Yara stood a short distance away and listened quietly. She did not say a word.

Quiana proudly sauntered over and looked at her with obvious disdain.

“You did a good job with the banquet. But there’s a small problem. There was no carpet in the hall. My dress got dirty. To make up for it, I want you to hold it for me.”

Yara kept her head down and said calmly, “Please wait. There’s a carpet backstage. I’ll have someone lay it out right away.”

Quiana’s face turned dark. She could not believe Yara had refused her.

Just then, Marcus walked over. He saw Quiana looking upset and rushed over.

“What’s wrong?”

“Marcus, I don’t want my dress to get dirty. I asked your secretary to hold it for me, but she wouldn’t. Is she still upset about what happened last time?”

Seeing Quiana feeling upset, Marcus quickly pulled her into his arms. He glared at Yara.

“It’s just a matter of holding some garment up. That’s your job. You’ve been a secretary for a long time. You can’t handle such a small task?”

The guests nearby whispered and laughed.

“A secretary dares to give Ms. Xanthe attitude? Does she even know her place?”

“Different people have different luck. The rich heiress is born to be pampered. Letting you hold her dress is already generous. Be grateful.”

Yara’s eyes fell as she heard their mockery.

She pushed down her feelings, bent down, and picked up the dress.

Quiana dragged Marcus around the house, upstairs and downstairs, just to make Yara suffer.

The hem of the dress was covered in pearls. Yara’s arms ached from holding it. She clenched her teeth and kept going.

Quiana was not satisfied. She had more wine poured and waved at Yara.

“I don’t want to drink tonight, but my friends came to the banquet. I can’t refuse. Drink all this for me.”

“I’m allergic to alcohol.”

“Marcus, look at her!”

Yara tried to explain herself, but Quiana started whining and acting cute.

Marcus was aware of Yara’s allergies. Still, he wanted to make Quiana happy, so he agreed.

“Don’t you carry allergy medicine? Take it first, then drink. You should be fine.”

There was no room for her to refuse. Yara felt her heart sink.

Her face turned pale. She stayed silent, took out her medicine, and swallowed a few pills.

Soon, people came over with glasses of wine, talking and laughing. Yara raised a glass and forced it down her throat.

One glass after another, her stomach churned. She felt like she was going to be sick.

Her head felt heavy. Her vision blurred.

The hall spun around her. She heard Quiana scream.

“Marcus, the necklace you gave me is gone! The only person who came near me was your secretary. She must have stolen it!”

Hearing the false accusation, Yara regained her clarity for a moment.

“Mr. Quinn, it wasn’t me.”

Marcus looked at Quiana’s teary eyes and then at Yara, who was drunk and unsteady. His face grew serious.

“There were a lot of people around. Maybe you dropped it somewhere. Let’s look for it first.”

Quiana would not let it go. She shook his hand away. “If it wasn’t her, then who else? I only care so much because it was a gift from you. Yet you’re protecting her. If you won’t search her, then don’t come near me again!”

With that, she turned to storm off. Marcus quickly held her and called the bodyguards over.

The next moment, a few bodyguards forced Yara to the floor and tore at her clothes.

Her mind went blank. She struggled, but she was completely overpowered.

Her shirt was ripped into strips. Her dress was ruined. Her skin was bruised and scratched, and some areas were bleeding.

A wave of humiliation hit her. She could not help crying and screaming for help.

“It’s not me! I didn’t do it!”

Her cries only brought more violence.

The bodyguards reached for her undergarments.

Marcus could not bear to watch. He tried to stop them when several servers ran over.

“Found it! The necklace fell on the stairs!”

Everyone in the hall immediately turned to look at the sparkling diamond necklace in their hands.

Marcus’ tense brow relaxed. He waved for the bodyguards to step back.

He picked up the necklace and put it around Quiana’s neck himself. His voice was calmer.

“The necklace is back. Stop being angry, okay?”

Quiana finally smiled.

She looked down at Yara, who was lying on the floor in a mess. She held Marcus’ arm and acted cute again.

“Good thing it was found. If not, I would have been upset for a long time. But your secretary suffered so much because of this. Should I apologize to her?”

All eyes in the hall turned to Yara, whose clothes were torn and disheveled.

She could only curl up and hug herself tightly under the hostile stares.

Through the pain, she heard Marcus’ cold voice.

“No need to apologize. She’s just a secretary. A little suffering is nothing.”

That sentence cut Yara like a knife. It pierced her chest and tore at her already broken heart.

Her deeply scarred heart felt like it was being ripped apart. She felt unbearable pain.

Her mind buzzed, and her eyes were empty and numb.

At some point, everyone in the hall had left. Only the bright lights remained, showing all the marks on her body.

She forced herself to stand. She picked up the coat a kind waiter had left and wrapped it around herself. She staggered out of the hall.

Outside, heavy rain poured. She walked into it without noticing it.

The cold raindrops hit her face and ran down like tears.

But she could not shed a single one.

She did not know where she was going. She wandered through the streets without direction.

A car stopped beside her.

The window rolled down. Marcus’ cold, sharp face appeared.

“Get in.”

Yara did not answer. She dragged her heavy body through the rain.

Marcus frowned and said more firmly, “Get in.”

Yara stopped. She lifted her pale, bloodless face to him.

“Don’t bother, Mr. Quinn. I’m just a secretary.”

Her words were icy and sharp. Marcus’ heart ached at her tone.

He opened the car door and walked through the rain to her. He held her hand tightly.

“What happened tonight is my fault. I have already lost Quiana once. I can’t lose her again. I’ll find a way to make up for the humiliation you suffered. Don’t be angry with me over this.”

Yara was done giving in.

She used the last of her strength to pull her hand free and took a few steps back. Her voice was cold and still.

“You must be joking. An ordinary person like me could never be angry with you or with Ms. Xanthe. I was too naive and foolish before to understand my place. From now on, I’ll always remember that I’m just a secretary. I won’t disturb your life again. Are you satisfied? Can you let me go?”

The more she spoke, the angrier Marcus became.

His face turned cold. His emotions were out of control.

“You know I didn’t mean that! I never looked down on you. I only said those things to calm Quiana. In my heart, you and Yelena…”

He kept talking, but Yara could not hear a word.

The world around her grew blurry. Her eyelids felt as heavy as lead.

Her strength was gone. Her body swayed, and she lost consciousness.

She did not know how much time had passed. When she opened her eyes, Yara realized she was in a hospital.

Her wet clothes had been changed. Her wounds were treated and bandaged. A cup of water and some medicine sat on the bedside table.

A nurse was adjusting an IV. When she saw Yara awake, she gave a kind smile.

“You’re awake? Your boyfriend stayed with you all night yesterday. He just left.”

Yara opened her dry, cracked lips. Her voice was hoarse.

“He’s not my boyfriend. He never was.”

From the start, what they had was only a mistake.

Beyond her role as his secretary, he had never acknowledged any other connection between them.

She had once fooled herself and imagined a future that would never come.

She decided to face reality.

She would leave this place and never come back.

Yara remained in the hospital for a few days. Marcus never came to see her. His assistant sent a message on his behalf, telling her to rest well and return to work once she recovered.

Yara stopped pushing herself. She did not leave the hospital until her exhausted body had fully recovered.

The company group chat buzzed with gossip. Everyone was talking about Marcus and Quiana.

He booked an amusement park for a week to celebrate her birthday. Fireworks lit up the sky for three nights in a row.

He brought her to a family dinner and gave her the bracelet that was meant only for a future wife.

He bought a piece of land and planned to build a private ski resort. Even the name of the resort was connected to Quiana.

Yara read the messages quietly. Her heart felt nothing.

After she left the hospital, she went back to work as usual. She was careful and thorough with her work.

If anything required Marcus’ attention, she passed it to the other secretaries instead of handling it herself.

After a peaceful week, Marcus called her again.

She delivered the documents he needed and was about to leave when he stopped her.

“I have a meeting. Quiana doesn’t like eating alone. Stay here and keep her company.”

Her face stiffened. She wanted to refuse, but Quiana had already begun giving orders.

“I like steak. Cut it for me first.”

Marcus closed the door to the study. Yara swallowed her words and walked to the dining table.

After she finished cutting the steak, Quiana asked someone to bring over a large plate of walnuts and jackfruit.

“I want some fruit after the meal. There are no tools here. Use your hands.”

Yara looked at the hard walnut shells and the sharp spikes on the jackfruit. Her heart sank.

She knew Quiana was doing it on purpose.

But she could only obey.

After cracking the walnuts and opening the jackfruit, her hands were covered in small cuts.

Quiana still was not satisfied. She told Yara to go to the kitchen and bring the soup.

The soup had just come off the stove. It was so hot that her hands quickly turned red.

The pain became too much. Her grip slipped, and the boiling soup spilled onto her body.

Steam rose into the air. Within seconds, blisters formed on her hands.

The burning pain spread through her. She bit her lip hard to stop herself from crying out.

When Quiana saw Yara fall to the floor, she could barely hide her delight.

The next second, she saw the study door open. She quickly wiped the smile off her face and began to scold Yara.

“I heard from Marcus that you’re very capable. How could you not even carry a bowl of soup without spilling it? You even burned my hand.”

Marcus heard this and rushed over.

“Where did you get burned? Let me see. Does it hurt?”

Quiana raised the hand she had secretly pinched red and showed it to him. She forced a couple of tears.

“A few drops splashed on me. I don’t know if it’ll leave a scar.”

“How do you do your job? Quiana has been pampered since she was a child. She has never been hurt. She asked you to carry a bowl of soup, and you scalded her. Couldn’t you be more careful?”

Marcus’ face darkened. He could not help scolding Yara.

But when he saw the injuries on her body, he held back. He did not say anything harsher. He picked Quiana up and took her to treat the burn.

Before leaving, he saw Yara still standing there. His voice turned firm.

“Come to the hospital with us. Get your injuries treated.”

Yara endured the pain and followed them into the car.

Marcus drove very fast.

Quiana did not want him to realize she was pretending, so she cried out in pain from time to time.

He felt distressed when he heard her and kept turning to look at her.

His attention was so divided that he did not see the sports car speeding toward them.

There was a loud crash. The two cars collided.

The force of the impact threw Yara against the car door. It felt as if her organs had shifted. Sharp pain spread through her body.

Blood flowed out and turned her vision red.

Her body trembled. She forced her eyes open and saw Marcus carrying Quiana out of the car.

An ambulance siren grew louder in the distance. Through her fading awareness, she heard two urgent voices.

“Sir, this young woman only fainted from shock. The passenger in the back seat is bleeding heavily. If she is not taken to the hospital right away, her life could be in danger.”