Betrayal and Vengeance

My fiancé fell in love with his intern secretary and insisted on breaking off engagement with me.

I kindly advised him, "She won't help you secure your position as the heir of Trivett family. Why not wait until you have control first?"

The secretary felt insulted and tragically committed suicide by jumping from a building.

Five years later, the first thing he did as the heir was divorce me, leaving my family in ruins.

"This is what you owe Verena."

When I woke up again, it was my twenty-second birthday party.

Everyone asked me what my wish was.

"I wish Colten and Verena a long and happy marriage."

1

I died on a rainy day.

I should have been able to enjoy the beautiful autumn scenery, but Colten Trivett couldn't wait.

I tumbled down the steps, leaving a trail of blood.

However, he wasn't satisfied.

He pushed me down the stairs himself, over and over.

I was in so much pain I could barely make a sound, yet I still asked, unwilling to give up, "Why? Why do you do this to me?"

I didn't understand.

Our families had always been close, and Colten and I had been childhood sweethearts.

For over a decade, my family had helped him secure his position in the family and become the heir.

Yet he set a trap, ensnaring my father and causing my family's downfall, leading to my father's death from a heart attack.

"Why, Colten?" I clung desperately to his clothes.

Colten's face was ashen, as if I had wronged him, even though he was the one who destroyed my family.

"This is what you owe Verena,"

he said through gritted teeth.

Verena?

Verena Marshall?

The name felt unfamiliar, and it took me a moment to recall the name.

Verena's pure and delicate face emerged in my head.

I couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

Five years.

It had been five years, yet Colten had never forgotten her.

He blamed her death on me, on the entire Dixon Group.

"Colten, you really are a..."

Fool!

Before I could finish, Colten had already gripped my throat tightly.

The air was slowly being squeezed from my chest.

Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth, resembling the red maple leaves on the mountain.

2

"Kay, are you having a headache again?"

The cold rain disappeared.

The hard floor vanished.

The sky was clear, and guests were gathered.

It was my twenty-second birthday party, also my engagement party with Colten.

Perhaps the heavens had mercy; I closed my eyes and opened them again, and I had been reborn.

Not only was I alive, but I was back at twenty-two.

This year, the Dixon Group was thriving, and my father had entered the top ten richest people in the world.

This year, Colten and I were not yet engaged.

"It's understandable that she has a headache," a voice behind me spoke with schadenfreude. "Yesterday, Colten admitted in front of the media that secretary was his girlfriend."

My best friend turned to confront that person, but I stopped her.

It wasn't just about admitting his secretary as his girlfriend.

Three months ago, Colten went out of town for business, was drugged by a competitor. Verena saved him, spending a night of passion with him.

Colten suddenly realized she was his true love and wanted to give her a status, to marry her.

Including yesterday, the media had caught them together three times.

"Kay, don't listen to the media's nonsense. You and Colten have been childhood sweethearts for so many years..."

I looked at my best friend and shook my head.

Her words came to an abrupt halt.

I knew what she wanted to say.

A week ago, I woke up at home.

A week was enough to reflect on the past five years.

"Kay," my best friend suddenly reminded me. "Colten is coming over."

3

I looked up to see Colten approaching me, surrounded by people.

The murmurs behind me quickly faded away.

Colten and I grew up together.

When we were five or six, our families had already arranged our engagement.

Whenever someone bullied me, he was the first to stand up for me.

When he made mistakes and got punished, I was the first to plead for him.

Before today, no one would have doubted that I was Colten's true love.

But today, on my twenty-second birthday, he brought another woman.

Verena, slender and delicate, stood by him.

Colten smiled, leaning in to speak softly to her.

Verena looked at me, her expression turning panicked and flustered, and took a few large steps forward.

She bowed to me at a ninety-degree angle.

4

She was exactly the same as in my previous life.

Even the tear on her eyelash, about to fall, was identical.

In my past life, it was her pitiful appearance that bewitched Colten.

Having grown up seeing marriages arranged for family advantage, I never dared to hope for love.

Verena's presence made my heart ache, but not enough to lose my reason.

When Colten wanted to break off the engagement, I didn't cry or make a scene. I just advised him for the sake of our families' long-standing relationship.

"Verena is just an orphan with no work experience. Even though you two...

Curtis won't agree to your marriage with her, and it'll only bring trouble to her.

Colten, you might as well wait, and in the future..."

I spoke in veiled terms.

In the future, when he became the heir, wouldn't he be able to decide for himself?

Just a few words to avert disaster for Verena, but they brought calamity upon me.

5

In my past life, when Verena bowed, I hurried to help her up.

But this time, I just watched coldly. Seeing no one paid her any mind, she didn't hesitate to kneel and bow deeply.

The repeated thudding echoed loudly as she hit her head against the floor repeatedly.

My best friend tugged at my sleeve.

There were many guests today, all looking in our direction.

I squeezed her hand.

What was the rush?

"Verena!" Colten's face was already looking displeased.

In just a short moment, Verena's forehead was bruised.

With tears about to fall, she evoked a sense of pity in anyone who saw her.

She glanced back at Colten, then at me, biting her lip, and continued to knock her head.

I leisurely picked up the wine glass from the table.

I was suddenly curious about how far she could take this act.

6

My guess was correct.

Indeed, Verena was pretending.

Her delicately vulnerable demeanor was an act, and even in my past life, her suicide attempt by jumping off a building was staged.

On an empty rooftop, I heard her voice, as clear as a songbird.

Crying, she pleaded with a man.

"As my brother, you know I'm just an orphan. Without some ploy of self-harm, how would Colten ever notice me?

Help me again. I'll use another ploy of self-harm!

I truly love Colten, but with my background, his family would never agree to our marriage.

But he promised to marry me, so I must do something to make him feel guilty.

Just help me one more time!

As long as I pretend to jump, Colten will remember his debt to me forever!"

She was so pretentious.

She fooled Colten, and me.

She even fooled all the media.

I once asked Colten why he was so invested in Verena.

"I'm the firstborn of the principal line, so everyone flatters me, praises me.

They respect and love me, but only because of my family's wealth and status.

Even you, Kay, if I weren't a Trivett, would you still marry me?"

That question stumped me at the time.

If he and I weren't from similar backgrounds, we wouldn't have grown up together, let alone gotten engaged or married.

"Only Verena, only she truly loves me and is willing to give everything for me.

Kay, how could I refuse such pure love?"

I was almost convinced by him.

As a daughter of the Dixon family, I had always been cautious with my words and actions.

I had to consider my parents, consider the family. I wouldn't easily give everything for one person.

We all overlooked another possibility.

Whether Colten was drugged or poisoned, Verena had made up her mind from the start.

She was determined to secure a connection with someone of high status like Colten.

7

"Enough!" Colten shouted.

The room fell silent.

Verena trembled, looking up at me with teary eyes.

The meaning was clear.

She had ruined my engagement, making me a laughingstock, and felt guilty.

If I didn't speak, she wouldn't stop.

It didn't matter to me.

I didn't mind if she continued.

I raised my eyebrows slightly, sipping the wine in my glass.

Verena gritted her teeth, bending down to knock her head against the floor again.

Colten suddenly stepped forward.

He knocked the wine glass from my hand.

"Kay, don't go too far!"

8

"Kay, is this how the Dixon family raised you?"

Colten's face was cold, and the surrounding noise ceased instantly.

He pulled Verena up, gently touching her forehead. "Kay, apologize now.

If you apologize now, I'll pretend nothing happened."

I almost laughed out loud.

I was too naive back then.

After uncovering Verena's lies, I called Colten that day, telling him everything I saw.

I urged him to be wary of Verena.

The next day, Verena died.

She really died.

The media said she jumped to her death because she never had a legitimate status.

Colten told me, "Luckily, you warned me, or I would have been fooled by her."

After that, I thought he had forgotten about Verena.

After all, he always hated being deceived.

Until his deathbed.

It turned out that he thought I was the one who deceived him.

9

"Kay, are you mute?

Verena did nothing wrong; I'm the one who wants to break off the engagement.

Apologize to her, and I won't hold her head injury against you."

I looked at Colten, unable to help but curl my lips.

I must have been blind.

I always thought he was smart.

"The elders are inside, right?"

I turned to ask a passing waiter.

I glided gracefully into the room.

Colten followed closely behind.

"What are you going to do?

Going to complain about me?"

I ignored him.

All the way to the door, Colten was still right behind me.

"Kay, don't think just because you're a Dixon, you can get engaged to me.

I've already agreed to marry Verena; there's no way I'll marry you."

I turned to look at Colten.

As he said, he was born privileged.

His life had been too smooth.

He never realized what a capable wife could mean to him.

Perhaps my gaze was too cold, and Colten was momentarily stunned.

Just then, someone at the door said, "Kay, what's going on with you two, inseparable as always?"

The hall was filled with distinguished guests.

I stepped forward and bowed. "Curtis, today is my birthday, and I have a wish to make.

Colten and Verena are in love, and I envy them.

But I don't want to ruin their good relationship.

I want to break off the engagement with Colten..."

The room fell silent instantly.