Yvonne's POV
Back then, after openly defying Mr. Winslow, all Cedric's financial support was cut off.
As such, he worked day and night at nightclubs and convenience stores just to buy me a pair of earrings that cost thirty-two dollars.
The love in his eyes had been so intense it nearly overflowed. His eyes were red, afraid I’d feel even a hint of grievance.
“Someday,” he promised, “I’ll buy you jewelry that’s more expensive, more luxurious. Yvonne, I swear it.”
But now, there was nothing left in his eyes except the dull numbness of someone just going through the motions.
Just then, the doors were shoved open, and Melina stumbled in, utterly disheveled.
The blood at the corners of her mouth had already dried. The stitches were also gone, but tiny needle marks were still visible on her upper and lower lips.
“Cedric, save me!” she begged.
Cedric’s pupils shrank slightly. He rushed forward so fast he didn’t even notice his slippers slipping off just to catch Melina in his arms.
Her eyes burned with hatred as she glared at me, venom spilling from her gaze. “She had people sew my mouth shut! And she locked me in an ice-cold room all night! Cedric, divorce her, please? She’s going to kill me. My mouth hurts so badly. She even turned that incident into a PowerPoint and posted it online. Now the hospital director told me to get out. My whole future is ruined. I don’t want to live anymore.”
Without a second thought, Cedric turned and slapped me hard across the face.
A storm brewed in his eyes, as if he wanted to tear me apart. “Yvonne, have you lost your mind? Didn’t I warn you not to touch her?”
Years ago, when he faced Mr. Winslow, he had stood exactly like this, shielding me behind him with everything he had.
Only this time, I had become the “Mr. Winslow,” and they were the lovers being cruelly torn apart.
Bitterness flooded my chest. My eyes reddened despite myself.
Still, I laughed weakly through my choking voice as I looked at him. “She took my child from me. She took away my right to be a mother. The doctor said it’ll be very hard for me to get pregnant again. Sewing a few stitches into her mouth was already the lightest punishment.”
“Cedric,” I demanded, staring straight at him, “why do you believe everything she says? Who exactly is your wife?”
I stubbornly searched his face, desperately hoping to find even a trace of pain or guilt.
But there was none.
His voice was heavy with barely restrained fury as he replied, “Yvonne, you’re just using this as an excuse. Melina studied medicine for so many years, and you destroyed her future with a single move. You’re vicious. She’s right. I spoiled you too much all these years.”
He then waved his hand, summoning the bodyguards in the courtyard.
Quickly, they grabbed my arms and forced me to the ground.
Cedric turned his face away, as if even looking at me made him feel dirty. The he gently wrapped an arm around Melina, holding her like a precious treasure he’d almost lost—every movement careful, cherishing.
“Melina,” he said softly, “tell me. How do you want to vent your anger?”
Melina glanced smugly at my deathly pale face.
“Bring that bastard over,” she said sweetly. “Burn it in front of her as an offering to heaven.”
My eyes widened, bloodshot, disbelief tearing through me. “Cedric, are you insane?! That was our child!”
But he replied coldly, without hesitation. “As long as Melina is happy, I don't care. This is the price you pay for hurting her, Yvonne.”
Amid my hoarse, desperate screams, Melina personally had someone bring the corpse of my already fully formed child from the hospital.
Right in front of me, she tossed him into the fire basin.
The flames surged up like venomous snakes, instantly devouring him.
“No!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
The overpowering stench of burning flesh assaulted my senses.
It felt as though my body had been ripped apart, as if my soul itself had been torn from its place.
Even so, Melina still wasn’t satisfied.
“Strip her,” she said coldly. “Sew the word ‘bitch’ onto her back.”
Cedric frowned slightly, and with a trace of displeasure in his tone, he muttered, “Melina.”
But she didn’t back down. She clung to his arm and shook it. “Cedric, my mouth hurts. I won’t even be able to eat hot food for weeks!”
In the end, Cedric looked at her helplessly, indulgence winning out. “Just this once. Don’t take it too far.”
As such, I closed my eyes in resignation. Inside, everything was already desolate and numb.
No matter how I begged, no matter how hysterically I screamed, the needle behind me still came down with ruthless precision.
As blood beaded and spilled, pleasure appeared in Melina’s eyes, and her hand only grew harsher.
I lay sprawled on the ground, stripped bare, forced to endure the lewd, mocking stares of the surrounding bodyguards.
In the end, the pain overwhelmed me, and I passed out.
Just before losing consciousness, I caught a fleeting trace of pain in Cedric’s eyes, but it vanished almost instantly.
When I woke up, I was still lying on the cold floor, but the word “bitch” was crudely stitched across my back.
Gritting my teeth, I called my father once again. “Dad, I want a divorce from Cedric.”
Three hours later, I left our house with my father’s car.
