“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.

Her arms, shoulders, and back were covered in densely carved words.

When she first arrived at the psychiatric hospital, she had prayed that Jason would come to rescue her. Every time she was tortured, the only thing that kept her going was using her fingernails to slowly carve his and her names into her skin.

One year. Three years. Five years… Eventually, her name faded. All that remained was ‘Jason. Jason. Jason.’

She no longer dared to dream of them reuniting. Jason had simply become her only anchor to keep living.

But… that faith had crumbled. She no longer had the strength to piece herself back together.

Yvonne finally broke down, sobbing beneath the stream of water.

That night, before her body had even recovered, she was forced to attend a banquet and drink lots of wine. Mockery and laughter surrounded her as she could only down glass after glass in silence.

Meanwhile, Cindy was cradled in Jason’s arms, pampered and doted on with gentle care.

Jason kept ordering Yvonne around to fetch drinks and other things. Her steps were unsteady, but she could only grit her teeth and keep going.

At the end of the night, after sending off all the guests, she collapsed over the flowerbed and vomited so violently that her vision spun. Jason stood off to the side and looked disgusted. Without a hint of concern, he tossed a wad of cash at her feet.

“Pick it up and clean it yourself.”

Yvonne clutched her spasming hand and gathered her earnings from the dirt, one bill at a time. She did not say a word.

She could not afford to be sent back to that place. It was too filthy. She wanted to disappear utterly and completely. She did not even intend to leave a trace of bone behind.

Jason and Cindy’s engagement banquet was approaching fast, and he had left all the early preparations in her hands.

“Cindy liked the necklace from the auction. Get it, no matter the cost.”

“The venue decorations do not suit her tastes. Redo it. She wants the banquet on a luxury cruise.”

“Her favorite roses are Juliet Roses. Fly in the freshest ones and fill every corner with them. The food and wine must be exactly to her liking.”

Every day, Yvonne was pushed to exhaustion. By day, she had to fulfill Jason and Cindy’s endless demands. By night, she was nothing but an outlet for Jason’s desires. Every morning, it took her a long while just to gather the strength to get out of bed.

She had planned every detail of the engagement banquet. But when the spotlight hit the stage, she was not the one standing there.

It was Cindy, arm in arm with Jason, bathed in attention and admiration from every direction.

Compliments rang endlessly in Yvonne’s ears. She stood in a corner, where not a single ray of light reached her. She was so utterly drained that she did not realize when her eyes had closed.

She had often dreamed of getting engaged to Jason.

In her dream, he had looked at her with eyes full of deep affection, as though he wanted to pull her into his soul. He had gently slipped a ring onto her finger.

“You are mine now. Unless I die, we will never be apart. Not in this lifetime. Not in the next.”

Guests around showered them with blessings, wishing them a long and happy life together.

In the dream, she was supposed to be smiling. But in reality, her face was covered in tears.

How could humans possibly compete with fate? She was going to die. They would never again stand side by side.

When Yvonne woke up, Cindy was sitting right across from her.

“Well, well. Yvonne. It has been a while,” Cindy said as she held a wine glass with perfect poise. Her gaze dropped with cold disdain. “I truly do not understand. If you were going to sit here crying now, why did you do what you did back then?”

Yvonne hurriedly wiped away the tears that had escaped her dreams.

Cindy’s stare made her hands tremble again. The trauma of past bullying had never truly faded.

“Hard to believe, right?” Cindy said coldly, “Back then, Jason stood up for you. And now, he is in love with me. How could a man like him fall for someone as weak and boring as you? Fortunately, you ruined yourself.”

Yvonne lowered her head and pressed her left hand tightly over her right. She said with her hoarse voice, “I will not… get in your way.”

“Oh? If you are not hoping to win him back, why did you come back at all?”

As Cindy spoke, she tipped the glass of red wine and poured it over her own gown.

Her expression shifted at once. Shock and panic flashed across her face as she cried out, “Yvonne!”