1 Alison Shaw’s startup collapsed, drowning me in debt. My archaeologist’s hands grew calloused hauling rebar for five years. When I finally saved enough, I trudged to the loan shark—only to find Alison lounging in a private dining room, curled against Jerry Prince with aristocratic ease. The loan shark and my foreman groveled before her: "Miss Shaw, we docked his pay, but he still saved $75K." Alison’s fingers traced Jerry’s jaw. "No matter. Just add $1.5M to his debt. He’ll slave forever." "Saw $75K shoes I liked," Jerry murmured. "Of course, darling," she purred. Then I realized—Shaw Holdings, the city’s largest firm, was hers. The CEO I’d once encouraged her to surpass... was Alison herself. I stood frozen outside the door, a pathetic figure hiding in the shadows, a bitter sting in my eyes. Inside, Jerry’s voice was laced with arrogance. “It’s my fault, really. I insisted on studying abroad after college. Alison was lonely, so she found Adrian to pass the time. He’s been clinging to her ever since.” Alison and I had fallen in love in college, a whirlwind of sweet, tender moments. She was so good to me, couldn’t bear to see me suffer the slightest injustice. After graduation, I was headhunted by a world-class archaeology team, while she dove into the world of startups. Less than three months later, she declared bankruptcy, saddled with colossal debt. To pay it off for her, I didn't hesitate. I resigned from my dream job, where the starting pay was too low to make a dent. I threw myself into the brutal, thankless labor of a construction site. When the debt collectors showed up at our door, it was me who fell to my knees, begging them, head to the floor, for just a few more days. I never felt the hardship, because I believed our love could conquer anything. I never imagined the love itself was a lie. Hollowed out by despair, I made a call. It was to the woman who had led my old archaeology team. “Eva? It’s Adrian… That overseas project… is there still a spot for me?” There was a stunned silence on the other end, then an explosion of joy. “Of course! God, Adrian, I told you a hundred times not to quit! It’s a crime to let hands like yours go to waste on anything but archaeology!” She paused, her tone growing serious. “But this is a high-level security project. Once you’re out, it’s five years minimum. You need to be sure.” I looked down at my hands, a roadmap of scars and calluses. “I’m sure, Eva.” A chorus of cheers erupted in the background. My old team. My friends. “Hahaha, I knew he’d come around!” “Adrian Croft, you get your ass back here right now! We’ve been waiting for you!” Eva laughed, shushing them before speaking with formal gravity. “Adrian Croft, Project Dawnbreaker officially recalls you to active duty. We deploy in five days. Get your affairs in order.” After hanging up, I pushed open the door to the private room. Alison immediately shot up and rushed to my side. “Darling, you’re finally here! Mr. Wang was getting impatient.” The loan shark, taking his cue, puffed out his chest, his face a mask of contempt. “Look at this. These days, the debtor is the king, making the lender wait.” He sneered. “Where’s the money? Hurry up. All this skulking around gives me a headache.” Jerry swirled his wine, shooting me a sideways glance. “Probably didn’t scrape it all together. Hey, look what he’s wearing. Maybe he knows you have a taste for pretty boys, Wang. Came to sleep off the debt.” Alison had told me today was our anniversary. She’d given me a suit—a ridiculously provocative, open-weave suit—and told me to wear it for our celebration. Wang’s eyes roamed over my body like slimy slugs. Alison feigned indignation. “If you have the money, then pay up. What’s with this pathetic act? Don’t tell me you actually had that in mind.” I had been instinctively moving closer to her for protection, but her words froze me in place. I didn’t want to pay. But she had taken out the loan in my name. I handed the bank book to Wang, desperate for this to be over. He grabbed my hand as he took it, his grip tight. “Don’t be in such a hurry to leave. This is only seventy-five thousand. Your girlfriend still owes me one and a half million.” He produced a fresh IOU. The ink was still wet. Alison pulled my hand from his grasp, flashing Wang a look of pure ice before her expression melted into one of apology for me. “I’m so sorry, darling. I’m just so useless.” She looked up at me, her eyes pleading. “Could you just… go back to the site for a few more years? I promise, this is the last time.” The foreman chimed in right on cue. “Our site is a humble place. Mr. Croft here tendered his resignation the moment he got his wages. We can’t take back someone so ungrateful.” He gestured to Jerry. “But, our site’s real boss is right here. Why don’t you get on your knees and beg Mr. Prince?” Jerry, lounging in his chair, watched with amusement. “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly. Mr. Croft is a university graduate. I’m not worthy of his respect.” He smirked. “But the foreman was your superior. How about you service him, make him happy, and then I’ll consider it?” I watched their performance, a cold wave of desolation washing over me. I wasn’t a fool. I remembered how real her love felt at the beginning. 2 Right after we graduated, she was ready to drop everything and follow me into the desolate deserts of the northwest for my work. But then came the cave-in. She threw herself over me, taking the brunt of the impact before being knocked unconscious. I clawed through the rubble with my bare hands until they were raw and bleeding, crawling out on my last breath to scream for help. When I woke up, something in her had changed. A glacial shift. We were penniless back then. Her surgery was expensive. I swallowed my pride and went to my teammates, borrowing from everyone I could. I scraped together just enough to cover her costs. My own broken leg, I just gritted my teeth and bore the pain. To this day, it aches deep in the bone whenever the rain comes. That fifteen hundred dollars for her surgery. It’s laughable. To the real Alison, it was less than the cost of a bottle of wine. But she watched, cold and silent, as that pittance of a debt nearly broke my back. That was also when Jerry appeared, introduced as her “childhood friend.” He swept into our small desert town like a prince, all flash and money, turning every head. He repeatedly came to my dig site to cause trouble, belittling my work and my skills. Once, he complained he was cold. To keep him warm, Alison threw my archaeology journals into the fire. Those were my field notes—months of sleepless nights, the very key to my application for a global fellowship. The same notes she once treasured, helping me organize them every night. With one careless word from Jerry, they were reduced to ash. Alison didn’t even blink. “He comes from a noble family. He’s bound to be a bit arrogant. Just bear with it.” I thought she was still angry, blaming me for the accident. I spent that time trying to win her back, trying to please her in every way, even offering myself to her. In our shabby rented room, she rediscovered a certain hunger. For a month, she didn’t let me leave that room. We plumbed the depths of desperation and desire. Her mood softened. She suggested we return to the capital so she could start her business. I resigned immediately and followed her back. I never expected it would lead to this. Alison buried her face in my chest, her voice a low murmur. “Darling, Jerry is a kind person. Just beg him properly. I’m sure he’ll let you go back to work. You’ve been on a construction site for five years. No one else will hire you.” She was pushing me into hell, all while pretending it was for my own good. I couldn’t take it anymore. I shoved her away and stormed out. Back at our "home," I started packing. For five years, to save money, we had lived in a cramped tin-walled shack on the construction site. One room, shared with six other guys. The only space that was ours was a single, small bed, curtained off for a sliver of privacy. Alison was often out late, working “odd jobs,” she said. She rarely slept here. I thought she was being considerate, knowing how cramped it was for two. Now I realized it was pure disdain. She only came back when she wanted sex. She was never quiet. The entire shack could hear everything. And when she was finished, she would leave, leaving me alone to face the leering, knowing glances of the other men. The men on the site were lonely. They weren’t picky. And I was fair-skinned. I endured more than my share of humiliation. The memory brought a fresh wave of shameful tears. Alison burst in and saw me packing. Her face contorted with rage. “You’re actually quitting? What, you’re too proud for this work now? What’s next, are you going to leave me, too?” I turned, my gaze locking onto hers. “It’s not that I don’t want you anymore. It’s that I can’t afford you, Miss Shaw.” She saw the tears streaming down my face and froze, a flicker of fear in her eyes. “You… you know?” That fleeting expression. It was so familiar. It was the look of the university student I fell in love with, the one who looked at me with such aching tenderness. I met her in our sophomore year. She pursued me relentlessly. Back then, she was the vibrant, popular girl on campus. I was an orphan who had to fight for everything. We were worlds apart. I didn’t have the courage to start a relationship with no clear future. But she never gave up. She was just… there. A quiet presence while I studied, took exams, worked part-time jobs. Then, in our junior year, she told me her family had gone bankrupt. She asked if she could stay with me. I opened my life to her without reservation. I found her part-time work, taught her how to handle difficult customers and unreasonable bosses. Naturally, we fell in love. Just before we graduated, she worked for three months at a bar, enduring countless indignities, to buy me a necklace. It was a simple chain with a plain silver band, plated in gold, hanging from it. She knew my ambitions were vast. She said she didn’t want to trap me in marriage. She said that whenever I felt ready for a home, I should just put on that ring, and she would come running to marry me. I laughed at her then. “What makes you so sure I’ll ask?” She hugged me tightly. “I, Alison Shaw, will marry no one but Adrian Croft in this life.” She paused. “But… if you ever decide you don’t want me, you can use this ring to ask for one favor instead.” “Any favor?” She nodded solemnly. “Even if you asked for my life, I would give it to you.” The memory of that happiness shattered, revealing the twisted face of the woman before me now. She grabbed my throat, the ring on the necklace digging painfully into my skin. She pushed me onto the bed, her hands tearing at my clothes. 3 Humiliation burned through me. I struggled, but she easily overpowered me, her voice dripping with scorn. “What’s this? Playing coy now? Where was this modesty during that month you couldn't get enough?” She sneered. “You’re broke, and I’m rich. How about it? One night for a million and a half? A good deal, no?” Some lingering memory of our past kept me from truly fighting back. But she was relentless, her hands roaming, her voice a cruel chant. “You owe me this, Adrian. You owe me!” I stared blankly at the shaking bedframe, my mind numb. What could I possibly owe her? Jerry’s voice drifted in from outside. “Sera, can you please come with me? This place stinks… and the way these men are looking at me is disgusting.” Alison stopped abruptly, scrambling to fix her clothes. She couldn’t bear for her precious Jerry to endure those filthy, lecherous stares. She had no idea I lived with them every single second of every day. She opened the door, and Jerry immediately pulled her to his side. Alison shot a warning glare at the other men in the room. But the door was open, and I was still half-undressed on the bed, completely exposed to their hungry eyes. I scrambled to cover myself. As they were leaving, Jerry shot a subtle, meaningful glance at one of the men. His eyes met mine for a second, full of venom.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "393433", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel