Chapter 3

"Nicole, why haven't you been picking up my calls? I'm parked right outside your building! Come down, please." Lucas had become obsessed with me lately, confiding his deepest thoughts and pretending we shared a profound connection.

People always crave what they can't fully possess, don't they?

With my hair draped messily over my shoulders and my cheek slightly swollen, I slowly walked down the stairs.

"Lucas," I called out in a timid, trembling whisper.

"Nicole, what happened to your face?!"

"Lucas... maybe we shouldn't see each other anymore."

"What? Why?! Nicole, I'm completely in love with you!" He pulled me tightly into his chest, clutching me as if terrified of losing me.

"My stepmother... she said wealthy guys like you always shower girls with expensive gifts if they're serious. She said you haven't bought me anything, so you're just using me for fun! When I tried to defend you, she beat me... She said she was going to marry me off to some old man for cash." Tears spilled over my cheeks as I sobbed against his shirt.

The very next day, Lucas showed up at our apartment carrying high-end designer gift boxes. Between veiled pleasantries, he made it abundantly clear that Jack and Helen needed to treat me with respect.

Sure enough, the two of them backed off considerably. But alongside that caution came a growing contempt from the Davis family toward my step-parents.

Meanwhile, my image as the untouchable, pure white moonlight was permanently cemented in Lucas's mind. He spoiled me relentlessly.

He had fallen for me, yet his wild playboy habits never truly stopped.

One evening, Jack stumbled home plastered. His drunken, bloodshot eyes swept over me from head to toe. "Nicole, you've really blossomed, haven't you?" He reached out, his clammy hands aiming to grab my waist.

Helen watched from the kitchen counter and looked away, pretending not to see. Ever since I hit puberty, Jack had peeked at me in the shower and tried to grope me whenever he had the chance. It had all been happening with Helen's silent blessing.

I violently jerked my arm back. "Jack, Lucas told me he only loves girls who are completely pure."

Sober, Jack might have restrained himself out of fear of Lucas's father. But thoroughly drunk, he threw caution to the wind and swung his hand, slapping me across the face. "You little tramp! I've fed and housed you for years, what's wrong with a little touch? You think you're royalty now?!"

Seeing me get hit, Toby clapped his little hands and laughed gleefully.

The slap finally caught Helen's attention. "Watch it! If you bruise her face and ruin the match with the Director's family, all our plans go down the drain!"

They both knew the Davises were thrilled with me and that an engagement was imminent.

"Right, right..." Jack mumbled, shaking his head. "Nicole, go grab some ice from the freezer. Put it on your face. We can't have your pretty face ruined."

I turned toward the bathroom. In the mirror, my cheek was already swollen red.

No. This wasn't dramatic enough.

I dialed Lucas's number. "Lucas... I love you so much. Maybe in the next life, we can be together..."

"Nicole?! What's wrong? Don't scare me!" Lucas's voice shook through the receiver, pure panic lacing his tone.

He had lost his mother at an early age and suffered from a deep-seated maternal deficit. To him, I was the spitting image of the idealized mother figure he craved: gentle, self-sacrificing, submissive, and pure.

He could never allow that fantasy to shatter.

When Lucas raced up to the rooftop of our apartment complex, he found me standing right on the edge of the parapet. My body was covered in freshly inflicted bruises, my face was severely swollen, and my shirt was torn raggedly down the shoulder.

"Nicole, what happened?! Step back, don't do anything reckless! Did your step-parents beat you again?!"

Those cowards wouldn't dare beat me this severely; they still relied on me as their golden goose to climb the corporate ladder.

Every single tear and bruise on my body was my own doing.

Looking at his frantic, terrified expression, I found it almost laughable. Was this the twisted logic where he could sleep with whoever he wanted, yet expect absolute purity from me?

Utterly sickening.

I buried my face in my hands, sobbing in utter despair. "Jack... he tried to assault me... I can't live with this shame anymore!"

In my previous life, I had never dared to speak up about Jack's groping, silently enduring his filthy hands even after marriage because I was terrified Lucas would find me tainted and discard me.

A momentary flicker of disgust flashed through Lucas's eyes, quickly followed by urgent anxiety. "Did he... did he manage to do anything to you?!"

I shook my head violently. "No! I fought him off with everything I had! But rather than be disgraced like that, I'd rather jump, Lucas!"