Chapter 3
When Sophia regained consciousness, everything was dark. Her hands were tied behind her back, and her mouth was
gagged.
A hoarse, muffled sigh reached her ears. “I told you not to bully Isabella. Hurt her once, and you pay back tenfold. Why won’t you learn? What am I supposed to do with you? Why can’t you just behave?”
Sophia realized what was happening and struggled in terror, but her limbs were firmly bound.
The next moment, a helpless voice said, “Do it.”
Then an unfamiliar presence approached, and a bucket of boiling water was poured directly onto her arm.
Excruciating pain instantly engulfed her entire body. She arched like a cooked shrimp, her slender body rigid with agony.
The pain was so intense that Sophia bit through her tongue, blood soaking the gag and trapping her screams in her
throat.
Sophia woke to piercing pain.
Opening her eyes, she found herself in a hospital with two figures standing at the door.
“Mr. Miller, this is the last vial of burn treatment medication. Are you sure you want to give it to Isabella? The doctor said your wife’s burns are too severe. Without this medication, it might affect her hand function permanently. She won’t be
able to design anymore…”
Ethan was silent for a moment, then sighed deeply. “Give it to Isabella. If this teaches Sophia a lesson, it’s worth it.”
Those words pierced Sophia’s heart like a dagger, making even breathing painful.
Ethan talked about checking surveillance for the truth, yet he’d already convicted her of hurting Isabella.
Sophia accidentally bumped into a water cup, and the crash caught their attention.
With heartache in his eyes, Ethan quickly rushed to the bedside. “Baby, you’re finally awake. Does your hand still hurt? You
don’t know how much it hurt me to see you injured. For my sake, please don’t bully Isabella anymore, okay? If something
really happened to you, I couldn’t live either!”
He reached out to touch her face, but she turned away.
Her voice was hoarse. “Don’t touch me.”
How ironic. She had lost the use of one hand and her beloved career was ruined, yet all he cared about was that she stop
bullying Isabella!
Ethan’s hand froze mid-air, his eyes immediately reddening.
The next moment, he grabbed a fruit knife from the table and, under Sophia’s empty gaze, slashed his own arm.
His voice was panicked. “I failed to protect you. I’ll atone. Please don’t ignore me, okay?”
Seeing his blood-soaked sleeve, Sophia suddenly remembered the first time her arm was broken.
When she woke up in the hospital, Ethan was kneeling by her bed with an arm fracture even worse than hers.
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He had said, “I failed to protect you and couldn’t find who hurt you. I’m sorry. I’ll share your pain.”
To keep him from blaming himself, she had pretended to be fine no matter how much it hurt.
Now she realized how foolish she had been!
Ethan was simply counting on her caring about him.
That’s why he could repeatedly choose to “sacrifice” her to “repay” Isabella.
Sophia’s tone was flat. “I’m tired. I want to rest.”
Ethan wanted to say more, but a nurse came to change Sophia’s dressing, so he had to leave the room.
After hastily bandaging his wound despite the doctor’s advice, he insisted on staying to personally care for Sophia.
He arranged all her meals himself, brought the best doctors to treat her burns, and even stayed awake all night watching
over her bed, afraid she might touch her wound…
In just a few days, Ethan lost so much weight he looked more haggard than the patient.
The hospital nurses and patients all said he was deeply in love with Sophia.
But Sophia only felt mockery when she heard this.
If this was what he called love-hurting her for another woman-then she wanted no part of it.
Until the night before discharge, Sophia was half-asleep when she heard Isabella’s tearful voice from the next room.
“Ethan, you like me too, don’t you? Otherwise, why would you give me the only vial of medication?”
Sophia quietly approached the door and froze at the bone-chilling sight-Isabella, completely naked, wrapped around
Ethan with her lips on his neck.
She said, “She has so many disgusting scars. You must have been holding back for so long. Let me help you, okay?”
Ethan frowned and pushed her away. “Get out…”
Before he could finish, Isabella stood on her toes and kissed his lips, her fingers skillfully slipping into his shirt. “Look, you
do have feelings for me. I just want to repay you for protecting me. Don’t worry-she’ll never know…”
Though Ethan tried to dodge, Isabella’s touch drew a soft groan from him, desire flickering in his dark eyes. “If Sophia finds out, I’ll kill you!” he rasped.
With that, Ethan gripped the back of Isabella’s head and kissed her deeply, their gasps and moans growing more brazen.
Though Sophia had been prepared, she clenched her fists as the torturous scene brought tears to her eyes.
Sophia wiped away her tears, removed the wedding ring she had worn for five years, and casually threw it in the trash.
The next day, while she was still sleeping, the door burst open.
“Baby, why did you throw away our wedding ring?”
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