The country girl that Jonathan had hated so much he wouldn't even look at had now become a lady who could shout at me.

I looked at Tiffany with amusement, then at Jonathan, whose eyes softened at Tiffany's touch. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud, clapping and praising them.

"Actually," I started to speak as I smiled at Tiffany and Jonathan.

"You two are really a good match."

"There's a saying."

I paused for a moment. Then, it came to me.

"A bitch and a dog, what does that make?"

Jonathan’s face turned gloomy when I said that.

"An everlasting couple. Isn't that right, Jonathan? Hahaha!"

He shouted, "You're asking for trouble!"

Soon enough, Jonathan shoved Tiffany aside and rushed toward me. However, the time gap gave me time to act. Without further ado, I grabbed the dagger from the ground and lunged. When the dagger stabbed Tiffany, I saw his face fall apart. The usually calm man lost control and screamed.

"Tiffany!"

Tiffany's face turned pale as she collapsed into Jonathan's arms. Her eyes were still soft and gentle. She stroked Jonathan's face and looked at him with deep love.

"Jonathan, see? I protected you, too."

"Jonathan … "

After that, Tiffany quickly fainted. Jonathan lost his mind, lifted Tiffany and shouted, "Call a doctor!"

"Is there any doctor here?"

Before Jonathan brought Tiffany to the hospital, he turned and met my eyes. He looked at me with a fiery, murderous gaze.

He then shouted, "Natalie!"

"There is something I wanted to tell you five years ago," Jonathan said as his eyes turned red.

"Before you signed the divorce papers, I told you your brother was still alive."

"The truth is that’s a lie," Jonathan said, turning away.

"Your brother was already dead before I asked you to sign."

"I only said he was alive because that was the only way to make you leave London."

Thunder audibly rolled across the sky. Lightning tore through the clouds as I could still hear my brother's weak voice calling for me. I saw the truck coming straight at us, while Andrew pushed me away with all his strength before he fell under the wheels.

With gentle eyes, he reached for me and called me, "Natalie."

"It hurt."

I could still recall that very moment as I tried to crawl to his side, nearly collapsing into his arms.

But he held my hand softly and said, "But you’ve been protecting me."

"It was worth it."

On that fateful day, I had lost the only person I loved in the world. My brother, Andrew Burnell, fell into a deep sleep. He was separated from me by the heavy door of the hospital. Jonathan dragged me outside the ward, pointed at my sleeping brother inside and demanded my obedience.

"Natalie, why do you think Andrew was there?"

"It was because he saw the nude photos."

"Natalie … Before you hurt me, did you ever think that the person you were hurting was not me? Instead, you’d also hurt your only brother?"

"Natalie, just sign it."

Jonathan then slammed to the floor. As if all my strength had been taken from me, I collapsed, staring at the agreement.

I heard Jonathan say, "If you sign, I will promise you that Andrew will be kept alive."

"If you promise to leave London forever, I promise to take good care of him."

But later ... As soon as I boarded the plane, I received a video from Tiffany. In it, my brother was buried quickly. In fact, he was even buried without a proper tombstone.

Tiffany's voice had a cruel edge as she spoke, "Natalie, this is what happens when you offend me."

"That car accident was not an accident," Tiffany's voice cut into my heart like sharp thorns.

Each word she said stabbed me.

"It was just Jonathan teaching you a lesson. But I did not expect your brother to risk his life for you."

"Who can be blamed?"

"After all, you're such a jerk."

Immediately, I tried to get off the plane just to go home. Unfortunately, the cabin felt full of Jonathan’s bodyguards who supervised me from every direction. In the end, I couldn't escape the plane. I couldn't return to London.

For five whole years, I was abroad. I watched the thorny vine inside me grow into a towering tree. Every breath I took felt like it was nearly choking me. I never imagined that even his promise about signing the divorce agreement to keep Andrew alive would be nothing but a lie.

Soon enough, I had rushed toward Jonathan. However, his bodyguards quickly pinned me to the ground before I could reach him. I could only see Jonathan pick Tiffany up and carry her away.

I screamed like a madwoman, "Jonathan!"

"I'll make you pay!"

"Jonathan! I'll kill you!"

"I'll really kill you!"

Countless onlookers laughed and shouted, "She's just a mad woman! Everyone knows Mr. O'Brien makes the rules in London!"

"I heard about that back then. Mr. O'Brien, to protect Miss Montbauer, had Andrew crushed to ashes. She even livestreamed it at the time."

My head felt like it was ringing.

I heard someone else say, "Damn! Crushing his bones to ashes? That’s so cruel."

"Well, Mr. O'Brien did say that he’ll make anyone suffer a hundred times more if anyone makes Miss Montbauer unhappy, even if it's his own wife."

"But Mr. O'Brien also built his fortune because of his ex-wife."

Their voices blurred together as the rain fell hard.

I was soaked by the heavy downpour as if a storm had opened up over my life. The words about crushing Andrew’s bones to ash kept echoing in my ears. On my phone, the old livestream played on repeat. Tiffany was smiling and praising me five years ago, saying things meant to humiliate.

"I don't want Mr. O'Brien to love me like this, but Mr. O’Brien said if someone makes me unhappy, he'll make them a hundred times more unhappy," the recording said in her voice that I once trusted.

The box with my brother's ashes was opened easily.

I screamed in a hoarse voice, "No."

No one listened. No one reached out to stop them. I could only watch the box being opened. After that, Jonathan scooped up a handful of ashes and scattered them into the wind. For a moment, I thought I could still feel the faint warmth of my brother's body in the air, but the rain turned that warmth to nothing.

"No."

I cried and begged, "No, no, please! Don't do this to my brother."

A ringing phone in my hand suddenly brought me back to the present.

I quickly shouted into it with a hoarse voice, "I want revenge! I want Jonathan to pay for what he did! I want the same thing for Tiffany! I want them all dead!"

Tiffany wasn’t that badly injured. In fact, she was pretending to be weak to win every scrap of Jonathan's attention. Seeing him stay by her side despite everything, Tiffany smiled like she owned the world.

She called his name, "Jonathan."

"Let's get married after this is over, okay?"

It had been five years. Despite his spoiling Tiffany with gifts and tender love for all of those years, Jonathan still refused to give an official Mrs. O’Brien title to Tiffany. No matter how she acted or how many sweet words she said, he would not give her the formal title of being his wife.

She clutched Jonathan's hand as he said, "I don't want us to miss each other again."

"Jonathan," Tiffany sobbed, her voice breaking, "I just want the right to officially stand by your side."

Her soft, pleading words softened Jonathan. For a moment, he looked lost in her. It was as if he were ready to promise anything when I burst in.

I kicked the ward door open. I was soaked with blood and mud, while I still held the dagger tightly. I stood in front of Jonathan, who looked stunned at my appearance and he said, "You truly are invincible-"

Before he could finish his sentence, I rushed at him to drive the knife forward toward his chest. After that, I grabbed his hair with my other hand to pull his face up to mine.

"Jonathan!" I shouted.

"Today is the day you die!"