Ben had settled me into that familiar villa. He pinned me against the vanity, his hand sliding up the hem of my dress.
“Sherlyn, I’ve kept this place just the way it was for all these years. Do you miss it?”
I glanced around, seeing the chains that once bound me still there, faint bloodstains visible-marks of my desperate struggles.
Turning my head away, I retched. “Ben, if you don’t want me to live well, I can just die.”
His grip suddenly tightened around my chin. “Sherlyn, don’t say things I don’t want to hear.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t chain you up. You’re free to go wherever you want.”
“Just remember how to get home; otherwise, I wouldn’t know what kind of misfortune Jonathon abroad might face.”
I trembled uncontrollably. “Ben, you’ll go to hell.”
To my surprise, Ben laughed. “Hell? I’m already there, but Sherlyn, you need to join me.”
My phone buzzed once-Jonathon was going crazy trying to reach me.
I pulled out the SIM card and tossed it in the trash.
Living in this villa, Ben really didn’t restrict my freedom.
I went out daily to the riverside park, where passersby thought I was just another normal person.
One day, I returned late, and the servants were trembling in fear; Ben sat at the head of the table, saying nothing.
That night, he made me suffer terribly.
When I tried to go out again a couple of days later, I found a crowd of reporters and onlookers gathered outside.
As soon as I stepped out, someone shouted, “It’s her!”
“There she is!”
The crowd raised cameras toward me, and I stood exposed, panicked and stunned.
In mere seconds, I was surrounded, microphones thrust at me from all directions.
“What is your relationship with Mr. Jones?”
“Did you know Mr. Jones is engaged to Miss Manning?”
“Are you really Mr. Ben’s mistress, intruding in someone else’s marriage?”
“How could someone so young willingly become a mistress?”
The shutter clicks echoed around me, some microphones poking at my face as people pushed me around.
My mind went blank. “No, it’s not true.”
“I didn’t.”
I weakly tried to defend myself, but no one was listening.
Soon, I was roughly pushed to the ground.
At that moment, someone dropped a bombshell: “There’s new evidence!”
“Miss Sherlyn once embezzled all of Mr. Jones’s money and framed him for prison!”
Shockwaves rippled through the crowd, and bystanders began throwing trash at me.
“Shameless! I hate mistresses!”
“You look like nothing good!”
“How can you still show your face here?”
“Why don’t you just die!”
I curled up helplessly amidst the noisy crowd, my blood running cold.
Eventually, the security guards dispersed the crowd.
Outside, there were still people lurking, and I didn’t dare step out again.
When Ben heard the news, he rushed back, pulling me into his arms protectively.
“Sherlyn, it’s okay. Just don’t go out anymore; they can’t do anything to you.”
I lazily lifted my eyelids. “Ben, this is your goal, isn’t it?”
You claim you won’t restrict my freedom, but you’re not satisfied unless you make my world confined to this villa.
Ben kissed me hard on the lips and chuckled indifferently.
“Sherlyn, you’re quite clever. What should I do with you?”
“That news? It was indeed released by my fiancee. I didn’t stop her.”
A tidal wave of emotions surged within me, despair swallowing me whole.
I thought I would be trapped here forever.
“Ben, am I destined to be your hidden mistress for life, with no chance to even go out and make friends?”
Ben took my hand and kissed it like a treasure.
“Sherlyn, isn’t it good? You have me, and that’s enough.”
I had a small knife hidden in my sleeve; I pulled it out but didn’t cut his artery.
Ben dodged, and I numbly stared at the blood on his neck. “Ben, you will pay for this.”