Sophia was helped to her feet by a customer at the next table. Blood from her palms, mixed with shards of glass, clung to the carpet. As she stood, using the table as a support, her ankle still felt weak—her knee had banged against the table leg during her second fall, and now every movement was a sharp pain. People around her were still whispering, some offering tissues, others whispering, "Don't get angry with Ethan; he's worried about Miss Lillian, too." Sophia didn't respond. She simply bent down, picked up her dropped bag, and headed to the hospital alone .
The lights in the emergency room were bright. When the doctor used saline solution to flush the wound on her palm, she clutched the bed sheet in pain, but did not shed tears - compared to the betrayal she had experienced in the past two days, this pain was nothing.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket. It was Charles's video call. He was wearing a suit, and the background was a foreign conference room. Seeing the gauze on her palm, his brows furrowed instantly. "What's going on? Are you injured again?"
Sophia avoided his gaze and pretended to be relaxed: "It's okay, I accidentally fell while walking. Aren't you in a meeting? How do you have time to call?"
"Nothing is more important than you." Charles's voice deepened. "Sophia, don't lie to me. Did Ethan do something to you? I checked his recent whereabouts. He's been having an affair with his adopted Lillian . He even had his secretary buy some 'obedient water' this afternoon. You must stay away from him."
Sophia's heart suddenly sank - Charles had actually been secretly following Ethan's movements. She bit her lip and finally told the truth .
Charles's face on the screen instantly turned cold, his knuckles clenched until they turned white: "I'll go back tomorrow, without waiting for the project to be finished."
"Don't!" Sophia interrupted him hastily. "Wait a little longer. The engagement party is in four days , and I have to find those private photos before that day. He hasn't suspected me yet, so I can take this opportunity to check his computer . I can't let him get alerted."
Charles was silent for a few seconds, but he finally gave in, his tone filled with worry: "Then you must be careful. I can help you remotely. Do you know the password to his computer? I can try to crack his cloud drive."
Sophia thought of Ethan's study computer—the password was her birthday. This detail, which he used to disguise his affection, now became a breakthrough. She nodded: "I know the password. I'll wait for him to come back tonight and see if I can get the things."
After hanging up, Sophia took a taxi back to her apartment. The living room lights were off, so she groped her way to the study. When she turned on her computer, the screen's glow cast a shadow over her pale face. She entered her birthday password, unlocking the computer successfully. She quickly opened the "Documents" and "Pictures" folders, but found no trace of any private photos. Just as she was about to give up, her mouse cursor flicked over an encrypted folder named "Lillian's Studio"—a name so contrived that it only aroused her suspicions.
She tried entering Lillian's birthday and Ethan's birthday, but both indicated the password was incorrect. Desperate, she sent a remote control request to Charles, who quickly connected on the other side of the screen, fingers tapping away at the keyboard. Ten minutes later, the folder was finally opened—it contained no studio information at all, but densely packed folders, dated "2020.5 First Time" and "2021.10 Hotel." Each folder contained her private photos and videos, as well as chat logs between Ethan and his friends, detailing "how to coax Sophia into taking photos" and "when to drug her next time."
Sophia's fingers trembled as she clicked on one of the videos. She had her eyes closed in the video. It was last year, when she was ill, and Ethan had coaxed her into taking a photo as a souvenir. She'd believed him then, but now she realized it was all his plan. Charles's voice came through the headset, distressed. "Wan Wan, stop looking. I've backed up these files to my cloud drive. Delete them from his computer so he doesn't find them."
Sophia gritted her teeth and followed Charles's instructions. While deleting the files, her fingertips slipped the wrong keys several times. Just as she was about to finish deleting, the sound of a key turning came from the entrance - Ethan was back.
She hurriedly turned off the computer and pretended to tidy up her desk. Ethan walked in, still wearing the scent of rose perfume that Lillian often wore. He hugged her from behind, his chin resting on her shoulder: "Sophia, why are you in the study? Are you waiting for me to come back?"
Sophia's body stiffened, and she pretended to be tired: "I have some unfinished work . Is Miss Lillian okay?"
Ethan paused, his tone filled with false guilt: "It's okay, just change your clothes . As for you, did you fall seriously this afternoon? I bought some ointment on the way back, can you apply it on it?"
Sophia avoided his hand and turned to walk towards the bedroom: "No need, I wiped it myself. I'm a little tired and want to go to bed early." She didn't dare to look back, for fear that he would see through the disgust in her eyes - this man, hugging her and pretending to be affectionate, while storing evidence of hurting her in his computer, how disgusting.
Ethan looked at her back, a hint of suspicion flashing in his eyes, but he didn't ask any more questions. He didn't know that Sophia had hidden a USB drive under her pillow, which contained screenshots of some chat records sent by Charles - on the day of the engagement banquet, she wanted him to pay the price for his actions.
The proposal banquet was held in the most luxurious hotel banquet hall in the city center. Ethan had booked the entire venue, from the entrance to the main stage, and filled it with white roses that Sophia "liked"—actually, they were Lillian's favorite flowers, and he didn't even bother to pretend. Sophia, wearing the dress Ethan had prepared, stood at the banquet hall entrance, watching the guests enter holding cards that read "Wishing Mr. Ye and Sophia happiness," and felt only the irony of it.
Charles had messaged her that morning: "I'm already near the hotel, waiting for your signal. I'll come in anytime." Sophia clutched her phone, the warmth of her fingertips transmitting through the screen, relaxing her tense nerves a little. Ethan walked over, put his arm around her waist, and said boastfully: "Sophia, after today, you're my fiancée. I'll give you the best life ever."
Sophia forced a stiff smile and said nothing. She knew that the "best life" Ethan mentioned was based on her being ruined and her money being drained.
Halfway through the banquet, the lights on the main stage suddenly came on. Ethan walked onto the stage, microphone in hand. His gaze swept across the audience, finally landing on Sophia. He spoke affectionately, "Today, I'm going to propose to the woman I love most. Sophia, when I met you five years ago, I knew you were the one I'd be looking for in my life..."
He was telling a lie he had already made up, and his friends in the audience followed suit and made a noise. Lillian stood in the crowd, her eyes full of pride - she thought Ethan was going to release Sophia's private photos when proposing to her, so that Sophia would collapse on the spot, but unexpectedly, Sophia was one step faster than her.
