Chapter 3

Rachel's POV

I was about to explain, but he had already hung up.

Staring at the black screen, my chest felt heavy and suffocated.

What was there to explain?

He never believed me anyway.

And we were about to end things regardless.

Let him hate me, then. He despised me anyway.

Slipping my phone away, I turned to look at Nina on the hospital bed.

The little girl had just had a crying fit, and her emotions were still unstable. She gripped my hand tightly, refusing to let go.

Nina's condition was extremely sensitive to emotional swings. If she experienced any severe stress, she could have an episode at any moment.

Consequently, I didn't dare go anywhere and spent two whole days keeping watch in the hospital.

However, the way things unfolded completely exceeded my expectations.

Tristan made no further moves after that phone call.

Instead, it was Victoria Sterling who took action.

The following afternoon, a financial media outlet published an exclusive interview with Victoria.

In the interview, Victoria generously acknowledged me as the future young mistress of the Sterling family. She even released several family photos that included me.

In the pictures, I stood among the Sterling family, smiling gently.

When I saw the news, my hands turned ice-cold.

Instead of severing ties with Tristan, I had leaped from a rumored secret hotel mistress to the officially recognized fiancée of the Sterling family.

The irony was that this so-called official status didn't bring me a single shred of benefit.

The entire internet knew that Tristan and Lily West were a couple.

Over the past four years, the media had photographed them together countless times.

Whenever they were photographed, Tristan looked incredibly gentle and attentive, and he never once denied the rumors.

Four years ago, he had even publicly declared that he would marry no one but Lily West.

Lily herself was a quite famous dancer with a massive fan base, known for her pure and elegant image.

Now, I had become the homewrecking mistress who had forcibly pushed Lily West out to take her place.

A tidal wave of abuse swept over me.

Social media was flooded with attacks directed at me.

Soon after, someone began leaking my personal information.

My ID number, home address, and phone number were all exposed.

I originally wanted to endure it for a few days, hoping the heat would blow over.

But instead of dying down, the situation only escalated.

On the morning of the third day, I went out to buy breakfast for Nina.

When I returned, the hospital corridor was packed with people.

My heart sank as I rushed over.

Arriving at the door of the ward, the scene before me made my scalp tingle with dread.

A large crowd surrounded the entrance, and there were even seven or eight reporters inside the ward. They had cornered Nina right by her bed, pointing their cameras directly at the frail, thin girl.

"Did you know that Rachel Vance is the Sterling family's fiancée?"

"Did Rachel Vance deliberately sabotage Tristan Sterling and Lily West's relationship to climb the social ladder?"

"What are your thoughts on Rachel Vance being someone's mistress?"

Nina Vance huddled under the blanket, her face pale, her lips trembling, and her fingers starting to twitch uncontrollably.

I recognized it as the warning signs of a seizure.

Throwing all caution to the wind, I rushed in and forcefully shoved aside the reporters and cameras in front of me.

"Get out! All of you, get the hell out!"

I pushed the crowd out with everything I had.

Once the reporters were driven out, the doctor rushed in to administer emergency treatment.

Nina's entire body convulsed, her eyes rolling back as her small body curled into a tight ball on the bed.

I knelt by the bedside, grasping Nina's ice-cold hand, my own body trembling violently.

I could do without Tristan's love, I could forfeit my reputation, and I could even forgo the money.

But Nina was my only living relative in this world, the sole piece of hope my mother had entrusted to me before she passed away.

This was my bottom line.

If anyone touched Nina, I would fight them to the death.

I couldn't endure it for another second.

As soon as Nina's condition stabilized, I drove as fast as I could straight to Tristan's private villa.

Outside the villa, the heavy gates were tightly shut. I banged on them frantically.

"Tristan! Come out! Come out and clarify our relationship!"

"That day, it was your mother who told me to pick you up from the hotel! You were the one who held onto me and wouldn't let go! Why is all of this being pinned on me now?!"

"Make things clear to everyone! Tell them to stop harassing Nina!"

"If you really love Lily West, why don't you make it public? Why don't you fight your parents for her sake? What kind of man are you?!"

"Why is every single mess being dumped on me?! You even let people harass Nina! I despise you!"

No matter how hard I banged on the gates, how much I explained, or how loudly I yelled, the iron gates remained completely still.

I gasped for air, my face flushed red with sheer rage.

I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth to deliver my final ultimatum.

"If you don't open this gate right now, I will expose everything about our contract agreement to the media! I'll let everyone see how you and Lily West use an innocent person to shield yourselves!"

"I'll make sure everyone knows what kind of wretched scum you two are, and I will utterly ruin Lily West's reputation!"

Sure enough, the moment the words left my mouth, the iron gate swung open.

I was leaning heavily against the gate and stumbled forward, caught off guard.

A hand suddenly yanked me by the collar, halting my fall.

Tristan stood behind the gate, his face dark with fury.

"Rachel, you got what you wanted and now you're playing the victim? Have you no shame at all?"

With my collar gripped in his hand, I stared up at him defiantly.

"I have no shame? And you do? Do you dare to dig up the truth? Do you dare to make our contract agreement public and tell everyone that it's over between us?!"

Tristan's brow furrowed deeply.

"Enough!"

"Did they say anything wrong? Are you not calculating? Didn't you want to use Nina's illness and our contract agreement to marry into the Sterling family?"

"If Nina dies because of this, wouldn't that give you the perfect excuse to demand compensation from the Sterling family and rightfully take your place as Mrs. Sterling?"

*Slap!*

My hand struck his face with full force.

Tristan's head snapped to the side, his cheek rapidly turning a furious red.

He nudged the inside of his cheek with his tongue and slowly turned his head back, his gaze even darker than before.

"Heh. Did I hit a nerve? Flying into a rage because I've exposed you?"

He leaned in close, towering over me.

"Since that's the case, shouldn't you be thanking me for doing what you wanted to do but didn't dare to do?"

I felt as though I had been struck by lightning, a sharp pang of agony piercing my heart.

Within a mere two days, all of my personal information, and even the name of the hospital and Nina's room number, had been leaked online.

Only a handful of people could have pulled this off.

I had suspected Tristan before, since he hadn't taken any action publicly during those two days.

But I hadn't wanted to admit it.

Now, he had admitted it himself. It was him.

"You were the one who brought the contract agreement to me! Your mother was the one who told me to pick you up from the hotel! The Sterling family was the one who went public with our relationship!"

My tears finally spilled over.

"You did all of this! It wasn't enough for you to trample me into the dirt—now you have to harm Nina too!"

"Tristan, you're a monster!"

I raised my hand to slap him again.

This time, Tristan was prepared. He grabbed my wrist and threw me aside with a violent flick of his arm.

Caught completely off guard, I lost my footing and tumbled down the steps behind me.

I crashed onto the courtyard floor, blood instantly soaking through my clothes from my knees.

Tristan felt a sharp pang in his chest.

He instinctively took a step forward, wanting to help me up.

"Tristan."

A soft female voice drifted in from outside the courtyard.