But I ignored him. When the Vaughn family bodyguards came for me, I left without a backward glance.
“Why?” he yelled after me, his voice trembling. “You always cared for me the most! Why is it, after we reunited, all you can see is Joey? Weren’t we the closest?”
“The closest‘?” I savored the words, a mocking smile on my face. “You didn’t seem to think we were the closest when you were calling me a vicious, gold–digging snake.”
“Leo, you’re no better than Joey. You’re both disgusting.”
I left his lost, broken figure behind me. This time, I didn’t look back.9
I don’t know how much Joey heard about what happened in the hospital room. But from that day on, he avoided me. Maybe he didn‘ t know how to face me. Maybe he couldn’t accept the truth that his perfect, pure love had become
so tainted.
Since Joey was avoiding me, I had to find my own ways to die. Jumping, biting my tongue, slitting my wrists, drowning myself in the tub–all failed. There were too many people watching me in the house.
The head housekeeper, Mrs. Davison, called Joey in tears. “Sir, please, you have to come back and see the missus. She’s… she’s falling apart.”
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W
Joey still didn’t show up. But every object in the house that could possibly be used for suicide was removed. Even the windows
were sealed shut.
When I had nothing else to do, I’d bang my head against the wall and curse Joey’s entire family tree. He didn’t get angry. He started
dropping hints to the staff to let me know he wasn’t with Sera. He started sending me flowers–lilies, roses, daisies. A new bouqu- et appeared by my bedside every morning. I’d throw them out, and he’d just send more. Sometimes, if I woke up early enough, I’d
catch a glimpse of his back as he hurried out of my room.
We were at a stalemate. The System warned me again that time was running out. I told it not to worry. Someone would break first.
The first to break was Leo.
He came to the Vaughn mansion several times, trying to take me away. He even got his family elders involved, threatening to kill himself if they didn’t intervene and get me away from Joey.
But Joey was the head of the Vaughn family now. When he was stubborn, he wouldn’t listen to anyone. The two families clashed and things got ugly.
Finally, Leo confronted Joey directly. “If I hadn’t been absent during the best years of her life, Faye would never have been yours,” he spat. “You’re just a thief who got lucky and didn’t know how to cherish what you stole.”
That finally got to Joey.
That night, I was half–asleep when a hot body pressed against mine, bringing with it the heavy scent of alcohol. I opened my eyes to see Joey’s face, etched with a look of pure grievance. I had never seen him like this. He looked like an abandoned puppy. He grabbed my hand and pressed it against his flushed cheek.
3
“My love, he said your love for me was stolen,” he slurred, his voice pitiful. “He said I don’t cherish you. I do cherish you. I just… I just don’t know how to face you right now…”
Joey, I’m not your love,” I said coldly, cutting him off. “You walked w
your fiancée.”
before the engagement ceremony even started. I’m not even
My words stung him. He froze, the drunkenness in his eyes clearing. But then he chose to feign drunkenness again, rubbing his face against my hand as if nothing had happened. “No, my Faye loves me the most. She’ll be my only wife.”
I just stared at him, my expression blank. “Joey, you’re too old for this act. If you’d just stuck to worshipping Sera, I might have respected you a little.”
Finally, my words enraged him. He slammed his fist into the pillow next to my head, his hand sinking into the soft down. After a long moment, I looked up and met his bloodshot eyes.
“Then what am I supposed to do?” he roared, his voice thick with pain and despair. “I was born, and my parents treated me like a tool! If it weren’t for Sera supporting me back then, I wouldn’t have survived! What do you want me to do?”
He choked on a sob, then seemed to find a new direction, his voice softening. “In the end, it’s because you’ve done so many wrong things in the past. There, there, don’t be afraid. I won’t blame you anymore.”
A lunatic. I watched his painful struggle with cold eyes.
“Yes, she’s so innocent, so good. Then why don’t you marry her? You don’t want to?” I said, “Joey, have you ever realized how pathet- ic you are?”
“No wonder Sera doesn’t love you. You don’t deserve anyone’s love. I must have been blind.”
“Shut up!” I don’t know which words set him off, but he suddenly pinned me down, his hands closing around my neck.
“You’re the one who promised to always be good to me! You’re the one who said you’d always be by my side!” he screamed, his
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voice desperate. “What is that look in your eyes? Don’t you love me most? Why can’t I feel your love anymore?”
He roared, his voice filled with a panicked terror he didn’t even recognize. Tears blurred his vision, but he stared at me stubbornly, trying to find some trace of my old affection.
He was choking me, my face flushing red, but I just smiled at him coldly.
Yes, just like that. Kill me. I get a funeral, you get a lethal injection.
He came to his senses just as I was about to pass out and snatched his hands back.
“You’re doing this on purpose… you’d rather die than stay with me.” In that moment, his broad, imposing figure seemed to shrink to become hunched and pathetic. He bent over, coughing, then started muttering to himself, a neurotic self–assurance in his voice.
“No, you still love me. Faye, you’re just angry with me. I’ll win
you back.”
He leaned forward and pulled me into a fierce hug. “I’ll marry you, okay? We’ll have a good life, just us, no one else…” His voice was thick with sobs, his tears soaking my shoulder.
I shoved him away and slapped him. Still not satisfied, I grabbed the lamp from the nightstand, the pillow, the water glass–anythi- ng I could reach–and hurled it all at him.
“Joey, if you have the guts, just kill me! Stop torturing me with this!” I shrieked.
The water glass hit him in the forehead. Blood trickled down, covering his face.
Finally, he stood up in silence. He picked up his suit jacket from the floor. As he reached the door, he laughed, a self–mocking sou- nd. “Faye, you blame me for favoring Sera, but are you really so innocent? Ethan is ready to break with the Roswell family for you. Leo is completely devoted to you. Can you really say there’s nothing between you and them?”
“You’re right,” I called after him, my voice ringing with laughter. “They’re so good to me. All the more reason to give up on you and choose them.”
My laughter seemed to scald him. He practically fled.
The next day, an unexpected visitor arrived.
It was Sera. She said Joey had asked her to come and explain their relationship to me.
She wore an elegant white dress, her hair perfectly styled. She sat down across from me with a graceful smile, then sighed with feigned distress. “But everyone knows Joey loves me. How am I supposed to explain that?”
I ignored her, my gaze fixed on the silk scarf around her neck. My dazed look seemed to please her. She smiled brightly.
“You don’t have to be so upset. See? Even though your reputation is in tatters, Ethan still begged me to change my story for you. He really cares about his little sister.”
She raised her glass to me, the venom in her eyes undisguised. “So, in return, while I was recovering in the hospital from my ‘ordeal I had Joey stay with me. I heard he even told the staff to lie to you, so you wouldn’t be sad. Everyone cares so much about you.”
She didn’t wait for my reply, moving on to someone else. Leo.
“When he first came back to the Sterling family, he used to talk about his sister all the time. He wanted to go back and find you, but his family wouldn’t let him. So I told him to wait, to become stronger and more mature before he saw you again. That his sister would be happier that way.
“And then, he finally did see his sister again. But after that, he never mentioned her. Why? Because the best, kindest sister in his eyes had become a lying, gold–digging parasite.”
With every word, Sera’s smile deepened. She never took her eyes off my face, eager to see me crumble.
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But she didn’t get what she wanted. I just smiled and replied, “Yes, Leo is wonderful. It would be even better if he developed a fake
product and sold it to your family’s company, just like Ethan did.”
Sera’s face went cold, her smile vanishing.
Ruining the Roswell family and clearing my name–that was the “compensation” I’d asked of Ethan. For the past few years, the Roswell family had been pouring most of their fortune into developing a new high–tech product. But at the launch event, the produ- ct Ethan presented was an obsolete piece of junk from a decade ago. The Roswells had trusted their future son–in–law completely. He had severed their company’s main artery. But even then, the great Miss Roswell couldn’t bring herself to report her beloved and send him to jail. Instead, she came to me to vent.
She called me a despicable homewrecker, accused me of stealing her fiancé. She blamed everyone but the man she loved.
I had no patience for her hysterics. I picked up my hot tea and threw it in her face. While she shrieked, I went to her, yanked her silk scarf, and twisted it around her neck
“It was always Ethan’s indecisiveness that made you so insecure. It was a man’s problem, but you chose to take it out on me. So now, I’m getting my revenge,” I whispered in her ear.
“Faye, if you do this to me, Joey will never let you go.” Even then, she was trying to stay calm. But as she started to choke, turning pale and struggling, her composure shattered.
When Joey and his men arrived, his eyes immediately found me. For a split second, as our gazes met, I saw a flicker of… joy on his face?
Joy for what? That I had finally confirmed my guilt by attacking his one true love in front of him? Or was he happy that he could go back to the way things were, to stand on the moral high ground and punish me for my sins?
“Faye, it was all an act,” he said, his face a dark mask of fury. “You never change. I was right about you.”
The next moment, I loosened my grip slightly. Gasping for air, Sera bargained with me in a tearful whisper. “I can help you get out of here.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true! You just want to prove your place in Joey’s heart. I can help you. We can make a bet.” She saw I was hesitating and forced a placating smile through her tear–streaked makeup. I frowned, listening to the plan she whispered in my ear. Finally, a slow smile spread across my face. I nodded and let her go.
Joey rushed over and swept the trembling Sera into his arms, ready to take her to the hospital. As he left, he looked back at me, his gaze deep and heavy. “I hope you’ll have thought of an apology by the time I get back.”
10
Sera certainly knew how to handle Joey.
After he brought her back from the hospital, he removed all the guards watching me. Ignoring Mrs. Davison’s pleas, he dragged me out of the house.
“Sir, please, Miss Faye is not well. Something will happen to her.”
