Yvonne Xander had three of her ribs broken before she finally managed to escape from the mental asylum.

After she escaped, the first thing she did was to sign the agreement to donate her body after her death.

“Miss Xander, we must let you know that this is a special donation. Your body will be used to test a new chemical reagent. By then, there might be nothing of you left.”

Yvonne pressed down on her aching chest. Her broken ribs made her voice sound like a broken ventilator.

With great difficulty, she grimaced. “Just what I want.”

After breaking three ribs, Yvonne Xander finally escaped from the psychiatric hospital.

The very first thing she did after getting out was to sign a consent form to donate her body.

“Ms. Xander, we’re obligated to inform you that this is a special type of donation. Your body will be used in experiments involving a new chemical erosion agent. By the end, there may not be a single fragment of your bone left.”

Yvonne pressed a hand against her throbbing chest. The pain from her fractured ribs turned her voice into a dry and brittle rasp.

She forced the corners of her mouth into a bitter smile. “That’s exactly what I want.”

There were only a few days left anyway. She may as well do something useful before the end.

Her medical report bore a clear diagnosis: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, better known as ALS.

Yvonne was one of the unlucky ones. A complication had caused an infection in her lungs. She had a month to live, at most.

The staff member’s gaze had already turned sympathetic.

“Thank you for your contribution to research. This compensation is a small token of appreciation. Please accept it.”

Yvonne reached out with trembling hands and took the money.

The twitching and spasms in her hands were side effects of neurological medication overuse, and she could not control them.

She planned to donate the money to a children’s welfare center, visit the cemetery one last time to make peace, and then peacefully embrace the end.

As she stumbled out the door, she immediately spotted a few men crouched under a tree waiting for her.

“There she is!”

“Hey, you! Did you think you could run? We’ll fry you alive when we get you back!”

Yvonne’s face turned pale. She spun around and bolted.

A sharp pain bloomed in her chest, tinged with the metallic taste of blood. Her entire body seized up in fear. She could only charge headlong into the building with the most security guards.

She ran so fast that she crashed straight into someone. The cash in her hands scattered across the floor.

The man’s rock-hard chest left her dizzy. Amid startled gasps, a clean and familiar scent filled her nose.

Then came the low and unmistakable voice of a man.

“Yvonne.”

A flat and cold statement froze her in place.

They had not seen each other for five years, and Jason Fender had matured. His downturned gaze was so elegant yet distant. When his eyes landed on Yvonne, they carried undisguised disgust and hatred.

Something in Yvonne’s chest twisted violently as she teared up.

“M… Mr. Fender...!”

The men chasing her panicked the moment they recognized Jason.

Jason’s expression remained cold as he stared at Yvonne.

“Who said you were allowed to come back?”

Yvonne lowered her head and said nothing. Of course, Jason still had no idea that it was that rich playboy who had locked her away in the psychiatric hospital and tortured her for five years.

Jason’s gaze shifted toward the men. One of them caught sight of the money on the floor. He flinched and quickly shouted, “Mr. Fender, that little thief stole from us!”

Jason chuckled. “Yvonne, have you really sunk this low?”

She clutched her spasming hand and instinctively tried to shake her head.

No, that was not true... The money...

“Jason.”

A stunning woman stepped forward and naturally wrapped herself around Jason’s arm. Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked at Yvonne. “Yvonne?”

The ground seemed to vanish beneath Yvonne.

Cindy Yates. She was the ringleader of the people who used to bully her.

Back then, Yvonne had crumbled under the weight of grief after losing her parents. She failed to maintain her GPA and ended up in a terrible high school. That was when the nightmare began.

Torn-up books. A desk stained with god-knows-what. A shredded uniform. A locked bathroom door…

She spiraled into multiple depressive episodes. Cindy was her nightmare, her deepest fear, and her most hated enemy.

Jason, the boy who had grown up with her, found out she had been bullied.

He dropped out of a prestigious private school and transferred to hers. Then he made sure everyone who had hurt her paid the price.

Cindy was forced to withdraw. Only then did Yvonne finally catch a breath of relief.

When the aftershocks of her trauma hit, it was Jason who stayed by her side and whispered, “I’m here,” over and over again. He held her hand and guided her back into the light.

Ten years ago, they confessed their feelings and shared their first kiss.

Eight years ago, they gave in to desire, wrapped up in each other like they would never part. Six years ago, they set a wedding date and were ready to spend forever together. Five years ago, she killed his sister in a fire. The lovers became enemies.

And now, the man she loved most stood beside the woman she hated most.

“My apologies, Mr. Fender. This filthy thief is an eyesore! We will get her out of here right away!”

The man stepped forward and grabbed a fistful of Yvonne’s hair without warning. He then yanked her head back forcefully.

“You thief! You stole from us, and you’re trying to run? You must’ve had a death wish!”

A sharp cry tore from Yvonne’s throat. It felt like her scalp was being ripped apart.

She stumbled to the pavement, and her arm scraped across the concrete, leaving a deep, bloody gash.

“Let go of me! That’s my money!”

“Yeah, right! A beggar like you? Where would you get that kind of cash?”

Yvonne was still trying to resist, but the man suddenly grabbed the back of her neck and shoved it down hard.

Something inside her snapped. She stopped moving, and uncontrollable tremors racked through her body. All color drained from her face.

This was the same move they did at the psychiatric hospital right before the electroshocks. Her body reacted with a reflex carved by fear.

Seeing her go limp, the man muttered a curse and began dragging her away. Just the thought of going back to the psychiatric hospital made tears slide down from the corners of her eyes.

Her gaze was blank like a corpse.

“That is enough. What kind of circus do you think this is, making a scene in front of Fender’s Corporation?”

The cold voice sliced through the chaos. Jason’s icy stare landed on the stunned man. Then he pulled out a card and flicked it toward him effortlessly.

“Take the money and leave. Do not disgrace yourselves at my company again.”

The man immediately let go of Yvonne and bowed as he scrambled to pick up the card. He ran off without another word.

A hand clamped around Yvonne’s wrist and yanked her into the building. A sharp pain flared in her chest, her head spun, and the next thing she knew, she was shoved hard against a wall. Jason pressed closely against her, radiating an oppressive aura.

“Yvonne. After all these years, this is what you have become? A stray mutt with nowhere to go?”

Her heart clenched so sharply she could not breathe. Jason’s words came out slow and deliberate, laced with venom. “This is what you call karma.”

Jason’s stare was full of hatred, driving Yvonne to blurt out the truth.

But she knew she could not say it.

She had promised Hannah Fender. She promised to stay silent so that Hannah could leave this world with dignity.

Five years ago, Yvonne and Hannah had been kidnapped. To protect Yvonne, Hannah was dragged away and violated by the kidnappers. When Yvonne saw her again, Hannah’s legs were shattered and her face was destroyed beyond recognition.

Yvonne had set a fire and carried Hannah on her back. Just as they were about to break free, Hannah gripped Yvonne’s wrist as tears streaked over her ruined face.

“Yvonne… go. Live well... I want my husband and my brother to always remember me as clean... untouched.”

She shoved Yvonne out the door and walked straight into the flames.

Hannah had to remain clean. And Jason, their golden boy, had to stay untarnished as well. Yvonne had seen the darkest corners of that hellhole. She could no longer be Mrs. Fender.

It was enough for just her to carry the filth.

So when Jason held her with bloodshot eyes and begged, over and over, “Yvonne… where’s Hannah? Why did she not make it out?”, she had smiled as tears poured down her face.

“She died. The kidnappers said only one of us could live. I wanted to live. So, of course, she had to die.”

She would never forget the look in Jason’s eyes. The rage and devastation collided like a storm.

Hannah’s husband slapped her across the face with all his strength, while Jason gripped her shoulders like he wanted to crush her bones.

“Yvonne, tell me the truth! Tell me all of this is a lie!”

But she had given him nothing. Not a word.

The Fender family had asked her to end herself.

After locking himself away in his room for three days, Jason finally handed her a one-way ticket overseas.

Every word he said was laced with venom. “Never appear in front of me again.”

He had asked one of his rich friends to escort her out of the country.

But what he did not know was that this friend of his decided to “teach her a lesson” for him and secretly locked Yvonne up in a psychiatric hospital.

For five whole years.

Sharp pain shot through her wrist where it was tightly gripped. Yvonne looked up at the man in front of her, who then resembled a cornered beast. She suddenly smiled brightly. “Is this all the karma I get? Hannah is dead, but look at me, I’m still standing here.”

The words struck like a match to kindling. His gaze darkened with fury.

Without warning, his hand closed around her neck.

Yvonne felt the air vanish from her lungs. Her face drained of color as her body instinctively fought for breath. Tears spilled involuntarily from the corners of her eyes.

Just as she thought he might choke her to death, his grip loosened, and she crumpled to the floor like a puppet with cut strings.

She started coughing violently.

Through the haze of tears, she saw him crouch before her. His voice was cold like ice. “I’m going to make you regret every breath you take.”

He reached out again, but his hand paused in midair before grabbing the collar of her shirt and giving it a sharp tug.

The fabric split with a sharp rip.

“What is this?!” he demanded with his furious voice.

Beneath the fading bruises on her neck, another dark mark cut across her throat. It was a horrifying sight.

Yvonne swallowed the metallic taste rising in her mouth. She covered the marks with her trembling hands as soon as she thought about them.

They were left by the so-called “breath control therapy” during her time in the psychiatric hospital. Day after day, they hung her on her neck and forced her to repeat degrading words as she choked. “Repeat after me! Yvonne is a terrible person, she is unworthy of Jason!”

Tears crawled all over her face as she repeated it again and again, “Yvonne… is a terrible person…”

For the first two years, she had clung to her pride and refused to say that she was unworthy of Jason. But by the third year, numbness had taken over, and she admitted it again and again. She was no longer worthy of Jason.

Jason’s hand brushed across the marks, and Yvonne’s body trembled even more aggressively in response.

Yet she smiled again, even as tears rolled down her cheeks.

“You know how it is overseas. People are into... unconventional things.”

Her voice did not falter under his shocked and furious gaze. “I liked it… Way more exciting than anything we ever had.”

Jason grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into the lounge.

She was then thrown into the bed.

Jason violently crashed down on her and tore through her clothes without a shred of mercy.

Yvonne’s voice trembled, “What would Cindy think of you?”

Jason gave her a harsh laugh. “Who do you think you are? Cindy is pregnant, and you’re just a temporary replacement.”

Her entire body froze as Jason’s hand gripped the bruises on her neck again. His voice was low and filled with malice.

“Yvonne, this is your karma. You can either stay and pay off your debt, or you can leave with those men. Your choice.”

The words “pregnant” and “replacement” echoed in her mind. As she trembled, Yvonne closed her eyes. She stopped resisting in the midst of agony.

There were no kisses and no embraces. There was only his rough and reckless revenge. She was nothing more than a replacement to him, and she was forced to endure everything while he kept snarling the same venomous question over and over.

“Is this how they used to choke you?!”

Just before dawn, Jason stood and left Yvonne without another glance. He ordered coldly, “Clean up. You’ll be entertaining some guests tonight.”

Then the door shut behind him.

When Yvonne regained consciousness, she kneeled on the floor as she shivered and slowly began to tidy the mess and the blood stains. Then she dragged herself to the bathroom.

Her clothes were torn and rumpled. But the top part she had clung to and protected with all her strength, remained intact.

That defiance had angered Jason all the more and made him torture her even more cruelly.

She hesitated as she removed her clothing, revealing what she had tried so desperately to keep hidden. Only then did it begin to surface.