###Chapter 3

Icy pool water rushed into my nose and mouth. I struggled desperately, trying to call for help.

“Bella, I will never marry a woman as cold as you!”

Victor spoke each word firmly.

If he had turned around, he would have seen the wound on my head reopen, blood gushing out and staining the pool red.

But no matter how much I struggled in the water, my strength waned and I slowly sank into the deep water. The last thing I saw was him carrying Brielle away.

When I opened my eyes again, I met the Uncle Sam’s worried gaze.

“I just went back to make you some soup, how could this have happened, Miss? The doctor said if we had been a minute later, you might not have woken up!”

I huddled on the hospital bed, trembling uncontrollably. The grievances and fear choked my throat, but I swallowed them back down.

After my mother left, Uncle Sam was the only one who truly cared for me. I couldn't bear to worry him anymore.

I forced a smile and gently shook my head. "I'm fine, Uncle. Don't worry."

The infection from my wound, coupled with the shock of nearly drowning, had left me with a fever for several days.

Meanwhile, Victor hadn't called once, only sent some tonics.

The bodyguard conveyed the message expressionlessly. "Mr. Wellington said that as long as you obediently apologize to Miss Brielle, he will forgive you."

Forgive me, he said?

What a joke.

I angrily swept the tonics into the trash can, looked at the faint scar on my forehead in the mirror and gave a bitter smile.

After being discharged from the hospital alone, I took a taxi back to pack my bags, most importantly to retrieve my mother's keepsake—a jade ring I had given to Victor as a token of our love.

But as soon as I stepped onto the stairs, I heard a woman's soft moans coming from the direction of the bedroom.

"Victor...it hurts..."

Then I heard a man’s voice, suppressing his emotions and spoke with utmost gentleness, "Okay, I'll go slower."

"Victor, my biggest wish is to have your baby, so I'll truly have a home... is that okay?"

After a moment of silence, the man's hoarse reply came. "As your wish, Darling."

No need to be genius to know what they're doing!

My stomach churned and I almost vomited.

Back downstairs, I sat there blankly for a long time.

Then Brielle came down. She was wearing Victor's oversized shirt, her legs bare, her eyes languid.

"Ah, you’re back, Bella? Don't misunderstand, my apartment's water's cut off, so I came to borrow the bathroom to take a shower."

Not long after, a tall figure appeared behind her.

Victor, for sure.

Seeing me, his voice was slightly tense. "Bella, when did you get back?"

I suppressed a wave of nausea. "Just now."

He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

I continued, "I want my mother's jade ring back."

His eyes turned cold. "The ring?"

He grabbed my wrist, seeing me with a sharp gaze. "I thought you came back to apologize to Brielle, but you ask for the ring right away? You want back what you gave me?"

“Why? Then what about you? We’ve known each other for twenty years and you’d rather believe her than me?”

“I saw you push Brielle down with my own eyes, how can I believe you?!”

I was utterly disappointed, and with all my might, I shook off Victor’s hand. “Think what you want. Give me back the ring and we’re breaking up. Victor, you’re free now and I won’t be a laughingstock anymore.”

He was stunned, his anger intensifying. “Just because I’ve been neglecting you lately, you’re threatening me with a breakup?”

“I’m not threatening you,” I looked at him calmly, “I’m informing you. My things, give them back.”

Victor clenched his fists, gritting his teeth. “It’s lost!”

“What?!” I stumbled. He knew perfectly well what that ring meant to me!

Beside me, Brielle suddenly interjected. “Huh? You mean this one, Bella?”

She took a leather cord with a jade ring attached from under her oversized shirt.

My eyes lit up and I was about to grab it when I saw Brielle stumble, the ring suddenly slipping from her hand and shattering on the marble floor.

My vision went black. Then…

Slap!

I landed a hard slap on her face.

"Brielle, you did that on purpose, right? How could you be so shameless just like your mother?!"

But Brielle screamed and fell to the ground. Victor threw me onto the sofa and tenderly picked Brielle up.

Turning around, his eyes were filled with endless coldness.

"Lock her in the basement. Don't let her out without my permission!"

###Chapter 4

"It's just a broken ring, Bella."

The cold words made me realize how unfamiliar the person before me was.

The boy who once knelt beside me at my mother's grave.

The man I'd known for 20 years—how could he utter such chilling words?

A metallic taste suddenly rose in my throat; I forced it down. The bodyguard grabbed my arm and threw me into the basement.

Bang!

The door slammed shut, darkness engulfed me and fear instantly spread, like countless monsters closing in on me.

I banged on the locked iron door, but no one outside listened.

Gradually, my consciousness began to blur and many images flashed before my eyes.

When I was little, I was trapped in a broken elevator, shaking with fear. Victor stayed with me, talking until rescue arrived. After that, he always left a light on for me.

At summer camp when I was ten, I fell ill and Victor carried me, feverish, for several blocks to the hospital.

Every birthday, I received a homemade cake from him, ugly yet sweet.

Every anniversary, my favorite Chanel limited-edition clothes, bags and jewelry are always quietly placed on my bedside table…

Everything he had done for me weren't fake. He once poured his heart out to me.

But then, he fell in love with someone else.

The person who protected me with his life became the one who hurt me the most.

“Victor, let me out, please!”

Darkness swallowed everything. His cold face played out again and again and I was in excruciating pain.

Just a door away, Victor held a shard of a ring in his hand and ordered his men.

“No matter the cost, fix it.”

Uncle Sam pleaded, “Please let Miss Bella out. She has claustrophobia!”

Victor knew how terrified I was alone in the dark. But when he saw Brielle sobbing uncontrollably on the sofa, his face turned cold.

“If I don’t teach her a lesson, who knows how she’ll bully Brielle in the future! I’m only doing this for her own good.”

Uncle Sam tried to plead for me, but he had him locked in the bedroom.

I cried until my voice was hoarse, my fingers digging into the door until they bled, finally collapsing to the floor.

In a daze, I saw my mother’s smiling face, her fingers gently stroking my tear-streaked cheek. So warm.

“Mom, I miss you so much…”

I opened my eyes, my vision blurred by tears, to the dim light.

Victor sat on the edge of the bed, letting me clutch his hand tightly. He wiped away the tears from the corner of my eye with his other hand, sighing.

“Why so stubborn? Is it really that hard to say sorry and give in just once?”

I was in so much pain that my breathing was trembling. I threw his hand away, turned over and remained silent.

“What exactly do you want from me? Do you know that there are rumors going around that the eldest daughter of the Whitmore Family is bullying her illegitimate sister? I’m already trying my best to suppress these negative headlines.”

Help me? Or help his mistress?

"You're just afraid people will dig deeper and uncover your secret affair, right?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Victor, do you really think I'm stupid?"

Victor's heart skipped a beat.

He might think did I know about him and Brielle?

No, impossible.

Knowing my stubborn nature, if I knew, I would have already come to make a scene.

Composing himself, he assumed I was just jealous.

"You know Brielle has mental health issues. If I don't keep her calm then she dies, those people outside will blame you again."

"Besides, she donated bone marrow to me. I can't abandon her."

"I promise you, once Brielle recovers, we'll have the most luxurious wedding on an island."

My heart clenched. She donated bone marrow to him?

Then what about the donation surgery agreement I secretly hid and the wound that still aches from time to time?

###Chapter 5

Just as I was about to speak, Brielle's phone rang.

"Victor, I feel nauseous all the time. Could I be… pregnant? Can you come keep me company?"

Victor immediately hung up, hurriedly explaining that his subordinate needed to speak with him.

I gave a cold reply.

He looked at my slender neck, its sickly fragility leaving his mouth dry.

His Adam's apple bobbed. The he said with low and hoarse voice, "Bella, if you don't want me to leave, I'll stay with you."

"No need."

I pulled the blanket over my head.

The air suddenly turned cold. Victor sat for two seconds.

"I've left bodyguards downstairs to take care of you."

Without looking back, he got up and left.

Take care of me? Or control me?!

I hugged my arms, feeling completely cold.

It was a long time before I forced myself to get up and pack my things.

By the time I finished packing, it was already late at night.

The door was suddenly pushed open.

Uncle Sam rushed in, grabbed my suitcase and shoved me out. "Miss, you should leave while the bodyguards change shifts."

"Then let’s go together, Uncle."

In this city, I no longer cherish my father, who didn't even show up when my mother died, or Victor, who constantly betrayed me for others. Uncle Sam was my only remaining attachment.

"No, I'll stay and hold them off!"

But suddenly Victor appeared at the door, his face grim. "What the hell are you doing?"

Seeing the suitcase in my hand, his eyes grew even colder. "Bella, where do you think you're going?"

I replied indifferently, "Wherever I go, that’s not your business, Victor. We have nothing to do with each other anymore."

"You think you can run away after hurting Brielle? Don't even think about it!"

His hand gripped my wrist like an iron clamp. I desperately tried to break free. "Are you crazy? When did I hurt her? Let me go!"

But he exuded a violent aura and wouldn't listen to anything I said. He dragged my wrist painfully into the garage.

"Mr. Wellington, Miss Whitmore didn't do anything!" Uncle Sam rushed forward to stop me, but unfortunately, he was kicked to the ground by the bodyguard. He could only watch helplessly as I was roughly shoved into the car and sped away.

As soon as we entered the hospital, a bodyguard ran over in a panic.

"It's terrible! Miss Brielle cut her wrists! She's bleeding a lot!"

Victor's body stiffened abruptly, and the next second, a vicious slap landed on my face.

"If anything happens to her, I'll make you pay with your life!"

Then, without looking back, he ran towards the ward.

The man who once valued me more than his own life now said he would take my life for another woman…

Tears rolled down my face numbly.

Fine! I'll grant your wish, you two!

I was wheeled into Brielle's hospital room by bodyguards. There, Victor was holding Brielle, whose hands were covered in blood, his voice trembling.

"Save her! If you can't save her, I'll make your hospital pay!"

In a daze, it felt like I was back many years ago, when the boy, severely injured, kept crying out with red eyes, "Doctor, save Bella first!"

But he's grown up, changed and the person he deeply loved was no longer me.

The medical staff anxiously treated Brielle's wounds. She weakly opened her eyes, saw me and her expression was terrified.

"No, don't come any closer! I won't dare to fight you for Victor anymore. Please don't let them hurt me again!"

These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over my head, my blood froze.