Despite praying numerous times in my heart, the date when my menstruation would end was nearing. Moreover, my mother was keeping an even tighter track of the dates than I was.

After seven days, I was finally permitted to eat at the dinner table.

My mother kept busy in the kitchen while Titus and Boris smoked in their seats. My mother ordered me to get some alcohol from the storeroom and serve the men.

A thought popped into my mind while I was looking at the bottles of alcohol. I hurriedly told my mother that I was suffering from diarrhea and went back to my room to get some toilet paper.

Before my mother followed me into the room, I quickly grabbed a few pills from the luggage. I clenched them in my hand and ran into the toilet.

The toilet was outdoors. After pretending to have diarrhea, I walked out of the toilet and headed straight to the storeroom.

I bent over with my head lowered and pretended to pick a few bottles of alcohol, but I was really stuffing pills into them.

As I was worried the pills would not dissolve in time, I howled with pain as I clutched my stomach.

"What's going on? Are you still having diarrhea?"

As everyone complained about it, I ran into the toilet and stayed in there for a while.

I quietly counted the seconds. Before they lost patience and started pouring drinks for themselves, I brought the alcohol out from the storeroom and obediently poured drinks for Titus and Boris.

Boris laughed happily when he saw how obedient I was. He reached out to rub my cheeks.

He was not gentle at all. Boris purposely pinched my cheeks with a sort of vengeance, bruising them. I had fair skin, and the bruising only made me look comical and messy.

Boris was delighted to see me lower my head and let him have his way with me. He patted my cheek and let me continue pouring drinks for him and Titus.

I tried to hold back my disgust as I pretended to obediently serve them at dinner. I watched as Boris strode back into his room.

The next second, my mother pushed me from behind and into Boris' room.

I panicked and turned to bang on the door. "Open the door, Mom!"

My mother said viciously from outside the door, "Stop yelling! I've told you to stop having ideas. Just be good and get pregnant with the family's child!"

Even though I was mentally prepared, it still hurt when I heard her cold words. My hands grabbed the door handle as I asked her one more time.

"Mom, I'm your daughter. Do you really want to push me into a life of hell because of Titus and Boris?"

I spoke softly, but every word I said felt like a dagger to my heart.

My mother did not catch what I was trying to convey. She locked the door without hesitation.

"It's because you're my daughter that I'm allowing you to marry Boris. The Wagners are a good family. You can't find another family like this anywhere. I'm warning you. You should know what's good for you. Give us more trouble, and I won't stop Boris from beating you up."

She had never stopped him to begin with.

My head lowered as I touched my bruised wounds. I lost all love for my mother.

I turned to look at Boris, who was lying spread-eagled on the bed. My heart turned cold.

After that night, I became listless all the time and would even feel nauseous sometimes.

My mother smiled at this. She was happy to see me this way and no longer forced me to sleep with Boris.

She put a thin mattress in the storeroom for me to rest.

Half a month passed. The developers came to town on the day everyone was supposed to relocate to distribute the compensation.

The rich businessman leading the developers went crazy when he saw my bruised cheeks and the bump on my tummy.

It was my husband. He was finally here…