The day my mom fell gravely ill, I found myself in the bed of Port City’s most formidable arms dealer. Feeling that terrifying heat, my face turned ghostly pale. The man, however, chuckled lightly, relentlessly pushing me to my limits until I was completely disoriented. He bent down and fiercely bit my earlobe, his voice hoarse, “Damn, your body truly is exquisite.” Utterly humiliated, I asked in a choked voice, “When will the money be transferred?” He lit a cigarette. “Next month.” An instant chill spread through me. I turned back, pleading desperately, “But you said it would be tomorrow. My mom won’t last until next month.” “Please.” Julian Walter slowly exhaled a smoke ring. “All the liquid funds went into preparing my wedding with Claire. Don’t keep using your mom as an excuse to hinder me. Don’t forget, you’re just a hidden mistress.” I didn't tell him there wouldn't be a next time. When I finally managed to drag myself to the hospital, my mother had already passed away. I calmly handled the funeral, then left Port City that very night. Later, I heard Julian Walter turned Port City upside down looking for a mistress. … I didn’t eat or drink, busy for two days straight, to finish my mother’s funeral. Once the tight tension in my nerves slackened, I couldn’t hold on anymore. In a daze, I felt someone enter. I desperately opened my eyes and saw Julian Walter’s icy cold gaze. He unhurriedly pushed away the hair sticking to my face, his voice colder than his eyes: “Selene Lane, play the sympathy card too often, and it loses its charm.” Sympathy card? He thought I was faking illness, trying to evoke his pity? I stared at him blankly, swallowing the bitterness in my heart: “No more. Never again.” My mom was dead. And the messy ledger between us, it was time to settle it. Julian didn’t think deeply about it. Hearing me being so sensible, he hooked his lips in satisfaction: “It’s good that you’ve come to your senses. For your mom, I’ll get top international doctors to take a look. But remember, don’t let this happen again.” What was this? A slap, then a sugar cube? If my mom were still alive, I would surely nod gratefully. But now, it was all too late. I struggled to force a smile: “No need. She… doesn’t need it anymore.” Julian paused, then, as if something dawned on him, his brows furrowed: “Didn’t you say she was critically ill? She recovered so quickly?” I knew he had misunderstood. I opened my mouth to explain, but I didn’t even have the strength to speak. Seeing my silence, he suddenly squeezed my chin, his voice chilling: “Selene Lane, have I never told you—behave yourself, don’t covet what isn’t yours. I can give you anything you want. Otherwise, I’ll make you realize the consequences of angering me.” I was too tired to even lift my eyelids, only nodding: “I haven’t forgotten.” He stared at me for a long while, his gaze scathing, then finally flung my hand away: “Good, you haven’t forgotten. Don’t do such stupid things again. Claire and I’s wedding is set; it’s not something a bastard child like you can interfere with.” I had never intended to sabotage their wedding. But even if I said it, he wouldn’t believe it. I simply closed my eyes, no longer looking at him, and unknowingly drifted back to sleep. My dreams were filled with my mom’s face and Julian Walter’s face. The first time I met Julian, he was the high and mighty young master of the Walter family, the most powerful underground arms dealer in Port City. And I was just an illegitimate daughter of the Lane family, kept out of sight. Claire Lane had always disliked me. Every time she saw me, she’d look for trouble. Once, I accidentally bumped into her. She grabbed my hair and shoved my head into a sink. If Julian hadn’t happened to pass by, I would have drowned that day. He saw me drenched, immediately took off his jacket, draped it over me, and had someone send me home. That one glance, I remembered for years. Later, my mom’s illness grew more severe, and medical expenses became exorbitant. Overwhelmed, I sought help from my nominal father. Mr. Lane, fearing his wife’s displeasure, secretly slipped me five thousand dollars, telling me not to come to him again. That paltry sum couldn’t even buy a box of imported medicine. On the most desperate night of my life, Julian Walter was drugged. He stumbled and dragged me into a lounge. I knew this was my only chance. Half-willingly, half-forced, I slept with him. After that, everyone called me shameless, said I was manipulative. But I didn’t care. What was face worth? What was my innocence worth? All I wanted was for my mom to live. Now Mom was dead, and everything should return to square one. In my sleep, a bucket of cold water was cruelly splashed on my face, instantly jolting me awake. Before I could react, my hair was yanked, followed by a stinging slap across my face. “Selene Lane, are you shameless? Julian and I are getting married, and you still dare to seduce him?” Claire Lane’s voice was piercingly sharp. “What do you think you are? He’s just playing with you. I’m his rightful fiancée.” She squeezed my chin, her nails digging into my flesh. “Today I’m going to scratch your face, let’s see what you’ll use to seduce men after this.” The pain made my vision blacken. I shoved her away. “I didn’t. Don’t spread malicious rumors.” Claire was pushed back a step. Once she regained her footing, she glared at me, gritting her teeth. “You didn’t? You’re just like your mother, both born with cheap bones. She shamelessly climbed into my father’s bed, and you’re even worse, stripping naked and lying in Julian Walter’s bed the moment you turned eighteen.” “My biggest regret is not holding you under the water in that sink back then.” She could curse me. But not my mom. My mom had kindly saved Mr. Lane’s life back then. How did he repay her? He forcibly took her while she was unconscious. He ruined my mom’s entire life, and even in death, she had to endure such insults from his daughter. I couldn’t swallow this insult. I abruptly grabbed a nearby rag and shoved it into her mouth. “Shut up. You have no right to talk about my mom.” Claire had never suffered such humiliation. She ripped out the rag, spat several times, and was so angry her pointing hand trembled. “Are you all dead? Hold her down for me. If I don’t strip a layer of her skin today, I’m not a Lane.” Two bodyguards stepped forward and pinned me to the ground. I tried to struggle, but she held my face in a death grip, saying words that sent a chill through my heart. “Tell me, if this pretty little face of yours is ruined, will Julian Walter even spare you a second glance?” My heart sank violently. I struggled even harder. “Claire Lane, you wouldn’t dare.” She sneered, took a folding knife from a nearby bodyguard, and patted my face with the blunt side of the blade. “Don’t worry, it won’t kill you. I recently found a tattoo design that’s quite pretty, and I just need a piece of skin to try it on. I think your face is perfect. Just don’t move around too much, because knives don’t have eyes.” The hatred in her eyes was almost tangible. Meeting her venomous gaze, I knew she was serious. Memories of childhood humiliation flooded back: being cornered in the bathroom and stripped, being held down by the pool and choked, being forced to kneel at the Lane family doorstep counting New Year’s money. As the knife in her hand was about to fall, I don’t know where I found the strength, but I broke free from the bodyguard, snatched the knife from her hand, and swung it back towards her face. In the nick of time, a large hand shot across, gripping my wrist with such force it felt like my bones would shatter. Claire’s eyes lit up when she saw Julian, and she pointed at me, accusing me first: “Julian, save me!” Julian pulled her into his arms, glanced down at her unharmed face, then looked up at me, his eyes as cold as knives. “Selene Lane, did you take everything I said as mere words?” My wrist throbbed from his grip. I opened my mouth to explain. “She started it. I was just—” Claire didn't let me finish, burying her face in his chest, her voice trembling as if she had suffered a terrible injustice. “I just heard Selene was sick and came to see her. Who knew she was jealous that I was going to marry you, thought I’d stolen her place, so she… she tried to ruin my face with a knife.” I looked at her in disbelief, amazed she could twist black into white, and instinctively denied it. “I didn’t, she was trying to ruin my face.” Julian lifted his eyelids and glanced at me, his gaze completely devoid of warmth. “I saw it with my own eyes. What more do you have to explain?” He shielded Claire behind him, then turned his head to instruct the people behind him. “Those who do wrong should be punished. Take Selene Lane to the interrogation hall and give her thirty lashes.” I looked at him in disbelief. He actually didn’t believe me. The bodyguards dragged me to the interrogation hall. The whip in their hands landed with brutal force. The first strike made my vision whiten, and cold sweat streamed down my face. I looked up and saw Claire standing on the steps, a smile playing on her lips, her face full of triumph. I bit my lip hard, sweat plastering my hair to my face, looking utterly wretched. But even if it killed me, I refused to cry out in front of her, to give her the satisfaction. Two, three, five… Finally, I couldn't hold back, a suppressed groan squeezed from my throat. Tears streamed down my face, I don't know when they started. Just as I was about to pass out from the pain, Claire suddenly pointed at a dark red patch on the floor, her small face turning pale. “It’s blood—” Almost simultaneously, Julian Walter’s expression drastically changed as he rushed towards me. … I miscarried. I knew I had no right to have his child, so I had never stopped taking birth control pills. It was only when my mom was critically ill that I forgot for a while, and unexpectedly became pregnant. During that time, he only visited me once. I lay on the bed, my back wrapped in bandages, every movement a searing pain. He stood by the bed for a moment, said nothing, dropped a tube of ointment, and left. A few days later, I was finally able to get out of bed. I didn’t want to stay there a moment longer. I packed my belongings, preparing to leave Port City. Just as I pulled open the closet, the apartment door opened. Julian’s men stood at the door, saying it was the Walter family patriarch’s birthday that evening, and I was to go with them. I rejected it without thinking: “I’m not going.” The man looked troubled: “Miss Lane, please don’t make me fail my assignment.” Fine. They were just doing their jobs; no need to make things difficult for them. This was my first time stepping into the Walter family ancestral home. Before my feet were even steady, Claire approached. “Selene Lane, what are you doing here?” The moment she spoke, the surrounding socialites all crowded around, their gazes like knives, cutting me from head to toe. “Isn’t that the one Lord Walter keeps in Shallow Bay? She’s quite alluring, no wonder she managed to get into his bed.” “So what if she got into his bed? Claire is his proper fiancée. What is she? Just a worn-out plaything he’ll toss aside.” I knew it would be like this before I even came. Since childhood, Claire’s favorite thing to do was drag me in front of people, repeatedly reminding everyone that I was a hidden, illegitimate child. To humiliate me and make me unable to hold my head high. Seeing I didn't respond, she suddenly leaned close to my ear, her voice very low, saying with schadenfreude: “By the way, your mother never knew about you being Julian Walter’s mistress, his other woman, did she?” My heart lurched. “What did you say?” She scanned me up and down, as if looking at a pile of trash. “I said, your mom died because you literally made her angry to death. How do you still have the nerve to be alive?” My mom’s biggest fear in life was me following in her footsteps. She always said that marrying a fishmonger, a mechanic, or a delivery driver was better than being a rich man’s mistress. So I had kept my relationship with Julian a secret from her for two years, not daring to mention a single word. I thought her condition had just worsened suddenly. I thought it was because I hadn't managed to raise enough money for the surgery. —Turns out someone had gone to see her that day. Turns out she was literally angered to death. I looked at Claire’s triumphant face, and the thread of reason in my mind snapped with a loud crack. I grabbed her by the hair and slapped her across the face. “You killed her—I’m going to make you pay—” Julian Walter walked over with the family patriarch. Seeing this scene, his face instantly darkened. “Selene Lane, what are you doing?” When the bodyguards pulled us apart, I was still clutching a lock of her hair tightly. Claire covered her face, tears flowing like a burst dam. The surrounding socialites chattered. “Lord Walter, Selene Lane has gone mad. She just attacked Claire. We all saw it.” “Claire didn’t do anything. Selene just pounced on her like a mad dog. This kind of illegitimate daughter is just so low-class.” Claire sobbed breathlessly, leaning into her mother’s arms, as if she had suffered a monumental injustice. “Dad, Mom, I don’t know what I did wrong… She hit me in front of so many people. How will I ever face anyone again… What will outsiders think of you, what will they think of the Walter family…” The Walter family patriarch, seated at the head of the table, his face darkened. “Julian, your people. You handle it yourself.” Julian clenched his fist, glaring at me, his eyes so dark they seemed to drip with water. A girl in Chanel stepped forward, her voice clear. “Lord Walter, at last month’s chamber of commerce dinner, an unruly mistress offended the proper wife and was publicly stripped of her nails and locked in a cold room for three days. Although Port City doesn’t have old-fashioned family laws, our circle has its own rules.” After she spoke, several socialites exchanged glances and all looked at Julian in unison. Their gazes clearly awaited an explanation. Julian stared at me, enunciating each word. “Selene Lane, do you know what you’re doing?” I laughed. But as I laughed, tears streamed down my face uncontrollably. “What am I doing? I just wanted my mom to live well. What did I do wrong?” “The fault lies with her, and with you all.” His eyes instantly turned cold. “Stubborn and unyielding.” He turned his head and said to the person behind him. “Take her away. Deal with her as you see fit.” Claire leaned on her mother’s shoulder, a slow smile forming on her lips. I didn't struggle. I was dragged into the underground storage room of the Walter family ancestral home. When the taser was pressed against my ribs, my whole body felt like it had been thrown into a boiling pot. They pinned me to a chair and drove bamboo splinters under my fingernails. One, two, three… The pain reached its peak and turned into numbness. I looked down at my hands, blood streaming down my wrists, dripping onto the concrete floor. In less than half an hour, I looked like I’d been pulled from water, sweat and tears plastered to my face. I wanted to scream, but couldn’t. I wanted to struggle, but couldn’t move. But the pain in my heart was a hundred, a thousand times worse than this. Claire had given instructions, making those seven days the longest week of my life. There were several times I thought I wouldn't make it, my life flashing before my eyes. I dreamt my mom was still alive, sitting by the window of our old house, shelling beans. When she turned to look at me, her eyes were red. She didn’t scold me, only said, “Live well.” When I woke up, my pillow was soaked. On the seventh day, I was released. I leaned against the wall, walking out of the basement, the sunlight blinding my eyes. Julian Walter arrived a step too late. When he rushed into the empty storage room, there were only a few blood-stained cotton balls on the floor. “Where is she?” The steward, head bowed, dared not look at him. “Miss Lane… she left this morning.” Julian stood there, suddenly feeling an inexplicable panic. His face dark, he turned and rushed out of the ancestral home, driving straight to Shallow Bay. The apartment was empty. The closet was empty, the sink was empty, and the pot of pothos she had brought back from the flower market was also gone. She was covered in injuries; where could she go? He froze for a few seconds, then suddenly remembered something and yelled at his assistant: “Go get Selene Lane’s mother.” As long as her mother was in his hands, she would eventually come back. The assistant didn’t move, looking troubled. “Mr. Walter… Ms. Grays, she passed away two weeks ago.” “What did you say?” Julian’s mind felt like it had been punched. He grabbed the man’s collar, his hand trembling. “What do you mean, died? Explain yourself.” The assistant’s forehead was sweating, his voice tight. “Mr. Walter, I checked. Ms. Grays passed away over half a month ago, from sudden cardiac arrest. The funeral… was handled by Miss Lane alone.”
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