Chapter 2

The voice on the other end was lazy, with an air of nonchalance.

"Deal."

I hung up, exhaling a long breath.

But when I opened the passenger door, I saw Chloe Davis sitting in *my* dedicated seat, the "wife-only" one.

She put her hands together and playfully stuck out her tongue.

"Oh, sorry, Seraphina dear. I really didn't mean to use your nude photos. I just mentioned it casually, and I never thought Leo would actually get his hands on them."

I ignored her. From the way she was settled, she clearly wasn't going to get out.

Chloe shot Leo a look.

"Leo, you really shouldn't have taken such high-definition photos! But, you know, it’s for art, right? Seraphina, you’re incredibly brave!"

My hand clenched the back car door, and the details of the sculpture flashed through my mind.

My blood ran cold, freezing me in place.

It was already dark. I didn't want to deal with them and turned to leave.

Chloe stomped her feet in frustration and nudged Leo twice.

"What are you standing there for? Go apologize to your fiancée!"

Two seconds later, Leo grabbed my wrist.

"Seraphina Maxwell, what's with the attitude?"

"Chloe thinks you're beautiful, that's why she used your nude body. Shouldn't you be thanking her?"

"Beautiful?"

I looked at him in disbelief.

When we first started dating, a business partner at a party touched my shoulder suggestively.

Leo immediately broke that man's finger bones.

Sterling Corp lost a $30 million deal because of it.

His father locked him in the basement for three days and three nights.

When I saw him, emaciated to just skin and bones, I couldn't stop my heart from aching.

"Leo, don't be so impulsive for me next time."

That Leo Sterling was like a rogue completely smitten.

"Next time someone bullies you, I'll do it again! What kind of man can't protect his own woman?"

His eyes were bright that night.

But now, he saw me being harassed, and he couldn't even offer a word of comfort.

I thought I'd never marry anyone but him, until his childhood friend came back.

I couldn't compete with her at all.

I might be letting him go, but I wouldn't suffer this humiliation for nothing.

I sneered, instantly shaking off Leo's hand.

Then I walked straight up to Chloe Davis, tore open the front of her shirt to take a picture!

"I think you’re quite beautiful too! Why don't you also go viral so everyone can see you!"

"Leo, save me!"

Leo rushed over and kicked me away.

"Chloe is still just a young girl! You're destined to be my wife, I don't care, so what if people saw you? Even if you were molested…"

*Slap!*

My eyes red, I slapped him hard across the face!

"Leo Sterling, are you even human?!"

Chloe panicked, quickly shielding Leo behind her.

"Seraphina Maxwell, how dare you hit Leo? Is he wrong? I saw you enjoying being molested!"

*Enjoying?*

Just thinking about being dragged into the bushes and having my clothes ripped off by that man in black terrified me.

I struggled desperately, my throat raw from screaming.

The man, unable to finish, punched me a dozen times until I blacked out.

If a passing security guard hadn't called the police, I might have truly died in those bushes.

Now, covered in bruises, I stood before them, and they said I *enjoyed* it?

2.

I didn't want to be entangled with them anymore; I just wanted some peace.

I turned around and heard a car engine start.

I thought they were leaving too, but the next second, the car drove straight towards me!

With a deafening crash, I was sent flying by Leo Sterling's luxury car!

At the moment of impact, agonizing pain mixed with numbness shot through my spine, making every breath a tearing agony.

Chloe Davis sat in the driver's seat, trembling.

"Oh, sorry, Seraphina! I really didn't mean to! It's my first time driving, I didn't expect to hit you!"

A metallic taste filled my mouth, and I coughed up blood.

Leo Sterling, however, acted as if he hadn't seen it, affectionately stroking Chloe's head and encouraging her.

"Good hit."

"No need to apologize, just consider it a lesson for her!"

He was so confident I would marry him, but he had no idea I had already married someone else.

Watching his calm demeanor, I truly wondered what his reaction would be when he found out.

I endured the pain and called 911, and I don't know how many bags of blood I received before I was wheeled out of surgery.

The next day, Chloe Davis posted an update on social media.

While I was in surgery, fighting for my life, my fiancé was spending a tender night with his childhood best friend.

A luxurious mansion downtown, limited edition luxury cars, jewelry, even the heirloom my grandmother gave *him* – he gave it all to Chloe Davis.

"It feels so good to be deeply loved by someone you've known for twenty years~"

The comment section was filled with blessings and users "shipping them."

Some unhappily married women even complained about their poor husbands, saying how envious they were.

This was her relationship account.

Chloe Davis was the daughter of the Sterling family's housekeeper, who later studied abroad.

Leo Sterling had hidden this relationship and relentlessly pursued me for three years.

After my parents died, he was the only one who truly cared for me, spoiling me like New York's top princess.

It turned out these were all things he had already done for Chloe Davis.

The next second, Chloe sent me a message.

"Seraphina, did your surgery hurt? Leo's first time with me was also very painful."

With that, she sent me a photo: a bedsheet stained with blood spots.

"Seraphina, Leo wants me to have his baby. He can't bear for me to suffer, so who do you think he'll make carry it?"

I was engulfed by overwhelming fear.

At that moment, I was chained to the hospital bed by tubes, watching helplessly as a doctor approached me with an 8-inch-long needle.

"What are you doing?! Don't come any closer!"

I couldn't break free and resignedly closed my eyes.

"Whose orders?"

"I'm sorry, Miss Maxwell, I can't disclose that."

The Sterling Group was the largest shareholder of this hospital, known for its compassionate patient care.

Who else but Leo Sterling could make them so callously harm me?

The doctor didn't use anesthesia, and my screams echoed throughout the hallway.

After the procedure, I was completely drained from the pain.

I touched the life within my womb that wasn't mine and cried inconsolably.

When Leo Sterling and I first became a couple, he knew I loved children.

The first thing he did was donate eight million dollars in my name to an orphanage.

He watched me play with the children at the orphanage, then crouched down and gently asked if I wanted to adopt one.

I, foolishly shaking my head, hugged him and whispered in his ear,

"Leo, I only want to have *your* children."

That night, he made passionate love to me, telling me he wanted me to bear a whole soccer team's worth of kids for him.

But he stopped at the last moment, saying he couldn't bear to see me suffer the pains of childbirth.

It turns out he wasn't afraid of *my* suffering.

He just didn't want *my* children.

I was so incredibly foolish.

Just then, Leo Sterling walked in, carrying a bowl of porridge.

I threw everything I could reach at him!