Three years after I filed for divorce, I ran into Rhys Ashworth in a cathedral abroad. He was celebrating a lavish, solemn wedding with his new love, Taylor. I was there to offer a silent prayer for the child I’d never had the chance to hold. The moment our eyes finally met, his immediate instinct was to pull Taylor protectively behind him. I just smiled. I looked at the wedding dress—the one I had painstakingly designed for myself years ago—and offered a sincere, hollow blessing. His brow furrowed into a cold sneer. “What game are you playing now, Avery? Haven’t you learned your lesson?” My smile held, but my hand instinctively went to the scarred corner of my eye. No more, Rhys Ashworth. There is only hate where there is love. Now that I don’t love you, I have nothing left to hate. 1 Every eye in the cathedral had turned toward me. Among them were my former friends, their faces stiff with alarm, as if they expected me to charge the altar and tear the ceremony apart. Taylor, her face a chilling, seven-tenths echo of mine, stepped out, biting her lip in feigned distress. “Avery, please don’t be mad at Rhys. I didn’t have time to get a new dress made, so I just wore this one. If you’re upset, I’ll take it off right now.” Three years of self-imposed exile and brutal self-reflection must have given me a new kind of steel. I simply gave a slight nod in response to her blatant provocation. “It’s just a dress. It’s lucky to be worn.” A wave of confusion rippled through the onlookers. They were just noticing my plain clothes, the lack of any decent jewelry—a stark contrast to the spoiled heiress they remembered. Rhys’s voice softened slightly. “It’s good that you’re finally being sensible. If you hadn’t been so extreme back then, I wouldn’t have…” He saw the utter lack of concern in my eyes and swallowed the rest of the sentence. “Forget it. Just head back to the estate, and I’ll come to see you later tonight.” I nodded. As I stepped out of the church, Max, Rhys’s executive assistant, hurried after me. “Mrs. Ashworth, Mr. Ashworth said it’s not safe for you to be out alone. He wants me to drive you back personally.” I was about to refuse, but I noticed the sky was already shedding a light drizzle, threatening to open up into a downpour. With a sigh, I followed him to the car. The silence on the ride was thick. Max kept glancing at me nervously in the rearview mirror. It was almost funny. Was he worried I would suddenly have a change of heart and decide to cause a scene? He was overthinking it. Just as Rhys said, the past three years had taught me to behave. You lose a layer of skin accepting the departure of someone who once loved you deeply. I got smart. Love is gone. Hating him is pointless now. Kicking up a fuss changes nothing. Finally, we reached the estate. Max looked visibly relieved as he rushed to open the car door. Just then, little Lily ran up, her face bright with joy. “Mommy! Lots of people are here at the house! Are we finally going back home?” Before I could speak, Max gaped. “Mrs. Ashworth, you and Mr. Ashworth have a child?” My smile dimmed. “I haven't been Rhys Ashworth’s wife for a long time, and this child has nothing to do with him.” Max looked troubled. “Ma’am, Mr. Ashworth has actually been missing you terribly these last two years. You two grew up together. If you would just humble yourself, he’ll take you back.” I gave a bitter laugh. “It’s his wedding day. Say things like that again, and you’ll get your wages docked. As for the divorce settlement, please hand this over to him.” When I was first confined here, Rhys would send me divorce papers every month. I tore up every single one, vowing that he’d have to kill me before he could marry Taylor. But later, staring at the perpetually locked door and the subtle chain on my ankle, I suddenly saw the clarity of it all. What was the point? So, I had proactively sent him a signed copy of the settlement. But it was as if Rhys wanted to torment me; my letters were met with silence. Even my legal actions were useless; he simply refused to budge. Until today, when he finally made it official with Taylor, in the grand cathedral we’d once chosen together. My words made Max’s face freeze. “Ma’am, you absolutely cannot say that in front of Mr. Ashworth.” I dismissed his fear. “It’s fine. If you’re uncomfortable, I’ll give it to him myself.” “Ma’am, actually, the reason Mr. Ashworth is at the estate today is specifically…” Lily interrupted him, waving her small hands. “Mommy! Lots of people came to the house today. They were looking for you and asking how old I am.” She leaned in conspiratorially. “Mommy, is that man my daddy?” Max looked at me, a silent plea for me to stop denying it. “You look unfamiliar,” I told Max with a sigh. “You must have joined Mr. Ashworth after I left.” Max nodded. “I’m Max, ma’am. As for the child’s parentage, if you don’t tell me, Mr. Ashworth will demand to know when he returns.” Reluctantly, I began to tell him the story. Rhys and I were childhood friends, yes. But when I was twenty-three, my parents died in a car crash. Mrs. Ashworth, who had always been kind to me, immediately tried to break the engagement. The Beaumont Group, my family’s company, was left leaderless. My relatives saw me as vulnerable and tried to marry me off to grab my parents’ estate. It was Rhys who rushed into his mother’s office and publicly ripped up the annulment contract. “I said I love Avery! Not her social standing!” His father was furious, declaring that the Ashworth family did not need an heir who lacked judgment. Rhys just laughed. “Perfect. I’ve always wanted to marry into the Beaumonts anyway. Let’s go get the license right now.” He was his usual reckless self, pulling me by the hand and running. We ended up at my parents’ graves. He knelt, his posture unusually serious. “Aunt and Uncle, don’t worry. With me here, no one will hurt Avery. I swear I will be good to her for the rest of my life.” My vision blurred with tears. When the entire world had abandoned me, he was the one who chose me, steadfastly. At twenty-three, Rhys Ashworth’s love was a banner. A sheltered heir who had never known hardship humbled himself to save the Beaumont Group. He worked relentlessly, downing entire bottles of liquor without flinching just to secure a single contract. He cleared every hurdle, helping me regain control of the company. When people laughed at him for being a kept man, he’d just shrug. “My wife spoils me. You don't have that, so you’re just jealous.” He stayed by my side for six years, until finally, his parents relented. Mrs. Ashworth put the heirloom jade bracelet on my wrist. “Falling in love is easy; staying in love is hard. You two are too alike in temperament. You risk tearing each other apart.” I didn’t understand the pity in her eyes then. I thought she was just being snobbish toward the orphaned girl who no longer held any alliance value. It wasn't until the second year of our marriage that I found a pregnancy test result in Rhys’s pocket. “A pregnancy test?” Max was stunned. “You two finally got together, and Mr. Ashworth had a child with another woman? And one who looks a lot like you?” I nodded calmly. Max was aghast. “Ma’am, you’re not angry at all?” Angry? I was furious then. I stormed to the company without even changing, trashing Rhys’s office completely. He was dismissive. “A little girl is throwing a tantrum. Do you have to be like this? Don’t worry. She won’t come near you. You will always be Mrs. Ashworth.” “What if I demand to make an issue of it?” I pulled out my phone, ready to expose the woman. Rhys’s face turned instantly dark. He grabbed my throat, his grip tight. “I’m warning you, Avery. Don’t go near her. She’s pregnant and can’t handle stress right now.” He spat out the next line, the words hitting me like a physical blow: “You can’t have children. Am I supposed to live the rest of my life alone because of you?” I went instantly silent. I had a congenital defect that made it nearly impossible for me to carry a child. He’d once told me he only needed me, that he didn't want me to suffer the pain of childbirth. Now, the man who feared my pain was choking me for another woman. The raw disappointment on my face must have been too much. Rhys immediately released me, a flicker of regret in his eyes. “Avery, I didn’t mean that.” He reached out to check my throat, but his phone rang—and he turned and left without a second thought, leaving me alone to face the shocked and mocking stares of his staff. Rhys hid the girl well. If she hadn’t proactively challenged me, I might never have found out. But once I dug up every piece of information on Taylor, I didn’t hesitate. I leaked every rotten detail of their affair to the press and called an emergency board meeting to kick Rhys out of the company. Within hours, they were front-page news. Rhys’s call came in immediately. “Are you insane? Pull the reports now! Do you know people are harassing Taylor at her house? How scared must she be, she’s just a girl!” I laughed coldly. “If you’re bold enough to do it, why are you afraid of people talking about it?” It had been years since I had acted so wildly. He was silent for a moment. “Avery, you forced my hand.” The call ended, and I sat there all night. By dawn, Rhys’s revenge had arrived. Taylor’s news was scrubbed from the internet in a matter of hours. Then, every contract the Beaumont Group had came to an abrupt, forced halt. The partners sweated nervously. “Ms. Beaumont, we’re small-time. We can’t get involved in a feud between you and Mr. Ashworth. Honestly, you should be more understanding. A man having a few women is normal.” The sudden cut in the cash flow drove the company to the brink of bankruptcy. It was then I realized that Rhys was no longer the man who stood behind me. He knew me too well, and he knew exactly where to stick the knife. To save my parents’ legacy, I had to humble myself. I found them in the hospital. Taylor was in a VIP suite, sobbing and pounding Rhys’s chest. “You’re a liar! You don’t love me! I’m just that woman’s stand-in, aren’t I?” Rhys gently held her hands. “Sweetheart, what nonsense did you read in the papers? There are plenty of people who look alike in the world. Am I supposed to love all of them? I’m only with Avery out of obligation. The marriage was a promise I had to keep.” I froze in the doorway. Six years of fighting for my marriage, and it was nothing more than an obligation. He had been tired of me for so long. But for my parents’ company, I pushed the door open and walked in. Taylor immediately threw a ceramic cup at me. “Are you here to force me to get an abortion? You failure who can’t keep your own husband, don’t come here acting like the wronged wife!” I gave a pained, internal smile. She wasn’t just my physical echo; she had the same spoiled, arrogant temper I'd had when I was younger. Rhys, even I don't know who you love now—her, or the past version of me. Blood ran slowly down my forehead. Rhys looked furious. “Are you an idiot? Couldn’t you dodge a cup?” He took out a cartoon-printed band-aid and moved to treat my wound, an irony, as he’d always hated frivolous things. I stubbornly flinched away. “What do I have to do for you to leave my parents’ company alone?” Rhys’s hand froze mid-air, then he regained his indifferent posture. “You’ll have to ask Taylor. You shouldn’t have picked a fight with her. Now she’s overthinking things.” Taylor’s eyes were fixed on my face. “I don’t like her eyes.” Rhys chuckled softly. “It’s just her face. I can have her altered to look completely different.” I looked up in shock. “Rhys Ashworth, must you humiliate me like this?” He frowned. “It’s just a shape change. Aren’t women your age always going under the knife? Relax, it’s a minor procedure.” Taylor giggled. “She is getting old. A little lift will make her look younger.” Ignoring my screams, Rhys’s bodyguards forcibly strapped me to a surgical table. Taylor stood watching the show. “Anyone with an ounce of dignity would have run the minute they saw the pregnancy test. But you’re so thick-skinned, you cling to Rhys like a leech! Don't even bother with the anesthesia, Doctor. Just do it.” The doctor, already bribed, immediately muffled my mouth. The cold scalpel dug into my flesh. The pain was so intense I nearly passed out, but the doctor injected me with something to keep me agonizingly conscious. Two hours later, when I was pushed out of the operating room, Rhys had already left with Taylor. After that ordeal, Rhys seemed to believe I had finally been tamed. He halted the attack on the Beaumont Group and moved Taylor into our house. He came to check on me, his eyes widening in alarm when he saw the obvious, grotesque distortion of my eye area. The next second, Taylor blocked his view. “Rhys, you don’t understand. This is just the recovery period after surgery. And why aren’t you covering it with gauze, Avery? Are you trying to guilt-trip him? You’ll get an infection playing the victim like that.” She laughed with malicious glee. Rhys’s worried brow returned to a frown. “What is the point of this? You’ll have a scar and then you’ll complain!” He ran his hands frustratedly through his hair. “It’s like I asked you to die, not get a simple cosmetic change! Fine. I’ll hire the best nurses for your recovery. Stop trying to mess up your own face.” Max couldn’t help but interrupt. “Ma’am, so your scar wasn’t an accident after all.” “What happened next? Didn’t Mr. Ashworth ever notice?” Of course not. He was completely focused on Taylor. How could he notice anything about me? Rhys moved out of our master bedroom that day, claiming Taylor was delicate and needed his attention. The promise of maintaining my dignity evaporated. His love was always loud and passionate; he would never allow his ‘little girl’ to suffer. Rhys began openly taking Taylor to social events and introducing her to all of our mutual friends. When someone whispered that Taylor was just a stand-in, he ruined that person until they begged on their knees. “I was blind! Ms. Taylor is the one worthy of you, and who is that Avery anyway?” Rhys merely raised an eyebrow, said nothing, and stopped targeting them. From then on, everyone in the city knew the CEO had a new flame. He spent fortunes on her, lighting up half the city with fireworks in her honor. When the last firework faded, Rhys came home. He looked at my ugly, newly scarred eye area. He lit a cigarette. “Why is it that everyone else gets pretty after plastic surgery, but you look worse?” I slammed my phone into his face, demanding an explanation for the news. “You said you wouldn’t parade Taylor in public! What am I to you?” Rhys offered no defense. Instead, he used the cigarette end to burn every single one of our framed photos. “You don’t look like this anymore, anyway. When your face heals, we’ll take new ones. Taylor gets sad when she sees these pictures.” Then, against my desperate pleas, he replaced all the portraits of me in our home with large-scale oil paintings of Taylor. During this period, Mrs. Ashworth came to see me. She spotted the massive portrait in the living room and sighed, pushing a passport toward me. “It’s not too late to change your mind. If you want a divorce, I can help you leave the country.” But I was still stubborn. “Impossible. I’ll die before I divorce him.” That night, I set fire to the mansion. It was our marital home, the keeper of our ten years of history. I would not allow another mistress to preside over it. As the roof beams began to crash down, Rhys grabbed Taylor and ran, without looking back. I thought I would die. But as a falling wardrobe struck me, a gush of warm blood poured from between my legs. I realized with a shock that I was pregnant. My two months of insomnia and loss of appetite suddenly made terrible sense. I had been ready to embrace death, but at that moment, a ferocious survival instinct flared up. I crawled with all my strength toward the open space of the garden. Rhys stood there, watching me passively. It was then, seeing the naked contempt in his eyes, that he truly abandoned me. “You’re completely insane. Trying to burn everyone alive.” My heart twisted in pain, but I begged him anyway. “Rhys, please, my stomach…” Before I could finish, Taylor shrieked. “Rhys! My baby!” Rhys instantly panicked. Ignoring my bleeding and desperate plea, he scooped her up and rushed away. I was left on the lawn, the blood streaming out of me, watching helplessly as I lost the baby. When Rhys finally returned, his eyes were bloodshot. He pressed a gun against my forehead. “Taylor lost the baby. You’re happy now, aren’t you? Why wasn’t it you who died?” My heart had already died. I remember thinking it would be a kindness to die by his hand. But he couldn’t pull the trigger. Instead, he sent me abroad and kept me captive here. Max’s face was pale. “I am so sorry, Ma’am. I didn’t know any of this. Mr. Ashworth mentioned you often over the years. He must not have known you were pregnant.” I waved a hand dismissively. “Taylor didn’t lose her child. I brought this on myself. No one else is to blame. And Lily is an adopted child. If you don’t believe me, you’re welcome to investigate.” Max hesitated, then spoke in a low voice. “Ma’am, actually, Ms. Taylor was never pregnant.” “What? We had a child?” Two voices spoke at once. I looked up and saw Rhys standing in the doorway, his face ashen. He was still wearing his wedding suit, having clearly rushed over the minute the ceremony ended. I froze for a second, then gave a relieved smile. “I see. It’s wonderful that Ms. Taylor didn’t lose her child.” I had carried a deep guilt all these years, believing her child was innocent, even if she deserved punishment. Knowing the truth only brought relief. Rhys, however, didn’t look relieved. “How is that possible? How could you have a child?” He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly remembering all my strange behavior during that time. He had always tracked my cycle, but he’d been so distracted by Taylor that he hadn't noticed I, a woman who suffered agonizing cramps, had stopped drinking my herbal teas. His eyes turned bloodshot, as if he were about to shatter. He looked at Lily, forcing out a trembling smile. “This is our child, isn’t she? She’s three years old, right?” I pushed the signed divorce papers toward him. “Lily is a child I adopted from the convent. Don’t misunderstand. Sign this. I promise I will never appear in front of you again.” Rhys recoiled as if burned, staggering back two steps right into a distraught Taylor, who had just rushed up the stairs. “Rhys! Why are you here with this bitch? The guests downstairs are waiting! Do you know how humiliating this is for me?” Rhys roughly shoved her away and hurried down the stairs. I knew he was going back to investigate the past. That was his nature; he never trusted words, only proof. Taylor glared at me. “You disgusting woman! You’re locked up here and still causing trouble! Don’t think I don’t know you’ve been secretly contacting Rhys for the last three years, begging him to look at you!” I recalled the early days of my captivity, when I called and wrote letters daily, cursing Rhys, wishing him a terrible, childless end. Later, the number was blocked, but I still wrote venomous letters. Taylor, it seemed, had only seen these as pleas for mercy. I turned my head, unwilling to look at the face that was a mirror of my own. “Believe what you want. But I am genuinely letting go now. If you can get Rhys to sign those papers, I’ll thank you.” Taylor shrieked. “Don’t look so smug! Don’t think Rhys choosing this cathedral had anything to do with you! So what if you were pregnant? Rhys knew I wasn’t, and he still treated me the same! I am the one he loves now. I have him, and I have this dress!” I smiled. “You truly haven’t changed. Still so obsessed with erasing my shadow. You should go downstairs and soothe your guests instead of arguing with me.” Taylor’s face twisted several times before she spun and left. Max wiped sweat from his brow. “Please don’t take it to heart, Ma’am. Ms. Taylor’s temper has gotten much worse these last two years.” Max seemed intent on purging all his accumulated frustration. He explained that after I left, Taylor saw herself as the lady of the house, inserting her family and trusted employees into the Ashworth Group. Her cousins were arrogant and self-serving, and they plunged the company into chaos. Mr. Ashworth Sr. fell ill several times and had to personally clear out the mess, but Rhys still saw it as minor. “It’s just a few slackers on the payroll, Mom and Dad. You’re overreacting.” The result was a twenty percent shrinkage of the Ashworth Group’s assets over three years. Rhys’s trip abroad was for more than the wedding; it was to expand overseas business. But today’s incident would surely derail that. I listened quietly. After Max left, I called Mrs. Ashworth. “Does your promise from back then still stand?” I sighed in relief when I received an affirmative answer. I had secretly re-established contact with my associates a year ago, preparing to transfer the Beaumont assets overseas. I had no head for business; Rhys had managed the company while I focused on being the chief designer. Now, without him, I saw that my parents had already paved the way for me. The long-term executives who had worked with my parents immediately agreed to my plan. Our family business was jewelry design, and we had significant connections abroad. The only obstacle was Rhys. I used to think he wouldn’t let me go because I’d caused him to lose Taylor’s baby. But today, seeing his reaction, he must have known Taylor was never pregnant. Why then did he still refuse to release me? I couldn’t figure it out, and I decided to stop trying. Rhys was no longer the man of my memories. The next morning, I went to the cathedral for my usual prayer, then went to my studio to work on an existing order: an engagement ring. Though inexpensive, it held the beautiful promise of a young couple's future. Days passed. Rhys seemed to have vanished from my life again. Half a month later, he finally appeared, unshaven and exhausted. He stared at my profile in the daylight for a long time before he spoke. “Why are you making these trinkets? The Ashworth family can afford to keep you.” I laughed internally. When he had locked me up on the estate, he’d frozen all my assets. I was deprived of medicine and nearly died. The bodyguards wouldn’t let me leave, and the one maid only brought me food to ensure I didn’t starve. I truly thought I wouldn't survive those first six months. Once Rhys was convinced I was no longer a threat, he loosened the restrictions. But I still had no income. To survive, I started doing piecework, using my small savings to build this tiny studio. Seeing my hands still moving, he impatiently called Max. “Double the limit on Mrs. Ashworth’s black card.” “Mr. Ashworth, you forgot. Mrs. Ashworth’s black card was canceled a long time ago…” Rhys’s look of aggressive challenge shifted to surprise. “I wasn’t informed. I thought you were…” “You thought I was playing the victim? Trying to use retreat as a strategy?” I finally looked up. “Mr. Ashworth, is playing the victim even useful to me anymore?”
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