“Sam.” Brendan interrupted Sam, his expression icy cold. “You’ve been deceived by her too.”He sneered through his tightly-clenched teeth. “Deirdre made you come to me because she wanted to use today’s plot to guilt me, of course. Then, she would lead me to put the blame on Charlene bit by bit."She is the kind of woman who uses unscrupulous tactics to achieve what she wants from the start. On the other hand, I’ve also almost caused the death of Charlene for a nobody like her!”The anger of being deceived and the guilt of almost causing his savior’s death filled his chest. He felt his head spinning and clenched his fists tightly. He walked toward Deirdre’s room with swift strides and kicked the door. Deirdre was not asleep, but she tensed up at the commotion of the door. Before she could react to the situation, Brendan’s hands were already clutching her throat ferociously. “Ugh…”The feeling of suffocation flooded her entire body, and her neck would be broken at any moment if

“Brendan? Brendan!”Colors were drained off Deirdre’s face. She pounced at him, throwing her arms around his thigh the exact moment she understood what he meant. He was going to blame it on Sterling again!“I-If you’re mad because Lena almost died, I… I can apologize for that! I will swallow those pills so I can suffer the same pain she’s undergoing right now! But please, stop taking your rage out on innocent people!”“Innocent people?” Brendan scoffed. He lowered himself to her height and grabbed her by her jaw, examining her tears-stricken cheeks. “Here I thought you didn’t believe in concepts like leaving the innocent alone. Isn’t Lena innocent? Christ, Deirdre. You could have come clean with me. Things would have ended much sooner… much better. But you had to accuse her of doing something she didn’t do! You just had to lie to me!”He rose apathetically and kicked her away. Deirdre’s head knocked on the side of the bed. She felt a buzzing shockwave coursing through her brain lik

Deirdre had been stupid. All Brendan cared about was whether Charlene lived. Why would he give a damn about Deirdre’s innocence?Three days passed. She never saw Brendan in her room. He even replaced Sam with a newly-hired nurse, who quickly took advantage of Deirdre’s blindness and how little anyone cared about her. She abused Deirdre—she would finish about half of the meal Deirdre was supposed to have before passing it back to the woman she was supposed to care for. Deirdre hated it. She was not going to eat a stranger’s leftovers, so she pushed the bowl away.“Whoa! Are you actually being picky about your food? Or do you just have a bone to pick with me, huh? You act like me eating your food is disgusting while looking like a disgusting freak yourself! God, can you get over yourself for a hot second? You’re a nobody without family or friends, b*tch. You should be grateful to even have a nurse helping you out!”The nurse was enraged. Deirdre, unfortunately, became an easy target

“That’s enough!”Brendan stormed forward and snatched Deirdre’s hand away from its motion. The entire spectacle was just so grating to him that he gnashed his teeth and snarled, “Are you done playing the victim!? You’re so into it! So into trying to make yourself look like the most tragic woman in the world that nothing is below the belt, isn’t it? God. You keep proving me wrong when I think you can’t stoop lower!”Playing the victim? How blind was this fellow to think this whole thing was an act to ‘play the victim’?Her injury stung so much her arm was shaking despite herself. She had not finished the task Brendan had ordered her to do, so she simply muttered, despite her ashen expression, “Can you please let me go? I’m not done cleaning up…”“To hell with cleaning up!” Brendan bellowed suddenly. He kicked the garbage bin so hard that every fragment from the broken bowl spilled back to the floor. He glared at the nurse and thundered, “You clean this up! And I want you to do it

Night City? Deirdre was aghast. As a local of this city, she knew exactly where this was. It was an entertainment establishment on the outside, but it was more of a sanctuary for the rich and powerful. Nothing was off-limits within Night City as long as nobody died. Her face turned pale. “Why did you bring me here, Brendan?” she cried as she struggled to wriggle herself free. Brendan could not possibly let her go so easily. His fingernails burrowed into her wrist like shackles. He yanked her close to himself and whispered, “Too late, Deirdre. You almost cost Lena her life. That isn’t something I’m gonna handwave away.”“But I didn’t!”Brendan shot her an icy glare. It had been three days, yet she still held onto her lie. He loosened his grip suddenly and said, “You wanna leave here, go ahead. I just wonder what’s gonna happen to Sterling if you go.”Deirdre was stopped dead in the middle of her bid to run away. Her chest ached as though someone was tearing it open with their b

“You’re here to drink in his place, right?” The young man started. “Time to do your job! Chug this!”“Chug! Chug! Chug!” The crowd began to clamor excitedly.Deirdre had always been alcohol-intolerant. Just the stench of beer triggered a gag reflex, and she pushed the pint away, to the young man’s displeasure. His smile stiffened. “Hey, what’s this supposed to mean? Are you trying to tell me that since you’re Mr. Brighthall’s b*tch, you wag your tail only for him? Boooooo! You’re no fun!”Brendan watched the exchange from his seat. He crossed his legs and fiddled with his ring, his frigid onyx-black eyes boring straight through Deirdre’s face. His lips were curved when he chided placidly. “Now, now. What did I tell you about your attitude when you were at my party? Have you forgotten already?”He did not sound particularly angry, but that nonchalance was a front to the biting chill only Deirdre understood. He was warning her. “Defy me, and I’ll take it out on Sterling.”“Um, I…” D

Brendan was forcing her to make a choice. She could save whatever remained of her dignity, but Sterling would have to lose his on her behalf. She would have to doom him to save herself. Brendan’s sadism knew no bounds. How could he be so heartless?Deirdre sobbed. She felt faint spells, yet her heart was ironically much calmer than before. “It’s alright,” she said, her eyes as empty as her tone. “I’ll do it.”The room cheered. It was what everyone wanted. Amid the revelry, though, was Brendan’s increasingly stormy expression. His eyes were cold. “Do you understand what you’ve just said? You’re going to strip yourself clean and dance in front of a crowd of strangers. If you call Sterling, the most I’ll make him do is make him drink.”The most he would do? Deirdre smiled between her tears. To hell would she even believe that!She would never believe him ever again. How could she? When he told her he would never play favorites and stand behind Charlene without reason that nigh

“Oh, you’re really thoughtful, Mr. Brighthall. This woman is indeed too skinny to look at. It’s better to look for other fun than to disgust all of us here.”“You’re right. Such a skinny woman won’t look beautiful when dancing.”The group repeated in agreement. It was only Sofia who furtively clenched her fist.‘How did Mr. Brighthall know when he said this woman was too skinny to look at? Can it be that he has seen this woman naked? Didn’t he feel disgusted?’The alcohol kicked in, and Deirdre began feeling hot and cold. Brendan dragged her forcefully to sit on the sofa.Deirdre was drunk and devoid of energy. She could only rely on Brendan for support. But when she sobered up, she would strive to hold herself up, unwilling to even touch Brendan.Brendan was infuriated when he became aware of it. He harshly grabbed Deirdre by her jaw as he barked, “Deirdre, are you a psychopath who doesn’t even know how to be thankful? Why didn’t you appreciate my kindness in saving your life at

“That’s right. Mr. Brighthall just wanted to clean up the stench of that woman. Let’s continue drinking!”Everyone agreed but smiled rather forcefully. It was difficult for them to believe what they had said themselves.Brendan went to the room inside, kicked open the bathroom, and filled the bathtub with water. Following that, he tore Deirdre’s clothes and threw her into the bathtub.“Ah!” Deirdre choked on water, struggled vigorously, and her hands weakly clung to the edge of the bathtub. Her eyes reddened as she lifted her head to look at Brendan.Deirdre’s whole body flushed at the effects of alcohol. Brendan was allured as his Adam’s apple moved. He held her neck and kissed her hard.“N-No— D-Don’t—”Deirdre gasped for breath. She tried to push Brendan away, but she was so weak that it made her look as if she was pretending to be shy.Brendan ruthlessly restrained her wrist with formidable power. With hostility, he reprimanded, “Don’t? Weren’t you trying harder than everyon

Brendan said in an icy-cold and condescending tone, “It’s because you can do such a thing. Anyway, I’ve made a concession. If you are still stubborn, don’t blame me!”Brendan went out and slammed the door behind him. Deirdre was freezing. However, her disappointed heart was far colder than the freezing cold water itself.Deirdre’s teeth chattered from the cold. She climbed out of the bathtub with difficulty, used her touch to locate a bath towel, and wrapped herself in it. When she opened the door, she felt an unfriendly gaze.Sofia was sizing up Deirdre before she said dismissively, “Your figure is nothing more than that. I thought even if you looked ugly, you might have a good body shape. Now it seems that I’m wrong.”From the voice, Deirdre knew who the person was. However, she didn’t want to argue with her because her hair was still wet, and her head was in pain. She simply asked, “Anything?”Sofia threw the bag she had been carrying at Deirdre’s feet. “These are the clothes M