“Milena, please listen to me. It’s not what it looks like. I don’t even know how this happened…”

Milena glared at me with sharp, cold eyes as she cut him off. “Don’t panic. I’m not mad at you this time. It was because of that filthy woman who drugged you!”

“She’s disgusting. She wanted you so badly that she had to trick you into sleeping with her.”

Ah, so she was the one who drugged Javier.

He frowned at me, his voice full of anger. “Saina, how could you do this? Really, what’s wrong with you?”

He actually believed that my resistance moments ago was just an act to make the situation look more real.

“I didn’t—”

I tried to explain, but before I could finish, Milena rushed toward me, screaming, “You bitch! Can’t you live without a man?”

“You’re a disgrace to women! I’ve been more than patient with you, but you never listen. I warned you, didn’t I? Don’t you dare touch my man!”

Javier held her back, trying to calm her down.

“Milena, please, let me handle this. Don’t get angry. If you hit her, you’ll only hurt yourself. Trust me, I’ll take care of it, okay?”

The humiliation burned through me like fire. I couldn’t take it anymore.

I stepped forward and slapped Milena hard across the face.

“Miss Sanders, have some self-respect. No matter how much he loves you, you’re still the other woman here. You don’t get to come into my house and act like you own it!”

Milena screamed, gritting her teeth, but Javier held her back, so she couldn’t strike me.

Her face twisted with rage. “Let’s break up, Javier. You let that bitch hit me!”

Panic flashed in his eyes. He was terrified of losing her. Then, he turned around and slapped me so hard I fell to the floor. “Saina, you’ve gone too far!”

“You need to think about your behavior. I told you, this marriage is just an arrangement. I’m still keeping your title as Mrs. Gayle, so you should be grateful and stay in your place!”

I laughed bitterly. “Mrs. Gayle? You’re humiliating me.”

Milena’s voice cut through sharply: “Hit her again. Twice. Or I’ll do it myself!”

Javier Gayle, who never followed orders from anyone, obeyed her in an instant. His eyes showed hesitation for a moment, but then he slapped me twice more.

Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth and my head spun.

Then he spoke to his men, “Fill this room with adult toys—right now!”

His men moved fast. They carried boxes into the room and began throwing toys at me. Each hit left red marks on my skin.

They came at me like heavy rain that I couldn’t even move to dodge.

Javier’s cold voice echoed above me. “This should be enough for you to use for a lifetime. Stop using dirty tricks to make me sleep with you. Remember, we’re only married by name.”

His phone suddenly rang and he walked out to answer it.

Meanwhile, I lay on the floor, surrounded by piles of humiliating adult toys, too weak to move.

When my vision started to blur, I heard Milena’s smug voice. “Let me tell you something, Saina. It was me who drugged him. You’re just an adopted daughter, you’ll never beat me!”

She laughed as she took photos of the room filled with the toys, glancing around with pride.

I couldn’t open my eyes. I couldn’t even lift my hands. My whole body felt heavy, trapped in darkness.

Outside the room, I could hear the sound of Javier and Milena in the next room. He spoke softly to her, treating her like she was the most precious person in the world.

In their intimate embrace, I could hear his gentle voice calling her “my wife” over and over again.

The betrayal of reality clashed with the sudden surge of memories. Countless dark nights had passed since the last time he had treated me that way.

Pain kept stabbing through my chest, again and again. It hurt so much it felt like I was trapped in an endless hell.

When I opened my eyes, I was in the hospital, with a cold IV needle in my hand. My mother-in-law sat by my bed, tears streaming down her face.

“My poor child, I’m so sorry. You’ve suffered too much. Don’t worry, I’ll stand up for you. I’ll deal with that woman myself.”

For three years, I had taken care of her, staying by her side until she recovered. During those years, we had grown as close as real mother and daughter.

My nose stung and tears threatened to fall, but I forced a calm smile as I told her, “Since he has found his true love, I’ll just let him go.”

She grew anxious but quickly tried to comfort me. “You silly girl. Even if my son broke your heart, you still need to chase after his money and status.”

“I’ll take care of that shameless woman myself. Let’s see if she can still act so arrogant after I’m done with her!”

Before I could say anything, she stormed out in anger.

That afternoon, she sent me a video. In it, she had slapped Milena Sanders hard until her cheeks were swollen, warning her to stay away from Javier.

Just as I finished watching it, Javier burst into my hospital room with Milena right behind him, ready to confront me. Milena’s eyes were red, but her tone was cold as she challenged him.

“I’ll see how you handle this. You promised to stand up for me. Prove it.”

Javier turned furious. He grabbed me by the neck and shouted, “You think you can use my mom to control me? Saina, are you trying to mess with our marriage certificate now?”

I was too weak to fight back. I could only stare at him through my tears, wondering how this man had turned into this stranger I no longer knew.

Even if I told him I had nothing to do with what happened, he would never believe me.

Grinding his teeth, he ordered, “Slap yourself. Keep doing it until Milena is satisfied. That’ll be your apology.”

I used the last of my strength to slap him instead. “You love her, don’t you? Then she can have your precious ‘Mrs. Gayle’ title!”

For a moment, Javier froze, shocked by my words. Then his anger exploded.

He threatened, “If you don’t slap yourself. I’ll destroy your reputation completely!”

He pulled out his phone. On the screen was the picture of me surrounded by adult toys in that humiliating scene.

For any woman, that kind of shame was unbearable.

To defend his mistress, he didn’t just destroy my dignity. He also ruined his own.

Milena looked at him and said coldly, “I already posted it online. If you can’t bear to leave her, then don’t bother coming to me again.”

She then stormed off, leaving in fake anger. And just as she expected, Javier quickly ran out after her.

Within half an hour, people were whispering outside my hospital room.

“She’s that woman? Wow, who would’ve thought? She must have a crazy sex drive, buying all that stuff.”

“Tsk, tsk. Guess Javier couldn’t satisfy her. What a shameless woman.”

“She’s probably in the hospital because she overdid it. I bet she couldn’t even control herself anymore. What a disgrace to the Gayle Family.”

Online, it was even worse. People insulted me and urged Javier to divorce me.

An hour later, he came back, holding divorce papers. There was no anger in his face this time. He even leaned close to my forehead, his voice soft and gentle. “I'm sorry. I lost my temper earlier.”

“Milena just has a bad temper and likes to take control in our relationship. You’re more understanding than she is, so please just let her win this time. You both mean the same to me.”

“She’s hard to calm down. Let’s just get a divorce for now, okay? Once she feels better, we’ll get married again. Please?”

His eyes turned red as he pleaded, perhaps afraid I wouldn’t say yes.

“Fine.”

But Javier, I will never be your wife ever again.

And he would never know that was exactly what I wanted.

“You’re finally being sensible. Don’t worry, I’ll remarry you.”

He looked satisfied and kissed my forehead deeply.

The next day, I left the hospital earlier than planned. Yet, I didn’t expect Milena to block my way in the underground parking lot.

She came at me with the attitude of a proud wife and almost slapped me. “You cheap woman! You’re already divorced, yet you still dare to let my man pick you up?”

Before her hand could reach my face, I slapped her first. “Milena Sanders, open your eyes and see clearly. It was Javier who came to pick me up and I refused him.”

“You only refused once. You’re clearly playing hard to get!”

She seemed so furious that she tried to slap me again, but just then, a black dog suddenly ran toward us and knocked her down, though she didn’t get any real injuries.

Right at that moment, Javier arrived. He glared at me furiously, as if I had sent the dog to attack his beloved.

Milena cried and threw herself into his arms. “Javier, you don’t really love me at all.”

“I do. I do love you. I love you so much,” he said earnestly.

“If you loved me, you wouldn’t let Saina hurt me again and again. If you loved me, you’d have the dogs bite her, so she feels my pain!”

“Okay, okay, please don’t cry. It hurts me when you cry. Let me take you to the hospital first, alright?”

When she finally agreed, he immediately called his men.

“Send my—” He almost said “my wife,” but quickly stopped, afraid to upset Milena.

Then he changed his words. “Send Miss Lorraine to the stray dog shelter.”

Milena demanded, “Put a hundred dogs in a cage with her!”

Javier repeated coldly, “Put a hundred dogs in a cage with her.”

After giving the order, he looked at me with hard eyes. “You’ve been disobedient. This will be your punishment.”

Then he tied me to the back seat of the car, waiting for his men to come and take me away.

He drove off, holding Milena in his arms, leaving me behind.

I tried to free myself, but before I could, my real parents, who had just returned from abroad, found me.

“My poor child, just come home with us. We’ll deal with the Gayle Family.”

I burst into tears and nodded, climbing into their car.

Half an hour later, Javier secretly called his men while carrying Milena. “Bring her back to the old house and make some calming soup. She must be terrified.”

His men went pale. Sweat broke out on their faces. “Sir, we… we threw her in there for ten minutes and the dogs… they tore her apart. Only bones are left…”

Javier felt like lightning had struck him. He fell back against the wall, his heart aching so badly it was hard to breathe. Tears streamed down his face.

“I only told you to scare her. Who told you to really throw her in there?”