Chapter 2

I was pathetic like that, giving up my heiress life for love.

I admitted that the call to my mom was partly out of spite, but if he'd acknowledged me in front of everyone, I wouldn't have cared about anything else.

Sophie stood up nervously and grabbed Henry's arm. "Henry?" she said, her voice trembling.

Henry patted her hand gently and turned to face me. "Lily, I know you've had a crush on me, but I'm married to Sophie now," he said. "Please respect that."

I shouted in disbelief, "Henry, say that again!"

How could he say that? It was a fake wedding. He wasn't even the real groom.

Sophie's eyes turned red, and she said softly, "Lily, don't do this."

I glared at her, and my voice broke. "Sophie, what are you talking about?"

I said. "You told me Jack went missing and you had important guests coming, so you needed my boyfriend to stand in as the groom so it wouldn't look bad. When did this become a real marriage?"

Sophie shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said.

Henry cut me off. "Enough, Lily," he said sharply. "We invited you here to hang out, not to cause a scene."

I smashed the drinks on the table right then and there, flipped it over, and even hit Henry hard enough to split his eyebrow open. Blood ran down his face.

"Fine," I said. "You two remember what you said today."

After I walked out, I paid some guys to scare Sophie and corner her in the bathroom to teach her a lesson.

I'd never been the type to let anyone hurt me without getting payback. If someone crossed me, I settled it on the spot.

But Henry liked gentle, delicate women, so all these years I'd been holding back my real personality and trying to act more feminine for him.

He was too cruel.

Why would he treat me like this? And what gave Sophie the right to act all innocent? I couldn't take it anymore.

That evening, Henry kicked my front door open.

He glared at me with pure rage and shouted, "Lily, if you've got a problem with me, come at me. Why the hell did you send those thugs after Sophie? Do you know she slit her wrists?"

I didn't bother hiding it. I shot back, "She disgusted me. Can't I get my revenge?"

The next second, Henry's hand cracked across my face.

We'd been together for years and we'd never even fought, let alone him laying a hand on me.

But today, Henry slapped me for Sophie's sake.

Hurt and fury exploded in my chest, and I couldn't hold it back anymore.

I lunged at him, and we fought. Tears streamed down my face as I screamed, "You hit me for another woman!"

Henry shoved me down hard and pinned me to the floor. He pulled out a pair of silver handcuffs from somewhere and locked my wrists behind my back.

He made one phone call, and several sketchy-looking men walked through the door.

I stared at him in disbelief and demanded, "Henry, what are you doing?"

He lit a cigarette and looked down at me with cold eyes. He said, "You love sending thugs to scare people, right? I'm just letting you experience what it feels like to be harassed."

They ripped my clothes off until I was down to my underwear.

They threw me on the bed and stripped down next to me while someone else stood there filming us with their phone.

Rage burned through me, and I screamed until my throat was raw, cursing Henry with every word I knew.

I hated him. I truly hated him.

But he just shrugged and said, "Why are you so worked up? We didn't actually do anything to you. If you're this angry, then maybe don't pull this kind of crap next time."

My photos spread like wildfire through every group chat and social media platform.

People made up vicious lies about me and called me a homewrecker who destroyed relationships.

Someone even used AI to put my face on degrading photos and videos and claimed I used to work as an escort.

Neighbors threw rotten eggs at me and spat on me whenever I stepped outside. They screamed that I was trash, and the bold ones yanked my hair. I fought back and ended up at the police station.