Chapter 2 I Give Her My Hell

My eyes filled with tears, but Sienna blushed and quickly pushed Adrian out of the room before I could make a sound.

A ragged gasp tore from my throat as I stared at the closed door. Tears soaked into the bandages wrapped around my face, sending sharp stings across my skin.

Only then did Sienna turn back to me, utterly unbothered, and perched herself on my bed.

"Why waste your energy?" she mocked. "Adrian's sharp. If your voice sounds too much like mine, he'll start asking questions."

Then, she leaned in, her voice dropping lower. "Leola, thank you so, so much. Also, don't even think about going near Adrian. Next time, you won't get off with just a surgery."

I covered my mouth in disbelief before forcing myself to nod.

And so, it was a satisfied Sienna who hummed cheerfully to herself as she walked out.

A cold laugh echoed in my mind. 'You want Adrian that badly? Fine. Just don't come crawling back and beg me to take him off your hands later. Let's see whether you're still this obsessed when his fists start landing on you.'

I dragged myself to the window and looked down.

Adrian stood beside the car in his black suit, polished and flawless as ever. He drew admiring glances from every woman who passed by, even though he was doing nothing but standing outside the hospital.

I used to be one of them.

I fell for that face.

Then, I fell for the illusion behind it.

By the time I knew his true nature, I had already lost myself entirely. I became someone reliant on him for everything—someone he could manipulate with a simple gesture.

Perhaps he felt my gaze as he suddenly looked up.

Our eyes met.

I stared straight at him, hatred burning openly in mine.

He responded with one of those smug little smiles I had once mistaken for charm.

Then, he opened his arms.

Sienna rushed into them immediately, clinging to him as though she belonged there.

A second later, she turned toward my window and gave me a triumphant little wave.

The hatred in my chest deepened.

Only after their car disappeared from the hospital grounds did I return to bed and press the call button.

…

A long time passed before the door finally opened.

It wasn't a nurse; it was my surgeon, Chester.

I forced my heavy eyes open. "Chester... Did the surgery go well?"

He raised my bed, sat beside me, and took my hand, pressing it dramatically against his chest.

"Don't worry. Everything went perfectly." His expression softened with carefully arranged concern. "I hated seeing you in pain. I promise your new face will be even more beautiful than the old one."

I nodded. "Good."

Then, I leaned against his chest, listening as his heartbeat quickened.

How boring.

I pulled away almost immediately, making a show of swaying into my bed as I closed my eyes. "Chester, I'm tired."

Reluctance flashed across his face.

He tucked the blanket around me, lingering longer than necessary. I made sure to keep my eyes closed even when I could tell that he was looking back as he left.

I could hear him stop by the door to remind the nurses how to take care of me after he stepped outside.

I could barely keep my shoulders from shaking with amusement as I listened to Chester play his role so seriously. I could tell that the lie he was feeding himself was becoming real to him.

Still, I had to thank Sienna for this.

She was the one who handed me this weapon.

She used the credit card I had given her to pay Chester and his assistant a generous sum to sabotage my surgery. Her original plan had been simple. She wanted to leave me with a horrific scar and destroy my face beyond repair.

What she failed to understand was Adrian.

For all his polished manners and modest exterior, he was vain to the core.

He had to have the best of everything. He had chosen me, which meant that I was the best.

It didn't matter to him whether his wife was no longer the real Leola Howell. It certainly didn't matter that I was damaged goods who was no longer worth keeping.

To him, the only woman who could ever be his wife was Leola Howell; whether or not she was the real deal or a fraud didn't matter to him.

Sienna truly was ruthless.

She still wasn't satisfied even after she'd stolen my face.

She needed to make sure Adrian would never look at me again.

After all, even stolen goods would start to look authentic with time.

Alas, she forgot about one key detail.

The credit card she used belonged to me.

The bank manager called me when she made the payment.

Soon after, the private investigator I hired traced her visit to this hospital. That was when he uncovered Chester and every detail of the arrangement she had made.

As it happened, Chester had once chased after me back in high school.

When I saw him again, all I had to do was show him the healing wound behind my ear, roll up my sleeve to reveal the bruises on my pale skin, and let the tears come naturally.

After all, what man refused his first love when she came asking for protection, especially when she offered far more money than the other woman?

Once I woke up from the nightmare I had mistaken for marriage, I quietly took over several design projects Adrian had dismissed as beneath him.

They were minor projects, but the profits were surprisingly large.

Before long, the money I had hidden away was worth several times more than anything I could touch as Adrian's decorative wife.

Sienna visited every day under the excuse of caring for me.

In reality, she was watching and waiting.

She was terrified Adrian might notice something strange, so she forced me to write down every memory between him and me.

So, I did.

I went through every single memory, taking great pains to portray Adrian as sounding gentler than he had ever been. I made this version of Adrian more attentive, more loving, and more perfect. Basically, I gave Sienna her fantasy.

I wanted her obsession to grow, and it did.

Every story of Adrian's supposed devotion drove her crazier with jealousy.

So, she wasn't fazed when rope marks and bruises began appearing on her body. Instead, she accepted them like treasured proof of love.

…

One day, Adrian suddenly paid me a visit.

He sat silently next to my bed, his piercing eyes roving over my figure as if attempting to see through my skin.

Then, his cold and venomous voice slithered into my ear. "Why do you seem so familiar?"