Arthur Sterling had always been fiercely, obsessively devoted to me. Yet, just because I went to meet that girl, he drove his car straight at me. I couldn't help but ask, "Do you really like her that much?" Arthur looked at me coldly. "She was willing to take a knife for me. Could you do the same?" I let out a sharp, sudden laugh. "Absolutely not." 1 Arthur had been hiding a mistress behind my back. He hid her for six months, and I didn't suspect a thing. Until a week ago. I had my period, and out of nowhere, he remarked, "You don't seem to get cramps anymore." I froze for a second. Instantly, I realized that this bastard definitely had someone he cared about who suffered from severe period cramps. So, I casually replied, "Dr. Lee has been treating me. A few rounds of his herbal medicine cleared it right up." Arthur didn't even blink. He just gave a highly indifferent, "Hm." Three days later, I flew out of the country for a business trip. He used that time to escort a girl somewhere. The photo I received was so blurry you couldn't even make out her face. But the incredibly precious, overly protective way Arthur treated her was glaringly obvious. I wasn't surprised that Arthur cheated. I was surprised that he actually cared this much. What kind of girl is she? Driven by curiosity, I secretly flew back home without telling him. I had my driver, Old Xu, take me straight to the apartment where Arthur was keeping her. Perfect timing. Arthur had just stepped out of his Cullinan. He carelessly tossed his bespoke, high-end suit jacket onto the backseat and pulled on a cheap, generic windbreaker. He threw on a pair of glasses, messed up his perfectly styled hair, and grabbed a generic laptop bag. I couldn't help but laugh. "Is he cosplaying as Kevin from IT?" "A programmer?" Old Xu kept his head down, staying as quiet as a mouse. Once Arthur disappeared upstairs, I pushed my door open. "Wait here. I'm going up to take a look." "Boss..." "What are you afraid of? Is he going to kill me?" ... "He wouldn't kill you either!" 2 Anyone with half a brain knew that the second I went up there and exposed his secret, things between me and Arthur were going to get violently ugly. Especially since our conflicts had been escalating exponentially over the last two years. The cold wars, the screaming matches, the smashing of things—it had become our daily routine. Our most recent blowout was half a month ago. I honestly can't even remember what started it. At the climax of the argument, I grabbed a glass and hurled it directly at his head. He could have dodged it, but he didn't. He just stood there, letting the bright red blood stream down his forehead. His eyes were freezing cold. "Is there even a trace of the girl you used to be left in you?" How hilarious. I'm not like I used to be, but is he? When he changes, it's perfectly natural and justified. But when I change, it's an unforgivable sin? Knock. Knock. Knock. I rapped on the door. Arthur opened it. He still had a warm, gentle smile plastered on his face as he called back inside, "Just leave it, I'll get it." He turned around. The absolute second his eyes locked onto mine, the smile fractured and shattered. The soft, gentle warmth in his eyes instantly froze into solid ice. The transition was so flawlessly smooth it belonged in an acting masterclass. "Who is it?" A petite, pretty girl poked her head out from behind him. Meeting her gaze, I paused for a second. Arthur shifted his body to block her. "Go back inside." His low, serious tone confused the girl. A smile unexpectedly crept onto my lips. I stepped forward and extended my hand before he could stop me. "Hi, I'm a coworker of Arthur's. I need to discuss some work matters with him." Arthur gave me a flat, icy look, but silently accepted my cover story. "Stay inside. We're going to talk outside." "Is it inconvenient? Did I interrupt your time with Mrs. Sterling?" The girl's face flushed bright red, and she waved her hands frantically. "No! I'm not Mrs. Sterling! We aren't..." "Not married yet? Well, I'm sure it'll happen soon. Make sure I get an invitation to the wedding." Her face turned even redder, and she stole shy, embarrassed glances at Arthur. My smile grew wider. "By the way, my name is Mia Harrison. What's yours?" "Chloe Lin. Nice to meet you!" 3 Chloe Lin. 19 years old. A student at University H. Exceptional grades, impeccable character. That was all the information I could dig up. Arthur had completely scrubbed the rest of her background. Ultimately, I never stepped foot inside their little love nest. Under Arthur's freezing, intimidating glare, I smoothly followed him downstairs. "How did you get here?" ... "Why didn't you tell me you were back in the country?" ... "How long have you known?" ... Arthur took a deep, aggressive drag of his cigarette. "What do you want?" I scoffed out loud. Finally, getting straight to the point. "What do you think I should want?" Arthur tilted his head to look at me. "My relationship with her isn't the dirty, sleazy affair you're imagining." "She has health issues. I'm taking care of her. That's all." I dragged out a long, sarcastic "Oh." "And what if I don't believe you?" Arthur's face instantly darkened. My aura of breezy, unbothered warmth vanished completely. I got out of the car and slammed the door shut. "Mia." I turned around. The next second, the terrifying roar of an accelerating engine echoed through the garage. Arthur had one hand on the steering wheel. As the car sped aggressively directly toward me, his eyes never left mine for a microsecond. He watched my pupils dilate in horror, watched my entire body paralyze in fear. SCREECH— The bumper stopped literally touching my kneecaps. Braked to a violent halt. My mind went completely blank. For a split second, it felt like a bomb had detonated inside my skull. The car reversed, swung around, and pulled up right next to me. Arthur looked up at me from the driver's seat. "Do not touch her." That wasn't a plea. It was a lethal warning. "Boss! Are you okay?!" Old Xu stumbled over, his face the color of ash, his eyes filled with pure terror. As my knees gave out and I collapsed onto the concrete, I finally realized it wasn't my imagination. He really, truly wanted to kill me. 4 Arthur Sterling had never been a saint. He was a guy who didn't even finish middle school, yet clawed his way to his current empire. He was ruthless to others, but infinitely more ruthless to himself. When I was six, my garbage father used the excuse of taking me out to play to secretly meet up with his first love. While they were rolling around in a hotel suite, Arthur was stuck babysitting me in the living room, watching Tom and Jerry. I didn't understand why weird groaning noises were coming from the bedroom. I asked curiously, "Arthur, what are my dad and that lady doing?" He cranked the TV volume up to the max and covered my ears. "It's dirty. Don't listen." He was only a year older than me, but he took care of me flawlessly. It wasn't because he liked me so much. It was because his mother told him that if he kept me quiet and distracted, she'd give him twenty bucks. That twenty bucks was his entire allowance for the week. When I was fourteen, my dad eloped with Arthur's mom. My mother completely lost her mind. She set a fire and burned our house to the ground. Arthur was the one who carried me out of the inferno. Half of his arm still bears the burn scars from that night. He had no money for tuition, so he dropped out of school to work manual labor. I took a baseball bat and smashed his tiny, rundown apartment to pieces. I paid him $5,000 for the damages. He still refused to go back to school. Instead, he went to Yunnan to buy and trade medicinal herbs and local goods. He used the very first real paycheck he earned to buy me a princess dress. That year, I was fifteen. He was sixteen. My mother was hysterical. "Your father ran off with that slut, and you're still hanging around the bastard she spawned!" "You really are your father's child. I should have strangled you the moment you were born." Logically, I probably should have taken my mother's side. But tragically, Arthur was the one who raised me. During the years my dad was busy cheating and my mom was busy hunting him down, I lived like a complete outcast. Arthur was the only one who stayed by my side, expecting nothing in return. He could be filthy and covered in dirt, but he demanded that I always be spotlessly clean. He could be beaten black and blue, but no one was allowed to lay a single finger on me. He forbade me from telling anyone we were connected; he was terrified he wouldn't be strong enough to protect me yet. He hated seeing me cry. He would always clumsily try to wipe my tears away. He'd fiercely, aggressively order me to hold the tears in. But years later, when I truly, finally stopped crying forever... he didn't seem all that happy about it. "Honestly, if you just cried and threw a tantrum, I'd give you whatever you wanted." "Why do you always insist on fighting me tooth and nail?" 5 I lay in the hospital for a day and a half. Dr. Vance, an old friend, told me to stay dead. "Fine. Bring me a pack of cigarettes." "Smoking is strictly prohibited in the hospital." "Then I want to be discharged." "Couldn't you just use this as an opportunity to quit smoking?" "You call this an 'opportunity'? I'd be better off taking the 'opportunity' to just die." Dr. Vance rolled his eyes, refusing to indulge me any further. "What the hell is actually going on between you and Arthur?" "Usually, if you so much as scrape your knee, he loses his mind. This time, he hasn't even shown his face." I let out a cold laugh. "Finally asked, huh?" "Must have been killing you holding that in." Leo burst into the hospital room just as I was preparing to walk out, nearly tackling me. His eyes were frantic, his face completely pale. "Mia, are you okay?!" "Why are you here?" "Are you hurt anywhere?!" "Who authorized you to come back?" "Where the fuck is Arthur?!" "Is your assignment finished?" "I'm going to kill him!" ... Not a single sentence I actually wanted to hear. I kicked him hard in the shin. He didn't dodge. He just took it, then hunched his shoulders and leaned his head down in front of me. "I'm sorry." I smacked the back of his head lightly. "Did Old Xu tell you?" "No, I looked into it myself." This kid was getting sharper. As he grew older, his capabilities were expanding rapidly. He actually had the guts to run background checks on me now. "How did the business in the South go?" "They can handle it." After reporting, he still looked incredibly defiant. "There's no way I wasn't coming back." I laughed, irritated. "Fine. You're the boss." Leo followed behind me, grumbling and acting like a pathetic, whining puppy to beg for forgiveness. And we walked straight into Arthur. His expression was completely flat, and he was holding Chloe's hand. So, since I completely blew his cover, he wasn't even going to bother hiding it anymore? Leo froze for a few seconds, then his face turned murderous as he lunged forward. I kicked him right back into place. Dr. Vance stood awkwardly to the side, his face cycling through a spectrum of colors. It was a spectacularly toxic standoff. "Ms. Harrison, are you feeling sick too?" Chloe's naive, innocent voice shattered the tension. I offered her a polite smile. "Just a minor issue. What brings you here?" She looked a bit embarrassed. "I have a scar on my back. I wanted to see if they could remove it." I nodded in understanding. "Medical technology is incredible these days. I'm sure it won't be a problem." "A pretty, young girl like you shouldn't have any flaws." Chloe's face flushed bright red. "You're incredibly beautiful too, Ms. Harrison." Arthur tightened his grip on her hand. "We need to go. The specialist is waiting." "Goodbye, Ms. Harrison." As we brushed past each other, Arthur gave me a polite, sterile nod. Perfect. The textbook definition of a casual acquaintance. On the ride back, Leo's face was as dark as the bottom of a burned pot. I couldn't help but tease him. "What? If I hadn't stopped you, were you really going to brawl with Arthur right there in the hospital?" "Shouldn't I have?!" "So you're not afraid of him anymore?" He pressed his lips into a thin line. "Mia, you need to cut him off. Completely." Hah! Silly kid. 6 I picked Leo up out of a stairwell when I was twenty. He was eleven at the time. His biological father and stepmother had locked him out of the apartment. It was the dead of winter, and he was wearing a thin spring jacket, shivering violently, his body covered in dark bruises. He grabbed my pant leg, mumbling weakly that he was starving. So I took him home, made him a bowl of instant ramen, and tossed in a sausage. At that time, things between me and Arthur were incredibly toxic. He refused to let me get involved in his business, ordering me to stay out of it and just focus on studying. But he was constantly getting injured. I couldn't handle it. Money. Those few miserable dollars truly drove people to the brink of death. I surrendered to my mother. I told her I was done with Arthur and was ready to come home and inherit the family business. My mother mocked me relentlessly. But she also knew perfectly well that the shares my grandparents left behind were under my exclusive control. She hated me. But she also needed me. Since she couldn't physically force me, she recorded my surrender and played it for Arthur. Arthur didn't believe it. He believed me. So he was consumed by self-blame. He blamed himself for not being strong enough to protect me. When the self-blame became too much, we started fighting. We fought about situations, then we fought about emotions. Then we'd make up. And the cycle would repeat. Leo was an anomaly. I sporadically fed him and looked after him for about six months. Arthur didn't interfere, nor did he care. But because Arthur always had a cold, intimidating, emotionless expression, Leo was terrified of him. Later on, Leo's father discovered our arrangement. His cloudy, disgusting eyes looked me up and down with blatant, filthy lust. Leo must have heard something, because he used every cent of his saved-up allowance to buy a knife. He was terrified and completely desperate. I cooked him a bowl of noodles, confiscated the knife, and told him to stay out of it. I intentionally left the door unlocked, allowing the man to break into my apartment, rip my clothes, and pin me to the bed. I watched as his wife, who had followed him, burst into the room. They started brawling, and the man plunged a knife directly into the woman's stomach. He fled in absolute panic, grabbing all the cash from my safe on his way out. The newly installed security cameras captured the entire sequence of events in high definition. He was arrested, convicted, and given a maximum sentence. For the person I was back then, it was an absolutely flawless, perfectly executed trap. Arthur didn't say a single word. He just sat in silence, applying medicine to my bruises. After a very long time, he finally spoke. "You never should have used yourself as bait." "If something had gone wrong, what was I supposed to do?" Those were the words that stuck with me back then. But there was another sentence, one I didn't truly understand until years later. He said: "You're filthy. Go take a shower." 7 When Arthur got home, I was sitting in the living room reading a book. "Why are you still up?" "Waiting for you." It was a ridiculously rhetorical question. He knew perfectly well I was waiting for him. Just like I knew with absolute certainty that he would come back. No complex reason. Just the simple fact that I had pulled Chloe's medical records. Arthur's hand paused halfway through tossing his keys onto the table. He yanked off his tie and sat down directly across from me. "What do you want to talk about?" His absolute, unwavering composure was incredibly suffocating. I stared at him in silence. "What do you think would happen if I told Chloe everything..." Arthur's head snapped up, his eyes radiating lethal, freezing intent. "I told you. Do not touch her." "And if I insist on touching her? What are you going to do? Run me over without hitting the brakes?" "Mia, I won't touch you. But I can touch a lot of other people." That threat instantly froze the blood in my veins. The moment I stood up, the heavy book crashed onto the floor with a dull thud. I grabbed my baseball bat. "I can leave her alone." "An arm or a leg. You choose." Arthur stood up. After a long, intense staredown, he slowly extended his left arm. Without a microsecond of hesitation, the baseball bat came crashing down. I heard the distinct, sickening sound of bone shattering. Arthur's face turned ash white, and a muffled groan escaped his lips. He ground his teeth together, glaring at me. He spoke, enunciating every single syllable. "Are you satisfied now?" "Get out." He dragged his broken arm and walked toward the door. I couldn't help but ask, "Do you really like her that much?" Arthur stopped in his tracks, answering without hesitation. "She was willing to take a knife for me. Could you do the same?" In a fraction of a second, the entire room fell dead silent. I stared at Arthur's tense, rigid back. He turned around abruptly. His face was even paler than before. His lips moved slightly. "I..." But I just laughed. Leaning back lazily. "Absolutely not." 8 Chloe has a massive scar on her back. A knife wound stretching from her shoulder down to her lower back. She took it for Arthur. It happened early last year. Arthur suddenly went completely rogue, aggressively sabotaging my business deals. He was willing to lose a thousand just to cost me eight hundred. He refused to see me, ignored my calls, and offered absolutely zero explanation or reasoning. It wasn't until three months later that someone leaked the truth to me. He had been ambushed and severely injured, and he was convinced I was the one who orchestrated the hit. The sheer, catastrophic absurdity of it actually made me laugh out loud. I spent a week tracking down exactly what happened and threw the actual culprits directly at Arthur's feet. He sat in silence for a long time, then violently rubbed his face. "My fault." "I lost my damn mind." "So you think that's the exact moment our trust completely collapsed?" I didn't answer the man's question. Staring straight ahead, I asked flatly: "When Arthur suddenly transferred to the exact same elementary school as me... did you orchestrate that?" "Yeah." "Why?" "To manipulate you, obviously. His mom wanted to marry into the family, so she had to conquer us one by one. She always said that kid was a natural-born manipulator. He knew exactly what to say to whoever he was talking to. If he wanted to, he could flawlessly manipulate anyone into doing exactly what he wanted." Just like he did with me. He would tie my shoelaces, fight off the fat kid who bullied me, carry me home through the snow, and when we dropped food on the ground, he would eat the dirty piece and give me the only clean piece of chocolate. The man took a long drag of his cigarette, squinting into the sunlight. "I remember you used to pack your backpack full of expensive snacks and fruit every single day. That was all for him, wasn't it?" "See? Once he latched onto you, he didn't even have to bother charming the old ladies in his neighborhood for scraps anymore." Having heard exactly what I wanted to hear, I stood up, ready to leave. "Hey." The man called out to stop me. "I'm out of cash. Wire me some more." "Wait until next month." The man's face turned dark and hostile. "I am your father." "And that is exactly why I pay your alimony every single month." "That pathetic amount of money isn't even enough to cover my food! The inheritance your grandparents left behind was supposed to be mine! I'm not dead yet, what right do you have to inherit it?! If you don't give me the money, I'm flying back to the country." A cold smirk curled my lips. "No problem. The second your foot touches the tarmac, I will have you thrown directly into federal prison." The man gritted his teeth, glaring at me with pure venom. Suddenly, a malicious, twisted smile flashed across his face. "Do you want to know why his mother didn't leave him a single cent when she eloped with me?" "Because he told her he actually liked you, and he refused to manipulate you anymore." "If he actually ended up with you, his mother's chances of marrying into a billionaire family would be completely destroyed. Of course she tried to ruin him." "Tsk. How exactly did his mother put it? Oh, right. 'You think you're so tough? Here's ten bucks. That should be enough to keep you alive, right?'" "That kid had a spine of steel. He didn't beg or apologize once." Instantly, my expression turned to ice. "Congratulations. You just lost half of your allowance for next month." On the flight back, I didn't say a single word. Leo kept looking at me with deep concern. "Mia, every time you see him, you get incredibly depressed. Why do you keep going back?" Why? Leo didn't understand. Honestly, in the beginning, I didn't understand either. Until the man himself brutally pointed it out. "What exactly are you hoping to hear?" "Are you hoping I'll tell you that every nice thing he ever did for you was completely fake?" "Are you trying to prove to yourself that the only reason he doesn't love you now is because he never truly loved you to begin with?" "Mia, you are a pathetic, hopeless romantic!" Because his insults were incredibly vile, I slashed his allowance in half that month too. This man was my father—the man who eloped with Arthur's mother. My mother was a certified, hopeless romantic. Even after my father eloped with another woman, she continued to wire a massive sum of money to his offshore account every single month. She worked herself to the bone managing the corporation, fiercely protecting the Harrison family empire. And in the end, she pulled the ultimate, dramatic stunt. When she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she refused treatment, letting herself slowly die. Her final, dramatic parting words were: "I release you, and I release myself." My father's official review of her tragic death was: "She was fucking insane!" What love did they actually have? It was an arranged marriage. If he refused, he'd be entirely cut off from the family fortune. Even I was conceived via IVF. In my father's eyes, my mother was just a random NPC in his life. He felt utterly, inherently entitled to every single cent she gave him. I couldn't stand seeing him live so comfortably. The very month my mother died, I completely severed his funding. He screamed, threw tantrums, and cursed me violently. He said I would die a horrible death. He said I was making the ancestors roll in their graves. I just laughed. Let them roll. They deserved it. The month after I cut off his funding, Arthur's mother abandoned my father and ran off with someone else. Years ago, because his family cut off his funds, my father abandoned Arthur's mother—his first love—and married my mother. Now, because of the exact same lack of funds, Arthur's mother abandoned my father. Watching this spectacularly poetic karma play out, I practically applauded. Let them destroy each other. I only had one rule: They were permanently banned from returning to the country.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "391734", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel