Chapter 1

Jayden Whitney's newest kept canary was an adult-film actress.

She was a wild one.

When the girl suggested having sex right in front of me, I didn't lose it.

I just calmly served as a piece of background scenery.

At one point, the girl's scornful gaze swept across my face. "Jayden, she's so dull. Even like this, she can act like nothing's wrong."

She didn't know that I had once cried and made a scene too.

What it got me was Jayden Whitney's cold threat: "Still haven't learned your lesson? You don't want your father's illness to never get better, do you?"

"Don't forget, I'm the only one who can treat your father's cerebrovascular disease."

From then on I tucked away my pride.

Luckily, my father's final surgery was in three days.

I had already arranged a sanatorium abroad; once the surgery was over, someone would escort us to the airport.

As for Jayden Whitney, our paths would never cross again.

1

An hour later, Julia Gilbert leaned coyly against Jayden Whitney's chest.

When she saw me, she covered her mouth in exaggerated shock. "Don't tell me you've been here the whole time?"

"Jayden, look at her, she's no different from a dog. She'll do whatever you tell her to."

Then Julia Gilbert's mouth curled into a nasty little grin.

"Sweetie, if you want to leave, kneel down on the floor and bark like a dog."

"If you want to stay and watch me and Jayden keep going, then bark twice. How about that?"

A faint smell of smoke hung in the air, like a signal of provocation from Julia Gilbert.

I looked numbly at Jayden Whitney. His eyes still held that faint smile, and he said nothing to contradict her.

The silence dragged on for a long time.

Jayden Whitney frowned, a little displeased. "Julia's young, she likes to have her fun. What's the harm in playing along with her?"

I suddenly laughed.

I couldn't help sneering, "Young, and yet she's shot quite a few films."

"You really must be starving, if you'll eat anything at all."

The calm smile on Jayden Whitney's face shattered in an instant.

Julia Gilbert, still in his arms, completely lost it, flinging herself at me with no regard for appearances, hand already raised to slap me.

The next second, I seized Julia Gilbert's hair with all my strength and slammed her head into the wall.

Julia Gilbert screamed in disbelief. "Are you crazy? Jayden, save me!"

Suddenly, pain tore through my whole body, as if all my strength had been drained away, and my legs gave out beneath me, dropping me to the floor.

The pain was so bad I nearly passed out.

Only when I saw the knife in his hand did I understand.

He had used it to stab me without a shred of hesitation.

The crimson blood pooling across the floor made me feel, in a daze, as if I had gone back ten years.

Back then, Jayden Whitney had fought bare-handed against a knife-wielding thug on the street to protect me. In the end he was covered in wounds, and his blood had spread across the ground just like this.

In an instant, an ache I couldn't hold back welled up in my heart.

"Daniela, how could you do this to Julia! Look at what you've become! You used to..."

I couldn't hear the rest, and when I woke again I was in the hospital.

I lay there in a daze until the wound went numb, letting the young nurse beside me change my dressing.

As she bandaged me, she looked at me with a face full of envy.

"You're so lucky. After you fainted, it was Director Whitney who carried you in. He arranged the most professional orthopedic team for you. Even an injury this serious will heal fast."

I was silent for a moment.

If she knew that this stab wound was Jayden Whitney's doing, I wondered what she would think.

The door was pushed open gently. It was Jayden Whitney.