Looking at the man approaching, I put away the self-mockery on my face and stood up with difficulty.

With this movement, I had the illusion that my whole body was being eaten by millions of ants. The pain distorted my face, and I made faces for a long time before I could control my facial expression.

"You're here."

I held his palm with a smile on my face.

Nicholas liked women who had a poised, elegant, and refined demeanor.

But I was straightforward and had a hot temper.

In order to emulate him, I had learned ladylike behavior countless times in the past five years. After repeated observation and learning, I had finally developed into what I was.

No matter how hard I tried, the word "lady" seemed to be separated from me by an endless gap.

No matter how much I suppressed my nature, I would only end up learning a weird thing.

"How could you hit Karen?"

Nicholas shook off my hand and peppered me with angry questions.

The sudden action caught me off guard.

My head hit the wall hard, making me gasp and unable to speak for a moment due to the pain.

"Don't think that just because you've been with me for so long, you can act recklessly. You're not qualified yet."

My collar was tightly grasped by his big hand, my face turned red, and I felt like I was being pushed into the water and was about to suffocate.

"Let go... let go. It hurts." Beads of sweat the size of beans fell down one by one.

"Why are you pretending? Mr. Thompson said you were just in shock due to emotional excitement. To put it bluntly, you are just pretending to be sick."

The roar continued.

"Don't forget, I'm your wife."

I roared with force, veins bulging as I clenched onto the bedsheet tightly.

After sleeping in the same bed for so many days and nights, no matter how cold-hearted a person was, they would not just be physically active without being emotionally active.

After all, we once took the oath together at the church.

"So what? You're not even as good as one of her fingers."

I closed my eyes.

At this moment, I realized that all my efforts over the past five years were actually a joke.

He was not my safe haven, after all.

Six days passed in a flash, and I was lying in bed like a dead fish.

The pain in my body intensified gradually as if I were being slowly roasted over a fire. The scorching flames turned my skin red and seeped into every fiber of my being.

Nicholas had never come back since he left last time.

I knew he was in the hospital.

Half an hour ago, Nicholas walked in from the door carrying a fruit basket. He was wearing a blue suit that I carefully picked for him on Valentine's Day.

I looked out the window, motionless.

If Nicholas didn't have me in his heart, no matter how hard I tried, I would be discarded like a dirty rag.

As my mind was free, the door was suddenly pushed open.

I saw Nicholas rushing in, pulling me off the bed without saying a word, and dragging me out.

I stumbled and could barely keep my footing.

"What are you doing? Can't you see that her face is too pale?"

At this time, Oscar Thompson was full of anger.

"She's pretending."

"What the hell? You try pretending for me."

Oscar was so furious that he looked like he wanted to slap him.

I was slightly surprised.

It turned out that my archenemy worked in this hospital.

He used to always have conflicts with me, so I didn't expect him to stand up for me.

"Karen has been crying non-stop, you should go and apologize to her."

Nicholas pressed his lips.

"No."

I grabbed the door frame and refused to move an inch.

Why should I apologize?

She was immoral and spoke ill of me. It served her right to be slapped.

Nicholas stared at me for a long while with his blue eyes.

He suddenly took out his cell phone from his pocket. "Tyler, throw out all of Bella's things, change the front door key, and send a divorce lawyer's letter."

My face turned pale instantly, and I was like a ghost that had just crawled out of hell.

"No, no..."

I rushed to him like a cheetah on break free, shaking my head desperately.

Nicholas held the phone in his hand, his voice as cold as ice. "Are you willing to apologize?"

"Yes, I am."

I couldn't get a divorce yet, and I couldn't leave home.

I must stay there for five years. Otherwise, the System would determine that the mission had failed and killed me directly.

Nicholas was actually a person who would not give up until he achieved his goal. I realized this very early on.

I just thought I had some place in his heart, but I didn't expect it to be worthless.

While I surfed the Internet, a netizen said, "Men with thin lips are the most heartless."

Before this, I scoffed at it.

And now, I understood that a man's lips could bring extreme pleasure and also plunge one into hell.

"I feel so bad..."

As soon as I entered the room, I saw Karen lying in Nicholas' arms in a hospital gown, her face full of grievance.

"Why are you becoming more and more delicate?" His voice was so gentle that I never heard it.

"It was you who asked me to come back. I obediently returned with joy in my heart to see you, but ended up being violently beaten. Can my mood be good?"

Finishing speaking, she looked at me with an expression filled with poison.

Did he ask her to return back?

I felt like I was struck by lightning and stared blankly at him.

My fingertips couldn't help but touch the bracelet on my wrist. It was the gift Nicholas gave me on my birthday last week.

That night, as we intertwined on the bed, in the depths of our passion, he hoarsely whispered, "Bella, our bodies fit so perfectly, so we are destined for each other."

His love words that night were as vivid as the broad river.

"Bella, apologize."

"I'm sorry."

My expression was calm, but my heart felt like it was being cut bit by bit by an executioner with a rusty, blunt knife, and my eyes were filled with anger.

"You have to kneel down to show your sincerity when you apologize."

Her bloodthirsty sound echoed in the house.

"Don't go too far."

Suddenly, I raised my head. My hair stuck to my face, and sweat dripped down.

My body seemed to have just been pulled out of the water, and there were water stains all over the ground.

At that moment, compared to the refined appearance of Karen, I looked extremely disheveled and felt like a miserable wet dog.

"Nicholas, am I going too far?"

"Not too much."

His voice was like the snow in the Arctic, icy and bone-chilling.

Exerting all my strength, I took a step forward and grabbed onto his collar, and my eyes were filled with fury like a brewing storm.

"What am I in your heart?"

"I thought you should be self-aware."

Nicholas pushed me away, his eyes calm, as if he was talking about a trivial matter.

I stumbled back, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Do you need me to teach you how to kneel?"

There was a hint of triumph in Karen's sarcastic voice.

I bit my lip, inserted my fingertips into my palms, clenched and unclenched, unclenched and clenched again, over and over again. The bright blood emitted a dazzling light under the illumination of the crystal lamp.

My vision gradually became blurred. I pinched my thigh hard, and then the severe pain made me sober up a little.

"Bella, if you listen to me, you can still be my wife in name only and maintain the interests of the Harrington family and the Vanderbilt family. After all, you are homeless, so who else can you rely on besides me?"

He pretended to take out his cell phone.

I held his hand, tilted my head 45 degrees, and tears flew like rain.

"Do we have to get a divorce?"

As I spoke, tears welled up in my eyes, and I looked through him at the clock on the wall.

Time passed by little by little, and every second was my salvation.

"Do this, and you will continue to be a spendthrift Mrs. Vanderbilt."

Nicholas took a few steps back and looked down at me condescendingly.

The sound of the ticking clock faded away, and as the last note came down, the 12 o'clock bell sounded slowly like beautiful music.

At that moment, I laughed.

"Okay, as you wish, let's get a divorce."