Anna was silent, trying to hide the truth. But Benita wasn't stupid. She laughed coldly, then stepped closer with a wicked smile. "Then I'll have to make sure you don't have any reason to survive."

Benita tried to attack again, but Anna backed away to protect herself and the baby she was carrying. Anna knew she had to escape this situation as quickly as possible before Benita hurt her.

Anna succeeded and wanted to run away, but Benita blocked her way.

"So, you want to challenge me, Anna?" Benita grabbed her; then she slapped Anna hard on both cheeks, then she took off her high heels and slapped them hard on her calves; only a soft moan escaped her lips. Benita did that while grinning at Anna like a person losing her mind.

"What are you doing? Stop now!" shouted Anna. But Benita ignored her.

Anna stood transfixed in the bathroom corner, holding her breath as Benita began to scream for help. Her face was full of pretence, and her body was deliberately lying on the floor as if she had just been assaulted. Benita's screams attracted the guests' attention, who immediately swarmed to the bathroom door.

Anna felt her blood boiling. She wanted to scream and tell the truth but was tongue-tied. The guests who saw the scene immediately cast accusatory glances in her direction.

"How could you treat Benita like this?" someone whispered from the crowd.

"Benita is so nice, and you attack her? How clueless," said another sarcastically.

Ivan appeared before Anna could explain, with a worried look on his face. He went straight to Benita, who was lying on the floor.

"What happened here?" he asked coldly, staring at Anna momentarily before kneeling beside Benita.

Benita burst into tears, playing her role perfectly. "I just wanted to be nice to her, Ivan. I even forgave her for ruining my dress, but Anna suddenly pushed me. I don't know what I did wrong." Benita acted like she was crying.

Anna clenched her hands into fists, holding back the almost overwhelming emotions. "That's a lie! I didn't touch her at all!"

Ivan, however, wasn't listening. He lifted Benita gently, carrying her like a hero rescuing the king's daughter. Anna could only stare with her heart torn to shreds.

"I'll take her to the dugout," Ivan said firmly. Then, he looked at Anna coldly. "You're coming with me."

Anna wanted to refuse, but Ivan's footsteps forced her to follow. They arrived in a quiet room upstairs. Ivan attentively placed Benita on the sofa, then fixed Anna with a sharp gaze.

"Explain what happened!" Ivan ordered.

Anna shook her head firmly. "I didn't do anything to her, Ivan. She started it all. She-"

"There's no need to lie anymore, Anna," Benita interrupted in a low voice as if she was enduring pain. "I tolerated your behaviour, but you attacked me instead. I don't know why you hate me so much."

Anna felt her body trembling. "Ivan, it's not what you think. Benita lied!”

"That's enough!" Ivan snapped at her, making Anna pause. "Apologize right now!"

Anna's eyes widened in surprise. "I won't apologise for something I didn't do!"

Ivan's face flushed with anger. "Anna, don't make things difficult for me. If you continue like this, I'll have no choice but to leave you."

The threat made Anna's chest feel tight, but she remained firm. "Then just leave me, Ivan. Do you see our relationship as just another lie?"

"You just need to admit it. I'm not asking you to do anything complicated. Why are you testing everyone's emotions?”

“I won't do anything!" Anna walked towards the exit.

Ivan's anger reached its peak. He blocked Anna's movement, then pushed Anna roughly towards Benita. Anna lost her balance and fell. Her head hit the corner of the table, leaving a gash that immediately bled.

Ivan looked shocked. He approached Anna in a panic. "Anna... I didn't mean to. I-"

However, Anna brushed off Ivan's hand and tried to help her up. With a cold gaze full of wounds, she stood up on her own, although her body felt weak. "You've hurt me enough, Ivan. Stop it, or I'll hate you so much!”

“Never mind, Ivan. Let him be. I should get out of here. You take care of your fiancé." Benita walked with a limp.

"I'll take you home." Ivan picked Benita up again. He turned to look at Anna, who was covering her wound with her hands. "I'm disappointed with you, Anna. Go home and reflect on your mistake."

Without waiting for a response, Ivan left.

Anna left the room. Her tears spilt over as she stepped out of the party that had broken her heart.

She cried all the way. Regretting this day. She should have had the courage to refuse to come.

Ivan's words had been so harsh and also conscious when it came to hurting her. Anna couldn't take it all anymore. Her heart was too fragile to accept such inner torment.

Anna got to the mansion and walked to her room, but her steps stopped when she got a call from an unknown number. She ignored it, but the number sent a message instead.

"You don't have to wait for him to come home. I'll make Ivan exhausted on the bed."

Another message arrived. A video that Anna clicked on immediately. It showed Ivan and Benita making love. Their bodies were clearly exposed without a single thread. Not having to wait for the video to finish, Anna immediately pressed the pause button.

Nika looked at Anna anxiously. "Miss Anna, what happened? You hurt your forehead!"

"It's okay," Anna replied briefly.

Anna went to her room to pack her clothes. However, when she opened her closet, she found her pregnancy test results file.

Anna sat on the edge of the bed. "Daddy doesn't want to be with us." She stroked her stomach. Then she crumpled up the letter and threw it into the trash can

Anna stood, staring at her reflection in the mirror. It was so messy, and the red dress made her sick of Benita and Ivan. Her gaze fell on Ivan's ring on her finger. Anna took it off and placed it on the nightstand. She never thought she would do this.

"Nika," she called in a trembling but determined voice.

Nika appeared at the door of the room. "Yes, Miss Anna?"

"Pack my things. I'm leaving here."

Nika nodded in acceptance of the order. She quickly put Anna's clothes into a large suitcase.

"If you're done, immediately put my suitcases into the car. You must be ready whenever I order you to leave. We have very little time."

"Yes, Miss."

Meanwhile, Anna did not want to stand idly by. She went to the study and started collecting evidence of Ivan and Benita's affair. She organised everything and put some video clips that Benita had sent.

After that, Anna turned on her cell phone camera and recorded herself talking about all the heartache and disappointment she had felt since she first heard about everything in the creation room.

One thing she kept secret was her pregnancy. She was sure Ivan would make a fuss about it.

After compiling everything into video and photo slides, Anna left the study and returned to the room. Anna chose to sleep for one more night. Her preparations weren't done yet; there were important people she had to contact to make her plan happen.

***

Ivan came home and found Anna sleeping with a tired face. The man smoothed the hair covering Anna's face. The movement he made made Anna wake up from her sleep.

She found Ivan sitting beside her. She was trying to be ordinary, although looking at Ivan's smile nauseated her.

"Did you sleep well?" Ivan noticed the wound on Anna's forehead, apparently already in plaster.

"Yes, I slept very well."

"I apologise. I treated you harshly earlier. I want you to apologise to Benita. That's all."

Ivan turned soft. He took Anna's hand and kissed it. "Do you want to keep our relationship going?"

Anna wanted to shake her head and swear, saying all her horrible thoughts before Ivan's face, but she didn't want to mess up her plan. Finally, she nodded.

“Yes, I was wrong. I pushed Benita too much, and she got hurt. I want to apologise to you both. Do you want to?" she asked in a pleading tone.

Ivan nodded. He hugged Anna tightly. He stroked her back gently.

"I'm glad that what Benita said was true. That you will realise your mistake."

Anna held her breath. She didn't expect Ivan to act this way. How could a Don, who often dealt with the dark world like him, collapse with the words of a woman who acted like a boss or an important person who had the right to control everything in his household?

"So, what are you planning to do? Do you want to come to Benita's house? I'll drive you."

"No, I'm inviting you to a painting exhibition. It happens to be a friend of mine, she gave me the tickets. I felt bad at the last event. You must not have enjoyed the whole gallery, right?"

Ivan smiled and nodded. "You always know what I like." Ivan brought his face closer to Anna to kiss her. But Anna immediately dodged.

"I just woke up. I'm going to the bathroom." Anna avoided Ivan. She would never let him touch her again. Even when he hugged her, Anna was sick of the strong scent of female perfume. The smell of infidelity that Ivan could no longer hide

Nika was already preparing according to Anna's orders. At precisely five in the morning, while Ivan was sleeping in his sweet dreams, Anna prepared to leave the mansion. Before that, she left a memo on the nightstand so Ivan wouldn't look for her. She even provided Ivan's clothes so that Ivan wouldn't be suspicious if he went to the walking closet and didn't find Anna's things that had been transported in a suitcase.

Anna stepped quickly outside when she saw movement in Ivan.

Outside, before setting foot in the car, she gazed at the mansion with teary eyes. Beautiful memories flashed, and even the past felt close. She let out a long sigh. "I'll miss this mansion, but not my bad memories with Ivan."

Anna got into the car, ordering Nika to leave, and they drove to the nearest airport. Along the way, she kept coordinating with the parties involved with her plan; she didn't want it to fail.

"I will give you the price of your betrayal, Ivan!”

***

The alarm woke Ivan up. He felt the left side of the bed and didn't feel Anna's body there. His eyes opened wide, but he found a memo when he checked his cell phone. He read it and immediately got up to get ready.

"You are the most reliable Anna. Even when I got Benita, I didn't have to let you go. You're such a sweet kid." Ivan said proudly.

Putting down the memo again, he found the engagement ring on the nightstand.

"Why did she leave it? Ah, maybe she was in a hurry." Ivan didn't bother and quickly got ready.

Ivan and Benita attended the painting exhibition. They quite liked the work of the artist who opened this event. Some people had also lined up to enter.

Ivan began to look for Anna's whereabouts, but he didn't find Anna as promised. He repeatedly tried to call her number, but there was no answer.

As they were about to go through the checkpoint, there was a large screen near the entrance where they could see some of the advertisements.

While waiting in line, many looked at the screen; a familiar video slide appeared on it.

"Do you love me more than Anna?" Benita's voice rang out loudly as the video opened. "If you choose me, leave that bitch for me.”

Benita and Ivan looked at each other. They panicked as the video continued to show indecent things; although some were censored, the words, insults for Anna, and also some slides of photos of their intimacy continued to take turns airing.

The last thing that aired was a video of Anna announcing the affair; she explained it in detail.

Ivan looked at Benita with a sharp gaze. He cursed under his breath, knowing the mastermind who had influenced Anna.

People began to feel uncomfortable, and then they realised that Benita and Ivan were the main characters in the video. They began to mock them and shout at them with bad names openly.

"How is this Ivan? She set us up!" Benita was hysterical.

Ivan paused for a moment, digesting what had happened, and then he remembered Anna's change in attitude, who had been very submissive last night, even apologising.

Ivan's jaw tightened. Furious, he called out to the guards who had followed him.

"You must find Anna, take her, and drag her to the mansion!"

Ivan walked out of the line to the car. Benita followed him from behind. Just as she was about to get in, Ivan gave her a sharp look. "Don't you dare come in here? You're the reason all this happened, Benita!”

“What the hell are you doing, leaving me in this mess?”

“Yes, you have to find your way!" Ivan closed the car door forcefully, and Benita was left in the parking lot.

Ivan called Anna. The phone was ignored several times until Anna picked up on the tenth attempt.

"You! What are you doing? Did you set me up? Publicly humiliated me? Come back to the mansion, and let's settle this fairly!”

"I don't want to set foot in the mansion. I don't want to look at your face anymore, either. Rot you and Benita in a pool of shame. I'll make you pay for everything! Goodbye, I hope we never meet again!"

The phone disconnected.