Chapter 1

My family's company was on the brink of bankruptcy, and my ex-girlfriend, Moon, said she was willing to invest.

Under one condition: I had to act like an actor in an adult film to please her.

To keep my dad from going to prison over the collapse, I agreed.

What I never expected was that she would bring me to a custom-built room and make me get down on all fours, barking like a dog.

After our third round, slow clapping suddenly came from behind the two-way mirror.

"Julian really looks like a male escort, doesn't he? Look how attentive he is."

My hair stood on end.

The realization that I had barked like a dog and had sex with Moon right in front of an audience made a wave of suffocating humiliation crash over me.

Moon only offered a contemptuous smirk, picking up her clothes off the floor.

She tossed a crumpled one-dollar bill onto my bare chest.

"You did a good job serving me. The funds will be wired to your dad's company in a month."

I looked up in pure shock. "Didn't we agree on within a week?"

My dad's business couldn't survive another week, let alone a month.

Moon casually pulled her dress over her head, completely unbothered.

"I used my liquid capital to set up a new company for Shawn. He just returned from abroad; he needs a respectable status."

She thought I would throw a fit, get jealous, and cause a scene like I used to.

But this time, I was just tired.

I didn't want to argue with her anymore. I turned around to leave.

"You're walking out like that?"

Moon arched an eyebrow, looking at my naked body, then glanced toward the mirror.

I knew she was reminding me that there were people waiting outside.

But they had already watched something infinitely more degrading. What else was left for me to fear facing?

I walked toward the door, completely numb. Moon grabbed my wrist.

"Do you have any sense of shame left?"

I looked back at her with dead eyes. "Wasn't humiliating me the whole point?"

She choked on her words.

We both knew the truth.

She was the heiress of a massive, ruthless empire in our city.

We met when we were seventeen. A car crash had left her with a permanent limp in her right leg, turning her bitter, paranoid, and twisted.

She constantly pulled outrageous stunts just to get a reaction, believing that causing chaos was the only way to prove someone cared about her.

One night, after she ran away from home, I found her.

Back then, Moon was like a wounded hedgehog, lashing out violently with fists and kicks at anyone who dared come close.

I had always been slow to react, but the moment I saw her face, I naively wanted to protect her. I became the only person by her side who wouldn't leave, no matter how much she beat or cursed at me.

She once said she yearned for an ordinary life. I was a privileged boy who had never even held a broom, but without hesitation, I learned how to cook and do laundry, desperately trying to build a quiet, simple happiness for her.

Yet during our five years together, Moon broke up with me nineteen times.

Every single time was because Shawn had flown back into town.

Even now, fully aware that my family faced immediate liquidation and criminal charges if the cash didn't come through, she didn't care in the slightest.

My eyes stung, and a lump formed in my throat. I asked her, "How much did you spend setting up that company for Shawn?"

Moon thought for a second and answered offhandedly, "Forty million."

Forty million.

My heart felt as though it were being crushed in a vice, the pain so sharp I could barely breathe.

Forty million was the exact amount needed to save my entire family.

Five years of devotion couldn't even match a welcome-home gift she bought for Shawn on a whim.

Moon had always been domineering with me. If she said a month, not even jumping off a roof right now would change her mind.

I stopped pleading. I reached out and pulled the door open.

I came face-to-face with the crowd of spectators standing in the hallway.

They looked at me awkwardly. Finally, one of the girls broke the silence with a smirk.

"Julian, you two done already?"

A few of the girls covered their mouths and giggled.

A heavy vase flew out from the suite behind me, shattering against the doorframe and cutting off their laughter.

Shards exploded everywhere. I didn't dodge, and one sliced deeply into my leg.

Blood ran down my skin, but I felt nothing.

Moon's eyes locked onto my bleeding leg, then dropped to her own uneven legs.

After a long pause, she stepped forward in front of everyone and put my clothes on me piece by piece.

"I told you you'd get the money in a month. It's not like I'm withholding it. Who are you throwing a tantrum for, huh?"

She buttoned the top button and patted my chest, finally satisfied.

I took a long, hard look at the woman I had madly loved for five years.

I used to believe that if I was just a little more tolerant, a little better to her, Moon would eventually realize my worth.

People always said the highest form of love was tenderness and care. But in her eyes, there was only a naked, twisted urge to drag me down into hell with her.

The moment I stepped out the front door, all the strength drained from my body. My legs began to shake violently.

Inside the suite, their casual banter drifted out through the open door.

Someone asked Moon, "Julian's family was definitely set up this time. A month from now, they'll have been stripped of everything. Moon, are you really not going to step in?"

Moon's detached voice floated out.

"I was the one who arranged it. Shawn found out I've been sleeping with Julian for years and threw a fit. I had to put on a show to appease him."

"Aren't you afraid he really won't come back to you this time?"

At that question, Moon burst out laughing.

"Please. We've known each other for eight years and dated for five. When has Julian ever not crawled back the second I snapped my fingers?"

"If he actually managed to fall for someone else, I'd actually respect him a little."

I leaned against the hallway wall, using every ounce of strength I had left just to keep from collapsing.

My mind spun in disbelief.

My family's bankruptcy wasn't bad luck—it was Moon's doing.

All because Shawn was pouting, and she needed a spectacle to cheer him up.