Silent Goodbye on a Summer Night

Ten years after someone supposedly pushed her down a flight of stairs and left her in a vegetative state, Margaret Whitmore, mother of Mason Whitmore, the golden boy of the capital's elite, finally woke up. Practically everyone who mattered in the capital came to visit, each eager to praise Mason for his devotion to his mother. For ten years, he had made the person responsible for Margaret's condition pay for what she'd done. Even though the culprit was his high school girlfriend, he'd shown her no mercy. Margaret listened in silence for a long time. When everyone had finished speaking, she looked around in confusion. "What culprit? Nobody pushed me. I fell down the stairs myself." The paring knife slipped from Mason's hand and clattered to the floor. He stared at Margaret in disbelief. "Mom, what did you just say?" Lily Yates hadn't been responsible for his mother's condition? Panic swept through him. He'd spent every one of those ten years taking revenge on Lily, believing she was the reason his mother lay unconscious. Now he was being told she'd been innocent all along? "Speaking of which, where's Lily?" Margaret asked anxiously. "I didn't want you dating her back then because she came from a single-parent family. I never imagined she'd risk her own life to save me when I fell down. Are you two still together? Have you gotten married? Do you have children?" Each question struck Mason like a sledgehammer. His mouth went dry, and for a long time, he couldn't bring himself to speak. How could he tell his mother that after Lily got out of prison, he'd forced her to be with a blind beggar, and she'd been living that way for the past three years? Chapter 1 Three Years Earlier At a private club in the capital, Lily Yates struggled as she scrubbed a toilet, her oversized work uniform making her thin frame look even smaller. By the time she finished, she was so exhausted that she sank to the floor and pulled out a photograph of herself with her father and younger sister. "Lily! Someone threw up in the Heaven on Earth suite. Go clean it up." She carefully tucked the photograph away and got to her feet. It had been three months since her release from prison. The first thing she'd wanted to do was bring her younger sister, Yvonne Yates, home from the orphanage, but with a criminal record, she needed to find steady employment before she could take custody of her. Unfortunately, finding work had proved nearly impossible. Between her high school diploma and her criminal record, she couldn't even get hired as a waitress. The club, at least, attracted all sorts of people and didn't care about her past. Inside the private suite, a dozen or so young people were having a party, playing cards and singing karaoke. Everyone was enjoying themselves far too much to pay any attention to the cleaning woman who entered. Lily knelt on the floor and began cleaning up the vomit. "Well, look who it is! Isn't that the straight-A beauty from Capital High, the most prestigious high school in the city?" a man suddenly called out. "Back in school, if someone so much as borrowed her pen, she'd spend forever disinfecting it with rubbing alcohol. Now look at her, kneeling in someone's puke like it doesn't bother her at all!" Lily recognized him immediately. It was Derek Collins. He'd pursued her in high school, and when she turned him down, he'd graciously offered to remain friends. But after everything that happened, he'd become one of her worst tormentors. She kept her head down and worked faster, desperate to finish cleaning the filthy mess and leave. Before she could, Derek kicked her hard, sending her sprawling into the sticky vomit. "I'm talking to you, bitch! Are you deaf?" "Ah!" Lily winced against the pain and revulsion, bitterness rising in her throat. Deaf? In one ear, yes. After Mason Whitmore had sent her to prison on a fabricated charge, he'd arranged for her to receive special "care" behind bars. During her very first month, an explosion in a so-called safety accident had destroyed the hearing in her left ear. Derek was about to attack her again when another former classmate stopped him. "Come on. Why waste your energy getting mad at trash like her? "Lily Yates used to think she was better than everyone. She had everything going for her, too. Sure, her mother died young, but her father was the best surgeon in the capital. She was beautiful, and Mason Whitmore, the golden boy of the Whitmore family, absolutely adored her. "Look at her now. You can hit her, insult her, do whatever you want, and she won't even fight back." Someone spat at her, and Lily felt the saliva land on her head. Once upon a time, she would have fought back without hesitation. But the bullying she'd endured during her senior year, the three years of torment after graduation, and another three years in prison had crushed every last bit of pride she'd once possessed. If she'd been alone in the world, she might have been willing to die defending her dignity. But she wasn't. She still had Yvonne to protect, and any attempt to fight back would only make her little sister the next target of Mason's cruelty. "She had it coming!" someone else chimed in. "Mason treated her so well! Remember when the equipment storage room at school caught fire? He barely escaped with his life, but the second he heard Lily was still trapped inside, he ran straight back in to save her. He's still got a huge scar on his back, and it took six months for his voice to recover! "And how did she repay him? She resented Mrs. Whitmore for opposing their relationship, so while Mason was recovering, she pushed his mother down the stairs and left her in a vegetative state!" The former classmates grew increasingly indignant as they dredged up the past. Under their accusing stares, Lily found herself reliving the nightmare of her senior year. Back then, everyone had blamed her for what happened to Margaret Whitmore. Even Mason had hated her to the bone. With a single word, he'd destroyed her father, Lawrence Yates' reputation, turning a celebrated surgeon into a man reviled as a murderer. Lawrence had eventually taken his own life in prison, supposedly out of guilt. Mason had also turned Capital High into Lily's personal hell, ensuring she was bullied every single day. At first, she'd fought back with everything she had, even trying to transfer to another school. But every act of resistance brought news that Lawrence had been injured in prison. And when she finally tried to transfer, the news that came was of his death. On the day of Lawrence's funeral, Mason had done something entirely unexpected. He arrived carrying a single daisy and even bowed respectfully to Lawrence. His words, however, were as cold as his gesture was polite. "Stay in the prison I've built for you, and your sister will be safe. You don't want her ending up as a pile of ashes too, do you?" Somehow, Lily had made it through senior year and earned excellent scores on her college entrance exams. Yet Mason had used his influence to ensure that no university would admit her, leaving her with no choice but to find work. Even then, Mason despised her so thoroughly that he wouldn't allow her to hold any job that offered even a shred of dignity. All she was permitted to do was wander the streets, sing for spare change, scavenge through trash, or beg. He'd stripped away every opportunity she had to lead a respectable life, reducing the once-beautiful Lily Yates to a disheveled outcast whom everyone shunned. And with one calculated move, he'd sent her to prison for three years. By the time Lily finished cleaning up the vomit, she was desperate to get away. She practically fled the private suite, only to collide with a woman as she turned to leave. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Lily apologized, bowing repeatedly. "Ah! My bag! You're filthy! Get away from me!" Lily froze. She knew this woman. It was Grace Walker, Mason's girlfriend from college. Back when Lily worked at their university, she'd seen Mason kiss Grace with such tenderness countless times. He really did love Grace. So much so that when Lily accidentally dirtied one of Grace's leather shoes, he'd sent her to prison just to make Grace happy. "I'm sorry! I'll get out of your way!" If Grace was here, that meant Mason might be... No. She couldn't let him find her! Keeping her head down, Lily tried to slip past Grace. Then a familiar voice stopped her cold. "Lily Yates." A chilling, mocking laugh followed. "Long time no see." Chapter 2 The sound of Mason's voice sent a chill through Lily's entire body. It was like hearing something call to her from the depths of hell, and every instinct screamed at her to run. Before she could move, a warm hand closed around her throat. "What's wrong? Gone deaf? Can't you hear me?" His breath brushed her skin, the intimacy of his touch making it feel all the more sinister. Lily's heart twisted painfully as the truth finally sank in. The explosion that had cost her the hearing in her left ear hadn't been an accident after all. Mason really had been behind it. Sensing her trembling, he spoke in an even sweeter voice. "Why are you shaking? Is that any way to greet an old classmate? I even arranged this job for you. Aren't you going to thank me?" What? Lily parted her lips, overwhelmed by a despair so crushing she could barely think. She'd worked hard to earn an early release from prison, hoping that if she found a job at some obscure club and kept her head down, Mason would forget she existed. Now she realized she'd never escaped him at all. He'd been waiting for her from the moment she walked out of prison. Terrified, Lily finally dared to look up at the man she hadn't seen in three years. The last traces of boyishness had vanished from Mason's face. He was taller and more mature now, with an imposing elegance that only made him seem colder. Looking at the man she'd once loved, she pleaded, "Mason, I've already spent three years in prison. Please, just leave me alone." She'd lost her father, served three years behind bars, and been left deaf in one ear. Even if she'd actually committed the crime he accused her of, surely she'd suffered enough. All she wanted was for him to let her go. Mason ignored her plea. Instead, he slipped an arm around Grace and regarded Lily with casual malice. "Here I am, going out of my way to find you a job, and you act like I'm making your life difficult. Tell you what, why don't I transfer you to the club's entertainment department? You'd make a great dancer. No more scrubbing toilets." Lily opened her mouth, but no words came out. "What? Don't like the idea?" Of course she didn't! She spun around, suddenly finding her voice. "I quit! I'm not working here anymore!" She hurried toward the exit, only to find two bodyguards dressed in black blocking her way. The thought of staying here, completely at Mason's mercy, terrified her. There was no telling what else he might do to her. To her surprise, Mason merely said, "Let her go." Relief flooded through Lily as the guards stepped aside. Just as she was about to leave, she heard Mason murmur behind her. "Don't say I didn't warn you. You might regret this." She kept walking. As long as she could get away from him, she could always find another job. Unfortunately, finding work without Mason's interference was difficult enough. For nearly two weeks, Lily scraped by on odd jobs, lowering her standards with every rejection until she finally found work hauling construction waste at a building site. The foreman was a rough, sleazy-looking man who gave her a warning before she started. "Listen up, sweetheart. This scrap is all going to be sold, so don't go dropping anything. You break it, you pay for it. Wages are paid daily, by weight. Once you're done loading, come find me and I'll weigh it and pay you." The pieces were large and heavy, and Lily wasn't particularly strong. Still, she worked carefully, making trip after trip until all the scrap she'd been assigned was safely stacked on the transport truck. By the time she finished, she was drenched in foul-smelling sweat. She went to find the foreman so he could weigh her load, only to discover that the scrap she'd stacked so carefully was now lying in shattered pieces all over the ground. "You little bitch! You broke the whole damn lot?" the foreman roared. "Do you have any idea how much this stuff is worth? You've cost me tens of thousands!" Before Lily could respond, he kicked her. "What a jinx! I never should've hired you!" He glared at her. "You're paying for every last bit of it!" Lily went rigid with shock. She had no idea how the perfectly intact scrap had ended up in pieces, much less how she was supposed to deal with the furious man demanding compensation. Just then, a tall figure approached and tossed a thick stack of cash at the foreman. "A hundred thousand. Get lost." The foreman scooped up the money, his anger instantly giving way to a broad grin, and hurried off. Lily sank to the ground, staring blankly at Mason. Despair washed over her as she realized he still had no intention of leaving her alone. "You did this." Mason crouched in front of her, his handsome features settling into a mischievous smile. "Silly Lily, I have better things to do with my time. That foreman broke the scrap himself so he could extort money from you." Silly Lily. She hadn't heard him call her that in so long. Back when they were teenagers, Mason used to playfully tap her nose whenever he caught her admiring the boys playing basketball. "Silly Lily, keep checking out those guys and your boyfriend's going to get jealous." She'd tease him right back. "Who's the silly one here? Let's see you beat me on the next exam." Those memories belonged to a time before everything went wrong. Later, when she'd been locked in a school bathroom and bullied, Mason had used that same affectionate tone to torment her. "Silly Lily, how do you like the hell I made just for you? "If the law won't punish you, I will." Now, crouching in front of her at the construction site, he spoke as though he were doing her a favor. "See? No one but me is willing to put food on your table." There was an almost generous air to his words, a cruel contrast to the despair consuming Lily. "Come back to the club. Since you like scrubbing toilets so much, you can keep doing that. And don't even think about running away again. You know what I'm capable of." With that, Mason rose and walked away without a care in the world. Lily watched his tall, handsome figure recede into the distance, and a bitter laugh escaped her lips. She kept laughing until her face suddenly contorted, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood. Tears streamed down her cheeks, mingling with the blood as she tilted her head back and laughed bitterly. "Mason Whitmore, you're really something. "With all that you're capable of, how have you still not found out that I'm dying?" Chapter 3 Lily really was dying. She'd been diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer while she was still in prison, and she had less than six months left to live. All that effort she'd put into finding steady work and getting proof of employment hadn't been about bringing Yvonne home. She simply wanted to see her little sister one last time. And if she could earn a little more money to leave Yvonne before she died, all the better. So Lily returned to the club and accepted every filthy, exhausting task the manager assigned her without complaint. She worked as though she never got tired, never fought anyone for food at mealtimes, and swallowed cheap painkillers whenever her stomach became unbearable. Even when people deliberately gave her a hard time, she simply lowered her head and endured their complaints. Eventually, even the manager began to feel guilty about mistreating her. When Lily once again asked him for proof of employment, he sighed sympathetically. "Lily, you need to stop thinking about your sister. The boss hasn't given his approval. How am I supposed to sign off on anything without his permission?" Lily didn't argue. She simply turned and walked away, her disappointment plain to see. Wanting a little peace and quiet, she headed for the stairwell. But the moment she pushed through the fire door, she found herself face-to-face with Mason, half-dressed and holding Grace in his arms. Petite and delicate, Grace nestled against him while he caressed her with extraordinary tenderness, his long fingers roaming over her body. "Mason, I want that new bag. You can only get it in Anglandur, and you have to spend another ten million on other merchandise just to qualify." "You'll have it by tomorrow." Grace shivered with pleasure under his touch. "Mason, what if someone sees us? I'm scared." Mason glanced coldly down the stairs at Lily. "Don't worry, baby. If anyone sees us, I'll gouge their eyes out." His gaze made Lily flinch. She hurriedly turned to leave, but his voice stopped her. "Hold it." Her heart leaped into her throat. What new way of tormenting her had he come up with now? "Go buy two boxes of condoms and bring them to the Heaven on Earth suite." Relief washed over her. It was only an errand. When she returned with the condoms, Mason and Grace were still in the stairwell. Lily set them down and hurried away. Some time later, the manager found her. "Go clean the Heaven on Earth suite. Make sure you do a thorough job." Lily put down her half-eaten bread roll and went to the suite. The room was a complete mess. Lingerie and sex toys lay scattered across the floor, along with unmistakable evidence of what had taken place there. The sight made Lily's cheeks burn and her heart race. During all the years she and Mason had been together, the most intimate thing they'd ever done was kiss. Seeing the evidence of his intimacy with another woman left her both embarrassed and heartsick. She began cleaning, carefully gathering up the expensive-looking jewelry Grace had left among the lingerie and toys. "Do you regret it?" The sudden sound of Mason's voice startled her so badly that she nearly slipped. Before she could fall, however, he caught her in his arms. Lily immediately pulled away, nervously brushing the hair back from her temples. "W-what?" "Do you regret it?" Mason repeated, taking in her disheveled appearance. "All of this could have been yours." Lily lowered her head and stared at the tips of her shoes. Regret what? Going to the hospital to visit Mason all those years ago? Stopping to talk to his mother in the stairwell? Mason swallowed. "If you hadn't done those things back then, we'd probably have a child old enough to walk by now." His father, Richard Whitmore, had approved of their relationship, but Margaret had never considered Lily good enough for her son. When Margaret ended up in a vegetative state, everyone claimed Lily had deliberately harmed her out of resentment, knowing she was too young to face criminal charges. "You destroyed me, Lily. You destroyed everything we had." Without a word, Lily crouched down and continued cleaning. Mason didn't seem particularly bothered by her silence. He settled onto the couch and lit a cigarette, watching impassively as the smoke made her cough. "You know, you don't have to work yourself this hard. It's just an employment contract. Beg me nicely, and I'll give you one." The smell of cigarette smoke aggravated the pain in her stomach, bringing back memories that hurt just as much. It wasn't as though she'd never begged him before. When Lawrence was imprisoned on fabricated charges, she'd spent three days and nights kneeling outside the Whitmore residence. She'd confessed to a crime she hadn't committed, hit herself countless times, and humbled herself as much as anyone possibly could. None of it had moved Mason. Dr. Lawrence Yates, a surgeon who'd saved countless lives, had still been stripped of his reputation and left to die in prison. Seeing how badly Lily was struggling with the smoke, Mason eventually stubbed out his cigarette. He didn't expect her to kneel and beg him again. That was fine with him. He'd only made the offer to humiliate her anyway. But just as he got up to leave, something caught his pant leg. Mason looked down in surprise. At some point, Lily had dropped to her knees beside his feet, her posture utterly submissive. "Mr. Whitmore, I'm begging you. Please, just let me see Yvonne. Just once." Her stomach hurt so badly. She was dying, and she really couldn't hold on much longer. Chapter 4 That one word, "please," crushed what little remained of Lily's pride. Mason stared at her in disbelief. After all the suffering he'd put her through, she'd never once bowed to him. Throughout the hell of her senior year, she hadn't shed a tear, not even when those boys accidentally stepped on her arm and broke it. She hadn't cried when he tore up the college acceptance letter she'd been so thrilled to receive after placing among the top fifty students nationwide on her entrance exams. When he ruined every chance she had of finding respectable work, forcing her to beg and sing on the streets for money, she'd refused to give in. Even when he sent her to prison, all she'd said was, "Leave my sister alone. I'll pay for what I've done." Yet now she was kneeling at his feet, her bony fingers clutching his pant leg in a desperate attempt to please him. There was something worse than humiliation in the way she held herself. It was downright degrading. Mason should have been thrilled to finally see her reduced to this. Instead, an inexplicable anger rose inside him, and it took several steadying breaths before he managed a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Lily, that's not how you ask someone for a favor." He hooked a finger beneath her chin, tilting her face toward him. "Please me. I want to see just how low someone like you is willing to stoop." He was convinced she was putting on an act. She knew how much he'd once hated seeing her hurt, and now she was trying to exploit that weakness by making herself look helpless and pitiful. To his surprise, Lily began taking off her clothes before settling onto his lap. It wasn't until her lips brushed his that Mason realized what she was doing. She was painfully inexperienced, her every movement awkward and hesitant. Something about it made his heart ache, and for a moment, he found himself wanting to kiss her back. Then he remembered how much he hated her. His hand closed around her jaw, gripping it so tightly that she winced. Lily looked at him with empty eyes. "Mr. Whitmore, am I doing something wrong?" Wrong? Everything about this was wrong! Mason gave a cold laugh. "I knew you were rotten, but I had no idea you were this cheap!" His anger spilled over as he tightened his grip on her jaw. "Do you have any idea where I was when you pushed my mother down those stairs? I was lying on an operating table, having surgery on the throat I'd damaged breathing in smoke to save your life! Do you know how much pain I was in? It hurt so badly I couldn't even get the words out to confront you! "What did I ever do to you, Lily? What did I do that made you hate me enough to try to kill my mother?" Before being wheeled into surgery that day, Mason had reassured Lily that she had nothing to worry about. Even when he heard the doctor say the operation had been successful, his first thought hadn't been relief that his throat would recover. He'd been happy because Lily would no longer have to feel so guilty about his injuries. But when he woke from the anesthesia, devastating news awaited him. His mother was gravely injured, and the woman he loved had betrayed him. The shock had been almost impossible to bear. Mason had refused to believe Lily was responsible, but the surveillance footage left no room for doubt. In the end, he'd had no choice but to accept it. Throughout his accusations, Lily kept her eyes lowered, silently enduring the pain in her stomach. When he finally stopped speaking, she carefully leaned forward to kiss him again. "Mr. Whitmore, if I manage to please you this time, please remember to give me that employment contract." "Mason, you're not the only one who's suffered," Lily said inwardly. This time, Mason pushed Lily down onto the couch and pinned her beneath him. His kisses rained down on her face, hard and punishing, leaving her struggling for breath as her hands clawed helplessly at his back. Just when she thought she might suffocate, he finally pulled away long enough to let her breathe. "What's wrong? Weren't you acting like such a slut a minute ago? If you want that contract, then keep it up!" He immediately resumed kissing her, leaving her breathless once more. Lily's cheeks burned with shame. She must have been out of her mind to have done something like that with Mason! "Stop struggling!" he snapped. She struggled harder, accidentally tearing his shirt in the process. But the moment her fingers brushed the raised, uneven scar on his back, all the strength seemed to drain from her body. The scar was as large as her palm, a reminder of the day Mason had rescued her from the burning equipment room. He'd taken what could have been a fatal blow to protect her. Lily stopped resisting, her heart aching with bitterness. "Mason, after everything you've done to me, I still don't have the right to hate you," she thought. When Mason noticed her tears, he stopped. For a moment, he simply watched Lily lying curled up beneath him, crying silently. Almost against his will, he reached out to wipe away one of those infuriating tears. Before his fingers could touch her face, the door swung open. Grace stood in the doorway, her eyes wide with shock. "Y-you two..." She burst into tears and ran. "Gracie!" Mason immediately got up to chase after her, but Lily caught the hem of his shirt. "Mr. Whitmore, my employment contract!" He turned back, his long lashes casting shadows over eyes filled with contempt. Mason looked back at her, his eyes filled with contempt. "Do you seriously think you're more important than my girlfriend?" He roughly shook off her hand, his next words cutting Lily to the core. "Stay here. My girlfriend needs someone to take her anger out on." With a bitter smile, Lily took out two cheap painkillers and swallowed the sweet, metallic taste of blood in her mouth. So Grace needed someone to take her anger out on? Fine. Once the painkillers kicked in, she should be able to endure it. Shouldn't she? Chapter 5 In the Heaven on Earth suite, Lily lay sprawled in the middle of the stage, surrounded by empty liquor bottles. Her once-clean clothes were soaked with alcohol, the faded white fabric of her shirt clinging to her painfully thin frame. She'd already been forced to drink more than ten bottles of liquor. "Come on, drink up! What's with that miserable face? Feeling sorry for yourself?" "Seven years ago, you nearly killed Mrs. Whitmore with your vicious schemes. Now you're throwing yourself at Mason, trying to become his mistress!" "Trying to seduce him into cheating on his girlfriend? Have you no shame?" Earlier, Mason had summoned their former classmates and forced Lily to stand onstage and publicly admit that she'd tried to seduce him. He'd also made her bow to Grace one hundred times. Yet Grace still wasn't satisfied. She insisted that Lily drink one hundred bottles of hard liquor before she'd consider forgiving her. Lily had dropped to her knees, desperately slapping herself. "Ms. Walker, I'm shameless! I'm a slut, a whore! I was completely out of line, and it's all my fault! Please, punish me some other way. I can't drink. I really can't!" With stomach cancer, alcohol was the last thing she could afford to touch. She knew she didn't have much time left, but she hadn't seen Yvonne yet, nor had she given her sister the thirty thousand she'd managed to save over the years. She couldn't die here tonight. Grace had kicked her away in disgust. Mason stopped his girlfriend from attacking her further, but at the same time, he gave the former classmates watching nearby a meaningful look. They immediately dragged Lily back onto the stage. The liquor burned through her stomach like a knife. She kept drinking and vomiting until she was lying in a puddle of spilled alcohol, her entire body convulsing. Eventually, even the onlookers realized something was wrong. No one dared force another drink down her throat, and they turned to Mason, waiting to see what he would do. Mason stared at Lily's flushed body, his heart suddenly skipping a beat. When had she gotten so thin? A faint frown crossed his face, but when he turned to Grace, his expression softened into its usual tenderness. "Feeling better now, baby? Gotten it out of your system?" "Hmph!" Grace folded her arms and turned away. "What, are you feeling sorry for her?" Mason frowned, and whatever fleeting sympathy he'd felt for Lily vanished. "Of course not." Why would he feel sorry for the woman he hated? A malicious glint appeared in Grace's eyes. "I don't believe you. Not unless you tear up that photograph she's wearing around her neck. Do it yourself!" The demand instantly jolted Lily out of her drunken stupor. She clutched the locket hanging against her chest, her eyes wide with the terror of a frightened animal. "Mason, please don't. I'm begging you, don't do that..." For a moment, Mason hesitated. Then he thought of his mother, still lying unconscious in her hospital bed, and his hatred swept away whatever reservations he'd had. He rose and slowly approached Lily. She shrank back into a corner, but there was nowhere left to run. The pain in her stomach had spread through her limbs, leaving her too weak to resist. All she could do was watch as Mason pried her swollen fingers apart, one by one, and forcibly took the locket from her. "Mason Whitmore! You already burned every picture I had of my parents! You destroyed everything they left behind, every trace that they ever existed! Are you really going to take away the last thing I have to remember them by?" Lily reached desperately for the locket, almost screaming. After everything had happened seven years ago, Mason had stormed into the Yates family home and burned her parents' photographs and belongings, destroying them one after another. Yvonne had been only six at the time. She'd huddled in Lily's arms, sobbing uncontrollably, while Lily begged Mason to stop and pleaded her innocence. Nothing she'd said had moved him. "How can you be so cruel, Mason?" Her words sent a fresh surge of anger through him. "Cruel? You think I'm cruel?" Right in front of her, he tore the photograph to pieces and scattered the scraps over her head before seizing her by the throat. "What about what you did to my mother? Wasn't that cruel? All I destroyed were things. You hurt a living, breathing person!" The photograph had been destroyed so suddenly that Lily barely had time to react. By then, she'd already given up trying to fight him. What was the point? No matter how hard she resisted, Mason would never show her mercy. She'd upset his beloved Grace, and until he'd destroyed something precious to Lily in return, how could he possibly feel that justice had been served? Her eyes went blank, utterly devoid of life. Mason and the others were about to leave when Lily suddenly spoke. "Mason Whitmore, I hate you." He had already reached the door, but her words brought him back. Grabbing a fistful of her hair, he leaned close to her right ear. "Funny. I hate you too." He noticed how sensitive her right ear was, the skin already turning red. Moving to her other side, he spoke into her left ear instead. "But what I hate more is that I still love you!" The admission left a complicated look in his eyes, love and hatred mingling as he stared at her. Lily gazed back at him, bewildered by his expression. Then he walked away. What Mason didn't know was that Lily had lost hearing in her left ear, and she hadn't heard a single word of his confession. Chapter 6 After calming Grace down, Mason found himself writing out the employment contract Lily had begged for and heading back to the Heaven on Earth suite. For some reason, he couldn't shake the memory of the lifeless look in her eyes. It left him with an uneasy feeling he couldn't explain. When he pushed open the door, Lily was kneeling on the floor, her emaciated body trembling as she tried to gather the scattered pieces of her photograph. Mason's sharp eyes caught sight of several bloodstained tissues in the trash can nearby. He scoffed to himself. What a cheap trick. Lily had finally collected all the pieces and was struggling to her feet when she turned and saw him. She immediately wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, but Mason had already noticed. "Going to all that trouble to make yourself look like you're bleeding? Who are you hoping to get sympathy from? Some other man?" Lily froze. Another spasm of pain twisted through her stomach, making her chest ache as well. She gave a bitter, self-mocking smile. "Nothing gets past you, Mr. Whitmore." Mason flicked a sheet of paper at her, striking her across the face with a sharp slap. "There's your employment contract. Take it and get lost." Lily carefully folded the contract, and for the first time in days, a genuine smile appeared on her face. She could finally see Yvonne. When they met, she would give her sister all the money she'd saved and tell her the truth about her condition. Yvonne had always been strong, even as a little girl. Lily believed she would be able to accept the news of her impending death. And after her death, Mason wouldn't be able to hurt her anymore. Lily waited anxiously through the weekend. As soon as the workweek began, she completed the necessary paperwork and made her way to the orphanage, full of anticipation. But when she handed over her documents, the receptionist looked puzzled. "Yvonne Yates? She was only here for about a month before someone came and took her away." Lily stared at the woman in disbelief. The news hit her like a bolt from the blue. "What? That's impossible! Yvonne's here! I watched Mason Whitmore bring her here myself! "He promised he wouldn't touch her! He promised me!" Lily grew so distraught that the security guards had to forcibly escort her out. Desperate to find her sister, she struggled to contain her despair and tried to make her way back inside to ask more questions. That was when a familiar woman's voice stopped her. "Want to know where your little sister went?" Lily turned stiffly toward the voice. Grace stood nearby in lambskin heels and a flared miniskirt that showed off her long, slender legs. She looked immaculate, especially next to Lily, whose body had been reduced to little more than skin and bones. Yet the words that came out of her mouth were vicious. "I sent that little sister of yours to a special education school ages ago. She's a tough little thing, I'll give her that. They made her stand for punishment every day, beat her with canes, and she still managed to hang on for three whole years, just waiting for you to come get her." "What?!" Lily cried. She knew what those special education schools were like. They were a living hell, even worse than prison. And Yvonne had spent three years in one. Three whole years! Jealousy flashed in Grace's eyes as she continued. "Do you know why Mason really sent you to prison? It had nothing to do with making me happy! "He did it because he loves you! He loves you so much that every time he takes revenge on you, he has to cut his own arm to punish himself! "He was afraid that if you stayed around him, he'd end up doing something even worse to you. So he decided to put you in prison instead." Lily shook her head frantically. "I don't want to hear any of this! What happened to my sister?" Whether Mason loved her or not meant nothing to her anymore. After so many years of abuse, the resentment she'd buried inside her had been wound as tight as a spring, and now it had reached its breaking point. She'd thought that if she endured Mason's revenge without complaint, if she kept her head down and accepted every humiliation, she could at least protect the one family member she had left. Instead, Yvonne had been suffering even more than she had. Why? What had either of them done to deserve this? Neither of them was guilty of anything! The more frantic Lily became, the more delighted Grace looked. "Don't get so worked up. I even went to the trouble of getting the school to send me a recent video of your sister." She took out her phone and showed Lily the security footage. In the video, Yvonne stood atop a tall building, her body covered in injuries and her face streaked with tears. Then, without a moment's hesitation, she jumped. "No! NO!" Lily's scream rang out as she watched her sister fall. Her entire body shook uncontrollably. Grace continued with poisonous satisfaction. "You know, I actually went to visit her yesterday. I told her all about what you've been doing to protect her. How you spend your days scrubbing toilets at the club, and your nights... well, you know. "She started crying as soon as she heard. Said she didn't want to be your weakness anymore. And that very night, after surviving three years in that school, your precious little sister jumped off a building without a word." Every word was another knife through Lily's heart. The phone slipped from her hand. Her eyes were bloodshot as she turned toward Grace, staring at her with pure hatred. Then she snatched up a rock from the ground and swung it straight at Grace's head. "I'LL KILL YOU!" But the rock never reached Grace. Mason had already seized Lily's wrist, holding it in an iron grip. "Lily Yates! Do you have a death wish?!" Chapter 7 Mason threw Lily to the ground so hard that she crumpled into a heap. "You never learn, do you?" She curled up in pain, unable to recover even after several moments. Mason watched her with a flicker of surprise. Why did she look like she was in so much pain when he'd barely used any force? He was about to go over to her when Grace spoke in a delicate, trembling voice. "Mason, she's obviously jealous because I'm your girlfriend. That's why she attacked me. What if she puts me in a vegetative state too, like she did your mother?" Mason's expression darkened. The hand he'd been about to offer Lily instead grabbed her and hauled her roughly to her feet. "Stop playing dead and apologize to Gracie!" Too weak to stand, Lily sagged against him. "Mason, you hate me, don't you?" Her voice was barely a whisper. "Then just kill me." With Yvonne gone, there was nothing left for her in this world. Everything around her seemed to lose its color, leaving her in darkness. Mason was overcome by a surge of fury mixed with emotions he couldn't begin to understand. How dare she ask him to kill her? She was the one who'd committed the crime. What right did she have to ask for death when she was still alive and well? He dragged Lily away and practically carried her into his car. Once inside, he pinned her beneath him, his body completely covering hers. His hands gripped her like iron clamps, holding her in a humiliating position and leaving her unable to move. "Mason! What are you doing? Let go of me!" Lily struggled desperately. "This is ridiculous! Aren't I supposed to be your enemy? What the hell are you doing to someone you hate?" Before she could say another word, Mason suddenly pressed his lips against her neck. "Ah!" Lily's eyes widened in shock, and she began fighting him even harder. Her frantic, uncontrolled struggles only made Mason more agitated. He had no intention of treating an enemy gently, and he slapped her across the face. "What are you pretending for?" he asked coldly. "You hurt my mother seven years ago, and now you've gone after my girlfriend. Isn't this what you've wanted all along? Me? Well, here I am. So stop acting like some innocent little virgin!" The slap hadn't been particularly hard, yet Lily seemed to go limp, as though every bone in her body had given way. "I don't want you anymore, Mason. I stopped wanting you a long time ago." She no longer dared to want him, and she no longer had any desire to. The utter emptiness in Lily's eyes made Mason's heart sink painfully. He reminded himself that however pitiful she looked, she'd brought all this suffering upon herself. She didn't deserve his sympathy. "What do you mean, you don't want me anymore?" he sneered. "Don't want to be my mistress? You're so vicious that even being someone's mistress would be too good for you!" He tried to kiss her again, but Lily turned her face away. "No." Lily turned to face him, looking him straight in the eye as she spoke slowly and deliberately. "Anyone but you." The atmosphere inside the car turned icy. Mason froze, his entire body going rigid. Then came a derisive laugh, followed by a surge of anger so intense it was frightening. "Take us to the slums." The car soon pulled into the poorest part of the city, where garbage littered the filthy streets, and homeless people wandered everywhere. A young woman left alone in such a place would be like a lamb thrown to wolves. Mason had grown terrifyingly calm. "Lily, I'm giving you one last chance. Take back what you just said—" She cut him off. "Are you deaf too? Fine, I'll say it again. I'd let any other man do it, but not you." Huddled against the car window, Lily kept both hands pressed to her stomach, desperately trying to ease the agonizing pain. "Because you disgust me." Mason's chest heaved as rage surged through him. "Fine!" He dragged Lily out of the car and shoved her toward a beggar who was sitting nearby asking for money, blind in one eye. "From now on, you're going to spend the rest of your life with him. And don't let me catch you anywhere outside these slums. Otherwise, your sister will suffer far worse than you ever have!" Her sister? A bitter ache filled Lily's heart. She didn't have a sister anymore. Mason slammed the car door and barked an order to his men. "Keep this entire area under watch. Don't let her take a single step outside it! And from now on, I don't want to hear another word about her!" What a fool he'd been. After all these years, he'd somehow still been unable to forget his feelings for a vicious bitch like Lily. He never wanted to see that wretched woman again! Mason left without the slightest hesitation, his departure as ruthless as it was decisive. What he didn't know was that Lily's body had already been pushed far beyond its limits. The moment he was gone, she began vomiting blood, so much that the beggar panicked and fumbled helplessly as he tried to wipe it from her mouth. Through the haze of pain and fading consciousness, Lily gave a faint, self-mocking smile. Who would have thought that the only person to show her a little kindness at the very end of her life would be a beggar? "D-don't die," the man stammered, his words slurred. "I'll take you to the hospital." Lily weakly pulled out a bank card. "There's no need. The PIN is the last six digits of the card number. There's thirty thousand in the account. It should be enough to keep you going for a while." Her voice was growing weaker, but she forced herself to continue. "All I ask is that you buy me a cheap urn, one that costs about three dollars. Then please go to the special education school and collect my little sister's body. Her name is Yvonne Yates." She struggled to get the rest of the words out. "My sister always loved pretty things. Could you buy some extra stickers for her urn? Make it look nice for her..." Her voice grew softer and weaker until, at last, it faded into silence. She never drew another breath. She hoped Mason would never find out the truth.