6

Ayana’s POV

When I opened my eyes again, I was already tied up inside an abandoned factory.

The masked man from earlier stood with his back to me, speaking into his phone.

From the other end came a voice I knew all too well—Stellan’s.

“President Breitbart, we’ve done exactly as you asked. The woman’s here. Don’t forget to transfer the five million to our account.”

Stellan’s reply was cold and cutting.

“I already wired you the money. Remember this—if she refuses to withdraw the lawsuit or record a clarification video in advance, keep her there for three days. I’m taking Zella on a trip. During that time, you can do whatever you want with Ayana.”

Without hesitation, he hung up after saying that.

In an instant, my vision blurred red with rage.

All for Zella… Stellan was willing to drive me into a corner without mercy, as if determined to destroy me.

I began to struggle, twisting against the ropes, desperate to free my bound hands.

Just then, footsteps sounded at the door.

The next second, Zella herself strolled in—brazen and unhurried.

She glanced at my pitiful state, and then she smiled in delight.

With mock pity, she reached out and brushed my cheek.

“Ayana, my dear best friend, how did you let yourself become such a mess? You must have heard everything just now, haven’t you? The one who ordered your kidnapping… was your husband. Or rather, the man who’s been covering me up all along has always been Stellan.”

She leaned closer, her voice dripping with cruelty. “He’s the one who gave me the power, the confidence to torment you without restraint. If you still refuse to withdraw the lawsuit, I can’t guarantee what will happen to you, your brother… or that comatose mother of yours.”

Her laughter was sharp and unhinged.

“Why are you doing this?” I glared at her, hatred searing through me.

I had truly believed once that she and I were close, that we had shared something real.

At my words, her expression twisted hideously. Suddenly, she struck me hard across the face.

“At the start, I only wanted Stellan to toy with you a little. I never meant for him to take you seriously! But he fell for you! And you—how dare you two get married? How dare you carry his child? Stellan is mine. Mine! Don’t you understand?”

Her eyes burned with poisonous jealousy, as if every fault in her life belonged to me.

She stared at my pained reaction, and suddenly, she burst into another cruel laugh.

“Oh, that’s right. There’s something you still don’t know, isn't there?”

“Do you know why Stellan married you back then?” She bent down, her lips brushing close to my ear. “Because I casually told him not to pester me anymore. And the reason he stayed with you afterwards? Because that wretched mother of yours overheard our conversation.”

She sneered, her tone gleeful and mocking. “She was about to run off and tell you everything, so I slammed down the accelerator and sent her flying! I didn’t expect her to survive, though. Tough woman, your mother.”

I froze, eyes wide, unable to breathe. The truth I had never known… finally revealed.

Zella’s gaze glittered with wicked delight.

“After I hit your mother, Stellan handled all the cleanup. Everything he’s done for you since? It wasn’t for you at all. It was for me. Ayana, look at yourself. Know your place. Withdraw the lawsuit. Record the clarification video. Then leave Stellan. That’s the only chance you’ll ever have to walk away alive.”

She tapped my cheek again and again, as though I were nothing but a toy in her hands.

My eyes burned.

So that was it. From the very beginning, I had been nothing but Zella’s chosen plaything!

My love, my marriage—everything I thought precious—was nothing more than mud under their feet, something to be trampled and defiled!

The fury in me boiled over. With a sudden snarl, I lunged forward and sank my teeth into her finger.

My gaze locked onto hers, feral, my growl echoing like that of a cornered wolf.

Zella shrieked in shock, thrashing as pain coursed through her hand.

“Damn you, Ayana! You filthy animal!”

The next instant, she kicked me away with all her strength.

7

Ayana’s POV

The kidnapper shoved me hard to the floor. The coarse floorboards scraped across my cheek, splitting the skin open in an instant.

Zella glared down at me with hatred burning in her eyes. Her finger—barely clinging on by a thin layer of flesh—was mangled from my bite.

If I’d just sunk my teeth a little deeper, I could have bitten it clean off.

I kept staring at her, my gaze sharp and unyielding.

That look drove her into a frenzy.

Blinded by rage, she lunged at me. Her legs kicked at me again and again, each blow filled with manic fury.

“Die! Die! How dare you bite me?! Go to hell!” she shrieked.

By the time she finally stopped, panting heavily, my body was already battered, and my breath faint.

She let out a cold, triumphant laugh.

“Break one of her legs!” she ordered casually. “I want to see how long you can keep up that tough act, Ayana.”

The kidnappers obeyed without hesitation.

A moment later, white-hot pain shot up my leg as the sound of bone cracking filled the air.

A scream tore itself from my throat.

The agony was unbearable. Darkness swallowed me whole, and before I slipped under, the last thing I saw was Zella’s savage, gleeful smile.

I was imprisoned in that abandoned factory for three whole days.

It wasn’t until the sixth day that they finally released me.

I knew why—tomorrow was the deadline. I had promised Stellan to withdraw the lawsuit and record a video clarifying the truth.

Zella was about to graduate with her master’s degree. If she were caught and thrown in prison at such a critical time, her reputation would be ruined, no matter if she was released later.

During those days, I thought about everything.

My mother. My younger brother. Both had suffered because of me.

And my child…

Just then, my phone rang.

It was the hospital calling to remind me about the medical fees.

Instinctively, I recited my card number. But in the next second, I froze; Stellan had already emptied that account.

My wounds burned so badly I could barely stand.

But the thought of Mom, still unconscious in the hospital, filled me with dread. If Zella targeted her again, my mother had no way to defend herself.

I immediately called my father.

After I explained everything, he agreed to transfer my mother somewhere safer at once.

Only then did I breathe a little easier. Summoning what little strength I had left, I dragged myself to the hospital.

When I arrived, I was stunned—Mom had already been moved to a general ward. She was lying there with no one by her side!

As I handled the discharge papers, I couldn’t hold back anymore. My voice cracked as I asked the doctor what had happened.

The doctor gave me a pitying look.

“Your mother was transferred to the general ward seven days ago. It was your husband who signed the papers. I warned him that her condition was too fragile, that moving her so suddenly could be dangerous. But he still insisted and even had her medication stopped.

“Seven days… Honestly, it’s a miracle she survived this long.”

His words tore at my chest. My vision blurred with hot tears.

So it was never about the lawsuit.

No matter what I did, Stellan would never spare my mother!

At that moment, hatred consumed me. I wanted nothing more than to drag Stellan and Zella to hell with me.

But I couldn’t. My brother was still waiting for me to save him.

Biting back my despair, I bandaged my wounds as best I could, and then, I returned to the villa.

I gathered all of my documents and sat down to print a divorce agreement.

Just as I held the papers in my hand, Stellan’s voice rang out behind me.

“Ayana? What are you holding?”

8

Ayana’s POV

Stellan looked at me with the same gentle eyes as before.

When he noticed the wounds all over my body, his heartache was written all over his face.

“Why do you have so many injuries? What happened to you?”

Even now, he continued to put on his act in front of me.

Disgust churned in my stomach, and I nearly gagged. I quickly avoided his outstretched hand.

His gaze darkened, and a crease formed between his brows.

“Ayana, it’s my fault. I failed to stop them from hurting you. For the sake of you, your younger brother, and your mother, you must withdraw the lawsuit tomorrow. You must also record a clarification video. Otherwise, I really don’t know what else they might do to you.”

He lowered his voice, his eyes turning red. “If… If something ever happened to you, I wouldn’t want to live either.”

Watching his performance, I gave a cold and expressionless sneer before taking out the divorce agreement and handing it to him.

“Sign this, and I’ll withdraw the lawsuit and record the video tomorrow.”

He leaned forward, trying to see what it was. But I pressed my hand down on the agreement.

“You just need to sign it.”

He studied me for a moment. Then, convinced that I wouldn’t harm him, he curved his lips into a faint smile and signed his name.

“I believe you would never hurt me, darling. As long as you’re safe, I’ll do anything you ask.”

“Is that so?” I sneered. “Then, as thanks, tomorrow I’ll make sure to give you a very special gift.”

My cold laughter cut through the air.

He frowned slightly, his gaze brushing over the wounds on my body as if they had burned him. He seemed to believe that my strange behavior was simply the result of everything I had suffered recently.

With a sigh, he stepped forward, wanting to pull me into his arms.

Before I could dodge, his phone rang again.

One glance at the screen, and he said, “Darling, I need to go prepare for tomorrow. Get some rest.”

Just like that, without waiting for my reply, he hurried away.

As his figure disappeared through the door, I gathered all of my identification documents.

In his study, I left a photocopy of the divorce agreement.

At the entrance of the villa, the bodyguards moved to stop me.

But it was already too late; my father’s car had arrived to pick me up.

Without hesitation, I climbed in and tossed my SIM card out the window.

Tomorrow, Stellan and Zella would receive the very first big “gift” I had prepared for them!