Chapter 3

After hanging up, Wendy leaned against the cold wall and slowly slid to the floor, all her strength gone.

A long time passed before she took a deep breath and forced herself to her feet.

Then she called a few of her closest girlfriends and asked them to meet up.

They went shopping, splurged on whatever caught their eye, treated themselves to spa treatments, and finally headed straight for Harbour City's hottest nightclub.

One of Wendy's friends studied her beautiful face. She looked as radiant as ever, but something about her seemed different.

“Wendy, you know how strict the Fosters are. You haven't been out partying in ages. If they find out you've been going this wild tonight...”

Wendy knocked back her drink.

The liquor burned her throat, doing nothing to ease the pain in her already battered heart.

She watched the crowd moving on the dance floor before casually dropping a bombshell.

“They won't find out. Because I'm divorcing Felix.”

“What?!”

Her friend nearly knocked over her glass.

“But you love him! You went through so much trouble to win him over! How can you just...”

“I don't love him anymore,” Wendy interrupted.

“And I never will again.”

The moment those words left her mouth, the nightclub's deafening music abruptly stopped.

Every light in the place came on.

Dozens of well-trained bodyguards in black suits filed through the entrance and immediately began clearing the club.

“Everyone not involved, leave immediately!”

Amid startled protests and complaints, the patrons were escorted outside.

Even Wendy's friends were politely shown out.

Within moments, the once-packed nightclub was empty and eerily silent.

The Foster family's longtime butler approached Wendy and bowed slightly.

But his tone left no room for argument.

“Mrs. Foster, Madam Foster has requested that you return home.”

Wendy lounged against the leather booth, lazily swirling the drink in her glass.

She couldn't even be bothered to look up.

“Not happening. Tell her Felix and I will be divorced soon. Your family's ridiculous rules won't apply to me anymore.”

The butler gave a silent wave of his hand.

A bodyguard approached without a sound.

Before Wendy could react, he struck the back of her neck with the edge of his hand.

Her vision went black.

She lost consciousness instantly.

When Wendy woke again, she found her hands tied behind her back.

She was being forced to kneel in the grand, oppressive main hall of the Foster family estate.

Mrs. Foster Sr. sat in an ornate armchair at the far end of the room.

She wore a dark purple silk dress, her hair arranged in a flawless updo, her eyes as sharp as a hawk's.

“Wendy Walker! Just how far do you intend to take this outrageous behavior?!”

Her voice rang through the hall.

“Three years of marriage, and you still haven't given us a child! We told you to undergo IVF, and not only did you refuse, but you had the nerve to destroy the hospital! And now you've been caught partying in some filthy nightclub!

“You're supposed to be a daughter of the Walker family! Is this how you were raised? Even Grace, who came from nothing, has better manners than you!”

Wendy knelt on the floor, listening as the old woman compared her to Grace.

Every word sent another stab of pain through her chest.

So this was what Felix had wanted?

To turn his own wife into a disgrace, just so Grace would look gentle and respectable by comparison?

What a joke.

Wendy Walker had once been Harbour City's most dazzling, untamable beauty.

Countless men had wanted her, but she'd never given them a chance.

Yet in Felix Foster's eyes, she wasn't even worth as much as Grace.

He'd gone so far as to humiliate his own wife just to protect another woman.

Wendy forced down the tightness in her throat.

Then she lifted her head, her expression blank.

“Where's Felix? I want to see him.”

Mrs. Foster Sr. snorted.

“Felix is busy working. He doesn't have time to entertain your tantrums! He's been far too indulgent with you, and that's why you've become so shameless!

“He's the most capable heir the Foster family has ever had. You don't help him with any of his responsibilities. Instead, you spend your days making trouble and interfering with his work! Have you ever once thought about what he needs?”

Thought about him?

Wendy almost laughed.

She'd spent the past three years doing nothing but thinking about him.

She'd been afraid he'd be caught between her and his family, so she'd suppressed her own personality over and over again.

She'd forced herself to learn their endless rules, trying desperately to become the wife everyone expected her to be.

And what had it gotten her?

She'd turned her entire life into one big joke.

But she didn't love him anymore.

So who could possibly control her now?

“I want to see Felix Foster!”

She struggled to stand, but the bodyguards behind her held her firmly in place.

“How dare you!”

Mrs. Foster Sr. was furious at her continued defiance.

“Drag her to the family chapel! Make her kneel until she's ready to admit what she's done wrong!”

“I'm not kneeling!”

Wendy fought with everything she had.

With her hands and feet restrained, she threw her body against the servants who approached her.

Anything within reach became a weapon.

Porcelain shattered.

Furniture toppled.

Crashes echoed through the hall.

“Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!”

Mrs. Foster Sr. trembled with fury as she surveyed the destruction.

Then Wendy knocked over one of her most treasured antique vases.

It shattered across the floor.

That was the final straw.

“Fine! If you refuse to learn your lesson the easy way, we'll do this the hard way!”

She pointed toward the door.

“Take her away and punish her according to the family rules! Keep beating her until she agrees to go to the hospital and undergo IVF!”

Several burly men dragged Wendy into a secluded courtyard used for family punishments.

A heavy wooden paddle struck her back and the backs of her knees again and again.

Each blow landed with a sickening thud.

Burning pain spread through her body.

Cold sweat soaked her clothes.

But Wendy gritted her teeth and refused to make a sound.

Her eyes remained fiercely defiant, like a wounded animal that refused to surrender.

Only when the pain became more than she could bear did darkness swallow her vision.

She passed out.

When Wendy regained consciousness, the first thing she noticed was the smell of antiseptic.

She was lying facedown on a hospital bed.

Someone had treated the injuries on her back, but a dull, throbbing pain still spread through her body.

The hospital room door was slightly ajar.

From outside came the low voices of Felix and Grace.

“Felix, thank you so much for everything you've done.”

Grace sounded grateful, but there was fear in her voice.

“It's just... You went to all this trouble to keep your mother from getting angry at me for breaking her statue, and Wendy had to suffer for it. You know what she's like. When she wakes up, do you think she'll blame me?”

Felix answered in his usual cool, steady voice.

“Don't worry. As long as I'm here, she won't do anything to you.”

He paused before continuing.

“Wendy can be reckless, but she's not completely unreasonable. Finn's the one who's been in the wrong all these years. He's too busy chasing after other women to appreciate you, and you've suffered because of it.

“As his older brother, I should've kept him in line. I failed to do that, so it's only right that I take responsibility for making sure you're looked after for the rest of your life.”

His words seemed to touch something deep inside Grace.

She couldn't hold back her tears any longer and began crying softly.

For the first time, unmistakable tenderness flashed through Felix's usually impassive eyes.

He took out a perfectly pressed gray handkerchief and handed it to her.

“Don't cry.”

His voice softened into a gentleness Wendy had never heard from him before.

“If you ever have trouble in the Foster family again, come straight to me. I'll protect you.”