Love Ended Where I Finally Saw Their Kiss

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I once thought Peyton was the person who loved me most in the world.

Five years of marriage. He worshipped the ground I walked on. Even I believed it was real.

Until a paternity test told me the truth. The child calling me Mommy wasn't mine.

Until I saw him holding Lily, my sponsored student. Their lips locked under fireworks.

Until I learned that the baby I nearly died to bring into the world had been suffocated with a handkerchief. Lily burned my baby to ash.

They took everything from me. But they didn't know one thing.

I'm the heir to the Summers family.

Heartbroken and done with lies, I called my brother.

"I was wrong. I'll take the arranged marriage."

Seraphina's POV

"Is your child adopted?"

When I heard the doctor's question, I instinctively held the child in my arms tighter. "What?"

This was the baby I gave birth to myself.

How could he possibly be adopted?!

The doctor turned the computer screen toward me, pointing at the parental information section.

"The child's blood test results came back. Type B."

"You're Type O. Your husband Peyton is Type A."

"Type O and Type A cannot produce a Type B child."

The doctor's words felt like a heavy boulder crashing down on my heart.

The child had a slight fever today. Peyton was away on business, and our driver happened to have taken the day off. Worried the baby's condition might worsen, I quickly hailed a taxi and rushed to the nearest hospital.

I'd previously always gone to the Summers family's private hospital far from home. At that hospital, no doctor had ever raised such doubts.

The doctor looked at my pale face and softened her tone. "If you have concerns, I can arrange an expedited paternity test."

"It only takes three hours to get results."

I numbly signed the consent form.

Three hours felt as long as a century.

I sat on a chair in the hospital corridor, the sleeping child in my arms.

The child's breathing was even, his little face looking innocent and harmless.

But looking at him, I suddenly felt like he was a stranger.

Five years of marriage. Everyone said Peyton had spoiled me into the happiest wife in San Francisco.

He remembered all my preferences, would cancel all social engagements to come home and keep me company, took meticulous care of me during my pregnancy.

Everyone envied me.

Even I believed it myself.

I thought I'd married the man who loved me most.

I thought our child was the best proof of our love.

But now, it had all become a joke.

The paternity test report was finally delivered to my hands.

A thin sheet of paper, so hot it burned my fingertips. The sentence at the bottom was painfully clear.

"Based on DNA analysis results, Seraphina is not the biological mother of this child."

This wasn't my child.

Then where was my child?

Before I could process this information, a familiar voice suddenly reached my ears. I looked toward the sound and actually discovered my husband Peyton.

Wasn't he supposed to be on a business trip?

Peyton was steadily supporting a woman. The woman was clutching her lower abdomen, her face flushed with an unnatural redness. "It's all your fault, honey. Why did you have sex with me in the car? Now the baby in my belly is upset, and you've landed me in the hospital."

When I saw that face clearly, my eyes widened instantly.

It was actually Lily!

Lily was a poverty-stricken student I'd been quietly sponsoring since high school. I gave her the opportunity to study, gave her a job.

Now she was Peyton's chief assistant.

I gave her my complete trust, never once guarded against her.

But I never imagined that Lily had secretly been sleeping with Peyton!

My heart racing in panic, I hid in the stairwell holding the child, then heard Peyton say indulgently.

"It's because you're too attractive. You've already given birth to Harper, yet you're still so tempting..."

I couldn't believe it, because the child in my arms was Harper!

So the child I'd been raising for nearly a year was Lily's.

Lily was even pregnant with Peyton's second child.

My world instantly collapsed.

I held the baby that didn't belong to me and walked out of the hospital step by step.

Returning to the empty house, I closed the door and finally couldn't hold on anymore.

I called my brother Ashton. I hadn't talked to him in years. My voice shook, but it was oddly clear.

"I lost the bet. He fell for her."

"I need you to check three things for me."

"Peyton."

"Lily."

"And the day I gave birth at Summers Hospital one year ago. Every camera. Every record. Every nurse present. I want it all."

"I have to know where my baby is."

The wind from the corridor lifted my clothes.

I gazed into the distance, my eyes gradually turning cold.

Peyton.

You lied to me.

This time, I won't trust you again.

Seraphina's POV

Not long after, Peyton came home.

"Darling, I'm back."

In the bedroom, as soon as he saw me, he quickly walked toward me, reaching out to pull me into his arms.

I quietly shifted to the side, gently avoiding his touch.

Peyton's hand froze in midair. A flash of displeasure swept through his eyes, then was quickly covered by a warm smile.

The scene from the hospital replayed repeatedly in my mind.

Peyton holding Lily, his tone indulgent.

This was the man I'd known for over a decade, with whom I'd shared five years of marriage. He was the boy whose ears would turn red when kissing me, nervous enough to sweat from his palms.

How had he become like this?

"Darling, what's wrong?"

Peyton softened his voice. "Are you still angry that I've been away on business for so long? But I've really been busy lately. Forgive me, okay?"

He stepped forward, trying to get close again.

I took half a step back, keeping my distance.

The tenderness on Peyton's face faded somewhat, a barely perceptible forcefulness suppressed in his eyes.

He reached out and gripped my wrist. The force wasn't great, but carried an inescapable sense of control.

"Why are you avoiding me?"

Peyton glanced at the suitcase nearby and frowned.

That was something I'd packed in advance.

I couldn't stay in a home full of betrayal. I needed to find my own child.

Peyton looked down at me, his tone still gentle but hiding an interrogation. "Why did you get out your suitcase? Are you trying to disappear quietly again like last time, making it impossible for me to find you?"

My heart ached.

I remembered that year in college when we had a fight and I hid in the library, refusing to see him. Peyton searched for me all night like a madman. The next day, he held me with reddened eyes, his voice hoarse, saying he'd never let me leave his side again.

Back then, he was clean, innocent, careful.

And now, all he had left for me was suffocating possession and control.

As if I were one of his possessions.

I suppressed the bitterness in my throat, forcing myself to lower my eyes. "I'm not avoiding you. I was just sorting through old things I don't need anymore. I got dust on myself and was afraid of dirtying your clothes."

I couldn't expose myself. I couldn't let him know I already knew the truth about the child, and I couldn't let him know I was preparing to leave.

Peyton's expression relaxed. He walked over and hugged me tightly, his tone affectionate.

"It's okay. I missed you and the baby."

Once, that sweetness would have moved me.

Now it only turns my stomach.

And this baby. What a joke.

Before I could speak, Peyton's phone suddenly rang.

He glanced at the screen, his eyes flickering, then turned and walked to the balcony to take the call.

His voice was extremely low, yet still couldn't hide its tenderness.

"Mm, I'm at home... Don't move around, I'll come see you now..."

I stood in place, my fingertips ice cold.

Peyton hung up the phone. When he turned to speak to me, he was as natural as if nothing had happened.

"The company has an urgent matter. I need to go out for a bit. Take good care of the child at home. Don't overthink things."

He left quickly.

The moment the door closed, I could no longer hold on and slowly slid down to the floor.

The child in the crib slept peacefully, but I was freezing all over.

Not long after, an anonymous text message popped up, with an audio recording attached.

My fingers trembling, I clicked play.

Peyton's voice came through, low and husky, with suppressed panting.

"Lily..."

Lily's voice was full of grievance. "Who do you really love? I don't want to keep sneaking around with you like this..."

Peyton laughed lowly, his tone casual yet cruel.

"Of course I love you. Seraphina is rigid and boring. She's getting old too. I've been tired of her for a long time."

Lily laughed smugly. "But when I think about my son calling her mommy every day, I get so annoyed... Her child died right after being born. Why does she get to keep my child!"

"Darling, don't be angry."

Peyton coaxed her gently. "I just bought a fifty-million-dollar jewelry set. I'll have it delivered to you tomorrow. Our child will return to your side sooner or later."

He paused, his voice deepening. "For now... let's enjoy our beautiful time together."

...

I was thunderstruck, all the blood in my body instantly freezing.

I finally understood.

A year ago on the day I gave birth, what I experienced wasn't an accident, but a long-planned conspiracy.

The child I nearly died giving birth to had died long ago.

And Lily, whom I supported with all my effort and trusted, had slept with my husband, given birth to my "son," and was now pregnant with a second child, waiting to take my place.

Five years of marriage. Ten years of deep affection.

What he gave me wasn't a home, but an elaborately woven lie.

I gripped my phone, tears silently falling onto the screen.

I slowly stood up, my eyes gradually changing from shattered to desolate, then from desolate to coldly resolute.

Peyton. Lily.

Everything you owe me and my child, I will take it all back!

Seraphina's POV

I stood in the center of the living room, my fingertips still carrying a slight tremor.

I'd cried, broken down, despaired.

But now, I was terrifyingly clearheaded.

What use was crying?

My child had already been taken from me, murdered. I didn't even know where my child was buried.

I slowly lowered my head, looking at Harper sleeping peacefully in the crib.

I loved the wrong person and raised the wrong child.

I took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the surging emotions in my chest, picked up my phone, and dialed a number.

"Hello."

Ashton on the other end seemed to have been waiting for me. His voice was low. "I found the information you wanted."

My fingers tightened sharply.

"Tell me."

Ashton was silent for a second, his tone very low. "The day you gave birth a year ago, the surveillance at the Summers private hospital was deliberately deleted."

"But I recovered part of it."

"The child you gave birth to was alive."

This sentence struck like thunder, crashing violently into my mind.

My breath caught. I could barely stand.

Alive.

The child I gave birth to was alive.

My child wasn't stillborn.

"Then where is my child?" My voice became urgent.

Ashton sighed heavily, somewhat reluctant. "What comes next, you might not be able to handle."

"Your child still died."

"The specific cause of death was hidden."

"The delivery nurses were forcibly transferred. One has already left the country, the other... died in an accident three months ago."

Ashton's voice contained suppressed anger. "But I found that on that day, there was an extra 'medical waste disposal record.'"

"That record was personally signed and taken away by Peyton. The male infant was directly cremated afterward."

My pupils constricted sharply.

My child died just like that. In their eyes, my child was just "waste."

My nails dug deeply into my palm.

"What about the ashes? Where are the ashes now?"

Ashton paused, slowly speaking.

"The funeral home records show the ashes were sent to the basement of the Summers family's abandoned villa..."

A buzzing suddenly filled my ears.

My child had been burned to ashes. He was in a dark place.

He had no name and no identity.

I suddenly laughed, a laugh that sent chills.

"Good."

After that, I didn't hesitate and immediately went to the Summers family's former villa.

The basement was cold and damp. I searched every corner but couldn't find the urn.

My hands began to tremble. The emotions I'd barely suppressed in my chest instantly surged up.

Just then, my phone rang.

I opened it to a text message:

"Are you looking for your son's ashes?"

The next second, another message popped up.

"I have them."

"Do you want them?"

Immediately after came a photo.

In the photo was a small, somewhat dirty white urn. The box was just casually placed on a vanity.

Next to the urn was Lily's hand, looking arrogant and malicious.

My fingertips dug viciously into my palm. The piercing pain in my flesh couldn't match one ten-thousandth of the pain in my heart.

The phone vibrated again.

"Actually, I didn't want it to be this way."

"But who told you to cling to the position of Mrs. Summers?"

"Tell me, what's the point of keeping a dead child?"

"Might as well exchange it for something valuable?"

My eyes completely turned cold.

I slowly typed a reply.

"What do you want?"

The other party's response came almost instantly.

"Very simple."

"Just divorce Peyton, and I'll return the ashes to you."

I didn't want that rotten man anyway.

I sent Ashton a text. "I want to divorce Peyton. And the day I leave, immediately withdraw all investments in the Summers Corporation."

Peyton had always thought I was a weak woman who could only depend on him to survive.

He never knew I was the heir to the New York Summers family.

Back when he was starting his business and on the verge of bankruptcy, I begged my family to quietly invest, pulling him out of the mire.

Now that I was divorcing him, it was time to let him lose everything again.

Seraphina's POV

Ashton's message came quickly. "I support your divorce. After you divorce, I'll come get you. Mom and Dad miss you too."

I looked at the screen, my heart suddenly tightening.

Years ago, my parents firmly opposed my marriage to Peyton. They said he wasn't a good man.

I didn't believe them, so I severed ties with my family and suffered alongside him, betting my entire youth to prove I hadn't chosen wrong.

I didn't want a wedding. He and I only registered our marriage.

But in just five years, I'd lost that bet.

I gave up my family, my pride, my way out, and in return got a switched child, betrayal, and the pain of losing my child.

It turned out I was the stupidest one all along.

Early the next morning, I went directly to a private law firm and calmly drafted divorce papers.

Property division, liability statements. I reviewed everything carefully. I had no lingering feelings for him.

I put the agreement in a document folder and took a car to the Summers Corporation, wanting to divorce Peyton immediately.

On the way, I casually opened social media. A trending post suddenly popped up on the homepage.

The poster was Lily.

The caption was just one sentence that stabbed my eyes:

"Thank you to my love for giving me this wedding~"

The wedding location was at a delicate small chapel in the suburbs.

Wedding.

This was the regret I'd hidden for five years.

I remembered when I was twenty-two, Peyton knelt before me proposing, his eyes full of sincerity. "Seraphina, I don't have money now. I can't give you a grand wedding. But wait for me. When I succeed, I'll definitely make it up to you with the best wedding."

I smiled and said it didn't matter. Having him was enough.

Later we registered our marriage. No wedding dress, no chapel. I cooked two plates of pasta in our rental apartment as our wedding ceremony.

I thought we'd continue happily like this, but now he'd given another woman the ceremony I once longed for.

I had the driver turn around and head to that small chapel.

The chapel wasn't large, but was decorated warmly and romantically. The wedding setting was exactly what I'd secretly fantasized about countless times.

I didn't go forward, just sat silently in the shadows of the back row.

On stage, Lily wore a pure white wedding dress. Her lower abdomen was slightly rounded. She nestled happily in Peyton's arms.

The way he looked at her held a tenderness and adoration I'd never seen.

When the officiant finished speaking, Peyton leaned down, cupped the back of Lily's neck, and kissed her deeply.

Applause and congratulations rose around them. Each blessing felt like a needle piercing my ears.

After Peyton's career succeeded, it wasn't that I hadn't asked him when we'd have our makeup wedding.

But the answer I got was always "wait a bit longer."

So he didn't refuse to have one. He just didn't want to have one for me.

An invisible hand viciously squeezed my heart. The pain made it nearly impossible to breathe.

Just as the applause reached its peak, Peyton suddenly looked up.

Our eyes met.

His gaze froze abruptly, the tenderness and smile on his face instantly solidifying.

Time seemed to stop in this moment.

He saw me sitting in the corner, his pupils contracting violently.

I quietly gazed back at him.

Peyton called out my name in a low voice. "Seraphina..."

The entire venue fell deathly silent.

Seraphina's POV

The sweetness on Lily's face instantly froze. The malice in her eyes almost overflowed.

Suddenly, she immediately put on an innocent, frightened expression, clutching her lower abdomen and hiding slightly behind Peyton.

The guests' gazes all turned toward me.

Peyton's expression changed drastically. He almost instinctively pushed Lily away and strode quickly toward me.

He forcibly maintained his composure, his tone urgent yet carrying his usual deception.

"Seraphina, let me explain. Lily is the girl you sponsored. I've always seen her as a sister. Today we're just... just wearing a wedding dress to take some photos."

He reached out to pull me, his eyes certain yet false. "The person I love has always only been you. Only you for this entire lifetime."

I recoiled as if burned, the corners of my mouth curving into an icy smile.

"Sister?"

"Then whose child is in her belly?"

Peyton's expression cracked.

"You got her pregnant, and you still dare tell me she's just your sister?"

My gaze fell on his lips, where Lily's lipstick mark still remained.

"Your sister wears a wedding dress and makes out with you for three minutes?"

My words were all like knives, precisely cutting through all his pale excuses.

Peyton's mouth opened and closed. His Adam's apple bobbed, but he couldn't refute me.

The entire venue erupted.

Lily's face went pale. She immediately rushed over, dropping to her knees with a "thud" in front of me, her hands desperately clutching my legs, crying pitifully.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault... I seduced him. Don't blame Peyton. If you want to blame someone, blame me. Please forgive me..."

She cried until her whole body shook, looking extremely wronged.

The friends around immediately couldn't stand it and came forward to accuse me.

"Seraphina, what's wrong with you? They're just acting!"

"So what if a man has a mistress on the side? As long as Peyton has you in his heart, that's enough!"

"Lily is so pitiful. Do you have to drive her to death to be happy?"

One accusation after another, like icy rain pouring on my heart.

So in these people's eyes, betrayal could be forgiven, harm could be forgotten. And I, the victim, had become the villain instead.

My heart completely died.

Seeing I still had no reaction, Lily cried harder. She suddenly released her hands and staggered backward.

"Since you won't forgive me... then I'll just die. I shouldn't exist. I shouldn't disturb you two!"

Before her words finished, she suddenly stood up, lifting her wedding dress hem and rushed straight out of the chapel, running directly into the middle of the road.

The sharp sound of brakes suddenly rang out.

Bang!

A muffled thud. Lily was violently thrown by the car.

"Lily!"

Peyton rushed over like a madman, kneeling on the ground and cradling Lily's head. His hands were covered in blood, his voice trembling. "Ambulance! Quick, call an ambulance!"

I walked to the doorway, watching the chaos before me.

Peyton suddenly lifted his head. Seeing me standing on the steps, his eyes held only cold disgust and accusation.

"Seraphina! When did you become so vicious?!"

Vicious.

This word hit me like a slap across the face.

I stood on the steps, wind blowing through my hair.

I looked at Lily in Peyton's arms, at the shocked or accusing faces around me, at this world I once thought would be my home, and suddenly laughed.

I laughed until tears came out.

"I'm vicious?"

My voice was very soft.

"Peyton, you're the one who made me this way."

You personally forced the me who once had only you in her heart into what I am today.

Seraphina's POV

At the hospital under the Summers Corporation.

The red light of the emergency room glared harshly.

Peyton leaned against the corridor wall, his white shirt cuffs stained with blood. Lily's blood. His gaze emptily fixed on the emergency room door, his whole being like someone whose soul had been extracted.

I stood at the end of the corridor, watching that man pace anxiously, a dense pain spreading through my chest.

Once when I had a fever and was hospitalized, he guarded my bedside just like this, eyes red, saying he was afraid something would happen to me.

Once when I casually mentioned feeling unwell, he could cancel all meetings and spend the entire night accompanying me through every examination.

Now none of this belonged to me anymore.

The emergency room's red light went out. A doctor walked out, removed his mask, and shook his head.

"Mr. Summers, Miss Lily's injuries were too severe. The baby couldn't be saved."

Peyton's body swayed. His eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins. He rushed into the hospital room.

Through the glass window, I clearly heard his choked voice, full of heartache and love.

"Lily, don't be afraid. I'm here. It's my fault for not protecting you and the baby."

"We'll have another child in the future. I'll stay with you for the rest of my life."

I closed my eyes. The last trace of hope completely extinguished.

He made promises to the woman who killed my child.

While my biological son received nothing.

I didn't want to watch anymore, didn't want to wait anymore. I just wanted to completely escape this place full of lies and blood.

I turned around. Just as I took one step, two dark figures suddenly blocked my path.

They were Peyton's personal bodyguards.

"Mrs. Summers, Mr. Summers instructed you to come with us."

"I'm not going."

I forcefully pushed them away, trying to break free, my heart full of resistance.

I knew Peyton's personality too well. If I stayed now, all that awaited me was endless torment.

The bodyguards' faces were cold and hard, showing no mercy whatsoever.

One of them raised his hand and struck hard at the back of my neck.

A sharp, blunt pain hit me. My vision went black, and I completely lost consciousness.

When I woke again, a pungent moldy smell and cold atmosphere enveloped me.

Pitch darkness surrounded me. Only one dim yellow light bulb swayed and flickered.

This was the basement of the Summers family's old mansion.

The place where my child's urn had been hidden before.

I struggled to sit up. My whole body was sore and weak, my wrists painfully chafed by rope.

Footsteps approached from far to near. Peyton walked in, his face devoid of its usual tenderness, leaving only coldness and forcefulness.

"You're awake?"

I looked up at him, my eyes desolate, without a trace of emotion.

"Peyton, you actually dare treat me like this?"

"You and Lily conspired to switch my child, kill him, burn him as medical waste. Doesn't your heart hurt?"

My voice wasn't loud, but carried bone-deep hatred. I bit down hard on every word.

Peyton frowned deeply, his face full of impatience. His tone was light and dismissive.

"What lies are you telling? Wasn't your child dead when he was born?"

"Lily even painfully gave you her own child to raise, and you're still not satisfied?"

Ashton said the child was alive when born. How could he say my child was dead at birth?

Just as I was about to question him, I heard Peyton say.

"In a moment, apologize to Lily, and this matter will be over. I'll still consider you my wife. I won't pursue what happened before."

I turned my head away, forcefully avoiding his touch, my eyes cold.

"I did nothing wrong. I absolutely will not apologize."

The ones who killed my child were them. The ones who betrayed our marriage were them. What right did they have to demand I apologize?

The smile on Peyton's face instantly vanished. His expression darkened terrifyingly as he sternly rebuked me.

"Seraphina!"

He turned to look at the bodyguards outside the door, coldly ordering.

"Watch her. Without my orders, don't let her step out of here!"

With that, Peyton turned and left. He was clearly anxious to go care for Lily.

The basement's iron door was slammed shut, locked, completely cutting off the outside light.

I curled up in the corner, freezing all over.

Not long after, several thin black shadows suddenly slid through the gap in the iron door, slowly crawling toward me.

Snakes!

Peyton clearly knew I was most afraid of snakes.

My face went deathly pale. Trembling all over in fright, I desperately shrank back, pounding on the iron door with all my might, screaming for help.

"Open the door! Let me out! Is anyone there!"

From outside the door came the bodyguards' cold mocking laughter, completely devoid of warmth.

"Just accept all this."

"You caused Miss Lily to lose her child and nearly cost her life. Mr. Summers is very angry and told us to punish you severely!"

"No one will come save you."

My hand pounding on the door gradually weakened. Watching the snakes get closer and closer, only despair remained in my eyes.

So my life was this cheap in their eyes.

Seraphina's POV

The rustling sound of snakes crawling rang in my ears.

I curled up in the corner, making myself as small as possible. My nails dug deeply into my palms, trying to use pain to fight fear.

I didn't know how long I'd been locked up.

A few hours, or a few days?

The bodyguards' cold mockery still seemed to echo in my ears. Before my eyes kept flashing the small urn, and Peyton's heartless face.

But I kept persisting.

Apologize? Apologize to the woman who killed my child?

I'd rather die.

When my consciousness began to blur, I hazily heard the sound of the iron door opening. Someone picked me up. That person's chest was very warm, their scent very familiar.

It was Peyton.

I wanted to push him away, but my body no longer obeyed. I completely fell into darkness.

When I opened my eyes again, the pungent smell of disinfectant filled my nose.

I slowly moved my eyes and found myself lying in a hospital bed.

In the chair beside the bed sat Peyton.

He was looking down, slowly peeling an apple. His movements appeared extremely gentle, completely different from his coldness in the basement.

Noticing I'd woken up, Peyton looked up, his tone carrying some reproach yet wrapped in deliberately performed affection.

"Finally awake? Why are you so unreasonable?"

"It's just asking you to apologize to Lily and the matter would be over. Why did you have to torment yourself into this condition?"

He cut the peeled apple into small pieces, speared them with a small fork, and brought them to my lips. His eyes were gentle, his tone soft.

"Seraphina, I love you. I always have."

"I know you suffered, but Lily lost her baby too. Why can't you understand?"

"Just accept me, and I'll make it up to you. We'll be like before. Okay?"

Love?

The love that chained me in a basement. That let snakes torment me. That murdered my baby.

I couldn't bear that kind of love.

His devotion was just a show he put on for himself, so false it made me sick.

Before I could speak, the hospital room door was violently pushed open.

A bodyguard rushed in looking flustered, followed by a male doctor who kept his head down, looking equally panicked.

The tenderness on Peyton's face instantly vanished. He frowned deeply, his tone darkening. "What happened?"

The bodyguard hurried forward, lowering his voice to report, his tone full of urgency.

"Mr. Summers, something happened to Lily. Someone switched her medication with ingredients she's allergic to. She's having a severe allergic reaction now and is being resuscitated!"

Peyton's expression changed drastically. The fruit knife in his hand clattered onto the plate as his eyes instantly turned sinister.

He immediately demanded harshly, "What's going on? Have you found out who did it?"

The bodyguard pushed the doctor forward. The doctor dropped to his knees with a thud, looked up and pointed at me on the hospital bed, his eyes evasive.

"Mr. Summers, it was Miss Seraphina! She secretly gave me two hundred thousand dollars to switch Miss Lily's medication!"

I lay in bed without even the strength to refute. I just felt it was absurd.

I'd been controlled by Peyton the entire time. First imprisoned in the basement, then waking up in the hospital. I'd never even been to Lily's hospital room. How could I possibly have bribed a doctor to switch medication?

But Peyton didn't listen. The look in his eyes as he stared at me was instantly filled with fury and hatred.

He abruptly stood up, grabbed my collar, and yanked me from the hospital bed. The IV needle tore from the back of my hand, bringing out a string of blood droplets. The stinging pain spread from my hand through my entire arm.

He lifted me up. My toes barely touched the ground. My breathing became difficult as my collar strangled me.

"Seraphina, I'm warning you. If anything happens to Lily, I'll make you die."

He released his grip. I fell heavily back onto the bed, my head hitting the bed rail. My vision went black.

Peyton turned to the doctor, his voice as cold as ice. "Give her penicillin."

My pupils constricted sharply.

"No..." I desperately tried to shrink back. "Peyton, I'm allergic to penicillin! You know that!"

I was indeed allergic to penicillin. This was the most basic fact from our ten years together. Every time I got sick, Peyton specifically instructed doctors to avoid penicillin-based medications.

Peyton looked at my terrified face, his lips curling into a cruel smile.

"I know."

"I want you to suffer the same pain as Lily."

The doctor hesitated, not daring to move. Peyton shot him a glare. "What are you waiting for? If anything happens to her, I'll take full responsibility."

The doctor ran out, grabbed a syringe of penicillin, and rushed back to the bedside.

"Don't come near me..." I tried to pull away, but my body was too weak. I couldn't even turn over.

The cold liquid entered my veins and spread instantly through my body.

Within seconds, my skin started itching, and I couldn't breathe.

My vision blurred. Peyton's furious face faded away.

Just then, I heard a familiar voice.