Chapter 2
The biting spring chill made my body tremble as I walked barefoot on the asphalt road.
I had walked this road countless times.
The most degrading time was when disaster struck Sterling Corp. My family elders drugged me and shoved me into Liam’s bed like a piece of merchandise, all to buy Sterling Corp a lifeline.
Now, Sterling Corp was completely gone.
I no longer had to humble myself, and surprisingly, I felt a sense of liberation.
“Ms. Sterling!”
Mr. Jenkins’ voice called from behind, his footsteps hurried.
Before I could turn around, a coat was draped over my shoulders.
“Ms. Sterling, Mr. Hayes asked me to bring you this coat.”
“Mr. Hayes still cares for you. You two love each other, why do you have to…”
“Mr. Jenkins, please thank him for me.” I interrupted him.
Mr. Jenkins sighed and said no more, turning to leave.
I looked at the familiar coat on me, sinking into memories.
Liam bought this coat for me.
Back then, I was still the adored princess of the Sterling family.
When he gave me the coat, his eyes were full of love.
He promised to protect me for a lifetime.
From childhood, he had always shielded me, never allowing me to suffer the slightest injustice.
The first time I was bullied, he brought his friends and beat the person up. When my family found out, he faced severe family punishment.
Even lying in bed, he couldn’t stay still, making funny faces to cheer me up.
At that time, I cried with heartache, and he frantically wiped my tears. “Ellie, don’t cry. With me here, no one is allowed to make you cry!”
In high school, I was cornered by some bullies from school.
He rushed in alone, like a beacon of light, and was beaten black and blue.
Even when my family arrived, he couldn’t stand straight, but still foolishly asked if I was scared.
I laughed through my tears, exasperated by him.
Back then, he never got close to any other girl except me. Every time, he’d proudly brag to his friends, saying, “My little jealous one keeps me on a short leash.”
Liam and I were childhood sweethearts, innocent and inseparable.
Everyone envied us, saying we were a match made in heaven.
We were just waiting for the day our families had set, when we could walk hand-in-hand into marriage, becoming the most important people in each other’s lives.
But fate had other plans. Sterling Corp faced a major financial crisis due to a flawed decision.
They were afraid the Hayes family would back out of the engagement, so they drugged me and shoved me into Liam’s bed.
And the glass of wine Liam drank, the one laced with drugs, I had handed to him myself.
I explained to him countless times that I truly didn’t know there was medicine in the wine.
But every time he looked at me, it was with the same look he’d had the moment he woke up in that bed.
Full of disgust and contempt, looking down on me as if I were an object.
He was convinced that I had used manipulative tricks, offering myself to him, to force his hand and save my family.
From that moment, I was utterly condemned in his eyes, nailed to a pillar of shame.
I no longer had any right to defend myself.
Yet, he still honored the engagement.
He gave me a grand wedding, making everyone envious.
He still saved Sterling Corp.
I thought he still had feelings for me.
But on our wedding night, he brought a woman home.
After that, he brought a different woman home every single day.
Everyone in the city knew the rumors: Liam’s place had enough women to open a whole club.
He found endless ways to humiliate me, seemingly only happy when he saw my pain.
I endured it day by day, thinking that once he’d vented enough, he’d finally sit down and listen to me.
That we would have a day when we reconciled.
I never imagined that this endurance would last for three years.
And what I finally got was… Sterling Corp’s complete collapse, and my parents’ desperate suicide.