Zach pulled Yvonne to his side with a glare, but she broke free from his grasp.

The sight of his tense face made the agent say, “You’ve misunderstood, sir. I’m a real estate agent.”

Zach frowned and looked at Yvonne. “You’re selling the house?”

She said nothing in reply. Instead, she asked the agent to leave and said she would contact him later if anything came up.

The sight of Yvonne ignoring him made Zach grab her hand in displeasure.

“Which house are you selling, honey?”

“You’ve misunderstood. I just think this place isn’t big enough and want a larger studio,” Yvonne said coolly.

He immediately felt relieved but thought of Bella. So, he looked at Yvonne and decided to test the waters. “Aren’t you going to ask about that day?”

When she gave no reply, Zach said in a seemingly relaxed fashion, “That woman is Robin’s sister. He’s on a business trip, so he called me. You know that I’m good friends with him, so I can’t just ignore it when his sister’s in trouble. I—”

Yvonne simply grabbed her handbag. “I have some business to take care of. Let’s talk tonight.”

She did not continue listening and left.

Zach found himself a little out of sorts.

Yvonne trusted him fully, and this was the result he wanted. Yet, the whole thing just made him uneasy, even though he could not quite describe it.

Zach stopped talking about going on business trips. After Bella was discharged, she returned to the house she shared with him.

When she saw that Zach was going to leave, she immediately ran to his side and hugged him.

“Behave, Bella. I already told you that I can’t stay outside overnight.”

However, she refused to listen. Instead, she held Zach’s hand and placed it over her undergarments.

With delight in her eyes, she stood on her tiptoes and breathed into his ear.

“Zach, I bought new drugs. Do you want to try them?”

His pupils dilated. He could not reject Bella when she was this seductive.

Both of them started frantically leaving traces of their love in their place. It felt like every spot was covered in their sweat.

Satisfied, Bella watched as Zach moved above her.

While he was asleep, she recorded videos and sent them all to Yvonne.

After Zach woke up, he realized that he had stayed over overnight.

He grabbed his hair in frustration and thought of a few excuses. Then, he picked the most reasonable one before he called Yvonne.

However, after he gave his excuse, this was all Yvonne said, “Got it.”

A second ago, Zach could imagine her disappointed expression. He even thought of a lot of things to say to get her back into a good mood. But to think that Yvonne would be so calm!

With a dark expression, he picked up his phone and typed a message.

When Yvonne was done with her shower, she saw Zach’s long message.

She just deleted it after a glance.

She no longer had any interest in Zach’s carefully crafted lies.

On Yvonne’s birthday, Zach imported plenty of Ecuador roses and filled up the venue for her birthday party.

Their mutual friends asked her about it.

“Yvonne, Zach’s so good to you. Look at the decorations and the color of the tablecloth. They were all picked based on your preferences!”

“Naturally. Yvonne has a firm hold over Zach’s heart. In the past, whenever someone flirted with her, Zach would stew in jealousy for a week.”

“Yes! I remember an upperclassman asking Yvonne for her contact number once, and Zach saw it. He threw a basketball at that guy so hard that it gave him a concussion. He only recovered after being on bedrest for a week!”

To that, all Yvonne did was smile.

If their mutual friends could remember these things, Yvonne would remember them too.

In the past, after Zach “died”, she relied on those memories to get her through another day. But whenever she remembered those past events at present, they were like glass shards that stabbed into her heart. Every time she breathed, it would hurt.

“Are you girls talking about me again?”

A familiar hand found its way around Yvonne’s waist, and Zach’s voice traveled into her ears.

Their friends exchanged glances before they teased her, “Look. It’s just been a moment since he last saw you, and he’s already worried about you leaving!”

Zach chuckled, and he was about to speak when the door suddenly flung open.

Someone spotted him and immediately ran toward him like a hurricane.

She hugged him tightly.

“Zach, I thought that I’d never see you again!”

Zach was stunned, but he noticed that Bella had shown up barefoot with scratches on her face. Right then, his amusement faded away, and he instinctively tightened his grip around her.

“Who is she?”

“I don’t know. What’s Zach’s relationship with her?”

Suddenly, there were murmurs all around.

Zach narrowed his eyes and quickly turned to Yvonne.

The moment Bella showed up, Yvonne had instinctively clenched her fists.

It was her birthday, and she just wanted to meet her friends one last time before she left.

Even so, Bella still had to ruin it.

All of her dignity crumbled like dirt at the moment.

The sight of Yvonne swaying on her feet alarmed Zach for a moment. But before he could say anything, Bella threw her tear-stained face into his arms again.

Zach looked at Bella’s neck. The red handprints and red marks there made him burn with anger. Rage surged through him as he demanded, “Who did this?!”

His question made Bella tremble as she looked at him. Then, with a whisper only the three of them could hear, she said, “It was… my uncle. He said that… you just wanted to toy with me, and he wanted—”

“He has a death wish, huh?!”

Zach quickly removed his jacket and covered Bella before he picked her up.

As for Yvonne, she instinctively grabbed Zach, even though he was oozing ruthlessness.

Just some time ago, Zach was brought to the police station because he had hurt someone. She had to work herself down to the bone to make sure the news never went out. He could not afford to be so rash again.

Yvonne wanted to say something, but her words died in her throat when Zach glared at her.

“Yvonne, I’ll make it up to you for your birthday. You’re a woman too. Can’t you feel some empathy?”

Soon, Yvonne smiled bitterly. “Is that how you see me?”

Zach tensed up, while Bella grabbed his shirt.

“Isn’t it true?” he growled.

Then, he shoved Yvonne away and left the hall.

The moment he left, everyone burst into a ruckus and started talking about it.

“Did you see that? Him? Loving? It’s all just an act!”

“What’s the point of him being a loving husband? Good times fade away quickly, and he can have as many women as he wants. Yvonne won’t be able to get rid of all of them.”

Their words stabbed Yvonne in the heart like knives.

Even so, she maintained a numb smile as she sent her guests away.

As her friends gazed at her with concern, she made sure to retain the last of her dignity. She needed to hide the humiliation Zach had dealt to her with her own power.

Eventually, everyone left, and she was alone in the room full of the fragrance of roses.

Like a kite with a broken string, she collapsed to the floor. After this fatal blow, her heart was shattered into pieces. All of her sadness burst forth like water from a broken dam, and she bawled on the floor. She no longer cared about her image.

The man who claimed that he would protect her for life had lied to her!

When Zach came back, he held a gift and the cake Yvonne loved.

As if he was trying to get into her good graces again, he opened the cake box for her. However, they found that someone had already taken a bite of the cake.

With an awkward expression, he looked at Yvonne and tried to defend himself. “Bella didn’t have anything for breakfast and said she wanted to have some cake to fill her stomach first. That’s why I gave her some of your cake. You don’t mind, do you?”

At this point, Yvonne’s heart was so numb that she could no longer feel any pain.

Zach knew she was a bit of a germaphobe, but he still let Bella eat the cake he had bought for her.

She scoffed and looked at Zach with an icy gaze. “What if I mind?”

She picked up the cake and gift and threw them into the trash can.

Half an hour ago, she had received a video from Bella.

In the video, Bella “very considerately” took out the pearl necklace that Zach had bought her from an auction. She wanted him to give it to Yvonne.

As for Zach, he actually listened to Bella and brought the necklace back to humiliate her!

The sight of Yvonne being so unappreciative made him scowl. His tone turned frigid too.

“Bella had a hard life growing up, and I saw myself in her. I just wanted to help her, nothing else. A rich lady like you who grew up pampered wouldn’t know how it feels like to live under someone else’s roof!”

He stormed out of their bedroom and slammed the door shut. As Yvonne stared at his back, she chuckled, but her eyes were full of grief.

So, she was just a spoiled, rich lady to him.

He had forgotten that this “rich lady” had rolled up her sleeves to fight his bullies for him, copied reflection essays repeatedly for him, stood up for him when his mother scolded him, and protected him when those snakes in the Frank family abused their power to torment him.

Zach had given her the cold shoulder before, but this time, she did not intend to compromise.

Bella soon sent her a message.

[Do you like the present, Mrs. Frank?]

Yvonne looked at the cake box in the trash can with no emotion in her eyes.

At the end of the day, trash had to return to where it belonged.

Since Bella loved being Mrs. Frank so much, Yvonne would hand over the title.

Yvonne’s studio was soon sold at a high price. As thanks, she took some time to treat the agent to a meal.

As their meal reached its end, the people in the room next door ended theirs too. Following that, the corridor was filled with laughter.

Once most of the group left, a few friends stood where they were and started talking about something private. It was as if no one else was around.

“Have you thought this through, Zach? Sure, you can have fun, but are you serious about Bella? You left Yvonne alone at her birthday party last time for Bella, and you didn’t see how pale she looked! We’ve watched your entire relationship grow. Are you really going to be so heartless?”

“And you’re faking your death? Isn’t that unfair to Yvonne?”

Familiar voices suddenly traveled into Yvonne’s ears.

Those people were waiting for Zach’s reply, just as she was.

Then, Zach took a deep swig of his cigarette before he said hoarsely, “I’m going to give her the company and all of my real estate and cars. She’ll have a life of luxury. Isn’t that enough?”

One of them hummed and hawed. “But Yvonne isn’t lacking money.”

Zach’s silence seemed to be a confirmation of what that person said. But before long, he chuckled. “That just shows Bella needs me more.”

Yvonne clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white, and her ears rang.

She did not even know when the people outside left.

She sat in her chair quietly. The agent, on the other hand, was furious in her place.

“There are seriously all sorts of monsters in this world nowadays! How can he fake his death to lie to his wife and run away with his mistress?! He’s heartless!”

Upon regaining her composure, Yvonne took a sip of tea before she answered with a smile, “I know, right?”

After she returned home, Yvonne received a call from her mother.

“I’m done with the preparations. When are you coming?”

Yvonne took a glance at her phone. “In three days.”

“Alright. I’ll have someone pick you up later.”

Right after she hung up, she heard a cold voice behind her.

“What’re you doing in three days?”