At Ernuo's apartment, the air still smelled of another woman's perfume.

"What happened?" Ernuo asked.

"Nothing. Let's just sleep."

"I'm sleeping in the guest room," I told him. He was furious. It was the first time he had ever truly snapped at me.

"Do you even care?" he asked. "That I sleep with other women?"

"I care more about the cleanliness of the bed," I retorted.

He looked defeated. "Then why stay with me? Is it for money? Your father is rich enough."

"It's for nothing," I whispered, hugging him. I didn't love him, but I needed him. He was my only escape. "You won't kick me out, will you?"

He didn't answer, but I knew he wouldn't.

The next day, I went to Ernuo's office and did something I never thought I'd do.

"Let's get married," I said.

He was stunned. I sat in his lap and hid my eyes against his chest. "I'm serious. I'm twenty-one now."

"Why the sudden rush?"

I started to shake. "My father is giving me away... to his son."

Then, I told him everything.

I told him about the year I was ten, when my mother—a mistress—finally became the legal "Mrs. Shen" after the first wife died of cancer. I told him how I had loved Ningyi as a real brother once.

And I told him the day it all shattered. A man had arrived with news: the first wife wasn't dead; she had been driven insane by my parents and hidden away. More importantly, he revealed that I wasn't my father's biological daughter. My mother had cheated on him for years.

My mother went truly mad and "died in a car accident." My "father" kept me around only to maintain appearances, but he hated me. And Ningyi... my sweet little brother... he inherited all that hatred. He directed it all at me.

"And then," I whispered, "when I was eighteen... he raped me."

I told Ernuo how Ningyi had used that act of violence to mark me, to ensure I could never have a normal life.

Ernuo listened in silence. Then he said the words that broke my last thread of hope: "Let me think about it."

He was a businessman. He was calculating the cost of defying my father for a woman he knew didn't love him.

I started to laugh hysterically. "You actually believed me? My acting is amazing! I just made that up because I was bored. Don't take it so seriously."

"We don't need to see each other again," he said coldly.

I walked away. I had no one left. I gathered what cash I had and prepared to disappear. But as I stepped out of the bank the next day, the demon was there, smiling at me.

I fainted into the darkness.