PROLOGUE

Averylle Jasmine Yñigo grew up in a world built by money, lies, and expectations. As the daughter of a powerful businessman, her life was never hers to control. From the start, every decision including love had been dictated by her father. And when he decided that Sam Reyes, the son of another influential family, would be the so called perfect match for her, Ave didn’t have a choice but to accept sa pag aakalang magiging madali nalang ito sa kanya dahil minsan ng naging parte ng buhay niya si Sam.

Pero ang pag-ibig na dating pinagsaluhan ni Sam at Ave ay unti-unting naging parang lason. Nawala ang pagkasabik na naramdaman ni Ave kay Sam dahil sa paglabas ng totong ugali nito paulit-ulit na nag taksil. Ilang taon niyang tiniis ang mga kasinungalingan ni Sam hanggang sa tuluyan na siyang sumuko, nang maramdaman niyang kahit gaano pa kasakit ang nararamdaman niya ay balewala ito para sa kanyang ama upang ma-protektahan ang negosyo nila.

One night, in the middle of her heartbreak, she did what she never thought she could do she escaped. She went to a club, drank until she couldn’t feel the pain anymore, and ended up in the arms of a stranger.

That night was a blur of warmth, danger, and sin a night that left her body marked and her heart confused. When she woke up, the man was sleeping beside her wrapping his arm in her waist, she left him. But the man left a faint hickey on her skin she tau that it was just a simple hickey without thinking that mark would change her life forever.

Weeks later, Ave faced her new boss at a corporate event Aiden Ethan Blackthorne, the elusive billionaire who owned the Grand Orchid Hotels where she worked. He was cold, calculated, and intimidating… but the moment their eyes met, Ave froze. The same eyes. The same voice. The same man from that night.

And when Ethan looked back at her, a knowing smirk tugged on his lips. He remembered her, too.

What began as awkward, stolen glances quickly turned into something deeper. Ethan started to appear in her days in meetings, in corridors, even in the silence of her thoughts. His gaze followed her, his presence lingered wherever she went. Ave told herself it was coincidence. But deep down, she knew it wasn’t. Ethan wanted something.

What she didn’t know was that what he wanted… was her.

Ethan Blackthorne was a man haunted by revenge. Years ago, his fiancée died in a car ambush the day that supposed to be their wedding day, a tragedy that tore his world apart. The investigation pointed to the Yñigo family Ave’s family as the ones behind it. And for Ethan, the only justice left was vengeance.

But Ethan didn’t know the truth that the ambush wasn’t done by the Yñigos, but by Sam Reyes’s family, who were secretly connected to Ethan’s current fiancée, Celeste Navarro. The entire revenge he planned was built on lies… and Ave became his perfect target.

Using charm and power, Ethan drew Ave closer. He made her fall for him, made her believe that his affection was real, when in truth it was revenge disguised as love. But the more he tried to destroy her, the more he found himself bound by guilt, by fascination, and by something he refused to name.

And then, chaos struck again.

Blinded by obsession, Sam planned another attack this time, to scare Ave into returning to him. But fate twisted cruelly; the car he ambushed was her mother’s. The explosion left her mother comatose. To save himself, Sam pointed all evidence toward Ethan, saying it was his revenge that led to the tragedy.

The scandal broke everything apart. Ave, crushed by grief and confusion, discovered that Ethan had been using her all along that he believed her family was behind his fiancée’s death. She confronted him through tears and fury.

Ethan was speechless and for the first time, lost. He didn’t know that everything he believed was a lie. And by the time he learned the truth, Ave was gone.

Ngunit hindi siya nawala dahil sa kanyang kagustuhan.

Sam had taken locked her away in a mansion under the guise of protection. He fed her lies every day: that Ethan and Celeste were already married, that Ethan had used her and moved on, that no one was looking for her. Stripped of her freedom and her hope, Ave slowly broke. She was forbidden to use a phone, to talk to anyone, to even look at the world beyond her windows.

And when Sam discovered that Ave was pregnant carrying Ethan’s child his obsession turned deadly. In his delusion, he decided to “save” her by taking away everything that tied her to Ethan. The child didn’t survive.

Months passed before Ethan learned what truly happened that Ave never left him, that she was taken, silenced, and used as a pawn in Sam’s twisted game. The guilt, the rage, the regret it consumed him. And this time, Ethan vowed to burn everything that stood in his way.

He found her. Broken, fragile, terrified. The reunion wasn’t one of relief, but of tears. She couldn’t even look at him. He was the man she loved, and the man she blamed for her suffering. Ethan swore to make it right, to destroy those who hurt her and he did. Sam met his end in the same chaos he created. Celeste’s betrayal was exposed, and her family’s empire fell apart.

But victory didn’t bring peace. Ave was free… ngunit ang mga sugat ay mananatili at hindi madaling maghilom.

Ethan tried to reach her again, not as the billionaire who once marked her, but as a man who had lost everything and found meaning only in the woman he nearly destroyed. Nanatili siya sa kanyang tabi hindi para humingi ng tawad, kundi nag hihintay na maghilom ang siya sa lahat ng sugat na natamo niya.

Ave rebuilt her life. Her mother recovered, her career flourished, and she became stronger than she ever thought she could be. Kahit nawala na ang markang iniwan ni Ethan sa kanyang katawan, ngunit ang alaala nung gabing yun, yung pagmamahal at sakit na naramdaman ay patuloy na maging parte ng kanyang storya.

When they met again by chance, their eyes met just like the first time. Ethan smiled softly and whispered,

“You will forever carry the mark.”

Ave smiled faintly.

“But this time, the mark you will carry from now on won’t hurt you anymore. I will gave you the mark that symbolizes faith, trust and love.”

At sa unang pagkakataon, ang markang dati ay sumisimbolo ng sakit at paghihiganti ay naging alaala na lamang ng pagbangon at ng pag-ibig.