Chapter 1

Since I was a child, I had always believed there was nothing in this world I couldn't have.

Because my parents had me when they were over forty, they spoiled me to the point where they would have plucked the stars from the sky for me if they could.

At twenty, I fell head over heels for Julian Vance, a needy student funded by the Stone family, and used every means at my disposal to force him to marry me.

Only after we married did I learn that he had someone he had loved in secret for years—the one who got away.

Vivian Locke.

His childhood sweetheart, a brilliantly talented design major who came from a poor background.

I looked at the photos sent by the private investigator on my phone.

They were sharing a passionate kiss in a rose garden.

This tainted man... I didn't want him anymore.

Sienna's POV

So, I started targeting Vivian Locke.

First, I reported Vivian's studio for fire hazards, forcing it to shut down. Next, I bribed members of the media to run sensationalized stories about Vivian having a child out of wedlock and having loose morals.

Finally, I even paid someone to forge evidence of Vivian plagiarizing overseas works, completely ruining her reputation in the industry.

Julian Vance finally reached his breaking point.

That day, I was arranging flowers in the living room, my shears snipping off a white rose. When he found me, he slapped the flowers right out of my hands.

"Just how far are you going to take this?" he roared, furious. "What did Vivian ever do wrong? How did she offend you to make you target her like this? If you've got a problem, come at me!"

I looked up and said nonchalantly, "Vivian Locke did nothing wrong. You are the one in the wrong."

His expression turned icy cold as he stared at me.

"Julian Vance, let's get one thing straight: I am your wife," I said, putting down the shears, my tone lukewarm. "Yet in all the years we've been married, Vivian Locke has always been the only one in your heart. Do you even respect me as your lawful wife?"

With a cold smile, I added, "So you're the one at fault, Julian. You're the one who forced my hand to target her."

Julian's features tensed, his eyes dark and gloomy. "Do you have to be like this?"

"Yes," I said, tilting my chin up. "Julian, don't forget that it was thanks to the Stone family that you got to where you are today. Your body, your heart, even your life belongs to me. So as long as Vivian Locke remains in your heart, I will never let her off the hook."

No sooner had the words left my mouth than Julian grabbed the fruit knife off the coffee table and plunged it into his own chest without a second thought.

Blood quickly soaked through his shirt.

His face paled at a visible rate as he asked in a raspy voice, "Then I'll give you my life. Is that enough?"

I froze in place.

Seeing me remain silent, Julian pulled the knife out, preparing to stab himself a second time.

Finally snapping back to reality, I lunged forward in a panic to press down on his wound, my eyes reddening as I glared at him in disbelief. "Are you insane?!"

Cold sweat quickly beaded on Julian's deathly pale face.

Forcing himself through the excruciating pain, he said, "Didn't you say... that without the Stone family, I wouldn't be where I am today? That everything I have, including my life, belongs to you? Then I'm giving you my life... Is this... enough now...?"

Warm blood gushed through my trembling fingers. Once Julian finished speaking, his vision suddenly went black, and he collapsed backward, losing consciousness.

"Julian!!"

I scrambled to catch him, but his weight dragged me down with him.

The moment we hit the floor, I instinctively shielded him with my own body. My back slammed against the edge of the coffee table, sending stars dancing across my vision from the pain.

Yet even as I gasped in agony, I didn't push away the man lying on top of me.

"Someone, help!" I screamed in sheer panic. "Call an ambulance!"

The fluorescent lights in the hospital corridor were blindingly bright. The red light above the operating room had been glowing for two full hours.

Julian's mother, Mary, rushed over after hearing the news and slapped me right across the face.

"Sienna Stone, I know your family funded Julian in the past, but he has never left you wanting for anything material all these years! Just how much longer do you plan on torturing him like this?!" Mary's voice was so shrill it cracked. "Do you have to drive him to his grave before you'll finally stop?!"

My face was whipped to the side, a burning pain spreading across my cheek.

I didn't reach up to nurse it, nor did I offer any defense. Instead, I just stared down at my blood-stained hands.

I couldn't understand. How did things turn out like this?

In the beginning, all I wanted was for him to spare me a glance, to care about me just a little bit more.

Throughout our seven years of marriage, whenever I fell ill with a fever, he would bring in the best specialists in the city for a consultation, yet he never set foot in my room from start to finish.

For every anniversary, the gifts he had his assistant deliver were always the latest designer jewelry, but not a single one had ever passed through his own hands.

When we sat at the same dinner table, he would not say a single word throughout the meal, getting up to leave the moment he finished eating.

I used to always tell myself that it was fine. As long as I treated him well enough and loved him enough, he would fall in love with me sooner or later.

I had plenty of patience and time.

Yet two years ago, Vivian Locke suddenly returned from abroad with a five-or-six-year-old child.

That was the first time Julian ever lost his composure.

He rushed out the door without even putting on his coat after receiving a call. I followed from a distance and saw with my own eyes as he held that frail woman tightly in his arms at the airport exit.

After returning home that night, I smashed the entire living room in a fit of rage.

When Julian returned and saw the mess all over the floor, he merely instructed the servants indifferently, "Clean it up."

Without so much as a glance at my hysterical self, he went upstairs and retired to his room.

Later, when Vivian wanted a studio, he funded and helped her establish one. When Vivian's child fell ill, he drove them to the hospital in the middle of the night and stayed by the bedside until morning. He even baked a cake with his own hands to deliver to her on her birthday.

I saw all of this with my own eyes, which was why I started targeting Vivian Locke.

I couldn't comprehend it. I had the money, the looks, and I loved him deeply. In what way could I possibly be inferior to a woman like Vivian Locke, who had a child out of wedlock?

Why could he be so incredibly good to Vivian, yet be so stingy that he wouldn't even spare me a second glance?

Until today—

Seeing him go as far as stabbing himself with a knife, I suddenly understood.

Perhaps I had been wrong from the very beginning.

I thought feelings could be nurtured over time. I thought that as long as I was good enough, persistent enough, and loved him enough, I could eventually win over his heart.

But some hearts simply can't be warmed.

Love is something where your investment never guarantees a return.

"Fine," I heard my own voice say, so calm that even I found it unfamiliar. "I will let him go."

His mother froze, as if she hadn't heard me clearly. "What did you say?"

I raised my head and repeated, "Just as you wish, I will divorce Julian Vance."

This marriage was forced by me in the first place anyway.

So, the ones in the wrong were never Vivian Locke or Julian Vance.

It was me.

Then, I shall set him free.