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.”

Andrew was stunned for a moment, then he laughed. “That’s it?”

He said a series of numbers, and it was Willow’s turn to be shocked.

That was her date of birth.

“Why did you use my birthday as your password?” she asked in a trembling voice.

Andrew kissed her forehead and said gently, “Because I love you.”

Willow was taken aback.

She did not know whether he was telling the truth. Regardless, she could no longer trust him.

Andrew handed his phone to her and said, “Are you asking me for the password to look through my phone? I’m innocent as a newborn baby, so you can check whenever you want.”

Willow took his phone and finally smiled.

Seeing that, Andrew sighed in relief and hugged her tightly. “You’re finally smiling.”

His voice was affectionate. “It’s your birthday in two days, and I’ve prepared a grand surprise for you. That’s why I won’t be able to keep you company all the time over the next few days. Will you be able to stay at home alone?”

Willow nodded. After a brief pause, she asked, “Should I ask Rias to come?”

That made Andrew fall silent. It lasted for so long that Willow thought that he was not going to answer her, but he finally said, “Go ahead.”

Willow smiled, but she had tears in her eyes. “Okay.”

Then, as Andrew was busy preparing for her birthday, Willow started packing her bags.

She put away all her belongings and said farewell to all her friends.

The day before her birthday, Andrew returned.

He hugged her and wanted to kiss her, but she avoided it by making an excuse that she was on her period.

Andrew did not force it. But he did leave behind a string of hickeys on her neck rather possessively before he whispered, “That way, everyone will know that you are mine.”

Willow said nothing and just let him kiss her.

By the time midnight arrived, Andrew was asleep, and Willow quietly grabbed his phone.

She immediately saw his chat messages with his friends.

In the chat, his friends talked about their plans for tomorrow.

[Andrew, it’s Willow’s birthday tomorrow. Didn’t you say that you’re going to play those videos you have of her when she slept with you? Why haven’t you sent those videos over?]

[That’s right. Send them over already, Andrew.]

[Didn’t you see the message, Andrew? We’ve been reminding you about it since the morning, and it’s already night now.]

With trembling fingers, Willow left the chat and went to Andrew’s folder so that she could delete those videos.

She deleted all of them and even cleared the recycle bin. Once done, she finally felt free.

The next morning, she grabbed her bags and wanted to leave.

At that moment, Andrew woke up and saw her standing at the door. For a time, he was unable to wrap his head around what he was seeing. “Babe, where are you going?”

“To pick Rias up,” Willow said calmly.

At the sight of her bags, Andrew felt puzzled. “If you’re just picking him up, why would you need to take your luggage?”

“These are my clothes for dancing. I’m going to ask Rias to take them back with him.”

Willow had become incredibly skilled at lying. Perhaps she had learned it from Andrew.

Just as she expected, she managed to fool him. He did not ask anything further and just got out of bed to hug her. “Wait for me. I’ll go with you.”

But Willow shook her head. “Let’s only go public during the birthday party. I’m worried that Rias won’t be able to accept it. Head to the party first.”

After some thought, Andrew was convinced that he had been too eager, so he patted her head and nodded. “Alright. Come back soon. I’ll wait for you at the birthday party.”

Once he washed up, he headed to the birthday party while Willow stood where she was and watched the car leave. Then, she hailed a cab and left for the airport.

The entire process of checking in, dropping off her luggage, and boarding the plane went smoothly.

When she got on the plane, Willow opened her chat with Andrew to send him a final message.

She had thought about many things to say to him.

She wanted to tell him that she had heard everything he had said in the room.

She also wanted to demand an answer to why he would do this to her.

Yet, at that very moment, when it was time to truly end things, she only typed one short message.

[Let’s break up, Andrew. I no longer love you.]

After she sent the message, the plane departed. Willow stared at the white clouds outside and blocked all of Andrew’s numbers before she turned off her phone.

She was never going to see Northvalley or Andrew ever again.