Chapter 1On the day I tried on my wedding dress, a strange woman suddenly burst into the VIP suite, slashing a knife straight at me.
“Sleeping MY man—and you think you deserve a dress this expensive?”
She ripped my gown to shreds, even hurling acid at me.
"Ethan Roland is MY husband! And you? Just a pathetic homewrecker hiding in the shadows!"
Homewrecker?
The man I've devoted seven years to was HER husband?
Then who the hell was I—Rachel Caldwell?!
"So what if I kill you? With my husband's influence, nobody would dare touch me!"
Watching her smug expression, I dialed my brother directly.
"Felix Caldwells, come pick me up at the bridal boutique."
"And call the Rolands—the engagement is OFF!"
After hanging up, my million-dollar wedding gown was eaten away, torn by acid into dark, jagged holes.
My exposed skin burned under the high‑concentration acid.
Putrid yellow fluid mixed with blood streamed from my festering wounds.
I glared at the woman before me. My fury could have burned her alive.
But the crowd my call had gathered broke into laughter.
"Ha! She actually tried to steal Mrs. Roland's man! She’s done for now!”
The strange woman, Kylie Crosier, jabbed her finger at my nose and spat.
"You bitch! Still playing innocent? You think calling someone will make me back down?"
"Stop pretending! The Caldwells? Never heard of them! I'm calling the cops right now and have this dress‑stealing mistress hauled away!”
I clutched my ravaged abdomen as scalding blood continued to seep through my fingers.
The rapid blood loss made my vision blur in waves.
Looking at Kylie's thugs behind her, I really regretted not bringing my bodyguards today.
I looked around desperately for help.
But everyone just watched coldly, huddled together whispering, their eyes filled with mockery.
No one dared step forward to help me.
Biting back the pain, I raised my head and fixed Kylie with a scarlet‑eyed stare full of murder.
"I’m Rachel Caldwell — the Caldwells of New York. Walk away. Right fucking now. Or I’ll make sure you die.”
Enraged by my defiant stare, Kylie kicked me hard in the stomach.
"What bullshit Caldwells! You think I'm scared?"
"Let me tell you something! I'm Kylie Crosier, wife of Ethan Roland, CEO of Roland Enterprises! And you’re nothing. How dare you talk to me like that?”
Her kick tore my wound wider. Blood and pus flowed endlessly.
But in that moment, pain ceased to matter.
Kylie's words echoed in my ears—she was Ethan Roland’s wife?
Then who the hell was I?
Watching Kylie's smug expression, I let out a bitter laugh—suddenly everything clicked.
Ethan had cheated on me!
The man chosen to be my fiancé since childhood, the man I’d loved for seven years, had been keeping a mistress behind my back!
I forced my rage down. This wasn’t the time.
"Kylie, is it? Get me to a hospital right now! And tell Ethan to get his ass over here!"
Seeing Kylie's surprised expression, I glared at her viciously.
"If something happens to me today, you'll be the first person he kills!"
"And Ethan Roland will go down with me!"
The moment I finished speaking, Kylie burst into laughter, yanking my hair again.
"What the hell are you supposed to be? Such big talk! You dare order my husband around?"
She slammed my head against the floor repeatedly, saying smugly.
"Even if I kill you today, the Rolands have plenty of money! I can afford to pay for your worthless life!"
My head rang from the impacts, blood clouding my vision.
Her stiletto dug into my abdominal wound, twisting it deliberately.
Pain and despair crashed over me like a tide.
Just then—the screech of brakes outside.
Through the blur, I saw a familiar Maybach pull up to the bridal boutique. My racing heart finally settled.
I looked at Kylie and sneered.
"I told you—my name is Caldwell. The Manhattan Caldwells!"
"My brother's here. You’d better be ready to die."
Chapter 2
"Rachel!"
Seeing my horrific condition, my brother's eyes blazed with murderous fury.
He rushed to my side and, without hesitation, stripped off his jacket to cover my naked body.
I was held tight in his arms, his eyes overflowing with anguish for me.
"Are you okay, Rachel? Don't be scared—I'm here now!"
A sharp sting hit my nose and I couldn’t hold back the tears any more.
Felix gently wiped the tears from my cheeks, then looked up at Kylie with a kill‑cold glare.
"So you're the one who dared touch my sister. You have a death wish!"
Kylie acted as if she'd heard something absurd, laughing hysterically.
Then she sneered at my brother with open contempt.
"Big talk! Let's see if you're still alive to run your mouth later!"
"Boys! Teach him a lesson! Nobody messes with Kylie Crosier and gets away with it!”
The moment she finished speaking, Kylie's guards charged forward.
Felix’s men moved to shield us and struck back, taking down Kylie’s goons one by one.
But more and more bodyguards flooded in, and our Caldwell security team was beginning to get overwhelmed.
I asked my brother worriedly, "Felix, you only brought this few guards?”
His expression darkened as he patted my hand to calm me.
"Don't worry! Dad's already on his way with reinforcements!"
"I want to see who's got the balls to mess with Felix Caldwell's sister!"
Watching her men fall one by one, Kylie was getting anxious too.
She shot us a vicious glare while dialing her phone, threatening, "You just wait! I’m calling my husband. He’ll come and end you.”
The call connected, and she immediately sobbed into the phone.
"Honey! Some guy named Felix Caldwell is threatening me! He says I hurt his sister and he's going to kill me! Come quick!"
Kylie had put it on speaker deliberately.
But the moment she finished, the voice on the other end changed completely, panic creeping into his tone:
"Felix Caldwell? Which Felix Caldwell? Where the hell are you?! Stay put and don't move!"
After seven years together, how could I not recognize Ethan's voice!
Even through the phone, I could hear the tremor in every word he spoke.
Well, I was certainly waiting for him to show up.
Kylie hung up smugly, her shrill laughter grating.
"Ha! My husband's coming to destroy you! He said he doesn't know any Felix Caldwell! He'll just pay to have you killed!"
She then ordered her guards, "Go! Whoever kills them first gets a million dollars!"
Hearing this, the men’s eyes lit up with greed.
One immediately grabbed a fruit knife from the table and charged desperately toward Felix and me.
"Rachel, close your eyes!"
Felix spun around, shielding me in his arms as he shouted.
A warm hand covered my face.
Accompanied by Felix's muffled grunt, the air suddenly reeked of blood.
A terrible premonition tightened my chest. I forced his hand away, frantic. “Felix! What’s wrong?”
What I saw was a vicious gash torn across my brother's arm, blood dripping steadily to the floor.
Then came a brutal kick, sending Felix crashing to the ground with me still in his protective embrace.
He coughed up a mouthful of bright red blood!
"Felix!"
I screamed, my heart feeling like it was splitting apart.
I was completely unharmed, but Felix's shirt was already soaked through with blood.
Rage, hatred and blind, coiled in my gut.
The next second, I lifted my tear-and-blood-streaked face.
I grabbed the fabric scissors from the nearby cutting table and charged straight at Kylie's smug face.
"Thunk—!"
I drove the blade deep into her abdomen!
Chapter 3
"Ahhhhh!"
Kylie screamed in agony, but I kept working the scissors, twisting them savagely in her flesh.
"You bitch! How dare you stab me!"
She grabbed the handle and kicked me away with her stiletto, roaring in fury.
I crashed to the floor, a metallic tang of blood filled my throat.
Kylie seemed to have lost her mind as she screamed orders:
"Kill her! Kill her right now!"
The bodyguards immediately turned toward me, surging forward with murderous intent.
A wooden chair came crashing down toward my head.
"Don't you dare touch Felix Caldwell's sister!" came a hoarse roar.
Through my tear-blurred vision, I watched Felix stumbled forward to shield me—then a stool slammed into his head.
"Felix!"
His body collapsed heavily onto mine, convulsing a few times before going completely still.
I frantically tried to lift him with my hands and feet, but several bodyguards rushed over and pinned me down.
With my limbs restrained and my face pressed against the floor, I struggled and screamed through blood and tears.
Kylie smiled wickedly, grinding her sharp heel deliberately over my fingertips.
"Can't handle this already?"
I curled up like a shrimp from the pain, my face deathly pale, cold sweat pouring from every pore.
My vision began to blur, all I could hear was Kylie’s manic laughter.
"Don't be so impatient—I've got a special surprise prepared for you both!"
A blow to my head, and everything went black.
When I opened my eyes again, Felix and I were trapped in a glass-enclosed freezer.
Sharp, piercing pain shot through every part of my skin touching the ground. I shivered uncontrollably while Felix's face had already turned blue-purple from the cold, frost coating his eyelashes.
I warmed my palms and pressed them against his face, blood and tears falling together.
“Felix, hang on—don’t sleep. Dad’s coming. Please, just stay with me…”
Feeling my brother's breathing grow weaker in my arms, my heart sank.
Looking at Kylie outside, my eyes blood-red, almost spilling blood with rage.
"Kylie Crosier! If anything happens to my brother, I swear I'll kill you MYSELF!"
Kylie couldn't help but laugh, wrapping her cashmere coat around herself as she entered the freezer.
"You talk too much.”
She roughly shoved a rag into my mouth and kicked me hard in the chest.
"With such a hot temper, it's time to cool you down and put out that fire!"
With that, Kylie kicked over a bucket of water beside her.
Ice water quickly spread beneath me, freezing solid in the sub-zero temperature and cementing my battered body to the floor.
The cold stabbed through bone, bringing waves of excruciating pain.
"Like my special gift?"
Admiring my miserable state, Kylie snorted with satisfaction before turning to leave the freezer.
I looked desperately at my lifeless brother, my eyes filled with crushing regret, hating that I couldn't rush forward and kill her myself.
Just then—
My phone suddenly buzzed urgently in my pocket.
My pupils contracted sharply—it was Ethan calling.
Ignoring the burning pain each movement tore from my skin, I struggled to reach my phone and answer.
"Rachel Caldwell! Where are you?" Ethan's frantic voice came through.
"I can explain the Kylie situation later! Let her go! Otherwise..."
Ethan paused: "Otherwise I'll hate you for the rest of my life!"
Blood and ice beneath me steamed scarlet. Hatred and despair tore at my face
Hate me?
From the day we're dating, to help Dad accept Ethan, Felix had secretly supported his business, helping him turn Roland Enterprises into the top industry in just three years.
But he repaid that kindness with betrayal—not only using my money to keep a mistress, but allowing her to harm Felix and me like this!
That bastard!
Now it was Kylie who wanted Felix and me dead!
With the rag stuffed in my mouth, all my rage came out as muffled sobs.
Just then, Kylie, who had left, returned again.
Hearing that it was Ethan on the phone, Kylie froze, then snatched the phone in surprise:
"Hello, honey? Why are you calling her?"
When Ethan didn't hear my voice for a long time, his voice began to tremble.
"Where's Rachel Caldwell?"
"So this homewrecker really is a Caldwell."
Kylie was dismissive. "Just giving her a little lesson! Letting her know that Mrs. Roland isn't someone to mess with!"
The phone went silent for a moment, then Ethan's thunderous roar nearly shattered the speaker:
"Kylie! What the hell did you do to Rachel Caldwell?! She's the Caldwell family heiress!"
“You want me dead?!"
"Crack—" Kylie's body shook violently.
With those words, the phone slipped from her hand and crashed to the floor.
For the first time, disbelief stole the arrogance from her face.
After several seconds of stunned silence, she whipped around to stare at me!
