Chapter 3

After Amelia moved in, she always seemed uneasy. Fear lurked in the depths of her eyes.

I smiled and reassured her that this was her home too.

She knelt at my feet and hugged me as she cried. "Ms. Beaumont, thank you! You're like a parent who gave me a second chance at life. I'll work hard and repay your kindness someday."

I smiled and helped her to her feet.

As the days passed, I grew even kinder to her. I took her for skincare and whitening treatments and bought her an annual membership. I even shared my dresses with her.

Whenever she felt down, I made desserts for her myself. When someone beat her so severely that she suffered a miscarriage, I was the one who offered to care for her.

My heart ached for her.

I believed every girl deserved to be loved and cherished.

Gradually, she grew more beautiful, poised, and confident.

Whenever I took her out, I often introduced her as my sister.

Robert changed too. The gifts he bought gradually began to come in pairs. He started conversations with her of his own accord and even cracked the occasional joke.

Amelia often hovered close to him, her eyes full of quiet admiration. She spoke with a wounded air about how much she envied him and wished she could become someone like him.

Without a word, Robert took her to the company and taught her everything step by step.

A man who had always valued efficiency above all else became strangely patient with her.

He took her progress so seriously that I couldn't help but point it out.

But he said, "It's a good thing when someone wants to improve themselves. I can't hold her back. She's family, after all. There's no harm in teaching her a little more. She can help shoulder some of the workload later.

"Don't worry. It's just work. I promise you're the only one in my heart."

The two of them began spending more and more time at the company.

Robert worked tirelessly, barely allowing himself any rest. I asked Amelia to help look after him and took it upon myself to prepare meals for them both.

Amelia told me how lucky Robert was to have me.

Robert said that if he had his way, he would never work another day in his life. Instead, he would spend every moment by my side.

Then a video of the two of them surfaced online. They were kissing on the office windowsill, so lost in each other that they seemed oblivious to everything else.

I rushed to the company like a madwoman and burst into the office, a spatula still in my hand.

Half out of my mind, I struck him with it again and again. "Robert, how could you do this to me? Why did you betray me?"

I collapsed to my knees and sobbed until I nearly passed out.

Yet he continued to speak gently to Amelia, who looked deeply wronged, as he tried to comfort her. He didn't spare me so much as a glance.

"You're a madwoman, a jealous shrew. What happened to the young lady I used to know?

"Ames is sensitive. If you keep this up, how is she supposed to hold her head high at the company?

"You might not care about your own dignity anymore, but Ames still has hers to protect."

Only yesterday, I had been the mark etched upon his heart. Now I was nothing more than a smear of blood on the wall.

I lunged at him with all my strength. "Have you two no shame? The scandal and those photos of you in bed are already all over the internet!"

He clicked his tongue in irritation and kicked me to the floor.

Something sticky coated my hair and clung to my face.

"Can't you understand plain language? Instead of clearing Ames' name, you're still here causing a scene? Is bullying her the only thing you know how to do?"

Amelia's eyes grew as red as a rabbit's, and she tugged at his sleeve. "It's all right. I don't mind if Ms. Beaumont hates me. As long as I still have a place in his heart, that's enough.

"And Ms. Beaumont, if hitting me will make you feel better, go ahead. I won't fight back."

I trembled as I struggled to my feet.

But Robert threw me out without the slightest hesitation.

I caused an uproar, determined to make sure everyone knew how ungrateful they were. I even spent a fortune to hire an army of online trolls to expose every shameful thing they had done.

Yet within a day, the scandal disappeared from the internet, and everything fell silent again. Every voice that spoke out against them vanished without a trace.

Robert held a press conference and calmly declared that I was insane. "My wife is mentally unstable. She has repeatedly shown hostility toward Ames and has bullied her behind the scenes on more than one occasion.

"But out of gratitude for everything the Beaumont family once did for me, I will not abandon her."

The company became the Mason family's. He fabricated evidence to make it appear that I had deliberately framed Amelia. He even used my own account to issue an apology to her.

Ever magnanimous, Amelia said she didn't mind. She claimed that the innocent would eventually clear their own names.

But once we returned home, Robert seized my hair and yanked it viciously. He broke my fingers and warned me never to lay a hand on her again. He forced my head down and made me kneel before her to apologize. He demanded that I admit to having tarnished her reputation.

He had even made all the arrangements to send me to a psychiatric hospital.

Unfortunately, I was pregnant.

Under the dim light, he remained silent for a long time, as though he had finally relented.

Then he held me gently. "Jessie, let's put an end to all this. Let's just live our lives in peace."