When he turned to face me, his tone softened just a little.

"I'm not saying it like that. It's just... Isabelle has no one else, and I worry about her."

"Her child is illegitimate. It won’t threaten your place. Why must you keep targeting her?"

"As long as you agree to give me four days a week with Isabelle, the wedding can go on as planned."

That once-handsome face now made my stomach turn.

I closed my eyes and turned my head to the side.

"Don’t bother. I won’t marry you. Give all your days to her. Congratulations, you’re free."

"You talk so self-righteous. If you’ve got guts, stop using money to control people! Hypocrite!"

He threw those words over his shoulder and stormed out without a single glance back.

Tears slipped down silently, soaking the pillow beneath me.

Eight years of one-sided love ended just like that, dead and buried in a single night.

I didn’t sleep a wink. By morning, a fever burned through me, climbing to 39°C.

When the maid brought breakfast and pressed her hand to my forehead, a scream of fright escaped her lips.

My father hurried me to the hospital for an IV drip.

Two hours later, the fever finally broke.

While I was paying the bill alone, I unexpectedly ran into Ashton, who had come with Isabelle for a prenatal checkup.

Isabelle leaned weakly against him, her hands gently resting on her barely visible belly.

With a soft smile, she murmured, “The baby was so good today, didn’t make a fuss. Do you think he heard what you said yesterday?”

Ashton’s face softened with a tenderness I had never seen before. He gently flicked the tip of her nose.

“Silly girl, the baby hasn’t even properly formed yet. How could he possibly hear anything?”

“I don’t care, I don’t care! He definitely heard! You’re not allowed to say a single bad thing about the baby. My baby is definitely the smartest in the world.”

Ashton instantly lost his temper but then nodded obediently.

“Yes, yes, yes. Isabelle is always right. The baby takes after you, smart and beautiful.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of me.

Isabelle deliberately stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

I quickly ducked behind the corner, my heart aching so fiercely it was hard to breathe.

Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to let go of what I felt for him. But despite my efforts, my eyes reddened without warning.

When I went to pay the bill, Isabelle approached me alone, flashing the dazzling engagement ring on her finger.

“Miss Castellano, hello. I assume you already know who I am after yesterday.”

“From now on, we’re both women serving Ashton. Please take care of me.”

The bitterness I had barely held back exploded into a fierce storm inside me. My face hardened, cold and sharp.

“You’re dirty. Don’t think everyone else is as low as you.”

“Serving a man? How dare you say something so vile? Ashton might be a treasure to you, but to me, he’s not even human.”

After paying the bill, I turned to leave.

Suddenly, Isabelle grabbed my wrist and yanked me down toward the floor.

After a brief struggle, she let out a sharp, desperate scream, choking on her sobs.

“I’m sorry, Miss Castellano, it’s all my fault. I should never have fought you for Ashton. Please, please don’t harm my baby. The child is innocent!”

“I knew Ashton first. I’m willing to give him up to you. I want nothing but for the baby to be born safely. Isn’t that enough?”

Her sobs quickly drew the eyes of everyone nearby.

Other patients and their families began whispering, then pointing fingers at me.

“Snatching another woman’s man and now playing the victim? Mistresses these days have no shame at all!”

“I despise homewreckers more than anything. Filthy trash!”

“Money doesn’t make you better than anyone! Bullying a pregnant woman, what kind of heartless person are you? Apologize right now!”

The flood of accusations crashed over me, drowning out any chance to speak.

Before I could even open my mouth, Ashton rushed over without a moment’s hesitation.

Holding Isabelle in his arms, Ashton turned and shot me a vicious glare.

"Kate, are you following me?"

I looked up at him, disbelief thick in my voice.

"I already told you, Isabelle won’t threaten your position. Why can’t you just leave her alone?"

“Following you?”

“Ashton, have you lost your mind?”

“This is a hospital! I—”

Before I could finish, he cut me off sharply. “Enough! Kate, do you know what I hate most about you?”

“I hate how you think money makes you superior. Are all the people here blind?”

His lips curled into a cold sneer, disdain written all over his face.

“Money can buy an engagement, but it can never buy real love.”

“Kate, people like you will never know true love in this lifetime!”

Watching Ashton stand up for Isabelle, the crowd around us began to murmur in approval.

He straightened his back and spoke coldly, “Hand over that riverside villa. The air there is good. Let Isabelle stay there during her pregnancy. That will settle everything.”

Rage clouded my thoughts. My eyes flared red in an instant.

“Are you serious? That villa is my mother’s inheritance! And you want your mistress living there? On what grounds?”

Isabelle sobbed so hard her voice broke, soft and pitiful, “Ashton, actually, Kate… she isn’t—”

“You don’t need to defend her. I know exactly what kind of person she is!”

“If she hadn’t interfered, we’d have been married long ago!”

He shot me a sharp glare, his eyes full of scorn.

“You think spending a hundred million buys you the right to marry me.”

My body swayed uncontrollably. I could barely remain standing.

This was the man I had loved in secret for eight long years.

How blind I must have been back then.

I wanted to tell him I had already called off the engagement and had no intention of bothering Isabelle.

But Ashton gave me no chance to speak. He ordered the bodyguards to drag me into the car.

The Maybach sped toward the riverside.

Inside, Ashton held Isabelle tightly in his arms, his glare burning with fury directed straight at me.

“Where’s the room key? Hand it over.”

“In your dreams!”

Ashton’s face darkened, malice practically dripping from his eyes.

He glanced at the bodyguard, who immediately stepped forward and began searching me.

“If you don’t know what’s good for you, don’t blame me for not giving you a chance.”

My scream nearly shattered the car roof.

Ashton covered Isabelle’s eyes with his hand, never sparing me a glance.

Still weak from illness, I barely had any strength left.

The bodyguard tore my outer clothes to shreds.

Only the sheer dress underneath clung to me, barely covering my body.

All the dignity I had left was trampled into the dirt.

Tears of despair slipped silently from the corners of my eyes.

At last, the bodyguard found a wallet, and the nightmare finally came to an end.

Ashton handed the room key to Isabelle.

He passed the black card to the bodyguard.

“Go to the nearest mall. Buy everything in the maternity store. Nothing under ten thousand dollars. I don’t want anything that could harm Isabelle or the baby.”

After speaking, he wiped his hands on a tissue with clear disgust, as if my wallet were a filthy thing.

The bodyguard was dropped off halfway.

My fever flared again, and I slipped back into unconsciousness.

In my haze, I faintly heard Ashton’s voice, laced with venom.

I was kicked twice.

“Quit faking! Get up!”

“Kate, can’t you hear me? Don’t make me throw you out of the car!”

“You’ll stoop to anything for sympathy, huh? Isabelle’s pregnant and weak, so now you’re pretending too?”

“Perfect. If you’re pregnant, I don’t have to go through with the engagement. Still not moving? Want me to call your family and tell them?”

Ashton’s patience snapped, his expression turning cold as ice.

He grabbed the cup, ready to fling the scalding coffee at me.

Isabelle hurried to stop him, her voice trembling with sorrow.

“Ashton, Kate doesn’t look like she’s faking. Maybe something’s really wrong.”

“We haven’t gone far. Why not take her back to the hospital for a check-up?”

Ashton sneered, clutching Isabelle tighter.

“You’re far too kind. That’s why she keeps trampling all over you.”

“Kate is the kind of person who won’t hesitate to get what she wants. You don’t really know her.”

Isabelle pouted, tears glistening in her eyes.

“I thought you agreed to the engagement because you had feelings for Kate. I only wanted to help you.”

Ashton wiped the tears from the corners of Isabelle’s eyes and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, his voice heavy with pity.

“Feelings? More like disgust.”

“If the Castellano family still held any use for me, do you think I’d ever agree to marry someone like her?”

“When this crisis is over, I’ll divorce her. I can’t bear Kate’s temper another day.”

“Then I’ll give you the most extravagant wedding the world has ever seen. We’ll take the baby, travel to Paris or maybe chase the northern lights. How does that sound?”

Isabelle blushed, curling closer into his arms.

Ashton stroked her long hair tenderly, his gaze softening as it landed on the scar on her wrist.

“Isabelle, thank you. Thank you for standing by me back in school. And thank you… for giving me a child.”

Her expression stiffened, panic flashing in her eyes.

“You still remember…”

Eight years ago, Ashton had been the illegitimate child of the Johnson family, enduring humiliation and contempt.

The darkest moment came when he was kidnapped and beaten unconscious. The legitimate Johnson heir had hired someone to end him.

While he lay in the haze of unconsciousness, a man’s desperate scream pierced the air. “Psycho! You’re completely insane!”

When he finally awoke, only Isabelle was by his side, her wrist still bleeding heavily.

From that moment on, Isabelle became the most precious person in his life.

In a shadowed corner, unnoticed by anyone, my body slipped slowly from the seat.

Beneath my torn clothes, the scar on my wrist stared back, cruel and raw.

Even as the car pulled up to the villa, I remained unconscious; my cheeks flushed with unnatural heat.

Only then did Ashton sense something was terribly wrong.

When my eyes fluttered open again, I found myself lying in a guest room.

From the hallway, I glimpsed Ashton, carefully straightening Isabelle’s clothes.

His touch was so gentle that it felt surreal as if he were handling priceless treasures rather than mere fabric.

I remembered the last time I attended a banquet at the Johnson house with my father for business.

I pouted, asking him to fasten a necklace for me.

His face remained cold as ice, and he replied curtly, “Don’t you have hands? I don’t touch a woman’s things.”

I used to believe that was just how he was.

But today, I finally understood that the cold façade was merely a mask, hiding how deeply he despised me.

When he faced Isabelle, there were no pretenses, no restraint.

Catching my gaze, Ashton looked directly at me.

Our eyes locked, and every trace of tenderness vanished, replaced by freezing disdain.

He strode over with cold steps and said, “You hurt yourself just to frame Isabelle?”

I froze, my heart pounding as his face darkened.

“Stop pretending. If you fall ill under my roof, do you think the Castellano family will let Isabelle go unscathed?”

Suddenly, a bitter laugh escaped me, tears streaming down my cheeks as I laughed harder.

“Fine. I’ll leave.”

I lifted the blanket, trying to rise, but he pushed me back down without mercy.

“Enough. Stay here and recover. If you leave now, they’ll say I mistreated you.”