Chapter 5

The ringtone was the love song I liked most.

I fell into a daze.

When we were sixteen, we sat at the same desk.

Her phone was hidden in her pocket, and we each wore one earbud.

I felt her secretly holding my hand, and my heart raced.

But now, I looked around.

Seven years in a straw hut on a deserted island had used up my youth.

It had also used up my patience.

She walked over.

I nervously grabbed the hem of my shirt.

She did not even look at the phone and hung up directly.

“Secretary Carter, clear my entire schedule.”

“Unless it’s a life-or-death emergency, do not disturb me.”

Someone outside the door immediately answered.

She crouched down, her eyes bloodshot.

Her fingers slid into my hair, and she yanked my head back.

“Slap!”

Serena slapped me hard across the face.

I felt a burning pain and fell straight to the ground.

My ears buzzed, and a coppery sweetness filled my throat.

The pain in my body was nothing compared to the humiliation.

Her voice was filled with fury.

“Do you know what you did?!”

I raised my head and met her eyes.

“I don’t know!”

She kicked the clay jar beside her to pieces.

Then she let out a deep breath.

“Go kneel and apologize to him right now, and for the sake of what we used to have, I can let you go.”

“Otherwise, you can go die with his child!”

I struggled and gritted my teeth.

“I didn’t use any strength at all!”

“Stop blaming everything on me!”

She sneered and stood up, then clapped her hands.

A group of people immediately came in and surrounded me.

She stepped back twice and looked at me coldly.

“In the past, I remembered that I liked you, so I couldn’t bear to be ruthless with you.”

“Since you refuse to repent, maybe I really should teach you a lesson.”

Two or three bodyguards dragged me up and held me firmly in place.

They dragged me out the door, and there was no one on the beach under the vicious sunlight.

She ordered people to set up a long pole.

The secretary beside her handed her a bundle of rope.

I realized something and began struggling violently.

The pain in my abdomen had not passed yet.

A moment later, I had already lost all strength.

I lifted my eyes and saw her walk over and wrap her arms around me.

After the motion that looked like a hug.

Thick rope bound my hands tightly.

I could already feel discomfort setting in.

I looked up at her.

“Serena, from childhood until now, I have never done anything wrong to you.”

“I don’t like you anymore, and whatever happens between you and Mason has nothing to do with me.”

“But you can’t do this to me.”

She gave a cold laugh.

“So that means you can do that to him?”

“Ethan, why do you always act so superior toward him?”

“Back then, he was just a pitiful young man, and now he’s only a husband throwing a little tantrum.”

“Where exactly do you think you’re more noble than him?”

“Stop acting like you’re so impressive just because you were born to the wife.”

“To him, you’re the third party.”

After she finished tying me up, she returned to the hut at a leisurely pace.

The August sun on the deserted island was blindingly harsh.

The clothes I wore left my arms and legs completely exposed.

Before long, everything in front of me went black.

My head hurt violently, and I started feeling sick.

I had severe hypoglycemia.

Serena knew that.

In the past, she always carried candies of different colors and flavors with her.

From time to time, she would pull one out and stuff it into my mouth.

Then she would ask with a light laugh whether it was sweet.

But now, ten yards away, she was feeding Mason sugar water spoon by spoon.

I did not know how long had passed before my skin burned with pain from the sun.

My breathing grew weaker and weaker.

Before I fainted.

I felt a sudden gale.

Then I heard Serena’s bodyguards shouting at the sky in panic.

“What is that thing?!”

Serena’s expression changed, and she strode over in a few big steps.

She crouched down and grabbed my chin.

“What is Alexandra Stone to you?”