Chapter 2

I pointed straight at Julian, my voice cutting through the room.

Julian's face drained of color. He grabbed Victoria's arm, terror written all over his face.

"Victoria, did you hear that? You're actually going to marry someone this vicious? He said he wants to pull the plug on my mother!"

"How could he curse my mom like that..."

Victoria gently comforted Julian, then snapped her head toward me, glaring with fury.

"What kind of man are you, Sean! You know damn well how much Julian's mother means to him!"

"Did I give you too much leeway?!"

My lips trembled, but I forced back every single tear.

It was pathetic.

Whose life wasn't precious? Who was supposed to be superior to whom?

Julian's mother mattered, but my sister didn't?

She had been so young, like a fragile, pure white snowflake.

Whenever I was exhausted to the bone, she would push through her own pain, forcing a weak smile just to cheer me up.

Yet my brave, sweet sister had died because of their sick joke.

"I'm vicious? Then what are the rest of you? Betting on my sister's life—you're all cold-blooded monsters!"

Their smiles froze. None of them expected me to snap back like that.

Losing face in front of her friends and the man she loved made Victoria lose all her patience.

She wound up her arm and slapped me across the face with everything she had.

A fiery pain exploded across my cheek, and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

I held my cheek. I didn't cry, and I didn't hit back.

I just stared at her with pure venom.

Meeting my gaze, she raised her hand and struck me again, hard.

"Don't you dare look at me like that! Don't forget, if it weren't for me, your sister would have died years ago!"

A sharp ringing exploded inside my head. Warm blood trickled from my ear, dripping down my jawline and onto the floor.

I grabbed the edge of the bar counter just to keep myself upright.

"Guys like him just need a couple of slaps to fall in line."

"Did he take the wrong meds today? He never dared talk to Victoria like that before."

The voices around me drifted in and out, muffled and distant.

They were right about one thing.

I used to obey Victoria unconditionally.

Back then, I was just a nobody at Vance Group, assigned to work under her while she was gaining experience at a subsidiary.

I worked day and night, taking endless overtime just to earn enough money for my sister's medical treatments.

It still wasn't enough.

I broke down in tears of absolute despair in an empty stairwell, which happened to be when Victoria walked by.

She offered me a shoulder to cry on, listened patiently to my troubles, and transferred a massive sum to cover my sister's bills.

Her embrace had felt so warm and secure that I couldn't help falling for her.

Under her gentle, sweet pursuit, I became her fiancé.

I thought our suffering was finally over, only for fate to play a cruel trick on me.

The moment Julian returned from abroad, all her tenderness shifted to him overnight.

I was never the one she wanted.

Years ago, she had been heartbroken over Julian and ran into me at my lowest point, feeling nothing more than a passing wave of pity.

I had been foolish enough to mistake that pity for love.

Deep down, everyone knew that to Victoria, I wasn't really a fiancé. I was just a capable subordinate.

A useful tool who would jump into the fire whenever she snapped her fingers.

Now that she had secured her place in the group, she had no use for me anymore.

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and let out a broken laugh.

"Everything I owed you has been paid in full. We are done."