Chapter 2

When Liam rushed out of the villa with Seraphina in his arms, I was still slumped on the floor, blood streaming down my neck from the back of my head.

I watched his retreating back, so desperate, so frantic. He didn't look back even once.

The throbbing pain in my head was unbearable. Suddenly, I remembered, he used to be just as anxious about me.

Back then, I ran a small fish stall in the local market. My hair was always in a simple ponytail, and I never wore makeup. My unassuming beauty earned me a quiet nickname among the vendors: "The market's unassuming pearl."

The first time Liam saw me, he stood by my stall for two whole hours. Finally, he pulled out a black card, holding it out to me. "Come with me. You'll never have to touch this stuff again."

I might have been poor, but I had my pride. I paused, then pushed the card back into his hand. "No, thank you, sir. I earn my living through honest work. There's no shame in that."

He gazed at me silently for a long time, then handed me a business card, his fingers long and clean. "My name is Liam Harrington. I'll be back tomorrow."

I didn't think much of it.

But the next day, he indeed returned. He drove a black Maybach and stood in the reeking market in a crisp suit, completely out of place.

For three months, the city's most eligible and notoriously reserved bachelor did many outrageous things to pursue me—

I refused his roses, so he had expensive, air-freighted seafood delivered to my stall every day.

I avoided his luxury car, so he'd walk through the reeking, fish-scented market on foot.

I told him we lived in different worlds, so he'd squat beside my fish-scaled wash basin and scale fish for me, his aristocratic hands covered in grime.

He stood in my fish market for three whole months. I'd refuse him once, and he'd come back a second time, a third, a fourth...

I wasn't unmoved. I was just too aware of the gulf between us, so I couldn't, didn't dare, fall for him.

Eventually, I finally said yes, because he took a splash of sulfuric acid meant for me, thrown by a rival vendor. It left a raw, ugly scar across his back.

He was drenched in cold sweat from the pain, yet he still smiled and said to me, "Eve, remember, you owe me your life. You'll spend a lifetime repaying it."

Tears streamed down my face, hot and scalding against his palm.

After we got together, he pampered me shamelessly.

I cut my finger slicing fish, and he called a private doctor in the middle of the night.

I casually mentioned liking a certain cake, and he immediately bought the entire pastry shop.

When I had period cramps, he'd stay up all night, gently rubbing my stomach.

Once, I tripped and scraped my knee. His eyes turned red with worry, and his hands trembled the whole way to the hospital as he carried me.

The doctor laughed, saying it was just a superficial scratch, but he insisted on an X-ray, terrified I'd fractured a bone.

And now—

I looked down at the pool of blood on the floor and suddenly laughed.

As I laughed, tears started to fall.

I hailed a cab to the hospital alone.

After my wound was treated, I was still so dizzy I could barely stand. As I stepped out of the examination room, my wrist was suddenly grabbed fiercely!

"Evelyn!" Liam's voice was tight with anger. "Seraphina almost miscarried, and you're still not giving up? You followed her to the hospital to cause more trouble?"

I turned and saw his tightly furrowed brow and the coldness in his eyes.

He was in a suit, as aloof and distinguished as ever, but the cloying scent of Seraphina's perfume still clung to him.

"I came to the hospital..." My voice was barely a whisper. "Not for her."

I slowly raised my hand, pointing to my bandaged forehead. "I was hurt too."

Liam's expression froze. Only then did he notice my pale face and the gauze on my temple.

"You said you'd take me away once she had the baby," I looked at him, my eyes red-rimmed. "But now, can you even see me anymore?"

Liam's brows furrowed deeper. He reached out to touch my wound. "What happened?"

"You pushed me," I said calmly. "I hit the table corner."

Liam's pupils contracted. He seemed to recall the scene then.

His anger immediately dissipated. He pulled me into his arms. "Eve, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. I was just afraid something would happen to Seraphina. She's pregnant, and if anything went wrong, our departure would be delayed again..."

I let him hold me, my eyes vacant.

I'd heard these words too many times.

"I understand," I pushed him away. "Go take care of her."

I turned to leave, but he grabbed my wrist again.

"Eve, no matter what, you have to believe I only love you. Everything I'm doing is just so we can leave sooner."

He gently stroked my bandage. "I'll have the maid look after you. Don't let your wound get wet."

With that, he let go of my hand and turned towards Seraphina's hospital room.

I stood there, watching his tall figure slowly disappear.

I suddenly laughed, tears streaming down my face.

"I don't believe it anymore..." I whispered. "Liam, I don't believe it at all."