She told him that before Margaret Vance died, her biggest wish was to earn Ethan's forgiveness.
She had come back to atone for his mother.
At first, Ethan directed all his grief onto this stepsister.
He threw away all decency, grabbed her by the throat and cursed her, and even grabbed whatever was nearby to hurl at her.
Nina was bloodied, yet she didn't retreat.
Clarissa couldn't stand watching it and tried to comfort him, saying none of this was her fault.
Ethan was unmoved, eyes bloodshot, roaring for her to get out.
Yet she still came to the door day after day.
In a fit of anger, he actually moved houses with Clarissa.
Life returned to calm.
She naively thought Nina's appearance was nothing more than a small interlude.
Until, on the wedding guest list, her name appeared glaringly.
She probed about it, and Ethan answered carelessly.
"She said a wedding has to have the groom's family present. I couldn't win against her, so I agreed."
His tone was light and airy, like he was talking about a stranger.
Family? When did they become this close?
Ethan noticed her expression was off, wrapped an arm around her waist, his voice seductive.
"What, you don't want to see her?"
"Then I'll cross out her name right now..."
"No need. She is, after all, your stepsister. She ought to attend."
Seeing Ethan act like it was not worth mentioning, Clarissa forcibly pressed down the unease surging in her heart and chose to believe him.
But what did all of this bring in exchange?
Back at the bridal suite.
In the portrait Ethan had painted of her on the wall, her smile was so bright.
Anyone would think that only with a heart full of love could he paint her like that.
Irritable and exhausted, she sat down on the bed, and the mattress suddenly sank.
It revealed a smear of black in the corner.
She gently pulled it out and discovered it was actually a pair of black lace panties.
A roaring sounded in Clarissa's ears.
She had worked overtime day and night in the lab just to cure Ethan's hand ailment.
And him?
He and Nina, on the bed in their bridal suite, had done all the intimate things between lovers.
Just thinking of it made her so disgusted she wanted to vomit.
With a ding, a message came in on her phone.
[I heard your wedding fell through?]
[You won't be willing to swallow this anger, will you? Interested in working with me?]
Of course she wasn't willing.
The person who sent the message was Sterling James.
He was Ethan's former closest friend, and also his current sworn enemy.
The James family's business in Northridge spread across all industries, and Sterling himself was also quite interested in art.
At one art exhibition, he met Ethan, who was just starting out.
He took a liking to Ethan's talent, bought one painting after another from him, and introduced him to big shots in the art world.
But after Ethan became famous, he was no longer satisfied with burying his head in painting, and also tried to enter the field of art collecting.
Many times, he deliberately bid at the very end to win paintings Sterling had long had his eye on.
Not out of appreciation, but because he wanted to prove that he was no longer that timid, inexperienced kid who had been obsequious at Sterling's side back then.
[It's time to teach him a lesson too, isn't it?]
Teach him a lesson?
Clarissa hesitated a little.
This man had almost occupied all of her youth.
Countless emotions mixed together at her chest, seeming about to gush out.
At this moment, a friend request popped up on her phone.
At a glance she recognized that the person in the profile picture was Nina.
She didn't rush to accept, but instead secretly peeked at her most recent posts.
In the first one, she showed off in a veiled way:
"He really has such a big appetite~ Even in the car it can't satisfy him anymore."
