On our wedding night, Luke handed me a box of birth control pills after it was over. "Rosie, you can't have kids." My brows knit slightly. "My body is fine." He shook his head. "It’s not about that." "I already have a son out there. He’s five years old." "I married you, but I also promised her I wouldn’t have a second child." I felt like I had fallen into an ice cave, shaking all over. "Who is she? Why are you only telling me this now?" "The scholarship girl you used to support. She kept clinging to me and wouldn’t let go." "But don’t worry. You’re the only one in my heart, and the spot of Mrs. Luke will always be yours." Luke’s marks were still on my body. Looking at those glaring red bruises, I suddenly found it all ridiculous. "Luke, let’s get divorced." 1 Luke grabbed my wrist hard. "You want a divorce just for this? Isn’t that a little much?" "Everything I could give you, I gave you. The title of Mrs. Luke, endless pocket money, and even the bone marrow that could save your brother’s life. I’ve been personally looking for it the whole time." "Now it’s just one kid. I never meant to hide it from you. Is it really that important?" His brows were slightly furrowed, and his displeasure was obvious. I broke free. "Either cut things off with Lily and let her take that kid and disappear from Harbor City forever." "Or don’t expect me to ever forgive you." "After all, that’s still my blood, and I’ve raised him for five years. I can’t bear to do that." Luke sighed and lit a cigarette. The smoke curled around and burned into my nose. It made my eyes sting. Five years, but we had only been together for seven. So in the second year, he already cheated on me. And he even had a child with someone else. If I counted the time, that was the exact year my brother was diagnosed with leukemia. When Luke heard the news, he immediately cut his business trip short and rushed back. He held me in the hospital while I shook with fear, comforting me over and over. "It’ll be okay. I’m here. I won’t let anything happen to your brother." But it turned out he hadn’t gone on a business trip at all. He had gone to keep his lover company while she gave birth. "Rosie, forgive me. Let’s just let this go, okay?" Luke snuffed out his cigarette and stepped forward, wanting to pull me into his arms. "I promise I won’t ever let you be wronged again." I shoved him away. I put on my clothes and said nothing, then turned and left. Harbor City nights were cold, and the wind bit hard. My face, which had been burning with anger, quickly cooled down. I wandered the streets like a ghost. I didn’t know where to go. Years ago, my parents passed away and left only my brother and me to depend on each other. Later, after I got together with Luke, I thought fate had finally been kind to me. Luke had promised me a lifetime of devotion and sworn he would never betray me. But seven years later, all I got was finding out on my wedding night that he had already cheated. At that moment, my phone rang. It was the caregiver calling. "Miss Miller, your brother’s condition suddenly worsened. I’m afraid he’s not going to make it!" "He said not to contact you because he was worried it would affect your wedding night..." My heart clenched hard. "I’m on my way right now. Take good care of him!" When I got to the hospital, it took my brother a long time to wake up. But his condition was terrible, and his face was pale as paper. "Sis, you still came." Looking at him like that, the emotions I had been holding back for so long finally broke loose. My voice cracked. "Why are you so stupid? You were almost dead and still kept this from me?" "They can’t find a matching donor. I could die at any moment. Don’t be too sad, sis." My brother gave a bitter little smile. "I won’t be able to protect you anymore. At least Luke is really good to you." "Don’t say that," I said through tears. "I’ll find another way for the marrow!" I didn’t want my brother to see my tears and feel upset. I left the room and went to the hallway to calm myself down.
2 I didn’t know how I was going to tell my brother that I wanted a divorce from Luke. If I told him now, "Your brother-in-law isn’t a good man at all. He has a child with someone else, and the kid is already five." "And he won’t even let me have children. He wants me to help raise his illegitimate son." I was afraid my brother’s body wouldn’t be able to take it. Too many things happened tonight, and even I felt dazed. Then a familiar voice came from behind me. "Rosie, are you okay?" I turned around and saw that Luke had actually hurried over, breathing hard. He was even carrying a thick coat. "You left so fast. I was worried, so I called your brother." "He told me you came to the hospital. I’m glad you’re okay." As he spoke, he tried to drape the coat over my shoulders. "What happened tonight was my fault. Go in and see your brother. Don’t let him worry, okay?" Luke’s eyes were deep and dark, as if he were really thinking about me. I turned my head away and refused to look at his eyes. For seven years, every time Luke and I fought, he would look at me with that kind of tender gaze. I really believed his heart belonged only to me, and I would calm down very quickly. Even now, he still wanted to use that trick. It didn’t work anymore. The next second, Luke forcefully took my hand and dragged me into the room. My brother looked at our tightly joined hands and finally relaxed. "Sis, I thought you two were fighting." "As long as everything’s fine now." I shook off Luke’s hand, thinking how shameless a person could be. But he didn’t seem to notice at all. He casually sat by my brother’s hospital bed. "I’ll peel an apple for you." I couldn’t take it anymore and drove him out. "Luke, are you doing this on purpose?" "As long as you don’t deal with your thing with Lily, don’t come in front of me and disgust me." I lowered my voice as much as I could. "I’ll take care of the divorce papers too." He just looked at me quietly. "Even if I can find a matching donor, I still can’t be here?" In an instant, I froze. Luke continued, "Rosie, you know I’ve been looking for a marrow match for your brother for a whole year. I finally got a spot, and they agreed they could come to Harbor City for the surgery in seven days." "I’ve already given them a hefty reward. If I refuse now, everything we’ve done will be wasted." Putting everything else aside, Luke really had put a lot of effort into my brother’s illness. He was also the one who kept using every connection he had to look for a marrow donor. Even I, his real sister, couldn’t compare. I hesitated. Luke smiled and bent down to kiss me. "Rosie, I knew you’d soften." "I’ll handle the marrow arrangement. You just promise me you’ll help raise that kid, okay?" This time, I didn’t push him away. But the pain and bitterness in my heart were still there. "Go back first. I want to stay with my brother alone." After a long pause, Luke let out a soft breath and finally let go of me. Desire had already colored his eyes. "Rosie, today is our wedding night. You’re coming with me." After I repeatedly refused him, he finally gave up. Unwillingly, he left the hospital. I straightened my clothes and went back into the room. "Brother, there’s hope for your illness." "In seven days, someone will come to donate bone marrow for you." Even my brother, who had been forcing himself to stay strong so I wouldn’t worry, finally dropped all his pretense after hearing that. "Sis, I can live..." "I can protect you for the rest of my life now." I wiped the tears from his cheeks, and the emptiness in my heart was slowly filled in. As long as my brother could live, even if it really meant spending the rest of my life in a fake marriage with Luke. I would still be willing.
3 But I never expected that, after I refused him, Luke would turn around and go to Lily for comfort. When I got her provocative message, I was getting ready to rest on the empty bed beside my brother. "Miss Miller, today is your wedding night, but Luke came to keep me company. You’re not mad, are you?" She sent me a few photos of Luke lying on top of her, clearly satisfied and asleep. He was shirtless, with several scratch marks on his neck. It was obvious what kind of intense sex they’d just had. "Lily, do you not feel even a little ashamed?" I shot back, "Back then, you couldn’t even afford tuition. I took money I saved from part-time jobs to help support you, and this is how you repay me now?" The Lily from before was innocent and naive. We met through a club activity. She always liked to run after me and call me "sis." That made me think of my sickly brother, who was also so obedient. So I treated her a little better on purpose. Who would have thought I was raising a white-eyed wolf? Very quickly, Lily replied, "Sis, I just love seeing you angry." "I used to wonder why you always looked so calm and could casually take out a huge sum of money to support me." "And I nearly ended up working in a nightclub as a hostess just for that money." Her voice carried a faint smugness. "Later, when I saw your rich boyfriend, I understood where your confidence came from. Since you’re so kind, surely you wouldn’t mind letting me borrow a little of that light too, right?" I held my phone, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. What had been a good deed in my mind had become, in Lily’s eyes, the final straw that crushed her conscience. "Do whatever you want." I deleted and blocked her, not wanting to say another word. Someone like her was like a parasitic vine. Once Luke got tired of her, where would she go then? I thought that cutting off contact with Lily would be enough. I never expected that the next day, she would show up in the room under the excuse of delivering food. By the time I came back after buying a nutritious meal, she was already feeding my brother with her own hands. "Sis, this is the delivery girl Luke specially found for me. You don’t have to buy meals for me every day anymore." My silly brother was grinning happily. "Luke really cares about you. He even worries about you getting tired from buying food." "It really is enviable." Lily was also looking at me, smiling in agreement. I didn’t know what her purpose in coming here was. But the moment I saw her, my stomach turned with disgust. "Go back and tell Luke I don’t need this." I looked at Lily coldly. "I’m not crippled. I can buy my own food. He doesn’t need to worry about it." Just yesterday, I had been thinking that as long as my brother could live, I would put up with Luke. But he kept pushing it further and further. My brother looked at me in confusion. "Sis, why are you mad?" "Did you fight with my brother-in-law? Was it because of me..." My brother was sensitive, and I was afraid he would notice something was wrong. I pulled Lily out with me. "Let’s talk outside." She didn’t struggle. A smile tugged at her lips as she let me drag her away. "You care about your brother so much. I knew coming here was the right move." "I know exactly what Luke is planning. Once you can accept it, he’ll take my child and let you raise him." "But sis, I’m the child’s biological mother. How could I bear that?" A terrifying, mad light flashed in Lily’s eyes. "As long as you agree to divorce Luke, I’ll let your brother live peacefully until the surgery is over. Otherwise, he will die."
4 When she said the last few words, Lily deliberately lowered her voice. But it shattered my last line of defense. Without the slightest hesitation, I slapped her. "If you touch my brother, I’ll send you to keep him company in the grave." "Your bargain-bin son means nothing to me. Whoever wants to raise him can do it." Lily’s cheek swelled up instantly, and even spit was knocked out of her mouth. She didn’t get angry. Instead, she took my hand on her own. One slap, two slaps, three slaps... she kept slapping her own face. "You’re right to scold me. I’m shameless, I betrayed trust, and I deserve to be hit." "But my child is innocent. Sis, I beg you, please give him a way to live." When I realized something was wrong, Luke was already standing in front of me with a dark face. "Rosie!" He caught my wrist and shoved hard in the opposite direction. "Don’t go too far." "Lily only realized her mistake and came over on her own to make up with you." "How can you keep hitting her and even use the kid to threaten her?" I lost my balance and fell to the ground. Pain shot through my lower back instantly. "Ah..." I cried out in pain. "Luke, she was the one who grabbed my hand and made me hit her. Are you blind?" But Luke didn’t hear a word of it. He only gently touched Lily’s cheek with his hand, comforting her, "Don’t be scared. I’m here. The kid will be fine too." Lily obediently swallowed her tears and told Luke to take her away. At that moment, my brother heard the commotion and came out of the room. "Sis!" He saw me sitting on the ground and panicked. "Are you okay?" But when his eyes landed on the way Luke and Lily were tightly clinging to each other, he instantly understood everything. His brother-in-law had cheated! "You bitch, how dare you bully my sister." My brother got furious and went to shove Lily, trying to stand up for me. But before his hand could even touch her, Luke kicked him hard in the stomach. Then, right in front of me, he crashed heavily to the floor. His urine bag and IV line all scattered in a mess on the ground. "No..." My heart broke as I crawled to my brother, tears pouring down nonstop. But Luke only hesitated for a second before coldly throwing out one word: "Serves you right." Then he wrapped his arm around Lily and turned to leave. My heart was completely dead. Because of Luke’s kick, my brother had to go through another long emergency surgery before he woke up. But his condition still worsened. "Sis, don’t cry." Right now, he didn’t even have the strength to wipe away my tears. "Don’t go looking for him for me. Don’t beg the person who hurt you." My brother could tell what I was thinking and stubbornly forced me to agree before he would go to sleep. I nodded through tears, but after I went out, I still took a taxi to Luke’s place. He was lazily soaking in an indoor hot spring with Lily, and the atmosphere was suggestive. When he saw me barge in, he wasn’t surprised at all. "What? You finally know to beg me now?" "I heard about your brother’s condition. What do you want to do?" Luke took a sip of red wine and looked at me with amusement. I spoke with difficulty. "As long as you can get the donor here early to switch the marrow, I’ll agree to any condition." "Then kneel down and apologize to Lily with a loud kowtow." When I saw Lily pull out her phone and get ready to record, my breathing tightened. Was pride important? Yes. But my brother’s life was more important. I gritted my teeth, knelt down, and kowtowed to Lily. "I’m sorry. I was wrong." Not long after that, my phone suddenly rang wildly. A familiar nurse’s voice came through in tears. "Miss Miller, your brother pulled out his own IV. He’s gone." "He received a video on his phone of you kneeling, and he asked me to tell you that from now on, don’t ever kneel for him again..."
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