Chapter 4

Yarden gripped my wrist so tightly that it felt like he would crush my bones.

I sucked in a breath from the pain. “I was in my room all day. I never left, not even once. If you don’t believe me, ask the butler.”

A cold smile tugged at the corner of Yarden’s lips. His eyes shone with disgust.

“I don’t need to ask! Lily, what haven’t you done over the years?

“You put a wiretap on my phone and hired women to flirt with me just to test me. As long as you’re willing to pay, is there really anyone in this world who wouldn’t do whatever you wanted?”

I looked into his eyes. He did not even try to hide his disgust. My heart ached, and all I felt was bitter irony.

Had I really spent all these years fighting like a madwoman for no reason? Had I not done that because he was actually cheating on me all this time?

“If you don’t believe me, then there’s nothing else I can say. What are you going to do then?”

Yarden stared at my stubborn, pale face. Then, he chuckled.

He leaned closer. “Honey, do you really think that just because I feel indebted to you for saving my life, and because I love you, I’ll never hurt you?

“Is that why you thought you could get away with anything?”

The coldness in his eyes frightened me. I finally felt a wave of fear and asked in a trembling voice, “What are you going to do?”

He did not answer. He simply waved his hand, and the bodyguards immediately pushed the door open.

“You humiliated Quiana, so you should know what that kind of pain feels like. That’s only fair, isn’t it?”

I grabbed the hem of my clothes so tightly that my nails nearly dug into my palms. “I didn’t do it! I told you, I don’t care anymore!”

“You’re lying!” he said. The disappointment in his voice was impossible to miss.

Yarden reached out and gently touched my face.

“Lily, I don’t want things to be this way either. But you never learn.

“No matter how angry you are, you should never drag a young woman’s reputation into this. Besides, she’s your daughter from the future.”

I looked at his face that was so close to mine and suddenly found the whole thing absurd.

“Yarden, you believe her lies instead of me.

“You’re so stupid. You’ll regret this!”

His face immediately darkened, and he sneered. “You’re hopeless.”

Before he could say anything else, I heard a loud rip. My thin clothes tore open.

The bodyguards pinned my shoulders down. I could not fight back at all. They dragged me out of the room.

Yarden looked down at me on the floor. His voice came from above me.

“When they found Quiana, her wrist was dislocated, and two of her fingers were broken.”

He paused. “Lily, I thought once you found out she was our daughter from the future, and realized that your suspicions could get me killed, you’d change. But you’re so petty. You can’t stand anyone else. You can’t even tolerate her.

“If you apologize to Quiana and promise that you’ll never accuse me of cheating again, we can go back to the way things were. I won’t punish you.”

I lay there on the floor and thought the whole thing was ridiculous.

How could things ever go back to the way they were after he had betrayed me and our love was over?

I pushed myself up and raised my head with difficulty. “I’m not apologizing to her.”

The last bit of warmth in Yarden’s eyes disappeared completely.

He closed his eyes for a moment. “Lily, I gave you a chance. Don’t say I didn’t warn you about what happens next.”

He turned and walked away. One of the bodyguards walked toward me without a word. He raised the baseball bat in his hand. “Sorry, ma’am.”

I closed my eyes in despair.

Back when we had just started dating, someone touched me inappropriately on a crowded bus.

Yarden’s eyes went red with anger. He rushed over without a second thought and fought the man.

He punched him repeatedly and nearly beat the man to death.

In the end, Yarden was arrested and spent some time in jail for assault. When he got out, he simply smiled, ruffled my hair, and said, “Lily, don’t worry. No one will ever hurt you again.”

But today, he was the one who had ordered these men to hurt me.

Crack!

A searing pain exploded through my left arm. I heard the unmistakable crack of bone, and I passed out from the pain.

When I woke up, my left arm was in a thick cast and strapped against my chest.

The young nurse saw that I was awake and let out a sigh of relief.

“Ma’am, you’re awake! You’re about fifteen weeks pregnant. You need strict bed rest.”