Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After that, I learned my lesson and stopped arguing or demanding answers.

No matter how many scandals broke, or how many mistresses showed up, I quietly had the assistants handle them.

I thought my silence would make him show some restraint and preserve some basic dignity.

Instead, he only became bolder and more vicious.

His latest fling was Renee Palmer, the girl who had ruthlessly bullied me back in high school.

Relying on her family's wealth and pretty face, she had turned everyone against me, dumped ice water over my head, and locked me in the gym storage room for hours.

One afternoon, on my way home through a quiet alley, she blocked my path with several girls.

They shoved me against the brick wall, sneering that I didn't know my place and didn't deserve Colton.

They hurled vile insults at me and pushed me around.

My backpack was ripped open, and all my textbooks were dumped onto the muddy ground.

I struggled with everything I had, but they outnumbered me and dragged me down.

Someone pulled my hair, pinning my face against the rough wall.

They started stripping off my jacket and pulled out their phones to record.

They laughed maliciously, saying they would share the video with the whole school.

They held down my arms so I couldn't move, their cruel laughter echoing in the alley.

Right at that moment, Colton happened to pass by and saw me cornered.

He immediately charged forward, stepped in front of me, and yelled at them to stop.

Renee refused to back down and called over some local thugs from the street corner to teach us a lesson.

When the thugs rushed us, Colton didn't flinch.

He shielded me behind his back, taking brutal punches and kicks for me.

He was beaten black and blue, bleeding from the corner of his mouth, his clothes completely torn.

Yet when he stood back up, he turned to me with a faint smile and said, "I am okay. Don't be scared."

I froze in shock, but he kept comforting me, saying all that mattered was that I was safe.

Later, his parents used their powerful connections to send those thugs to prison.

Renee's parents pulled strings as well, scrubbing their daughter's name clean from the police report.

With no direct evidence proving Renee had ordered the attack, she walked away untouched.

When Colton found out, he merely said, "If the police have no proof, let it go."

He looked at me with quiet determination.

"As long as you are safe, I don't care about pursuing her."

Back then, he took the beatings and faced his parents' wrath, yet still put my safety above everything else.

He protected me in his own way, even when it cost him dearly, just to shield me from further humiliation.

That was the first time I saw reckless devotion in his eyes.

That deep, fierce affection became the memory that made me believe, through all those cold marriage years, that his heart hadn't completely frozen over.

Now, Renee was his favorite side piece, clinging to his arm in front of media cameras with a triumphant smile.

At a recent press conference, when reporters asked about our marriage, Renee even chimed in first.

"Mrs. Mercer is very sweet. We are just close sisters, and I occasionally visit Colton."

I sat at home watching the live broadcast without saying a word.

Colton never clarified anything, nor did he stop Renee from using my title to boost her own fame.

He even silently encouraged Renee to trigger my past trauma, treating our misery as his private entertainment.

Later, Renee tracked down the private social club I frequented.

In front of several VIPs, she deliberately brought up the old bullying incident, claiming I only achieved my status by marrying Colton.

I didn't argue or scream; I simply stood up and walked away.

Colton was in the VIP lounge next door the entire time, and he never once stepped out to stop her.