To punish my defiance, he even used his connections in the city.

He bound me and Seb tightly together.

No separation, no divorce.

For this lifetime, whether love or hatred, we could only be together.

Back then, Seb knelt before me.

He swore he would love me forever, that I would never regret my choice.

But in the second year of our marriage, he betrayed us.

Seb, holding his mistress, looked at me with righteous anger.

“Yes, I cheated. So what can you do?”

“Charlie, you have no home.”

“For the rest of your life, you’re tied to me!”

I cried as I called my family, saying I regretted what I had done.

My father hung up coldly, and my mother watched without emotion.

They said this was the path I chose, and I had to walk it to the end, even if I cried.

Knowing I wouldn’t leave, Seb grew more arrogant and reckless.

He kept countless mistresses, gossip spreading everywhere.

Now he even brought his mistress home openly.

But what he didn’t know was that when I left, my father and I made a ten-year pact.

We bet on how long our love would last.

If I won, he would use everything he had to protect my marriage.

If I lost, I would return and accept an arranged marriage.

Because of Seb.

This marriage, this wager.

I lost everything.

While Seb drove, I dialed that familiar number.

“Dad, I lost.”

“A bet is a bet. I’ll return to New York in three days to get married.”

My father had never lost at the gambling table.

Faced with this expected outcome, he showed no surprise.

He only gave a brief reply and a few instructions.

“Charlie, you are my eldest daughter. You must inherit this family business.”

“The past is the past. I won’t pursue it, but remember one thing.”

“Don’t take what you shouldn’t take, and don’t leave what you shouldn’t leave behind.”

What I shouldn’t have taken was the child in my womb.

What I shouldn’t have left behind was the family business I built for Seb.

These ten years of suffering are the lessons he taught me to never forget.

“I understand, Dad.” After hanging up, Seb was already honking downstairs, urging me to hurry.

I got into the passenger seat of a car bearing another woman’s name.

We didn’t speak the entire way.

He pretended not to see the coldness on my face.

I pretended not to smell the sharp perfume in the car.

As I stepped out, Seb habitually reached to help me.

His rolled-up sleeve revealed a long knife scar.

For a moment, a dull ache rose in my chest.

To be with me, Seb had endured eighteen knife wounds, barely clinging to life.

The man who once loved me enough to give his life.

Now… how did he become like this?

Before I could think further, a woman took Seb’s arm.

“Seb, it’s been so long since you visited me.”

“What brings you here today?”

“Did you fight with your tigress at home, or is your new love no fun?”

It was Lily Harrington.

Lily was the most favored among Seb’s lovers.

And the one who stayed by his side the longest.

She clung to his arm, acting coy.

Her full chest brushed against him again and again.

Seb smiled broadly.

Ignoring me, he produced a ruby necklace to appease Lily.

“What are you saying? I could forget anyone, but never my little darling.”

“I flew all the way to New York just to buy you this necklace. It suits your fair skin.”

“Alright, go play by yourself for a while. I need to accompany my wife to her prenatal checkup.”

“I’ll come find you after.”

He patted Lily’s backside as he finished speaking.

Looking at the dazzling necklace, I nearly laughed out loud.

Men who claw their way up from nothing are indeed shrewd and calculating.

One set of jewelry, broken apart and handed to so many women.

The earring in my ear burned into my heart.

I casually removed it and tossed it into the trash.

As I turned around, I accidentally overheard a few passersby whispering.

They were curious about the relationship between the three of us.

One leaned in to listen, but was pulled back by a companion.

“Are you crazy? Didn’t you see the woman beside him?”

“That’s… the gambling king’s daughter.”

The gambling king’s daughter.

I hadn’t heard that title in a long time.

Before I could respond, Lily snorted first.

She looked at me with disdain, her face filled with contempt.

“What gambling king’s daughter? She’s just a useless woman kicked out of her family, clinging to the Blackwood household.”

“An old, worn-out hag, only able to keep her husband because of the child in her belly.”

“What’s there to fear? I despise these parasitic old women the most!”

A parasite.

Then what is Seb, who rose to power relying on me?

What is Lily, living off Seb’s support?

When did the thug and the mistress get together?

Was it after my first miscarriage?

Was it when I drank until I had stomach bleeding to help Seb secure deals?

Or when Seb was hunted by enemies, and I was shot protecting him, left unconscious?

It’s been too long. I can’t remember.

I only remember Seb getting together with this seductive nurse while I was hospitalized.

They were like dry wood meeting raging fire, blindingly passionate.

During that time, Lily sent me messages constantly.

I lay alone in my hospital bed, my face deathly pale.

No one was there.

Lily lay in another bed, cheeks flushed.

My husband was holding her.

So many years have passed, and Lily is still so arrogant.

It’s easy to imagine how much Seb indulged her.

But it doesn’t matter.

After I leave, they can be together openly.

What I need to do now is remove the burden in my womb.

Ignoring the two lovers flirting beside me, I walked into the operating room.

Dr. Harper already knew I was pregnant.

Before he could congratulate me, I handed him the report.

“I want an abortion.”

Dr. Harper froze.

After reading the report, his expression grew heavier.

“Mrs. Blackwood, are you truly certain?”

“The baby is healthy. You’ve tried for so many years—this finally happened…”

My first miscarriage was when I was twenty.

We had just come to the city, poor and struggling.

We lived in a basement in Harbin, unable to afford even a thick winter coat.

I was used to New York’s damp heat and couldn’t endure the bitter cold.

I collapsed from the cold while delivering food to Seb.

When I woke up, the child was gone.

My body was damaged as well.

Back then, I was young. With proper care, I could have recovered.

But we were too poor.

Busy making money. Busy staying alive.

Just when my career was finally starting to improve,

I was busy catching my husband cheating, busy dealing with his mistress.

Before and after that, everything dragged on until now.

In the beginning, Seb was penniless. He knelt beside my bed and said to me,

“Charlie, I’ll make something of myself and repay all the suffering you’ve endured.”

Later, Seb rose to success. Holding his mistress, he looked at me and said,

“Charlie, I know everything you’ve done for me.”

“I promise no woman will replace you, and none of them will have a child before you.”

“Everything I have will belong to our child.”

Now…

I look out the window at the two people clinging tightly to each other.

I shake my head and smile bitterly.

“Let’s get rid of it. I’m returning to New York soon, and a child would be inconvenient.”

“Besides, Seb smokes, drinks, and lives a chaotic life.”

“How could a child born under such circumstances be healthy?”

My father built his fortune on my mother’s connections.

After becoming successful, he kept countless mistresses.

That’s why I longed so desperately for genuine love.

But the first time I caught Seb in bed, he showed no remorse.

Instead, he scolded me self-righteously.

“Charlie, what’s wrong with you?”

“Your father had more than one mistress. What’s wrong with me having some fun?”

“Think about what your mother endured!”

“You grew up watching all this. Why haven’t you learned how to be a proper, wealthy wife?”

He used my deepest wounds to stab me.

At that moment, I knew.

Our love was already over.

But because of that ten-year promise, I couldn’t leave Seb.

I could only watch as he humiliated my dignity and trampled my feelings.

The wedding I fought for over many years became a prison.

Love once engraved in my heart became his weapon.

I’ve suffered enough from family and love.

Rather than let this child repeat my fate,

I chose to end this irreparable marriage myself.

When I opened my eyes again, the surgery was over.

The child I had longed for for so many years, along with our love,

turned into a pool of blood, flushed away.

Watching the city sink into darkness, I suddenly wondered.

How did Seb and I end up like this?

Was it because of Lily?

Or because of… that incident?

It no longer mattered.

Whatever the reason.

Betrayal and hurt were undeniable.

I hailed a taxi, planning to go back and pack my things.

While waiting, I saw Seb at the intersection. He and Lily walked hand in hand through the crowd.

Their sweet intimacy looked like a young couple deeply in love.

Lily kissed Seb on the cheek and smiled.

“I had my checkup today. The baby is healthy.”

“The doctor says it’s a boy. You’ll have a son in five months!”

Seb smiled.

He gently took off his coat and placed it over Lily.

“You silly girl, you don’t even know how to take care of yourself while pregnant.”

“I bought a villa in the south. Let’s move there together.”

“The winters in Harbin are too cold. I’m afraid you won’t manage.”

Then Seb kept talking.

He talked about precautions during pregnancy.