Chapter 6

Finally, the cold water stopped, but Mrs. Hayes wasn’t finished with me. She ordered the bodyguards again: “Tie her up and lock her in the room!”

The bodyguards mercilessly dragged me from the bathtub, like a dead dog, into a room, and roughly tied me to a chair.

“Let me go… I won’t marry him…” I murmured weakly.

Mrs. Hayes grabbed my hair, forcing my head up. “I’m doing this to help you keep your husband!”

“Look…”

Mrs. Hayes then pulled at my collar, her eyes softening, tinged with ‘motherly love’. “This Chanel dress you’re wearing must be at least thirty thousand. It’s so beautiful. Brandon bought it for you, didn’t he?”

“No…” That was my own purchase, a fifty-thousand limited edition.

My consciousness was drifting. I couldn’t even speak properly.

Mrs. Hayes took out a handkerchief and slowly wiped my face. “Think about it, if Brandon abandoned you, how could you wear such beautiful clothes?”

“Those orphanage kids, and your cognitively impaired sister, they all need a lot of money to support.”

Mrs. Hayes finished wiping, tidied my hair, then used her hard acrylic nails to rub my lips, making them crack.

“That actress must have used a lot of tricks too.”

She surveyed her handiwork on my face, a satisfied expression appearing.

“Brandon, like you, is a very loving, good boy. Listen to me, necessary self-harm will make him pity you.”

The mentally unstable Mrs. Hayes made me suddenly feel very pathetic.

She wasn’t helping me; she was projecting her own past pain and resentment onto me.

Like how she couldn’t win back her own husband back then, Mrs. Hayes hoped I could 'win back' Brandon, making up for her own regrets.

Mrs. Hayes had someone set up a phone in front of me, then she and her people left.

On the other end of the phone, someone was secretly filming Brandon.

“In my heart, you’ll always be beautiful. If I’ve loved you, I have no regrets. No matter how much pain, I’m willing to bear it…”

The song drifted from the phone’s earpiece, carrying the distinct echo of a KTV private room.

I didn’t need to see the screen to know it was Brandon’s voice.

When he sang, his voice habitually rose slightly at the end, with a touch of unruliness, and a hint of coaxing.

This song, which once made my heart flutter, now sounded like a blunt knife, slowly grinding away at my heart.

I remembered it. After Brandon injured his leg saving my sister, Mrs. Hayes came to the hospital and slapped me.

I endured it then. Brandon, after angrily driving his mother away, apologized to me.

I poured out all the grievances I’d bottled up for days. “Brandon, your mom doesn’t like me. We…”

“Wait!” Brandon frantically pulled out his phone, found this song, and sang it to me, word for word.

He wasn’t a good singer then, his pitch fluctuating wildly, going off-key absurdly several times.

The man who usually sported a cool expression and walked with a swagger was now like a clumsy high schooler, fumbling to keep the girl he loved.

The nurses and patients in the ward couldn’t help but laugh.

His naturally handsome face flushed crimson, but he stubbornly kept going, looking at me with such focus, as if the world only contained the two of them.

But now?

My gaze slowly shifted to the phone screen. Brandon was embracing Serena, their heads together, intimately singing into the microphone, radiating sweet affection.

Meanwhile, I was trapped in a chair by his mother, wearing cold, drenched clothes, like an abandoned doll.

Outside, thunder rumbled, and torrential rain poured down, drowning out those joyous sounds. Loneliness, helplessness, and despair also drowned me in darkness.

Three hours later, Brandon stood on the balcony, dialing my phone for the tenth time. It was still the busy tone, unanswered.

He frustratingly prepared to dial for the eleventh time when Serena’s voice came from behind him. “If you keep calling, your phone will start smoking.”

Brandon put away his phone, fatigue evident in his brows. “Serena, why are you out here?”

“You hadn’t come back, and Mr. Thompson was asking where you’d gone.”

Serena stared intently at Brandon’s expression. “Were you calling Aubrey?”

Brandon avoided my gaze. “Yeah, she had something to ask me.”

“What’s so urgent?” Serena’s tone held a barely detectable hint of probing. “Could it be… you missed me?”

“How could that be?”

Brandon instinctively denied it. “Don’t overthink things.”

Serena’s eyes darkened. “I leaned against the railing and said, feigning casualness, ‘Just now Chloe asked if you were falling for Aubrey.’”

“What are you talking about?” Brandon frowned, his tone a little stiff.

“That’s what I said too,” Serena smiled. “I said there’s no way Brandon could like some unsophisticated orphan. It’s just an act.”

Brandon’s fingers tightened slightly, but he didn’t refute.

“But…” Serena turned sideways, looking directly into Brandon’s eyes. “You were quite devoted to her before. I was even a little jealous.”

Brandon took Serena’s hand. “Don’t overthink it. I just didn’t want her to suspect anything and ruin our plan.”

“Really?” A flicker of uncertainty crossed Serena’s eyes.

“Of course.”

Brandon immediately confirmed. “I only love you, and that hasn’t changed since high school.”

Serena’s expression softened. I stepped forward, leaning into Brandon’s embrace. “I knew it. You only have me in your heart.”

Brandon wrapped his arms around me, but his gaze drifted towards the rain-blurred darkness outside the window, his eyes lost.

The next morning, Brandon woke up with a hangover, finding himself in a hotel room with Serena.

He immediately panicked, jumping out of bed and hurriedly getting dressed.

No, Brandon paused. Soon Serena would be his wife. Having a physical relationship was perfectly normal.

Why was he feeling so guilty, so afraid?

Brandon changed and went into the hallway to call Aubrey, but she never answered.