###Chapter 2

I rushed to the top floor of the hotel, into the high-end club. Through the crack in the door, I saw Oliver and his group of friends laughing and chatting.

One of them whistled. “Damn, going this far? But with that lady from the capital still around, even if Vespera gives birth, the child won’t have any status.”

The man in the middle held the girl on his lap, letting out a laugh full of control.

“When Vespera gives birth, I’ll hand the baby over to Leah to raise. Then I’ll just say it was adopted from the orphanage. Anyway, she likes children; she’ll definitely treat Vespera’s baby as her own.”

One of his friends chucked and added, “That’s why you’re the smartest. Turning an illegitimate child into the legal heir, why didn’t I think of that?”

Oliver sneered. “I told her I had oligospermia, but in truth, I’ve been slipping contraceptives into her milk every day. She even dragged me to infertility clinics. This woman is so stupid, I almost find her cute.”

The room erupted in laughter so loud it nearly lifted the roof, leaving my body trembling uncontrollably.

They went on, “Back then, the way you used that black bear to pull off a bitter trick just to marry Leah, I still admire it to this day. Lucky for you, the gamble paid off. From that moment, Leah fell head over heels. As for those so-called four young ladies of the capital, didn’t they all fall under your spell after just a few sweet words?”

My head went blank with a deafening boom. The blood-stained vow of that sixteen-year-old boy still echoed in my ears, yet now it only made my hair stand on end.

Leaning against the wall was the only way I could keep my trembling body upright.

The man swirled his wine glass, a cold laugh spilling as he unraveled the truth.

Another asked, “I heard the Lozano Family hasn’t been doing well these past two years. Since you like Vespera so much, Oliver, why not just cast that woman aside?”

Oliver snorted. “Do you want my dad to beat me to death? That old thing would never allow me to divorce Leah.”

So all his so-called kindness toward me had been nothing but a lie.

To him, my ten years had been nothing more than a game of lies and cruel amusement.

I clutched my chest, pain stabbing as though pierced by a thousand arrows, my heart bleeding dry. Just as I turned to leave, my father’s call came through.

“Leah, how’s the new job? Life at the grassroots level is hard. Your mother and I hate to see you suffer. But being reunited with Oliver is also a blessing. You two should think about having a child…”

At his gentle words, my tears finally broke loose, spilling in jagged sobs I could no longer hold back.

“Dad, Oliver and I will never have anything. He’s been lying to me from the very start.”

A heavy crash echoed from the other end of the line.

“Don’t worry, I’ll stand up for you! This marriage must end!”

I nodded through tears. “I want to send him to prison, too.”

Without hesitation, I dialed Zachary. “Help me investigate Oliver over these past few years…”

Just as I finished giving instructions, a cold voice suddenly rose behind me. “Leah, what are you doing here?”

Oliver’s eyes widened in shock before his brows quickly drew together, Vespera hidden behind him.

I fixed my gaze on him. “Oliver, have you… never cared for me from the very beginning?”

The despair in my eyes made him falter, but only for a moment. Soon after, he sneered.

“Since you’ve heard everything, there’s no point pretending anymore. Yes, I never loved you.”

My voice cracked with fury. “If you never loved me, then why lie to me? Why marry me at all?!”

“Because the company was in crisis and needed an alliance with the Lozano Family.” His tone turned cold as ice. “Leah, do you still imagine yourself the untouchable heiress of the capital? Not divorcing you is already the greatest dignity I could grant you. People ought to know when to be content.”

His voice was cold. “The day after tomorrow is our wedding anniversary. Show up obediently at the banquet.”

He then drew Vespera into his arms and left.

I stood there, staring at his back. For ten years, that was the sight he gave me most often, a fading figure walking away. Once, I never thought of it as wrong. I even felt guilty toward him. But now, remembering it, it all seemed laughable.

From his shoulder, Vespera glanced back at me, her lips lifting in a proud, mocking smile.

###Chapter 3

I didn’t know when I returned to the villa, but as the evening glow lingered, I found myself walking into the pink muhly grass garden.

Only in this sea of soft pink could my wounded heart find a moment of peace.

Then faint rustling came from deep within. I followed the sound and, in the next instant, stumbled upon a scene I could hardly bear.

“Oliver, be gentle… didn’t we just… in the daytime…”

The flower field was trampled. His movements were rough, yet his voice was tender. “It’s only because I love you too much, baby. How could I possibly hold back?”

I hid behind a tree, barely able to stay upright.

“You and her, did you also…”

“Silly girl, of course I’m only like this with you!”

It felt as though countless arrows pierced my chest. Covering my mouth, I fled the garden as if escaping for my life.

When I rushed back to the bedroom, the wedding photo on the wall caught my eye at once.

In the photo, the twenty-year-old girl leaned against the handsome man, her smile bright and radiant.

She once thought a smile would keep her happy for life, but now it only showed the pain of a failed marriage.

I began packing my things. This house had never held much that truly belonged to me.

In the wardrobe hung an unfinished white shirt. Oliver liked handmade shirts, so I had taught myself to use the sewing machine.

In the drawer was a notebook filled with his favorite dishes. I had once planned to cook them for him, one by one, but that day would never come.

In the corner stood the half-finished painting we once worked on together. He had said he wanted it completed before our tenth anniversary as a gift to me. Now, it was left under a layer of dust.

“Seeing me and Oliver making love in your garden, you must feel awful, right? But who told him he likes to play such thrilling games with me?”

I hadn’t even noticed when Vespera appeared behind me.

She curved her lips into a seemingly gentle smile. “He always says you’re nothing but a block of wood, unworthy to carry the Garrison Family’s seed. Only I am fit to bear his bloodline.”

I turned back coldly. How could such a delicate face hide such shamelessness? “Then congratulations, you got what you wanted.”

Just as I moved to drive her out, heavy footsteps sounded in the hallway.

Vespera’s eyes flickered. In an instant, she grabbed my hand and slapped herself hard across the face. “Ah!”

Clutching her reddened cheek, she collapsed to the floor. By the time Oliver entered, all he saw was her kneeling before me, crying.

“Leah, I already apologized, didn’t I? Is it such a crime that I love Oliver? Do I deserve to die for it? Then hit me again if you must, I won’t resist. Even if you beat me to death, I’ll still love him. I’ll love him forever.”

My eyes widened in shock, but before I could respond, a sharp sting exploded across my face.

Oliver’s strike was so heavy I staggered back, my head slamming against the corner of the cabinet.

A sharp pain tore through me as I collapsed, my uniform quickly soaking in blood.

“Leah, are you out of your mind?! If you’re angry, take it out on me. Vespera is just a fragile girl; how could she endure your cruelty?”

Lying on the cold floor, misery pressed down on me as a stabbing pain spread through my lower abdomen.

Through tears, I looked up at him. “Oliver, if I say I did nothing, would you believe me?”

I thought I could take one gamble, that ten years of devotion might earn a shred of trust. But I had been hopelessly naïve.

“I saw you hit Vespera with my own eyes and you still dare to deny it! Leah, I’ve indulged you too much.”

With gentle hands, he lifted Vespera and brushed away her tears. “Don’t be afraid, I’ll call a doctor right away.”

Vespera buried herself in his shoulder, sobbing as though she had suffered the greatest grievance in the world.

“Forget it, don’t blame Leah. I shouldn’t have fallen in love with you. I should just leave. Oliver, I’m not worthy of you….”

Oliver’s eyes lingered on her swollen cheek, fury blazing to its peak.

“She’s the one who’s unworthy! Leah, if you dare bully Vespera again, tomorrow I’ll make your family bankrupt!”

How absurd, how pitiful, how laughable. He actually believed the rumors of my family’s decline and for Vespera’s sake, he was willing to destroy everything I had.

Oliver strode off with Vespera in his arms. If he had turned back even once, he would have seen me collapse onto the marble floor, bleeding and unconscious.

###Chapter 4

When I opened my eyes again, night had already fallen.

The white wall of the hospital loomed before me and the doctor stood at my bedside with my chart in hand, his voice heavy with regret.

“Fortunately, the butler brought you here in time. We’ve treated the wound on your head. But your child… I’m sorry. By the time you arrived, it was already gone.”

Child?

Blankly, I reached for my lower abdomen. So, I had once carried my own baby? It had slipped past the drugs, only to be destroyed by its own father’s hand.

Hatred surged in my chest. I turned to the clock on the wall and it was already past ten. Ignoring the doctor’s pleas, I forced myself to leave the hospital.

On the ride home, the taxi radio blared the latest gossip. I let out a cold, mocking laugh.

Back at the villa, I tore the wedding photo from the wall and smashed it into pieces. Everything that had once recorded my love, I threw into the trash and set it on fire.

The crackling flames lit up the night.

Oliver hurried into the yard, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. “What are you burning?”

“Just some garbage that should have been dealt with long ago.”

He halted in his tracks. “Today, when I hit you, it was just a small punishment. Luckily, Vespera is fine. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have let you off.”

A small punishment? So, giving me a head injury, forcing me to miscarry and lose my child, was merely that?

Yet for his precious girl, with nothing but a little swelling on her cheek, he had summoned the best experts across the city to ensure she wouldn’t feel the slightest pain.

“Oliver, don’t worry. There will never be a next time.”

My voice was distant and at once he sensed something amiss.

In front of him, I had always smiled, gentle, tolerant, accommodating. When had I ever turned so cold, unwilling even to look at him?

Suppressing his sudden irritation, he frowned. “Enough, stop pretending to be pitiful. You’d better not stir up trouble at the banquet the day after tomorrow, or even my parents won’t be able to protect you.”

I closed my eyes, his indifferent voice still lingering.

“Let me tell you, I’ll have that patch of pink muhly grass dug up and replaced with roses.”

The night wind brushed across my cheeks, sending a chill through me. That flower field had been planted by his hands the year we married, not only because I loved pink muhly, but because he had once told me beneath the stars that its flower language was the throbbing of first love, the beauty of waiting.

Even if we were apart, one in Newport, the other in the capital, he would always be waiting for me in that field.

And now, only because his little lover preferred roses, he would erase it all.

“Oliver, does our past mean nothing at all?”

He sneered. “A business marriage and you took it seriously? I even regret ever risking my life to save you.”

At last, I laughed, laughing as tears poured down in heavy streams.

A friend had once warned me kindly that Oliver’s true nature was not what I believed. I thought she was only jealous, envious of what I believed was a perfect marriage. In the end, I was the foolish one.

My tear-reddened eyes made Oliver’s heart tighten for a moment, but irritation quickly replaced it. Then, as if recalling his superiority, he looked at me with disdain.

“Stop pretending, Leah. Remember, as long as you behave, you will retain the position as my wife.”

How could he think I cared about such an empty title?

“Oliver, I was wrong.”

Wrong to be blind, wrong to give my heart to the wrong man. Wrong to abandon everything in the capital, only to come to Newport and live as nothing more than a police officer for him.

Wrong to waste my youth chasing a false love that never belonged to me.

“So you finally admit what you did to Vespera was wrong? Then stop being so ungrateful.”

This time, I didn’t argue; there was no need.

“Then I’ll bring Vespera to the banquet the day after tomorrow. You’ll apologize to her sincerely and this matter will be over.”

So, he wanted to show off Vespera on the very day that was meant to matter most to us. My heart sank and the love I once held turned completely to ashes.

Oliver went inside, picked up a few things and left.

The next day, I went to the police department as usual. I had just sat down when Zachary handed me a USB drive, his expression grave.

“This is what you asked for. But Oliver is someone we can’t afford to offend, Chief. Please think carefully.”