Chapter 3

My soul hovered beside my father, watching him stand there stubbornly.

His lips had turned blue, his body swaying on the verge of collapse, yet he stubbornly refused to leave.

I was frantic with worry yet utterly powerless to help.

I had no choice but to float through the wrought iron gate and the front yard just to see what Steven was up to.

I drifted into the living room. The enormous mansion was ablaze with light, every corner brilliantly illuminated.

There, I saw Mandy, Steven's mother, for the first time in seven years.

She was sitting beside Steven, her brows furrowed in concern as she spoke to him.

However, Steven's girlfriend was nowhere to be seen. I figured she must have gone upstairs to rest.

Seven years ago, Mandy was terminally ill, but at that moment, she had fully recovered and looked much healthier.

A wave of relief washed over me.

As I thought back to what happened seven years ago and where I was at that moment, the stabbing pain in my heart grew even sharper.

But then again, I suppose it was worth it after all.

I heard Mandy sigh and say, "Steven, what's going on between you and Selena?

"If the paparazzi were to catch you and it makes headlines, Susan would be heartbroken."

Mandy still didn't know I had died.

From the very first moment we met, she had always affectionately called me "Susan" in her gentle voice.

She was the kindest and gentlest person I'd ever known.

Back when Steven and I first got together, my family hadn't fallen from grace yet.

Mandy would often say to Steven, "Susan is really out of your league, so you'd better treat her well!"

Afterward, disaster struck the Taylor family, sending our fortunes plummeting.

Mandy held me close, tears streaming down her face as she pleaded with Steven, "Please take good care of Susan. Stay by her side, always."

Back then, my father was in prison, my sister was critically ill, and my family was drowning in debt.

Every single one of my relatives shunned me like the plague, yet only Mandy stayed up at night with me, comforting me.

She even went so far as to sell the house she had painstakingly saved up for and just bought, along with her treasured family heirloom bracelet, to cover my sister's medical expenses.

Mandy said to me gently, "When times get tough, that's when family sticks together."

I grew up without a mother.

That was why, from the very first moment we met, I couldn't help but feel she was like the mother I never had.

Just like Steven, she had always been so incredibly kind to me.

Afterward, I found out Mandy was in the final stages of liver cirrhosis and might not make it.

I felt like my whole world was falling apart. Night after night, I cried myself to sleep, my eyes swollen from all the tears.

It wasn't until Charlie came to me, saying he'd pulled some strings and found a compatible liver for Mandy.

However, the devil would only make deals instead of doing charity.

Even after all these years, that night remained vivid in my memory.

In the noisy private room where the lights flickered and danced, Steven, drenched in the rain and looking utterly broken, came to find me.

His eyes brimmed with desperate humility as he pleaded, "Susie, I won't break up with you. Please, I'm begging you. Just wait a little longer."

I said to him flatly, "After all, I'm the Taylor family's heiress. I want my old privileged life back."

I even told him Charlie could give me what I wanted.

The entire private room erupted in mocking laughter.

As Steven looked at me with pleading eyes, Charlie abruptly yanked me into his embrace.

My heart was being torn apart, yet I still forced out that sickeningly sweet, indifferent smile.

My shoulders shaking, I said, "Begging me? Get on your knees first, then maybe I'll think about it."

I thought those words were cruel enough to end our relationship.

However, under the mocking gaze of everyone, Steven, who had always been so proud and had never submitted to anyone, actually dropped to his knees before me that night.

He looked at me, his eyes so distant that, for a moment, it felt like we were worlds apart.

"Susie, I'll do everything I can to give you what you want," he pleaded.

He used to be so proud and aloof that he utterly disregarded Charlie's pursuit of me. It was no wonder Charlie had harbored such bitter resentment toward him.

At that moment, however, Steven was reduced to a drenched, pitiful mess.

He kneeled before me and Charlie.

Charlie had never looked so triumphant, his face twisting into a hideous grin.

He then burst out laughing and said, "Steven's finally gotten his comeuppance!

"Do you all see this? What's he got left to take Susie from me now, huh? So funny!"

Steven seemed oblivious to it all.

In the dim light, he kept his eyes locked on me, his gaze filled with desperate pleading as he waited for my answer.

I ran my fingers along the necklace around my neck and replied to him with a cold, mocking smile, "Steven, a poor man's hard work is worthless.

"This necklace costs over 600 thousand dollars. How long would it take you to earn that? Ten years? Twenty? Or your whole miserable life?

"Steven, I'm sick of playing this pauper's game."

Once again, the private room erupted in deafening, mocking laughter.

Everything after that was just a blur. I couldn't even remember what happened or how Steven left.

All I remember was that for seven long years after that, Steven stayed abroad and never once came back.