She softly soothed Julian.

Then, without a change in expression, she ordered her men to clean up the blood on the floor.

Finally, she turned her gaze to me.

“Shannon, I can’t believe you still haven’t given up on Julian.”

“The moment you heard he was getting married, you couldn’t wait to rush back.”

“What, still fantasizing about marrying him and continuing to be the Vaughn family princess?”

“Let me tell you, it’s impossible. From beginning to end, I am the only one Julian has ever loved!”

I looked at her without a word.

But in my mind, countless memories came flooding back.

My meeting with Julian was an accident.

The day we first met was a bitterly cold winter day.

He was being chased by loan sharks and collapsed, covered in wounds, in front of my car.

I looked into his untamed eyes and said to my father.

“Papa, give me a stray dog.”

My father laughed and agreed, bringing Julian home.

That was the first life he owed me.

Without me, even if he hadn't been beaten to death, he would have frozen to death that winter.

When Julian first came to the Vaughn estate, he was like a startled wild beast.

He didn’t even dare to raise his head when he saw me.

He would only mumble, “Young Miss.”

My father had many soldati under him.

But among them all, Julian was the most handsome and the most stubborn.

From a young age, I loved to tease him.

I loved kicking my high heels at him, ordering him to kneel and put them on for me.

I loved seeing the look of restrained endurance in his eyes.

I loved how he'd act indifferent to me, yet obey me absolutely.

He never tried to please me, but he would carry out my commands to perfection.

Those puppy-like eyes always managed to please me.

Back then, no one paid him any mind.

They just thought of him as my personal plaything.

But gradually, Julian revealed his astonishing talent.

He killed for my father, expanded the family’s territory.

Step by step, he became my father's Underboss.

Before my father passed away, he became my Uncle Julian.

After my father was gone, Julian honored his last wish and took care of me.

For eight years, he spoiled me to the heavens.

For me, he would walk through fire and climb mountains of knives.

Our relationship gradually spun out of control.

Every corner of the old estate held traces of our passionate entanglements.

I liked to leave bite marks on his skin, claiming my ownership.

He, in turn, would respond to my provocations with rough kisses and possession.

Back then, I had fantasized about forever.

I thought I would keep that mad dog, Julian, chained to my side for a lifetime.

It was a pity that our youthful love...

...came to such a tragic end.

Julian killed my mother.

He killed that kind woman who only knew how to fast and pray, who shed tears before my father’s portrait.

The wedding I had anticipated for years became my nightmare.

All I remember is my mother’s blood soaking my wedding dress.

A world of crimson.

Julian pressed my head down, whispering like a demon.

“I never loved you.”

Marrying you was, at first, because your father forced me.

Later, it was because of hate.

He said Sophia Rossi was his true love.

Just because someone saw Sophia secretly bringing him medicine after he was injured.

Her face was slashed and she was driven out of the Vaughn estate.

Because of that, he hated me, hated the Vaughn family.

“Sophia and I were innocent! What right did you have to hurt her!”

“She was the only pure thing in my heart, and I won’t allow anyone to defile her!”

“Shannon, you must pay the price for this!”

He gripped my slender ankle and pointed to a dog cage not far away.

A half-smile played on his lips. “Don’t you like me so much? Don’t you want to be with me?”

“I’m going to break your legs and keep you chained to my side forever!”

It was only then that I understood.

Julian’s hatred for me ran so deep.

He hated me, and he hated himself.

He hated me for making him stain his hands with blood, for pushing him past the point of no return.

He hated me for standing in his and Sophia’s way.

So, he wanted to drag me down with him, to rot together in this sunless hell.

I didn’t know if there was a misunderstanding in all of this.

I only knew that my mother, who only wished for good, was innocent.

Just as my eighteen-year-old heart, which I gave to Julian, was also innocent.

The life I saved back then could be balanced out by the eight years he raised me.

But the murder of my mother was a debt that could only be paid in blood.

I had to make him pay with his life.