The Heiress He Drove Away: His Regret Came Too Late

In the year she was at her lowest, Isabella Sullivan worked three jobs a day and even sold her blood, all to pay for Daniel Lawson's leg treatment.

In that bare rented room, Daniel held her hand tightly and promised he would never betray her.

Yet as soon as his legs recovered, he transformed into the richest man in Northhaven.

And at his grand wedding, the bride had changed.

Isabella smiled until her eyes burned red. She did not cry. She did not make a scene.

He was marrying someone else, and she received a call from her wealthy parents.

"Isabella, the family conflict will be settled in seven days. Get ready. We'll bring you home then."

......

Everyone laughed at Isabella for losing her mind. She could barely feed herself, yet she had picked up a handsome nobody and kept him.

Isabella turned a deaf ear and worked three jobs a day to support Daniel.

She even sold blood to scrape together his medical fees and treat his legs.

Two years later, Daniel reinvented himself as the richest man in Northhaven.

Everyone thought Isabella had invested in a man with promise, that she was about to rise from hardship into wealth.

The truth was that Daniel locked her in the basement for seven days. Only when she was nearly starved to death was she allowed to eat.

"Have you thought it through? If you have, we'll hold the wedding tomorrow."

Daniel set down his knife and fork and spoke lightly as he looked at her.

Isabella's mouth was stuffed with food. She gave a muffled yes without lifting her head.

She was afraid that if she looked up, her tears would fall.

Seeing this, Daniel looked relieved.

"That's more like it. From now on, you'll be Mrs. Lawson. You need to learn to be generous. Don't bring that petty, calculating nature of yours into a wealthy family. I hired an etiquette teacher for you. Learn properly. Don't embarrass me at the wedding."

Isabella's chewing stopped for a moment.

Petty, calculating nature?

She remembered bathing in cold water in the dead of winter so she could save the hot water for his foot soaks.

She remembered bargaining herself hoarse at the market just to save one dollar.

Without all those petty, painstaking sacrifices, Daniel might have rotted on the street long ago.

How else would he have had the chance to stand up again and return to the Lawson family to seize power?

She swallowed the food in her mouth and did not argue.

Not because she had resigned herself to it, but because making a scene would change nothing.

The first time she discovered him tangled up with Emily Brooks, she had made a scene.

She smashed the room apart and cried until her voice was gone.

He knelt and swore he would never do it again. He even said he would send Emily overseas.

She believed him.

But half a month later, just as Daniel proposed to her, Emily's voice message arrived at the perfect moment.

"Daniel, if you dare propose to Isabella, I'll sleep with any man I can find."

At the time, Isabella grabbed Daniel's hand, her voice shaking beyond control.

"If you leave today, we're over."

Daniel looked at her with disappointment, as if she were a stranger.

"Isabella, you used to be so kind. How did you become this vicious after just a few days around high society? Don't you know how important a woman's innocence is?"

High society? Vicious?

When she heard those words, she laughed.

And as she laughed, tears slipped down her face.

She was the daughter of the Sullivan family, one of Portwell's most powerful old-money families.

Her parents had secretly sent her to Northhaven only because the family infighting had become too dangerous and they needed to protect her.

She could have taken the one million dollars she left Portwell with and lived quietly and comfortably.

Who had turned her into this?

It was him. Daniel.

To treat his legs, she had emptied herself of everything.

She had gone from a pampered rich girl who had never done a day of manual work to shampooing customers' hair at a salon.

She wiped away her tears, let go of Daniel's hand, and went back to pack, ready to return to her salon.

She would wait for the family turmoil to pass, then let her parents bring her home.

She had not expected Daniel to come back and say something even more nauseating.

"Isabella, Emily is young. She doesn't know better. Don't hold it against her. Well, I've decided. The wedding will be yours, and the marriage papers will be Emily's. That way, it's fair to everyone."

Fair?

He had crushed two years of her youth and twenty-eight years of dignity under his feet. How did he have the nerve to call it fair?

Isabella laughed from sheer fury and slapped Daniel across the face.

"Shameless."

That slap had bought her seven days of imprisonment and the wretched state she was in now.

Just as her thoughts returned, Emily rushed in crying, clutching a puppy.

"Daniel, someone pulled Fluffy's fur out. It must have been that bitch Isabella. My poor Fluffy."

"You're lying." Isabella spoke too quickly and choked on the food she had swallowed, coughing violently.

"I just came out of the basement. I haven't even left the yard. How could I have pulled your dog's fur?"

"Enough." Daniel's low shout cut through the room. The tenderness in his eyes faded, leaving only cold disappointment.

"Isabella, you're the only one in this house allergic to dog hair. If it wasn't you, who else could it be? I thought too well of you. I thought if Fluffy stayed in the yard, the two of you could coexist in peace. I never expected you to be so vicious that you wouldn't even spare a puppy."

"Come here." He stopped looking at her and beckoned to the servants beside him. "Shave Miss Sullivan's head. Don't leave a single strand."

The servants immediately stepped forward and pinned the still-coughing Isabella hard to the floor.

The blade scraped across her scalp. Hair fell with flecks of blood.

"Daniel, I didn't do it. Check the cameras... ah."

She did not know how long it took before the violence stopped.

Isabella lay on the floor like a ruined heap.

"Oh my God. Blood. Miss Sullivan is bleeding so much."