In the end, he shoved Charlene away. “This is unfair to you. It’s getting late. Rest well.”Upon saying that, he headed to the master bedroom by himself to rest, leaving Charlene standing alone in the corridor. Her face, which was delicately made up, looked ready to crumble at that very moment, and she was clenching her teeth in rage. She remembered that he had slept with Deirdre the night before she had come to the villa, yet he had used unfairness as a reason to reject her. ‘Is he really scared that it would be unfair to me, or is he utterly unwilling…’Charlene did not have the courage to think any further. She lowered her beautiful gaze, thinking that she needed to work faster. Otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable if Deirdre were to get pregnant.…The next morning, Brendan got up very early to work on official business. After he was done, he told the driver, “Go to the nearest pet shop.”“Pet shop?” The driver was surprised. “Aren’t you allergic to pets, Mr. Br

She felt as if she could watch the scene of Bliss’ tragic death in the backyard at that very moment. She experienced an emotional breakdown and said, “Take it away! Leave!”Brendan had been looking forward to Deirdre’s reaction, yet his face turned green with anger instantly when he heard her tell him to leave. Soon, his gaze turned icy. “Deirdre, why are you acting crazy? Weren’t you devastated over the dog’s death yesterday? I got you a new dog, yet not only have you not shown any appreciation, but your behavior is disgusting!”‘Show appreciation?’Deirdre’s chest was racing, and she felt endless coldness enshrouding her, as if she was trapped in an ice cellar.“Do you think that having another dog take Bliss’ place right after Bliss’ death will make everything better? As though the incident never took place?”“What else could I do?” Brendan sniggered. He did not feel any emotion for animals. “Do you want me to resurrect the dog?”Deirdre wanted to laugh. So it turned out tha

Deirdre was ungrateful no matter how well he treated her. On the contrary, she loathed him for meddling in her business and wished that he would leave her. If Sterling had given her the dog as a gift, he figured that she would have immediately given herself to him as a sign of appreciation. Brendan felt jealous at the thought of this possibility. He clenched his fists tightly, and his expression turned even colder. “You’re overthinking. A woman like her doesn’t deserve to be treated well by me. I thought of doing it at the time because the dog died in my backyard.”“Is that so?” Charlene’s eyes turned gloomy, yet there was nothing she could do to object. She bit her red lips gently and said, “So it turns out that you’re now showing concern for Ms. McKinnon on purpose, Brendan. In that case, my mind can be at ease. It’s possible that I’m not magnanimous enough and I want to have all your attention. Am I being selfish?”“How can you be?” Brendan looked at Charlene’s conflicted expr

“Why would we invite her to the party?” Brendan was displeased. “You’re too kind. She deserves to be pitiful because she has only herself to thank for that. Besides, your birthday party is very important. Who’s going to have a good time at your party when the sight of her spoils all the fun?”“But… Isn’t Ms. McKinnon going to be bored at home all by herself?” She said in a pitiful tone, “I believe that Ms. McKinnon won’t spoil the fun.”“However, does she deserve to be invited to your birthday party?” Brendan’s dark eyes were tainted with coldness as his eyes were fixed on Deirdre’s face. “Speak for yourself. Do you deserve to attend such a grand event?”Deirdre’s heart was racing. This was Brendan’s most lethal blow. It was not enough that he had humiliated her. He was now forcing her to acknowledge the insult. Deirdre believed that Charlene must be smiling in satisfaction at that very moment. She took a deep breath, suppressed her shaky voice, and answered, “...I don’t deserve i

“Alright…” Suppressing the bitterness in her voice, Deirdre nodded strenuously. “I’ll wait.”She was planning to return to her room when a song filled the entire room all of a sudden.Deirdre was stunned. She knew the song like the back of her hand because it was her ringtone. Brendan was rather surprised as well. He pulled the drawer with a long face and saw Sterling’s name displayed on the caller ID.Sterling had attempted to call Deirdre previously but he had stopped calling after finding out that Brendan was holding the phone without any intention of passing it back to Deirdre. Brendan’s face turned green with rage now that Sterling was suddenly calling Deirdre for no apparent reason. Deirdre did not have the courage to act rashly. Her hands were tightly clenched, and she suppressed all hope as she asked, “Is my phone ringing?”Brendan narrowed his eyes and inquired closely without answering her question, “Whose call are you looking forward to picking up?”He suppressed

Why was he so exasperated to learn this? Because all of this was supposed to belong to him!Brendan let go of Deirdre at the height of his rage. She thought this meant she could breathe a sigh of relief, but a new force simply knocked her off her footing, causing her to lie on the desk. She felt his body pressing against hers and then felt his labored breathing.A chill crawled up her spine. She knew what was about to happen. “No, Brendan! No!” she yelled, struggling.He acted as though he could not hear her. He grabbed her arms and pinned them to the side, sneering, “Why? Isn’t this the point of your existence? Why else do you think I let you live by my side? And you think you’ll get to live with Sterling one day—ha! Fat f*cking chance!”His free hand gripped her neck, his eyes wild with frosty rage. He pushed her down on the desk with his weight and did not care one bit about her struggle, protests, or reluctance. Charlene listened from outside his study. As she clenched her

Deirdre pushed herself to get out of bed. The phone in the living room was still shrieking incessantly—almost like an audio representation of suffering without end. She got out of bed with great difficulty and walked through the door. She then picked up the phone—And Brendan’s annoyed snarl greeted her. “Took you long enough!”Deirdre’s fingers tightened around the receiver. As if he had not played a part in this! It had been cold the day he had stripped her naked in his study and forcibly had sex with her. She had felt both chills and a heat rush after that and had unsurprisingly come down with a fever. Even now, she was working her way through a brain fog.Not that he would care, anyway. All he cared about was spilling his seed and making himself feel good. To him, she had always been a subhuman at best. “I have a headache. I just woke up,” she croaked.Brendan snickered. “Would it kill you to cut back on your malingering? It’s almost late evening, for Christ’s sake.”Deird

God. Every part of that cordiality sounded so manufactured and phony. Deirdre was in no mood to play the game, so she placed the box on a rack next to the door and turned on her heel.“Miss McKinnon, wait.” Charlene stopped her as she rose from her seat with a smile. “What’s the hurry? Don’t you wanna look around? You know, enjoy the vibe now that you’re here?”“Not interested,” Deirdre rebutted nonchalantly. She had never been interested in what the affluent upper-class considered haute couture or their glamor. The only reason she had even wanted to be Brendan’s wife was because she had loved him.Of course, even that had gone away.“I brought you your necklace,” she stated placidly. “If there’s nothing else you need, excuse me.”“But there is oneeee thing,” Charlene replied quickly. Her smile deepened. Then, she fished out her phone gracefully and played a video. The whimpers and cries of a dog being tortured filled the air.Deirdre stopped dead in her tracks. She could feel

“Bren!” Charlene sputtered and fled right into Brendan’s arms in terror. She gawked at Deirdre, fear widening her eyes as she yelped, “She’s gone crazy, Bren! She’s lost it and she is trying to kill me!”Remnants from Deirdre’s chokehold were still etched around her neck, sore and stark. A little up ahead, Brendan could see tears flooding the corner of her eyes. The sight provoked something ugly within him.Exasperation. He had only left Charlene alone for a while, but it had been enough time for this to happen. Had he been there one second sooner…He lunged, his fingers digging into Deirdre’s shoulders like talons, his strength so totalizing that it could crush bones. “Deirdre f*cking McKinnon! You’ll never f*cking learn, will you?! Even after all this punishment, you still can’t stop harming Lena!”Deirdre’s tears rolled down her cheeks endlessly, wetting the floor. Her chest was aching so much that even breathing had become hard. She glowered at Brendan, her eyes beet red, and r

Sam approached Deirdre gingerly. “Miss McKinnon? Come on. We should go,” he said. “That… That was too reckless of you, miss. You shouldn’t have acted out that way during an important event like this one. Things could have gone really bad, and… You know Mr. Brighthall wouldn’t possibly let you off lightly.”Deirdre knew he was speaking the truth. As she cast her eyes on the ground, her tears rained down on the cold, hard floor before she replied, “Did you know? The homeless man who murdered Bliss… was Charlene’s employee, Sam. She hired him.”Sam was bewildered. “What?!” Deirdre pressed her hand against her chest, but it did nothing to relieve her from her pain. “She told me… that Bliss kept looking in the direction of the mansion when… when it was about to die,” she croaked. “It… was waiting for me to save it, Sam. And what was I doing at the time? I… I was s-shopping for new clothes! I f-failed Bliss. I k-k-killed it!”“No, Miss McKinnon,” Sam rebuffed with a frown. He had recove