Chapter 4

Yannick grabbed me by the collar and dragged me outside, barely able to contain the rage in his eyes.

He roared, "If anything happens to Tracy, I'll kill you and bury you with her!"

My face still burned from the slap.

It wasn't until I saw Tracy's pale, terrified face that I understood why Yannick was so furious.

Just the night before, a group of thugs had dragged her into an alley with no surveillance cameras. If a passerby hadn't come to her rescue and contacted Yannick, no one could've imagined what would've happened to her.

The moment Tracy saw me, she trembled violently.

With reddened eyes, she dropped to her knees in front of me and pleaded, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Harker. Please, let me go. They tore at my clothes and yanked my hair brutally. I'll stay far away from Mr. Harker from now on. I'll never cancel your vouchers again.

"I won't ever dare do it again. Please... Just spare me..."

The police had found two things on those thugs. The first was the vouchers that only I used in all of Grisport. The second was a photo of Tracy.

On the back of the photo was a single sentence. "Ruin this woman. I want her reputation destroyed."

It was in my handwriting.

Yannick took a deep breath and fixed an icy stare on me. "What else do you have to say for yourself?"

I opened my mouth to explain, but when I met Yannick's frosty glare, I couldn't force out a single word.

Silence filled the room.

After a long while, I finally heard my hoarse and raspy voice say, "I didn't do it."

Yannick smiled. It was a very faint smile, yet it filled me with a terrible sense of foreboding.

I saw it coming.

The next second, he wiped that expression from his face and said to the bodyguards behind him, "Mrs. Harker seems to have a poor memory. She's forgotten what she did. Take her to the scene and help her remember."

I stumbled backward, but the towering bodyguards restrained me firmly and dragged me toward the alley where Tracy had been attacked. The pitch-black alley and the men's shrill, unsettling laughter assaulted my nerves from every direction.

The moment I was shoved out of the car, tears streamed down my face. In a panic, I reached out and grabbed Yannick's pant leg.

I begged, "It wasn't me. I swear… Yannick, you can't do this to me. No! Yannick! No!"

I struggled with all my strength, but his men dragged me forcefully into the darkness.

Inside the car, Yannick held Tracy in his arms and raised a hand to cover her eyes. "Don't look. It's filthy."

I let go.

Just as my clothes were being torn to shreds and I was about to be violated, I felt around and found a sharp piece of broken glass.

With a sickening squelch, warm blood spurted out, splattering onto the face of the man closest to me. I raised the shard of glass and pressed it against my throat.

In a trembling, desperate voice, I warned, "If any of you touch me again, I'll take my own life right now. Every one of you will be murderers, and none of you will get away with it!"

The man flinched.

He hesitated and turned to look at Yannick. "Mr. Harker?"

Yannick looked at the bloodstains covering my face, his eyes unreadable. "Do you admit to your crime now?"

He sounded so casual, as if he were asking about the weather.

My eyes were utterly lifeless, and my sunken face was absolutely devoid of color.

I nodded once. Then, I nodded again, collapsing to my knees.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it," I said listlessly.

At last, Yannick seemed satisfied. Without sparing me another glance, he left with Tracy.

He said, "If you admit to committing the act, then you deserve to be punished."

The noisy alley fell silent.

I picked up the tattered coat from the ground and barely managed to cover my body. Tears fell one by one into the mud. The broken glass had sliced my palm until it was a bloody mess.

I whispered in a broken voice, "Yannick, falling in love with you was the greatest mistake I ever made."