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?”

I looked up unexpectedly and looked at the person in front of me.

Rudolf avoided my sight, so I could see his red ears clearly.

I remembered that he seemed to be the marriage partner that the Ryan Family had originally chosen for me before I got married to Maxine.

Maybe if Maxine and I divorced, I would continue to be a tool of the Ryan Family and be sent for marriage.

I laughed at myself and said, “If I had the final say, I'd promise you.”

Rudolf had not left until I got home and went upstairs.

He leaned against the car and watched me go upstairs.

I remember when I was in high school, he was the best student in the class and did the same thing, wearing his school uniform, leaning on his bicycle, watching me go home.

Nowadays, everyone had changed, it seemed that only Rudolf had not changed at all.

I looked away, not daring to look again.

When I got home, I went into the bathroom to take a shower and change the gauze on my shoulder.

I did not know when Maxine came back. He pushed open the bathroom door, hugged me without saying a word and kissed the back of my neck.

I was trembling all over and feeling sick, so I immediately pushed him away.

He did not look very well.

“Betty, what are you doing? Are you playing hard to get? Are you feeling aloof now? 

“Are you stimulated? Was not it you who took the initiative to climb into my bed and seduce me?”

Maxine rarely had such a cold face. I guess he did not coax Valerie well, so he took his anger out on me.

I turned pale and said weakly, “I feel unwell.”

“Are you hurt? Why didn't you tell me when you got hit?!”

He then saw the horrible wound on my shoulder and subconsciously wanted to touch me, but I His expression was stiff, obviously he did not expect me to do this.

This was the third time and I had never resisted his touch like this.

Maxine took a deep breath and said like coaxing a kitten or puppy, “Betty, you are Mrs. Jones now. You are no longer the girl who can do whatever you want.

“You know, I marry you because I am responsible for you, but you cannot force me to love you, right?

“Love is something you cannot force. Don’t try to use such childish tricks to make me feel sorry for you. I will only think that you are too thoughtful and annoying.”

He sighed before adding, “Don’t be greedy…."

So, I cut off, “I understand, I will never be greedy.”

I interrupted Maxine because I felt tired with everything. So, from that moment on, I would no longer be greedy for any of Maxine's feelings.

Maxine watched me walk into the guest bedroom. He felt depressed, but somehow, he could not say anything to comfort me.

He turned on the tap, thinking I was just not feeling well.

The matter of Valerie could not be suppressed after all and the Ryan Family still lost face.

The next morning, Mariah Jones, Maxine’s mother, appeared at my door with an unfriendly look on her face.

She was well-dressed, but her eyes were stern and her tone was as calm as the silence before a storm, “Change your clothes and come with me.”

She was going to give Valerie a lesson.

The Ryan Family would not allow any scandal involving mistresses to be spread.

The car drove into the Ryan Group and went straight to the VIP reception room on the top floor.

As soon as I entered, I saw Valerie wearing an elegant white dress.

She held a gift box in her hand. When she saw Mariah, she smiled sweetly and handed it to her, “Madam, this is the aromatherapy I brought back from my business trip yesterday. I heard that you have severe insomnia. This is very popular in the French sanatorium.”

Mariah's face was instantly wiped away. She took the gift box and said, “You are quite thoughtful.”

“I am very grateful that you are willing to let me explain it to you.” Valerie lowered his eyebrows and looked gentle and obedient.

“Madam, I really don’t want to take anyone's position. Mr. Ryan is so outstanding that anyone would be tempted to join him, but I know I should not have this thought, so I'm ready to transfer to another position.”

Mariah looked at her for a few seconds and smiled with some appreciation, “You are quite sensible.”