Chapter 3

3

Those words stung like a physical blow. The loss of my parents was still the deepest wound in my heart.

Back when I first received the news, I cried for days. Preston used to drag me out for fresh air, trying to help me forget the pain. Now, he was using those scars as weapons against me.

My expression turned cold. "That's none of your business."

Preston lost his temper, shoving me hard. "Who do you think you are, Ellie? A penniless orphan. Don't you dare act all high and mighty with me."

Caught off guard, I crashed into a cabinet behind me with a loud thud.

Chloe stood by, pouring salt into the wound. "Ellie, Preston is just worried about you. How can you be so ungrateful?"

I rubbed my bruised back, too exhausted to deal with them anymore.

"I've said what I needed to say. Leave, now."

Preston sneered, "This is my uncle's house. If anyone's leaving, it's you."

Preston's mother was Silas's older sister, making Silas his uncle. But I was Silas's lawfully wedded wife.

I was about to call for help when our nanny, Mrs. Zhang, walked in with cleaning supplies. Seeing them, she asked sharply, "Who are you? What are you doing to our Madam?"

"What did you call her?" Preston frowned, shock written all over his face.

Mrs. Zhang set her tools down and stepped in front of me. "She is the Madam of the Sterling household. You'd better leave now. When our master returns, he won't be kind to intruders."

Mrs. Zhang had come with me from abroad. She hadn't met Preston, so she didn't know who he was.

Preston paused, but when he looked at me again, his eyes were filled with mockery, as if he were laughing at my delusions.

"So that's why you wouldn't come back―you're trying to sink your claws into my uncle? Ellie, give up. Do you really think you're good enough to seduce him?"

"Everyone knows how much he loves his wife. He even brought her back to the country with him. If she hears about this, you won't even have a life left to lose."

I found the whole situation both infuriating and hilarious.

When I was twelve, I got a few breakouts on my face and wouldn't leave my room because I felt ugly.

Back then, Preston had comforted me, telling me it didn't change my beauty at all.

Everything had changed since then.