabbed the doctor beside her with the other. She was very pretty, her eyes brimming with tears. “Uncle Liam, if I die, Mommy will be all alone. Will you marry Mommy? Help Chloe take care of Mommy.” My husband, Liam Carter, gently stroked the little girl’s hair. “Uncle Liam will be with you throughout the whole surgery. You’ll be fine, Chloe.” “Why did you come out here?” He looked at me with exasperation, then turned to the people around us to explain. “My wife didn’t mean it. She just overthinks things. I’ll talk to her and explain everything later.” Hearing this, Chloe broke free from her mother’s embrace and threw herself into Liam’s arms. “I don’t want to! If Uncle Liam won’t be my daddy, I won’t do the surgery!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, her shrill, childish voice practically piercing through the entire hospital floor. Her face instantly turned beet red. Liam quickly tried to soothe her. “Okay, okay, Uncle Liam promises. Don’t panic, Chloe, it’s bad for your health.” Mia, Chloe’s mother, seemed to finally notice me. With tears falling down her face, she went to pull Chloe back. “I am so sorry, Mrs. Carter. It’s just that Dr. Carter has been too good to Chloe. She grew up without a father and is too attached to him. I’ve always heard how wonderful you are. Just let her get through this surgery…” I looked at the familiar scene unfolding in front of me with absolute disbelief. I had actually been reborn. In my past life, when Chloe said those exact words, I had harshly scolded her. The little girl fainted from fright, and my husband immediately scooped her up and rushed to the emergency room. A crowd of people followed them, leaving me alone to be pointed at and whispered about, called petty and narrow-minded for arguing with a sick child. It was the same right now. The commotion caused by the three of them had blocked the hospital hallway. Several people were already moved to tears by Chloe’s desperate plea for her mother. They whispered among themselves. “That little girl is so sweet. She’s so sick, yet she’s still worrying about her mom.” “What kind of person is she? The kid is just terrified. Would it kill her to just play along to build some good karma?” “Dr. Carter is still as kind as ever.” Amidst the chorus of accusations, I snapped back to reality. Supporting myself against the wall, I slowly stood up straight, enunciating every word: “Okay.” The surrounding area instantly fell dead silent. “Liam, I agree too.” “Let’s get a divorce.” 2 Naturally, Liam took my words as an angry bluff. But I continued, “If you don’t divorce me, how are you going to be this child’s father?” “Or are you just lying to a sick kid?” Liam instinctively looked at Chloe, then looked up at me, a flash of surprise in his eyes. “What are you talking about?” Chloe, however, was thrilled. “Auntie, did you agree?!” The hatred burning in my chest hadn’t fully dissipated. I looked straight at Liam. “Of course. As long as your Uncle Liam agrees.” Liam rubbed Chloe’s head, looking exactly like a good doctor who had collapsed from exhaustion while running around for a critically ill patient. His voice was full of fatigue. “Honey, please don’t add fuel to the fire.” The woman also looked at me warily. She even stood protectively in front of the two of them, as if I were some kind of monster and she was the brave hero protecting them. I didn’t want to waste any more breath on these people. “Little girl, look at your Uncle Liam. He doesn’t look very willing. You’ll have to try harder.” I don’t know if Chloe was just overly excited, but she actually fainted again, just like in my previous life. Liam quickly picked her up and looked at me with deep disappointment. “Why are you holding a grudge against a child?!” In my past life, I disagreed, and they said I was petty. In this life, I agreed, and they still said I was petty. Whatever happened, in their mouths, it always became my fault. True, my reputation in this hospital was bad enough already. Why waste my breath on them? I pushed past the crowd still watching the spectacle and, sure enough, saw my thin, small daughter in the corner. Overwhelmed with emotion, I rushed over and hugged her tight. “Baby, how long have you been here?” Lily whispered, “…Mommy, I just got here.” But the wrinkles on the hem of her shirt, clenched tightly in her fists, gave away her lie. 3 In my previous life, at this exact moment, I still naively believed that Liam was just an overly compassionate doctor. I hadn’t wanted to say anything harsh to a sick child, which was why I was so quick to argue back. It was exactly because I saw my daughter in the corner. I was terrified that Lily would believe Liam was going to be someone else’s dad. That’s why I rushed to shut Chloe down, terrified that Lily would be heartbroken if she heard. In this life, during the time I spent arguing with them, Lily must have heard everything. It’s good that she heard, I thought, stroking my daughter’s soft, yellowish hair, my eyes full of sorrow. Lily was the child Liam and I had two years into our marriage. She had been sickly since she was a baby, ending up in the hospital every few days. Her father was a doctor at the hospital, often so busy he couldn’t come home. His daughter couldn’t see him at home, and when she ended up in the hospital, Liam was always the most righteous and outstanding doctor—his time had to be spent helping other patients. He didn’t even have time to look after his own daughter. But aren’t all doctors like that? At most, Liam was just exceptionally negligent of his family. Because of this, even though I often fought with Liam about it in my past life, I suppressed the thought of divorce. No matter how negligent he was of our family, he was a beloved doctor at the hospital. Even if our daughter was hospitalized, she was surrounded by “aunts” and “uncles” who knew her, so she would get better care. Holding onto that thought, I accepted a dispatch from my boss to work out of state. My daughter’s medical bills required a lot of money, so I couldn’t relax. I worked crazy overtime, and my daughter’s health gradually improved. Every time I came home for the holidays, she was a little healthier. My sweet daughter timidly asked me if I could stay with her. I made a promise to her: Next February, Mommy will come back to work near Lily. I still remembered Lily’s excited little face, hugging me and refusing to let go. Yet, three months before that promise, I received the phone call notifying me of my daughter’s death. Outside the operating room, Liam was still in disbelief, muttering, “How could this happen… it was just a bone marrow donation… it’s a minor procedure… how did she just…” I sprinted back to the hospital. My daughter’s body hadn’t even been sent to the morgue yet. I numbly listened to the nurse. She said Lily was unlucky; the bone marrow donation triggered complications, and she died right there on the operating table. “Unlucky?” “Bone marrow donation?” I actually laughed. How could these words be attached to Lily? She was already so fragile. I asked numbly, “Who told Lily to donate bone marrow?” The nurse’s eyes darted to Liam. The family receiving the bone marrow donation held their child lovingly, but looked at me with extreme defensiveness. Even they knew that donating bone marrow was harmful to my daughter. They were afraid that I, as a mother, would go crazy. Liam was still mumbling, “How could this happen? Lily looked so healthy.” “Theoretically, nothing should have gone wrong.” I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I lunged at him and slapped Liam hard across the face multiple times. “Lily was only fourteen!” A group of people rushed to hold me back. I couldn’t get close to Liam again. Under the force of those slaps, Liam slowly snapped back to reality. He looked at me with resentment. “All you care about is making money! Didn’t you know a daughter needs her mother’s care?” “If you had been by her side, her health wouldn’t have been so poor! No one else gets these complications!” The more he spoke, the more he felt he was in the right. His voice grew louder, ignoring the shocked stares of his colleagues around him, loudly passing judgment on me. “Love is the most important thing!” “Fuck your love!” I practically flipped over the people holding me back. They stumbled and yelled for Liam to leave first. I watched helplessly as Liam walked away, pretending to be utterly devastated. A large crowd surrounded me, trying to calm me down. My fists were clenched tight. After the crowd dispersed, the head nurse came over. She pulled out a bank card and couldn’t help but tell me that 80% of the money I had transferred into my daughter’s account over the years had been transferred out by Liam to help other patients. The remaining money was forcibly withheld by the head nurse, who took pity on my daughter. I could barely process her words before the head nurse continued. “Dr. Carter is kind-hearted. Those patients were in critical condition, and Lily could still hold on. It’s just that these illnesses are easier to treat when they’re young. Trying to make up for it later… the results aren’t as good. But Lily was obedient, took her medicine, and exercised, so she still looked quite healthy…” I remembered when my daughter suddenly fell critically ill at nine years old. It was an unprecedented emergency. Under wave after wave of eye-rolls and cold shoulders from Liam, I borrowed tens of thousands from relatives, only for Liam to forcefully make me return it. I asked him numbly back then, “What about our daughter?” Liam’s attitude was gentle, but the words he spat out were ice-cold. “Think of another way.” “Taking alternative medications will also work.” “Those medications have side effects!” “The side effects are just written there to scare people. The actual probability of them happening is less than ten percent.” I couldn’t believe those words came out of a father’s mouth. “If that ten percent falls on a person, it’s one hundred percent for them!” He said impatiently, “Then what do you want me to do!” “Liam, Lily is your biological daughter!” “Precisely because she is my daughter, she will definitely be as kind-hearted as I am and be willing to give up this chance.” He accepted the silk banners of gratitude from bystanders, saying carelessly, “I’ve seen Lily’s chart. Taking those meds is fine. You’re a doctor’s family member too, don’t be so unreasonable.” That time, Lily slowly recovered on her own, but her constitution became even weaker than before. To others, Liam said, “I’m her father. I can take care of her no matter what. Do those other patients have these conditions? I honestly couldn’t bear to watch them suffer.” Was this the care he promised? The head nurse genuinely liked Lily. She kept rambling about how sensible Lily was. The implication was that Lily secretly agreed to this bone marrow donation behind my back because she was considerate of her father and afraid I would worry. My throat tasted of thick, metallic blood. Liam always said he knew his limits. Whenever I asked more, he would say that professionals do professional work and tell me not to delay him from saving lives. I didn’t understand. I just got married, but it ended up costing my daughter’s life, dragged to death by his ‘kindness’. When the head nurse saw me calm down, she turned and brought Liam over, trying to mediate between us. I watched Liam look at the head nurse with profound sadness. He slowly approached me and the first thing he said was, “Do you know what you did wrong?” “Reflect on yourself carefully. Is accompanying your daughter more important, or is your filthy money more important?” I said in a low voice, “…Now, you’re still saying this…” Liam coughed and bent down to help me up, as if he suddenly felt bad for me. “Lily’s death isn’t entirely your fault. Maybe it was just her bad luck. She was born sickly. Getting her to fourteen means we’ve done our absolute best as parents.” His familiar rhetoric sent a sharp, agonizing pain through my heart. In the past, he would always say these “nice” things, and then turn around and ask me to give up everything I had. Liam tilted his head to look at the head nurse. His face was covered in tears. “There are always patients in the hospital waiting for transplant matches. Since Lily has already passed away, we might as well donate all her organs. It’ll build good karma for her next life, and her organs can continue to shine and generate heat in other people’s bodies.” “Organ donation requires both parents to sign the consent form. Come with me.” I slowly raised my head. Liam’s face, backlit by the light, began to look twisted. “…Donate organs?” I stood up and plunged a knife straight into Liam’s chest. Seeing his look of absolute disbelief, I felt an intense thrill of satisfaction. “Why did you trick Lily into donating bone marrow?!” Lily didn’t understand the dangers of donating bone marrow at all. She was just a simple child who wanted her father to be happy. She was waiting for me to come home! I screamed, “Go to hell and atone for our daughter!” The head nurse’s panicked screams rang out. I pulled the knife out and quickly stabbed him again. More than a dozen continuous stabs, each one sinking deep. Every stab left Liam dripping with blood. Blood poured relentlessly from his mouth, his body convulsing. When I opened my eyes again, I had been reborn back in the hospital. 4 “Mommy… are you going to divorce Daddy?” Before I could answer, Lily squeezed my hand and said firmly, “Mommy, I support you.” My daughter was only eight, the same age as Chloe, but she looked a whole size smaller. My tears fell instantly. Lily frantically wiped my face. “Daddy is bad to Mommy. I saw everything.” “I’ll be a good daughter to Daddy from now on.” She bit her lip. “I won’t let the aunts and uncles in the hospital say bad things about Mommy anymore.” I wiped my tears and kissed her little cheek. “Let them say what they want, Lily. Mommy is teaching you today: other people’s opinions are complete bullshit.” To outsiders, Liam was definitely a top-tier husband. He was tall, clean-cut, his parents both had pensions, and he was the youngest attending physician in the hospital with a limitless future. He was kind to others, always ready to help, and possessed noble moral character. What a glowing review. I met him on a blind date. He didn’t smoke or drink. His superiors valued him, and he was wholly dedicated to his patients, practically living in the hospital all year round without a day off, dedicating his life to his work. Except I didn’t know back then that this selfless dedication required draining his entire family’s blood and flesh, using his daughter’s life as stepping stones to build Liam’s legacy. 5 After returning home, I quickly found a divorce lawyer to draft an agreement. The house we currently lived in had surged in value over the years, but it was in Liam’s name. The monthly mortgage could be half-covered by his housing fund. To divorce Liam as quickly as possible, I didn’t plan on fighting for it. With that settled, the remaining assets could be written out in a few words. Even I found it ridiculous. A marriage of over ten years had long become a pile of rubble, yet I had been blind to it, desperately trying to maintain it, ultimately costing Lily her life. When Liam came home that night, I was sitting on the sofa. He looked at the empty dining table, no longer maintaining the righteous facade he wore at the hospital, looking very dissatisfied. “Did you not make dinner?” I sneered. “I’m about to divorce you. Are you still expecting me to cook for you?” Liam frowned. “Are you still hung up on that? Chloe is just a child. She was joking.” He looked at me with the scrutinizing gaze of someone examining a criminal. “Chloe had to be resuscitated several times today because you provoked her. Her surgery, which was scheduled for the day after tomorrow, now has to be postponed.” “You should be glad Mia is kind and isn’t holding you accountable.” He instructed, “Do this: go apologize to Mia tomorrow. It’ll help smooth things over.” I actually laughed out of anger. “Apologize to her? Does she think she’s the Queen of England? Do you think you’re the King?” “The divorce papers are right here. Sign them, and you can focus on taking care of your precious Chloe in peace.” Liam didn’t even look at them, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I have surgery tomorrow. I don’t want to fight with you.” “My emotional state will affect my performance in tomorrow’s surgery. You should know that.” I stood up, looking at him acting like the most important person in the world. The shadow of Lily’s death in my past life seemed to wash over me again. I picked up the agreement and threw it in his face. “Liam, believe me, an uncontested divorce is the last shred of dignity I’m giving you.” Those few thin sheets of paper carried no weight, but they made Liam unable to contain his anger any longer. “Chloe, marriage is not a game! You bring up divorce so casually. Do you have any sense of responsibility as a mother? Have you ever thought about our child?!” I sneered. “Child? Sorry, the way you were holding Chloe today was seen perfectly clearly by Lily.” “Does holding someone else’s child give you a great sense of accomplishment? May I ask, you highly responsible father, how many times have you held Lily?” Liam froze, looking toward Lily’s bedroom. The child stood there, motionless. He instantly switched back to his gentle expression. “Lily, come here.” He gently pulled Lily into a half-embrace. “Lily, you’re the most sensible one. Chloe has a bad heart. If she gets too agitated, she could be in life-threatening danger at any moment.” “But Daddy, my health is bad too. Mommy cries secretly all the time.” Lily held Liam’s hand. “Daddy, I’ll be strong. So can you love Mommy too, please?” Liam smiled. “Of course Daddy loves Mommy. But Mommy isn’t as sensible as you. She doesn’t understand Daddy’s position at all. Today, she even caused a little friend to faint. Tomorrow, let’s go with Mommy to apologize, okay?” He expected Lily to echo his logic. Instead, Lily pulled her hand back, slowly retreating to lean against my leg. “Mommy is the best! She’s not being insensible!” Lily looked at me, her voice trembling with tears. “Mommy shouldn’t go apologize. Mommy didn’t do anything wrong!” I pulled Lily into my arms, taking advantage of Liam being off guard to kick him over. Son of a bitch, trying to emotionally blackmail our daughter already. Liam fell hard on his ass, taking a long time to react. After a while, he cursed, “Look at how you’ve raised Lily!” 6 Speaking of which, Lily’s illness mainly required careful management, and her mood was the absolute priority. After yelling a few times in the living room last night, Liam went to sleep as if nothing had happened. That made sense. To him, anything I said was always the least important thing. At home, Lily clearly relaxed a lot. She woke up after a good sleep. “Lily, are you hungry? What do you want to eat? Tell Mommy.” Lily clearly hesitated for a moment, but still looked hopeful. “I want KFC.” I felt happy. At this time, my daughter hadn’t completely closed herself off like in my past life, walking on eggshells even to make a simple request. I readily agreed. While waiting for the delivery, I gave my daughter a good bath. Touching her frail, bony body, my heart ached. “Mommy promises, I will always protect Lily from now on.” My daughter nodded happily. While we were eating our takeout, the electronic lock on the front door beeped. My daughter’s back stiffened. I looked over. It was Liam’s mother, my mother-in-law, Martha. She was a retired elementary school teacher. She didn’t live with us, and in the past, she treated me decently. However, after I had Lily and didn’t plan on having any more children, her attitude turned cold after several unsuccessful attempts to change my mind. Seeing the fried chicken on the table, she immediately used that annoying, high-pitched voice. “Didn’t they say this is all junk food? Why are you letting Lily eat this?” She walked over and picked up a chicken wing, starting to gnaw on it. Lily obediently called out, “Grandma. Mommy says you have to wash your hands before eating.” Martha rolled her eyes at me. “You just spoil her.” “A little dirt never hurt anyone!” Saying that, Martha used her greasy hand to pick up a chicken wing to feed Lily. I picked my daughter up and moved her aside. “She’s had enough for today.” Martha wasn’t stupid. She knew what I meant. She immediately stood up and scolded me. “What do you mean by that? Do you think my hands are dirty, or do you think I have a disease?” My daughter nervously grabbed the hem of my shirt. I stroked her little head and looked calmly at Martha. “Both.” Martha pointed at me in shock. “You, you, you…” She stuttered for a long time, unable to form a single word. I finished her thought: “—You should probably go to the hospital for a check-up if you have nothing better to do!” Since I had already decided to divorce Liam, why should I keep tolerating his horrible mother? 7 Martha was a firm believer in the parenting methods of decades past. Lily was prone to allergies, especially to mangoes. Yet, she repeatedly tried to feed them to my daughter, arguing self-righteously that once her body got used to mangoes, her constitution would be ‘fixed.’ She would gloat, “Liam used to refuse to eat cucumbers too, but I corrected that.” Later, I couldn’t take it anymore. After she secretly fed my daughter mangoes again, I held Lily, who was covered in itchy hives, and laid down the law: “How you raised your son is your business! But my daughter will be spoiled! If she’s allergic to something, she won’t eat it!” My daughter’s high fever had scared her. At the time, she stayed silent. But in front of Liam, she continued to complain: “Chloe is just looking down on me. She thinks I can’t teach her right. Does she think I’d actually harm the child? Feed her a few more times, and her constitution will change.” “Now look, all that effort wasted.” I asked Liam. He was a doctor; it was impossible for him not to know how ignorant those old beliefs were. I thought I couldn’t persuade his mother, so I asked him to step in. I never expected Liam to actually say: “That actually makes some sense. It can boost her immune system.” He pointed to himself. “I’m a living example.” I cursed him out right then and there. “Are you blind? Did you not see our daughter get a high fever several times because of this?!” Every time, Martha would feed her random food and then slip away. I was the only one left to deal with the subsequent allergic reactions Lily suffered. Martha had her own pension. After that ugly argument, she rarely came looking for me. We didn’t live together. Her coming over now… I knew exactly what she was here for. With a monthly pension of $2,000, she was addicted to playing mahjong. She was definitely short on cash. In the past, whenever she needed money, she would come to me. This time, I pissed her off in just a few sentences, and she even forgot to ask for money. Perfect. I wasn’t going to spend another dime on Liam’s family. But thinking of her reminded me of my nanny.

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Her prophecies brought endless wealth to our family. The moment she opened her mouth, the Powerball ticket my uncle casually bought would win thirty million dollars, and his real estate properties would double in value. My cousin, who usually had rock-bottom grades, suddenly received an acceptance letter from an Ivy League university, making my aunt brag everywhere. Our family’s fast-food chain expanded to hundreds of locations within two years, and we all moved into the most luxurious estate in Seattle. During our Thanksgiving family dinner, everyone gathered together. Grandma sat at the head of the table, smiling as she asked us what we wanted for our New Year’s gifts. My uncle wanted more overseas investments; my aunt and my parents desired fame and fortune. I was the only one who pointed to a dusty, ignored old greeting card on the corner of the table and said, “Grandma, I just want this.” My relatives laughed at me, calling me an idiot, but I didn’t care at all. Because I knew that for Grandma’s prophecies to come true, there was a price—one paid with the lifespans of others. And all of this was Grandma’s long-planned revenge. 01 “An elder in the house is like a treasure in the house.” In our family, this wasn’t just a proverb; it was an ironclad rule. “Mom, move into my place in a few days! I specifically custom-ordered a top-tier therapeutic mattress from Germany for you. I guarantee it’ll be great for your spine!” my uncle Bruce said, his face covered in a wide smile. “Give it a rest. Mom just stayed at your place last month. It’s my turn this month. What’s a therapeutic mattress? I installed a whole-house climate control system for Mom!” my aunt Sarah retorted, not wanting to be outdone. “Oh, you two just want to show off your filial piety, right? Give me a chance as the son too! Mom, you have to dote on your youngest son!” my dad, Albert, joined the battle. Today was our bi-weekly family gathering. As usual, Uncle Bruce, Aunt Sarah, and my parents were arguing intensely over who got to host Grandma. Grandpa passed away early. Grandma raised her three kids all by herself on this land by sewing clothes for factories. Back then, the family was so poor they could barely afford food, and the three kids were crying to be fed. Grandma worked day and night, ruining her eyes in the process. Now, she was nearly completely blind. Even though she couldn’t see, her authority as the matriarch remained. Grandma sat at the head of the table, leaning on a black ebony cane carved with runes. She tapped it lightly against the floor, and everyone instantly fell silent. “I have my own plans about whose house I’m going to this month.” Her tone was flat, but no one dared to talk back. In American families, disobeying elders might be common, but in our family—which made its fortune relying on Grandma’s “guidance”—she was an absolute god. At the dining table, everyone scrambled to suck up to her. My cousin Silas and my other cousin Clara kept calling out “Dearest Grandma” in sickeningly sweet voices. Grandma curled her lips, seemingly enjoying this family bliss. I was the only one who kept my head down, silently eating the mashed potatoes on my plate, refusing to join the commotion. My mom, Mary, secretly pinched my arm, signaling with her eyes for me to hand Grandma a napkin. “Oh, Albert, look at your Evelyn, always acting so heartless. Is your filial piety just an act?” My aunt Brenda was sharp-eyed and sneered at the top of her lungs. The eyes of the entire room converged on me, including the vicious glare from my dad. I was the outcast of the family. I always maintained a polite but distant courtesy toward Grandma. In the eyes of the elders, this was absolute “unfilial” behavior. Because of this, my parents took a lot of heat. Grandma rarely stayed at our house for more than a few days a year. My dad often cursed me as a “jinx” who blocked his path to wealth. “Evelyn, get your ass over here and apologize to Grandma!” My dad’s face was grim, his voice echoing in the dining room. According to family rules, making Grandma unhappy meant you had to kneel and apologize. This time, my dad pressed down on my shoulders, and my knees slammed heavily against the hardwood floor, leaving a massive bruise. “Oh my, she’s still a child. Albert, you’re going too far.” Grandma benevolently reached out and patted my head. Strangely enough, her fingertips were ice-cold, and the moment she touched me, my head and knees stopped hurting entirely. My parents hastily apologized profusely. “I heard Albert moved into a new house. I’ll go stay there for a while and try out that therapeutic mattress,” Grandma said softly. My parents were instantly ecstatic. Uncle Bruce and Aunt Sarah’s families looked at each other, extremely bitter. Especially Aunt Brenda—she hadn’t expected her attempt to sow discord would actually play right into our hands. 02 As soon as we got home, my mom hired a housekeeping company to completely renovate the master bedroom. It was the room with the best view in the estate. Facing south, with excellent natural light. The carpet alone cost three times as much as the ones in the other bedrooms. Even though Grandma rarely visited, my dad insisted on using the best eco-friendly materials. “Order a few more boxes of premium caviar and supplements!” My dad kept making phone calls. In no time, the living room was piled high with expensive ingredients. Everything was ready, just waiting for the old lady to arrive. To prevent her from being intercepted by Uncle Bruce halfway, my parents split up. My mom stayed to decorate, and my dad drove personally to pick her up. “Evelyn, put a smile on your face! Sweeten up your words!” “Look at Silas. He succeeded in his startup this year and became a young prominent talent in the city. Look at Clara, she got an early admission to Stanford.” “Those are all gifts from your Grandma! Returns for their sweet talk!” In contrast, from childhood to adulthood, I only ever asked Grandma for ordinary, small envelopes of cash. I asked for nothing regarding grades, future prospects, or wealth. “You blockhead, you can’t hold onto your fortune!” my dad scoffed at me. I was the fool of the family, Grandma’s least favored granddaughter. But I still remembered. When I was little, Grandma secretly slipped me a lollipop behind everyone’s back, giving me a loving smile. She said, “Evelyn, Grandma will give you the best of everything.” Later on, Grandma was no longer willing to smile much. There were too many children and grandchildren demanding her affection; she wasn’t missing mine. I also actively distanced myself from her. Because I discovered her secret. 03 Five years ago, Grandma wasn’t the family’s treasure. She was a burden that the three households avoided like the plague. Back then, my parents ran a struggling small diner, working until midnight every day. Uncle Bruce was just an ordinary blue-collar worker. Aunt Sarah had just squeezed every last penny of Grandma’s retirement fund to buy a house. No one was financially comfortable, and no one wanted to care for a blind, elderly mother. Even though this mother had once given everything she had to put them through school. The three families frequently got into physical fights in the old apartment over alimony. “I have a ton of things going on at home, who has the energy to take care of a blind woman? You scammed Mom’s money to buy a house, why don’t you take her?” “I’m the daughter, you guys are the sons! Bruce, you serve your mother-in-law so well, isn’t it just for her inheritance after she dies? Now that Mom has nothing, you change your tune?” “We’re starving ourselves, there’s no share for her!” “Spit, why won’t this old hag just die already!” Grandma’s eyes were bad, but her ears were incredibly sharp. She heard every curse her children threw at her loud and clear. She often hid alone in the dim kitchen, wiping away tears, but she would still pull a crumpled piece of candy from her pocket for me. Among the grandchildren, I was the only one close to her. Silas and Clara complained that she smelled weird, covering their noses whenever they walked by. Grandma was like a stray dog, taking turns boarding at the different houses, and getting kicked out like a ball the moment her time was up. It was a blessing she couldn’t see—she couldn’t see the expressions on her children’s faces, wishing she would just disappear. Later, they conspired and came up with a plan. They deliberately starved her, giving her one meal a day, sometimes none at all. Aunt Brenda and my mom verbally abused her even worse, while my dad and Uncle Bruce pretended to be deaf. I was often beaten by my mom with a coat hanger until I was bruised all over, just for sneaking sandwiches to Grandma. A year later, their plan succeeded. Grandma volunteered to move back to an old abandoned cabin in the remote mountains of Kentucky. A frail, nearly blind old woman returning to an abandoned cabin was essentially a death sentence. They parked the car at the foot of the mountain. They didn’t even prepare a clean blanket for her, just dumped her there and ran. Uncle Bruce said, “Within three months, we’ll be able to come back and collect her corpse. Then we’ll finally be free.” Three months later, Uncle Bruce received a phone call from the old hometown. It was Grandma. She was still alive. “Bruce, go buy a lottery ticket with these numbers.” Her voice was loud and powerful, sounding even healthier than before. Uncle Bruce bought it, as if possessed by a ghost. As a result, he won thirty million dollars. Over the next few months, my dad and Aunt Sarah also received phone calls. All the investment advice came true perfectly. Promotions, sudden wealth, overnight success—all dependent on a single sentence from Grandma. That day, the driveway of the long-silent mountain cabin was packed with luxury cars. Those “filial” children knelt on the ground, crying and wailing, begging Grandma to come to the city to enjoy a good life. It caused quite a stir locally, with everyone praising Bruce’s family for producing three incredibly filial children. Looking at Grandma, whose face was flushed and covered in smiles, I only felt she was a stranger. Right then, a voice seemed to echo in my ear: “Do not ask Grandma for anything, otherwise, it will cost you your life.” “There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Every wish they ask for will be deducted from their lifespans.” Right in front of me, Uncle Bruce was still greedily asking for the next wave of stock market trends. Clara threw herself into Grandma’s arms, acting cute and asking for a full-ride scholarship. 04 Grandma was settled into our house. Before leaving, Uncle Bruce quietly reminded Grandma not to forget Silas’s “marriage prospects.” Silas was currently pursuing the only daughter of a real estate tycoon, Isabella. If they could secure this marriage, Uncle Bruce’s business would truly take off. However, Isabella had always ignored Silas. “Mom, you’re his biological grandmother, you have to help him.” Ever since the whole family achieved financial freedom, Grandma’s “golden words” were hard to come by. Sometimes my dad and the others tried everything but couldn’t even get a single prophecy. They asked for too much, and Grandma seemed overwhelmed. “I’ll think about it…” Seeing Grandma wouldn’t relent, Uncle Bruce gave a signal, and Silas immediately fell to his knees in front of her with a thud. “Grandma! I’ll die without her!” “Bruce’s family sure has a lot of tricks up their sleeves, no wonder they’re the richest,” my mom muttered disdainfully from the side. Over the past few years, as long as Uncle Bruce’s family asked, Grandma would eventually agree. This caused dissatisfaction from my mom and Aunt Sarah. Because they remembered very clearly that five years ago, Uncle Bruce was the cruelest one to Grandma. He had even suggested locking Grandma outside during a blizzard. “Are you sure?” Faced with her grandson’s pleas, Grandma finally relented. Silas nodded firmly. “Three days from now, that girl will get lost hiking in the North Mountain forest. You go and be the one to save her.” Silas pulled out his phone, and sure enough, Isabella had just posted an update three hours ago about going on a hike. “Grandma, you really are my guardian angel!” The family immediately returned to a harmonious, joyful scene. I was the only one who saw it. The illusionary number floating above Silas’s head decreased by another 10. Remaining: 40. He was 28 years old this year. And the balances of the other family members: Uncle Bruce: 55 (he is 53 this year). My dad, Albert: 65 (he is 48 this year). Aunt Sarah: 70 (she is 45 this year). Cousin Clara: 65 (she is 22 this year). Only blood relatives sharing Grandma’s bloodline could make wishes and exchange their lifespans. “You’re graduating soon, hurry up and beg your Grandma to find you a high-paying job!” my mom reminded me once again. I looked at Grandma, surrounded by smiling faces. Her lips carried a bizarre curve, her cloudy eyes narrowed into slits. Intimate, yet it sent shivers down my spine. 05 In the blink of an eye, it was Grandma’s 75th birthday. Previous years had been family dinners, but this year the scale was massive. Uncle Bruce, flaunting his wealth, booked the ballroom at the most luxurious Hilton hotel in the city. He invited all the business elites, claiming it was to pray for the birthday girl. Inside the hotel, Aunt Sarah pulled my dad into a corner to whisper. “It’s Bruce stealing the spotlight again. Why does he always get to be the boss? Back when Mom was useless, he was the first one to say he wouldn’t take care of her!” “Hmph, Mom’s old shirt had a dozen holes patched up. I was the one who spent fifty bucks to buy her a cheap shirt from a street stall!” That shirt was the only thing Aunt Sarah had ever bought for Grandma in her entire life. Yet it became the “evidence” she frequently used to claim credit over the past few years. “As long as the old lady is happy, everything is fine. Make sure to toast her a few more times later, maybe if Mom’s happy today, she’ll give us another sweet deal!” my dad advised Aunt Sarah, and the two quickly put on smiling faces and surrounded Grandma. The number above Aunt Sarah’s head flickered. I knew she was going to get what she wanted today. Over the years, relying on the “filial piety of one shirt,” she went from a regular clerk to a branch executive. Right now, Silas was pulling Isabella over to introduce her to Grandma. “Grandma, look how beautiful your granddaughter-in-law is.” That day, Isabella did indeed get lost. Silas descended from the heavens, carried her on his back for a three-hour hike out of the mountains, and finally won her heart. Today’s birthday banquet was actually hosted by Uncle Bruce to entertain his future in-law, the real estate tycoon. Grandma was just an excuse. 06 To “accumulate good karma” for Grandma, Uncle Bruce prepared a massive amount of free food to distribute to the homeless on the streets. Distributing the food had to be done by Grandma’s direct descendants. And this terrible chore naturally fell on me. “Evelyn is the dumbest, and Grandma doesn’t like you either. You’re the most suitable to go show your filial piety to Grandma,” “Idiots should do more work. Your sister can only help you this much,” Silas and Clara sneered at me from the door. I didn’t care. I didn’t want to watch their hypocritical acting anyway. The distribution boxes contained expensive organic pastries. The packaging had Grandma’s birthdate printed on it, with “Longevity and Centenarian” written on top. How ironic. They used to wish she would die early, and now they were praying to the heavens for her immortality. In this neighborhood where the homeless gathered, I handed them out one by one with a bodyguard. Handing out the last box, I met a strange old man. He wore tattered monk robes, a sandalwood rosary around his neck, and emitted a faint, cold incense scent. “Child, who is the person on this box?” He suddenly opened his tightly closed eyes, startling me. “My grandmother. Today is her 75th birthday, and our family is accumulating good karma for her.” The old man took the box, sniffed it hard, and furrowed his brows. He looked at me, his eyes full of confusion: “No, no. A person with this fate is destined for a life full of disasters and extreme misfortune from their children. Where would this kind of blessing come from?” “Hey! Old man, what nonsense are you spouting!” The bodyguard grew furious and tried to snatch the box back. I stopped him. “Old sir, what else did you see?” I asked in a low voice. “You said she’s 75 this year? Judging from her birthdate, she only lived to be 70. Five years ago, she should have been in the ground.” The old man’s words made me feel like I was plunging into an ice cave under the spring sun. Five years ago. That was the day Grandma was dumped back in the hometown to fend for herself. According to the old man, she had already died back then. Thinking back, after Grandma returned from the hometown, not only had her personality changed, but her body was overly healthy. Even my mom said the hometown’s environment was nourishing; after Grandma stayed in the cabin for three months, her complexion had improved a lot. 07 Returning to the hotel, the banquet had just begun. Under the massive crystal chandelier was an 18-tier cake. Grandma, her face glowing, was helped by the MC to distribute the cake to her descendants. “Cake and blessings! Thank you, Birthday Girl, for loving the younger generation!” The MC was arranged by Uncle Bruce; every word was meant to induce Grandma to speak. The descendants knelt on the floor, their eyes shining, anticipating the prophecies that could change their destinies. This time, Grandma was very generous. She wished Uncle Bruce immense wealth, Aunt Sarah steady promotions, and our family booming business. She wished Silas a century of happy marriage, and Clara a boundless future. Until it came to me. Grandma’s smile vanished. She slowly placed the piece of cake in her hand into mine, narrowed her eyes, and smiled at me lovingly. In that moment, I saw a sliver of clarity in her eyes. “This piece of cake is the best. “Grandma wishes Evelyn… a long, long life.” The guests whispered among themselves. “Looks like the old lady really dislikes this youngest granddaughter.” “Everyone else gets fame and fortune, and she just gets an empty wish for a long life.” Uncle Bruce and Aunt Sarah looked on with schadenfreude, my parents felt utterly humiliated. I looked at the smile in Grandma’s eyes, and that familiar feeling surged in my heart. The candy she gave me when I was little tasted exactly like this. Watching the numbers above my family members’ heads plummet like broken timers. I suddenly understood. The old man said those pastries were cursed with resentment, and anyone who demanded things from her would be cursed. But I was clean, completely untainted. Grandma hadn’t changed; she was still the elder who treated me best. She distanced herself from me, giving me no wealth or prophecies, in order to… protect me. Tears welling in my eyes, I bowed deeply to her. “Thank you, Grandma.” A long life was your deepest, most profound love for me. 08 After staying at the estate for half a month, Grandma suddenly mentioned wanting to go back to the old cabin in Kentucky. My parents and Uncle Bruce had just made another windfall after the birthday banquet, so how could they dare disobey? They agreed immediately. They even hired a professional engineering team to go up the mountain overnight to renovate the cabin, lay down carpets, and install heating. The house was fixed, but a problem arose. Who would accompany Grandma back? “The bidding for those plots of land is happening soon, I can’t get away,” Uncle Bruce was the first to refuse. “You can’t get away? You’re just afraid you can’t get away from your mistress outside!” Aunt Brenda pointed at his nose and cursed. Aunt Sarah also made excuses: “I just got promoted, I have a ton of work. Sigh, I’ll let you guys take this chance to show your filial piety, don’t fight me for it next time!” Everyone knew she had actually rewarded herself with a trip to Europe. My mom heard the underlying meaning and sneered, “You all talk a big game normally, but when it’s time to actually put in the effort, you run faster than anyone. Are we supposed to just be the suckers?” Approaching the holidays, our chain restaurants were booming. My parents were counting money until their hands went numb every day; they didn’t want to go either. “I’ll go.” I stood up. Three words ended this ugly argument. 09 On the way back to the hometown, several trucks were fully loaded with gifts Uncle Bruce was sending to the entire village. The mountain roads were rugged. Suddenly, a maid in the van covered her nose and mouth. “Oh my god, what is that smell? It stinks!” Everyone hurriedly put on masks. Grandma rested with her eyes closed, paying no mind. I sat next to her, and I smelled it clearly. That rotting, putrid stench was radiating from Grandma. With every cough, the smell grew stronger. It was like the smell of rotting meat pouring endlessly from her lungs. In a daze, the old man’s words popped into my mind. “A walking corpse for five years, the internal organs have long rotted away, reeking of decay. “It must rely on evil spirits to sustain its life.” Looking at the calm Grandma and the people gagging non-stop. I seemed to have guessed the true purpose of this return trip to the hometown.

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