Chapter 4

After Ethan was stripped of his position, his temper grew violently unstable.

The fights between him and Chloe became more and more frequent.

Almost every day, the old mansion rang with their hysterical shouting and the sound of things being smashed.

I watched it all coldly, like an outsider.

That afternoon, I had Chloe trim the roses in the garden for me.

She wore a maid’s uniform and knelt in the dirt, clumsily using a pair of shears to prune the thorny rose branches.

Her fingers were pricked until they were slick with blood.

I sat beneath a parasol not far away, drinking chilled lemonade and enjoying the pleasant afternoon.

“Too slow,” I said impatiently. “You can’t even do a simple thing like this properly. What use are you?”

Chloe clenched her teeth. She did not dare talk back, so she could only move faster.

Ethan happened to return from outside and saw the scene. Furious, he rushed over.

“You’re bullying her again!” He yanked Chloe up from the ground and shielded her behind him.

“Bullying?” I set down my glass and stood. “Ethan, have you forgotten? She is only a servant now. Whatever I tell her to do, she does.”

“You lunatic!” Ethan roared, his eyes red. “What the hell do you want? Does tormenting us make you happy?”

“Yes.” I admitted it openly. “Seeing you suffer makes me feel like everything I endured over the past three years was worth it.”

My words stabbed into his heart like a knife.

“You…”

“Ethan.” I walked up to him and raised my hand to touch his face, the face that now bore a striking resemblance to mine. “Don’t forget. Everything you have right now was given to you by the Kolya family. If you make me unhappy, I can make everything you own disappear in an instant.”

My fingertips were cold, like a snake.

Ethan’s body went stiff.

The fury in his eyes slowly gave way to fear.

Yes. Fear.

He was afraid.

Afraid of losing everything he had.

His ridiculous love was nothing in the face of power and status.

I withdrew my hand and wiped my fingers with a silk handkerchief, as if I had touched something filthy.

“Chloe, continue.”

Then I turned and walked back beneath the parasol.

Ethan stood where he was, his expression shifting over and over.

In the end, he released Chloe’s hand and left without saying a word.

Abandoned where she stood, Chloe stared at Ethan’s back in disbelief as tears broke free and streamed down her face.

“Ethan…” she choked out, her voice full of despair.

I watched her fall apart, and the smile at the corner of my mouth deepened.

Look at that. So this was your undying love.

How cheap. How laughable.

That night, I received a call from Jasper.

“Your second move can begin.”

“So soon?”

“Ethan is desperate to prove himself to Victor. He took over a dangerous project. It’s a perfect opportunity.” Excitement threaded through Jasper’s voice.

“I understand.”

After hanging up, I called Maya in.

“Go bring me that dancer named Mia.”

Mia was a pawn I had chosen long ago.

She was young, beautiful, seductive, and above all else…Desperate for money.

Most importantly, her eyes and brows resembled mine from years ago.

The version of me before my face was destroyed. The version of me who had loved Ethan so foolishly.

I was going to make Ethan personally push his so-called true love into another abyss.