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.

When Willow woke up, she found herself lying in the mansion’s bed.

From the living room came shrill, pained cries. With great difficulty, she got out of bed and opened the door a tiny bit to see Andrew standing at the center of the living room with the beggars lying by his feet.

Andrew had a knife in his hand as he said coldly, “Which hand did you use to touch her?”

Terrified, the beggars trembled. They did not dare speak.

Andrew sneered. “Looks like you used both hands to touch her.”

The knife went down and stabbed straight into one of the beggar’s hands, who cried out as his blood instantly dyed the floorboards red.

The others were horrified and cried out.

“Left!”

“Right!”

Without hesitation, Andrew ruined their hands.

His friends stood by the side and watched him with complicated faces. “Do you really need to go that far? Didn’t you agree to Eve’s plan?”

“Exactly! Eve pretended to have a sprained ankle so that you could take her to the hospital. That’s how you got a reason to leave. We then excused ourselves and found a group of beggars to force themselves on Willow. No one else was in the club, so no one would answer her cries for help. If Rias Warma learned that some beggars took advantage of his beloved sister, he would be devastated. Why did you suddenly go against the plan and run back? You nearly beat those beggars to death! It’s been a long time since you’ve been so bloodthirsty. You were far too wild back there.”

Hearing this, Willow felt all her strength drain from her, and she nearly collapsed.

She simply could not believe that the beggars were part of their plan.

Eve had whispered to Andrew’s friends, and Andrew’s friends had whispered back to him.

Andrew said nothing and watched coldly as the beggars were dragged out.

His friends stared at each other. It only made Andrew’s expression turn even more dour.

Finally, one of his friends was unable to hold it in any longer. “Andrew, have you really fallen in love with Willow? If you’ve forgotten, I’ll remind you: she’s your rival’s sister! You’ve been fighting against Rias for years! If you’ve seriously fallen in love with his sister, you’re going to—”

The words made Andrew’s expression darken like a thundercloud. He kicked the tea table, and his voice was laced with rage.

“I don’t like her! If I ever did, I’ll cut my own head off so that Rias Warma can kick it! Happy now?! Get out of my sight! Don’t talk to me for the next few days!”

Once he chased the people away, Andrew walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window and lit up a cigarette.

The smoke curled around him and made his expression look especially somber.

He sucked in a deep breath. The smoke took a trip through his lungs before it wafted back out.

His thoughts were a mess as he recalled how Willow had looked when she was pinned down. Her despair and pain stabbed into his heart like knives.

He could not understand what he felt toward Willow. In the beginning, he had indeed approached her with the sole purpose of using her to seek his revenge on Rias.

So, why did he feel like spilling blood when he saw her being treated that way?

She should not look like that.

Whenever she let him embrace her, she was always so demure. Her eyes were filled with love, and she was like a tamed kitten.

Yet, that day, all that was left in her eyes was fear and despair.

He did not dare think further about this. All this thinking was only making him feel more suffocated inside.

Halfway through the cigarette, he suddenly remembered that Willow did not like the smell of smoke. With a frown, he snuffed out the cigarette on an ashtray.

Then, he tip-toed to the bedroom to not wake her up.

The sound of his footsteps made Willow shut her eyes. She held her tears back as she pretended to sleep.

Her heart raced as she clutched the blankets tightly. She was worried that he would notice she was only pretending to sleep.

Andrew stood by her bed and observed her for a moment before he caressed her head and left.

Over the next few days, Andrew did not go to the company and spent almost every day keeping Willow company.

He spent a lot of money buying all sorts of jewelry for her. Every morning, he gave her a bouquet of flowers. He even cooked for her.

But the sight of the presents on the table brought Willow no joy.

She knew that Andrew was trying to make her happy, but her heart was already as dead as a doornail.

No one talked about what had happened that day, but everyone knew that Willow was unhappy.

She smiled less, and her expression always seemed sad and dull.

Eventually, Andrew was unable to keep his composure. Once, after dinner, he held her in his arms and asked softly, “Babe, I’m sorry for failing to protect you. Could you try to forget about that day? You can ask me for whatever you desire.”

Willow looked into his eyes and whispered, “Whatever I want?”

Andrew nodded. “Whatever you want.”

After a beat of silence, Willow finally said, “I want to know your phone’s password.”