Julian hit me hard. My vision darkened, followed by searing pain, before a wave of heat surged through my nose and trickled down my face.

My vision blurred completely. I could only sense him standing up, returning a while later to wipe my nose with a tissue.

His movements were rough. I was too drowsy to keep my eyes open, but when my head was turned to the side, I caught a glimpse of his panic-stricken expression and a large bloodstain on his shirt.

My face stung from all that wiping. I tugged at his arm, our gazes meeting briefly. He'd likely never seen anything like this before.

Seeing as he was still unable to stop the bleeding, Julian finally scrambled off the bed, pulled up his pants and fled.

I lay on the bed, feeling my life drain away along with my blood. But I didn't want to die like this. I still had things I needed to take care of. I still needed to see Adrian.

I struggled to my feet, crawling inch by inch off the bed when I couldn't walk any longer.

Thankfully, I'd looked up the common symptoms of leukemia and how to manage each of them over the past few days. I also happened to have some medication in my bag. All I could do at that moment was plug my nose with cotton balls and tilt my head back to stop the bleeding.

After sitting on the tiled floor for what felt like an eternity, I finally felt my dazed mind begin to clear.

I stood, made my way to the bathroom, and looked at myself in the mirror. The bleeding seemed to have stopped by now.

I heard a commotion outside, growing louder by the second. I didn't turn around until the bathroom door was yanked open violently.

I watched Sean's reflection in the mirror. He was breathing hard, his eyes bloodshot and filled with dark violence. He looked at me for a long time before reaching out as if to touch me. His hands trembled slightly.

I ducked away from him. I didn't have any energy left to argue anymore. Instead, I slid slowly down onto the floor.

Sean crouched down as well. As he drew closer to me, I mustered the last of my strength and slapped him across the face.

That slap released a lot of my pent-up fury. Sean's head had turned to the side from the blow. To my surprise, he merely frowned before speaking in a low, hoarse voice.

"Feel better? If not, we can continue this at the hospital."

That bastard.

I couldn't help but laugh, tilting my head upward until it bumped against the sink with a loud thud. I cursed under my breath.

Under his unreadable gaze, I asked, "What are you so worked up about? Are you afraid I'll get tainted again? Or perhaps…"

I paused deliberately, still smiling. "Have you fallen for me now? Is that why you're so worried?"

Sean didn't reply. He simply stared at me wordlessly. We were close enough that my reflection danced in his eyes.

His response was hardly important to me. I just wanted to annoy him.

Having accomplished that, I pushed myself up from the ground.

"A little nosebleed won't kill me," I said before opening the door. My back was turned toward him when I spat maliciously, "Good fucking riddance."

Living in hotels indefinitely wasn't a solution, so after two days of lying around in a daze, I rented an apartment in the city center. Land was scarce, and every inch cost a fortune. Even though Sean and I were sworn enemies, financially speaking, he'd never treated me poorly over the years.

Not wanting to borrow any money from anyone, I spent his with relish.

The night I moved in, I received a call from Jason Kennedy.

Without any preamble, he said calmly, "Oran Moore has been found."

Jason was Adrian's childhood friend. He was also almost like a half-brother to me.

He'd lived abroad with his parents for most of his life, but his grandparents lived next door to us. So, during the summer and winter breaks, I would tag along behind Adrian and Jason, running around aimlessly.

Later, after his grandparents' passing, Jason rarely had the chance to return anymore. Still, we always stayed in touch.

If he hadn't been there when my family hit rock bottom, I would probably have been rotting in jail with Adrian.

Back then, Price Corporation had been caught in the eye of the storm. The company's deputy CFO, Oran, accused Dad of embezzling investment funds for personal use. He even directed the staff members from the finance department to falsify invoices to cover up his whole scheme.

Then, after Dad jumped to his death, Oran provided ledgers and bank statements that successfully landed Adrian in jail.

Nobody had seen Oran since Sean acquired Price Corporation at a dirt-cheap price.

Eventually, I managed to stealthily obtain the bank account number from Sean—the one that was used four years ago to transfer an enormous sum under a private name.

I'd sent that to Jason, knowing he would definitely be able to track it down for me. I just hadn't expected it to happen so fast.

I couldn't quite put what this moment felt like into words. I'd always known that this day would come sooner or later.

I let out a long sigh, feeling slightly lightheaded.

"Getting him to talk won't be hard," Jason continued. "The rest will fall into place easily enough."

I remained silent.

I felt a bit sluggish after taking the medication, so I simply listened quietly as Jason spoke. When he was done talking, the room fell so silent that I could hear my own faint breathing.

"Are you in a bad mood?" he asked.

Jason had always been intensely perceptive. He never failed to notice the negative emotions I wasn't even aware of myself.

"Of course not! I'm so happy I'm practically floating," I said, choosing to play dumb.

Jason chuckled softly. I couldn't tell whether he believed me or not. I changed the subject and chatted with him casually for a moment. Then, just as I was prepared to hang up, he suddenly spoke again.

"Cassie."

Only he called me that now.

I stared at the TV, suddenly recalling the time Jason had first heard Adrian call me "Cassie". We were kids then.

The first time Jason himself called me "Cassie", his smile was strikingly beautiful. He then turned to Adrian and asked, "What's your nickname, then? Addie?"

I burst out laughing back then, unable to help myself.

Now, I managed to snap back to my senses and replied with a simple, "Hm?"

Jason's voice was hoarse, his tone drawn out. He enunciated his words softly when he spoke. In that instant, all I could picture was him when he was a teenager, the way he used to look at me with those warm yet focused eyes.

"Wait for me. I'm coming back."

Lately, I'd been sleeping a lot more. I was always groggy and listless. Jason didn't tell me what time he would arrive, only the day when he was returning. All he said was to wait for him at home, so that was exactly what I did.

Except, I overslept, and by the time I woke up, night had long fallen. I gave him a call. Only when I heard that his phone was still off did I finally relax.

I got up and headed out to grab some dinner.

I wasn't watching my step, so I almost tripped over someone curled up on the sidewalk when I walked past the corner shop.

A curse made its way to the tip of my tongue, but I forced myself to swallow it when I met the person's tear-filled eyes.

Coincidentally, I happened to know her. It was Jessica Bird, the assistant who was interning at Sean's office.

We stood there as the wind howled, staring at each other in the dark.

Jessica looked as though she'd just been crying. She looked at me with wide eyes and sniffled.

To be entirely honest, I didn't want to get involved in whatever this was. However, as she blinked, tears rolled down her cheeks.

I sighed. "Are you okay?" I asked her.

Just like that, she burst into tears again, looking utterly miserable. "No, I'm not! Something terrible has happened!" she wailed.

With all the people coming and going, I didn't want to embarrass myself, so I dragged Jessica over to a random barbecue joint. By the time I'd ordered and the food arrived, she was still sniffling across from me, tears streaming down her face.

All that crying was beginning to get on my nerves. I cracked open a bottle of beer and handed it to her. "Alright, if you're just going to keep crying, I'm leaving you here on your own," I said.

Jessica immediately fell silent upon hearing my words. I gave the bottle another shake before she hurriedly accepted it.

"What are you doing out so late, Cassandra?" she asked.

I glanced at my phone. It was 9:30 pm.

I propped my chin up on one hand while holding a chicken wing with the other. Looking bored, I stared at Jessica, who sat across from me. "Just wandering around. What about you?"

Jessica's eyes instantly dimmed. "My boyfriend lives around here. He broke up with me out of nowhere today and blocked my number."

"So you're planning on staking out his place?"

Jessica nodded.

I didn't quite understand. "Why were you sitting on the sidewalk then? Go wait for him outside his door."

Jessica poured herself another drink while replying, "He never actually told me where he lives. Every time I drove him home, he'd just tell me to drop him off there, by the sidewalk. That's why I was waiting there."

I was baffled.

The meat at this barbecue joint was insanely delicious. I started tearing up from the spice.

I accepted a glass of water from Jessica before she began rambling non-stop, telling me various stories about her ex-boyfriend.

By the time I'd eaten my fill, I'd managed to catch up on most of what had happened. While I'd never been in a serious relationship myself, I'd spent years by Sean's side, which had given me enough glimpses into men's darker tendencies.

In the end, it all boiled down to the tired plot of a classic playboy seducing an innocent woman, then casually dumping her when he got bored.

When Jessica mentioned that her ex had a female roommate, I was perplexed. "Jess, could you really not tell he was trash?"

To my surprise, she shook her head. "I know he's not a good person," she said before retrieving a can of pepper spray from her bag and placing it on the table. She looked at me, her eyes clear.

"That's why I'm waiting for him here. I want to teach him a lesson," she continued.

There were so many things I wanted to comment on that I was rendered momentarily speechless. I licked my dry lips and opened another beer bottle for her.

"Way to go. I'm rooting for you," I said.

Alas, Jessica was still a young woman just stepping into the adult world. Two beers later, she was already drowsy. She nodded off in her chair.

The late autumn breeze caressed my flushed body. I squinted slightly, thoroughly enjoying this moment. Jessica peered at me, smiling mindlessly.

"You look like you've lost some weight, Cassandra," she said.

I chuckled. "It's only been a few days since I last saw you. How could you tell?"

"Of course I can! I've always paid a lot of attention to you. Last time, when the cufflinks on your shirt fell off, I was the one who picked them up and slipped them back onto your desk!"

I couldn't recall when exactly that happened, but since I was in a rather good mood, I played along anyway. "Thank you for that," I said.

Unfortunately, every time I found myself in a good mood, there would always be an idiot around to ruin it.

Initially, I'd simply found the nasally voice of the man behind me grating and oddly familiar. He was spouting some disgusting, misogynistic nonsense as I wondered what kind of vermin he was to spew such things in public.

Then, seconds later, I heard my own name.

I finally remembered who he was. It was Eric Sanders, one of Sean's friends who disliked me.

"I won't say anything else, but if she had any conscience at all, she would've left earlier. Honestly, even calling her a slut is giving her too much credit," Eric said.

His loud voice came from behind me. Someone at his table said something I didn't catch, but I didn't turn.

"Untouchable? You were far too young a few years ago to know how dirty that woman truly is."

Upon hearing that, I grabbed the half-empty bottle of beer and stood. Under Jessica's panicked gaze, I nodded at her. "Watch and learn."

Then, I walked toward the group. Three men sat at the table. Apart from Eric, whose back was to me, I saw another unfamiliar man.

Luke, who was directly facing me, interrupted Eric impatiently, "Alright, that's enough. This is pointless."

He then saw me coming and froze, staring blankly as I approached their table.

"Don't tell Sean, though. I still have some of those photos saved on my computer."