}
Chapter 1
Due to my father’s greed, I was forced to marry into the Watson family. rather than his treasured illegitimate daughter, Sophia Rowland. The man I was set to marry was in a vegetative state.
“What are your conditions?” my father asked, taking a long drag from his cigar.
“2 billion dollars,” I said, my scarlet lips curving slightly. “And once I’m married, reassign Sebastian to protect your darling daughter.”
He looked at me in disbelief–as he should. I used to love Sebastian.
That is, until I walked in on him touching himself to a photo of Sophia.
That was when I realized he had never stayed by my side out of loyalty or affection. He had become my bodyguard just to get close to her.
I almost laughed at how Sebastian Malfoy, the heir to the Malfoy family, had lowered himself for love.
But I also knew the truth that the person he had fallen for three years ago at first sight wasn’t Sophia, but me.
***
“I have made up my mind to marry into the Watson family.”
Elodie Rowland leaned casually against the old wooden doorframe of Rowland’s residence, a mocking smirk pulling on her scarlet lips.
David Rowland almost dropped his cigar on the beautiful carpet. He jumped up from the leather sofa, the creases around his eyes unfolding
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Chapter 1
in shock. “Elodie, I can’t believe you’ve come around. That’s amazing! The Watson family has been pressing us hard and requested that you move to New York in two weeks. What kind of wedding dress do you like? I’ll have someone custom–make it for you…”
“That’s all you have to say?” She sneered. “I’m marrying off in place of your illegitimate daughter, and you have nothing more to say to me?”
The temperature in the room dropped.
“What do you mean by illegitimate daughter? Sophia is your sister!” he snapped.
“A sister is born from the same mother. She’s the result of your affair, and I’ll never acknowledge her in this lifetime,” Elodie said, her gaze ice–cold.
The veins on David’s head throbbed, but he clenched his teeth and kept his
rage under control.
He took a deep breath and asked, “What do you want?”
“Give me 2 billion dollars, and once I’m married, transfer Sebastian to protect your illegitimate daughter.”
“Upon hearing this, his expression froze, as if she had gone insane.
“You’re out of your mind! 2 billion is enough to wipe out all of my liquid assets! Besides, isn’t Sebastian your favorite bodyguard? Didn’t you want to marry him? Why are you leaving him now?”
“Do you agree to my condition or not?” Elodie snapped, growing impatient, and turned to leave.
“Fine!” David slammed a hand on the table. “I’ll take care of both things the day you marry into the Watson family.”
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“He didn’t have time to argue, as all he wanted was to settle this matter quickly.”
Back when the Watson family’s sole heir was still a rising star. David had hastily arranged an engagement between the two families, hoping to secure Sophia a stable future. But then tragedy struck, and the heir fell into a coma after an accident.
“Since he didn’t want Sophia to suffer, he suddenly remembered he could push this mess onto his other daughter, Elodie. ”
“Elodie waved dismissively without looking back. Her heels clicked hard on the marble floor, each stride like a smack on the face. ”
As she clutched the doorknob, David’s words echoed again. “I understand you want money, but why are you throwing Sebastian away? I thought you loved him. How can you bear to hand him over to Sophia?”
“When she heard this, her fingers stiffened. ”
“She didn’t turn around, but her eyes stung with tears. ”
“Sebastian’s name stabbed into her heart like a sharp blade..
Nonetheless, she pulled the door open, shutting both his and her father’s questions behind her.
“By the time she returned to the villa, it was late at night.
“Her heels echoed on the steps as she climbed. But as she passed Sebastian’s room, she heard faint, breathy noises coming from inside.
“His room door was left ajar, and she saw the scene inside. ”
Sebastian sat half–reclined against the headboard and gripped a picture
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in his hand while his other hand was busy under the blankets.
His eyes were closed, and Adam’s apple bobbed as he let out a deep, smoky moan, “Sophia, my love.”
“The photo in his hand was of Sophia taken at her birthday party last year, where she wore a white dress and smiled at the camera sweetly.
“Elodie’s fingers clenched around the strap of her Hermes purse, nails digging in deep enough to leave crescent–shaped marks. ”
“And in that moment, she silently answered David’s question in her heart. ”
She had chosen to let go of Sebastian because, just like him, he only ever adored Sophia.
“The truth churned inside her like fire, burning her from the inside out.
She had met Sebastian for the first time three years ago when looking for
a bodyguard. Among a crowd muscular men, her eyes
locked on him instantly because he was absurdly handsome.
He was 188cm tall, with broad shoulders, a tiny waist, and sharp features. His eyes, in particular, were pitch–black and cold like frozen steel.
Elodie was known as a flirtatious seductress in elite circles, and she had only wanted to tease him at first.
She pretended to be drunk and collapsed into his arms, but he caught her by the collar like a stray cat and tossed her onto the couch.
She showed up at his door late at night in a silk nightgown, yet he draped his suit jacket over her shoulders and politely walked her back.
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She faked drowning in the pool, and he jumped in without hesitation, although he never so much as touched her waist.
No matter how hard she tried, he never let his guard down. He was always distant, always composed, and always addressed her as “Ms. Elodie“.
And somehow, three years later, she fell for him.
Elodie had no idea when she started liking him, but she guessed it was perhaps because she became lonely after her mother died.
When she was seven, David brought home Sophia, who was three months younger than her. It was then she learned the truth that although he had been married to her mother for ten years, he had been unfaithful for nine of them.
That was the day her so–called ideal family crumbled.
Paige Neal, pregnant with his second child, had screamed, cried, and questioned David in a fit of despair. The emotional strain sent her into labor that very night, and she never made it to the operating room.
Both she and the baby died.
Hence, Elodie hated her father and Sophia ever since.
She moved out and grew up alone. She attended school alone, did. everything alone, and faced the world by herself. She only hired a bodyguard because she was constantly harassed by wealthy heirs.
Sebastian was her first and only bodyguard.
After that, she was never alone again as he was always by her side.
She went from admiring him to flirting with him to falling deeply in
love with him. But in the days, they spent together, not once did he reciprocate her feelings.
Thus, she assumed he was only emotionally distant until the night she caught him masturbating to Sophia’s photo and heard him on the phone
after he was done.
“Mr. Malfoy, are you still playing the bodyguard game? You’re the Houston Scion, and you can have any woman you want. Why don’t you just pursue Sophia directly rather than putting on a whole show of being her older sister’s bodyguard?”
Sebastian’s voice was calm as he answered, “I did a background check on Sophia and found out that she’s an illegitimate child. She had a hard life and was naturally insecure. If I pursue her directly, it might scare her off. So, I want to take it slow.”
“I didn’t expect you to be such a hopeless romantic, Mr. Malfoy! I thought you might fall for Ms. Elodie. After all, she’s quite a seductress, and the number of men who tried to pursue her is a lot!”
Sebastian chuckled lightly, and his next words froze Elodie to the bone. “Is that so? Well, I’m not interested in her. She’s not even worth a strand of Sophia’s hair.
Each word cut through her like a blade.
At that moment, she stopped loving him.
For some reason, he was taking a long time to reach climax that night. His breath was ragged as he kept going.
Seeing this, Elodie’s lips curled coldly, and without hesitation, she pushed his door wide open.
