I met Chase when we were teenagers.

We spent seven years together, deeply in love.

I thought we would naturally get engaged and live happily ever after.

He was a rising businessman, and I was the Thea family's only daughter.

But I never expected that he was a cruel avenger.

He approached me with a careful plan. Everything between us was a step to complete his revenge.

He used my father's connections to climb up the ranks.

But in the end, he backstabbed my father.

Chase was a ruthless man.

He was too ruthless.

Rain was pouring that day. He threw my belongings out of the villa one by one.

"You know what? It was my birthday when your father bankrupted my family. My dad promised to go to the amusement park with me, but he never came back.

"You should really thank me, Evelyn. I didn't grow up quickly so that your family could enjoy these many years.

"Now, it is time for you to suffer what I've been through!"

'Suffer What?

'The death of my family.'

My mother was downstairs on the day when my father killed himself. She witnessed the whole thing.

Already in poor health, my mother couldn't handle the shock and fainted.

Outside the operating room, I considered killing Chase even if I had to die with him.

But my mother woke up.

She said, "I have to hold on. Otherwise, my Evey will be left all alone. How can I bear with that?"

Since then, Chase had used my mother as a threat, keeping me captive by his side.

My mother, on the other hand, had been staying at the hospital all these years due to her health issues.

And that gave Chase another leverage to trap me.

He gave me a bracelet and told me that he would let me go when it was shattered.

However, he claimed to others that I had always been with him willingly.

In this way, people in the whole Ahnu city believed that I longed for Chase unrequitedly.

But now, people heard what I had said.

They began to whisper.

"Well, well, well. So, it turns out that Chase's little lover doesn't like him and wants to leave all this time?"

"Shut up!" Chase suddenly shouted.

He fixed his intense gaze on me.

"Evelyn, what if I don't keep my word?"

I took a step back and didn't say anything.

Chase closed his eyes and let out a deep breath angrily when he reopened them.

It seemed he was convincing himself to make a decision.

"You haven't won, Evelyn." He resumed his carefree demeanor and lit a cigarette as he spoke.

"After all, you're just a toy to me, a quite worthless one among many toys.

"I can dump you if I want, and so can I replace you if I want."

After saying that, he held the popular internet celebrity nearby.

It was the woman who had just mocked me, Lily.

Lily exclaimed and ran into his arms.

"I'm sorry, Miss Thea. But this time, I'd like to break my promise. I shall continue to keep you as my toy."

Lily nestled in Chase's arms, provocatively looking at me.

She hummed, "Why are you still standing here? Go back to where you belong, toy."

I looked at Chase and said, "The bracelet is broken. You and I are done."

Then I started to turn around and leave.

But Chase called after me. "Wait!"

I stopped and tried to meet his gaze.

After a moment, he put out the cigarette and walked in front of me.

He held my chin with his slender fingers, forcing me to look at him.

The faint smell of tobacco rushed into my nose.

Chase's face was just inches away. The face I once so admired brought me nothing but fear right now.

He looked at me and suddenly chuckled.

It was a fake, cold, and cruel smile.

"What? Do you really want to leave?

"But the sins of the Theas haven't been paid back yet."

I bit my lip and didn't even want to say a word to object.

Seeing me like this, he remained intimidated as his black pupils glowed with danger.

"Evelyn, your father embezzled funds and destroyed my family. You have to pay his debts. I want to let him know how I torture you. I'll never let him rest in peace."

Of course, he knew how to sting me and how to anger me.

I glared at him and said firmly, "I told you before. My father would never do such a thing. I will find out the truth one day."

But my rebuttal sounded so weak and feeble that others looked at me as if I were a joke.

Chase strengthened his grip against my chin as his eyes turned icy.

"You want to leave? Fine!

"Do you see that pile of garbage? It's too dirty. How about you eat it up? Do that, and I'll let you go."

I looked at him, despair filling my heart.

What a perfect face. It seemed to be the most delicate face of all. Every inch of it was exquisitely crafted.

I used to be infatuated with it, but after all that had happened, when I looked at this face now, I felt nothing but coldness and cruelty.

But as long as I could be away from him, I was willing to do anything.

Gritting my teeth, I knelt on the ground and picked up the food on the ground.

Chase warned me coldly, "Evelyn, don't make yourself too dirty."

I ignored him and stuffed the food into my mouth.

'What is dirty? What is clean?

'I've never been dirty.'

The laughter around me was piercing and grating.

"Is Evelyn out of her mind? She really is eating garbage."

"She doesn't seem to be herself. Everyone in Ahnu City knows she single-mindedly loves Mr. Sean. But now she's eating garbage to leave him. It makes no sense."

"Is she playing hard to get?"

Suddenly, someone pulled me up harshly.

It was Chase.

His cold voice sounded, "Get lost!"

I dared not look at him. Regardless of the strange looks of the people around me, I turned and ran.

At that moment, all I wanted was to leave and go far away!

I rushed back to the city as fast as I could, without even changing my wet and dirty clothes. Despite the twisting pain in my stomach, I went to the hospital to complete my mother's discharge procedures and booked a plane ticket.

"Mom, we..."

She was not in the ward...

"Mom?"

My voice trembled.

I searched the whole hospital, but there was no sign of her on the rooftop, by the artificial lake, at the corner of the staircase...

She was nowhere to be found!

My legs went weak, and I slid down the wall, sitting on the ground.

My fingers trembled incessantly as I dialed Chase's phone number.

"Where is my mother?"

After a moment of silence, Chase sneered at me.

"Don't you want to leave me forever? Why are you thinking of me now?"

"Chase Sean!"

I shouted his name hysterically, on the edge of collapse.

The last time I said his name was when I shyly responded to his confession.

I didn't want to believe that he would go this far, but what happened had happened.

He was such a devil.

"If you hurt my mother, I swear I will kill you! You have my word!"