Chapter 2

"Ethan, can you lend me some money?

"My ID has been canceled too. Can you help me deal with it?

"Ethan?"

Ethan was distracted.

The car drove very fast, and the streetlights rapidly flickered across his hard profile.

I tried to remind him.

I was worried he would take me back to the Ashford family.

Or do something else, like send me to a research facility or something.

"Did it hurt?"

Ethan suddenly asked me.

"What?

"A little..."

I tried hard to recall.

There were only some blurry fragments in my memory.

When I was suffocating from the smoke, I actually felt somewhat relieved.

Having grown up in an orphanage, I was used to freedom.

After being adopted by Mrs. Ashford, everyone said I was lucky.

The Ashford family was the wealthiest in the city, and Mrs. Ashford treated me like her own daughter.

Only I knew how suffocating those days were.

Mrs. Ashford's demands on me were extremely high.

Learning music, horseback riding, endless tutoring sessions...

If I showed the slightest dissatisfaction, what awaited me was the strictest family discipline.

Being locked in the basement and made to kneel.

Cane strikes on my body left bruises that wouldn't fade for days.

Once, when Ethan discovered the injuries on my arm, he asked me what happened.

I quietly told him: "I was punished with family discipline."

Ethan sneered: "Iris, you're getting better and better at lying.

"What family discipline does the Ashford family have?

"Mrs. Ashford has always wanted a daughter. She treasures you like a precious gem, and you're doing well for yourself, completely unmotivated every day!"

Ethan didn't know the Ashford family had such discipline.

He also didn't know that Mrs. Ashford required me to make Ethan fall in love with me.

When she learned that the scholarship student Olivia had stolen Ethan's first kiss, Mrs. Ashford slapped me hard across the face.

"Useless!

"You can't even handle a scholarship student. What a waste raising you!

"Iris, I'm warning you, the person who marries Ethan must be you!"

I looked at Mrs. Ashford in confusion.

Until my death, I never understood.

Why was I the only one punished with family discipline?

Why did I have to be the one to marry Ethan?

Ethan was so outstanding that even if it wasn't Olivia, countless prestigious families would be lining up to arrange marriages with him.

Why did it have to be me, an orphan with mediocre qualifications?

But I had no choice but to listen to Mrs. Ashford and break up Ethan and Olivia.

In the school library, I gave Olivia two million dollars.

This was all the money I could access.

I handed over the bank card and tried to persuade her gently: "Take the money and study abroad.

"The Ashford family will never agree to you being with Ethan."

Olivia took the money, her eyes full of smugness and mockery.

"Iris, so you're in love with your adoptive brother!

"Ugh, how disgusting."

My heart ached.

She wasn't wrong.

If I were Ethan, I would find myself disgusting too.

Olivia immediately turned around and gave the card I had given her to Ethan, crying pitifully:

"Ethan, your sister is forcing me to leave.

"My mother is seriously ill at home. I can't be as selfish and cold-blooded as Iris, who doesn't even look for her biological parents just for money.

"Please, stay away from me from now on. I'm really scared..."

That day, I naively thought the matter was settled and called Mrs. Ashford, who was on a business trip, from my room.

"Mrs. Ashford, can I not marry Ethan?"

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end, then came Mrs. Ashford's cold voice:

"Yes.

"But you must bear him a child."

I couldn't help but question her: "Why?

"Did you adopt me to make me a child bride for Ethan?

"But I don't want to..."

I didn't want to force someone.

I didn't want to make him hate me.

Mrs. Ashford angrily interrupted me: "Shut up!

"Do you want to leave the Ashford family and go back to that rundown orphanage?"

I fell silent.

The Ashford family was very wealthy, but it wasn't my home.

I felt very uncomfortable there.

She laughed coldly: "You can leave the Ashford family if you want. After the child is born, you can get lost."

This was the condition.

It was also how I would repay the Ashford family's kindness.

I held the phone and thought for a long time.

Until Ethan suddenly burst in and smashed my phone.

He warned: "Iris, stay away from Olivia!"