Chapter 2

The moment Liam saw the caller ID, his expression softened.

He answered the call and said softly, "Don't worry. I'll take care of everything."

His voice was so tender that I barely recognized the man who had just threatened to punish me.

The call dragged on for a full hour.

Meanwhile, the servants made me kneel on the floor. By the time Liam finally hung up, my legs were throbbing, and the numbness had begun to spread.

"That's enough for now," he said at last. "I'm hosting a welcome-home banquet for Victoria tomorrow. You'll be there."

"I'm not going," I replied flatly.

He noticed how pale I was and reached down to pull me to my feet. His grip was firm, and his tone left no room for argument.

"Just do as I say. If you don't show up, people will get the wrong idea and think Victoria is a homewrecker. You have to attend."

My fingernails dug into my palms.

Even now, he wasn't concerned about how I felt. From beginning to end, all he'd considered was protecting Victoria.

I stared up at the ceiling, a heavy ache settling in my chest.

...

The next day, I was taken to the banquet against my will.

The moment I walked through the doors, I heard whispers spreading through the crowd.

"Isn't that Mr. Reed's simp?"

"Yeah. She's been chasing him for five years without even getting a proper title, and now that Ms. Adams is back, he's going all out for her."

"Didn't Liam only help her in the first place because he made a bet with us? He wanted to see how she'd react. She ended up clinging to him like a desperate leech, so he had to play along rather than admit defeat."

I stopped in my tracks, a dull ache spreading through my chest.

Their words brought me back to the day Liam had first approached me, when my family had been struck by tragedy.

My father had died suddenly, and my mother had fallen critically ill. The hospital warned me that unless I paid the outstanding medical bills immediately, they would stop her treatment.

I'd tried to comfort my mother, fumbling for the right words, before slipping into the emergency stairwell. Terrified and with nowhere else to turn, I hid there, struggling to keep myself from breaking down.

That was where Liam found me. He handed me a check, pulling me out of the most desperate moment of my life.

I'd been overwhelmed with gratitude, and over time, that gratitude had grown into an all-consuming love for him.

Later, when he introduced his point system and promised to marry me once I reached 100 points, I'd accepted without hesitation. I genuinely believed he was giving me a chance to earn the future we'd share.

But if what I'd just heard was true, then the promise I'd treasured for five years had begun as nothing more than a cruel wager between Liam and his friends.

I lowered my gaze to the scars covering my body.

Every injury I'd endured, every time I'd put myself in danger for him, had been part of a game I hadn't even known I was playing.

Just then, Victoria approached with a sweet smile.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

Liam glanced at me before answering on my behalf.

"Victoria's pregnant. Let's give her what she wants."

I remained silent, my eyes fixed on him. He frowned at my lack of response.

"Don't be so petty. Get up and give her your seat."

His tone was impatient and condescending, as though my feelings were nothing more than an inconvenience.

Victoria smiled brightly as she took my place and linked her arm through Liam's.

"The baby wants shrimp," she cooed.

"All right. I'll peel them for you," Liam said without hesitation.

He had always been extremely sensitive to pain. Even a tiny paper cut on his fingertip could leave him miserable for hours.

Yet now, he patiently peeled shrimp after shrimp for Victoria, keeping his head down as though nothing else mattered.

Then a sharp edge of shell sliced his fingertip, and a bead of blood welled up. I saw his back stiffen as a thin sheen of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

Despite the pain, however, he merely glanced at the cut and continued peeling.

"Liam, you're bleeding!" Victoria gasped, covering her mouth. "You should go clean that up."

He just shook his head. "It's nothing."

Those simple words pierced my heart and brought back another memory.

Once, when I'd had a high fever, I'd looked at him hopefully and asked him to feed me some warm soup. I hadn't asked for much—just a little care from the man I'd loved for five years.

But he'd always refused.

"I don't do things like that. If I spill the soup, it'll burn like hell."

Back then, I'd told myself he was simply terrified of pain and afraid of getting hurt. I'd even convinced myself that, despite his limitations, he still loved me in his own way.

But now, watching him endure the pain of a bleeding finger just to keep Victoria happy, I finally understood what I'd spent years refusing to acknowledge.

His condition might make pain unbearable, but it hadn't stopped him from caring for her.

He wasn't incapable of enduring pain for someone else. He simply wasn't willing to do it for me.

Just then, the grand doors of the banquet hall burst open with a deafening crash.