Lies Form the Shackles of Love

One day, Ginnie Sullivan overheard Adam Grant, her husband, talking to his private doctor. “Mr. Grant, ever since your wife’s arm was hurt, she could hardly hold a pen to draw. Miss Warma has replaced your wife. She has become a famous artist. “Mrs. Grant’s arm tissues are almost completely dead. Are you sure you want to continue hiding this from her and refuse to treat her arm?” Adam replied coldly. “This is the only thing I can do in order to secure Snow’s position as a genius artist. As for Ginnie, at worst, I’ll make it up to her for the rest of my life.” Ginnie stumbled back in shock, unable to believe that the savior in her heart had deceived her for a total of three years. Since his love had all been a lie, she would just leave. Chapter 1 “Mr. Grant, the tissues in your wife’s arm are about to die completely. Are you sure you still want to hide this from her and swap her medication out for vitamins?” Behind the door was Adam Grant’s private doctor, and he was tentatively cautioning against this idea against the regal man standing in front of him. “Ever since you plotted to have Mrs. Grant’s arm injured, she could hardly pick up a pen and draw. Miss Warma has already replaced her as a famous artist, and you’re still unwilling to treat her arm?” Adam drummed a finger against the table in irritation and growled, “This is the only thing I can do in order to secure Snow’s position as a genius artist. As for Ginnie, at worst, I’ll make it up to her for the rest of my life.” He subconsciously looked outside with a melancholic expression. “After my mother passed away, Snow gave me a painting and stayed by my side through my darkest days. I’m willing to sacrifice my marriage and the rest of my life for her.” Ginnie Sullivan, Adam’s wife, stood frozen by the door. After she heard these words, her mind went blank as her heart clenched up in pain. She could not believe that she had been deceived by her most trusted person for three years. Three years ago, her ex-fiance had cheated on her with her best friend, Snow Warma, on the day before their wedding, and Ginnie ended up becoming the joke of their circle. While she despaired, Adam appeared in her life and proposed to her with a ring while telling her just how long he had been in love with her. Ginnie had been moved by his sincerity and decided to marry him. But soon after they got married, Adam’s business failed, and he owed a huge amount of debt to loan sharks. To clear off his debts, Ginnie worked day and night, but she got her arm injured when a heavy object fell on her, and she could no longer pick up a pen to draw. Through teary eyes, Adam swore to her that if he ever became successful, he would do whatever it took to treat her arm. But Ginnie only just realized that all of it had been a lie. The love and gentle kindness Adam showed her over the years was fake, and it was all so to get rid of her for Snow, since she was Snow’s greatest rival in her career! Tears spilled uncontrollably from her eyes as Ginnie turned around in panic with the lunchbox in hand. She just wanted to leave this suffocating place. Almost immediately, she ran into an employee, and the soup and documents spilled all over the floor. “Are you blind?! Don’t you watch where you’re going?! I need Mr. Grant to sign these documents today!” “I’m sorry,” Ginnie apologized and blinked back her tears as she helped pick the documents up. Right then, someone reached out from behind her and took the documents. When Ginnie turned around, she saw Adam staring at her with pity in his eyes. The employee said respectfully, “M-Mr. Grant.” Adam nodded and motioned for the employee to leave before he carefully helped Ginnie up. “Did you burn yourself? Your arm’s injured, so you don’t have to come and give me lunch anymore. The employees don’t know you either. What if they knock you over again?” Ginnie nodded in silence. Over the years, Adam had never told anyone that Ginnie was his wife on the premise that he wanted her to stay away from the business world so that she could recover in peace. Ginnie had finally realized the real reason behind it. He did this because he was worried that Snow would be mad and because he was worried that he would be unable to bring happiness to Snow openly in the future. And she had foolishly fallen for his lies for three years. Adam had an important meeting later and told the driver to send Ginnie home. After she reached home, she was finally unable to keep her composure and slid down to the floor before she buried her head in her arms and sobbed. In her mind, all the memories of the past flashed. Suddenly, she remembered that Adam had a mysterious storage box. He had looked through it multiple times at night behind her back. In order to verify her theory, Ginnie went to the study and found the box. After she opened it, her heart sank. In it were Snow’s pictures and her drawings, and they spanned over ten years! Behind every picture was Adam’s familiar handwriting, and they were filled with professions of his love toward Snow. Even all of the places Ginnie went to with Adam were places he chose, because Snow had been to those places before. Ginnie cradled her chest to endure the dull pain coming from her heart. When her tears finally stopped, she slowly took out her phone and called an overseas number. “Grandpa, I’ll go with you abroad in seven days. Have someone pick me up.” Chapter 2 When she hung up, Ginnie felt the pain in her injured arm hurting even more. She took the medicine Adam had prepared from the drawer and was about to take it when she stopped. She almost forgot. The precious medicine Adam claimed that he had looked for everywhere was just vitamins. On top of that, the treatment for her arm had been delayed for a total of three years because of Adam’s “love”. Ginnie put on a jacket and left. She intended to go to a hospital to learn just how much damage had been done to her arm due to the delay. When the nanny heard that she wanted to go to the hospital, she panicked and tried to stop Ginnie. When she failed, she swiftly called Adam. “Yes, Mr. Grant. Mrs. Grant went to the hospital, and I couldn’t stop her.” When the hospital staff saw Ginnie come in with a pained, pale face while cradling her arm, they quickly arranged for a consultation with an orthopedist for her, who checked her arm carefully as the frown on his face deepened. “Have you never come for a follow-up after you got your arm injured?” Ginnie gave a bitter smile and asked feebly, “Please tell me, how bad is my arm now?” The orthopedist sighed. Just before he could speak, someone flung the door open. Adam strode in. Behind him was Ginnie’s chief physician, who was busy wiping off cold sweat from his face. “Ginnie, why didn’t you tell me? Why did you come to the hospital alone? Are you feeling unwell?” Adam came forward and held Ginnie in his arms as he worriedly checked her from head to toe. When the orthopedist saw the chief physician’s expression, he tactfully left. Ginnie whispered, “My arm hurts. It hurts a lot.” Adam’s expression sank, and he immediately demanded an answer from the chief physician, “Dr. Zimmer, both you and my private doctor have been in charge of my wife’s condition. It’s been three years, so why does her arm still hurt regularly? Have you really been giving her the best medicine there is?” In his panic, Dr. Zimmer said, “Mr. Grant, you’re a major shareholder of the hospital. Even if we had the guts to do so, we would never give Mrs. Grant any random medicine! “Mrs. Grant, why don’t I put some ice over your arm first and have a specialist give you a massage? I’m sure it’ll stop the pain.” Ginnie knew that she would never be able to get any further answers from the doctors in the hospital. She looked down and said faintly, “No need. Just give me some painkillers.” Once she got the medicine, Adam fed her the pills. He only sighed in relief after he saw her pain-filled expression fade away. As they were going back, Adam suddenly saw something and ordered the driver to stop before he got out. After waiting for half an hour, Ginnie started getting impatient. Adam finally returned with a box of desserts for her. “These are your favorite desserts. I bought them for you.” A thin sheen of sweat covered Adam’s forehead. His usually smooth and clean suit also had some dirt on them because he had been queuing up for a long time. If she saw this in the past, Ginnie would have felt touched. She would have immediately hugged him as she cooed and praised him for going through such trouble for her. Yet, right then, Ginnie found herself unable to say anything that would even suggest that she felt touched. She simply could not understand how Adam was able to make it seem like he was loyal to her when he loved Snow so deeply. Adam quickly noticed Ginnie’s abnormal behavior. Her eyes were also a little swollen, showing that she had cried before this. He hurriedly hugged Ginnie and asked softly, “What’s wrong? Are you still worried about your arm? Don’t worry. I’ll definitely get you treated.” Yet seemingly out of the blue, Ginnie asked, “Adam, do you love me?” Adam had been patting Ginnie’s back, and his hand froze. He looked away but still said, “Silly girl, you’re my wife. Of course I love you.” “Can I stop receiving conservative treatment for my arm, then? I want surgery.” Adam’s heart sank, and a hint of regret subconsciously appeared in his eyes. Even so, he still gritted his teeth and softly advised Ginnie against it. “The risk for surgery is too great. We’ve been going through conservative treatment for three years, and things have been good. Can’t you choose not to take any risks? “Be good now. I promise you that I will stay by your side through the entire treatment. Even if your arm never recovers, I can serve as your hands.” As Ginnie listened to his misleading words, her heart sank because of how heavy it had become, and she shut her eyes in disappointment. Chapter 3 After returning home, Adam started helping Ginnie change her shoes and clothes, just like always. When they ate, he was worried that cutting the steak would be too hard for her, so he cut it for her and fed her. As they ate, Adam’s phone rang. Ginnie spotted the caller ID. There was no name, only a heart. She scowled. The sight of the caller ID made Adam immediately put down his fork and knife and stand up. He gently kissed Ginnie on the forehead. “I have an important meeting at the company tonight. I’ll be back soon.” Ginnie asked, “Why do you have a meeting so late at night? Are you sure you’re not mistaken?” He simply took out a bracelet from his pocket and put it around Ginnie’s wrist before flicking her nose. “We’ve been busy lately, so this is unavoidable. Take this bracelet as an apology from me.” With that said, he grabbed his car keys and left in a hurry. Soon after Adam left, Ginnie received a message from Snow. It contained a series of words and a few photos. [Come to Grant Corporation’s new product launch tomorrow. I have a surprise for you.] The message was deleted in less than two minutes. It was followed by another message. [Sorry, wrong person.] Ginnie knew that Snow had done so on purpose. She saved the photos before the message was deleted. Zooming in allowed her to see Snow having a candlelight dinner with another man, and Ginnie could tell immediately that the man was Adam, even though he only had an arm revealed. He had removed his wedding ring, but there was a barely perceptible, faint mark on his ring finger. He was helping Snow put on a beautiful bracelet. Ginnie had heard of the bracelet before. It was a limited-edition diamond bracelet that had once cost an exorbitant amount of money. Adam had flown abroad and bought it from an auction some time ago. The bracelet Adam gave her was just a complimentary item from the auction house. The next day, Adam left early for Grand Corporation’s new product launch. Apparently, the company was going to announce that they were working with a mysterious artist and launching the new product they had been working on together, so this launch had garnered a lot of attention. Soon after Adam left, Ginnie hailed a cab and went to the launch. She sat in a corner and saw a familiar face. That was Adam’s true love and Ginnie’s former best friend—Snow Warma. Both Ginnie and Snow were the only two students of a famous artist, Howard Thompson. Since Ginnie was a prodigy, she learned much faster than Snow, and her skills were also superior. Due to her excellent skills and looks, she dated Howard’s grandson, William Thompson, and was engaged to him. Snow did not show any signs of jealousy despite Ginnie being better than she was in every aspect. Instead, she got closer to her, and they talked about everything and anything. But a day before her wedding, Snow stole William from Ginnie, and she finally saw Snow’s true colors. Ginnie did not want to dwell too much on what had happened later. But after the lie Adam crafted to save her, she thought that Adam was her savior, only to learn that it was just another trap. Meanwhile, Adam was holding Snow’s hand and announcing to all the media that Snow was the mysterious artist who had been working closely with Grant Corporation. His eyes sparkled, and the love in his eyes when he stared at Snow was clear as day. One of the reporters put his microphone in front of Adam. “Mr. Grant, I heard that you’ve known Miss Warma for years. Since you’ve never announced being married before, are you waiting for a chance to marry Miss Warma in the future?” Chapter 4 In the face of such a presumptuous question, Adam just smiled, took the microphone, looked at Snow, and said, “This depends on Miss Warma, but both Grant Corporation and I will forever support her.” Snow gripped Adam’s fingers bashfully, and Adam’s hand trembled. Ginnie saw all of this, and she dug her nails into her palms. The product launch was abuzz with a fresh wave of excitement. The emcee took the opportunity to say that they were about to announce the new product that Grant Corporation had been working on together with Snow. After they drew the curtains, the audience let out amazed gasps, but Ginnie’s breathing froze. At that moment, she could not believe her eyes. Grant Corporation dabbled mainly in the automobile industry, and they worked together with Snow to produce a car featuring a black-and-white design resembling the traditional art of the country. The aspects of art fused perfectly with the streamlined design of the car. But the original draft of this black-and-white design had been Ginnie’s! Before Adam succeeded in his business, she had personally fused together the concept of his car designs and traditional art and completed this draft for him. It was all so that she could help Adam with his career. But later on, she injured her arm, and the original draft was left unfinished and set aside. It was then placed on a bookshelf. Only she and Adam knew about this. How did Snow get her draft and plagiarize it while claiming it to be her original design? Ginnie’s heart sank, and she started trembling. In the end, just as Snow started talking about the concept of her design, Ginnie was unable to quell the anger in her heart. She pushed the crowd away and rushed up the stage. Slap! She ran straight to Snow and brought up her uninjured arm to slap her. “Snow, you stole my draft and had the gall to say you drew it?!” Right after she shouted her question, someone tall shielded Snow. Adam was furious as he stood before Snow and brought his hand up to slap Ginnie right back. Stunned, Ginnie could only watch as Adam tried to hit her. Her heart almost stopped. But Adam’s hand did not end up hitting her face. Snow hid behind him and shouted right back at Ginnie, “What proof do you have to say I stole your work?! I’m going to sue you for slander! Adam, you have to prove my innocence!” Ginnie waited silently for Adam’s reaction as grief shone in her eyes. Adam just clenched his fists tightly and spoke to the security guards. “Drag this crazy woman out! I don’t want to see her show up around Grant Corporation again!” Then, he shoved Ginnie away mercilessly and cautiously escorted Snow away from the product launch, which had already descended into chaos. As Snow looked at Ginnie mockingly, Ginnie was thrown out of Grant Corporation. She even started bleeding from the scratches on her palms. Enduring the mocking stares from the people, an anguished, self-deprecating smile showed up on her face as she limped home. Adam only arrived home at midnight, and he was even drunk. He stumbled into their bedroom and crawled into bed to start touching Ginnie. She shot up awake and shoved Adam away in a panic. “What’re you doing, Adam?!” In the past, whenever Adam made her mad, he would always hug her affectionately, just like this, and beg for her forgiveness. Ginnie thought that he was going to do the same thing to apologize for what had happened during the day, but Adam started kissing her neck and unbuttoning her shirt. The situation was starting to get out of control. “I missed you. Couldn’t I, honey?” As she heard him calling her with such an endearing term, all Ginnie could think about was how Adam had protected Snow during the day. He was the one who had nearly hit her because of Snow and even pretended not to know her while calling her a crazy woman. He was the one who chased her out in front of everyone else, and yet he was not apologizing but thinking about this? What exactly was she to Adam? She bit down on her lip and asked in distress, “Am I the one in your mind, or are you thinking about Snow?” Adam stopped for a moment before he gently wiped away Ginnie’s tears. “Snow is already married. How could I want her?” But Ginnie knew that Adam was only being so affectionate with her because he saw Snow’s husband when he sent her home today. Whenever he kissed her urgently, it was only to vent his jealousy of William. Again. Just who was Ginnie to Adam? Ginnie felt disgusted. With every ounce of her strength, she shoved Adam away and ran to the guest room while pulling her collar tightly together. Chapter 5 Once Adam sobered up the next day, he cooked a lavish breakfast for Ginnie to apologize to her. “I looked into the product launch yesterday, Ginnie. The nanny stole your draft and sold it to Snow. I’ve already fired her. Since she’s already so old, let’s not hold her accountable by the law, okay?” Ginnie could not help it. She scoffed. Adam truly was a company president, alright. He had managed to find a scapegoat in no time. He continued, “I wasn’t expecting Snow to do something like that either! But plagiarism is a scandalous issue, and if it blows up, it’ll give the company a negative image. Since things have come to this, why don’t we do her a favor and pretend that it was her draft? “Besides, you already hit her to vent your anger, right? Since she’s not holding you accountable to it, you should forgive her for this.” Once he started talking about Snow getting hit, Adam’s tone gained a reproachful edge. “Please don’t be so rash next time. Snow has always been frail and has never been in a conflict with anyone else before. She can’t handle being slapped.” The protectiveness in his voice made Ginnie frown, and she felt uncomfortable. Before she could say anything, she suddenly received a message. It was from her grandfather’s assistant. [Miss Ginny, preparations are almost ready. We will pick you up at the assigned time next Friday.] Adam saw the message too, along with the long string of numbers that clearly belonged to an overseas phone number. For some reason, something felt off to him. “Who sent you the message? Why is it an overseas number?” Ginnie hurriedly turned the screen off and put her phone face down on the table. “It’s nothing. Just a foreign scammer.” At that, Adam sighed in relief and teased her, “Scammers nowadays sure have a lot of new tricks. They’re even calling you ‘Miss Ginny’ to gain your trust.” Ginnie did not tell him that she had once thought that she was an orphan and only learned from her grandfather, who found her not too long ago, that she was the heiress of Sullivan Corporation, a company based abroad. He also wanted her to live abroad with him. At that time, Adam had been busy with work, so Ginnie had wanted to find the right time to tell him. However, at that moment, she no longer felt the need to tell him. When Ginnie still looked rather dour, Adam changed the topic of conversation. “It’s Mr. Howard’s birthday tomorrow. He’s your teacher and an elder I respect. Let’s attend his birthday party tomorrow and… also mend your relationship with Snow.” Heh. It was for Snow again, then. Ginnie turned her head away. A long time passed, and she finally said, “Sure.” But it was not to mend her relationship with Snow, as Adam had proposed. Both she and Snow were Howard’s students. Even though she did not end up marrying William and hurt her arm, Howard still treated her like his granddaughter, so she should indeed go. On the day of the birthday, all sorts of powerful figures from the business world attended Howard’s party. But the center of attention was Adam, the rising star of the business world. He calmly entered while holding Ginnie’s hand, but when he saw the affectionate way Snow stood together with William to serve the guests, a dark look appeared in his eyes. Without even greeting Howard, Adam let go of Ginnie and went to the side to start drinking. Ginnie glanced at the empty spot beside her before she went to the study to visit her teacher with her gift in hand. The sight of Ginnie coming over made Howard look at her with pity. As he stared at Ginnie’s limp arm, he sighed. “It’s been three years. Why is your arm still not healed? Is there really no way for you to get it treated? “You’re the most talented person I’ve seen when it comes to drawing, and your drawings are filled with the most life. If not for the fact that you hurt your arm, your achievements wouldn’t pale to Snow in the slightest.” Ginnie shook her head with a bitter smile. If she had not heard Adam’s conversation with his private doctor three days ago, she would not have been able to figure out why her arm still refused to heal either. After she left Howard’s study, she could not find Adam. Just as she was about to turn around, she heard a faint moan from the room closest to her. Ginnie looked into the room through the crack, and what she saw made her freeze. Chapter 6 Snow hugged Adam tightly from behind him and practically begged, “Adam, William is not treating me nicely at all. He has plenty of other lovers, and I feel so wronged.” Adam scowled and clenched his fists tightly. “You stayed by William and gave him your whole heart. You even gave him the best years of your life, but he’s doing this to you?! Snow, don’t worry. I’ll settle scores with him for you right now and ask him whether he even has a speck of a guilty conscience!” “No! You can’t!” Snow shook her head and placed her delicate hands on Adam’s. Her voice was hesitant but hopeful. “Adam, you’ve sacrificed your marriage for me, and I trust you. But if we bring this to the table, William will definitely be angry at me and divorce me. If that happens, what then? It’s not as if you can marry me.” Snow bit her lip. “Of course, if you’re willing to leave Ginnie and marry me, I won’t have to tolerate William anymore.” Adam said nothing. After a moment, he turned around and hugged Snow as he started patting her back gently. “Snow, I’m willing to do whatever you want. I’ll teach William a lesson from the shadows once I find the chance to do so, and he’ll definitely stop cheating on you.” Snow hugged Adam’s waist even tighter and buried her face in his arms as she cried. Ginnie had to grip the door frame tightly to prevent her legs from giving out on her. She never thought that the usually level-headed Adam would become so wild and aggressive for someone else. Her vision blurred, and Ginnie gagged before she stumbled away. She ended up running to the manmade lake in the backyard as she gasped for air. Her head seemed to be stuffed with cotton. Her arm ached as well, but none of it could compare to the hurt in her heart. “Well, well, if it isn’t the former genius artist, Ginnie Sullivan. Why are you hiding here like a coward?” Ginnie looked up and saw Snow standing haughtily in front of her. But since it was Howard’s birthday today, Ginnie did not want to cause trouble with her, so she got up and wanted to leave, but Snow grabbed her arm and pinched the part that was the most heavily injured. “Ah!” Ginnie cradled her arm and gnashed her teeth together as she glared at Snow. “Snow, I don’t want to ruin Mr. Howard’s birthday party! Don’t cross the line!” Yet Snow just acted as if she heard the greatest joke in the world. She snickered and sized up Ginnie’s arm with a mocking look. “You must feel horrible since your arm still hasn’t recovered, even after three years have passed. Do you know why you got injured in the first place? I’ll tell you out of the kindness of my heart. I asked Adam to do it for me!” Ginnie’s heart squeezed in pain at Snow’s words. She knew that Adam had refused to let her get her arm treated for Snow’s sake, but what did Snow mean by that? Feeling pleased with Ginnie’s reaction, Snow smiled and said, “I cried to Adam and said that you were better in me in every way, then I asked him to help me break your hand. He agreed to it and pretended to owe money to loan sharks so that he could make you work nonstop! “You didn’t break your arm by accident either. Adam got someone to do it. “Even though I only asked him to break your hand, Adam pitied me and broke your arm. He does whatever I want. If I had asked him to take your life, would it have worked? “Heh. I’ll let you live for now because I want you to see that the two men you liked in the past are now dancing in the palm of my hand. Even if you’re a genius artist, it doesn’t matter. In the end, you can’t even compare to me!” Ginnie felt her blood drain. She tried her best to remain calm as she hissed, “Is that all you’ve got? You can’t compare to my drawing skills, so you relied on men to pull these underhanded tricks. Even if you had an extra three years, you still had to steal my artwork to gain some recognition! You’re forever so despicable!” Snow’s expression sank, and she slapped Ginnie hard in the face. “You witch! Even now, you’re still going up against me!” Before Ginnie could react to the situation, Snow’s expression morphed into a dark sneer. “Ginnie, if I told Adam that you wanted to kill me out of anger, what would Adam do?” With that said, she grabbed Ginnie’s injured arm and dragged her into the lake with her. Chapter 7 “Snow!” With a shout, Adam jumped into the lake and swam with all his might toward Snow. Ginnie reached out to him in pain, but he simply swam past her. He only cared about Snow. Ginnie lost the remainder of her strength and could only watch as her husband saved Snow before performing CPR on her. Blood oozed out of her injury, and it gradually turned the water red. Right before her consciousness faded away entirely, her hearing sharpened. “Don’t be scared, Snow. You’re okay now. I’m right here. Are you hurt anywhere else?” “Sob… Adam, I didn’t know that Ginnie was still mad about last time. She said that she wanted to drag me to hell with her and pulled me into the lake without another word…” Adam trembled. He finally noticed that Ginnie was also in the lake. She smiled bitterly and allowed herself to sink to the bottom. … When she opened her eyes again, Ginnie found herself changed into a hospital gown and lying in a ward. She was parched and pushed herself up to walk to the door, only to hear Adam’s voice outside. “What on earth are these doctors doing? Why have they only just realized that Ginnie has been four months pregnant?” Ginnie’s breath stilled, and she subconsciously put her hand over her stomach. “Calm down, Mr. Grant. If Miss Warma learns that Mrs. Grant is pregnant, you won’t be able to be with her. Why don’t we put abortion pills into Mrs. Grant’s food or stage an accident—” “No.” Adam rejected the idea swiftly. After some thinking, he said grimly, “The baby might have come at an inopportune moment, but no matter what, the baby’s mine. Once Ginnie gives birth, I can divorce Ginnie and marry Snow. “Have the private doctor stay at my place and make sure he takes good care of Ginnie’s baby.” “Understood, Mr. Grant.” Ginnie stumbled back in shock. When she felt the door handle turn, she hurried back to the bed and lay in it. When Adam held her hand, she feigned confusion and opened her eyes. “Are you awake, Ginnie? You’ve been unconscious for a full day. You scared me!” Adam nuzzled against her hand and looked at her gently. “You silly girl, let me tell you something good. You’ve been pregnant for four months. In half a year, our baby will be born. She’ll grow up and call us Daddy and Mommy. Ginnie, thank you…” Ginnie teared up. She was finding it harder to understand Adam. Even though he loved another woman, he still put on a loving act in front of her. Perhaps he had been putting up that act for too long, and he had become really immersed with this character. Ginnie opened her mouth and said hoarsely, “How was Mr. Howard’s birthday party? Snow—” Adam put a finger before her lips, and the gentle look faded somewhat from his eyes. “You’re the one who pushed Snow and caused her to nearly die. Even if you’re jealous of her, I can’t agree to it! Just stay home and rest for the baby’s sake. Stop talking about the past. I’ll go and apologize to Snow for your sake. “But I can’t guarantee whether she’ll forgive you. No matter what, you’ll have to suffer the consequences.” Ginnie looked down, and the last remaining longing she had for Adam vanished entirely. Indeed. No matter what Snow did, Adam would side with her without hesitation. Why even defend herself, then? Besides, she was about to leave soon, so there was no future for her with Adam anymore. Chapter 8 When Ginnie returned home with Adam, four obstetricians were already waiting for her. Adam said sternly, “Over the next few months, you’re all fully in charge of monitoring my wife’s pregnancy. You must fulfill my wife’s needs and ensure a safe delivery for her!” The four obstetricians bowed as one. “Understood, Mr. Grant, Mrs. Grant.” But Ginnie scowled at that. She was once an orphan and always hoped to have a baby of her own, but at that moment, she was uncertain. Was there truly a need for a baby born of lies to be brought into this world? At that moment, Adam’s assistant ran in while sweating. “Bad news, Mr. Grant, check the news! Word about Miss Warma plagiarizing Mrs. Grant went out, and a large group of ghostwriters have appeared online to insult her!” Adam grabbed the phone the assistant handed to him. When he read the contents, his eyes flew wide open before he hurriedly said, “Have the PR department call for an emergency meeting now, hurry!” With that said, he did not even spend some time talking about why he was doing this to Ginnie. He just sped off to the company. Ginnie turned on her phone. Just as she was expecting, she saw the hashtag #SnowWarmaplagiarism trending at the top. The work Snow showed during the launch was indeed largely different from her previous style. At that moment, her social media account was flooded with skepticism and insults. Ginnie had only one thing to say about this: She deserved it. Feeling great, Ginnie had dinner and soon fell asleep. But when midnight arrived, she woke up due to the continuous stream of message notifications she received on her phone. Once she turned on her phone to check, all of her sleepiness was gone. In an instant, her phone was flooded with countless insults, and they were all from people who had wanted justice for Snow. At the same time, her name started trending as well. Apparently, Adam had publicly declared his support for Snow and had stated that Ginnie had a persecution complex. He even brought out the drafts Ginnie never published to claim that those were all Snow’s, stating that she had been practicing this style. The only reason she had never published it was because she wanted to give everyone a surprise. Ginnie clenched her phone so tightly that her hands started trembling. Tears filled her eyes. For Snow, Adam had willingly pushed Ginnie into the center of the storm! She immediately got out of bed and ran into the still lit study. Adam was talking to his assistant. When he saw Ginnie, he immediately said, “Do as I said. If you run into any problems, call me.” Then, as if nothing had happened, he put on a warm smile and draped a blanket over Ginnie’s shoulders. “Why are you awake? Is the baby kicking up a fuss?” Ginnie shoved her phone to his face. With a quivering voice, she demanded, “To help Snow’s image, you personally defamed me and even stole my past works for her? Have you ever thought about what I would have to go through if you did that?” Adam sighed. As if he did not see the continuous stream of insults on the screen, he hugged Ginnie and said, “Those people online just want to have someone to be the target of their negative emotions. Turn off your phone for the time being and turn a blind eye to it. Snow is already sharing common interests with the company, and her reputation will bring about a great effect to the company. “Besides, think about it. Your arm is broken now, and Snow is Mr. Howard’s only student left. Can you really bear the thought of letting Mr. Howard’s skills be lost forever? Considering the current situation, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to go through some hardships for now.” Even though he spoke as if he was negotiating with her, his stance was firm, and he allowed no room for any change in the situation. Ginnie avoided Adam’s appeasing kiss and only felt anguish. What about her? To protect Snow, Adam gave away the hard work she treated just as importantly as her life to someone else. Who was going to help her get her justice? Adam’s phone rang again. It was from his assistant. He looked away and gently pushed Ginnie out of the study. “Be good now. I’m going to take this call. Calm down first. If you have any problems later, you can come to me.” Chapter 9 Ginnie wiped away her tears and turned around in the face of Adam’s unyielding stance. Whenever Adam made a decision, no one could change his mind. She returned to the bedroom and quietly started gathering all the gifts, letters, and photos they had given each other. Once she had done so, she burned them all. Then, she went online and found a hospital located in a rural area before making an appointment to have an abortion the next morning. Ginnie set her alarm at 5 a.m. and headed out alone while the private doctor was still fast asleep. Within the cramped operating room, the doctor repeatedly asked Ginnie whether she really wanted the abortion, and she gritted her teeth before nodding. As the cold apparatus started moving around callously within her, her tears slid down her cheeks. The operation was soon over. With a feeble voice, Ginnie asked the doctor to put the fetus into a jar and give it to her. Such was the gift she intended to give to Adam before she left. With her face still pale, she went back home, but before she could even open the door, a group of reporters surrounded her. “Miss Sullivan, why are you here at Mr. Grant’s house? He said that you slandered Miss Warma because you’re mentally unwell. Is that true?” “Both you and Miss Warma studied under Mr. Howard, but while Miss Warma has risen to fame, you’ve faded into obscurity. Is this the real reason behind why you accused Miss Warma of plagiarism?” “Someone saw you pushing Miss Warma into a lake during Mr. Howard’s birthday party. Could you tell us why you tried to kill Miss Warma?” The reporters kept pushing and shoving at Ginnie with their hands and microphones, and the flashing shutters were so bright that she could not open her eyes. Her body was already weak after the abortion, and the flashing lights made her faint. Her lower body hurt, and she felt as if blood was flowing out. Suddenly, Snow forced her way through the crowd until she arrived in front of Ginnie, and she fell to her knees with a loud thud. “Ginnie, I know that you’ve always been jealous of me. You didn’t manage to kill me during Mr. Howard’s birthday party, and now, you have slandered and cyberbullied me. Just what do I need to do for you to leave me alone? I’m begging you, just leave me alone already…” She threw herself at Ginnie’s feet. During the chaos, Adam brought along his men and rushed into the courtyard. With sticks, they drove the reporters away. He then picked up Snow, who was bleeding from her forehead after she threw herself down on the ground. “Snow, why did you do something so stupid like hurting yourself? I’ll bring you to the hospital right now!” Before he left, he glanced at Ginnie and noticed that she was terrifyingly pale. But due to the emergency at hand, he could care less about her. Ginnie was gentle and demure, anyway. She would understand him. So, he just said, “Ginnie, rest in your room. I’ll be back soon!” He left without hesitation. Ginnie limply fell to the ground and watched as Adam left with his entire group to bring Snow to the hospital. Her heart trembled in pain. Her phone sent her a notification telling her that the time had run out for the countdown timer she had set beforehand. It was the end of seven days. It was time to leave. A group of men dressed in black suits arrived in front of Ginnie and respectfully helped her up. “Miss Sullivan, Mr. Sullivan has sent us to bring you abroad.” Oliver Clark, the butler, put a jacket around Ginnie’s shoulders and said grimly, “As per requested, the preparations for your staged death are also ready.” Ginnie nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Oliver. Let’s go meet Grandpa.” Before she left, she left behind two things on the table for Adam. Holding back her tears, she cast a final glance at the house that contained three years of beautiful memories and left.