“Don’t touch me.”
The woman on the sofa turned her face away, dodging the hand reaching for her cheek.
The light fell across her face, highlighting a translucent pallor so fragile it seemed she might shatter at the slightest touch.
The hand belonged to Shen Yu. Dressed in a well-tailored suit, his face bore the gentle smile she had once been so familiar with.
But now, that smile only filled her with disgust.
Shen Yu’s hand paused in mid-air. He didn’t get angry, but instead withdrew it unhurriedly, his tone like that of someone soothing a throwing-a-tantrum child.
“Yao Yao, what’s wrong? The Huo family has fallen; aren’t you happy?”
Ruan Yao shifted her gaze from his face to the empty carpet, her voice very faint.
“All of this… it was your scheme, wasn’t it?”
“The Ruan family’s bankruptcy had nothing to do with Huo Yanzhi, did it?”
Shen Yu adjusted his cufflinks and smiled at her words.
“It had nothing to do with him.”
“It was your cousin, Su Mingyuan, who was stupid. He was set up by the Zhou family. Huo Yanzhi knew nothing about those things.”
Ruan Yao’s fingers curled at her side, her nails digging into the soft flesh of her palms.
“The person who drugged me back then… was also you?”
Shen Yu lowered his voice, admitting it quite candidly with a trace of long-suppressed hatred.
“Yes.”
“Unfortunately, that madman Huo Yanzhi intercepted the prize.”
“Why did you lie to me?” Ruan Yao was nearly trembling on the verge of collapse. “Why did you tell me it was Huo Yanzhi’s doing? You made me hate him, made me fear him.”
Shen Yu walked over to her and crouched down to meet her eyes, his tone so tender it could practically drip with sweetness.
“Lie to you? Yao Yao, didn’t you always hate Huo Yanzhi?”
“He forced you to marry him. Every time he touched you, you shook with fear.”
He said softly, “Look, I helped you drive away the demon who was always bullying you. You should be happy.”
Shen Yu chuckled low, as if sharing a sweet secret.
“Besides, our Yao Yao is truly impressive. If not for you, how could I have obtained the Huo family’s secrets so smoothly? You see, you should be thanking me instead.”
His words were gentle, but every syllable was like a knife cutting into Ruan Yao’s heart.
She thought of Huo Yanzhi.
After that accidental, absurd night with that man, he had appeared before her once again, possessing an irresistible dominance as he said he wanted to marry her.
He said the Ruan family needed money, and he could provide it.
For the sake of the money, to help her family through their crisis, she had nodded and married him.
She had prepared herself for every possible grievance, even imagining how he would humiliate her, a fallen socialite.
But life after marriage was completely different from what she had imagined.
Huo Yanzhi gave her a black card with no limit, telling her that all of North Capital could be hers.
Anything she spared an extra glance at would appear in their home the next day.
He cherished her like a precious jewel.
Except for in bed.
Huo Yanzhi’s demands were an insatiable pillaging.
He was like a dying traveler in a desert, and she was the only source of water.
He devoured her, drank her dry, even crushed her bones to rub them into his own flesh and blood, as if by doing so he could possess her forever.
No matter how she begged for mercy, he would not stop.
He would only use his scalding lips to crush her sobs, use his body to imprison her in his arms, possessing her over and over while calling her name in a hoarse voice.
The suffocating possessiveness and nearly pathological craving Huo Yanzhi displayed terrified Ruan Yao.
She had once gathered the courage to ask him why it was her.
He said he had fallen for her at first sight—or rather, was aroused by her beauty at first sight.
Huo Yanzhi’s answer was as flippant as a joke.
But his gaze was as heavy as a swamp shrouded in year-round rain, sinking deeper and deeper.
There was no light in there, only a slick, crazily growing dampness that twisted and tightened around everything.
Deep within those eyes, there was also a sediment of… an emotion she couldn’t understand, one that almost made her drown.
Because of Huo Yanzhi’s attitude, the rest of the Huo family loved her for his sake to an extreme degree.
The Huo family elders would hold her hand, telling her to treat the Huo residence as her own home.
Huo Yanzhi’s young aunt gave her expensive jewelry, saying Yao Yao looked beautiful in everything.
Later, after the Huo family fell, Huo Yanzhi’s mother pointed at her nose and called her an ungrateful wolf, accusing her with a shrill voice that Ruan Yao’s heart could never be warmed.
Before Huo Yanzhi went to prison, he calmly signed the divorce papers with her.
He said, “Yao Yao, no one will force you anymore.”
He had even settled everything for the Ruan family, who could not pay back their debts, and had long ago prepared a fortune for her—enough to squander for a lifetime.
It wasn’t until then that she realized something was wrong.
But it was all too late.
Huo Yanzhi was dead.
Suicide, while in prison.
A single tear slid from her hollow eyes, splashing onto the back of her hand, scalding hot.
Then, a second drop, and a third.
Seeing her tears, Shen Yu reached out to wipe them away.
“Why are you crying?” he asked softly, his tone carrying a hint of confusion and displeasure. “The Huo family is gone, and Huo Yanzhi is dead. You should be happy. Look, no one can ever snatch you away from me again.”
Ruan Yao’s tears fell even harder.
Yes, she should be happy.
She was free from the man she thought was a demon.
But why did her heart hurt so much—so much it felt as though it were being ripped apart by bare hands?
Everyone thought she hated him; once, she had thought so too.
Ruan Yao suddenly stopped crying.
She lifted her head, looking at him through tear-blurred eyes, her voice returning to its former soft and sweet tone. “Brother Shen Yu, you’re right. I should be happy.”
She stood up of her own accord, took a step toward him, and obediently leaned into Shen Yu’s embrace. Her cheek pressed against the expensive fabric of his suit, and her arms circled his waist.
Shen Yu held her, deeply satisfied, and whispered in her ear, “That’s a good girl.”
The next second, a sharp pain erupted from his abdomen.
Shen Yu’s body stiffened violently. He looked down in disbelief.
A silver fruit knife was buried deep in his body, its handle still gripped in Ruan Yao’s hand.
Blood surged out instantly, staining his white shirt and Ruan Yao’s slender, pale hand.
“You…” He tried to speak, but his face contorted in agony.
“I’m taking you to see him,” Ruan Yao said with a sob. “Didn’t you hate him for stealing me away? I’m taking you to find him.”
With those words, she used every ounce of her strength to cling to Shen Yu and threw them both through the seventeenth-floor floor-to-ceiling window.
The wind whistled in her ears, whipping her thin dress and long black hair.
The brilliant lights of the city were behind her, like a distant and cold galaxy.
Ruan Yao closed her eyes.
Huo Yanzhi, I’ve come to join you.
This time, it’s my turn to walk towards you.