When Declan Pierce and I exchanged wedding rings, he had adult toys in his pocket meant for his young stepmother. To get back at him, I slept with his best friend on our wedding night. I deliberately left marks on my body. But when Declan saw the hickeys on my neck, he just casually dialed his best friend's number: "Declan, your wife is incredible," his friend laughed. "I'm already addicted." Declan sounded completely indifferent: "You like her? How about sleeping with her again tonight?" Like a madwoman, I smashed his phone to pieces. For the next five years, we became the most notorious, hate-filled couple in high society. That was until he drove my family's company into bankruptcy. My dad went to prison, my brother died in a car crash, and my mother, who used to dote on me, went insane overnight, hating me to the bone: "This is all your fault! If you hadn't picked fights with Declan, the Kensington family would never have ended up like this!" "Why don't you just die?!" That night, Declan pinned me under him, kissing the corner of my mouth fiercely: "Harper, whatever other tricks you have up your sleeve, bring them on." My heart had finally turned to ash. The bottle of sleeping pills under my pillow pressed uncomfortably against my head. I was done fighting. This time, I planned to listen to my mother... ...and go die. 01 My tears fell onto the pillow, but Declan didn't notice at all. He roughly unbuttoned my pajama top: "Harper, you've been throwing tantrums for five years. It's about time you learned to be obedient." Obedient... My eyes shifted slightly. If it were the past, I would have shoved him away like a madwoman, slapped him twice, and told him I'd never give him a day of peace for the rest of his life. But now, just like he said, I had quieted down. I lay on the bed like a dead fish, letting him do whatever he wanted. Seeing my lack of reaction, Declan unusually stopped his movements. He frowned, a flash of surprise in his eyes. "Since when did you become so boring?" "You were pretty loud when you were in Rowan's bed back then, weren't you?" He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him, but his fingers met a patch of wetness. Declan's fingers paused: "Why are you crying?" The scent of Vanessa's perfume on him made me nauseous. I let my gaze fall on him. From his disheveled clothes to his bobbing Adam's apple, to the lips that had just kissed me so aggressively, and finally, his eyes. Our eyes met, and I immediately looked away. I opened my mouth: "If you want to get off, hurry up. I want to go to sleep." The hand pinching my cheek suddenly tightened. The teasing look in his eyes instantly darkened. "What did you say?" He was angry... But my throat felt tight. What is he angry about? Wasn't I quieting down, exactly like he wanted? Declan stared at me darkly for a long time. The pressure on my face loosened as the seconds ticked by in silence. Finally, he sneered: "Harper, you really are full of tricks. You even learned how to play hard to get." He got up and started fixing his clothes. A square box bulged in his pants pocket. Declan's fingers paused, then he tossed the box in front of me, looking down from above: "Since you're my wife in name, I suppose I owe you a little compensation for bankrupting your family." "Harper, as long as you behave, the position of Mrs. Pierce is still yours." When the gift box landed, its sharp corner hit my shoulder. It hurt a little. But I still didn't move. I didn't even look at it. Declan stared at me for a moment and scoffed coldly: "You brought this upon your family yourself, so you have to endure it. Stop giving me that dead-fish look." "As for the gift, take it or leave it." He grabbed his suit jacket and turned to leave. A long time after he was gone, I pulled the bottle of sleeping pills from under my pillow and stared at it blankly. When should I take them? Tomorrow night, I guess... Tomorrow is Mom's birthday. I'll go see her one last time. 02 The next day, I carried a cake to the psychiatric hospital. When I saw my mom, I forced a smile for her. "Mom, I came to see you." Mom's back stiffened on the bed. She ignored me. Holding back the bitter ache in my heart, I opened the cake box: "Mom, I came to celebrate your birthday today. The cake is strawberry flavored. It used to be your favorite." "Get up and have a bite." I spent four hours making it. Just one bite is fine, Mom. This is the last time, Mom... But before I could finish speaking, the back of my head felt heavy. The next second, my entire face was shoved into the cake. "Get lost!" Mom shoved me toward the door frantically. "Go die! Go join Leo in hell!" The thick cream smeared all over my face, sticky and suffocating, making it hard to even breathe. I opened my mouth to say something. "Mom..." I stumbled, shoved so hard by her that I crashed into the doorframe. Mom screamed hysterically: "Declan is sleeping with Vanessa! Couldn't you have just pretended you didn't know?! Why did you have to throw a tantrum and fight with him?!" "How did I give birth to such an ungrateful, worthless thing?!" "Harper, go die! Hurry up and die!" Tears finally fell uncontrollably. My hands were trembling. In the past, she loved me the most. She used to say... no matter what I wanted to do, the Kensington family would always have my back. But now, she hated me to the point of madness. She hated me enough to tell me to die. Was everything I did over these years really completely wrong...? I lowered my head, looking away, and it took a long time before I could speak: "Okay." I'll listen to you. I'll go die. Perhaps the aura of death in my eyes was too heavy, because she actually quieted down for a second. The next second, with a loud bang, she slammed the door in my face. I stood stiffly outside the door for a long time before I found my strength again. Then, step by step, I dragged myself to the restroom to wash the frosting off my face. As the icy water splashed against my skin, I slowly regained some clarity. I stared at my face in the mirror, speechless for a long time. Maybe my decision to marry Declan all those years ago was a mistake to begin with. So now, this mistake should finally come to an end. It ends tonight. When I left the psychiatric hospital, it had started raining. I didn't have an umbrella, and I couldn't be bothered to call a cab. I walked alone in a daze for I don't know how long. Just as I was completely soaked and feeling cold, a figure suddenly appeared in front of me. The rain instantly stopped hitting me. I looked up and saw Declan holding an umbrella, staring at me with dark, unreadable eyes. Through the glass window of the building beside us, I could see Vanessa, Rowan, and several of his close friends. 03 Declan pulled me into their private booth at the bar. "What, the great heiress Harper is bankrupt and can't even afford an umbrella?" Rowan looked at me with a mocking smirk. "How about you sleep with me again, and I'll buy you one?" Roars of laughter erupted around the booth. Someone nudged Rowan with their elbow, teasing: "Come on, man. Just how wild was Harper five years ago that you're still obsessing over her?" "Declan, since you don't care about her anyway, why don't you let Harper entertain all of us? It's not like we won't pay." The explicit, piercing insults came one after another. Declan sat in the booth, silent. After a long while, the corner of his mouth twitched: "Do whatever you want." As soon as he said that, a chorus of hoots and jeers broke out. The smug smile on Vanessa's face grew even more radiant, though she feigned glaring at them: "Alright, boys, enough. What kind of men bully a little girl?" She leaned close to Declan. "Speaking of which, I'm technically your mother-in-law. You've been married to Declan for five years, and I never gave you a welcoming gift." As soon as she said that, Declan's expression changed, his eyes even showing a hint of jealousy as he looked at Vanessa. If it were before, I would have definitely caused a massive, crazy scene in a situation like this. But now, all my fiery hatred and pride had burned out. I just wanted to end all of this quickly. I turned to leave, but Vanessa, who had stood up, grabbed my wrist. "Since we ran into each other today, I'll give you the Pierce family's heirloom jade bracelet." With that, she slipped the bracelet off her wrist and pulled my hand to put it on me. The next second, the jade bracelet crashed to the floor and shattered! Vanessa stumbled back a few steps, stepped on nothing, and fell directly into Declan's arms. The tears came right on cue: "Harper, I'm technically your mother-in-law in name. Even if you hate me, you shouldn't have shoved me, let alone smash the family heirloom..." Her voice choked with sobs: "Declan, I think I sprained my ankle." This trick again. Over the past five years, I don't know how many times Vanessa had framed me like this. Her acting was clumsy, her excuses sloppy. But Declan always believed her. Unsurprisingly, this time was no different. Declan grabbed my wrist, his face dark. "Harper, are my methods still not harsh enough? Are you still completely unrepentant after everything?" "Apologize to Vanessa." I lowered my eyes, my gaze falling on the hand he was using to grip me. "Okay." I looked up at him: "How do you want me to apologize?" "Kneel? Grovel? Or service these guys..." I used to have sky-high pride, but now I felt that all these humiliations were nothing compared to dying. I continued, looking at his friends in the booth. "If you want me to service them, please make it quick. I want to go home before dark." "Harper!" Declan violently threw my hand away. The atmosphere instantly fell into a dead silence. A long time passed before someone muttered: "Damn, she's hardcore." The voice wasn't loud, but it was crystal clear in the quiet booth. "Enough." Declan shot the man a dark, murderous glare. "Watch your damn mouth." He stared at me for a long time, until Vanessa tugged at his shirt, crying: "Declan, my ankle hurts so much." Declan finally snapped out of it, picked her up, and walked toward the exit. "I'll take you to the hospital first." Before leaving, he turned back to look at me for the first time after walking away, his eyes filled with obscure emotions. Not long after, a text message popped up on my phone. Declan: [Wait for me at home tonight. About today... I'll listen to your explanation.] I gave a hollow smile. Declan, you want me to explain, but tonight... I'm destined not to wait for you. 04 Once Declan left, the others tactfully cleared out as well. I was the only one left in the booth. I stared at that text message for a while, then silently deleted it along with Declan's contact info. Then I went home alone to organize my belongings. Piece by piece... When I reached the very bottom of a box, my hands suddenly stopped. It was a thick stack of old, un-sent love letters. I had written them to Declan when I was a teenager. Although Declan and I had an arranged marriage, no one knew that I had secretly loved him for many years. Even during the long, messy, and toxic period of our marriage, I hadn't let him go. But now, looking at the bold, arrogant line on one of the letters: [Declan Pierce, just wait until I make you mine], it felt like a lifetime ago. Waste paper. Expressionless, I was about to throw them all into the trash can when a sudden force snatched them away. Rowan looked at the stack of love letters with a meaningful smirk. I was too exhausted to ask when he had entered the house. I just held out my hand blankly: "Give them back." His eyes swept over the letters, his lips curling into a sneer: "You want them?" "Harper, so the reason you've been fighting tooth and nail with Declan all these years was because you harbored these dirty little feelings. But don't worry... in Declan's heart, you're probably worth less than a dog." His words sounded familiar. I suddenly remembered the year we got married, during a fight, the icy look in Declan's eyes as he looked at me: "Harper, throwing all these tantrums, aren't you just trying to get me to look at you more?" "But do you deserve it? To me, you're just a dog wagging its tail, begging for pity..." I remained silent for a second. When I spoke again, my voice was as calm as stagnant water. "What exactly do you want?" Rowan reeked of alcohol. He smiled maliciously. "Harper... sleep with me one more time." As he spoke, he opened the video recording app on his phone: "Look at the camera, let's do it again." Rowan forcefully pushed me onto the bed, speaking frivolously: "Actually, I've always regretted something. You moaned so well that first time, why didn't I record it?" I felt completely numb and didn't resist, but my hand gripped the bottle of sleeping pills under the pillow tightly. …… When Declan returned to his villa, he saw that I hadn't replied to his text. There wasn't even a routine curse word from me. He frowned: [Harper, I'm home.] [I told you the position of Mrs. Pierce is still yours. Don't throw your heiress tantrums next time.] But the only response he got was the red exclamation mark showing he had been deleted. "Harper!" The next second, the pool of blood by the doorway violently pierced his eyes. Declan's pupils shrank abruptly. He violently kicked open the bedroom door—
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