Chapter 1 Chapter 1

Once I was certain the necklace in the photo had been made from the gold I gave him, I sent a message to our workplace group chat. "Best wishes to Mr. Hoover and Ms. Lott. May you have pretty babies." A few minutes later, Gigi explained they were merely fulfilling a bet they had made while playing a game. It had all been done at the behest of the winner. Donald, who had seemingly vanished for a day, finally appeared as well. "What is wrong with you? Why did you send something like that to the group chat? She's a fellow woman, isn't she? Why are you so jealous of her? Can you not live without a man or something?" Before I could reply, Donald added with a sneer, "What else can you do apart from causing trouble for me? Piss off and go back to where you belong." Although I was mentally prepared for this, it still pained me to hear him cussing me out. It was too disgusting. I felt nauseated. To think that just this morning, I had been urging him to marry me! I couldn't stop shaking at the thought of that. "Just forget it, Donnie. It's my fault. I'll look for Jeanette and explain things to her!""Nope! You're not going anywhere!" Donald snapped. Even though he sounded furious, he couldn't hide the concern in his voice. "It's so late right now. How are you going to get a cab?" Refocusing on me, he continued, "Listen up, Jeanette Swan. Even if you want to kick up a fuss, you should know your limits! Do you think I can't keep you in check?" I hadn't even managed to get a word in edgewise, but I could hear sobbing coming from the other end of the call. "Even if I have to swim, Donnie, I'm going over there right now. Don't even try to stop me. I won't let anyone stir up rumors about you!" Gigi declared. "Why do you care about what that woman does? I'll fire her right this instant!" Donald replied. "Just stay here and enjoy your break, Gigi. As long as I'm the director, no one can bully you." Once he finished speaking, he ended the call with me without a second thought. Even though I sent him a message saying I wanted to break up with him less than five seconds after the call was over, he didn't bother responding. Well, it wasn't surprising. If he didn't need anything from me, he would turn off all notifications of any calls or messages coming from me. A little over two hours passed. By now, I had packed up all my things. I had personally designed everything in the house, from the most insignificant teapot to the large feature wall in the living room. I had prepared a surprise for Donald too—I bought the house and was going to transfer ownership to him. Now, I was glad I never told him about it. Just then, my phone buzzed. "Don't worry, Jeanette. Donnie and I aren't involved in any way. I've always thought of him as a brother or even as a fatherly figure. I've never had any designs on him." As if afraid I wouldn't believe her, Gigi even sent me two videos. The first showed Donald scrubbing her back for her, while the second showed him coaxing her to sleep. Previously, I never dared to respond to such taunting provocations. After all, no matter what happened, I was the one who would end up relenting and trying to get back into Donald's good graces. Five years was enough time to exhaust me of the fervent, youthful passion that enabled me to pursue love with reckless abandon. From the looks of it, bearing such things in silence served no purpose either. "Is your butt itchy? Did you send me those things so that I would lash out at you? Did you want me to spam you with messages so that you could stick your vibrating phone up your butt?" Immediately, I saw the notification that Gigi was typing a message. "Oh, look. You must be jumping off the walls again." Once I sent that message, I swiftly deleted Gigi from my contacts list. That night, I didn't get even a wink of sleep. I stayed up until morning before I sent Dad a message. "I admit defeat. I'm willing to come home and inherit the family business." Dad responded with a happy emoji before calling me up to ask, "Are you sure? You're not lying to me, right?""No, I'm not lying to you," I responded with a self-deprecating chuckle. Laughing gleefully, Dad said, "Well, looks like I won the five-million-dollar bet I placed with my friend Eric!" I felt a sob catching in my throat. Dad continued, "You should've come back to inherit the company sooner! Everything would've been fine that way. You can have any guy you want! I never understood why you had your heart set on him. I'll buy over the company where you're employed at for you. You can do whatever you want with it. Only a blind fool would mistreat my daughter!"

Chapter 2 Chapter 2

"Don't bother, Dad. I want to be self-reliant. Let me do it myself." Dad paused for a while, but eventually, he sighed and said, "Oh, you. No matter what happens, remember that I'm always your biggest supporter." After ending the call, I took a deep breath and got ready to leave the house. Unexpectedly, I ended up running into Gigi and Donald. "Well? Are you satisfied now?" Donald snapped as he stormed up to me and stomped down hard on my foot. He did it with so much force that I had to bite my lip in pain. My head started spinning as well. On the day I met Donald, the strong typhoon winds nearly knocked him off his feet. The streets were flooded with rainwater that reached the ankles. In my attempt to save Donald from stumbling, I ended up stepping on a shard of glass, and that injury continued to cause me problems to this day. Startled, Donald paused, but after glancing behind him, the flash of guilt in his eyes instantly vanished. "Apologize to Gigi," Donald demanded. "If not for you, she wouldn't have been in such a rush to get here that she got into a car accident." I looked over at Gigi, who stood behind Donald looking completely fine. I didn't see any sign of injury on her. "I'll have you know that the car nearly ran over Gigi's foot! Thank goodness she's alright, or else, I will never forgive you for this!" Donald continued to bellow at me, looking at me as if I had killed his father. "You better say what I want to hear, Jeanette, or else… I can easily get a country bumpkin like you blacklisted from the entire industry! Since you're a nobody, you should learn your place. Haven't you heard of the saying 'the ant can't move the elephant'?" Gigi wrapped her arms around Donald from behind and shook her head, saying, "Donnie, Jeanette didn't receive much of an education, after all. Someone as highly educated as me shouldn't be so petty as to hold it against her. Let's just forget about it.""What did you just call me?" I balled my fists to stop myself from slapping them. For the past five years, Gigi had been hanging around like a fly, constantly filling my life with her incessant buzzing. "I've been fed up with you for ages now, Gigi." Instantly, the crisp sound of slaps rang out. Donald was pale with anger. Even his hand was trembling as he roared, "I told you to apologize!" My cheeks were stinging with pain. I could taste blood in my mouth. Gigi immediately started laughing. Feelings of rage, humiliation, and helplessness all swirled within me. "Is it so hard for you to apologize, Jeanette? You're the one in the wrong!" Donald growled before grabbing the heel of his shoe and smashing it against my knee. "You should be glad that Gigi didn't ask you to get on your knees and beg for forgiveness! How dare you kick up a fuss? Who do you think you are?" To think just a few days ago, I had sobbingly begged for his forgiveness. But now, I was done with it all. The only thing I wanted was to leave as soon as possible. It felt beneath me to even argue with him. "If you walk out of this house, Jeanette, it's over between us!" When Donald saw my refusal to give in, an almost imperceptible flicker of panic flashed in his eyes. "So be it," I replied with a nod. Calmly, I hobbled out of the house. The last five years had been such a waste of my time! All of a sudden, I felt a push that sent me flying down the steps. Automatically, I put out my right hand to protect myself from the fall. An agonizing pain rocked through me, and I instinctively retracted my hand, only to find that a large patch of skin had been torn off, revealing the flesh beneath. By the time I realized what had happened, I had already fallen to the foot of the steps and banged my head against the hard landing. Meanwhile, Donald, who was supposed to be my boyfriend, was anxiously protecting Gigi. He showed no care or concern for me at all. Instead, his expression made it clear he thought I deserved it. Pulling Gigi into the house with him, he declared, "Serves you right! You better kneel there and reflect on yourself! Don't get up until you realize the error of your ways!"

Chapter 3 Chapter 3

The pain sapped all the strength out of me. All I could do was lie on the ground like a pathetic mess. By the time a kind person helped me get to the hospital, I had already missed the best window for treatment. As a designer, my right hand was my most important asset. Yet, I had to watch as the doctor inserted pin after pin into it. I realized what it meant to feel consumed by a sense of despair. Three days later, Donald uploaded an Instagram story. In the photo, he and Gigi were all wrapped up in each other's arms—and he was wearing the suit I had designed. Meanwhile, the dress Gigi wore had been custom-made to my exact measurements, making her look like a clown in a costume instead. Less than two minutes after posting that photo, Donald called me. "Have you cooled off yet? It's Gigi's birthday today. She wants to clear the air with you. Don't forget to bring her a handsome gift." His breezy tone made it seem like nothing ever happened, but the pain in my hand was a constant reminder of what I had gone through. "Fine." A handsome gift, huh… Throughout the last five years, I didn't take any money from my family. I managed to save up over a million dollars, but I used most of it to buy the bars of gold I used to try and make Donald happy. After the surgery I had to get done, I had less than a dollar in my bank account. Gigi wanted a handsome gift from me, right? Well, I wondered if making her lose everything she ever had counted as one! By the time I made all the arrangements, it was time. Donald stood at the entrance with an arm around Gigi, and the two of them looked like a newlywed couple. When they saw me, they immediately clasped their hands together with their fingers intertwined. "How dare you come empty-handed, Jeanette?" Donald questioned with a dark look on his face. "I didn't expect you to be such an embarrassment. Look at the rags you're wearing! You even have a bunch of bandages on you. How disgusting! You're doing this on purpose to cause trouble for me, aren't you?" Gigi could no longer hide the joy in her eyes. Doing her best not to smile, she shook her head and said, "Forget it, Donnie. All that matters is she came today. In any case, as long as you're here, I don't need any gifts at all. "But… I do have a surprise for you…" At the mention of that, Gigi abruptly started stroking her abdomen. Just that alone was enough to make my breath catch in my throat. My hand tightened around my phone. Despite having been in a relationship with me for years now, Donald never did anything too intimate with me. Even though I tried my best to get him in the mood, he would stubbornly choose to cool himself off with a cold shower instead. Later on, I found out why. He said his first intimate encounter was an important one, and he couldn't let a golddigger like me be the one who shared it with him. Meanwhile, all of the colleagues who were present started cheering. Only then did I realize that Donald's parents, Frank Hoover and Martha Thorpe, as well as his younger brother, Shawn Hoover, were present as well. "Donnie, although it's my birthday today, nothing would matter if you weren't here," Gigi said. "I know you're not interested in getting married, but I worry about you feeling lonely in your old age, so… I secretly decided to have your baby." She slowly lifted her eyes and stared at Donald earnestly. "The baby has been with me for over two months now. I think it's going to be a girl. She'll be so pretty. She'll look just like you." I came to an abrupt stop as my mind went blank. Mom had died young, so it was my aunt who was the motherly figure in my life. She passed away two months ago, and during that time, Donald accompanied me through my grief. But it turned out that he spent his days with me and his nights getting it on with Gigi. I had thought that was a sign he truly cared about me. In reality, he was just trying to make it up to me after cheating on me. Frank and Martha were the first ones to clap and congratulate them. Some of the guests couldn't resist whispering among themselves. Donald had always been known for his ruthlessness. He forbade office romances, and the last one who tried to keep it from him even ended up getting sued by him. But now, he simply patted Gigi comfortingly and said, "In that case, I shall fire Jeanette. After all, she was the one who seduced me first and shamelessly pestered me into making her my girlfriend. A woman like her is a disgrace to the company." Immediately, everyone started eyeing me with curious, amused gazes. They all knew I had been blatantly cheated on. "Are you done?" To everyone's surprise, I merely smiled faintly after hearing Donald's declarations. "Guess it's time for me to share my gift." With a clap of my hands, a swarm of police officers swiftly filled the place, which wasn't very large to begin with. Gordon Lewis, the police captain in charge, greeted me politely, "Ms. Swan."