Chapter 3

I had no energy to answer.

I just felt exhausted to the extreme.

But Dylan was hurt by my reaction. He grabbed me by the collar with both hands, laughing in rage:

"Lynn, you forced me to do this."

"I was planning to let it go after tonight, but now I'm going to make you suffer all the pain I've suffered."

He suddenly let go of me and beckoned to Fiona.

"You'll be the bride at my wedding with Lynn."

Fiona threw herself into his arms joyfully.

"Really? Then I want Lynn to be my bridesmaid. Five years ago, I was her bridesmaid once. Now she needs to be mine once to make it fair."

"Sure, let her be your bridesmaid and bring us the rings."

Dylan stared at me, enunciating each word like a knife slicing through my heart.

I looked up in disbelief.

I wanted to refuse, but my throat hurt so much I couldn't make a sound. I could only shake my head desperately.

Seeing this, Dylan grinned maliciously:

"It hurts, doesn't it? You're suffering, right?"

"Good, that's right. Five years ago when you married someone else, I suffered just like this."

I looked at Dylan's face, twisted with hatred.

I paused, as if suddenly understanding.

He didn't want fairness.

He just wanted me to suffer the same pain he once did.

The more I hurt, the more satisfied he was.

So I touched my numb, aching heart and forced a smile:

"No."

"Dylan, I'm not in pain. I'm just disgusted."

That one sentence completely ignited Dylan's rage.

He let go of Fiona and started dragging me upstairs.

I struggled desperately but couldn't overcome his strength.

Passing by the master bedroom, his steps paused slightly.

Then he kicked open the door next to it and shoved me inside.

Watching the door close, I reached out to stop it:

"Let me out..."

But I was still a step too late.

Outside the door, Dylan said coldly:

"Disgusted, huh? Tonight there's something even more disgusting waiting for you."

"Fiona, come upstairs."

Hearing this, I froze in place, cold from head to toe.

A moment later, intimate kissing sounds came from the other side of the wall.

Fiona's sultry moans also rang in my ears:

"You're so bad, making Lynn listen to us through the wall."

"There's something even worse. Want to try it..."

I covered my ears.

But the sounds still leaked through my fingers.

The cold seeped into my heart thread by thread, hurting so much I curled up on the floor.

My mind was at war with itself.

One moment it was Dylan's kindness to me, his promises, his smile.

The next moment I couldn't help but imagine him and Fiona's entangled bodies along with the sounds.

My head hurt terribly. I frantically pulled out my antidepressants from my clothes, stuffing them into my mouth one by one.

I don't know how much time passed before Dylan, wrapped in a bathrobe, opened the door and looked down at me condescendingly:

"Can't take it already? How are you going to get through this whole year?"

Behind him, Fiona, covered in intimate marks, laughed:

"Dylan, you're not feeling sorry for her, are you?"

Dylan's eyes flickered, but he still sneered:

"How could I?"

"I married her to make her feel the same pain I felt. Why would I feel sorry for her?"

I looked up in shock.

Despair spread from my heart.

It was all fake—no love, just a long-planned revenge against me.

Breaking down to the extreme paradoxically gave me a burst of strength. I suddenly stood up and slapped Dylan across the face.

The crisp sound made all three of us freeze simultaneously.

After a few seconds, Dylan roared:

"You dare hit me? Lynn, you really have a death wish!"

The heartache reached its peak.

I laughed bitterly:

"Didn't you bet that when I found out you cheated I'd slap you? Now I did. Why are you upset?"

I laughed even louder:

"But if it were Ethan, I really wouldn't have hit him. Because I couldn't bear to hit him."

As my words fell, Dylan's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

He stared at me for a long moment, then smiled:

"On purpose?"

"Then as you wish."

Dylan stepped back, the door closing bit by bit before my eyes.

This time, I didn't try to stop it.

Instead, I stepped backward to the bed.

When the sounds from next door started again, I piled up the blankets.

Standing on them, I opened the skylight Dylan had custom-made for me and climbed onto the roof little by little.

With each step, a voice in my ear urged me:

"Just die. Dylan doesn't love you anymore. Being with you is just for revenge. Only by truly dying can you find release."

The moment the voice faded, I smiled and leaped from the roof.

This time, it was my body passing by Dylan's window.

"Lynn, no!"

Inside the room, Dylan's eyes nearly split with rage as he rushed toward the window.