Chapter 3

3

“Miss Reed, please, relax. I’m not here to hurt you.”

I forced a smile that I hoped looked friendly.

It clearly didn't work; Sienna shivered even more violently.

I let out a weary sigh.

I looked at her; she was delicate and clearly intelligent, with an academic air.

I heard she was a top student in school.

If she hadn't met that scumbag Damon Sterling, she could have been a brilliant software developer one day.

“Miss Reed...”

“Miss Montgomery, I know everything. I’ve seen the news about your engagement to Damon.”

Sienna suddenly blurted out, her voice trembling.

I stayed silent, letting her continue.

“I don’t want to come between you and him. But I owe him a huge debt. Once I pay him back, I will leave him!”

I remembered this from the dream; her mother was terminally ill and needed surgery, so Damon covered the cost―on the condition that she become his mistress for five years.

I picked up my teacup and spoke calmly.

“I can help you pay off that debt. Why not leave him right now?”

The words were both out of pity and a test.

I pitied her for being forced into the shadows, but I also needed to know how deep her feelings for him really went.

Sienna hesitated, then shook her head firmly.

“You’re kind, but Damon helped me when I was desperate. I have to repay that.”

She bit her lip, looking away.

“Besides, a senior student once offered to help me pay my debts, but he got into a car accident on his way to arrange the money. He’s still in the hospital.”

She looked up, her clear eyes filled with deep despair and suppressed anger.

“I know Damon was behind it, but I have no proof. I can’t stop him. I know you’re a good person, but until he gets bored of me, he won’t let anyone take me away.”

“I can’t drag anyone else down with me.”

I looked at her, truly surprised.

I had expected the heroine, who forgave the hero after all his abuse in the book, to be a hopeless romantic.

But it seemed her feelings for him weren’t that deep yet.

Her anger proved she had self-respect.

She wasn’t willing to hurt others for her own safety―she was a good person.

In short, we could work together.