Chapter 1

A month ago, my father was accidentally hit by a car and left in a vegetative state.

When I heard the news, I nearly passed out. I lost my mother when I was young, so my father was the one who raised me. When I finally came to, my husband, Damien, was holding my hand tightly.

"I’ve got this, babe," he promised, gripping my hand. "I swear I’m going to find the bastard who did this to your dad and make them pay."

But in the end, the case was closed because there were no surveillance cameras at the accident site.

However, when I went to the hospital to visit, I accidentally overheard a conversation between Damien and his assistant.

"Boss, I don't get it. Why block the craniotomy?" the assistant asked, sounding confused. "The doctors say there’s a high chance he could recover. Why are you insisting on conservative treatment?"

"He can't wake up," Damien’s voice was suppressed with pain. "He saw Lily's face."

I clamped my hand over my mouth, my fingernails digging deep into my flesh.

Lily is the adopted daughter of Damien and his late ex-wife, Sarah. Sarah died saving Damien, so he has always treated Lily with a mix of guilt and utter indulgence.

Damien continued, his tone incredibly conflicted. " But Lily didn't do it on purpose! She is only thirteen... If she gets a criminal record, her life is over. Sarah’s only dying wish was for me to take care of Lily and see her grow up safe and sound. I can't give up on her."

The assistant fell silent for a few seconds. "And what about your wife?"

"I’ll make it up to her," Damien’s voice softened. "I’ll provide her with the most prosperous life, and secure the largest private ward along with the best caregivers for her father who’s suffered from the car accident. I don’t care how much it costs."

I stood there, body ice-cold, fighting the urge to rush in and scream at him.

Three years of living in this house had already taught me a harsh lesson: In Damien's eyes, the living can never compete with the dead. And I could certainly never compete with Lily, who held that "get out of jail free" card.

My mind flashed back to two months ago, when Lily fell into the pool.

When I heard the cries for help and rushed over, she was thrashing in the water.

I jumped in without hesitation, risking my life to hoist her toward the bank. She struggled constantly, leaving scratches all over my face and neck.

I swallowed several mouthfuls of water and got a cramp in my calf, nearly sinking to the bottom.

By the time I dragged my sorry self out of the water, before I could even catch my breath, Lily had already thrown herself into the arms of Damien, who had just rushed over.

She pointed at me, shivering and crying with heartbreaking innocence. "Daddy, she said I didn't deserve to be your daughter, and then... then she pushed me in! I was so scared..."

I was soaked to the bone and shaking uncontrollably from the cold. I tried to explain, "I didn't! She fell in on her own. I just saved her..."

"Enough!" Damien cut me off coldly. "She’s just a child, Aria. Do you really think she would lie? You can refuse to admit your mistake, but you shouldn’t have framed her."

Without waiting for me to say another word, he picked Lily up and walked away.

Because of that incident, Damien and I were stuck in a cold war for a month.

Until the day of my father's car accident.

Late that night, I got a call from the hospital saying my father had been hit and the driver had fled.

When I arrived at the hospital, my father was already in the ICU.

Damien didn't show up until the next morning.

He completely dropped his cold attitude. His eyes were bloodshot, and the moment he saw me, he hugged me tightly, his voice trembling. "I'm so sorry, Aria. God, I'm so sorry... I never should have frozen you out. You shouldn't have to go through this alone."

In that moment, I thought he actually loved me. I thought he truly couldn't bear to see me suffer alone.

For the next two months, he transformed into the model husband.

He cancelled all his business engagements and came home on time every day to eat with me.

He ensured the doctors used the best medicine for my father and hired three gold-standard caregivers to watch over him in shifts.

Thinking back on it now, it was all just to soothe me, to keep me distracted so I wouldn't investigate the truth behind my father's accident.

Everything he did was to protect his adopted daughter, Lily.

My heart filled with hatred.

Three years ago, my father didn't agree to me marrying Damien—a single dad raising a child on his own.

He warned me that being a stepmother was a thankless job. But back then, I wouldn't listen; I thought true love could conquer all.

When we got married, Damien told me his ex-wife, Sarah, died saving him, and he carried a lot of guilt toward her.

Lily was an orphan. Sarah had once passed by an orphanage, saw Lily being bullied terribly, and adopted her. Sarah couldn't have children of her own, so Lily was the only person in the world she was tethered to.

In the beginning of our marriage, I also felt sorry for Lily.

I thought that since I loved Damien, I should accept this child who had lost her mother.

Even when Lily shredded my wedding dress the night before the ceremony, or poured oil on the stairs to make me fall.

Damien always told me, "She’s just a kid, she didn't mean it." Although I was upset, I never held it against her.

But she should never have touched my father.

With trembling hands, I downloaded the recording of the conversation I just heard and saved it to a USB drive.

I will take revenge myself!