I hadn’t expected that Luther, who always acted soft with me, would stand in front of Faye like that.

Right then, someone nearby chuckled and praised him. "Sure, Miss Stewart is the one Brother Luther spoils the most now."

Outside the entrance, I stood there as a cold smile slowly shaped across my face.

Not strike back? Then I wouldn’t match the name Kelly.

In the car, I sat down and opened my phone. "Tonight at twelve."

"Bring Faye Stewart to me."

"And arrange skin-patch tools and a doctor team."

Around a little past eleven, my screen lit bright.

My brother wrote, [I’ve ordered the guards to send Faye to the old home. She’ll reach there in twenty minutes.]

I was ready to answer when another friend forwarded a clip.

Once I tapped it open, Faye was smiling widely toward the lens.

"Today I made a special pattern for a certain self-styled high-class old lady."

She waved the tattoo pen toward the shot. "Guess what I carved on her? Phoenix City Must Eat List!"

"You people should’ve seen it, she’s already thirty yet still dares to show her chest. The flesh was so loose I couldn’t even keep the needle steady. I purposely pressed three times. No matter what, she’ll never erase it.

The comment section burst.

[Refreshing book lead]

[Good job!]

[Hahaha, too funny!]

As she spoke more, she grew more hyped, her eyes bright with small pride.

"I’ve met plenty like her. Holding a little family cash, all they do is buy purses, sip tea, and hook men. Unlike me, I opened a store by my own hands at twenty."

She let out a dramatic sigh. "Shame, no matter how that old lady jumps around, she’s just like that. Her man must be tired of her already."

"Next round, I’ll stream something even better. Watch how I deal with these gold-digging pests."

The clip stopped.

So angry, I let out a laugh.

Faye Stewart.

That title, I named her with my own mouth.

Five years earlier, during a village support check in the hills, I found her inside a cracked mud room.

The sixteen-year-old child curled on a straw sheet, skin marked with wounds.

Her face was pale and thin, her eyes showing low self-worth and hopelessness.

Back then, she was called Hope, meaning to bring a younger boy into the home.

She held tight to my sleeve and said, "Older sister, I want to study."

I took her to Phoenix, changed her name to Faye, meaning full moon and plenty.

Sent her to the top art college, and I personally cut the ribbon for her tattoo store after graduation.

Now she used the craft I paid for to carve five shameful words across my chest, just to mock me online.

And even had her sights on my man.

But what stunned me most was that Luther guarded her that way.

My mind was cut short by noise.

Many black-suited guards marched inside like a team.

Two of them hauled Faye over and tossed her on the ground like rubbish.

Weakly, she tried to lift her head, eyes burning with anger.

"Vera! Apart from using the Kelly family’s power to push people down, what else can you do?"

Then she suddenly seemed to recall something, her lips lifting in smug triumph.

"If you treat me like this, Brother Luther won’t let you off!"

"When he gets bored with you, do you think the Kelly clan will still want a woman thrown away by the Campbell family? Later you’ll be nothing!"

Lowering my gaze toward her, I smiled.

"When Luther chased after me back then, he didn’t even know what the Kelly family was."

Her smile went stiff.

Above her, I touched her chin lightly using the tip of my shoe.

"Sure, you’re twenty now, young and fresh."

"The skin on your face is soft and new, just right to replace the tattoo carved on my chest."

Her eyes shrank tight. "As for using power to press others down…"

I let my foot drop and took the sanitizing towel offered by the housekeeper, slowly rubbing my palms.

"You said one thing wrong."

"In Phoenix City, I am that power."

When the surgery lamp came on, the disinfectant smell made me blank out for a breath.

Right then, I clearly pictured Luther at eighteen.

He always chose the front seat, back straight.

The neckline of his shirt was bleached pale, threads sticking out fine.

Once, he burned with fever and skipped class for three days. When I found him, he was hauling cement at a building site.

I slipped five thousand dollars into his backpack.

He chased behind me across three streets to return it, voice rough. "Classmate, Vera, please leave me some dignity.”

After that, I just "accidentally" carried extra breakfast, and "casually" loaned him review notes.

During the Winter Solstice evening, he held two baked sweet potatoes, stood out in minus ten degrees until dormitory lights-out, and once he saw me, the first line he spoke was, "Vera, can you wait for me?"

Years later, he rose from nothing until his company got listed.

He held me close the entire night, voice tight.

"In those times, I slept only three hours each day, scared I couldn’t stay beside you, scared you’d notice I needed a whole week just to manage one cup of coffee with you."

One day, when he visited my parents, the moment he spotted my dad in the living room, he finally realized.

The "Kelly" in Vera Kelly was the Kelly of the Kelly family.

Luther told me afterward, at that second, his thoughts were full of. "So the goal I chased with everything I owned, couldn’t even touch your starting place."

After knowing my background, he became known for his harsh ambition.

He pushed himself near collapse to grab deals and funding, to squeeze into Phoenix high circles.

He later used ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine gold roses to build a rose field to ask me to marry him.

Back then, what line did he speak?

He said the purpose of his life was to grow good enough for me.

As anesthesia faded bit by bit, a prick spread across my chest.

The affection Luther once gave me was grand and shining.

Sadly, it was quick to vanish.

Vows were only most lovely right when they were spoken.

The talk of “forever” didn’t last past seven years.

"Miss?"

I jolted awake, fingertips brushing the wet edge of my eye.

My chest ached endlessly.

The housekeeper spoke softly, "Mr. Campbell has come back."

Head lowered, the skin over my chest had been neatly changed.

Slightly pink, but smooth and clean, no sign left behind.

Luther walked in holding shopping bags, his face wearing that once-gentle smile.

He set the brand-marked bags aside and reached out toward my cheek.

"Vera, Faye crossed the line today."

"I bought you a fresh necklace. Don’t bother fighting her, okay?"

The surgeons had already gone; only a few guards stayed.

Luther noticed nothing strange.

He smiled while opening the jewelry case; the stones shone brightly. "I swear she won’t pull nonsense again."

When he said Faye’s name, even he didn’t hear the softness in his tone.

Quietly, I stared at him.

The Luther standing here wore a watch priced in tens of millions.

The shirts, once worn thin, now had pearl-like buttons.

Even the light gardenia smell on him matched the scent in Faye’s hair.

Seeing the upscale air settled around him now, I suddenly recalled that Winter Solstice when he was eighteen.

He stood under snow, the cuff of his padded coat leaking cotton, yet he hid the roasted sweet potatoes inside his jacket to keep them hot.

"Vera?"

Seeing that I stayed quiet, he moved one step nearer.

The gardenia smell became thicker.

Faye suddenly dashed out, stumbling as she fell into Luther’s arms.

"Brother Luther!"

"Her people had held me down and forcefully sliced off skin from my body…"

"Didn’t you say you would guard me forever? It hurts so much…"

Luther’s breath clearly paused.

He stared at the wrapped spot on her chest, then at the smooth surface on mine, his throat bobbing hard.

His tone sank, heavy and cold. "Vera, how did you turn into this?"

"So… heartless?"

Faye quietly cried in his embrace, yet the look she threw at me was bold, proud.

"She’s so young, leaving such a large wound on her body, how will she manage later?"

His voice grew harsher. "Do you need to break her before you feel satisfied?"

Watching him shield Faye like that, I suddenly recalled the eighteen-year-old Luther.

Back then, he was careful; even when he held me, he never dared squeeze his arms tight.

Yet he made his first promise, saying he would guard me for all his life.

I lightly ran my hand across the fresh skin on my chest, pressing down the sharp ache in my heart.

"And have you ever wondered what I should do, walking around with lines like that carved on me?"

"She inked that on my body. I take some of her skin. It’s equal."

Luther parted his lips, yet nothing came out. He fell quiet.

Seeing this, Faye curled deeper in his arms, then suddenly shrieked wildly, "Brother Luther! I am already carrying your baby!"

"You cannot let her treat me like this! Take me away! Please take me away!!"

I froze like being hit by thunder, staring as happiness clearly lit up in Luther’s eyes.

He gently lifted Faye into his arms sideways, moving softly like holding something precious.

His brows and eyes were bright with open joy. "Don’t fear, we will go to the hospital right now."

He rushed past me without even slowing, only throwing back one line. "Vera, you should cool down and learn how to act as Mrs. Campbell properly."

From that second on, Luther didn’t step home for three full months.

He brought Faye to Switzerland to watch the snow.

She casually said she liked the Alps, and he soon bought a mountain house, ownership written only under her name.

Then they headed to Venice.

Faye shared pictures online, wearing the vintage jewelry set Luther ordered for her, an eighteenth-century sapphire necklace shining bright on her neck.

[There is always someone quietly making every wish happen. So this must be how it feels to be valued.]

Luther’s preference had always been open, just like when he chased me before, never knowing how to hide it.

I stared at that photo for a long while, until my eyes stung and went blurry.

Head bent down, I turned the ring on my ring finger, the tiny diamond ring he paid for with his first month's intern pay.

"Uncle Jovan."