Chapter 3

3.

Zayne dragged me toward Mr. Ward.

"Mr. Ward, Nyla was just upset because of Jada's scandalous video. She didn't mean to offend you."

"I'll have Jada kneel and apologize. Please, don't take it out on Nyla."

He signaled his assistants.

Several large bodyguards grabbed my shoulders and forced me to my knees.

Mr. Ward looked at me with a lewd grin, lifting my chin with his finger.

"So, it's you."

"Five years ago, I told you I'd sign the contract if you spent one night with me. You chose to be stubborn. Now look at you, begging at my feet!"

Five years ago, when Zayne's company was starting out, I had gone to Ward for a deal.

When Ward tried to touch me, Zayne had found out.

He had stormed into the room and smashed a bottle over Ward's head.

"Jada is my woman! No one touches her!" he had screamed back then.

"I'd rather lose my company than let her suffer for a second!"

But now, he was the one holding me down.

He was forcing me to bow to this predator for Nyla's sake.

Nyla winked at Ward and pretended to mediate.

"Zayne, Mr. Ward is a huge client. Just kneeling might not be enough."

"It looks like Mr. Ward really likes my sister. Since she doesn't go to the Blackwood house until tomorrow, why not let her spend tonight with him to make it up?"

Zayne hesitated, but Nyla's sweet pout won him over.

"Jada, for the sake of the company, one night is nothing."

"Once he's happy, I'll make it up to you, I promise!"

I let out a hollow laugh. I was done with him.

I suddenly wrenched myself free from the guards. I grabbed a glass of wine and splashed it directly into their faces, one by one.

"Zayne Sterling! Over my dead body!"

I didn't care about his shouting. I turned and walked out of the wedding.

Outside, the Blackwood family's men had already arrived with millions of dollars' worth of bride-prices.

Looking at the chests of expensive jewelry, I tried to comfort myself.

Maybe the Crown Prince wouldn't be as bad as the rumors said.

The next morning, I put on my wedding dress and waited for the Blackwood family to pick me up.

But Zayne and Nyla arrived first.

Zayne's guards grabbed me and dragged me into the bathroom. They started tearing at my dress.

"What are you doing! Zayne! I'm about to be a Blackwood bride!"

Nyla clapped her hands, and a man in a lab coat walked in.

She smiled cruelly.

"Jada, Zayne is worried about you. He wants you to have a small… procedure… before you go."

"You're already ruined, but we can't have you coming back with some bastard child, right?"

The guards pinned me down. I was shaking with terror.

"Zayne! Stop them! If you touch me, the Blackwoods will destroy you!"

Zayne stood by the door, holding Nyla's waist. He looked at me with total indifference.

"It'll only take a few minutes. Just endure it."

"Jada, when you come back, I might keep you as a mistress."

"But I won't allow you to carry another man's child. Doctor, do it."

His words were like a bucket of ice water over my soul.

He knew my only dream was to have a child with the man I loved.

And now he was heartlessly trying to rob me of even the possibility.

The "doctor" stepped into the bathroom. He took off his mask and grinned.

It wasn't a doctor. It was Mr. Ward!

"Zayne, let me go! Nyla is playing you! This man isn't a doctor!"

Nyla shut the door, her face full of malice.

"Enjoy yourself, sister."

Tears streamed down my face. I shook with agony.

Twenty minutes later, I was like a piece of crumpled trash, tossed onto the bathroom floor.

Zayne pulled me up with an impatient sigh.

"It was just a small surgery. Why are you crying? You've become so dramatic."

"The Blackwoods are here. Get downstairs."

The Blackwood motorcade had arrived.

A man stepped out of the lead Rolls-Royce. When he saw my disheveled state, his expression turned deadly.

"Zayne Sterling, what the hell did you do to Jada?!"

Hearing that familiar voice, I froze. I looked up.

When I saw his face, my heart stopped. Zayne was so terrified he couldn't even speak.

"How… how is it you?!"

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