Chapter 1

On Qingming Festival, Clara Vance received her mother’s autopsy report.

47 stab wounds, both legs severed by a sharp blade, and the tendons in her hands severed.

Every wound showed that she had suffered inhuman abuse before her death.

The police chief’s voice echoed in her ears: "Clara Vance, are you sure you want to continue your mother’s investigation, to continue reporting on this death caused by human experimentation?"

Clara’s gaze was frozen on the autopsy report:

"I am sure."

The chief informed her: In 10 days, someone would arrange a fake death for her. The person named Clara Vance would completely disappear from this world.

Stepping out of the building, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse.

Her phone rang, and a man’s bossy voice came through: "Come to The Neon Lounge to pick me up."

Clara paused, then hurriedly called a car and rushed over.

The Neon Lounge was a high-end, private club, the place where Julian Sterling had spent his nights seeking pleasure for the three years they had been married.

Every night, a woman with a seductive figure would enter his room, and then leave with weak legs.

And she, this Mrs. Sterling, would wait at the entrance of the private room.

Waiting for him to finish enjoying other women before he came to enjoy her.

He said: Clara Vance, trash like you is only worthy of being last in line.

Clara had long since become numb to such humiliation.

But this time, standing at the door of the private room and hearing the familiar voice coming from inside, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of pain in her heart.

A moment later, Julian Sterling walked out, his upper body bare.

His long, slender fingers toyed with a shredded bra, which he then threw in her face:

"I accidentally tore it, go buy one exactly the same."

Immediately after, he signed a check and tucked it flirtatiously into her chest.

Clara clenched her fists, her eyes turning red, and she looked up at the man:

"For these three years, I have tolerated every way you have humiliated me. But why, why won't you even spare Selene!"

Julian lit a cigarette, and amidst the swirling smoke, his expression was dark and obscure:

"Back then, did you spare me?"

Clara’s heart suffered a sudden, sharp pain.

Memories rushed in like a tidal wave, almost drowning her.

She and Julian were childhood sweethearts, and at the age of sixteen or seventeen, they had already crossed the line.

In a dim, small motel, she nestled against his still-slender chest, his intimate and innocent love words ringing in her ears:

"Baby, once we graduate, we’ll get our marriage license."

"I will definitely buy you a big house, a luxury car, the most beautiful big diamond ring; I want to give you the best of everything."

They attended the same high school and later naturally went to the same university, becoming a well-known model couple.

Everyone thought they would spend their lives together.

However, on the night Julian proposed to her, she backed out.

She threw away his ring, smashed the roses he had carefully prepared, and humiliated him with the most venomous words:

"Who would want to marry a poor wretch like you?"

"I’m going abroad to study! Stop pestering me!"

On the day of their parting, it was pouring rain.

He pounded on the car window, his face wet with either rain or tears, his voice dry and hoarse:

"Clara, give me some time! Four years… no, three years, and I will definitely be able to give you a very, very good future!"

Sitting in the car, Clara said to the driver in a cold voice, "Drive."

The luxury car started, but Julian refused to give up, chasing the car for a very, very long distance.

At a red light, a sedan sped by, knocking him to the ground.

Gravel scattered and smashed fiercely into his left eye; the instantaneous, stabbing pain left him unable to even stand.

Julian was rushed to the hospital.

After only a simple bandage, he endured the intense pain and rushed to the airport.

He waited at the airport for a day and a night, blood seeping through the bandages and staining half his face red, but he never waited for her.

Since then, his hatred for her became the driving force behind his ambition.

In four years, he built a fortune worth billions.

The first thing he did after achieving success was to force her into marriage, making her Mrs. Sterling, and then day and night, he used every means to humiliate and torture her to vent the hatred in his heart.

Clara silently endured all of this, but she never told him that their breakup back then wasn’t because she had fallen for someone else, but because she had no choice.

Her mother was a journalist who had been investigating a human death experiment project by a multinational corporation, and her identity had been leaked.

The criminal gang was fanatical; to destroy the evidence, they murdered her mother and then reached out to her entire family.

Her father decided to take the whole family and flee.

In order not to implicate Julian, she endured the pain and broke up with him.

On the day of the car chase, she knew he had been in an accident, so she risked her life to go to the hospital and donated her own left eye to him.

However, after climbing off the operating table, she received a call from the police station.

In an instant, the world spun.

Except for her, the whole family had been in a car accident on the way to the airport, and no one had survived.

Thinking of the tragic state of her family, Clara clenched her fists, her shoulders trembling.

Seeing her eyes turn red, Julian took a step closer, his tone carrying an unconscious sense of expectation:

"Don't you have anything to explain about what happened back then?"

Clara’s gaze slowly fell on the shredded bra, and she shook her head slowly.

"There’s nothing to explain; back then, I simply looked down on how destitute you were, so I wanted to break up with you."

Back then, the unspeakable bitterness that could not be voiced can now only be buried deeper in her stomach.

She carried the bloody feud of her entire family, and she and he were destined to have no future.

This time spent with him day and night after their marriage was already a stolen happiness.

Now, she was determined to continue the investigation.

She was destined, just like her mother, to end up alone and die a tragic death.

Chapter 2

"That only proves you were blind back then."

The door to the private room slammed shut, a deafening sound.

Clara traced her fingertips lightly over her prosthetic eye, the bitterness in her heart spreading like a tide.

She picked up the fallen bra, and a tear she couldn't hold back splashed onto the floor.

When she returned to the club, the front desk informed her that Julian had already left.

She rushed home in a panic, and just as she was about to push open the bedroom door, she was struck by the sound of laughter coming from inside.

Her palm pressed against the doorknob, trembling slightly.

For three years, he had been seeking pleasure at the club.

This was the first time he had brought a woman home and into their bedroom.

The butler appeared behind her, though she hadn't noticed when: "Madam, Sir wants you to move into the guest room starting today."

Clara was stunned.

She walked into the guest room, soul-deprived, and collapsed onto the bed in silence.

The sounds coming from the master bedroom felt like a heavy hammer striking her heart.

She closed her eyes and covered her ears, wishing not to hear.

But even so, the blushing, intimate words still drilled into her ears one by one.

"Baby, kiss me, don't leave me."

"I love you, stay with me forever, I will definitely give you the best of everything..."

In an instant, her eyes turned red; these were clearly the love words he had said to her back then.

Seven years ago, in a small motel near their university, dim light shone on a messy bed.

The bed creaked, and his voice was pressed against her ear, so sincere, so affectionate.

At that time, she naively thought she could really grow old with him.

Turning over, she hugged her pillow tightly, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.

Now, she had long since lost the qualifications to talk about the future.

She and Julian could never have that kind of future again.

Early the next morning, Clara’s eye ached severely.

She carefully removed her prosthetic eye, cleaned it, and put it back in.

When she went downstairs, the air was filled with an enticing aroma.

Julian placed two white plates on the dining table, with toast, fried eggs, and bacon on them.