To punish my defiance, he even used his connections in the city.
He bound me and Seb tightly together.
No separation, no divorce.
For this lifetime, whether love or hatred, we could only be together.
Back then, Seb knelt before me.
He swore he would love me forever, that I would never regret my choice.
But in the second year of our marriage, he betrayed us.
Seb, holding his mistress, looked at me with righteous anger.
“Yes, I cheated. So what can you do?”
“Charlie, you have no home.”
“For the rest of your life, you’re tied to me!”
I cried as I called my family, saying I regretted what I had done.
My father hung up coldly, and my mother watched without emotion.
They said this was the path I chose, and I had to walk it to the end, even if I cried.
Knowing I wouldn’t leave, Seb grew more arrogant and reckless.
He kept countless mistresses, gossip spreading everywhere.
Now he even brought his mistress home openly.
But what he didn’t know was that when I left, my father and I made a ten-year pact.
We bet on how long our love would last.
If I won, he would use everything he had to protect my marriage.
If I lost, I would return and accept an arranged marriage.
Because of Seb.
This marriage, this wager.
I lost everything.
While Seb drove, I dialed that familiar number.
“Dad, I lost.”
“A bet is a bet. I’ll return to New York in three days to get married.”
My father had never lost at the gambling table.
Faced with this expected outcome, he showed no surprise.
He only gave a brief reply and a few instructions.
“Charlie, you are my eldest daughter. You must inherit this family business.”
“The past is the past. I won’t pursue it, but remember one thing.”
“Don’t take what you shouldn’t take, and don’t leave what you shouldn’t leave behind.”
What I shouldn’t have taken was the child in my womb.
What I shouldn’t have left behind was the family business I built for Seb.
These ten years of suffering are the lessons he taught me to never forget.
“I understand, Dad.” After hanging up, Seb was already honking downstairs, urging me to hurry.
I got into the passenger seat of a car bearing another woman’s name.
We didn’t speak the entire way.
He pretended not to see the coldness on my face.
I pretended not to smell the sharp perfume in the car.
As I stepped out, Seb habitually reached to help me.
His rolled-up sleeve revealed a long knife scar.
For a moment, a dull ache rose in my chest.
To be with me, Seb had endured eighteen knife wounds, barely clinging to life.
The man who once loved me enough to give his life.
Now… how did he become like this?
Before I could think further, a woman took Seb’s arm.
“Seb, it’s been so long since you visited me.”
“What brings you here today?”
“Did you fight with your tigress at home, or is your new love no fun?”
It was Lily Harrington.
Lily was the most favored among Seb’s lovers.
And the one who stayed by his side the longest.
She clung to his arm, acting coy.
Her full chest brushed against him again and again.
Seb smiled broadly.
Ignoring me, he produced a ruby necklace to appease Lily.
