It turned out that while I spent countless nights alone, he had been next door, satisfying himself with another woman.

After putting the box back, I ignored his assistant’s call and threw away those ridiculous raincoats and gloves. I didn’t stay any longer; I packed my things and left the house that had been my home for five years.

Just then, a message popped up from a bar owner I had worked with before. He said there was a masked-themed wine tasting that night, with new bottles to try, and invited me to join.

I slipped into the dress Max always hated, the one that showed my shoulders and collarbones. Letting my hair fall freely, the way he never liked, I stared at my reflection in the mirror and felt a strange lightness in my chest.

When I arrived at the bar, the first thing I saw was Paige arguing with a waiter. “The private room upstairs is empty! Why can’t I have it? I want that one!”

The waiter saw me, quickly bowed, and said helplessly, “Sorry, that room is reserved for Miss Chase; she’s our boss’s partner.”

Paige turned toward me, her eyes full of contempt. “Lila, I thought that fall from the cliff would finally wake you up.”

“Max doesn’t care about you at all. He won’t even touch you. Even if you followed us here, he still wouldn’t look at you.”

I didn’t look at her. Instead, I calmly put on the queen mask and said, “Tonight, the drinks are on me.”

“Go put up a sign at the door: this lady and dogs are not allowed in.”

The waiter understood right away and was about to call security to have them removed.

Just then, Max walked in.

“Max, they’re mistreating customers here. I came first, but they wouldn’t let me have the private room. And this woman, she called me a dog and tried to kick me out!”

Max didn’t even look at me. He asked the waiter coldly, “How much did she invest?”

“Five hundred thousand…”

Ten minutes later, Max’s assistant came in carrying two boxes full of cash.

Max grabbed a handful of stacks and slammed them one by one onto my head. “Here’s one million. Take it and get lost. Is that enough for you?”

The sound of bills hitting the table drew everyone’s attention; all eyes turned toward us. The waiter, unable to stand it any longer, quietly reminded him, “Mr. Kennedy, she’s not just a partner, she’s your wife…”

Max let out a short laugh, his tone cold and mocking. “No wonder she’s so full of herself, an acquaintance of Lila?”

In that moment, dressed like I was, he didn’t even recognize me.

“I’m telling you, if Paige wants something, even if it belonged to Lila’s own mother, she’d still have to move aside!”

I turned to leave, but Max’s lazy voice stopped me.

“Did I say you could go? Is that how you run a business?”

“Isn’t one million enough to make you apologize to Paige Vargas? Kneel and bark twice, and I’ll let you go.”

My hands curled into fists.

The waiter froze, shocked by what he had just seen. He had never witnessed something so humiliating before and tried to help me remove the mask.

“Mr. Kennedy, this isn’t right, she really is your…”

Before he could finish, Paige quickly wrapped her arm around Max’s and gave me a mocking look.

“Forget it, Max. Is she even worth a million? Let’s just go get something to eat.”

“Only a lonely old woman would come here at this hour to drown her misery. That private room is dirty anyway.”

Max’s face finally relaxed a little. “All right, do as you please.”

“Tell your boss to throw this woman out. Kennedy Corporation will pay the penalty. If not, this bar won’t open again.”

Without looking back, he left with Paige.

I looked at Max and Paige holding hands tightly as they leaned against each other, and my heart went completely cold.

The bar owner came running after hearing the noise. She was an old friend of mine and started cursing Max angrily, calling him a monster.

She couldn’t understand why I didn’t just take off my mask and make those two lose face.

“What difference would it make if I did or didn’t?”

She stayed quiet for a moment before sighing. “A man who won’t even let you touch him, what did you ever see in marrying him?”

I gently swirled my glass, watching the red wine shimmer under the light. It looked just like the blood Max had once shed for me when he was still a boy.

After his parents went bankrupt, they had no choice but to end their lives.

The old butler, driven by greed, sold Max like a toy. I was the little slave bought by that rich man.

To avoid being poisoned mute, I pretended to be unable to speak and only used sign language. Max stabbed the rich man in defiance and was beaten again and again, left to starve over and over.

I couldn’t stand to watch such a beautiful boy die so miserably, so I shared my food with him every day. He was the only one who knew I could speak.

One night, when no one was around, I secretly set him free. But we were caught, and the rich man almost beat me to death on the spot. Max threw himself over me, shielding me from the blows, and his blood splattered across my face.

That was the first time I ever felt someone treated me like a real person.

Later, his aunt came with people to save him, and the rich man’s house was raided by the police. But we never got the chance to say goodbye.

Still, I could never forget that night, the weak sound of his voice through the pain, saying, “We have to live… grow up… and when I’m older, I’ll marry you.”

I could no longer remember how I made it through all the hardships to find him again, just as Max had long forgotten the little mute girl from back then.

The day I returned with my visa, a group of strangers dragged me to the rooftop of an abandoned building on the edge of town.

Paige’s hands were tied as she hung outside the building, yet she was smiling.

“The main character is here, let the show begin.”

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the hall, and soon Max appeared with his men.

“What are you doing?!”

“Max, Lila is angry because you ignored her to save me that day, and she wants to throw me off! Please, save me!” Paige cried.

For the first time, I saw a cold, dangerous look in Max’s eyes, and it was aimed at me.

He ordered his guards to take down the men and ran straight to Paige, pulling her up without hesitation.

He held her tightly, his face pale with fear, as if she were the most precious thing in his world.

“Thank goodness you’re safe. I won’t ever let you be in danger again.”

It was exactly the same as that time long ago.

As he brushed past me, I instinctively grabbed his hand. “Max, it wasn’t me.”

His face went white. Fighting the nausea that twisted through him, he threw my hand away.

The slap came suddenly, hard and sharp across my face. “Get away! Don’t touch me! You make me sick!”

“Paige would never lie to me. She’s the kindest girl I know.”

Blood slowly trickled from the corner of my mouth, and at that moment, I no longer wanted to explain anything.

“Lila, everyone has to face the consequences of their own actions; you’re no exception.”

“Break her hand. Make sure she remembers this lesson and never dares to touch Paige again.”

The bodyguards forced me to the ground as the iron rods came down on my arms again and again. The sound of bones cracking filled the air, and the burning pain made my vision blur.

In that haze, it felt like I was back on that night when Max had taken the beating for me. My mind drifted as I softly hummed the lullaby I had made up long ago.

Back then, he had been beaten until he lost consciousness, and I had been terrified, terrified that he wouldn’t wake up, and that there was nothing I could do to help him.

I could only stay by his side, softly singing to him, hoping it might ease even a little of his pain.

Max froze for a moment, his expression unreadable. “This tune… it sounds kind of familiar…”

He took a small step closer, trying to listen, but Paige clung to his arm.

“Max, my arm hurts so much.”

Max’s face turned cold again. He took off his coat and gently draped it over her shoulders.

“Lila, this is the last time.”

When the final rod came down, I thought, Max, I don’t owe you anything anymore.

The bar owner rushed in and took me to the hospital to set my broken bones. She didn’t trust me to stay alone, and a few days later, she came with me on a plane heading overseas.

……

Max sat in his office, his mind tangled with the gossip he’d just overheard from his employees.

“Did you hear? She got jealous and tried to push Miss Vargas off a building. Crazy, right?”

“No wonder the President won’t touch her. Even that lost child came from IVF. People say the allergy is fake, that he just finds her disgusting. Can you imagine? Married five years and still untouched…”

His mood was complicated, realizing this was how everyone spoke of Lila behind his back.

He knew his allergy came from the trauma he had carried since childhood, but things couldn’t go on like this forever.

Lila hadn’t reached out to him for days, for the first time. Maybe he should give her a real child, just to silence everyone once and for all.

For the first time, he contacted Calvin, who had also once been trapped by that wealthy man and had now managed to move on with his life.

When Calvin heard what he said, he congratulated him again and again, even saying he wanted to see a photo of the little mute.

Max sent him a picture of himself with Paige.

Half a minute later, a reply came. [Max, I think you’ve made a mistake. This girl is definitely not the little mute.]