Elaine nodded in response. Then, she melted into William's arms. He continued holding her while comforting her in soft tones.

As I watched the couple being lovey-dovey with each other, I felt my heart going numb from the intense pain. I closed my eyes while suppressing my sorrow and rage.

When Elaine left the ward, I finally opened my eyes. William was elated to see me awake. He also made sure to show me the same amount of concern.

By then, I had already calmed down. I spent time with him as though nothing had happened. In fact, both of us chose to ignore the incident that had happened at Elaine's birthday banquet.

During the time I was hospitalized, William visited me every day. At first, I thought he really was here to visit me. That was, until I noticed that Elaine happened to be staying in the ward next to mine. That was when cold realization dawned on me.

William was never here for me. He was here for Elaine.

According to a nurse, Elaine got hospitalized because of pneumonia. She had to receive IV treatment for the time being. William would spend time with her every day. Then, he'd free up some time from his schedule just to visit me.

I even heard the nurses praising Elaine for having such a handsome and caring boyfriend. So, I couldn't resist visiting Elaine's ward.

Through the glass window, I saw William peeling an apple for Elaine before feeding her some fruit. Then, he'd wipe her mouth for her. Elaine held hands with him the whole time while smiling giddily.

Despite knowing that I'd be facing the brutal truth, I still watched the entire scene unfold before my eyes patiently. In the end, I just smiled bitterly. This time, I walked away quickly and steadily after turning my back on the couple.

It seemed that my decision to leave was the right one.

On the day I got discharged from the hospital, William dropped by to pick me up. When I returned to his home, I saw Elaine there.

Stunned, I could only stare at William, who refused to look at me at that moment. He only told me, "She's going to stay over at my place for a few days."

I just bit my bottom lip quietly. Then, I let out a scoff before returning to my room.

Since Elaine and William couldn't wait to live together, there was absolutely no reason why I should continue staying there.

While I was packing my stuff, Elaine approached me from behind.

"I never knew you've been dating him for so long."

I just chuckled softly. "Yeah. It's been a long time. And yet, I still can't capture his heart."

Elaine wore a smug expression.

"That's right. He loves me and only me."

After zipping up my suitcase, I got up to my feet and looked at Elaine seriously.

"That's why I'm backing off. I hope you two can live happily ever after," I said.

Just when I was about to leave, Elaine suddenly gripped my arm. Then, she pulled out a bangle from her purse.

My eyes went bloodshot instantly. I could only stare at her in disbelief.

"Why do you have this?"

Elaine merely raised an eyebrow in return. "Your dad gave it to me."

I instinctively reached out to snatch it away from her. After all, the bangle was left behind by my mother. In the past, I had looked for it for a long time, yet I could never locate it. It turned out that Charles had given it to Elaine.

Elaine kept dodging my attempts to snatch the bangle away. She quickly raised it above her head.

"Don't come any closer, or else I'll smash it!"

I stopped moving instantly. All I could do was glare at her angrily.

"Elaine Moore, don't you dare cross the line!"

But she just shrugged, wearing a menacing smile on her face.

"I can give the bangle to you… but you'll have to get down on your knees and beg me for it."

I could only stare at her in shock. I didn't want to do it at first, but when I saw her fingers loosening around the bangle, I panicked right away. With bloodshot eyes, I slowly sank down on my knees.

To my horror, Elaine laughed at the top of her lungs.

"Oh, Daphne! You're far too naive! Even if you were to grovel in front of me, I wouldn't give it back to you!"

Once Elaine was done speaking, she tossed the bangle out the window. I could hear it smashing into pieces from outside the house.

At that moment, my pupils shrank. My body began trembling violently, and my heart felt as though it was being slammed by a hammer repeatedly.

I missed my mother so much, but I couldn't even protect the only thing she had left for me. To make things worse, the culprit of the bangle's destruction still had the gall to act all arrogant in front of me.

"This is a warning for you to stop drooling after the man who doesn't belong to you in the first place. If you're leaving, you'd better not come back ever again," she warned.

I couldn't hold my rage back anymore, so I tackled Elaine to the floor. As I straddled her, I kept slapping her repeatedly. Then, I yanked her by the hair with all my might.

Some bitches deserved to be taught a lesson, that was for sure.

Elaine shrieked at the top of her lungs as I beat her up relentlessly. Upon hearing her screams, William came running over.

He yanked me off Elaine's body and threw me aside. Then, he delivered a harsh slap across my face.

"Have you gone insane?" he bellowed at me.

I raised my head, my eyes completely red with rage. As I watched William pull Elaine into his arms, I let out a chortle.

"William Blackburn, you've betrayed me!"

William's expression was cold. He cast me a furious glare in return.

"Regardless of what Elaine did, you shouldn't have beaten her up!"

Strangely enough, I turned calm and collected. My tone turned frosty as well.

"She broke my mother's bangle. That was my mother's personal belonging."

But William just scoffed coldly in return. He chastised me disdainfully, "Your mother's already dead, so what's the use of keeping her bangle? From the way I see it, your mother was a woman with no manners. Clearly, she didn't do a good job in raising you."

His words cut me deeply.

I burst into tears on the spot. In fact, I bawled like a lunatic.

"You're right. My mom died a long time ago. No one was there to raise me properly, so I deserve to get bullied. Is that it?"

William was momentarily taken aback by my cries. For a moment, he looked conflicted.

At that moment, the aggrieved Elaine began crying while whining to William, "Oh god… William, my scalp is bleeding! Daphne yanked my hair off my head earlier! And my face… my face is injured! Oh my god, am I going to be disfigured?"

Her entire face was swollen and completely covered in bruises. I was able to yank some of her hair off her head, which injured her scalp. Right now, she was still bleeding from her scalp.

William's heart ached for Elaine instantly. He said comfortingly, "Everything's going to be alright. I'll take you to the hospital and get you treated."

Then, he glared at the household staff angrily, who were all watching from the doorway. He ordered tersely, "Lock Daphne up in the basement. Have her reflect on her behavior for a few days in there."

I could only stare at William in shock and disbelief.

As I watched him whisk Elaine away, what was left of my feelings for him finally disappeared. Soon, I was taken away by the household staff as well.

There was nothing but pitch-black darkness in the basement. I didn't have my phone with me, so I couldn't contact anyone. It was so silent that I could even hear the air humming in my ears.

Honestly speaking, I was afraid of the dark. No—I was terrified of it.

Whenever I was about to fall asleep, rats would come out of nowhere and bite me. Even the meals I was given had gone bad. I couldn't even stomach them at all.

I had no idea how long the household staff had kept me locked up in the basement. But my imprisonment was a long and arduous one, to say the least.

On the day I was finally released from the basement, the household staff gave me a good beating. One of them told me arrogantly, "This is your punishment for offending our future missus. You'd better remember this lesson for the rest of your life!"

I knew that the so-called missus was Elaine. Of course, William allowed her to bully me as much as she wanted.

Truthfully speaking, I refused to believe that William would treat me like this. But the pain and agony I had gone through the past few days kept reminding me how cruel he actually was.

I was beaten up to the point that I couldn't even move an inch. Blood kept gushing out from beneath me.

Having finally realized that I was in a dire condition, the household staff quickly sent me to the hospital. After a quick check-up, the doctor announced that I had gone through a miscarriage due to my abdomen suffering from heavy blows.

Just like that, I lost my baby…

Heart-wrenching pain flooded my senses immediately. I broke down in hysteric tears on the spot.

The next few days were like living hell to me. I was stuck in a cycle of sorrow and guilt. At one point, I even attempted to jump off the building and end my miserable existence. If it wasn't for a patient who happened to walk past me and managed to stop me by hugging me from behind, I'd most likely have died.

Once I finally regained my rationality, I felt like the biggest idiot in the world.

William never loved me, to begin with. What could I have done with my pregnancy? Would I have given birth to the baby?

Well, the baby was better off without me. At least it wouldn't grow up in an incomplete family. Besides, I was about to get married soon. I couldn't do that while pregnant, could I?

During this period, William never bothered showing up. Some time later, I found out from the household staff that he had taken Elaine on another relaxing vacation.

Also, the household staff kept purposefully bringing up how nice William was to Elaine.

I knew that Elaine had ordered the household staff to hurt me repeatedly with their words. It was true that I'd felt sad, but after losing my baby, all the pain seemed to have vanished from my life.

It seemed that I no longer loved William anymore. After all, I'd never place my hopes in a man who had disappointed me this many times.

Today was the day I had promised Charles that I'd get married.

I had already changed into my wedding gown. When I was about to get into the wedding car, Elaine came to the venue.

She stood before me before tossing the wedding bouquet to me coldly. "Congratulations on getting married today."

I watched as the bouquet landed on the ground. My response came out detached.

"You got your wish."

Elaine smiled in satisfaction. Pride and arrogance gleamed in her eyes.

"Of course. Well, as long as you don't come back and stir up trouble for me, that is."

A pregnant pause later, Elaine leaned into my ear and began mocking me. "Oh, Daphne… Don't tell me you seriously think William really likes you."

My expression was calm as always. I merely shot her a sideways glance.

Elaine harrumphed in return. "To tell you the truth, I got to know William way before you even met him. That's why he fell in love with me first. Whatever relationship he has with you only stemmed from his need for pleasure."

I wasn't surprised, in the slightest. After all, I had already known the truth for a long time.

The sight of my aloof expression left Elaine feeling a little surprised. "How is it that you're able to keep your cool?"

I knew that Elaine wanted nothing more than to see me breaking down in tears and suffering from the pain she brought on. But seriously, I felt nothing right now.

Instead, I pointed at my heart and said firmly, "I'm already dead on the inside."

Elaine was clearly stunned. She just stared at my chest in a daze.

I took a deep breath. Then, I flashed her a knowing smile.

"Elaine, the love that can be stolen so easily is not true love. Since you love William that much, I'll just give him to you. I hope that both of you can live happily ever after."

After that, I got into the car.

I would never return to this home… ever again.

"William Blackburn, you and I are done," I thought.

In order to end our relationship properly, I even delivered William a proper break-up letter.

After completing the wedding ceremony with my new husband, Axel Young, I left the city with him. I didn't bring my belongings with me. In fact, I chose to abandon my assets and my phone as well.

Just like that, I had completely destroyed all of my traces in this city. No one knew where I went.

William finally went home on the third day I left. When he realized that his house was empty save for Elaine's presence, he began looking for me everywhere.

Elaine hid the fact that I was married from William, so he didn't know about the news. He thought that I threw another one of my tantrums and refused to see him. He had been waiting for me to take the initiative to seek him out.

But after waiting for many days, he never saw me. That was why he began contacting me worriedly.

Alas, he couldn't find me at all.

At that time, my letter was finally delivered to William's place. He tore it open to read the content. The moment he realized I intended to cut all ties with him, he was shell-shocked.

The letter read, "William, by the time you receive this letter, I'm already gone. I can't believe I actually fell in love with you over the years since we met. All these years, I was the one who had been seeking you out actively. We might have had our moments of passion, but you never promised me a future. Of course, you never included me in your future plans.

"There was once I looked forward to marrying you, but it was all a fantasy. After all, Elaine is the woman you love. In the past, I had gauged your response countless times—who would you choose when it came to me and Elaine?

"In all those moments, you chose Elaine. Moreover, you even killed our child. I could never forgive you for what you've done.

"Now that the woman you love is back, it's time for me to leave. I'm exhausted, you see—I don't want to remain in this mess of a relationship. I don't love you anymore. It's over between us. Please don't come looking for me because I don't want to see you at all.

"In fact, let's not meet again for the rest of our lives. It's better if we live our lives separately."

The surgical consent form of my miscarriage was even included in the letter.

William shook violently at the sight of the form. Shock was written all over his face. His eyes now bloodshot, he turned to glare at Elaine.

"What the hell is this all about?"

Elaine shook her head instantly, feeling rather uneasy. She claimed that she didn't know what I was talking about.

Flames of rage erupted in William's eyes instantly. While he kept his tone suppressed and low, he sounded a lot more intimidating than when he was actually yelling at people.

"Tell me the truth, Elaine. Where is Daphne? Where did she go?"