Chapter 3

"Leo, you're finally here!"

"Scarlett's already passed out, but the ring still hasn't been found. Look…"

I felt nothing. I reached out and touched the pool water.

A high-end members-only club, with a year-round heated pool, but the water felt like ice.

Mark explained that the club's heating system had conveniently malfunctioned.

There was undisguised malice in his eyes.

I glanced at his phone, which he kept in his hand, and nodded impassively.

I had put on my swim trunks before coming.

After a few laps underwater, I found the ring at the drain.

But just as I grabbed the ring and was about to climb ashore.

Someone stepped on my hand.

I cried out in pain and thrashed, sending a figure screaming into the water.

Caught off guard, I was pushed underwater. Water rushed into my nose and mouth, choking me to the point of suffocation.

Before losing consciousness, I vaguely saw someone jump into the water, swimming in the opposite direction from me.

Perhaps the will to survive was too strong. At the last moment, I felt the pool wall.

The moment I broke the surface, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me ashore.

Scarlett, holding Julian in her arms, slapped me across the face:

"Leo, do you know Julian almost died because of you?!"

"It was my fault the ring was lost, why did you have to hurt Julian?!"

I lay on the ground, coughing and retching. My ears were ringing, and even her shouts sounded distant.

Scarlett handed Julian over to Mark.

Her eyes bloodshot, she grabbed my throat:

"Stop pretending! If anything happens to Julian today, I'll make you pay with your life!"

She saw me clutching the ring tightly in my hand.

She snatched it away. I clung to her leg, tears streaming down my face, coughing and pleading with difficulty: "Please, no!"

Her face was ice cold:

"This is your lesson."

She exerted a sudden force, and the ring snapped into two pieces.

"Scarlett, don't blame Leo. He just lost face at the party, so he wanted to hurt me."

"We're all men, I understand."

Scarlett furiously threw the ring to the ground. She carefully picked up Julian:

"Don't speak for him, you're too soft-hearted."

The whole group quickly left. Mark seized the chance to snap several photos of me.

He held up 98 fingers to someone next to him, and they both bent over laughing.

I clutched the broken ring tightly to my chest, tears falling in huge drops onto the floor.

All the suppressed grievances now burst like a dam that had held back a flood for too long.

Let the pain be sharper, sharp enough to turn all my love into hatred.

Scarlett, I will forget everything from the past.

Never, never again will I like you!

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