Andrew ignored her. He only stared at Willow and spoke very gently. “Be good now. Wait for me in the car. Once I’m done with this, I’ll come to you.”

Willow said nothing and let him help her up before she walked to the entrance.

Her mind was still blank, and her ears rang. She only recovered slightly from her shock when she was inside the car.

Soon, Andrew’s friends walked over.

One of them knocked on the window.

“Please don’t misunderstand, Willow. Andrew’s family found him a fiancee. He never told you about it because he wanted to take care of the problem himself. He just wasn’t expecting Eve to provoke you like this. He likes you, so he doesn’t want to be together with someone else.”

He liked her?

She found that hilarious, but she lowered her head with no expression on her face as she sat quietly like a lifeless statue.

Soon, Andrew came out of the cafe. Eve ran away while crying, and she looked pathetic.

Once he chased his friends away, Andrew got into the car and helped Willow put some balm on her wound with a worried gaze.

His movements were so gentle that it felt like he was treating her like a fragile piece of treasure. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse.

“Willow, my family is the one who arranged an engagement with Eve. I won’t marry her and will make things clear with my family soon. Please don’t overthink this.”

Willow said nothing and just stared ahead. “I know. You should start driving, Andrew.”

Andrew cast a glance at her. He looked like he had more to say, but in the end, he just started the car.

The atmosphere in the car was suffocating. Willow shut her eyes. Her thoughts were a mess.

Suddenly, a piercing screech rose.

Willow’s eyes snapped open, and she saw a truck come straight at her.

Her eyes flew wide open. In the next second, Andrew lunged at her and hugged her tightly.

Bam!

There was a loud crash, and her world spun.

Willow fainted in a puddle of her blood.

When she woke up next, she found herself lying in a hospital bed. The white light above her pierced her eyes.

Andrew sat by the bed. Despite his pale complexion, his eyes lit up with pure joy. “You’re finally awake, Willow! I was so scared.”

Willow parted her lips and asked hoarsely, “How’s your injuries?”

Andrew caressed her hair and said calmly, “I broke a bone, that’s all. I’m fine. I failed to protect you.”

He then got up. “Keep lying down and don’t move. I’ll call a doctor over to check on you.”

After he left, Willow’s phone suddenly vibrated.

She picked it up and saw that Eve had sent a video to her.

It was taken not too long ago and from within the cafe they had met in.

Andrew’s friends were animatedly explaining something to Eve.

“Miss Jenkins, how many times do we need to tell you before you believe us? Andrew is with Willow only because he has a plan. He’s only pretending to love her to take his revenge on Rias Warma. Since the two families have agreed to the marriage, he’ll definitely marry you. Look, he’s a man of his word when it comes to business deals. So don’t go ruining his plans already, seriously!”

Eve just stared at Andrew and said in a trembling voice, “Are they telling the truth, Andrew? You don’t love her but are using her to take revenge?”

His friends quickly said, “Of course! How could he possibly love his rival’s sister? That’s not how Andrew does things. If he really was in love with her, Andrew wouldn’t be trying to humiliate Rias. Instead, it would be Rias insulting Andrew! Holy… I can’t even imagine that!”

“I want Andrew to tell me this himself!” With teary eyes, Eve looked at Andrew. “Tell me, Andrew.”

Andrew had a complicated look on his face as he stared at the car where Willow was.

In the end, he nodded.

Eve threw herself into his arms and said in a choked voice, “But I still don’t feel confident. We’re about to get married, but you’re pretending to be in a relationship with another woman. Why don’t you just pretend that your brakes fail and turn your car so that the front passenger’s seat crashes into something? Just make Willow get into an accident, and I’ll believe you, okay?”

After a moment of silence, Andrew said, “Okay.”

The video ended.

Willow’s hands trembled, and her phone fell to the floor.

So, Andrew had planned this accident too.

She shut her eyes. Sadness, despair, indignation, and all sorts of complicated emotions swirled in her heart. They raged so wildly in her that she felt as if there was a heavy weight pressing down on her chest.

She could not figure out just when Andrew would feel satisfied enough to quit this.

She remembered that when they got into the accident, he had indeed turned his steering wheel so that she would be the one who faced the brunt of the crash. Only when the truck was about to hit her, he had protected her.

She could not figure out what he was thinking. Since he wanted to use her for revenge, shouldn’t he be happier if she was injured even more? Why would he shield her at the last second? It was so unnecessary. He even got a broken rib.

A thought popped up in her head, but she did not want to continue down that route.

‘Andrew, I hope that you really don’t have any love for me and just want to use me to take revenge, just as you said. Otherwise, if you love me even in the slightest, you’re going to suffer,’ she thought.

Over the next few days, Andrew took care of her.

Despite the doctor telling him to rest because of his broken rib, he stubbornly insisted on staying beside her 24/7. He fed her, tucked her in, cut some fruit for her, and even told her stories.

Anyone who saw it would think that he loved her dearly, but Willow just could not find it in herself to feel happy.

She knew that all of this was fake.

His gentleness and concern were all a meticulously planned lie.

On the day she was discharged, Andrew saw that she was feeling down. To make her happy, he took her to the dance club his friend had opened.

The room was dark, and the sound of music was deafening.

Andrew was very attentive toward her. His friends also surrounded her and took care of her. But Willow felt awkward and kept having the gnawing feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Just then, the door opened, and Eve strode in.

Everyone’s faces darkened.

When they saw that Andrew was about to fly into a rage, his friends went up to her and whispered, “Didn’t we tell you already? You asked Andrew to stage the accident and get Willow injured. He did it, so why are you here to cause another fuss?”

Eve smiled and said airily, “Don’t worry. I’m not here to cause trouble. I’m here to join your plan. No matter what, Andrew and I are about to marry, and I want to add fuel to the fire on the person he wants to humiliate.”

She whispered something in his friends’ ears, whose eyes lit up, and they smiled meaningfully.

Willow wanted to know what they had talked about, but the music was just too loud, and she heard nothing.

After Eve was done whispering her plan, she went up to Willow with a fake smile on her face. “Miss Warma, I was wrong. Andrew already taught me a lesson. He hasn’t agreed to our marriage because he loves you too much and won’t marry another woman.”

Willow frowned. The ominous feeling in her heart grew.

She did not know why the haughty Eve would suddenly concede and why she would say this, but her instincts were screaming at her that things were not as they seemed.

Andrew’s expression turned dark as he looked back and forth between Willow and Eve.

But Eve was no longer as confrontational as before. Suddenly, she grabbed a set of keys from her handbag and handed them to Willow. “This is a mansion I just bought. It’s located in the city center. I want to give it to you as a token of apology for what happened at the cafe.”

Willow did not take it. She said coldly, “You don’t have to. I’m not staying in Northvalley for long.”

At that, Andrew’s expression instantly changed.

He grabbed Willow’s hand. The man who always looked like he had victory in his grasp suddenly spoke with a hint of uncontrollable panic. With a grim voice, he asked, “What do you mean by that? I’m in Northvalley, and you’re definitely marrying me in the future. If you’re not going to be here to be with me, where are you going?”

Willow stared at him calmly.

Of course, she was going back to Southvalley to marry the person she was supposed to marry and spend time with her family as she should.

But Willow did not give Andrew the truth and just humored him. “I was just saying whatever came to my mind to refuse her gift. Don’t read too much into it. No one can really predict what will happen in the future, anyway.”

“Everything in the future is predictable with me around.” Andrew clearly did not believe her and wanted to question her further, but Eve interrupted him.

“Miss Warma, I heard that you’re a professional dancer. You should go and dance instead of sitting here, then!”

Willow shook her head. “I don’t want to dance.”

But Eve refused to back down. “Don’t worry, Miss Warma. I’ve already booked the place, and there’s no one else on the dance floor. We’ll dance with you.”

Andrew pulled a long face. Clearly, he did not want Willow to go either. He wanted her to explain what she had meant just a moment ago.

Yet, right then, his friends started pestering him to persuade Willow to dance. “Andrew, make Willow dance already. We want to see how she looks when she dances too.”

Then, one of them whispered into Andrew’s ear.

Andrew’s expression instantly turned dark. In the end, after hesitating for a few seconds, he nodded.

Eve dragged Willow away, and that sense of unease in her grew.

Just as she was wondering what sort of plan they were cooking up and how to finish dancing as soon as possible so that she could leave, they arrived on the dance floor. Suddenly, Eve tripped and fell on the floor.

She cradled her ankle and cried. “Andrew, my leg hurts. Take me to the hospital, please?”

Andrew scowled. It was a clear display of his impatience. But Eve grabbed his sleeve and said in a choked voice, “No matter what, our families are friends. You won’t just ignore me, right?”

Eventually, Andrew agreed. He turned to Willow. “I’m taking her to the hospital, Willow. Have fun here. If you don’t want to dance anymore, go back home. The driver is waiting for you outside.”

Willow nodded, but her unease just kept growing.

After Andrew left, Willow turned to leave too, but his friends stopped her and insisted that since she was out today, she simply could not be a spoilsport.

She was practically surrounded and could not leave even if she wanted to. The only thing she could do was to sit down as she listened to the music from the dance floor.

Andrew’s friends sat with her for a bit before they said, “We’re going out to make a phone call and will be back soon.”

Willow’s heart leapt to her throat. She knew that something was off.

After his friends left, the dance floor was deserted. Willow immediately grabbed her handbag and turned to leave, but someone suddenly opened the door.

The ones who entered were not Andrew’s friends but a group of beggars in disheveled clothes.

When they came in, their gazes immediately fixed on Willow, and they cackled lewdly.

“Hahaha! Her skin looks so tender! We’re going to have fun today!”

Fear and panic shone on Willow’s face. She was so terrified that she took a few steps back, but those people lunged at her like a pack of starving wolves.

She fought back fiercely, but her strength was no match against these men.

They tore away at her clothes, and her screams were drowned out by the music.

“Get off me! Don’t touch me!” Willow’s voice trembled, and tears streamed down her eyes.

She punched and kicked, but these men moved like lunatics. They grabbed her wrists and pinned her to the floor.

Her dress was torn off, and her skin was exposed to the cold air.

A wave of nausea churned in her stomach, and she almost vomited.

“Help! Anyone! Please, save me! Help!” she cried out in despair, but no one answered. Her vision blurred, and all she could hear was perverse crackles and heavy panting.

Just as despair was about to drown her, someone kicked the door open.

Andrew charged in like a demon with ruthlessness burning in his eyes.

He grabbed one of the beggars and punched him in the face.

The beggar cried out in pain and fell to the floor.

But Andrew did not stop. His fists rained on the others, and he continued attacking them until they lay on the floor and groaned in pain.

As Willow trembled, her vision went dark, and she fainted.