Suffocating.

Water flooded her nose, eyes, ears. Her breathing got cut off, and for a second, it felt like her whole world had hit pause.

“Puh—!”

Her head was yanked up. The person behind her finally let go, and in the mirror appeared a small face soaked through, fragile-looking, yet still absurdly delicate.

If not for the fact that she was completely bare, sprawled over the sink like some miserable stray dog, she probably would’ve still looked beautiful.

There was no heating in this bathroom. She’d been left in this temperature for a full hour already. Her body had long since hit its limit, trembling so hard she could barely hold herself up.

The man behind her had finished his shower. Maybe he saw she was really about to fall apart, because he walked over, smacked her pale waist and hip, and only then did she slowly collapse, sinking bit by bit to her knees on the floor...

It hurt. It was so cold.

Not just her body. Her heart was even colder.

That man behind her was the man she’d secretly loved for ten years. He was also her husband, at least on paper. But toward her, all he ever gave was humiliation, over and over again...

She let the water run down both sides of her face, then wrapped her arms tightly around herself...

After a brief moment to pull herself together, she took a shower, got dressed, and came out. Adrian Hargrove was already fully dressed too. The tailored black suit on him, paired with that cold, distant, almost untouchable face, somehow fit him perfectly.

Claire Sutton shivered slightly, forced her legs together so she could stand steady, then asked in a shaky voice, “Next time... when?”

As if he hadn’t expected that question, Adrian turned back and looked her up and down. Then he curled his lips in a cold sneer. “What, had fun being played with? You want to book an appointment now?”

“No.” Claire took a deep breath and held up what little remained of her crumbling self-respect. She raised her misty eyes and said, “I’m going on a business trip next week. It’ll probably be two or three months...”

Aren’t you doing this once a month? She swallowed that last sentence back down, too ashamed to say it out loud.

Adrian paused, tilted his head, and glanced at her again from top to bottom. Other than looking wrecked, she looked wrecked.

His eyes stayed cold and merciless. He kept fastening his watch strap and said lazily, “It’s that land deal in Nanchu, right? I’m the company’s general manager. You’re the secretary. Us going together—isn’t that normal? Once a month. Relax. You’re not getting out of it.”

Claire froze, then suddenly lifted her head to stare at him.

Adrian gave her a contemptuous look, then went back to adjusting the collar of his shirt.

Behind him, Claire choked on her breath for a second. She swallowed hard, forcing down the metallic taste in her mouth, and said quietly, “But Laura said the early-stage work for that project was assigned to me...”

"And one more thing. I already told you, what happened to Melody wasn't because of me."

The second Claire Sutton said that, Adrian Hargrove's calm, detached expression cracked on the spot. It was like the sky changed in a second, from clear to storm-black. He strode over in two quick steps, grabbed her by the collar hard, narrowed his eyes, and said through clenched teeth, "I've told you before. I don't care what you say, I won't believe a word of it. I only believe what I saw with my own eyes. And you—however long Melody stays unconscious, that's how long you'll pay for it. Until..."

He stopped suddenly.

A sharp, vicious look flashed across that handsome face of his.

"Until the day you die."

Claire slowly closed her eyes. The tears in them burned so badly they felt like they were about to sear through her, but she still refused to let even one fall in front of him.

After Adrian left, she finally seemed to lose all strength and slid down to the floor little by little. Her thoughts dragged her back to a year ago.

Back then, Adrian's white moonlight, and also the Hargrove family's adopted daughter, Melody Hargrove, had followed them to Hailing for a site inspection on a piece of undeveloped land. On the way, they stayed at a small roadside hotel. Nobody expected Melody to go out shopping alone that night, only to get taken by a bunch of thugs...

Melody couldn't bear the humiliation in the car and jumped out. She was rescued in time, but she ended up in a vegetative state.

After that, rumors spread like wildfire. People said Claire had found out Adrian and Melody weren't biological siblings, and because she wanted Adrian for herself, she had arranged those men on purpose to ruin Melody. Claire explained it again and again, almost to the point of numbness. Melody had insisted on coming along for the business trip herself. Claire had never arranged anyone. That day, she had a fever and was sick in bed. She knew nothing.

But no one believed her.

To avenge his "sister," Adrian used the Hargrove family's power to force the Sutton family into crushing debt to the Hargroves. Then he pushed the Suttons until they had no choice but to send Claire to his bed.

Just so it would be easier for him to torment her, he forced her to marry him.

And she had no way out at all.

In the dead silence, that heart-ripping pain finally started spreading through her body, inch by inch, all the way to her palms and the soles of her feet.

This was the man she had secretly loved for nearly ten years.

Not only did he not love her, he wanted her dead.

And once she truly saw that for what it was, even breathing started to hurt.

After a long while, she finally calmed down a little.

She got up and started washing up. Because there were finger marks on both sides of her neck, she deliberately picked a high-neck mesh top and put a simple set of office wear over it.

After doing her makeup with practiced, efficient movements, she pulled the door open and walked out.

The moment she stepped out of the hotel elevator, she saw people coming and going around her. The sunlight was perfect, the world looked soft and peaceful, and everything felt so natural, so harmonious.

As if everything that had just happened upstairs had only been some absurd nightmare.

But her body told her otherwise. This wasn’t a dream. Every bit of it had happened to her, for real.

“Claire!”

Little Chen, the assistant who had been waiting in the lobby the whole time, hurried over with Claire Sutton’s down jacket in her arms.

Claire had her hat on and tugged the brim down hard, trying to hide her face, but the second the young assistant called out to her, heads still turned.

“Huh? Isn’t that Claire Sutton, the Sutton family’s daughter?”

“Daughter, my ass. She’s a venomous snake. Hurt someone that badly and still has the nerve to show her face in public?”

“But wasn’t she supposed to be pretty decent? Didn’t the Sutton family sponsor a lot of orphanages?”

“Oh, don’t even get me started. I heard all that orphanage stuff was just PR, okay? Just a way to hype themselves up and get attention. Truth is, they barely spent anything.”

“Oh wow, so that’s how it is? Then this Claire Sutton really isn’t a good person.”

“Exactly. She ruined a perfectly fine young girl. The news was all over it not long ago...”

With all that whispering and judgment crashing over her from every direction, Claire got into the car.

That was about the last scrap of dignity she had left.

At least the company hadn’t taken the car back yet, so getting around was still easy enough. Once she shut herself inside, those tangled, grating voices from outside were finally cut off by the door.

She moved to the very back row, all the way into the corner, pressing herself tightly against the side panel. Her body curled in on itself a little, stiff and guarded, before she slowly closed her eyes.

Little Chen saw how drained Claire looked. She had no idea what Claire had gone upstairs to do, but judging from that pale face alone, it definitely wasn’t anything good.

She really couldn’t understand it.

Why did that President Hargrove insist on making Sister Claire go up to his hotel room every single month to see him?

Sometimes it was one hour. Sometimes two. Sometimes it dragged on for four or even five hours.

And every single time, Claire came out looking exhausted, weak, like all the strength had been wrung out of her.

“Sister Claire, where are we going?”

Even though she knew Claire was dead tired, there were still things she had to ask.

Claire cracked her eyes open a little and glanced at the time. Her voice was hoarse when she spoke.

“To President Chandler’s dinner.”

Little Chen nodded. She wanted badly to say, You look awful. Why not skip it and go another day?

But she didn’t dare.

After all, Claire Sutton hadn’t worked in a long time.

Over the past year, she’d been torn apart by rumors and side-eyes from every direction. It wasn’t easy for the company to finally hand her this chance again.

So after moving his lips twice, Little Chen still chose to keep quiet.

On the way there, Claire got a call from the project director, Laura Leigh.

Claire pressed her lips together and answered in a low voice, "Hello, Laura."

Laura paused on the other end, then her voice suddenly shot up. "What happened to your throat? Why is it that every single time you go see that bastard Adrian Hargrove, you come back sounding hoarse? He... he didn’t do anything to you, did he?"

Laura knew there was something messy, or at least not simple, between Claire and Adrian Hargrove. But that was Claire’s private life. As long as it didn’t affect work, she had no right to pry. Still, that didn’t mean she could just ignore Claire’s condition. Claire was the most capable junior she had found so far, no contest.

So of course she was going to look out for her. No way was she letting anyone bully her, not even Adrian Hargrove.

But obviously, Claire didn’t want to say much. She changed the subject right away. "I’m almost at President Chen’s place. Laura, is there anything I should pay attention to?"

Laura was standing right outside President Chen’s private room. People were constantly passing by around her, footsteps coming and going. She let out a sigh. "Fine. You’re an adult, anyway. You’re still young, only twenty-five, but you’ve seen enough of the world. I won’t stick my nose into your private life... Anyway, I’m outside President Chen’s room right now. Once you get here, come straight over. We’ll meet outside."

"Okay."

After answering, Claire hung up.

Then she pressed a hand lightly against her lower abdomen.

It hurt a little.