Chapter 1
The closet was filled with clothes Marvin had picked out for me.
Every time we had sex, he acted like he didn’t care–wild, relentless, without restraint.
The bruises and bite marks left behind were constant reminders of my shame.
From the beginning, Marvin made it clear.
“You’re nothing more than a way for me to let out my anger.”
That evening, just as I was swallowing my shame and reaching for the clothes I was supposed to wear tonight, Marvin came in with tired, bloodshot eyes.
Without saying much, he grabbed me and forced me back onto the bed.
He said, “Wipe that pitiful look off your face. You were the one
he who climbed into my bed in the first place, so what are you pretending for
now?”
I clenched my teeth and swallowed all the humiliation.
I told myself, “Just a little longer. Whether
it’ll all be over soon.
$ Marvin or this living hell,
The next morning, I washed up slowly, enduring the pain, then quietly knelt by the bed, waiting for him to wake up.
His eyes glanced over the marks on my skin, and for a moment, something unreadable flickered in his gaze.
“Quit acting pathetic. Get out,” he said coldly.
Without saying a word, I stood up and left the room.
Just as I reached the doorway, a bottle of pills rolled to my feet.
“No need to keep up that pathetic act out there, too!” he snapped.
I bent down and picked it up. As Marvin’s assistant, Ronan Cahill, walked by. He hesitated for a second.
I could tell he felt sorry for me. It wasn’t the first time.
He went over to Marvin and started giving his routine work report.
Then, after glancing nervously at Marvin, he said, “Mr. Berman, our company has developed a medicine that can stabilize your condition, so you don’t need… Ms. Eleanor…”
Before he could finish his words, Marvin’s cold glare cut him off.
“What? Are you worried about her? Do you want a taste of her, too?”
Terrified, Ronan immediately lowered his head and didn’t dare say another word in my defense.
I returned to the small attic room. There was no time to treat my wounds. I quickly packed the things I needed to take with me.
I had just finished when someone from the Berman Group came and told Marvin to bring me along to visit his mother, Camille Berman.
At the restaurant, the TV was showing footage of Luciana Surrett, Marvin’s ex–fiancée, arriving at the airport after her honeymoon.
She was also the older sister my father chose to protect when he threw me
away.
Chapter 1
Camille was nagging again. “Look at you. Luciana’s already married. You should let her go now and give our family an heir.”
Luciana was once Marvin’s childhood sweetheart and fiancée.
But after Marvin collapsed from an unexplained medical condition, no treatment seemed to work. At one point, he was barely clinging to life.
My father had no patience for waiting. Before Marvin could recover, he’d already married Luciana off to a powerful businessman in Austin.
He loved gambling, and the only way he could cash out was by marrying off his daughter.
To everyone’s surprise, Marvin survived. He crushed all the top business tycoons in Austin.
My father’s plan failed, and he ended up with a huge gambling debt.
Right when his creditors were about to catch him and break his limbs, he suddenly remembered he had an illegitimate daughter–me. So he used me as a bargaining chip, sending me to Marvin’s bed in return for enough money to clear his debts.
Marvin didn’t respond right away. He simply stared at the TV, where Luciana was smiling. His eyes, usually so guarded, shimmered with
emotion.
Camille looked over at me with a trace of uncertainty. “Eleanor, you…”
I was terrified she might ask me to have a child for Marvin. I opened my mouth, about to speak, but then the scent of fish from the dining table hit
- me.
Before I could stop myself, I doubled over and vomited.
Camille’s eyes lit up instantly. She rushed to call the family doctor.
Chapter 1
“What’s happening? Is she pregnant?”
H
After a thorough examination, the doctor confirmed it had already been two months. I felt like I had just fallen into freezing water, my whole body shaking uncontrollably.
I couldn’t believe it. I was carrying Marvin’s child!
