Bella Jefferson had no idea how she had offended her client.
After being forced to down nearly ten glasses of hard liquor throughout the night, she wasn’t handed the signed contract she had been waiting for.
Instead, she was met with a single sentence: “Miss Jefferson, there’s a gift for you in the presidential suite upstairs.
We can discuss business after you’ve received it.”
Overwhelmed by exhaustion and confusion, Bella forced her limp body upstairs.
The moment she opened the door, she was hit by a wave of suggestive sounds that immediately made her blush.
Assuming she had walked into the wrong room, she was just about to quietly slip away when she heard voices inside.
“Mason, do you really have the heart to let Bella Jefferson keep running around doing field business?
Aren’t you going to transfer her to a more comfortable position?”
The familiar voice didn’t hold a shred of pity.
“I only married her to get the CEO position.
Having her help me consolidate my power is exactly what I need!”
A chilling cold crept into Bella’s heart.
She had to lean against the wall just to steady her trembling body.
The man inside…
was her husband, Mason Sinclair.
“Tell me the truth.
You’ve known Bella for so many years, and she’s been so devoted to you.
Have you really never felt anything for her?”
“It’s exactly because we’ve known each other for so long that I can’t feel that kind of interest in her.
If it weren’t for what happened five years ago…”
Bella was already numb from the pain.
He was right.
If it hadn’t been for that drunken incident five years ago, she never would have married Mason.
The Jefferson Family and the Sinclair family used to be neighbors, but she and Mason had never gotten along since they were kids.
Instead, she had been much closer to his older, non-blood-related brother.
Yet, five years ago, after a night of heavy drinking, she had accidentally slept with Mason and gotten pregnant.
Under the intense pressure from the elders of both families, they were forced into a shotgun marriage.
After the wedding, Mason had taken meticulous care of her throughout her pregnancy.
Even after they tragically lost their child, he had tenderly nursed her back to health during her recovery.
Over time, his actions had melted her heart, making her take their marriage seriously.
Pained to see Mason stressing over his work every day, she had quit her own job to help him network and manage his business affairs.
Never did she imagine that it was all just calculation and exploitation!
“So you used someone else’s identity to register the marriage with her, leaving yourself an out?” Scarlett Sullivan toyed with the expensive necklace around her neck, then snapped a photo and posted it on her feed.
Bella thought she was blackout drunk and hallucinating.
What did they mean by someone else’s identity?
Were she and Mason not a legally married couple?
Mason remained silent, tacitly admitting it.
Scarlett continued, “Mr.
Sinclair likes her so much.
He only handed the heir position to you back then because he insisted you marry her.
If the truth ever gets out, how do you plan to smooth things over?”
Mason lit a cigarette and sneered, “There’s no way Bella will leave me.
There’s no longer a place for her in the Jefferson Family.
Without me, she has nowhere better to go.
“As for me, I’m the only heir to the Sinclair family.
What can Mr.
Sinclair do, no matter how much he dislikes me?
That adopted son has been missing for five years.
The CEO of Meridian Group can only be me.”
With that, he glanced at the time and stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray.
“Enough talk.
I told her I was working overtime.
It’ll be trouble if she goes back to the company and sees I’m not there.” Mason got out of bed and got dressed, restoring his usual impeccably groomed appearance.
He then wrapped an arm around Scarlett and left the presidential suite.
Hiding in the corner, Bella completely lost control of her emotions.
She slowly slid to the floor, covering her mouth as she broke down in silent, agonizing sobs.
In the beginning, Mason hadn’t been Mr.
Sinclair’s ideal choice for an heir.
It was only after their marriage, when she helped him secure project after project, that he finally gained Mr.
Sinclair’s favor and became the CEO of Meridian Group.
Yet, she never expected that he had looked down on her from the very start!
He had even strung her along with a gentle lie for all these years, just to solidify his position as the heir!
Bella had no desire to go back and discuss the contract, let alone the energy to guess why the client had set her up to watch this good show.
Wiping away her tears to calm herself, she took her phone out of her bag and dialed a number.
“Help me check the marital status between me and Mason Sinclair.
There’s a high chance that Mason isn’t legally my husband.”
Bella usually didn’t drive when she went out to negotiate business, as she inevitably had to drink, making it inconvenient.
Normally, catching a cab at this hour required a long wait, but tonight went surprisingly smoothly.
As she walked to the side of the road in a daze, a taxi just happened to pull up right beside her, almost as if it had been specifically waiting for her.
Not thinking much of it, Bella chalked it up to coincidence, got in, and gave the driver her address.
That night, Mason predictably didn’t come home.
Since the nanny was on leave for the past few days, the massive villa was completely empty.
Under the bright lights, the house felt desolate and dead silent, devoid of any human warmth.
Bella stumbled upstairs.
The first thing she did was dig out their marriage certificate from the cabinet and inspect it carefully.
All the information on it belonged to her and Mason.
The steel seal of the registry office over their photo was incredibly clear.
Who would have thought that this was a forged document!
The ridiculous part was that she hadn’t noticed a thing for all these years!
As Bella laughed, tears began to stream down her face once again.
She tore the marriage certificate in half, smashed it onto the floor, and screamed hoarsely, “Mason Sinclair!
How could you do this to me!”
Even without love, they still had over twenty years of childhood friendship between them.
Any decent human being wouldn’t be this heartless!
But him?
He actually used someone else’s identity to register their marriage, completely disregarding the terrible situation this would put her in!
The combination of alcohol and intense emotional shock caused violent, agonizing spasms in Bella’s stomach.
The pain was followed by dry heaves.
She couldn’t throw anything up, but her tears wouldn’t stop falling.
It felt as if countless hands were twisting her intestines, making it hard to even breathe.
Forcing herself to calm down, she rummaged through the cabinet for some stomach medicine and swallowed it.
Without even taking a shower, she collapsed onto the bed, gasping for air.
Slowly, the medicine kicked in, and her mind began to clear.
She closed her eyes and thought about what to do next.
Since they had no legal marital relationship, she could easily just walk away.
No one could stop her.
But her maternal grandfather’s medical book was still at Meridian Group.
She couldn’t afford to burn bridges with Mason just yet.
Back when Mason was struggling to produce any results at the company and facing constant pressure from Mr.
Sinclair, he had crumbled under the stress and borrowed the medical book from her.
Two years ago, when Mason restructured the company, many documents and files were refiled.
That medical book was registered as an asset of Meridian Group along with them.
Mason had explained it to her and even signed a temporary safekeeping agreement with her.
However, the agreement didn’t explicitly state when the book would be returned.
At that time, she was completely devoted to Mason and had signed it without a second thought.
She never expected that it would now become the obstacle preventing her from leaving.
This medical book was her grandfather’s life’s work, containing various medicinal formulas.
It was exceptionally precious.
Since Mason was being this heartless, there was no need for her to keep playing the saint.
When he got back, she needed to probe him first and figure out a way to get the medical book back.
It wasn’t until dawn was breaking that Bella finally succumbed to her exhaustion and drifted off to sleep.
She did not sleep peacefully.
Trapped in a nightmare, Bella clutched the bedsheets tightly and let out a sob.
In her dream, there was that familiar, reliable figure from behind, but he was walking forward without hesitation, disappearing into a darkness she couldn’t reach.
“Don’t go…”