Chapter 1: I Cannot Back Down

Clara gazed at the couple embracing before her, a surge of nausea rising within.

They looked like a perfect match, a talented man and a beautiful woman, yet the sight was a thorn in her eyes.

One was the fiancé she had loved for ten years, the man she was finally about to marry; the other was her closest friend.

She rubbed the diamond ring on the ring finger of her right hand and said, "Julian, the wedding invitations were sent out a month ago, and the reception is already booked. The wedding is in ten days—are you really telling me you want to cancel it now?"

"I will personally apologize to our family and friends. You don't need to worry about the costs of the reception and the wedding. As for..." Julian said with a look of apology, "Clara, you are a wonderful woman. You will find a man much better than me to love you."

"This diamond ring was placed on my finger by your own hand. Don't tell me I forced you to propose to me?"

They had been together for a year, and just a month ago, on their anniversary, he had knelt before her with the ring, proposing in person.

"Clara, you are a good woman. It’s easy to like you, and I do like you, but for Eva, it is love."

Clara was perfect, and she had been so good to him; otherwise, he wouldn't have resigned himself to proposing to her.

If not for that text message from Eva, he would have truly walked down the aisle with Clara.

[Julian, I feel so awful. Can we meet?]

Only she called him "Julian" like a little sister.

He had been in such agony when Eva left him, and it was Clara who had silently stood by his side.

When he agreed to be with Clara, he told himself to forget.

But with just one sentence from Eva, his heart was shaken.

Clara’s mouth tasted bitter. All these years of devotion were dismissed by a mere "I just like you."

She suddenly grabbed Eva’s wrist, dragged her into the conference room, and locked the door. By the time Julian realized what was happening, he could only slam his fists against the thick glass, furious.

Clara looked at the anxious Julian outside the glass, then turned her gaze back to Eva. "Eva, when you were with Julian, I gave you my sincere blessings. Later, when you chose to leave Julian to study abroad, it was only after you had completely broken up that I got with him. Tell me, have I ever done you wrong?"

Eva finally lifted her head, a faint smirk playing on her lips. "But I regret it now. Julian and I are truly in love. Clara, you’ll let us be together, won't you?"

How lightly she said it. Was love a child’s game to her?

Come whenever you want, leave whenever you please—just because you regret it, must I hand Julian over on a silver platter?

Clara wore a professional, icy smile. "Eva, isn't studying abroad great? The life you and Alex had in Paris was so romantic—that’s a lifestyle the rigid Julian could never give you."

Eva’s expression changed instantly. "You investigated me?"

"You loved Alex so much that you broke up with Julian for him, and even aborted your child for him. Isn't it a pity to give all that up?" Clara’s tone remained perfectly level as she walked toward Eva, staring into her eyes. "You sacrificed so much for Alex. Julian's mother has pampered you since childhood; if she finds out about all this, she will surely be heartbroken for you."

The composure that Eva had carried since she appeared vanished completely.

Julian’s mother was the quintessential high-society lady. If she found out about the chaotic life Eva had led abroad, she would never allow her to step foot in the Lin household!

Julian’s anxious roaring outside the window only made Clara more determined. "However, I am carrying Julian’s child, so his mother probably won't be too devastated by your affairs."

Eva’s legs went weak, and she stumbled backward.

She had lost.

"Clara! What are you doing to Eva? Open the door right now!"

He couldn't hear what was being said inside, but seeing Eva’s pale, terrified face made his heart ache for her.

Clara raised her hand and placed it on her stomach.

Eva, I have yielded enough things to you in this life. But this time, for the sake of the child in my womb, I cannot back down.

Chapter 2: Endless Enmity

Five years later.

Night.

The clock on the wall struck two in the morning when the bedroom door was suddenly kicked open.

The man stumbled toward the bedside, grabbed Clara by the hair, and dragged her off the bed.

Clara opened her eyes in pain. The heavy stench of alcohol rushed into her nostrils, and she knitted her delicate brows. "Julian, what are you doing again!"

"What am I doing? What you're here for, of course!"

Julian grabbed her fair thighs and spread them into a shameful angle.

Clara pushed him away, but Julian gripped her ankles and pinned her beneath him.

"No, Julian. I’m not feeling well today. Please, let me be."

Since their marriage, every intimate act with Julian had been a unilateral torture, and she had endured it all by gritting her teeth.

After the last time, when she had suffered tearing and bleeding, she thought it would heal quickly, but it had been half a month, and she still had a fever.

Today, she even felt nauseous—she wondered if it was a side effect of the fever.

Clara’s long black hair spilled over her pale neck. She lowered her head and begged in a soft voice, a far cry from the formidable, strong-willed woman she usually was in business.

Julian’s movements suddenly stopped.

The alcohol blurred his consciousness.

Could Clara actually have such a vulnerable side?

Her slender wrists were bruised from his grip. Julian subconsciously loosened his hold, but just then, a vase shattered outside the door. He grabbed a bedside lamp and hurled it across the room; the eavesdropping maid ran downstairs in a panic.

Julian’s hazy eyes turned cold. "Let you be? Isn't all this what you asked for? Clara, you got your mother-in-law to force me to sleep with you. Her eyes and ears are everywhere outside this room; if I don't do something, wouldn't I be failing to appreciate all the effort you’ve put in front of her?"

His mother had said Clara was ill, so he had rushed home.

He hadn't expected his mother to cry and plead about having grandchildren, forcing him to come back and conceive with Clara.

If it wasn't for her whispering in his mother's ear, how would his mother know about their private lives?

Weren't they all trying to force him?

Then he would fulfill their wish.

Julian roughly unbuckled his belt and violated her body.

The agonizing pain of tearing swept through her nerves.

Large beads of tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes.

"The... the door..."

The bedroom door was still wide open.

She looked at Julian, pleading. She didn't care what he did to her.

But please, at least leave her the last shred of dignity. She didn't want to see the pitying gazes of the household maids again.

"Clara, do you even have any shame left in that heart of yours?"

His mockery was biting.

She turned her head away, but he grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up. "Lift your head and watch clearly how I take you. Isn't this what you begged for?"

"You’re just like a dead fish. Being with you isn't even as interesting as a blow-up doll."

With his harsh words ringing in her ears, Clara bit her lip until the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. She was forced to turn back and meet Julian’s eyes.

She saw a chilling clarity in them.

She was stunned.

Julian wasn't drunk at all; he was soberly torturing her.

After a night of torment, by the time Julian finished, Clara was barely breathing. As he pulled away with indifference, looking at his cold back, Clara blurted out, "Julian, does it really have to be like this between us?"

They had once been closer to each other than anyone else.

Julian paused, his cruel voice echoing in the room. "Clara, you were the one who wouldn't let go first. You tied this knot yourself."

He really did hate her.

"Let's divorce."

"After you killed Eva, there is only one path for us..." He suddenly turned back. "Enmity to the grave."

Chapter 3: Hatred to the Extreme

After Julian left, Clara vomited in the bathroom for half an hour.

She stood by the sink, splashing water on her face. The woman in the mirror looked haggard and as pale as a sheet of paper.