After hanging up,Nicole stared at the two of them through the bathroom window,her expression frighteningly cold.

Britney,you want to marry John,but I won’t let you.Soon,I’ll make you pay!

She kept the evidence and mailed it to John’s rivals:[When they get married,it’ll be the perfect day to expose them.]

For several days,whenever John went to work,she was forced to become the target of Britney’s humiliation.In John’s absence,her true nature was exposed,her sharp nails digging into her chin.

Nicole had long since grown numb;nothing she said could stir her emotions.One time,John accidentally saw the scars on her arm.He grabbed her hand,his expression turning cold and terrifying.

“Who did this?”His eyes were filled with tension and anger.Nicole curled her lips.“It has nothing to do with you!”

John was stunned for a moment,then angrily demanded,“Who is it?Whoever dares to touch you,I’ll kill them.”

“What if that person is Britney?Will you kill her?”Nicole’s tone was almost mocking and the anger on John’s face immediately faded.He looked at her with disgust.

“Britney is innocent and kind.She wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“So,you think I would?”She stared at him with sarcasm.John frowned,his expression still stern and he said word by word,“Nicole,Britney is not like you.I won’t let her come to any harm.”

Britney also knew about it and attributed the scars on her body to Nicole’s depression and self-harm.“John,I’m a doctor.I’m doing psychological counseling for her every day.Don’t be sad.”

What she meant by psychological counseling was actually daily torture and beatings.John easily believed it.

Nicole didn’t explain,knowing he wouldn’t believe anything she said.She was simply waiting for the right moment,waiting to maximize their disgrace.

One day,Britney stroked her sharp nails and said with a smile,“You’ve been out for so long,haven’t you contacted your parents?”

Nicole had a strange feeling of foreboding when she mentioned it,but she kept silent.She didn’t contact them because she feared Britney would find fault with her and even more so,she feared they would see her in this state.

She was about to clear her name before meeting them,but then she heard Britney say with a smile,“You don’t know yet?On the seventh day after you entered the mental hospital,your parents jumped to their deaths.”

Nicole’s breath hitched and she suddenly looked up,her eyes blazing.“You’re talking nonsense!”

How could her parents be dead?She was talking nonsense,irritating her like before.It had to be this way!

Nicole tried to remain calm,but Britney threw the news report at her.“If you don’t believe me,read it for yourself.”

Nicole trembled as she opened the report.When her eyes fell on the clearest words,her head buzzed and her vision went blank.

Pleased with her reaction,Britney spoke with almost pity.“When they learned you’d killed your child,they were cyberbullied and jumped off the building.By the way,this place was found by John.”

She continued,“I didn’t really take it seriously,but John was mad at me for being cyberbullied,so he exposed the incident and had people cyberbully your parents.I didn’t expect them to be so fragile and jump off the building out of frustration.”

She wore an expression of regret and gloating.Nicole’s pupils flushed red,anger and hatred welling up in her.She frantically grabbed her neck.“Britney,die!Die!I want you to pay with your life!I want you to die!”

With a snap,Nicole’s face pierced with intense pain.She regained consciousness from her daze and saw John standing in front of Britney,protectively,looking at her with a look of deep disappointment.

“What are you doing?!Believe it or not,I’ll send you back to the mental hospital!”The words that had frightened her before couldn’t stop Nicole for a second now.

She walked towards John,a tear of blood falling from her red eyes.“John,you were the one who arranged for someone to cyberbully my parents and killed them,weren’t you?”

John froze at that word.He turned to look at Britney with an unsettling expression.“How did she know?”

Britney huddled behind her in fear."It was her.She somehow saw the news.”

John remained silent.Britney sobbed,“She just wanted to kill me,John.I’m so scared.”

She clung to John’s waist tightly,her face filled with fear,but John didn’t look at her.

Nicole repeated her words.John took a deep breath and said,“I know you’re sad,but calm down.”

He looked a little guilty.“You caused Britney to be cyberbullied.I just wanted to get back at you.I didn’t expect your parents to be so upset.”

With a bang,the vase shattered at their feet,startling them both.Nicole's eyes were bloodshot and she screamed hysterically,“Why?Isn’t it enough that I’m already in a mental hospital?Why are you harassing my parents?Why are you protecting the woman who killed our child?Why have you never believed me?”Her questions were heartbreaking and she was trembling with anger.

John was horrified and a sharp pain stabbed to his heart.For the first time,he panicked and tore Britney’s tight embrace away.A flash of pain flashed in his eyes as he walked towards her.

“Nicole,listen to me.What happened to your parents was an accident.”The moment he approached,Nicole raised her hand and slapped him hard.John,reckless,held her tightly in his arms.

Feeling her trembling body in his arms,he comforted her over and over again.“Don’t be sad.This is my fault,Nicole.Please don’t be sad,okay?You can hit me,you can scold me.I’ll let you.You lost your parents,but you still have me.I’ll always be by your side.”

Nicole struggled,unable to break free from his grasp.In the distance,Britney gave her a smug smile.In anger and fear,she suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.Her vision darkened and she fainted.

When she regained consciousness,she saw John’s stubbled face,looking extremely disheveled.Seeing her awake,his eyes filled with joy.“Nicole,you’re finally awake.”

Nicole’s eyes were hollow and she remained silent.He continued,“I’ve already arranged for your parents’bodies to be properly buried.When you’re better,I’ll take you to see them,okay?”

She remained silent.John held her hand,which trembled slightly.“Nicole,do you know how scared I was when I saw you vomiting blood?Please don’t be angry,okay?I’m just mad at you for refusing to admit your mistakes.Nicole,I promise you,I won’t marry Britney.This child is just an accident.Britney named her Nicole because she misses you.She promised me the child will recognize you as her mother.She’s your child,too.”

Hearing the word child,Nicole’s lips curled,her eyes numb.“Child?She killed my child a long time ago!”

In the mental hospital,she was forced to bear seven children.At first,she endured inhumane torture.Later,Britney wasn’t satisfied with physical abuse.

She found countless sick men and impregnated her countless times,forcing her to watch their children die at her hands over and over again.

The first child,born in a mental hospital,was brutally murdered by Britney herself.As she did so,Nicole knelt at her feet,begging repeatedly.

But it was no use;the child died anyway.She gave her second child to a man who loved little girls.

The third,suddenly seized by Britney with a craving for human flesh,became her delicacy.She said human flesh was sour and unpalatable,so she fed it to the dogs.

Britney claimed that John loved her cleanliness and gentleness,so she defiled her and drove her into a hysterical madness.

Nicole hated her.If John had believed in her even a little,she wouldn’t have ended up like this.He and Britney were both the murderers who had killed her and her parents.How could he have the nerve to appear before her now?

Nicole stared at him with numb eyes,saying word by word,“John,I regret it.Perhaps I shouldn’t have saved you back then.Your mother was right.We shouldn’t have been together.”

John was struck by lightning,his pupils trembling.He gripped her wrist tightly,“What are you talking about?!”The force was so strong that her wrist turned purple,but Nicole showed no reaction.

For several days,John encountered obstacles at every turn.Britney repeatedly provoked her under various pretexts.

But Nicole seemed to have lost her soul,remaining completely unresponsive.John’s pride cooled after this setback,unwilling to continue his efforts.

As a result,Nicole refused to eat or drink,fell into a coma and could only survive with a nutrient solution.

John panicked,threatening her word by word,“If you die,I’ll dig up your parents’graves and our children’s too.Nicole,you know I can do it.If you die,they won’t be able to rest in peace.”

Because of these words,Nicole was filled with hatred,yet she had no choice but to live.

John was completely terrified,even kneeling on one knee to put the ring on her finger.“Nicole,your birthday is in a few days.How about we go to Olkmore?Or maybe you want to see the ocean?I’ll take you.”

Nicole sneered,“What about Britney?”

John was silent for a few seconds,then spoke with some difficulty.“Britney is worried about you too.I won’t let her go that day.”

Nicole looked at him with a pale face.She pulled up her sleeves,revealing countless needle pricks and cigarette butts on her arms.

She was covered in scars,but she looked at him with a last glimmer of hope.“John,do you believe me?”

John held her hand and said,“I do.”

“If I say Britney isn’t a good person and that all the injuries on my body are her fault…”

Before she could finish her words,John’s face darkened.“Nicole,you know I don’t want to hear that.Why can’t you admit your mistakes?Britney said these were signs of depression and self-harm.Why do you keep picking on her,repeatedly trying to frame her?”

John left.Nicole covered her lips,staring at him with a somber gaze,her throat clenched with coughing.

John,you’ll regret this.

The phone rang and Nicole answered.Andrea’s voice came from the other end.“In three days,I’ll have someone arrange a new identity for you and send you away.”