To win the goddess’s smile.”
Chapter 1
Maxwell Ferguson made me crawl on the ground and bark like a dog.
He called me out to a hotel in the pouring rain just so I could kneel outside and listen them making love.
He even personally killed our child.§
Yet, the moment I turned and fell into his elder brother’s embrace.
He hurt himself like crazy to ask me to look back at him.
****
The groom ditching the wedding was something the Fergusons had never seen before.”
“Just some nobody orphan girl with a pretty face. No wonder Maxwell ditched the wedding.“} “Who’d want a girl with that kind of background, let alone someone from the Fergusons?“}
“I wonder when Maxwell will get tired of her and let me have a go. That face, that body, tsk tsk tsk.“)
The looks people gave me were a mix of pity, mockery and barely concealed lust.
I clutched the bouquet tightly in my hands. The Fergusons looked down on my background so much that even my wedding dress was a defective one thrown out by the bridal shop.
Annabelle said I should know my place, that someone as lowly as I should be grateful to marry into the Fergusons. She said having even one decent dress was more than I deserved.
“Suzanne, have you contacted Maxwell?” The elegant and wealthy woman below the stage shot me a disgusted look.
My heart trembled and the scars on my back began to ache again. I gripped the hem of my dress, not knowing what to do and whispered. “Mom, he hasn’t replied.“>
Annabelle’s brows furrowed deeply.
“If Maxwell isn’t here, then this farce ends now. We’ll discuss the wedding again some other time.“}
I snapped my head up, staring at her in disbelief. She dismissed the wedding I had dreamed of for so long as a farce.
“An orphan with no parents, brought into the Fergusons by Katherine and still so ungrateful.“>
“Maxwell has met plenty of flirtatious women like her; no wonder he prefers someone sweet and innocent like Chelsea Sadler.“)
The words from below the stage pierced my heart like sharp swords. I didn’t know how I dazedly returned home. When I pushed open the door, I saw Maxwell sitting on the sofa.
“Chelsea’s turtle went on a hunger strike today, so I went to the pet hospital to look.”
“Did anything go wrong with the wedding?“}
I looked up at him. His shirt was disheveled, his neck covered in love bites and he hadn’t even zipped up his pants. He looked utterly satisfied.
As if he noticed my gaze, Maxwell deliberately pulled his collar down, showing a few scratches on his collarbone.
“Chelsea’s so delicate. Just a few rounds and she already scratched me like this,” he said with a tone of complaint and pride.
I was the adopted daughter–in–law brought home by Katherine Ferguson. Since I was young, I was taught to obey Maxwell. I wasn’t even allowed to make noise during sex, because he thought it was annoying.
“She’s not like you. She is delicate and fragile. She can’t handle all those wild moves.”
Maxwell mostly used me for release when he was with me and all sorts of props filled the room.
But he only had tenderness towards Chelsea, unwilling to hurt her even a little.
Countless times after, I would be covered in injuries, bleeding nonstop and Maxwell would only coldly leave a “how boring” before leaving the room.
The doctor said I had a ruptured corpus luteum and couldn’t engage in strenuous activities anymore. When Maxwell found out, he angrily scolded me for being delicate.
He had initially planned to take Chelsea hiking. Still, because she was weak, Maxwell wanted me to go and carry water and equipment for them.
“You’re tough as nails, yet you can’t even handle a hike?” Maxwell’s angry voice seemed to ring in my ears again.
“Today was supposed to be our wedding,” I said, trembling as I looked at him.
His face stiffened and he irritably put out his cigarette.}]
“It’s just a wedding.“}
“Chelsea’s turtle could die if it doesn’t eat. That’s a life, you know.“>
“Suzanne, when did you become so cruel?” He didn’t even spare me a glance as he turned and walked upstairs.
I didn’t even notice when the tears began to fall.
The Maxwell of the past would give his own room to me, a newly arrived orphan; knowing I was allergic to strawberries, he wouldn’t allow any strawberries to appear in the Ferguson household; when others called me an adopted daughter–in–law, he broke that person’s leg with a kick.
Now, all those exceptions belonged to his little secretary, Chelsea Sadler. Ding!2
The special notification sound on my phone rang. Since I came to the Fergusons, Maxwell had pinned my contact and set it to special notifications.
I clicked open the notification and saw Maxwell had posted a picture on social media. Two hands intertwined with the caption: A forced marriage can’t compare to spending time with my little turtle.
