Once, everyone said she and Marcus were the perfect match—the golden couple, made for each other. Friends had always believed they were destined to be together.

But now those same people stood on their moral high ground, judging her. They accused her of ruining what was supposed to be a pure relationship. And somehow, they even blamed her for his seven-year deception.

Lucy was rushed into surgery, and Cecilia followed behind.

Marcus had only suffered minor scrapes, but he refused to let the doctor examine him. He insisted on waiting until Lucy was out of surgery.

Lucy had lost too much blood. The baby didn’t survive. Because of the hemorrhaging, her uterus had to be removed.

Marcus looked devastated, pain written all over his face.

“Lucy, I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have sent you abroad for seven years. I shouldn’t have ignored you. And I shouldn’t have mistaken everything you did for me as something Cecilia had done.

“I loved the wrong person. I thought she was the one.”

Cecilia listened, stunned and confused.

Did Marcus really believe Lucy had been the one doing all those things for him?

Tears filled Cecilia’s eyes as she wiped them away with trembling fingers.

But she had done so much for him over the years too—quietly, in the background.

Since she was five years old, she had been his blood donor. Marcus had a rare condition that caused dangerously low platelet counts and required regular transfusions.

As a child, she had been terrified he might die.

Her parents tried to stop her, but she insisted on donating blood for him again and again.

That was also why she had always been so sickly growing up, while Marcus gradually became stronger and healthier.

Later, in middle school, her parents tried to force her to leave, afraid she would sacrifice her life for him.

Marcus believed she had been allowed to stay because he knelt outside the Summer family’s house for seven days, begging them not to take her away.

But the truth was different.

She had threatened to kill herself if her parents separated them.

Only then had they finally given up.

Now she watched Marcus regretfully confess how cold he had been to Lucy—how he loved her and should never have ignored her.

Cecilia suddenly wanted to tell him that she felt the same.

If she had known their love would end in ruins like this, she would never have let it begin.

She walked toward the elevator, tears blurring her vision.

At that moment, Marcus suddenly collapsed onto the floor.

This time, she made a different choice.

She wasn’t going to save him anymore.

Night fell quietly.

Cecilia sat alone in her villa while her social media exploded with activity.

Everyone she and Marcus knew was sharing the same video.

In the clip, the bride’s face was hidden, while the groom slipped a ring onto her finger.

But the captions all said the same thing:

“Mr. Leedon and Mrs. Leedon’s seventh anniversary!”

Cecilia’s lips curled into a cold sneer.

Seventh anniversary…

Marcus and Lucy’s anniversary too.

Who exactly were these people celebrating?

Someone had posted footage from their wedding online, and it had quickly spread across the internet.

Everywhere, people were congratulating her.

“So happy for Mrs. Leedon!”

“Mr. Leedon and his wife are adorable. So sweet!”

“Another fairytale romance!”

Meanwhile, Marcus lay unconscious in the hospital, completely unaware of the storm brewing online.

Her phone suddenly rang.

She answered.

“Cecilia, Marcus urgently needs a blood transfusion. You need to come to the hospital and donate.”

Her eyes filled with tears—but they burned with cold fury.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Leedon. I’m not his wife, or even his girlfriend. I have no obligation to save him. I’m not connected to him in any way.”

“…You know everything?”

Cecilia let out a cold laugh.

“Thank you for what you did seven years ago. Because of you, I won’t have to deal with a divorce from Marcus now.

“If he bleeds to death tonight, I won’t attend his funeral either.

“I’m nothing to him.”

The old man’s voice turned icy.

“You, Cecilia, are just like your grandfather.

“You will always be the person I hate the most.”

Then he hung up.

Cecilia didn’t sleep the entire night.

Instead, she spent hours sorting through every memory she had with Marcus—holding tightly to the quiet, burning rage in her heart.

She grabbed a hammer and smashed every wedding photo, one after another. Glass shards scattered across the floor.

All the clothes Marcus had bought for her, along with the jewelry and handbags, she packed up and sent off. By midnight, everything had been shipped to a second-hand auction house.

She also destroyed the gifts they had exchanged since childhood—the stuffed bunny Marcus had bought to comfort her when she cried as a little girl, and the stacks of practice books for the college entrance exams that he had forced her to finish, tutoring her day after day.

One by one, she carried everything out to the yard and set it on fire.

Her phone buzzed again.

A strange message appeared.

“I never realized how much he loved me—he was even willing to risk his life for me.”

Cecilia replied with a single line.

“Lucy, congratulations. You’ve finally recycled my trash.”

Three hours later, she heard that Marcus had woken up.

At the Leedon family hospital, there had always been five bags of blood stored for him—just in case.

For years, his health had been stable, and he had never been seriously injured. Even so, every six months, she had blood drawn and stored for him, just in case Marcus ever needed it.

But after last night, those five bags of blood were probably gone within five hours.

Just like that, the twenty-seven years between them had been used up completely.

Bodyguards forced her to the hospital.

When she pushed open the door to the ward, she saw Marcus holding Lucy in his arms.

His eyes burned with anger.

“Cecilia! You bribed the doctors so that Lucy lost her baby. And on top of that, you had them remove her womb.”

She froze as Marcus accused her of causing Lucy’s miscarriage.

A nearby doctor immediately said, “Mr. Leedon, it was Ms. Summer. She said that if I didn’t remove Mrs. Leedon’s womb, my entire family wouldn’t be able to survive in this city.”

Marcus released Lucy and walked toward Cecilia.

For the first time, he grabbed her by the throat.

“How could you use money and power to hurt her like this? When did you become such a cruel person?”

Cecilia’s eyes filled with tears as she looked up at him.

The fury and anguish on his face were no longer meant for her.

Pain tightened around her neck as Marcus’s grip grew stronger.

She curled her lips into a faint smile.

“Marcus, it’s just a womb. If money can buy her life, I’ll gladly pay for it.”

His expression darkened with rage.

Without warning, he slapped her hard.

She fell to the ground, fragile and stunned.

His voice was cold as steel.

“Take her to the operating room. Remove her womb.”

Two doctors stepped forward and restrained her.

Cecilia stared at him in disbelief.

“What are you saying? Marcus, what are you going to do to me?”

His icy gaze locked onto hers.

“You can’t owe someone forever, Cecilia. Since you owe Lucy, then pay her back. Once everything is settled, I’ll still take care of you the way I always have.”

With a single glance from him, the two doctors quietly dragged her away.

She tried to struggle, but a doctor pushed an anesthetic needle into her arm.

Almost instantly, her vision began to blur.

Through her fading consciousness, she saw Marcus pulling Lucy into his arms again.

“Lucy, don’t cry. When you cry, it breaks my heart.”

Her awareness slowly drifted away, memories from her youth flashing through her mind.

She was twenty years old, crying in Marcus’s arms.

Marcus smiled mischievously and whispered teasingly, “Cecilia, I love it when you cry. When you do, it really turns me on.”

So that was what real heartbreak meant for him.

When a woman cried for him, that was what made his heart ache.

A sharp pain suddenly tore through her abdomen again.

Through the haze of anesthesia, she faintly heard the voices of the doctors—and Marcus.

“Mr. Leedon… Ms. Summer already had an uterine procedure earlier. Do you still want her uterus removed?”

“A uterine procedure?” Marcus’s voice was low, edged with confusion.

The doctor explained, “It could be caused by uterine fibroids. Sometimes surgery is necessary.”

Marcus’s expression darkened. “Remove Cecilia’s uterus and show it to Lucy. Her eyes are red and swollen from crying. She can’t keep crying like this. Do the surgery as soon as possible.”

“It will have to be done until the anesthetic takes full effect,” the doctor said.

Marcus shot him an impatient look, irritation creeping into his voice.

“Cecilia is already unconscious. Just take it out now.”

Tears slid silently from the corners of Cecilia’s eyes.

They were going to remove her uterus just to stop Lucy from crying.

Removal of the uterus caused massive blood loss. When Cecilia woke up again, two days had passed.

Marcus’s cold eyes gleamed with a ruthless darkness.

“You're awake.”

Cecilia’s throat was dry. She barely managed to speak before Marcus’s icy voice cut her off.

“You lost a lot of blood. Lucy donated blood to save you. Cecilia, you should be grateful. Do you understand?”

Lucy sat beside the bed, quietly peeling an orange, looking shy but determined.

“Marcus, I didn’t help Cecilia so she would thank me. I know how much you care about her. If giving half my blood could save her, I’d do it. I’d give everything I have—even if it meant dying.”

Her words sounded sincere and heartfelt.

Marcus’s next sentence, however, was cold and merciless.

“Cecilia, what you owe Lucy—you’ll repay with your status.”

Cecilia stared at him.

There was no warmth left in his eyes.

Suppressing the pain in her body, she forced herself to sit up.

Marcus immediately strode over and grabbed her arm roughly.

“What are you doing? You don’t care whether I live or die. You don’t care whether Lucy lives or dies. Cecilia, you owe us.”

Her face was pale as death, but her gaze remained calm and icy.

A faint, mocking smile curved her lips.

“Marcus… is this really my debt to you?”

Not far away, Lucy suddenly began to cry.

“Marcus, I don’t want anything. I just want you and Cecilia to be happy. I’ll be fine. I’ll disappear and never see you again.”

With those words, Lucy fainted.

Marcus released Cecilia instantly and hurried to catch Lucy in his arms.

His eyes flashed with anger.

“Cecilia, not everyone will tolerate your temper. After Lucy donated blood to save you, she stayed by your bedside the entire time, afraid you wouldn’t wake up.

“We never betrayed you. You should be grateful.

“Your grandfather is gone. You don’t even have family here anymore.”

At that moment, Cecilia suddenly realized how foolish her decision had been—to stay behind for Marcus instead of leaving with her parents back then.

Marcus rushed out of the room carrying Lucy, leaving Cecilia alone with the pain.

Cecilia endured the pain and left the hospital. She opened her phone to find numerous messages from the lawyer.

“Miss Summer, the other buyers have arrived. They’re ready to sign the agreement.”

She returned to the law firm and finalized the sale of the remaining Summer family assets.

As for the shares Marcus had transferred to her before their marriage, she had already chosen the buyer—his greatest rival, Lucas Paterson.

She sent Lucas a message.

“Prepare 30 billion. I’m selling all my shares in the Leedon Group to you.”

His reply came quickly.

“Okay.”

Originally, Cecilia had planned to return Marcus’s shares to him, even after discovering his affair.

She wanted to preserve the last bit of dignity between them.

But after everything that had happened, she had changed her mind.

She would destroy the Leedon family.

And she would destroy Marcus along with it.

Just as he had destroyed her.

She lifted her gaze toward the distant shopping mall.

On the giant outdoor screen, Marcus’s public announcement was playing repeatedly.

It showed Marcus standing beside Lucy, making a heartfelt declaration.

“I would like to clarify something.”

“There are rumors claiming that Cecilia Summer and I are married. That is a misunderstanding.”

“Seven years ago, the woman I married was Lucy Garnett.”

“Because I wanted to protect my wife, I asked my friend, Cecilia, to help me. That’s how the rumors started.”

“Now that the truth is out, I want everyone to know—”

“I, Marcus Leedon, have only ever been married to Lucy Garnett.”