When I was 20 years old, my adoptive brother, Maxine Ryan was drugged by his opponents. I kissed him on the lips as if I were the antidote.

He did not refuse and put his hand into my underwear.

After a night of absurdity, he said in a hoarse voice, “I will be responsible for you.”

The next day he publicly announced that he had registered his marriage to me.

Everyone in the circle thought that the notoriously unreliable ‘playboy prince’ of the Ryan Family had fallen in love with me.

I also thought that I had become a special person in Maxine's heart.

Until our tenth wedding anniversary...

On our tenth anniversary, I nearly died.

That day, I was kidnapped by my husband Maxine Ryan’s business rivals. In a desperate bid to make him back down from a high-stakes corporate battle, they took me—his wife—hostage. Their message was clear: withdraw, or lose me.

But Maxine’s phone was off. He never picked up.

Hours later, high above the ground, they shoved me out of a helicopter—10,000 meters in the sky. No parachute. No mercy.

By some miracle, I survived. A massive lake broke my fall, saving me from certain death. I awoke days later in a hospital, battered, broken… and betrayed.

That was when I learned the truth.

While I was being hurled toward death, Maxine was in a hotel suite—with his secretary, Valerie Stone. He had gone to pick her up from the airport after a business trip and spent what should’ve been our anniversary wrapped in her arms.

Three days after I regained consciousness, I was discharged. Maxine never came.

My assistant was the one who picked me up.

The driver took me directly to the group's annual meeting. At the meeting, I saw with my own eyes that he punched a company partner in the face because Valerie was molested.

The scene was so chaotic that as Mrs. Ryan, I had to calm the situation immediately and use sweet words to coax everyone out.

When I came back exhausted, I heard Maxine's assistant say, “Mr. Ryan, if you really like her, why not just keep her as your lover like before? Madam loves you so much that she will probably turn a blind eye to this.”

Maxine played with his lighter and answered, “She cannot do that. Being her lover is unfair to her.

“She is not a self-deprecating person like Betty. I don’t want to treat her casually.”

I stood outside the door and felt my fingertips getting cold.

Self-deprecating?

It turned out that after ten years of marriage, in his eyes, I was no different from his previous lover.

But I clearly never begged him to marry me.

I stood there, feeling as if I had lost all the temperature in my body.

In the past, Maxine was a playboy and everyone said that it was easy for him to make a woman think he loved her.

At first, I did not take it seriously and thought I was an exception.

But that time my heart hurt a lot.

While I was lost in thought, I accidentally bumped into the table and the conversation between the two of us came to an abrupt end.

Maxine looked at me and said, “Betty, thank you for your hard work.”

He always spoke with a smile and in the eyes of outsiders, he was very doting on me.

But when I looked into his eyes at that moment, I saw a hint of impatience in them.

I forced a smile and said nothing.

The party was finally over and Maxine and I called a designated driver and sat in the back seat.

He unbuttoned two buttons on his collar, put his hand into my skirt and said lazily, “You did a great job today, what reward do you want?”

The strange driver was still in front, but he seemed not to see him.

In the past, I would blush and my heart would beat fast because of his teasing and I would suppress my shyness and cooperate with him in playing exciting tricks.

But at that moment, all I could think of was him saying he did not want to be casual with another woman.

What about me?

Was he treating me like this because he thought I was not worth cherishing?

Before I could say no, Maxine's phone rang.

He immediately answered the phone and distanced himself from me, “Well, I'm fine, don’t worry. Go to bed early tonight and don’t think too much.”

Maxine's tone was so gentle and nervous.

The frivolous look he showed towards me instantly disappeared, leaving only a tender and affectionate look behind.

My heart ached. This was what made someone special.

“Is it Valerie who called?”

Maxine frowned and immediately interrupted me with a dark face, “Betty, don’t be jealous.

“She is my subordinate. When someone teases her, should I not protect her? As my wife, don’t you understand this?

“I thought you were sensible.”

I just said one sentence, but his attitude changed instantly and he started to educate me.

As if I had done something unforgivable.

We were silent for a long time until the car stopped in front of the company.

Before leaving, Maxine returned to his usual self and kissed me on the ear. “Be good and wait for me to come home.”

If it were in the past, I would blush and whisper to him not to get too tired. But that time, I did not answer nor smile.

It was not until the car started again that I found his briefcase still on the seat.

There were important documents in the briefcase, so I had no choice but to carry it upstairs.

As soon as I turned the corner of the corridor, I heard a soft voice coming from the half-open office door.

“Mr. Ryan, if you had not protected me tonight, I really don’t know what to do.”

Her voice was trembling, as if she had just cried.

I paused and my heartbeat slowed down.

Through the gap, I saw Valerie Stone looking up at Maxine and suddenly reached out and hugged him.

Her movements were trembling but powerful, as if the emotions that had been suppressed for too long had finally burst forth.

But after hugging for a while, when Maxine could not help but want to respond, she hurriedly stepped back.

“I know what we are doing is wrong,” Her eyes turned red, “But I cannot help it. Mr. Ryan, why are you so nice to me when you have a wife?”

Maxine looked down at her, his eyes so gentle that they seemed to drip water.

He usually smiled frivolously and nonchalantly, but at this moment he suppressed all his cynicism and remained extremely serious.

He reached out his hand and gently held her in his arms.

“Valerie, if I had known I would meet you ten years ago...” He paused, as if trying to control his emotions, “I would not have rashly entered into a marriage I did not like.

“Wait for me, please. I will definitely find a way to make you my true lover.”

I stood outside the door, my knuckles clenched until they turned white.

A marriage he did not like?

Our ten years of love and affection, spending every day and night together, did not leave the slightest trace in his heart.

He did not want Valerie to follow him without knowing the truth, so he was willing to hurt me, who grew up with him, who was once his sister and was then his wife.

Maxine did not love me.

I had never realized that so clearly.

I lowered my head and put the briefcase in my hand at the door, turned around quietly without even looking back.

Unexpectedly, it started raining heavily when I went out. I did not bring an umbrella, so I had to run downstairs to shelter from the rain.

A flowerpot from upstairs was blown down by the wind and hit my right shoulder.

The intense pain hit me instantly and I fell to the ground, unable to get up in so much pain.

There were not many people around, so I had to take out my cell phone with trembling hands and my first reaction was to call Maxine.

The phone rang several times before it was connected. The voice on the other end was muffled, with suppressed breaths. “What's wrong?”

“I was hit by a vase.” I tried to keep my voice steady. “I might have a broken bone. I cannot do anything. Can you….”

Before I finished speaking, Valerie's voice came clearly from the other side of the phone, “Mr. Ryan, stop moving. I'll help you wipe it.”

He coughed softly and said, “I'm still busy. I'll have someone pick you up later.” Then he hung up.

I was extremely familiar with Maxine's emotional voice, so it was easy for me to guess what they were doing at the moment.

I closed my eyes, rain mixed with blood dripping down my fingertips. The contacts appeared on the phone screen and I stared at them for a long time, not knowing who else to call.

Suddenly, a familiar and calm voice sounded from behind me, “Betty?”

I turned around and it turned out to be Rudolf Snow, the son of our neighbor Snow Family.

He was as gentle and restrained as ever and must have just come out of the shopping mall nearby.

“I was hit by a flower pot from upstairs and my shoulder cannot move.” My voice was so trembling that it was almost inaudible.

Rudolf's expression suddenly changed and he hurriedly took me to the hospital.

When I arrived at the hospital, I was diagnosed with a minor fracture in my right shoulder and needed surgery.

Rudolf did everything for me and stayed with me until I entered the operating room.

Until the end of my surgery and I was admitted to the VIP ward to recuperate, Maxine never called me again.

I lay on the bed and asked Rudolf softly, “Rudolf, I remember your mother is a divorce lawyer. Can you please talk to your mother and help me get a divorce agreement?”

Rudolf looked at me and his cold eyes flashed with an emotion I could not understand. After a while, he nodded in agreement.

On the third day, when I was about to be discharged from the hospital, Maxine finally called.

“Mrs. Jones, please come to the hotel to pick up Mr. Ryan. He has been drugged.”

As soon as the words were spoken, the other party hung up the phone immediately.

Maxine was the only heir of the Ryan Family, so naturally he had become the target of countless people's covetousness.

Even though he was married, there were still people who wanted to get women around him.

If soft tactics did not work, they would use force and drug him in the end.

Every time there was a farce like this, I was the one who ended up getting hurt.

When I arrived at the hotel, Maxine's friends all looked me up and down with a smile.

The caller shoved the room card into my hand and winked at me, teasing, “Mrs. Jones, take it easy and don’t upset Mr. Ryan.”

They all had an idea of what was going to happen next.

The way he looked at me was as if I had already taken off all my clothes.

There was a time when I actually thought that this was a recognized ‘lady status.’

At that time, I realized what was the difference between me and a prostitute who was available at any time?

But I could not not go.

I went to the room, opened the door and froze in place.

Valerie was pressed against the wall by Maxine, their lips and tongues entangled.

He held her face in his hands, gentle but eager.

Seeing me come in, Valerie seemed to suddenly wake up and pushed him away violently, with a look of humiliation and grievance on her face and red eyes.

“Mr. Ryan,” she said in a choked voice, as if a long-suppressed grievance suddenly burst out. “It's true that I like you, but you cannot humiliate me!”

“You knew your wife was here, but you still asked me to come to the hotel? Who do you think I am? Do you think I'm the kind of woman who can be played with at will?”

She bit her lip, tears welling up in her eyes.

“I was just worried that you might have been drugged, so I came to save you... but you actually treated me this way?! What am I to you?”

As she finished speaking, she rushed out.

Maxine wanted to chase her, but I stopped him without thinking.

Because if he went out like this, the headlines about his cheating would be on the front page the next day.

His eyes darkened, irritated by me stopping him.

He turned around and ripped off my clothes and pressed me on the bed, his eyes full of anger and sarcasm.

“Don’t you just want me to touch you? Betty, are you so horny? You come up to me even though I did not ask you to?

“You're just waiting for me to sleep with you, right?!”

The wound on my shoulder was so painful from his pressing and after hearing such harsh words, I finally could not help it and pushed him away hard for the first time.

“Maxine, I am your legally married wife!”

The suppressed grievances could no longer hold back and burst out in a clamor.

Maxine staggered back after being pushed by me and after he stood firm, he stared at me for a few seconds.

In the end, he did not choose to comfort me, but rushed after Valerie with a low curse, “Calm down and go home, just wait for me.”

I sat on the edge of the bed, my clothes in disarray and my whole body ached as if it was torn apart.

I could not go out like this.

But who could I call?

I picked up the mobile phone that was scattered on the bedside table and with trembling fingertips, I dialed a number.

“Hello, Rudolf?”

“Yes, I'm here.” His tone was normal, but there was a hint of fatigue in his voice.

“Can you pick me up at the hotel? Also, please bring me a coat.”

“Ten minutes.”

I hung up the phone, barely put my torn coat over my shoulders and sat there motionless.

Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

Rudolf did not say much, he just put a clean coat on my shoulders, then helped me up and took me away through the emergency passage next to me.

He protected me as if he were protecting something extremely fragile.

After getting in the car, he took out a printed document from the document bag. “The divorce agreement has been drafted. Take a look.”

“Thank you very much.”

I looked up at him. His profile was cold and calm in the moonlight, with drooping eyelashes, as if he did not want to pry into my emotions. 

But he suddenly spoke, “Betty, if you are divorced, would you consider giving it a try with me?”