She Restored His Sight, Only for Him to Look Away

Everyone in the business world knew that the wealthy Calvin Rosenbach had once been ruthlessly dumped by his exwife when he lost his sight.

For this woman, he had given up everything he owned—even his eyes.

That woman was Heidi Twigg.

She had said, “I was only with you for the money. Now that you have nothing, why should I stay?”

She had said, “You can’t give me the life I want, and you’re blind. I’ve had enough. Trash like you should just die!”

She was the kind of woman everyone despised.

Yet five years later, Calvin was on his knees, crying and begging her.

“Don’t go. Please… don’t leave me.”

The next time she saw Calvin was on New Year’s Eve, five years later.

He had become one of the world’s most outstanding entrepreneurs, newly listed on Forbes.

Meanwhile, Heidi—wearing artificial corneas, stricken with cancer, halfblind, and barely alive—was working as a bar waitress, serving drinks.

Inside a private booth, their eyes met. She heard Calvin ask, “You left me for money back then. Do you regret it?”

Staring at the vague silhouette before her, Heidi lowered her gaze and chuckled.

“Calvin, you’re so rich now. Lend me 20,000 bucks, will you?”

The hope in Calvin’s eyes turned to disgust in an instant. He sneered.

“I knew it. You’re still as greedy and sickening as ever.”

His words cut through Heidi like a blade.

He didn’t know that when he had gone blind, it was Heidi who had secretly given him both of her corneas.

——

The young woman in his arms, Adrienne Deneen, looked surprised. “Vin, does Miss Twigg really need money that badly? She was your exwife, after all. Why not just give it to her? I mean, the shoes you bought me cost more than 20,000 bucks. That amount means nothing to you, right?”

Hearing this, the others in the room sneered with contempt.

“So, you’re the exwife who left Mr. Rosenbach when he was at his lowest?”

“If you love money so much, you’d do anything for it, right?”

“If you want 20,000 that badly, why don’t you drink all the liquor here?”

The last question came from Calvin himself.

Heidi lifted her head toward his voice. She had already tried so hard to see him clearly, but her artificial corneas had long since deteriorated. She could only rely on sounds and shadows to judge the situation.

Yet, after five long years of longing for his face, she still couldn’t see it.

Forcing a weak smile, she finally spoke.

“If I finish it all… you’ll really give me 20,000, right?”

Calvin was momentarily stunned. The woman before him, so degraded and desperate for money, was nothing like the arrogant figure he remembered from five years ago.

Fury ignited in his eyes. Through gritted teeth, he spat out a single word.

“Sure.”

At his confirmation, Heidi smiled. Without hesitation, she grabbed a bottle and started drinking.

The liquor burned as it flooded her mouth. She could feel the sharp pain slicing through her stomach, her body instinctively wanting to retch. A metallic taste filled her throat, but she forced it back down.

Around her, mocking laughter rang out. Though she couldn’t see their faces, she could feel the malice in the air.

“Enough!”

Finally, just as Heidi—her face pale—reached for another bottle, a hand suddenly knocked it to the floor, shattering it into countless shards.

Calvin’s furious voice followed.

“Seriously, Heidi, are you really going to die for money?”

“Yeah.”

Her unwavering answer made Calvin laugh in rage.

“Fine. Fine! You want money that badly? I’ll give it to you!”

As soon as Calvin finished speaking, he flung Heidi away forcefully. Her body fell onto the shattered glass, the sharp edges cutting into her palms and the exposed skin on her body.

Blood dripped freely, and she was in utter disarray.

Yet, she seemed completely indifferent to the pain. She simply lifted her gaze and looked at the man before her.

Just now, they had been so close that she could finally see his face clearly.

After five years, the face that had haunted her dreams remained almost unchanged—except for the loss of its youthful warmth, replaced by steadiness and maturity.

The only thing that had changed was the woman standing by his side. It was no longer Heidi, but someone else.

Stacks of cash were ruthlessly thrown at her face and body.

Adrienne sneered. “Miss Twigg, weren’t you desperate for money? Vin is giving it to you now—why aren’t you taking it?”

Heidi, in her tattered state, crawled forward, picking up each bloodstained bill one by one. She kept her head lowered, concealing the tears welling up in her eyes.

Her mind drifted back to the past, to the time when she first met Calvin in college.

Back then, he was the campus heartthrob—wealthy, influential, admired by all.

She, on the other hand, was just an orphan who relied on scholarships to get by.

They came from completely different worlds, and being together had never been easy. The Rosenbachs were the first to oppose them.

But Calvin had defied all obstacles, and together, they built a home of their own.

They started from scratch, working hard to build their future. Just when everything seemed to be looking up, tragedy struck—Calvin lost his sight and urgently needed a corneal transplant.

The surgery and treatment required an enormous sum of money. They spent every last cent they had. To gather more, Heidi worked multiple jobs, often surviving on just one meal a day.

But no matter how hard she tried, it was never enough.

That was when Rosalie, Calvin’s mother, appeared.

And everything changed.

A sudden crash jolted Heidi back to reality.

A wine glass had been smashed in front of her, shattering her memories along with it.

“Stop looking at us with those eyes—they disgust me!” Calvin’s voice was cold. “Take the money and get the hell out!”

With that, he lowered his head and gently kissed the woman in his arms.

“Sorry you had to see this,” he murmured to Adrienne. “I’ll make it up to you tomorrow. How about we go shopping for some new things you like? That pair of heels you wanted last time—the ones that cost 20,000—I’ll buy them for you and put them on you myself, alright?”

Listening to their affectionate exchange, Heidi felt an unbearable pain surge through her chest. She struggled to her feet, but the overwhelming bitterness and pain made her vision blur. She nearly collapsed.

Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to stand firm. But the moment she stepped out of the private room, she couldn’t hold it in anymore—a mouthful of blood spilled from her lips.

She stared at the crimson splatters on the floor and curled her lips in selfmockery.

Her body was reaching its limit.

She didn’t have much time left.

But if she died… what would happen to their son?

Suddenly, the door behind her was yanked open.

Calvin’s panicked voice rang out.

“Heidi? What’s wrong?!”

Instinctively, he reached out to help her, but Adrienne quickly grabbed his arm, her face full of concern and helplessness.

“Oh gosh! It’s my fault,” she said anxiously. “I shouldn’t have broken those bottles earlier. But… Miss Twigg, when did you hurt your mouth? Weren’t your injuries on your arms and hands?”

The worry in Calvin’s eyes darkened, replaced by anger.

“Oh, I never thought you’d stoop so low, Heidi. You’re faking an injury just to swindle more money? Wow.”

Heidi stared at him, at those onceblind yet nowclear eyes, and a bitter smile tugged at her lips.

“Since President Rosenbach knows how much I love money, why not lend me a little more?”

Before he could respond, Adrienne tightened her grip on his hand and softly pleaded, “Vin, why don’t you help her again? Maybe she really is desperate for money…

“Besides, if she hadn’t abandoned you back then, you would never have returned home… and you wouldn’t have gotten the chance to receive that kind stranger’s corneas, would you?”

Adrienne’s words seemed to be helping Heidi, but in reality, they were a cruel reminder of the humiliation Calvin suffered when his exwife dumped him years ago.

His anger turned icy, and he let out a cold snort. “A despicable miser like you isn’t worthy of my money! Tell the manager here—I don’t ever want to see this woman here again!”

With that, he wrapped his arm around Adrienne and returned to the private room, slamming the door shut behind him.

It was strange—Heidi’s vision had long since blurred, yet she could still see clearly the disgust in Calvin’s eyes as he turned away and the smug satisfaction at the corner of Adrienne’s lips.

A sharp, suffocating pain spread through Heidi’s chest. She clutched the spot over her heart, her face contorted in agony. Lifting her gaze toward the closed door, her surroundings gradually faded into a blur.

Her trembling fingers brushed against the corners of her eyes, where pain had resided for five long years. When she saw the crimson tears of blood on her fingertips, she couldn’t help but let out a bitter smile.

‘Calvin still doesn’t know.’

The eyes he used to gaze so tenderly at another woman—were Heidi’s.

Five years ago, his vision had been deteriorating due to a lack of funds and a suitable cornea until he was nearly blind. His mental state declined along with it, leaving him dispirited and broken.

That was when his mother came to Heidi.

Years ago, Calvin had cut ties with his family for her. Now, Rosalie wanted Heidi to sever ties with him.

The reason? Money and a cornea.

Thinking of Calvin’s vacant, lifeless eyes, Heidi agreed. But she still insisted on giving him her own cornea.

The Rosenbachs had money—they could afford an artificial cornea without issue. But that would only last for so long.

A donor cornea could work too, but it would take time.

Once she left, Calvin wouldn’t wait. He might even spiral out of control.

So, his mother agreed.

Once a match was confirmed, Heidi had her cornea transplanted to him.

As for herself, she got a pair of artificial corneas—the cheapest kind, to save money.

For the first two years, her vision was no different from a normal person’s. But by the third year, she was diagnosed with eye cancer.

By the time she found out, it was already too late. The cancer cells had affected the artificial corneas, subjecting her to relentless, excruciating pain day and night—along with the agony of impending blindness.

Three whole years. Over a thousand days and nights.

The world before her eyes grew dimmer and blurrier with each passing day.

She knew that whether it was her life or her vision, she was already at her limit.

After leaving the bar, Heidi went to the hospital.

“You can’t keep taking painkillers. You’ve had more than enough over the years.”

The person scolding her was Sharon Sumners, Heidi’s best friend and her attending physician.

Seeing the concern on her face, Heidi gave Sharon a reassuring smile.

“It’s fine. I’ve already taken so many—what difference do a few more make?”

Sharon rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Fine, forget the painkillers. But what about alcohol? How many times have I told you—you can’t drink! Heidi, the cancer has already spread to your stomach. Drinking could literally kill you!”

‘Kill me? Of course, I knew that. But I desperately needed money—not just for myself but for my son.’

At the thought of her child, she quickly asked, anxious, “Right, how’s Tommie? Did he eat today?”

“Don’t worry, Tommie is very wellbehaved. Today is New Year’s Eve, so I brought him blackeyed peas and cornbread. He ate them happily. But we still need to find a matching bone marrow donor as soon as possible. Otherwise… he might not make it through the year.

“It’s a pity Calvin wasn’t a match. Otherwise… your son wouldn’t have had to suffer for so long. Some father he is—ugh, completely useless!”

Sharon’s voice was full of anger and frustration, but Heidi only curled her lips into a bitter smile.

After donating her cornea to Calvin, Heidi discovered that she was pregnant.

At the time, she felt both excitement and fear—excited that she finally had a family member by her side, but terrified that the surgery might affect her baby.

She spent a long time in anxious uncertainty, but in the end, fate was cruel to her.

The year she was diagnosed with eye cancer, Tommie was also diagnosed with leukemia.

She once went to Rosalie and begged for bone marrow. To keep it from Calvin, they secretly did a compatibility test.

Unfortunately, it failed.

Rosalie then cut off all contact with Heidi and Tommie.

Without money and without a matching donor, Tommie’s illness kept dragging on.

It had been three years.

Tommie couldn’t hold on any longer.

“Besides bone marrow, is there any other way to save Tommie?”

Sharon thought for a moment. “There is—umbilical cord blood. But unless you can have another child with Calvin, the chances are still very slim.”

‘A child… it isn’t impossible!’

As Heidi was lost in thought, the sound of a child crying suddenly came from outside.

‘It’s Tommie!’

Her heart tightened, and she rushed over. When she got closer, she saw Adrienne hitting Tommie—while Calvin just stood there.

“Tommie! Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“III’m fine, Mom. Don’t worry.”

From the moment he was born, her son had always been wellbehaved. She didn’t know who he took after, but he had never given her any trouble.

Now, even with his little face red and swollen, tears still in his eyes, he was comforting her.

Heidi’s heart ached. She couldn’t help but hold her son tightly in her arms.

“Heidi, this… is your son?”

She looked at Calvin. A thousand words rose to her lips, but in the end, only one came out.

“Yeah.”

That single word ignited Calvin’s fury.

Just moments ago, when he saw Adrienne hitting the child, he had been angry and rushed over to stop her.

But he never expected that this child was Heidi’s!

She had really betrayed their love.

She had really been with another man.

Adrienne, watching the mother and son embrace, had a triumphant and calculating look in her eyes.

“Vin, it’s my fault. I was just startled by the child and acted out of panic.

“I didn’t know he was Miss Twigg’s son. I’m really sorry.”

As she spoke, Adrienne stepped forward, crouched down, and took Tommie’s hand.

“Miss Twigg, your son is really adorable. He looks about four or five years old, right? That means you had him the same year you and Vin divorced.

“This boy… could he be Vin’s?”

Back then, after agreeing to Rosalie’s request, Heidi pretended to be materialistic and greedy. She had handed over the divorce papers herself.

She and Calvin had spent seven years together. He had been willing to give up his privileged life for her, and she had been willing to endure hardship with him.

At their happiest moments, they had dreamed about what their child would look like. They had even imagined the life of a happy family of three.

At first, Calvin refused to believe she had fallen out of love. He even tore up the divorce papers with his own hands.

But to save him, Heidi had used the cruelest words.

She told him that she had only agreed to be with him for money and had stayed through the hardships because she believed he would one day return to the Rosenbachs.

She told him that now, as a blind man, the Rosenbachs would never take him back, and she didn’t want to spend her life with a blind man either.

She told him that she had found another man—one who was richer, one who promised to give her the best of everything, one who could make her dream of marrying into a wealthy family come true.

That day, she saw despair on the face of the man she had loved for years. With trembling hands and tearfilled eyes, he wrote down his name.

Watching the tears blur the ink, Heidi wept silently as well.

But Calvin never saw it.

His contemptuous gaze landed on Tommie’s pale little face, and the words he spoke were like knives stabbing into Heidi’s heart.

“I must have been blind to have a child with her.

“Just a bastard. How could he have anything to do with me?”

The last shred of hope in Heidi’s heart finally died. The explanation she had wanted to give turned into a bitter, selfmocking smile.

Now, they truly were a family of three.

But they could never stand beside Calvin again.

Seeing the hatred and disgust on his face, a wave of sorrow and pain surged through Heidi’s heart.

“Tommie, let’s go.”

Supporting her son with difficulty, Heidi was just about to leave when Calvin spoke again.

“Your son hit my fiancée, and you think you can just walk away? Don’t forget, this hospital bears the Rosenbachs name. If a patient can’t pay their medical bills, isn’t it only natural for the hospital to throw them out?”

Heidi looked up at him in shock. She knew he hated her, but she never imagined he would go this far for revenge—resorting to such despicable means.

Adrienne clung to Calvin’s arm, her voice coy yet pleading. “Vin, forget it. No matter what Miss Twigg did, she was once your wife. Yes, she wronged you in the past, but… but you wouldn’t really make her kneel and apologize to me, would you?”

Calvin affectionately tapped her nose. “You’re my precious girl. So what if she kneels? So what if she apologizes? No matter what she does, you deserve it.”

Heidi looked up at her ex in disbelief. In the end, she couldn’t hold back and choked out, “Calvin, are you really asking me to kneel and apologize to her?”

Deliberately ignoring the pain in her eyes, Calvin sneered. “You can refuse. But from today on, your son doesn’t need to stay in this hospital anymore.”

“Fine, I’ll kneel.”

For her son, Heidi chose to submit.

After her parents died, she grew up in an orphanage. No matter how hard, how painful, or how unbearable life was, she had never knelt before anyone.

She was proud. She was stubborn.

Back then, Calvin had loved her precisely for that.

But now, she not only knelt but even almost kissed the ground in front of Adrienne and the others.

“I’m sorry, Miss Adrienne. I apologize on behalf of my son. Please be magnanimous and don’t hold a grudge against a kid.”

The humiliation burned so fiercely that Heidi’s eyes turned red. Tears welled up but were forcibly held back, making her eyes sting even more, her vision blurring.

She thought this would be the end of it.

But it wasn’t.

“You work so hard to make money just for your son’s treatment, right? I can help you. As long as you agree to be Adrienne’s and my maid, I’ll not only let him stay here but also pay you. How about it?”

Heidi stared at Calvin deeply, her mind recalling Sharon’s words.

‘Umbilical cord blood can also save your son.’

Tommie had a rare blood type. Finding a matching bone marrow donor was like searching for a needle in a haystack. She couldn’t just watch her son die—umbilical cord blood was her last hope.

She had thought getting pregnant again would be difficult.

But when she saw the agreement, she couldn’t stop the pain from gripping her heart.

[A maid by day, a plaything by night.]

Calvin looked at her, his eyes filled with nothing but ridicule and icy disdain.

“Heidi, why aren’t you saying anything? Haven’t you always been willing to do anything for money? Back then, you could sell yourself to another man, but now you can’t sell yourself to me?

“You should be grateful that I don’t despise you. What right do you have to refuse?”

His expression was icecold, freezing Heidi’s heart until it trembled with pain.

Thinking of Tommie, she let out a sorrowful smile, shook her head, and picked up the pen to sign her name. As she lowered her gaze, a single tear fell onto the paper, smudging the names written there.

“Heidi! You can’t sign that!”

Sharon suddenly burst into the hospital room, snatching the agreement away. But when she saw its contents, she couldn’t help but turn to Calvin.

“A plaything? A maid? Mr. Rosenbach, what a pity—she’s got such beautiful eyes, yet they’re wasted on a blind man like you. Last time, you nearly killed her by forcing her to drink. And now, you’re humiliating both her and Tommie again! Do you even know… that this boy is your son?!”

The moment those words left Sharon’s mouth, Calvin froze completely, his disbelieving gaze shifting between Heidi and Tommie.

For a long while, he remained silent. Then suddenly, he laughed.

“Oh, wow, Heidi, you really went to great lengths to deceive me. You even managed to bribe Dr. Sumners! What’s next? Are you going to beg me to save that boy? To forgive you?”

Just now, when Sharon revealed the truth, for a fleeting moment, Heidi had felt a surge of hope.

But she had forgotten—forgotten that, in Calvin’s eyes, she was nothing more than a shameless, manipulative woman who would do anything to get what she wanted.

Even when the truth was laid bare before him, he would never believe it.

Bitterness and pain swelled in Heidi’s chest, and then, a sharp agony pierced through her eyes. The next moment, everything before her turned to darkness.

She was blind!

Panic gripped her, but she forced herself to lower her gaze, concealing the emptiness in her eyes. She mustered a faint smile and said, “What a shame… you saw through me.”

Calvin let out a mocking laugh. “As expected, you’re always this despicable. Absolutely disgusting.”

Heidi gripped Sharon’s arm tightly but said nothing more.

“The contract is signed,” Calvin declared coldly. “From today onward, you’re nothing more than a dog at my feet. By tomorrow night, I expect to see you at the villa. Otherwise… you’ll deal with the consequences.”

With that, his furious footsteps echoed as he stormed out, followed by the heavy slam of the door.

After a long sigh, Sharon gently patted Heidi’s hand. “They’re gone. It’s just the two of us now. Heidi, why do you insist on doing this?

“If you just let me, I could prove the truth. I could help you and Tommie escape this suffering, clear your name…”

Heidi collapsed onto the bed, her body trembling from the pain in her eyes. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead, but she still forced a smile.

“Calvin won’t believe me. And even if he does… I’m dying. In the end, there would just be one more person suffering. So… what’s the point…?”

Sharon had been about to argue, but then she noticed something was wrong. Alarmed, she rushed to arrange an examination for Heidi.

When the results came back, her face darkened.

“Heidi, your condition… it has worsened.”

Heidi’s vision was still gone. Staring blankly ahead, she asked, “Will it stop me from having another baby?”

“You can’t have another baby!” Sharon’s voice trembled. “Based on your current condition, you might only have a year left to live. But if you get pregnant… your life expectancy might drop to just a few months.”

Heidi said nothing.

She couldn’t see, but she could hear the suppressed sobs in Sharon’s voice.

A few months should be enough time to give birth.

The only pity was that in a few months, Heidi’s life would also come to an end. She didn’t even know if she’d get to see Tommie recover.

After a night of treatment and rest, Heidi’s vision finally improved a little the next day.

Enduring the discomfort in her body, she returned to Calvin’s villa.

As soon as she stepped inside, the sight that greeted her was of two adults intimately leaning against each other.

“Oh my, Miss Twigg, yyou’re here!

“Hey, Vin, let go of me. Don’t embarrass us in front of others.”

Calvin chuckled and dropped a kiss on Adrienne’s face. “What does it matter? She’s just a maid. If she’s not used to seeing us like this, how could she possibly serve us properly? Besides, a woman who’s been passed around countless times—does she even know what shame is?”

His cruel words pierced Heidi’s heart like needles. She forced herself to act as if she had seen nothing and turned to leave, but Calvin’s voice rang out again.

“Did I say you could leave? Get over here and kneel while you peel fruit for us.”

Heidi tried to maintain a normal expression as she walked toward them, kneeling in front of the coffee table.

She picked up a yellow dragon fruit and carefully peeled it before offering it to Adrienne. But before it even reached the woman’s hand, it slipped and fell to the ground.

“Oh dear, Miss Twigg, if you didn’t want to do it, I wouldn’t force you. But you shouldn’t waste food like this! Vin had this fruit specially airlifted from Colombia just because he knows I love it! What a shame to let it go to waste!”

Adrienne’s voice was full of regret and sorrow, but standing so close, Heidi could clearly see the malice and calculation in her eyes.

“How is it a waste?” Calvin sneered. “Heidi, you love luxury so much—why don’t you just pick it up and eat it?”

Heidi stared at him in shock. He knew how proud she was, yet he still tried every possible way to break her, to crush her dignity into the dirt.

He truly hated her.

In the past, she would have stood up and walked away without hesitation.

But now, with trembling fingers, she picked up the ruined fruit from the floor. After a moment of hesitation, she put it into her mouth.

Adrienne gasped, covering her mouth in mock surprise. “Oh my, Miss Twigg really does love yellow dragon fruit! She won’t even let the ones from the floor go to waste. If that’s the case, you should have just said so earlier—there was no need to eat it this way! Vin, look at her, she—”

Before she could finish, Calvin knocked the fruit from Heidi’s hands with a resounding forceful slap.

His face twisted in disgust at her pathetic appearance. A deep, suffocating frustration welled up in his chest, making it hard to breathe.

After a long silence, he spat out in fury, “Get out! Go back to the servants’ quarters—get lost!”

Heidi staggered as she stood up, and then, she calmly turned and left.

That night, she changed into the same outfit she had worn the first time she met Calvin and went upstairs.

Her time was running out. For Tommie’s sake, she had to conceive another baby as soon as possible!

Even if she knew she might be humiliated, she had no other choice.

She hesitated for a moment at the door before raising her hand and knocking.

The door quickly opened.

When Calvin saw her, his pupils shrank sharply, and he instinctively pulled her inside.

Pressing her against the wall, they were so close their breaths intertwined.

He studied her carefully.

God knew how complicated his feelings for this woman were. He hated her coldness, her heartless resolve.

But the happiness and love they once shared—he could never truly erase them.

For a fleeting moment, he even considered letting go of everything in the past and making Heidi love him again, just like she used to.

But the thought of the boy in the hospital made Calvin’s heart turn cold once again.

“For that boy, you’re really willing to give up everything, huh? If it wasn’t me today, but some other man threatening you like this, would you have stripped without hesitation and laid down on the bed just the same?”

After five years, Heidi could finally look him in the eyes so clearly, yet for a moment, she didn’t know what to say.

In that brief hesitation, a shadow suddenly loomed over her. His punishing kiss crashed down like a storm, ruthless and unrelenting. There was no technique—just pure force as he ravaged her lips.

The pain made Heidi furrow her brows, but she didn’t push him away. After all, wasn’t this what she wanted?

The entire process was painful. It was as if Calvin was afraid she might forget, so every time, he used all his strength. Only when he heard her muffled cries of pain did he seem to feel truly satisfied.

Yet, the moment it ended, he heartlessly kicked her off the bed.

“Take your clothes and get the hell out. Don’t dirty my room!”

The pain from the fall brought tears to Heidi’s eyes. Hugging her clothes, she dragged her battered body out of the room.

Little did she know, as she descended the stairs, a pair of venomous eyes were watching her with fury.

For some time after that, Heidi endured humiliation during the day, but at night, she never sought out Calvin again.

Getting pregnant only took once. There was no need for more.

A few days later, it was Valentine's Day—coincidentally, Adrienne’s birthday. To celebrate, Calvin spared no expense. He booked the entire Riverside Hotel and invited all the elites from various industries to attend her birthday party.

The grand hall was adorned with countless fresh flowers, and off to the side of the stage stood a custommade castle cake, several meters tall, prepared especially for Adrienne.

Heidi stood in a quiet corner, watching the extravagant scene unfold before her. She downed the wine in her glass in one gulp.

Back when she was with Calvin, no matter how busy he was, he always made time for her birthday every year.

They had no money back then, but he still did everything he could to make her birthdays special.

He once told her, “Babe, bear with me for now. When I succeed, I’ll give you the grandest, most luxurious, and most unforgettable birthday party in the world.”

Truly, he had succeeded.

But that birthday party was no longer meant for Heidi.

Fireworks lit up the sky, casting envy into the eyes of everyone present.

“Aren’t they beautiful?” Adrienne’s voice carried a smug delight. “Vin searched the world to find these oneofakind fireworks just for me. He says I’m his most precious treasure, and I deserve only the best in the world.”

Hearing Adrienne’s boastful words, Heidi felt nothing. Wealth and luxury had never mattered to her. What she cared about was sincerity and love.

She turned to leave, but before she could take a step, someone grabbed her wrist tightly.

“Miss Twigg, thank you for letting Vin tire himself out on you these past few days. I wasn’t feeling well, and since he felt sorry for me, he had to settle for you instead. The money he gave you should count as compensation. Though, to be honest, he said he overpaid you—girls from outside cost way less than you.”

So… in Calvin’s eyes, Heidi wasn’t even worth as much as a common escort.

She really was nothing more than a tool for him to vent his frustrations.

A sharp, suffocating pain gripped her chest. Heidi tried to shake off the woman’s hand, but the next second, Adrienne let out a startled cry and fell backward—landing directly onto the towering cake.

Startled, Heidi instinctively reached out to pull Adrienne up, but before she could react, someone suddenly rammed into her.

Heidi lost her balance and crashed onto the floor, her palm landing on shattered glass. The sharp shards pierced deep into her flesh, and blood streamed down from the wounds.

Yet, she had no time to feel the pain.

She lifted her gaze toward the couple embracing in the distance. Though she couldn’t clearly see their expressions or faces, she knew it was Calvin. She also knew how worried he must be at that moment.

“Vin, I really just wanted Miss Twigg to watch the fireworks with me. If she doesn’t want to stay, she can leave. Why did she have to ruin my birthday party?”

The grievance in her voice was enough to evoke sympathy. Calvin, deeply concerned, picked her up in his arms. But when his gaze fell on Heidi, his eyes were filled with nothing but disgust and fury.

“If you hate being here so much, then get back to the servants’ quarters!”

Heidi didn’t explain. Struggling to her feet, she dragged her aching body step by step out of the hall.

Whispers of mockery and disdain surrounded her. People ridiculed her for overestimating herself, sneered at her lowly status—but she ignored it all.

Then, suddenly, someone stuck out a foot and tripped her. Losing her balance, she fell forward in a miserable heap.

The shards of glass embedded in her palms pushed in even deeper. The pain drained all color from her face, and a bitter, metallic taste surged up her throat. But she refused to lose her dignity in that place. She swallowed it back down.

Forcing herself up from the floor, she endured the pain and walked back to her room, step by step.

Sitting by the bed, she picked up a pair of tweezers. Gritting her teeth, she pulled the glass shards from her palm.

Her vision blurred with blood and tears. She had held them back for so long, but now, they finally fell—one after another—onto her wound. The familiar sting returned, but it wasn’t enough to shake her.

All these years, she had thought the pain in her eyes had numbed her to suffering. But now, she realized—this pain was different.

It wasn’t her eyes that hurt.

It was her heart.

Suddenly, the door swung open.

A shadowy figure stepped inside.

“Heidi, I’m here! Oh dear, look at all that blood. Come, let your big brother take good care of you.”

The lecherous voice made her heart tighten.

It was Elvis Devlin—one of Calvin’s socalled brothers.

This man had always looked at her with ill intentions. Back when Heidi and Calvin were still together, he had restrained himself only out of deference to Calvin. So why was he barging in now?

A rough hand grabbed Heidi’s wrist.

She turned pale with fright, instinctively struggling with all her strength. She shouted in fury, “Elvis! What do you think you’re doing?! This is the Rosenbachs’ villa! If you dare touch me, Calvin won’t let you go!”

Elvis laughed like a lunatic. “Calvin? Relax. Right about now, he’s probably busy having fun in Adrienne’s bed.

“And besides, you’re nothing but a discarded woman. Even if I take you right in front of him, do you really think he’d care?”

His words struck deep, right at the wounds in Heidi’s heart.

Given the way Calvin saw her now, he probably wouldn’t care. He might even turn a blind eye.

But what about the others?

There were so many guests outside. If she screamed for help, surely someone would come, right?

As if reading her mind, Elvis chuckled darkly.

“Come on, everyone already sees you as a greedy, shameless bitch! If they walk in and see us like this, what do you think they’ll believe? That I forced you? Or that you threw yourself at me for money?”

His voice dropped lower, dripping with malice.

“And don’t worry, Heidi… soon, you’ll be the one begging me to have you. I can wait.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Heidi suddenly felt a strange heat surging through her body.

She was no naive girl. She knew exactly what this feeling meant.

He had drugged her!

Panic set in. She didn’t have time to think about how it had happened. Staggering, she tried to get up and escape, but his grip on her wrist tightened like an iron shackle.

The next moment, she was thrown onto the bed.

Elvis loomed over her, reeking of alcohol. His lips inched closer, attempting to claim hers.

But before he could, she bit down—hard.

A sudden hard slap on Heidi’s face rang in her ears.

“Fuck! How dare you bite me, you bitch? You act like you’re so pure when you’re nothing but a worthless slut! I swear, I’ll kill you tonight!”

The sound of fabric tearing echoed through the room. Heidi struggled desperately, but the drug coursing through her veins made her weak. Her cries for help came out soft and powerless, only fueling Elvis’s excitement.

No! She couldn’t let herself be humiliated like this!

If she had to die, she’d take this bastard down with her!

She bit down hard on her tongue, ready to end it all—when suddenly, the door was kicked open with a loud bang!

“What the hell are you doing?!”