At our engagement party, he screamed in my face.

"You venomous bitch! You killed my mother?"

He ground her life-saving medicine under his heel. She died in my arms.

So I stabbed him. He sent me to prison for two years.

Seven years later, he's a CEO, and I'm a ghost in the crowd.

He raises a glass.

"Her knife didn't kill me, but it carved out the last of my heart."

"Does she regret it?" he asks the world.

Oh, I do.

I regret that my knife didn't cut deep enough.

————————

1

Liam Chandler's gaze fell upon me.

The reporters followed his line of sight, turning their cameras on me.

"Who is that woman? Judging by her clothes, she doesn't look like she belongs at this conference."

"Mr. Chandler’s eyes are blazing when he looks at her. Could she be the woman from the rumors?"

Just then, a woman in a haute couture gown walked over quickly.

The reporters immediately turned their cameras to her.

Her name was Holly Quinn, once my best friend.

Now, she was Liam Chandler's fiancée.

She draped herself over Liam Chandler's arm, like a couple deep in love.

The next second, she saw me, and her expression froze.

"Claire?"

She walked toward me hesitantly.

Liam Chandler's friend, Chase Harlan, immediately rushed over.

He spread his arms to shield Holly Quinn, taking a protective stance.

"Holly, get away from her! She’s psychotic!"

"Have you forgotten? This is the woman who nearly killed Liam with a cake knife! Everyone, stay away from her!"

At his instigation.

All the reporters in the room looked at me with contempt.

After he finished.

Holly Quinn put on a saintly act.

She glided toward me gracefully.

"Please, don't report baseless rumors. Claire… she was once my best friend."

"She definitely didn't mean to stab Liam with that knife! Please don't twist the story."

"Now… now she's been released from prison…"

She choked up, her gaze sweeping over me.

"You can see from her clothes… she must be having a hard time. I'm begging you, please leave her alone, okay?"

Thanks to her performance.

The looks I received from the crowd grew even more disgusted.

I just found it all tedious.

I picked up the cupcake I had gotten for my daughter and turned to leave.

Chase Harlan darted forward, blocking my path.

"What do you think you're doing? What’s in the cupcake? A weapon? As long as I'm here, you won't hurt anyone!"

I couldn't be bothered to waste my breath on him.

"Excuse me, I'm going to the restroom."

I got to the restroom.

My daughter Ruby’s name flashed on the screen.

"Mommy, when are you coming back? Aren't there lots of cupcakes at the conference? Can you bring one for Ruby?"

"You little glutton, I know. Mommy will be back as soon as I'm done here."

Just as I hung up, the restroom door was violently kicked open.

A face, dark with fury, appeared before me.

Even after seven years, Liam Chandler’s face.

Was still so handsome it was arresting.

But my heart felt nothing.

"What? It's been so long, and not even a hello?"

I heard the sarcasm in his voice.

Unwilling to meet his gaze, I lowered my head and said,

"Mr. Chandler, hello."

After speaking, I tried to pull away and leave.

But he seized my wrist.

He pinned me tightly against the corner of the wall and sneered.

"This is your attitude? Not like you at all."

"What, did two years in prison break you? You didn't even let me know you were out?"

He moved closer, his hot breath fanning against my ear, his tone full of condescension.

"Short on cash? You should have told me. If I was feeling generous, I might have helped you out. Then you wouldn't have had to stoop to being a janitor here, right?"

He sized me up, his eyes full of disdain.

I was dressed simply today because I didn't want to attract attention, yet he mistook me for a janitor.

My tone remained calm, tinged with a distant politeness.

"Thank you for your concern, Mr. Chandler, but I won't trouble you."

Just then, Holly Quinn hurried over.

Only then did Liam Chandler move away from me.

He turned and pulled Holly Quinn into his arms.

He looked at me with a taunting expression.

"Holly, an old friend is here. Aren't you going to chat for a bit?"

Hearing this, Holly Quinn immediately put on a fragile, innocent expression.

She stepped forward and grabbed my hand.

"Claire, I'm so sorry! After you were… gone, Liam and I got together…"

"Don't get the wrong idea, we didn't betray you!"

"Also, Liam and I are getting engaged soon. I hope you can come, okay?"

As she spoke, her eyes actually reddened slightly.

Liam Chandler lit a cigarette, blowing out clouds of smoke, waiting to see my reaction.

After all, in the past, I would fly into a rage whenever I saw him get close to another woman.

But today, I just said lightly,

"Congratulations to you both."

The smile on Liam Chandler's face froze instantly.

He viciously ground out the cigarette in his hand.

He whipped his head around, his eyes piercing me like shards of ice.

"What’s with the act? You hear I'm engaged to another woman, and you're this calm?"

"Back then, you pulled every stunt imaginable to marry me, to become the mistress of the Chandler family—you even drove my mother to her death!"

His sinister eyes locked onto me, as if he wanted to tear me to shreds.

Seeing this, Holly Quinn quickly stepped in to play the peacemaker.

"Liam, don't say that to Claire. She probably just loved you too much back then and used some extreme methods, crossing your boundaries."

Chase Harlan followed them over.

He looked at me with the same expression of disgust.

"Holly, you're just too kind, that's why you get fooled by people like her!"

"You treat her like your best friend, but who knows when she'll stab you in the back?"

He turned to Liam Chandler, adding fuel to the fire.

"Your mother was so good to her, wasn't she? She even gave her the family heirloom! And what did she do? She lured your mother to the rooftop… and forced her to jump!"

Hearing Chase Harlan bring up the past again.

Liam Chandler finally couldn't take it anymore and roared,

"Enough!" He slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again.

His eyes were pure venom.

"I should have torn you limb from limb back then! Let you feel what it's like to fall from twenty-eight stories, to feel your bones shatter!"

Faced with his teeth-gritting rage, I just said lightly,

"It wasn't me."

But he scoffed.

"Heh, you haven't changed. Still so stubborn. You have the guts to do it, but not to admit it?"

I looked at him, my expression unchanging.

"And you're just like you were back then, never willing to believe me."

His expression stiffened, words of rebuttal catching in his throat. In the end, he swallowed them back down.

Before leaving, Chase Harlan's gaze fell on something I was carrying.

It was a carefully framed painting.

His eyes shifted, and he suddenly reached out and swiped it to the ground!

With a crash, the glass of the frame instantly shattered!

A nearby drink spilled all over it.

The sound of shattering glass made Liam Chandler, Holly Quinn, and Chase Harlan all stop in their tracks.

Their gazes all turned toward it.

I rushed forward and grabbed Chase Harlan's wrist.

"Fix it."

Chase Harlan gave me a cold glance, shook off my hand, his face showing not a hint of apology.

"It's just a stupid painting, what's the big deal? The glass is broken, how can I put it back?"

He was clearly in the wrong, yet he acted as if it was perfectly justified and turned to leave.

A shard of glass from the edge of the frame cut my finger, and a drop of blood fell.

"Claire!" Holly Quinn ran over, dripping with false concern.

"Claire, it's a small thing, don't be angry! Chase is just clumsy, he didn't do it on purpose." She glanced at the mess on the floor.

"If you want this painting, I can help you get it reframed, okay?"

Before she could finish, Liam Chandler had already walked over, his face grim.

A flicker of contempt crossed his eyes.

He pulled a thick roll of cash from his pocket, waved it in the air, and then slammed it down in front of me!

"Isn't it money you want?"

His voice was ice-cold.

"How much? Is this enough? If not, I'll give you more!"

Seeing this, Chase Harlan at his side immediately put on a mocking expression of feigned understanding.

"Oh~! So that's your game? This is your new extortion racket now that you're out of prison?"

"You pick high-end places like this, use some worthless junk, and try to blackmail 'rich people' like us? You really are a calculating bitch!"

I took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil of emotions inside me.

I repeated in a low, clear voice,

"Please… fix it for me."

My daughter drew this herself. It means the world to me.

I couldn't let her precious gift be ruined.

But Chase Harlan seemed to have been provoked, becoming even more arrogant.

He bent down and snatched up the ruined painting.

Right in front of me, he made a move as if to snap it in two!

"So what if I wreck it?"

He stared at me provocatively.

"Are you going to try to kill me this time?"

Watching his violent actions, my suppressed rage finally snapped.

I suddenly grabbed the broken frame from the floor.

And with all my strength, I threw it at Chase Harlan!

"Bang!"

The frame didn't hit Chase Harlan, but it struck Holly Quinn, who was standing right behind him!

"Ah—!"

Holly Quinn cried out in pain.

A shard of glass had left a bloody scratch on her arm.

She leaned close to me and said in a voice only I could hear,

"Why didn't you just die in prison? If you had died, the truth about Liam's mother's death would have remained a secret forever."

"And another thing. Even after he destroyed your mother's medicine in front of you, his conscience got the better of him. He asked me to take a fresh supply to the hospital. Too bad he asked the wrong person."

Staring into her venomous eyes, I finally understood.

So, all of this was her doing.

Like an unchained beast, I lunged forward and grabbed her by the throat.

"You bitch, why would you do this? Why!"

Then, a sharp pain shot through my shoulder.

Liam Chandler had picked up a wine bottle and smashed it down on me.

His pupils contracted, a flicker of panic in his eyes.

But in the end, he still turned and rushed to Holly Quinn, pulling her into his arms.

After checking her injuries, he looked up sharply.

His eyes, like daggers, bored into me.

"Claire Winters, it's been seven years, and you still haven't changed!"

"It was just a stupid painting! Was it worth trying to kill someone over? Or was prison not enough for you?"

I clutched my throbbing shoulder, stalking toward him step by step.

"Haven't changed? At least I'm not like you, still blind to who people really are after seven years."

"Prison? At least it taught me that you don't reason with dogs."

He didn't speak, a sharp glint in his eyes.

A wave of dizziness washed over me, and I collapsed toward the floor.

In the moment I fell, I seemed to see the Liam Chandler from seven years ago.

The year he loved me most.

He caught me steadily, his worried voice calling out in my ear.

"Claire, are you okay? Wake up."