Slap!
The sharp crack echoed through the hotel room.
Grayson Vance’s head snapped to the side. A vivid handprint bloomed across his cheek, blood seeping from the corner of his lips.
“Are you crazy, Grayson?”
Virelle Ashen’s voice trembled. Her gaze was icy, but her fingers clenched so tightly that they turned stark white.
“I’m your wife, and yet you want to force me to sleep with another man for money?”
“What do you take me for? A bitch?”
Looking at the man before her, she felt only a chilling sense of unfamiliarity, so foreign that he no longer resembled the man who had once sworn to love her, who had shed tears on their wedding day.
Silence fell over the room.
Only the sound of Virelle’s own ragged breathing remained.
She stared fixedly at Grayson, almost desperately waiting for an answer.
Even if he said it was all just a cruel joke, she would believe him.
At least that would prove he didn’t truly intend to push her into another man’s bed.
That he wasn’t that shameless, disgusting, and utterly devoid of respect for her.
But Grayson just wiped the blood from his lips before stepping forward, gently taking her shoulders.
“Just one night, darling.”
His voice was low, dry.
“You know the company is on the brink of collapse, and only Dominic Ashcroft, CEO of Valmont Group, can save it.”
He met her eyes.
“Besides, you bear a striking resemblance to the woman he loved...”
Virelle’s heart clenched, a cold shiver running down her spine. Her fingers curled tightly.
She flung Grayson’s hand away with force, something inside her shattering.
Not just the trust she had placed in him, but her love as well.
“I’m not an object, and I will never do something as disgusting as selling my own body.”
A tear slid down her cheek as she rejected him coldly.
She turned to leave, but her wrist was seized.
Grayson’s grip clamped down like a vice, leaving Virelle with no way to break free.
“Darling, neither of us has a choice.”
“The two hundred thousand dollars for your grandfather’s upcoming surgery... I really can’t afford it anymore.”
Virelle’s steps halted.
“So you’re threatening me?”
Grayson fell silent, then lowered his head, his voice turning hoarse.
“I’m not threatening you. I’m not forcing you either.”
“I’m only telling you what happens if you say no. The choice has always been yours.”
His grip around Virelle’s wrist tightened.
“You can say no, darling. Of course you can.”
“But can you watch me lose everything, and your grandfather die because we can’t afford the surgery?”
Hearing this, Virelle only found it laughable.
Grayson insisted that the choice was hers, yet every reason he gave left her with no room to refuse.
There was no way back, and even less a way out.
This was no longer her voluntary sacrifice, mà chỉ là sự exploitation. Cruel and calculated, wrapped in a gentle facade like a sugar-coated bullet.
She could no longer see even a trace of love in his eyes.
Just calculation.
But before Virelle could respond.
Smack.
Grayson struck himself hard across the face, hard enough that blood split at the corner of his lips.
“It’s all my fault for being useless.”
Smack.
His voice grew rougher, his eyes reddening, his shoulders slumping.
“It’s my failure that dragged you down... that I couldn’t give you a better life.”
“I can’t even keep you clean.”
“I’m truly a bastard. I don’t deserve you...”
Virelle grabbed his hand.
“Stop, Grayson...”
Grayson lifted his head to look at her. His eyes were red, yet something dark and unreadable lurked beneath.
“Help me just this once, darling. I swear there won’t be a second time. I swear it in my heart.”
His voice softened to a whisper as his hand gently stroked her hair.
A familiar gesture that had once made her feel happy and cherished.
But now, he used that very gesture to say the cruelest words.
“Once we have the money, I’ll move your grandfather into the best ward, get him the most advanced treatment… We’ll go back to how things used to be.”
“I’ll make it up to you.”
“If sacrificing one night can save everything, then why shouldn’t you do it?”
Every word sounded gentle, yet together, they formed a cage she could not escape.
A memory flashed through Virelle’s mind.
That rainy night years ago, when she had stood in despair beneath the hospital eaves, Grayson had pulled her into his arms and promised,
“Darling, I will cover all the expenses for your grandfather’s recovery. You’ll never have to bow your head to anyone again.”
Her chest ached sharply as she realized that the man who had once promised to protect her was now the very one forcing her to bow her head.
And yet, she had no way to refuse.
The arms that once warmed her had now turned cold. The man who had sworn so solemnly back then had perhaps long forgotten his promise.
He was no longer someone she could trust or rely on, no longer the man who had once treated her as his entire world.
If in the past she could deceive herself into believing this was a sacrifice for family, then now she understood it clearly.
This was nothing more than coercion disguised as love.
She closed her eyes, biting her lip until it bled. Her voice was as soft as the wind.
“Fine. I’ll go.”
“But this is the last time I save you.”
The thought of leaving Grayson took root in Virelle’s heart for the first time. After all, now that both his love and protection had grown cold, she no longer wished to stay and watch their love fade away in pain.
She knew it all too well. If she continued to stay, what she would lose would not only be her dignity,
but herself, piece by piece, within Grayson’s manipulation.
…
An hour later.
Virelle lay on the bed, her body burning as if consumed by fire.
The glass of wine Grayson had given her, laced with an aphrodisiac, still scorched her throat, making her unconsciously tug her dress straps lower.
“Hot... it’s so hot...”
She whimpered, her mind hazy, her breath uneven. Her body reacted in ways that felt unfamiliar, uncontrollable.
She didn’t know how much time had passed before her vision began to blur.
Click.
The door opened.
A man stepped inside, stopping beside the bed. His gaze swept over Virelle’s flushed face, undisguised disgust flashing in his eyes.
“Who are you? And who sent you here?”
His voice was cold as ice, laced with killing intent.
“Do they really think I like this kind of woman?”
Virelle forced her eyes open, her gaze unsteady as it landed on the man.
The moment she saw clearly who he was, her breath caught in her throat.
Dominic Ashcroft.
Virelle’s fingers clenched tightly around the bedsheet, her voice choked as if on the verge of tears.
“I’m Virelle.”
“I came to beg you to invest in my husband’s company, Virex Global Holdings...”
Dominic let out a low chuckle, his eyes locking onto hers.
“Invest in your husband’s company?”
“So this is the way your husband came up with to secure funding?”
His gaze darkened.
“Then he really is a bastard.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“Forcing his wife to take aphrodisiacs, and then sending her to my bed?”
He paused for a beat.
“Did no one tell him? I hate men who are both stupid and vile, men who will do anything, no matter how low, to get what they want.”
“And you…”
“I don’t like things that have already been touched by someone else.”
The biting mockery in his words made Virelle lower her gaze, her face turning even paler.
Her fingers clenched tightly around the bedsheet, her body trembling, and even her voice began to shake.
No, she had to find a way to salvage the situation, otherwise, her grandfather...
“Please, Mr. Ashcroft... I can do anything you want...”
Her hand moved to pull down the strap of her dress.
“Get out of here.”
Dominic cut her off coldly.
“You have three seconds. One...”
He turned, about to leave.
Virelle’s heart pounded violently, and anic surged through her.
“Wait, Mr. Ashcroft...”
She tried to stand, but her legs gave way, limp and powerless.
With a dull thud, she collapsed right in front of him.
The thin straps of her short dress slipped from the fall, revealing the curve of her chest and the pink birthmark on her right side.
Dominic’s steps halted. A fragment of memory flickered through his mind.
In the freezing, bone-chilling water, a pair of gentle hands had grasped his, pulling him up from beneath the surface.
The position of that girl’s birthmark matched Virelle’s exactly.
His gaze fixed on it, his voice lowering.
“Who exactly are you?”
Virelle didn’t understand the shift in his tone. She only bowed her head, pleading through her tears.
“Mr. Ashcroft, please..."
" If there’s no investment, my husband will lose everything.”
“My grandfather won’t get the surgery either... he won’t survive...”
Her voice broke into soft, pitiful sobs.
Her grandfather was the only family she had left in this world.
She could lose everything, but she could not lose him.
Dominic studied her in silence for a long moment before letting out a quiet breath.
Whether it was because he pitied her misery, or because she resembled that person.
“Fine. The investment will proceed.”
“My secretary will contact Virex Global Holdings.”
Virelle froze. Joy burst open in her chest as she lifted her head to look at Dominic, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“You mean it?”
Dominic gave a slight nod.
“Mm.”
Virelle’s voice lifted with joy. She lowered her head, her words pouring out in a steady stream.
“Mr. Ashcroft, thank you, thank you so much. You’ve saved my life.”
“To show my gratitude, I can...”
“No need. Stay and rest.”
Dominic cut her off.
“My private doctor will be here shortly to check on you.”
With that, he turned and left, swift as the wind.
Have I finally found you?
The thought crossed his mind as he stepped out of the hotel lobby.
He took his phone out of his pocket and quickly pressed the call button.
"Help me investigate something..."
…
By the time Virelle returned home, it was already late, yet the lights at Nightveil Residence were still on. She took a deep breath, forcing a small smile as she stepped inside.
“Grayson, I have good news for you.”
No reply. The living room was silent, as though no one was there.
Frowning slightly, Virelle walked toward the bedroom.
“Mommy...”
A soft child’s voice rang out, instantly melting her heart.
It was her son’s voice.
Was Jaxon... calling her?
A smile touched her lips as she was about to respond.
“Mommy’s here. Let Mommy sing you to sleep.”
A different woman’s voice answered.
The smile on Virelle’s lips froze. She stood rooted in place as she heard Jaxon respond sweetly to that woman.
Without realizing it, she quickened her steps, approaching the bedroom.
Through the half-closed door, she looked inside.
Jaxon was lying in a woman’s arms, obediently clinging to her, gentle and intimate.
Something he had never once done with Virelle.
To her, Jaxon had always been stubborn, distant.
And Virelle recognized that woman, the one wearing her nightdress.
Selene Duvall, Grayson’s childhood friend.
At that moment, Grayson stood beside them, watching with a soft, tender gaze. The three of them looked perfect, like a real family.
The sight sliced through Virelle’s heart.
“Daddy...”
Jaxon shifted in Selene’s arms, then climbed down and ran to Grayson, clinging to him.
“Can Mommy stay here forever?”
He pouted, scrunching his nose.
“I don’t like Virelle at all. She’s not pretty, she doesn’t smell nice, and she’s not as gentle as Mommy.”
Virelle’s heart clenched violently. Her body trembled, and she no longer had the strength to step inside.
Six years.
Although Jaxon was not her biological child with Grayson, just a stranger child they had adopted from an orphanage, she had spent six years raising him, caring for him, loving him as if he were her own.
When he was sick, she had always been the one by his side.
When he was younger, his health had been fragile. Afraid the maids wouldn’t care for him properly, Virelle had even given up her job to take care of him full-time.
And in the end, this was what she received.
Rejection. Disdain. Denial.
Bitterness clogged her throat as she braced herself against the wall just to remain standing.
Through the haze of pain, she saw Grayson reach out and gently pat Jaxon’s head.
“Of course she can, Jaxon.”
“If you want, Mommy and Daddy will always stay here with you.”
Her heart was torn apart.
Grayson’s bias cut deeper than Jaxon’s childish words, like a bomb detonating in Virelle’s mind.
Those words erased her completely, his legal wife, Jaxon’s mother in name. She was nothing more than an outsider.
And the three of them inside... they were the harmonious family he truly wanted.
Then what was she?
A tool, something to be discarded once used?
Her lips pressed tightly together.
The humiliation and despair from before surged back all at once.
She could no longer hold back. She burst the door open and walked in.
Her gaze swept across the three people in the room.
“Grayson, I did everything to save your company.”
“Is this how you repay me?”
Virelle’s voice was hoarse, a mocking laugh tearing from her throat.
“You bring another woman into my bedroom, let her wear my clothes.”
“And let my son call a woman he’s just met for the first time 'Mommy'?”
“Have you ever thought about how I feel, the one who has loved and cared for him for the past six years?”
