After seven years of twisted love and hate with Veronica Grey, I became the notorious darkness she could never erase—her Black Moonlight.

On the day she held her ninety-seventh wedding to her fiancé Andrew Clark, I swore I wouldn’t ruin it this time.

But before my oath even cooled, every digital billboard in Downtown Los Angeles began broadcasting our most intimate photos—on loop.

It took her less than half an hour to track me down and drag me off the rooftop.

“Michael Linwood, are you sick in the head?!”

“I just want Andrew to have a perfect, unforgettable wedding. Why must you fight me every single time?!”

I shook the phone in my hand, letting the live stream continue its frenzy.

“I just made a little bet with your fiancé… whether you’d abandon him and come running to me.”

Veronica’s eyes burned red as she shoved me toward the edge of the 18th-floor rooftop.

“You love gambling, right? Then let Los Angeles bet on whether it’ll be you or me who hits the ground first!”

…

On my phone screen, Andrew Clark looked devastated, eyes shimmering with tears.

Veronica’s grip tightened around my throat.

“You swore—swore—you wouldn’t ruin this wedding! Do you know how much I’ve been looking forward to marrying him? Are you just incapable of seeing me happy?!”

The wind lashed against my face like knives.

I smirked, my hand lifting to brush her cheek like a lunatic drunk on love.

“Oh, Veronica… aren’t promises made to be broken?”

After all—she always breaks hers.

The live chat exploded with outrage, filling the screen with curses:

“Michael is insane. Who the hell ruins ninety-seven weddings? Karma’s coming for your creepy ass!”

“If he really loved her, he shouldn’t have killed her mom in that crash! Disgusting!”

“Just push him off already! The Greys could bury this guy and no one would blink. Society would thank her!”

Andrew’s trembling voice spilled from the speaker:

“Vera… are you really going to keep letting him hurt us…?”

That did it.

Veronica’s shaking hands pushed me even closer to the drop—closer—

Until suddenly, she yanked me back with a gasp, panting heavily.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Michael,” she snarled, eyes wild.

“You think I’d leave Andrew over some photoshopped fantasy? I have never touched you.”

“Maybe I did care once—as dumb kids—but after you killed my mom, we became enemies. Blood enemies. I feel sick just looking at you.”

Just as relief flickered across my bruised face, Andrew collapsed on screen clutching his chest.

“Andrew!”

Veronica instantly called an ambulance and rushed off to St. Mary’s Medical Center, but not without a final dagger:

“This isn’t over.”

I stared down at the leaked photos, a bitter laugh cutting through my ribs.

Funny thing is—every moment in those pictures was real.

But she forgot all of it.

Or rather—she forgot everything except that I’m the perfect villain to blame.

When I returned to the Linwood Estate, my grandfather Charles Linwood sat waiting, fury carved into every wrinkle.

The moment I crossed the threshold—whip!—

His leather belt lashed across my back.

“Kneel!”

“I thought you might bring value to this family because Grey Corporation wanted a partnership. But you embarrass me again and again—ruining their weddings, leaking trash like that! Veronica Grey called me personally!”

So this was Veronica’s revenge.

She always knew how to make others do her dirty work.

She knew my grandfather only cared about Linwood Holdings and the power it clung to.

Threatening the partnership was enough to turn him into her executioner.

The belt struck again and again until my skin split open.

Only then did Grandfather call Veronica—through a video chat—so she could inspect the results.

“Appreciate the effort, Mr. Linwood,” Veronica said casually, like she was rating a service.

“The Linwood disciplinary standards are truly… impressive.”

Her gaze slid to me—cold, sharp, unreadable.

“Michael Linwood, the fact you didn’t get locked up after the crash was already a mercy for the sake of both families.”

“As long as you swear to behave from now on—stop hurting Andrew—I’ll drop this. Agreed?”

She forgets this wasn’t the first time she’s seen him beat me like this.

The first time, years ago, she stepped in front of me.

Her face bloody as she screamed at my grandfather:

“If it’s resources you want, Grey Corporation can provide them.

But if you ever force Michael into a marriage again—if you touch a single hair on him—

I will erase Linwood Holdings from this city.”

How strange…

My body bleeds—

Yet it’s my heart that aches.

I dragged myself up, stared into the camera, and let my lips curl into a cruel mockery:

“Keep dreaming.”

Grandfather’s face drained. He seized a heavy glass ashtray and hurled it at my head.

“Veronica Grey just gave you a way out and you spit on it?! You want to ruin us all?!”

Blood blurred my vision—yet the moment I saw Veronica, any trace of surrender burned away.

Her face darkened.

Seeing Grandfather lift the ashtray again, she suddenly snapped:

“Enough!”

“This is your final warning, Michael. Don’t test me again.”

She hung up—almost like she was the one running away.

Once the partnership was secure, Grandfather lost interest in further punishment.

He ordered Aunt Wendy, our longtime housekeeper, to take me inside and treat my wounds.

As she dabbed my torn skin with ointment, she muttered fiercely:

“Mr. Linwood has no right… All these years, Grey Corporation only kept Linwood afloat because of the sacrifices you made. Outsiders don’t know—but he does. How dare he speak to you like that…”

My phone vibrated.

Andrew Clark had sent a message—

A photo of Veronica kneeling before him, tenderly washing his feet like a devoted saint.

His text:

“Still not giving up?

Vera only loves me.

Even if you try everything—she’ll never be yours.”

“Tell her the truth if you want—Linwood and Grey will destroy you.

In her heart, you will always be the murderer who stole her mother.”

Aunt Wendy burst out:

“Andrew is a thief! A fraud! He doesn’t deserve her kindness! Seven years—how long will you keep hurting like this? Tell Veronica everything!”

I shut the screen off and whispered:

“Aunt Wendy… I made her a promise.

So I’ll keep it.”

Everyone thinks Veronica and I are sworn enemies.

But nobody knows…

We used to be everything to each other.

After the crash, Veronica needed brain surgery.

The risk: partial or complete memory loss.

She refused—

So I kissed her again and again, whispering that everything would be okay.

The day patients were allowed visitors…

I ran to her room with fruit and homemade soup—excited like a fool—

Only to find her curled in Andrew Clark’s arms.

She hurled everything I brought at me—

Watching coldly as it shattered across the sterile hospital floor.

“Who gave you permission to ruin the moment between Andrew and me?”

“You murderer — you make my stomach turn. Get out!”

That car accident didn’t just erase her memories of our life together; it stamped me as the one who’d killed her mother. Andrew wasn’t wrong to say I was afraid. But it wasn’t fear of our elders or of families colliding. I was terrified of seeing Veronica Grey collapse again, of watching her hurt herself when she broke.

That night I dreamed again. Just before they wheeled Veronica into surgery she gripped my hand and, choking on her words, swore:

“Mike, I love you so much. I will never forget you. We’ll grow old together in Haven House — we’ll be each other’s lifelong, happy rivals.”

“If I ever do forget you, you can hit me, scold me — just don’t leave me. And if I fall for another man, you must tear us apart with everything you have.”

We made a pact: if she ever harmed me for another man a hundred times, I would let go. With tonight included, the count was at ninety-eight.

Maybe because of that dream, I woke with an urge so raw I had to go back to Haven House. It was the villa Veronica had given me — a private place that, in the years no one noticed, held three years of our happiest memories. When sorrow came, I would sit there and breathe through it.

I hadn’t even left when the house manager called. “Mr. Linwood — Mr. Grey ordered the villa bulldozed. He’s having Andrew build his marital home there.”

“And the child’s grave was dug up too.”

By the time I arrived, the place that had held all our hopes and good dreams was a flattened ruin, as if it had never existed.

Andrew held Veronica, his voice threaded with disgust. “I don’t know who’s this messed up, burying ashes here. I hate that stuff.”

“Vera, you should stop clutching that urn. Feed it to the dog. I heard if you do, the dirty thing will never be reborn.”

Veronica stroked his face with a tenderness that made my chest ache. “Fine. Scare Andrew once more, and even as a ghost I’ll make sure it gets no peace.”

She whistled; a huge golden retriever — half the height of a man — loped over, drooling, waiting to be fed. Blood boiled in my veins. I couldn’t stand it. I charged forward and drove a knife into the dog’s belly.

Andrew screamed. I slapped him hard, twice. “How dare your animal touch my child? How dare you trespass on what’s mine? Get out!”

“Michael Linwood, what the hell is wrong with you?!” someone shouted.

Veronica wrapped herself around Andrew and glared at me. “Mr. Linwood, that villa was under Vera’s name. You took it because she was too busy to manage it — who raised you to be so shameless?”

Andrew spat, venom in every word. “I was wondering why there were ashes here. Turns out you knocked someone up, got rid of the scandal, and secretly buried it. Isn’t that disgusting? You’re sickening, and we’re the ones cursed by the bad luck!”

Those words hit a nerve Veronica hadn’t known she had. Color drained from her face; a cold laugh escaped. “I knew it. That night’s private photos — you swapped that woman’s face with mine.”

“Michael, you spent years trying to sabotage me and Andrew’s relationship, while secretly cavorting with others — you even fathered a bastard. How dare you bury that filthy thing in my home?!”

Even she didn’t know why she was that furious. Her accusation sliced through me and left a chill I couldn’t thaw.

Yes — Veronica and I once had a child. But she’d been gone the day we were supposed to register our marriage; Veronica had been in the accident that knocked her unconscious. Doctors issued grave notices and told us to prepare.