Chapter 3

With that, Ethan shoved his chair back and headed toward the restroom.

The guests fell dead silent, assuming their gossip had ruined his mood.

Sophia, however, watched his retreating back with a pensive look.

She leaned toward the woman next to her and asked softly:

"Ethan never told me much about his past."

"Do you know why he and Chloe actually broke up back then?"

Seeing Sophia ask, the woman didn't hold back.

The truth was, the story between Ethan and me sounded like a cheap, melodramatic soap opera.

A poor boy and a wealthy heiress fell in love, defied their families, and made it against all odds.

It was supposed to be a fairy-tale ending.

Until Vincent Sterling stepped into the picture.

"Your eyes look just like the woman I once loved."

Those were the first words Vincent ever said to me.

To me, this predatory man in his late thirties was nothing short of repulsive. I threw a glass of ice water straight into his face and walked away without looking back.

I never expected his retaliation to be so vicious.

Vincent framed my parents for smuggling contraband under the guise of a business deal.

My mom and dad were thrown into federal custody.

Not a single law firm in the city dared touch our case because Vincent pulled the strings.

I went to Vincent. I screamed at him, cursed him, and eventually... got down on my knees.

"Mr. Sterling, please. I'm begging you, let my parents go."

"You already swallowed up every cent my family owned. What else do you want?!"

Vincent merely crouched down, casually patting my cheek.

He smiled sickeningly.

"I want... you."

"Be my woman. My eighteenth kept girl. And I promise, your parents will live comfortably and safely for the rest of their days."

I grew up sheltered, treated like porcelain. I had rarely even heard anyone raise their voice at me, let alone endured such vile disgrace.

Vincent's words left me paralyzed with shame.

At that time, Ethan was on a closed research fellowship abroad. I couldn't bear to distract him.

I couldn't even let him hear me cry.

All I could do was choke down my tears on our video calls, whining playfully:

"It's nothing, really. I just miss you."

On the other side of the screen, Ethan believed me. He grinned excitedly:

"Chloe, my fellowship ends in six months. The second I get home, let's get married."

I bit my lip until it bled and whispered, "Okay."

I never imagined how monstrous Vincent could be.

He hired a truck to ram Ethan’s car, sending him straight to the ICU.

I bought a plane ticket with the very last dollars in my pocket. But when I arrived, I couldn't even afford a fraction of his medical bills.

Vincent showed up, grabbed my wrist, and slammed my face against the cold glass of the intensive care unit.

He forced me to look at Ethan, battered, broken, and hooked up to life-support machines.

Vincent whispered in my ear:

"Chloe, my patience has its limits."

"There is nothing in this world I want that I don't get. If you keep playing the pure, untouchable princess, next time that truck will roll right over his chest. I promise you, his death will be gruesome."

Tears washed over my face. I couldn't breathe.

All I could do was nod.

The day Ethan finally woke up and came home, I dumped him.

Ethan shattered.

He couldn't fathom how the girl who had sweetly whispered that she missed him could suddenly walk away.

How she could trade him in for cold hard cash, becoming the notorious mistress of a ruthless monster.

With bloodshot eyes, Ethan tried to hold me:

"Chloe, I know what happened to your family. I know you're terrified, but you have me!"

"My tech patent is about to get approved. I’ll make millions! I’ll hire the best lawyers to clear your parents. You will never suffer with me, I swear!"

Yet I stood firm, carving deep wounds into his soul with every word:

"Ethan Vance, you’re an orphan. You have zero power, zero leverage. How are you going to protect me?"

"I was just playing with you. Did you really think we were equals? Do you actually think you're worthy of being with me? With Vincent, I can have anything I want! Why on earth would I waste my youth waiting for a broke nobody to make it?"

I even stole Ethan’s life's work—his core research files.

Because Vincent had whispered:

"That boy has real talent. Pity he crossed me."

"Steal his patent files for me. Do that, and your parents walk free tomorrow."

Even after I did that, Ethan still wouldn't let go.

That afternoon, the rain poured like a waterfall. Ethan knelt in the dirty puddles, clutching the hem of my coat:

"Chloe, please don't. We don't have to end like this!"

"I love you! I'll give you everything I have. I'm begging you... please don't abandon me!"

Biting my tongue until I tasted copper, I shoved Ethan hard to the pavement.

Swallowing down the sheer nausea, I grabbed Vincent by the lapels and pressed my lips against his right in front of Ethan.

"Get lost, Ethan!"

"A pathetic loser like you doesn't deserve me!"

I opened the passenger door of Vincent's sports car and drove away into the storm.

Ethan knelt in the rain all night long.

The next morning, Ethan flew overseas. And I became Vincent's eighteenth mistress.

Before boarding, Ethan sent me two final text messages:

[Chloe Adams, you'd better pray to God that I stay a dirt-poor nobody for the rest of my life.]

[Because if I ever rise to the top, I will grind you into the dirt.]

Remembering that, I smiled bitterly.

Ethan... you don't have to waste your energy.

I'm already dead. I'll be beneath the dirt soon enough.

Later, my parents found out I had sold myself to Vincent to save them. The following year, they swallowed a lethal dose of pills together.

I had no family left. I was utterly alone.

My reputation was trashed.

Everyone branded me a gold-digging traitor who stole her boyfriend's patent to latch onto a billionaire.

A cheap whore.

Yet Vincent's leash never loosened.

In the dead of night, nightmares of Ethan tangled in hospital tubes would rip me awake.

Vincent would wrap his arms tightly around my chest, suffocating me from behind:

"Chloe, you'd better fall in love with me."

"That’s the only way your poor little boyfriend stays alive out there."