Chapter 6

Chloe's friends' faces turned ghostly pale, and they hastily explained:

"Mr. Hayes, it's not our fault! She started spitting blood herself!"

Chloe ran over, preemptively grabbing Liam, who was about to step forward:

"Liam, don't let her trick you! She's doing this on purpose, faking it with a blood pack, trying to ruin my birthday party!"

Liam's steps faltered. The momentary waver in his eyes quickly vanished.

He looked at me, curled up on the ground:

"Since she loves acting so much, let her put on a full show."

He turned to the security guards:

"Throw her into the backyard pool. Let her sober up properly. Don't pull her out until sunrise."

That night was early winter; the temperature was already close to freezing.

One security guard couldn't help but remind him:

"Mr. Hayes, someone could die."

"If she dies, she dies."

Liam responded indifferently.

I was roughly dragged to the backyard by two security guards and thrown into the icy pool.

The biting cold instantly enveloped me, suffocation and excruciating stomach pain hitting me simultaneously.

I struggled in the freezing water. Through my blurred vision, I saw the boisterous party inside the villa.

And Liam and Chloe intimately embracing under the lights.

A night passed. When I was pulled out, I was barely clinging to life, with a relentless high fever.

I was thrown back into my room, left to fend for myself.

In the days that followed, my pain became more frequent, spitting blood was common, and my consciousness often blurred.

During one agonizing bout of pain, I hallucinated, as if I was back five years ago, when he still cared for me.

I instinctively picked up my phone and dialed that familiar number.

Like every time I felt unwell before, my voice was choked and filled with complete dependence:

"Liam... I feel so bad..."

On the other end of the line, there was a long silence.

Just as I thought he wouldn't respond, Liam's voice came through the receiver:

"What's wrong?"

I snapped back to reality, realizing how ridiculous my actions were.

My heart was tightly squeezed. I frantically hung up, buried my head in the duvet, biting my teeth as I silently wept.

Finally, I swallowed a handful of painkillers and drifted into a groggy sleep.

I don't know how much time passed before a bucket of cold water was dumped over my head, jolting me awake from my slumber.

Chloe stood by the bed, looking down at me:

"Sister, I found a man for you. How about you try out another man?"

As soon as she finished speaking, a creepy man walked in through the door, approaching the bed with a lecherous grin.

My eyes widened in terror, desperately recoiling.

Just as the man's filthy hand was about to touch me, I violently pushed him away.

Barefoot, I rushed out of the room, heedless of everything.

The moment I burst out of the room, I bumped head-first into a firm chest.

I looked up in terror, meeting Liam's bottomless eyes.

My clothes were disheveled, my face streaked with tears, still shaken.

Chloe, however, cried and threw herself into Liam's arms, starting to slander me:

"Liam, I can't believe she was in the room with a strange man, boohoo, how could she do this to you..."