Chapter 1

"Your mom was a mistress, so what does that make you?"

Liam Vance asked, as he slid a custom-made wedding ring onto my finger.

I stared at him, bewildered. "Liam, what are you talking about?"

"It makes you a mistress too, baby."

I was speechless, but he looked completely serious. "Be my secret lover."

"There's a new secretary at the company. She's very capable and beautiful. She's more suited to be my wife."

"Then what am I?" I asked, my eyes wide.

He put on a fake apologetic face. "If your mom could be someone's mistress, why can't you?"

It took a moment before I finally said, "My mom is my mom, I am me. I'm not going to be a mistress."

"Oh really?"

He sneered. "Then we break up."

"Fine, we break up." I'd sworn to myself that I would never be a mistress in this life.

But Liam didn't know that.

He gently stroked my head. "Don't be childish, you fool. How would you survive without me?"

"Your mom was cyberbullied until she took her own life, and your dad disowned you. Only with me will no one dare to mock you."

I let out a bitter laugh. Who said only with him would no one dare to mock me?

I had an Aunt Vivienne. Her business was huge now, and she was incredibly powerful overseas.

Last week, she found me and asked if I'd be willing to go abroad with her.

I hadn't gone because I couldn't bear to leave Liam.

Now…

I sent Vivienne a message.

[Vivienne, I've thought it through. I'm coming with you.]

Vivienne replied instantly: [Fantastic! I'll send a private jet to pick you up in three days.]

It should have been happy news, but tears streamed down my face without my control.

My chest ached, like I'd been bitten by a poisonous insect.

I had originally planned to tell Liam about Vivienne as a surprise.

Now, it seemed unnecessary.

Liam saw me crying and thought I couldn't bear to break up with him. He reached out to wipe away my tears. "See? You cry at the mere mention of breaking up. If I ever truly left you, wouldn't you just fall apart?"

"Don't play games with me; it won't end well. Just continue to be good and listen to me, and you won't be alone and helpless again."

I sniffled but didn't speak.

Liam thought he'd convinced me. He started the engine, but halfway through, he suddenly stopped.

"Oh, right. From today on, you'll sit in the back seat when you ride with me. Scarlett said that only she can sit in the passenger seat from now on, and I promised her. I can't go back on my word."

He turned to look at me. "You know, I've always been a man of my word. I promised to take care of you for life, and even if I marry someone else, I'll still look after you."

He smiled. "You don't know yet, do you? In three days, I'm getting married to her. I had to practically beg and plead for ages before she finally gave in. I can't risk making her angry again. She's not as easy to appease as you are. She says she's a red rose; if you love the flower, you have to accept its thorns."

Liam was lost in his sweet thoughts of her, but I felt truly pricked by a rose's thorn. A sharp pain shot through my palm.

I looked down. Turns out I'd hit an earring when unbuckling my seatbelt, and its sharp point had cut me.

I opened my palm, and blood immediately welled up.

Liam saw it too, and exclaimed, "How could you be so careless?"

I thought he was worried about me. I was about to say it was nothing, that this pain was less than a thousandth of the pain in my heart.

But Liam's next words plunged me back into despair.

"That's her earring. She's a germaphobe. If she knew her precious earring got dirtied by your blood, she'd be furious."

So, my blood was dirty in his eyes. My head spun with pain. I stared at him blankly for a long time before he finally seemed to register a flicker of apology.

He lowered his gaze. "I'll cover for you this time. Just don't touch her things in the future."

Then, I watched him pull out a disinfectant wipe and carefully clean the earring.

My palm was still bleeding. I could faintly feel it dripping onto my leg, but I was numb, like an idiot. I couldn't speak, couldn't move to tend to it.

I just sat there, motionless.

After he finished wiping it and carefully wrapped it in a clean tissue, placing it in the car's front drawer, he finally turned to me.

"What are you still doing sitting there? Didn't you hear me tell you to move to the back seat?"

My mind finally cleared a little.

"No need. I'll just take a taxi!"

"Alright," Liam said. "There's a company banquet tonight, and I need to go help her pick out a dress. You can just head home."

With that, he let me out of the car, slammed on the gas, and sped past me.

He didn't care that it was pouring rain outside.

He didn't even throw me an umbrella.