Chapter 2 It Will Hurt. Endure It

The irony shimmered in Hanna's tear-filled eyes.

"You want to curry favor with the Collins family, yet you balk at offering up your precious daughter. Why not take her place yourself?"

"How dare you!"

Jessie, no longer needing to mask her true nature, unveiled her venomous side.

"Haven't you been searching for Helena? Your father and I found her three days ago. Only we know where she is. Agree to marry into the Collins family, and I'll divulge her whereabouts, reuniting you both."

A photograph was tossed beside Hanna.

With trembling hands, Hanna picked it up. As soon as she saw the woman in the photo, the tears she had held back for so long finally flowed freely.

Helena Owen was Hanna's biological mother.

Fourteen years ago, driven mad by Jessie, the home wrecker, Helena had been admitted to a mental hospital.

However, last month, Helena had gone missing from the mental hospital, and Hanna had been searching for her ever since.

She never imagined that Cristian and Jessie had discovered her mother three days prior and were now using this information to blackmail her!

"A lunatic like Helena wandering the streets alone wouldn't survive. She might drown, be struck by a falling billboard, or perish in a car accident, all without anyone being in the loop! Hanna, isn't Helena the one you care about the most? If I tell you where she is and you bring her back, she'll be safe…"

"Enough!" Hanna cut Jessie off sharply. "You have no right to utter my mother's name!"

As she stared at the photo of her mother, she made up her mind.

"I'll marry him!"

Ever since her mother had been driven to madness, Hanna had felt no warmth in this cold, unfeeling world.

Even though her mother was now mentally unstable, she was the only person who had ever loved Hanna, the only one she cared about in this vast, indifferent universe.

For her mother, anything was worth sacrificing!

Six days later, Hanna married into the Collins family as planned.

Since it was a quickie marriage, everything was kept minimal.

The Collins family didn't host a grand ceremony, merely sending a wedding car to the Murphy family's house to fetch the bride in the evening.

By the time the car reached the Collins family's villa, night had already fallen.

Hanna was escorted directly to a bedroom by two women.

The room was dim, lit only by a unity candle flickering in the breeze.

In the faint glow, Hanna could just make out a figure lying motionless on the bed by the window, as still as a corpse.

This person had to be her groom, Kayce.

"My bride is here!" The corpse-like figure suddenly spoke.

His voice was cold and melodious, carrying an intense presence that sent chills down Hanna's spine, rooting her to the spot.

Rumor had it that Kayce had fallen ill a month ago, becoming paralyzed from the waist down, with his face disfigured to the point of resembling a ghost, and he might die at any time.

She couldn't believe that a cripple could possess such a magnetic and rich voice…

And this voice was strangely familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before.

"Come here!" the voice commanded, its tone leaving no room for disobedience.

Before Hanna could react, she felt something soft yet firm coil around her waist.

A powerful force yanked her forward, making her fall heavily onto the bed.

"Ah!" Hanna cried out in pain, her eyes snapping open to find a man looming over her, his chiseled face hovering just above hers. His cold, deep eyes were like whirlpools, drawing her in with a single look.

"Are you really... Kayce Collins?"

Her breath became inexplicably labored, her voice trembling uncontrollably.

Wasn't Kayce supposed to look like death itself?

Could she have stumbled into the wrong room?

"That's right!"

The man's voice was cold and detached.

Yet, the breath from his lips was warm and fiery, like a seductive spring breeze caressing Hanna's delicate face.

Hanna's heartbeat became increasingly erratic.

The man fixed his gaze on her, his cold, narrow eyes betraying a hint of something unanticipated.

What caused it was the scent on Hanna.

It was an extraordinary, natural fragrance, reminiscent of an edelweiss blooming atop a snow-capped mountain, faint yet deeply penetrating.

Kayce had encountered this scent only once before, exactly seven nights ago—

That night, it wasn't merely the poison that drove him mad; it was this captivating fragrance on the girl as well.

He never expected to encounter the same scent on Hanna.

Just a whiff of this fragrance made it impossible for him to suppress his inexplicable desire for the girl before him. This urge rapidly escalated into a feverish intensity...

Damn it!

He didn't like this feeling of losing control.

Kayce's dark eyes scrutinized Hanna, subtly reining in the heat simmering within.

"Have we met before?"

Facing such an intoxicatingly handsome man at close range, Hanna felt herself blushing uncontrollably. "No..."

"Are you sure?"

Kayce's relentless gaze bored into her, his presence vast and cold.

Hanna had never feared being scrutinized before, but now his gaze made her inexplicably anxious.

"Mm." She instinctively lowered her eyes, still feeling his piercing stare. Her already flushed face grew so red it seemed ready to bleed. "Yes."

It was natural for a girl to appreciate beauty.

If Hanna had ever seen such a stunning man before, she would surely have admired and remembered him.

Kayce's eyes turned even colder.

"In that case, it will hurt. Endure it."

His face, already close to Hanna's, moved even nearer as he spoke. His exquisitely curved lips edged toward hers.

Hanna's heart skipped several beats.

Then, it began to pound wildly like a drum.

Kayce's lips stopped just a breath away from hers, moving instead to her neck.

"Ah!"

The excruciating pain left Hanna's mind in a blank slate.