Chapter 2

The Wells family home looked nothing like it had eight years ago.

Now the house carried nine figures in debt. The oil paintings on the walls, the Italian leather sofa, the coffee machine—all gone.

In the unlit bedroom, all that remained was a bed, a nightstand from the last century, and a few boxes of medication.

Clara had never come to visit our parents.

Adrian would certainly never give them a cent.

So over the years, I'd taken the allowance Adrian gave me and spent it on my parents' medicine, their debts, their home care.

Even so, both of them grew weaker by the day.

I set the takeout I'd packed on their bedside table.

Next to it, I placed my diagnostic report.

After Mom finished reading it, she cried so hard she coughed up blood.

Dad still had an IV needle in the back of his hand, but he kept wiping his tears.

"You've been trusting since you were little. You believed everything anyone told you."

"When your sister said we didn't want you anymore, you actually went and slept under a bridge for the night."

"When she told you the family was bankrupt, you actually tried to go sell yourself to pay off our debts."

"All those people who played tricks on you—Adrian was the only one who ever helped."

"We thought if we gave you to him, no matter how much he hated us, he wouldn't hurt you."

"We never imagined... in the end, it was Mom and Dad who destroyed you."

I was choking too hard to speak.

Everyone always said my parents favored me.

Even Adrian had cut ties with them because of it.

But my parents truly loved me. How could I hate them the way outsiders did?

I even... loved them so, so much.

Just then, the bedroom door was suddenly thrown open.

A cold voice rang out.

"When you stole Clara's engagement, you should have known this day would come."

I whipped around.

It was Ethan Cole, another boy I'd grown up with.

Like Adrian, his greatest wish since childhood had been to marry Clara.

When Clara accepted Adrian's proposal, Ethan hadn't reacted much.

Not until I became Adrian's wife.

After that, he started going after me. And after my parents.

"Mr. Cole!" Dad tried to sit up. "We truly don't have the money right now. Please, have mercy. Just give us a few more days."

Ethan barely glanced at him.

The next second, a bodyguard slammed Dad to the floor.

Mom's voice trembled, utterly helpless.

"What are you doing? Stop breaking things! Let go of my husband! Stop it!"

Ethan settled into a chair and lit a cigar with deliberate leisure.

"Past due, house is mine."

"That's the agreement you signed yourselves."

I stared at the loan contract with Cole Group and looked at my parents in disbelief.

"You borrowed money from Ethan?"

Mom broke down crying.

"We... didn't want to put you in a difficult position..."

A bodyguard stepped forward, grabbed her arm, and dragged her off the bed.

"Sorry, ma'am. This bed's not yours anymore either."

"Wait—ah!"

Mom crashed hard to the floor.

The IV needle ripped from the back of her hand, tearing a long, bloody gash.

I threw myself over her, my voice shaking.

"Ethan! I'll pay! Please, leave my parents alone!"

Ethan looked down at me kneeling at his feet and suddenly smiled.

He seized my chin in his grip. "Is this the face you used to seduce Adrian and make Clara cry for an entire month?"

I went rigid.

The next second, he flung me aside and I hit the floor hard.

Ethan tapped his temple, then his lips curled.

"How about this. There's another form of payment I'd accept."

"What?"

The next second, a bodyguard grabbed me by the collar and dragged me in front of my parents.

A sharp rip.

My blouse buttons were torn open.

Dad's eyes went bloodshot with rage.

"You animal! Let go of my daughter! We'll get the money! Let her go!"

Mom's vision went black, and she fainted on the spot.

"This time, it covers the full loan," Ethan said, unhurried.

"Mr. Wells, I'm only offering you this option out of respect for the history between our families."

Dad's tears hit the floor. "I don't want this option! Let my daughter go! Let her go!"

"Dad! Save me!"

In the middle of my desperate screaming, the door was kicked open.

A jacket was thrown over me in one swift motion.

The bodyguard who'd grabbed me didn't even see who'd come in before he was pinned to the ground.

Adrian frowned at Ethan.

"What exactly were you planning to do to my wife?"