At the height of her ballet career, Sienna’s life was brutally shattered when her ex-boyfriend maliciously broke her legs.

She fell into despair, and when she climbed to the rooftop to end it all, I was the one who saved her.

I gave up a million-dollar salary for her sake.

I spent ten years as her golden agent watching her starting from a background actor and becoming a superstar.

When she reached the pinnacle of fame, she publicly declared her love for me.

Our love story was hailed as the last fairy tale of the entertainment industry.

I stood by her through her lows, and she held my hand through the glory.

However, on the day I proposed…

Her ex-boyfriend stormed in and publicly claimed that Sienna was carrying his child.

His face was full of arrogance, and his eyes brimmed with provocation.

“Every night, she throws herself at me like an animal.

“You think she loves you? Her heart, her mind, it’s all mine.”

I felt as if I had been struck by lightning. My mind went blank.

I turned to Sienna. She pressed her lips together, remained silent and offered no explanation.

At that moment, my heart shattered into pieces.

Sienna signaled her bodyguards to pull Lance away and gripped my icy hand.

“Let’s continue.”

“Time to put on the ring.”

She handed me the velvet ring box. Her gaze was calm and unreadable.

Lance, dragged across the floor, was still screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Sienna! I won’t allow you to marry him with our child inside you!”

“You said you felt nothing but gratitude for Zach Quiroz! Why are you insisting on marrying him?!”

Nothing but gratitude.

Those words felt like a rusted saw, cutting back and forth across my heart.

I looked at Sienna and said with a trembling voice, “Don’t you have anything to explain?”

She avoided my gaze, her eyes scanning the whispering friends and family gathered below.

“Let’s finish the proposal first. People are watching.”

She knew perfectly well how many eyes were on us.

I was being humiliated in front of everyone. My reputation was torn to shreds, a crown of shame placed upon me, and she wouldn't even give me a single explanation.

Lance suddenly broke free from the bodyguards, pulling a fruit knife from his pocket and pressing it against his neck.

“Sienna, you can’t say yes! I’ll die right here if you do!”

For the first time, I saw a flicker of emotion in Sienna’s eyes, but her lips stayed steady,

“Die if you must. Just get out of my way.”

I watched the undercurrent of tension between them.

For the first time, I felt like the intruder, a ridiculous, unnecessary clown.

Sienna turned to me and urged, “Zach, hurry up.”

Lance, now completely enraged, lunged at me with the knife, and screamed, “This is all your fault! Sienna belongs to me!”

I instinctively raised my hand to block.

The blade sliced through my palm. Warm blood gushed out instantly, staining my white suit crimson.

Lance froze for a moment, stunned by what he had done, and his legs gave way. He tumbled down a few steps.

“Lance!”

Sienna rushed forward, then spun back to glance at me. There was a delayed flash of worry and panic in her eyes.

I looked down at the knife lodged in my palm.

I smiled.

Slowly, I pulled it out, letting the blood spurt freely.

Clutching the handle tightly, I stepped toward the fallen Lance.

"If he’s so desperate to go to hell, let me help him."

Amid the screams of the guests, I raised the knife and aimed for his chest.

Sienna lunged forward, planting herself firmly in front of him.

My hand came to a stop, barely an inch from her heart.

A sharp slap landed across my face.

She glared at me, fury written all over her face. “Zach, are you out of your mind?! Drop the knife!”

She called for assistants and bodyguards, carefully scooped up the fainted Lance, and rushed toward the hospital.

All the while, she never spared me a glance.

She had completely ignored the fact that I was the one bleeding most.

I remained where I stood as crimson blood dripped onto the luxurious carpet beneath me.

Three years ago, Sienna made a comeback thanks to a single movie.

Lance crawled back into her life, shameless as ever.

When Sienna refused to reconcile, he tried to run her over.

I pushed her out of the way, got caught under the car myself, my insides shredded. I died on the operating table more than once before they managed to pull me back.

When I woke, Sienna was holding my hand, sobbing so violently it tore at my heart.

She swore that she would make him pay for what he had done if she ever saw Lance again in this lifetime.

Now, he had hurt me again, and she was choosing to protect him with her own body.

I picked up my phone and sent him a message:

[You win. Give me three days to settle things here, and then I’ll go back.]

It did not matter.

I did not have to marry Sienna.

…

The emergency room was a blur. The doctor was wrapping up my wounds.

Sienna burst in, storming past the nurses like a whirlwind.

She looked at me. My face was pale, battered, and scolded me,

“Zach! You were way too reckless! How could you stab Lance? What if the police had caught you?”

I raised my eyes and let a bitter laugh escape.

“Shouldn’t the one who should’ve been arrested be Lance?”

“Or, maybe he should have been taken in three years ago.”

I lifted my shirt, revealing the jagged scars crisscrossing my abdomen.

“Have you forgotten these? What about the justice you promised me back then?”

Sienna fell silent.

Suddenly, she snatched the scalpel from the doctor’s tray and drove it hard into her own palm.

Her movements were so fast that no one could react in time.

Warm blood spattered across my face. The coppery smell was sharp in the air.

She held her hand, blood pouring from it, and stared at me.

“Is this enough? Does this make it fair?”

”Stop causing trouble for Lance, okay?”

The string holding me together in my mind finally snapped.

The bitter, acidic ache I had held back for years surged up my throat, almost suffocating me.

I had not touched Sienna in ten years.

She had always said her body was sacred, that she wanted to save her most beautiful gift for our wedding night.

I respected her for it, and I waited for that moment.

The night before I proposed, she was drunk, stumbling, but her kisses were scorching. They were on my lips and on my neck.

She whispered in my ear over and over,

“Zach, I love you. I should love you. This life, I can only love you..."

I thought everything was falling into place.

Then, at the last moment, she pushed me away. Her eyes cleared for a brief moment.

“No, I just remembered something. I have to go out for a bit.”

She ran like she was escaping.

I assumed it was nothing more than pre-wedding jitters.

Now I realize, she was keeping herself pure for Lance.

“Why?”

“Sienna, why are you doing this to me?”

Her eyes were rimmed in red, tears trembling on the edge of her lashes.

“I promised him a child and a wedding. After that, it’s over.”

“Zach, just wait for me, okay? You love me so much. Please just wait one more year.”

I gave a hollow laugh.

My ten years of selfless love were just a chip she could cash in endlessly.

“I can’t wait.”

“Sienna, we’re done.“

The entertainment headlines exploded that evening.

[Rising Actress Sienna Spotted Kissing Mystery Man. Romance a Mystery]

Even in the blurry paparazzi photos, I could still make out Lance’s face.

The woman who had always been reserved in front of the cameras disappeared completely with him.

I moved out of the house I shared with her, planning to stay a couple days at my mother’s old place.

Back then, to keep Sienna safe from a deranged fan, my mother took the blows. The fan stabbed her multiple times. She never came back.

Since then, that old house had become a silent, unspoken boundary between Sienna and me.

After she rose to fame, she had the best cleaning crew come every month to maintain it, keeping it spotless.

Every holiday, she would accompany me back, lighting incense for my mother.

She would share a quiet meal with me in that cold, empty house.

She said it was about keeping my mother’s company.

It seemed I would be the only one paying my respects at this mid-autumn festival.

I had not even reached the door when a harsh crash echoed through the air.

My chest tightened. I ran inside and saw several workers swinging sledgehammers at the walls.

“Stop!”

I shouted and stormed in.

The house was a wreck. Furniture was smashed to splinters.

Lance stood amidst the ruins, seizing my mother's ancestral tablet and smashing it to the ground.

Crack! The tablet shattered into pieces.

He was not satisfied. He stomped on my mother’s black-and-white portrait, grinding it into the floor.

“Zach, look, your mother’s face is surprisingly resilient underfoot.”

I felt my blood boil. I tried to rush him, but Sienna’s bodyguards held me back.

I shouted at Sienna, who stood silently to the side.

“Sienna! Are you just going to watch him desecrate my mother?!”

She avoided my gaze. Her voice was soft, almost apologetic,

“Zach, it’s been so many years since your mother passed. A photo can't hurt.”

“Besides, no one could live in this house anymore.”

“After the demolition, I’ll have it restored exactly as it was. Don’t worry.”

Lance smirked and wrapped an arm around Sienna’s waist.

“Sienna, didn’t you promise me three things?”

“The third thing? I want this house to be my doghouse.“

“No!”

“This was the last thing my mother left me! My only connection to her!”

Sienna stayed silent and nodded.

The pent-up rage and despair completely overpowered my reason.

“You’re not human, Sienna! You owe my mother your life!”

“You deserve to die at the hands of those obsessive fans!”

I let loose, every cruel, venomous word I had ever held back, throwing it at her.

“No, I shouldn’t have saved you back then! You deserved to break your legs! You deserved to die!”

Smack!

…

Sienna raised her hand and slapped me across the face.

She lifted her foot and kicked me with all her strength into the rubble at the doorway.

“Zach, my patience has limits!”

“I never begged your mother to save me!”

I hit the ground hard. Pain shot through my chest as metallic taste rose in my throat.

The internal injuries from that car accident years ago had left my body fragile.

I clutched my chest, coughing up blood uncontrollably.

The woman who had once vowed to shield me, to care for me always...

Now wounded me more deeply than anyone ever could.

When I woke up, I was alone in a single hospital room.

Two black-suited bodyguards stood at the door with an expressionless look on their faces.

Sienna sat by the bed, peeling an apple, not even lifting her head as I stirred.

“Zach, once Lance and I complete the wedding and have the child, I’ll be done with him.”

“Stay here and recover for now. Wait for me.”

Every way I could contact the outside world had been taken from me.

She had imprisoned me.

However, she could not stop Lance.

He showed up like clockwork to flaunt his victory everyday.

“Zach, look, this is our wedding photo, isn’t it beautiful? The photographer was the one you carefully picked for her.”

“Oh, and the wedding venue, Sienna said to use yours. She told me that you have good taste. Saves me the trouble.”

He even brought the custom suit I had ordered for myself and gestured with it in front of me.