###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.

###Chapter 6

Victor turned his head, his eyes as cold as a poisoned knife.

“You actually let those beasts kidnap Brielle while I wasn’t looking, almost ruining her reputation and nearly causing her to miscarry.”

“I didn’t…” The bodyguard beside me interrupted my explanation. “Those people have confessed that the person who ordered them was Miss Bella.”

Victor walked up, roughly grabbed my hair and dragged me in front of Brielle.

“Apologize to Brielle!”

I didn’t try to struggle anymore, just stared numbly at Victor. “If I say I didn’t do it, will you believe me?”

“How can you expect me to believe you?!”

He kicked my knee, and with a cracking sound, I uncontrollably knelt down at Brielle’s feet in excruciating pain.

"Kneel and apologize to Brielle!"

I gritted my teeth. "Don't even think about making me apologize to your mistress!"

Brielle's wound had stopped bleeding. She struggled even more pitifully in Victor's arms. "Victor, I know it's all my fault. I shouldn't have fallen in love with you! Those dozen men brought by my sister today treated me so bad. Yeah, it’s all my own fault. I'll give you back to her, okay?"

Victor's expression became even more terrifying.

He grabbed my hair and slammed my head against the cold ground!

Bang!

One slam.

Bang!

Then another.

Until the ground was stained with my blood.

Fine, Victor, you gave me a life and now I repay you. From now on, we owe each other nothing.

Tears of blood streamed down, dripping into the dust.

I saw Brielle give me a triumphant smile.

"So, now you know that you were wrong?" Victor asked in my ear.

Now I understood something. When the heart is broken to the extreme, and when the pain reaches its end, it truly can't hurt anymore.

"Yeah, I was wrong."

I looked at the face I had once loved with all my heart, then I laughed.

I was wrong, Victor. Only wrong in my deep affection for you.

"Is that enough, Victor?" My voice was as soft as a wisp of smoke about to dissipate. "If it's not enough, then I'll give my life for your beloved darling."

Hearing my words, a flicker of panic crossed Victor's eyes. He suddenly pulled me into his arms, his fingers trembling as he wiped the blood from my face.

"Bella, I know you made a mistake because you were overly jealous. As long as you promise me you'll never hurt Brielle again, we can go back to how things were before, okay?"

No, Victor. It was too late.

I couldn't stop laughing, tears of blood streaming down my face again. "Let me go, Victor."

Victor held me even tighter.

"Don't talk nonsense. We're destined to be together in this life. No one can separate us."

Years ago, he swore the same thing at my mother's bedside.

"Auntie, even death cannot separate me and Bella. If I ever betray her, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death."

I thought his vow was as weighty as a mountain, but it felt as light as a feather.

He's long forgotten. And I should have forgotten too.

I slowly closed my heavy eyelids.

Bastian, why haven't you come yet to take me away from this hell?

###Chapter 7

The last thing I heard was Victor's panicked shouts.

When I woke up, I was lying in an empty hospital room. I got out of bed and limped out of the hospital.

Back home, I learned from the maid that Uncle Sam had been sent back to his hometown by Victor.

That meant now I did not have someone to rely on.

Not wanting to leave any trace of myself in this place, I took out my treasured photos, my diary filled with my thoughts, the gifts he gave me… and threw them all into the fire.

The flames devoured twenty years of memories and also devoured my most ardent love.

Behind me, Brielle's curious voice suddenly came. "What are you burning?"

I ignored her and threw the last diary into the fire.

The flames reflected on Brielle's exquisite makeup, but her expression was exceptionally cold.

"What are you still being so arrogant about? You've seen it yourself, Victor hasn't loved you for a long time. For me, he'd make you wish you were dead, but it's still not enough, dear sister!"

Before she finished speaking, she kicked over the brazier.

I was startled. Burning paper and sparks flew everywhere and the sofa curtain next to me burst into flames.

"Are you crazy, Brielle?!" I tried to put out the flames, but she tripped me and I almost fell into the fire.

The fire spread rapidly and thick smoke filled the entire room.

Downstairs, the maid's terrified screams came.

"Call 119 quickly! Fire!"

My leg, injured by Victor's kick, throbbed with pain. I tried to escape, but Brielle kicked me down, blocking the doorway.

I struggled, "What are you doing? We'll be burned to death!"

She stomped hard on my wrist, her smile growing increasingly sinister. "Only you will die, my dear sister. After today, I'll be the Whitmore Family's only daughter, the Wellington Family's future daughter in-law!"

A series of hurried footsteps approached. Brielle instantly released her foot and fell to the ground.

The next second, the door was violently flung open.

"Bella!"

Victor rushed in, oblivious to the raging flames, his face filled with unprecedented panic.

But when he saw Brielle there, he stopped abruptly.

"Brielle, what are you doing here?!"

"Save me, Victor!"

"Victor, save me..."

Brielle and I simultaneously reached out to the man, our eyes filled with a desperate will to survive.

Brielle pointed at me, crying, "My sister's gone mad! She said it's all my fault, she wants to die with me and she set the room on fire!"

"I didn't..." I tried to deny it, but the thick smoke choked me, preventing me from speaking a complete sentence.

Victor's eyes instantly turned cold and sharp. His hesitant hand reached for Brielle, scooping her up in his arms.

"The firefighters will be here soon. You just wait."

My heart tightened. He carried Brielle and rushed out of the inferno without looking back.

I stood frozen, the last vestige of warmth in my chest extinguished.

In the end, he didn't choose me.

Watching the rapidly closing flames, a surge of resentment welled up inside me. I didn't want to die. I didn't want Brielle to succeed!

Just then, a deafening roar came from outside the window.

"Bella!"

I desperately rushed to the window. There, clinging to the ladder, was a man in a black trench coat.

It was Bastian!

He had arrived ahead of time!

"Jump over. Trust me, I'll catch you."

The flames surged towards me. Without hesitation, I climbed onto the windowsill and leaped. I fell into a warm, firm embrace.

Bastian smiled at me amidst the raging flames. "Bella, I've come to take you away."

"Thanks." I clung tightly to him as the helicopter carried us higher and higher, farther and farther away.

In the distance, a black sedan stopped. A man jumped out, gazing futilely at the raging fire, a sudden emptiness in his heart.

I calmly withdrew my gaze and whispered, "Just consider myself dead in this fire. From now on, Bella Whitmore will never exist again."

"Okay." Bastian held me tighter.

Victor, I will make you remember that day, the oath you swore at my mother's bedside.