6
Ayana’s POV
When I opened my eyes again, I was already tied up inside an abandoned factory.
The masked man from earlier stood with his back to me, speaking into his phone.
From the other end came a voice I knew all too well—Stellan’s.
“President Breitbart, we’ve done exactly as you asked. The woman’s here. Don’t forget to transfer the five million to our account.”
Stellan’s reply was cold and cutting.
“I already wired you the money. Remember this—if she refuses to withdraw the lawsuit or record a clarification video in advance, keep her there for three days. I’m taking Zella on a trip. During that time, you can do whatever you want with Ayana.”
Without hesitation, he hung up after saying that.
In an instant, my vision blurred red with rage.
All for Zella… Stellan was willing to drive me into a corner without mercy, as if determined to destroy me.
I began to struggle, twisting against the ropes, desperate to free my bound hands.
Just then, footsteps sounded at the door.
The next second, Zella herself strolled in—brazen and unhurried.
She glanced at my pitiful state, and then she smiled in delight.
With mock pity, she reached out and brushed my cheek.
“Ayana, my dear best friend, how did you let yourself become such a mess? You must have heard everything just now, haven’t you? The one who ordered your kidnapping… was your husband. Or rather, the man who’s been covering me up all along has always been Stellan.”
She leaned closer, her voice dripping with cruelty. “He’s the one who gave me the power, the confidence to torment you without restraint. If you still refuse to withdraw the lawsuit, I can’t guarantee what will happen to you, your brother… or that comatose mother of yours.”
Her laughter was sharp and unhinged.
“Why are you doing this?” I glared at her, hatred searing through me.
I had truly believed once that she and I were close, that we had shared something real.
At my words, her expression twisted hideously. Suddenly, she struck me hard across the face.
“At the start, I only wanted Stellan to toy with you a little. I never meant for him to take you seriously! But he fell for you! And you—how dare you two get married? How dare you carry his child? Stellan is mine. Mine! Don’t you understand?”
Her eyes burned with poisonous jealousy, as if every fault in her life belonged to me.
She stared at my pained reaction, and suddenly, she burst into another cruel laugh.
“Oh, that’s right. There’s something you still don’t know, isn't there?”
“Do you know why Stellan married you back then?” She bent down, her lips brushing close to my ear. “Because I casually told him not to pester me anymore. And the reason he stayed with you afterwards? Because that wretched mother of yours overheard our conversation.”
She sneered, her tone gleeful and mocking. “She was about to run off and tell you everything, so I slammed down the accelerator and sent her flying! I didn’t expect her to survive, though. Tough woman, your mother.”
I froze, eyes wide, unable to breathe. The truth I had never known… finally revealed.
Zella’s gaze glittered with wicked delight.
“After I hit your mother, Stellan handled all the cleanup. Everything he’s done for you since? It wasn’t for you at all. It was for me. Ayana, look at yourself. Know your place. Withdraw the lawsuit. Record the clarification video. Then leave Stellan. That’s the only chance you’ll ever have to walk away alive.”
She tapped my cheek again and again, as though I were nothing but a toy in her hands.
My eyes burned.
So that was it. From the very beginning, I had been nothing but Zella’s chosen plaything!
My love, my marriage—everything I thought precious—was nothing more than mud under their feet, something to be trampled and defiled!
The fury in me boiled over. With a sudden snarl, I lunged forward and sank my teeth into her finger.
My gaze locked onto hers, feral, my growl echoing like that of a cornered wolf.
Zella shrieked in shock, thrashing as pain coursed through her hand.
“Damn you, Ayana! You filthy animal!”
The next instant, she kicked me away with all her strength.
