Chapter 1

1.

Amelia West was the youngest expert in pharmacological research in the world.

During a campus awards ceremony, she used her veto power to disqualify Brooke Ryan's Best Research Award for stealing someone else's work.

That same day, her husband, Damian Hart, blocked her path in the parking lot with his car.

The front of the car screeched to a halt just inches from Amelia's knees. She stumbled backward in terror, falling to the ground as a sharp, unfamiliar pain shot through her lower abdomen.

The car window rolled down. Damian leaned out, a gentle smile on his lips, but his eyes were as cold as ice.

"This is just a warning, Amelia. I don't want to make things worse, but Brooke needs to win this award. And she needs an expert with your authority to present it to her personally."

"A warning?" Amelia's body went stiff. She gritted her teeth against the searing pain. "You want me to personally hand my brother's award to his murderer? That research was his, and you know it!"

Damian's brow furrowed. "Amelia, you're biased against her. Brooke is the real victim here."

Amelia trembled, her eyes red with fury as she stared at him. "She's a murderer!"

"Do you have proof?"

His words cut her like a knife. Tears welled up in her eyes against her will.

Three months ago, Brooke had faked a heart attack and was saved by Amelia's younger brother.

But afterward, she turned around and falsely accused him of sexual assault, inciting a firestorm of online hate and fabricating a mountain of seemingly concrete evidence to post on social media.

Her brother was expelled from the university, doxed, and subjected to relentless cyberbullying. The crushing weight of this social death became too much to bear, and he ultimately left a note before taking his own life.

Amelia had painstakingly gathered evidence to take Brooke to court, but it all vanished right before the trial was set to begin.

Even all of her brother's research findings and unpublished papers disappeared without a trace.

It wasn't until just now, when she saw her husband Damian personally hand her Brooke's award submission file, that everything clicked into place.

The person secretly protecting Brooke all along was her powerful husband, Damian.

Damian's threat snapped her back to the present.

"Listen, Amelia. If you don't cooperate, I can make sure every single one of your patent applications is indefinitely shelved by the FDA. I have the power to erase your name from every grant list in this industry."

"You have one minute. Give me an answer."

He held up his phone and waved it in front of her. On the screen, Damian's men were already storming into Amelia's lab, planting a virus on her computers.

Once the countdown ended, all of her data would be permanently wiped.

Amelia clenched her fists, her chest heaving. "Do you have any idea what you're doing? That drug can save lives!"

It was the culmination of ten years of her hard work―the very research he had sworn to protect alongside her.

Damian's eyes turned cold, cutting her off. "Nothing is more important than Brooke. She took a knife for me once. I won't let her be wronged."

A bitter laugh escaped Amelia's lips. "I'm your wife, Damian. I've put my life on the line for you, too!"

"Thirty seconds."

...

"Twenty seconds!"

"I'll do it," she said, her voice hoarse, her eyes filled with utter despair as she looked at him.

A faint smirk touched Damian's lips as he hit the pause button on his phone. "Good, Amelia. After the award ceremony, I'll transfer two hundred million dollars into the lab's funding account. I had no choice but to be harsh with you just now."

Amelia took a deep breath, saying nothing. Her stomach and her heart throbbed with a vicious pain, but Damian didn't notice anything wrong. He just motioned for her to get in the car.

Perhaps fearing she would back out, Damian arranged for the award ceremony to be held immediately. He watched personally as Amelia handed the certificate to Brooke.

Brooke beamed with a dazzling smile. Before Amelia could even step off the stage, she rushed into the arms of Damian, who was waiting in the wings.

"Damian, I'm so happy. I'll work even harder from now on."

Damian looked at her with doting eyes. "You've always been amazing."

Brooke spoke with a delicate voice, her cheeks flushing. "Damian, can I use your phone to take a picture? Mine is dead."

Damian casually handed her his phone.

Brooke's fingerprint unlocked it with ease. Seeing this, Amelia felt a bitter pang in her heart.

Damian had once told her that she was the only one who could ever touch his things, but now, she was no longer the one and only.

Amelia took a deep breath and turned to leave, but suddenly, she heard Brooke's startled cry from behind her.

"Oh my god! What did I do? I think I accidentally started the data wipe program... Amelia's data is being erased... I didn't mean to... Damian."

Amelia's steps froze. She whipped her head around to look at Brooke and Damian.

At the same moment, her phone rang. "Professor West, something's happened at the lab! The data is being wiped, and we can't stop it!"

"The backup servers have been hit by the virus, too..."

Amelia swayed on her feet, the phone slipping from her grasp. Her gaze turned ice-cold as she fixed it on Brooke and began walking toward her, one step at a time.

Brooke shivered in fear, instinctively hiding in Damian's embrace.

Damian was also at a loss, but his face hardened. Before Amelia could get close to Brooke, he stepped forward to block her path.

"That's enough. Don't you dare scare her. It was an accident. She didn't do it on purpose."

SLAP―

Amelia raised her hand and struck Damian hard across the face, her eyes red with fury. "Damian, if you want to be a fool, be one by yourself! She did it on purpose!"

"Stop being irrational." Damian grabbed her hand. "I forgot to close the program. I'll have someone fix it. If that doesn't work, I'll add another hundred million."

Amelia found it incredibly ironic. Seeing him like this, had he forgotten why she had dedicated her life to pharmaceutical research in the first place?

The Hart family had a history of hereditary cancer. Both his grandfather and his uncle had died from it.

Amelia had grown up with him, and the fear of losing him was what drove her to focus on developing targeted cancer therapies.

But now, it was clear that all her efforts and sacrifices meant nothing to him.

Amelia suddenly laughed, a hollow sound. "Fine. That's just fine. Damian, I hope you don't regret this."

Their eyes met. A flicker of something crossed Damian's face, and an inexplicable unease settled in his heart.

He wanted to ask her what she meant, but just then, Brooke clutched her chest, her face turning deathly pale. She started gasping for air, her body trembling from hyperventilating. "Damian, my heart... it hurts so much..."

Damian's expression changed instantly. He turned to support her. "Brooke, don't be scared. I'll take you to the hospital."

The pain in Amelia's abdomen intensified. A wave of unprecedented fear washed over her, and she reached out, grabbing Damian's arm. "Damian, my stomach hurts."

Damian paused for a second, then shook her hand off with a cold smirk. "Stop it. Playing the victim doesn't suit you."

Amelia froze in place, watching Damian's retreating back until he was out of sight. Her chest felt so tight it was about to split open.

Only when he was completely gone did she snap back to reality.

She lowered her gaze and dialed a number. "I agree to work with you. My only condition is that Damian and Brooke pay for what they've done."

After getting an affirmative reply, Amelia hung up the phone.

But when she looked up, her eyes met Damian's, who had returned, his gaze dark and menacing.

"Amelia, what the hell are you doing?"