My heart felt like it was being sliced apart as I listened to Julian's cold words.

I looked up at him and stared into his eyes that were like bottomless abysses.

His eyes were devoid of any pain or regret.

How could I have forgotten?

From Julian's perspective, I was a woman who was willing to do anything for the sake of money.

Julian and I were a couple when Dad's company became embroiled in its first financial crisis. Everyone accused me of targeting the Luther family's power and status. Now that my family had declared bankruptcy, I was essentially cementing my image of a gold-digger by asking Julian for money.

I didn't care about the opinions of outsiders. I was content as long as Julian knew who I really was.

However, even Julian didn't believe me. He also had plenty of other reasons to dislike me.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and fixed a smile on my face. "That's right. I desperately need money. Why else would I be here? Did you think that I showed up to experience life, Mr. Luther?

"Or perhaps you've become forgetful, Mr. Luther. After all, you forgot that I begged you for money to transfer to the company."

My words were like blades that stabbed into Julian's heart.

He frowned deeply as the corners of his lips curled up in a mocking smile.

"Did you think that I would believe you, Cecilia? Why would your father's company suddenly go bankrupt when it was doing just fine? Drop the pitiful act and stop humiliating yourself in front of so many people!"

His words cut me deeper than any blade possibly could.

I scoffed and said, "I'm selling the last thing that Mom left for me to save Dad's life. Is that really so humiliating? Or perhaps I should behave like you? Should I spend 500,000 dollars just to make another woman happy? Would that paint me as an impressive person?"

A steely expression appeared on Julian's face.

Rachel hastily approached us and grabbed his arm. Attempting to play mediator, she said, "Calm down, Julian. Cece's probably just pulling your leg."

She then turned to me and said, "But Cece, even if you're truly tight on cash, you shouldn't joke about Mr. Mendez's company like that. Julian will actually believe you. You should just tell him directly what you want. The two of you are a couple, after all."

I couldn't help but feel a sense of mocking course through me as I looked into Rachel's seemingly innocent eyes.

Although she knew that I was Julian's girlfriend, she continued to cling to him without any care for boundaries.

As for Julian, he seemed to be oblivious to her intentions and never pushed her away.

I shot a cold glare at Rachel and snapped, "I already told Mr. Luther what I want, but he seems to be deaf to my words."

The color drained from Rachel's face. She bit her lip with a troubled expression as her eyes began to rapidly redden.

Julian immediately shielded her behind him and shot an icy glare at me. "I never would have guessed that you would turn into such a mean and bitter person, Cecilia. You're being completely unreasonable! Rachel is just worried about you. Why did you feel the need to speak to her so harshly?"

"Mean and bitter?"

Despair and fury raged within me, threatening to burst from my chest.

"I've been forced into a dead end. I had to sell the last thing that Mom left for me while my own boyfriend flirts with another woman! Do I not have the right to question you?

"From your perspective, Rachel is a pure and elegant fairy while I'm just a crazy bitch who only knows how to cause trouble for you, am I right?"

"You're being irrational!" Julian exclaimed indignantly.

Just then, the auctioneer began to call out prices for "Dawn Light" on the stage.

"300,000 dollars going once… 300,000 dollars going twice… Are any of our esteemed guests interested in bidding for this necklace? If there's no one—"

"350,000 dollars!" a voice suddenly called out.

I looked in the direction of the voice and saw Kevin Porter. He hailed from Westview and was notorious for being a greasy man who had made a fortune in recent years.

At that moment, Kevin was blatantly checking me out.

Julian looked even more upset than before.

I knew that Kevin wasn't interested in the necklace. He was interested in me. If I accepted his money, it would also mean that I was accepting him.

However, the last dregs of hesitation within me disappeared when I saw Julian and Kevin exchange glances.

I immediately understood what was going on.

This was Julian's way of humiliating me. He wanted to see me in a pathetic state. He wanted to see me in pain.

"350,000 dollars!" the auctioneer shouted ecstatically. "Mr. Porter has bid on the necklace for 350,000 dollars! Is there anyone here who would like to challenge him and raise the price?"

I straightened my back before hollering at the auctioneer, "It's a deal!"

I then turned to Julian and hissed, "From this moment on, we're over, Julian."

I turned around and left without giving him a chance to respond.

"You wouldn't dare, Cecilia Mendez!" Julian roared furiously from behind me.

Of course, I had every intention of defying Julian's orders.

After all, there was nothing left in the world for a person to fear when they were backed into a corner.

I grabbed the 350,000-dollar check that was still warm from Kevin's body heat and rushed as quickly as I could to the appointed location.

Several fierce-looking thugs surrounded Dad as they cursed him out.

Dad was curled up in a corner. Gone was the spirited and charming man from before. His hair had turned white, and he looked absolutely haggard.

His hazy eyes lit up when he spotted me. "What are you doing here, Cece? You have to leave right now! It's too dangerous here!"

"I came here to pay them, Dad."

I offered the check to the leader of the thugs, a man with a scarred face. My voice was trembling slightly from fear when I said, "Here's 350,000 dollars. Please give me a few more days to collect the remaining 150,000 dollars."

Scarface took the check from me and spat on it. He then shot a look of disdain at me and sneered, "A few more days? What do you take us for? A charity? You promised to deliver the money in three days. Your father will have to leave his leg with us if there's even a single penny missing."

He then pulled out a gleaming steel pipe from behind him.

The color drained from Dad's face as he frantically protected his leg.

I dashed toward Dad and spread my arms, shielding him behind me. My legs were shaking violently, but I stood my ground.

"I'll definitely pay you! But I won't forgive you if you lay a hand on Dad!"

"You won't forgive us?" Scarface repeated, letting out an amused snort and moving closer to me. "You're quite the looker, pretty lady. I can offer you a compromise. You don't have to pay the remaining 150,000 dollars if you spend a few days with us. What do you say?"

My gut churned uncomfortably as I trembled violently.

Just as Scarface was about to tear my clothes apart, a few black cars roared onto the scene with one of them screeching to a stop right in front of us.

A group of black-clad bodyguards stormed out of the car when the door swung open. Within seconds, they had the thugs immobilized on the ground.

I watched everything unfold before me in shock.

A familiar figure exited the car when the back door swung open.

It was Julian.

He approached me. His tall and broad silhouette cast a shadow that completely enveloped my pathetic state.

"Were you going to sell yourself to these men just for money, Cecilia? Are you that fond of getting involved with trash like them?"

I whipped my head up and stared into Julian's indifferent eyes. I could see my anguished expression reflected in his gaze.

"How dare you criticize me, Julian?" I roared furiously. "I got on my knees and begged you to lend me 500,000 dollars to save Dad's life. Like a fool, I waited for an entire day for you, only to find out that you were spending a small fortune on another woman at an auction!

"Why didn't you pick up any of my calls, even though I called you so many times? Do you even know that if I had been a minute too late, Dad might have lost his leg?

"You're the one who forced me into a dead end, and yet you're turning the tables on me and criticizing me? What gives you the right to do such a thing?" I screamed hysterically.

Julian's face twisted as a glint of remorse flickered in his eyes. He recalled how I had begged him—how he had promised to help me.

Just then, Rachel got out of the car. She placed a gentle hand on his arm and shot a troubled look at me, saying, "Don't blame Julian, Cece. I'm the one who distracted him by asking him to buy the painting for me. I just liked it too much. He only forgot his promise because of me…"

She paused for a moment as she swept her gaze over the thugs on the ground.

"But, Cece," she continued. "Even if Julian was busy bidding on the painting for me, you shouldn't degrade yourself to such a level just for the sake of money! Have you forgotten about what happened to Jillian—"

"Shut up!"

Julian interrupted her before she could finish her sentence, but the rage that he had been suppressing reached a boiling point once more. His eyes burned with hatred as he glared at me.

"You're just as despicable as ever, Cecilia Mendez," he gritted out. "You sent someone to their death ten years ago because of the same circumstances. Who are you trying to kill this time?"

An icy sensation gripped my heart as tears spilled down my cheeks. I opened my mouth, wanting to explain myself. I wanted to tell him that the circumstances were different ten years ago.

However, my words turned into a silent, bitter laugh when they left my lips.

From Julian's perspective, I was already a criminal.

"Julian Luther," I said calmly. "You've never believed me."

I pulled Dad, who was still in a state of shock, to his feet. We then staggered away from that place that suffocated me.

Dad and I moved out of our old home overnight. I also changed my number and found a new job as a waitress in a cafe.

One afternoon, I was wiping glasses behind the counter. There weren't many customers in the cafe that day.

The windchime on the door suddenly tinkled.

Reflexively, I lifted my head and said, "Welcome."

The glass slipped from my hands when I got a good look at the newcomers. It fell to the floor and shattered into a million pieces.

Julian stood at the entrance of the cafe with Rachel standing right behind him.

He was dressed in an expensive tailored suit while I was wearing a cheap uniform with coffee stains.

It was as if there was an unsurpassable rift between us.

Julian swept his gaze over the name tag that was pinned to my chest. His lips curled up into a mocking smile as he sneered, "I was wondering how capable you were, Cecilia. So, you can only wait tables in this sort of place after leaving me?"

Meanwhile, Rachel locked arms with him and shot a sympathetic look at me. "Why are you working here, Cece? You must be having such a tough time. Why don't you help her, Julian? You could assign her to an easy position—"

"She doesn't need it!" Julian snapped while keeping his eyes trained on me, interrupting her before she could finish her sentence. "She's stubborn to a fault, isn't she? Well, I'm curious to see just how much she values her stubbornness."

I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my palms.

The cafe manager hurried over to us when he heard the commotion. He immediately nodded and greeted Julian when he spotted him.

"What are you doing here, Mr. Luther? Please have a seat!"

Julian didn't even spare him a single glance. Instead, his eyes were trained on a small, porcelain cat figure that was placed on the shelf behind me.

I had personally made the cat figure during my spare time. It looked identical to the one that I had given Jillian Luther, Julian's younger sister, years ago.

Julian's eyes widened, and he began breathing heavily. He pointed at the cat figure and hissed with barely-contained anger, "Who does that belong to?"

My heart plummeted into my gut.

The color drained from the manager's face. He pointed at me and hastily explained himself. He was firmly drawing a line between himself and me. "Cecilia was the one who brought it here, Mr. Luther! It has nothing to do with my cafe…"

Julian stepped forward and grabbed the porcelain cat figure. Ignoring the shriek I let out, he didn't hesitate for even a second before he hurled it to the floor.

The cat figure that held the last memories that I shared with Jillian shattered into a million pieces. It would be impossible to piece it back together.

Julian's chest heaved. He picked up a broken shard of porcelain from the floor and stalked toward me.

I subconsciously backed away, but it didn't take long before my back hit the wall. I was trapped with no hope of escape.

"Why do you have to keep reminding me, Cecilia?" Julian roared.

His warm breath fanned across my face, but I couldn't help but feel as if I was facing the icy pits of hell.

"Your face constantly reminds me that my sister is dead while you, her murderer, are still alive and well!"

"Murderer…" I repeated over and over again. The unbearable pain numbed my heart.

"Tell me. How should I punish you?"

Julian suddenly whipped his head up and coldly barked his orders at his two bodyguards, who were standing behind him.

"Keep her in place."

The bodyguards stepped forward and grabbed my shoulders, immobilizing me.

My eyes widened in fear. I could only watch as Julian pressed the broken shard into one of the bodyguard's palms.

"Use this. Carve the word 'murderer' into her arm."

"No!" I screamed hysterically.

The cafe manager and the other staff members were cowering in fear in a corner and trembling violently. None of them dared to step forward to help me.

The color had drained from Rachel's face. It seemed that she hadn't expected Julian to do something so insane.

The bodyguard emotionlessly raised his hand.

The sharp edges of the broken porcelain shard glinted blindingly in the light.

I watched as the shard was brought closer and closer to my arm.