Kissed Me in Secret, Proposed to Her in Public

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Once again, Ethan Pierce pinned me down and took what he wanted. When it was over, he stared at my face and whispered another woman's name.

Yolanda, I love you.

Yolanda Reed was the woman he truly loved.

And I had been his secret lover for eight years.

I thought eight years by his side would finally make him love me. But the moment Yolanda came back, he got down on one knee and proposed on live television.

Ethan even made me, his assistant, present the engagement ring.

When I walked onstage holding the box, Yolanda leaned close to my ear and whispered with a soft laugh.

"Thanks for warming his bed for eight years. Now it's time to give him back to his rightful owner."

The crowd erupted in applause. The lights were blinding.

And that man who had me pinned beneath him just last night didn't spare me a single glance as he kissed Yolanda passionately.

My heart turned to ash. It was finally time to leave.

Sienna POV

Ethan Pierce's control over my body was as absolute as ever.

In the dark, castle-like master bedroom, he'd just finished another empty, emotionless round.

I barely had time to take the pill from the nightstand before exhaustion shut my eyes.

When I woke again, it was already the next morning.

A sharp ringtone jolted me awake.

I pulled on a robe and walked to the living room, only to find Ethan's special assistant standing there with a freshly printed legal contract in hand.

"Miss Sienna Hayes, Mr. Pierce has instructed you to sign this copyright transfer agreement."

The assistant's voice was all business, devoid of any warmth.

I was a children's book author.

During these eight years by Ethan's side, I had written countless warm and healing fairy tales under the pen name Starlight.

The worlds I created were filled with light, miracles, and unwavering love.

But in reality, I was just Ethan's secret lover who could never see the light of day.

I lowered my gaze to the contract.

"The Deer Above the Clouds." This was my latest full-length fairy tale, three years in the making, my heart and soul poured into every word.

And in the transferee column, two words were printed clearly. Yolanda Reed.

"What is this supposed to mean?"

My fingertips went ice-cold instantly. My voice trembled uncontrollably.

Ethan emerged from his study wearing an impeccably tailored dark suit, his features cold and sharp, radiating aristocratic hauteur.

"Exactly what it says."

He spoke casually, his tone matter-of-fact.

"Yolanda's depression has gotten worse recently. She needs an opportunity to return to the public eye. This fairy tale has a very healing tone. Publishing it under her name will be good for both her condition and her image."

My brain exploded with a roar.

I stared in disbelief at this man I had loved for eight years.

"Ethan, that's my life's work! Every single word, every single story. I stayed up countless nights writing it. Yolanda hasn't even read it. What gives you the right to hand it over to her?"

Yolanda Reed, Ethan's first love, the woman he cherished most.

A year ago, Yolanda's career abroad hit rock bottom, and she came back carrying the label of "depression."

From that day on, my life became absolute hell.

Whenever Yolanda was the slightest bit unhappy, Ethan would trample me underfoot without hesitation.

Ethan frowned slightly, as if displeased by my resistance.

"Sienna, don't be unreasonable. You write fairy tales to make money, don't you? I'll compensate you ten times the royalties for this book. Yolanda is mentally fragile right now. She needs applause and flowers to rebuild her confidence. You're just a ghostwriter. What use do you have for fame?"

I bit down hard on my lower lip until I tasted blood.

Ten times compensation?

To me, fairy tales were my only refuge in this broken life.

They were my soul. They were the light that kept me alive.

But Ethan was about to rip out my soul with casual ease and stitch it onto Yolanda's false shell.

"I don't want the money."

I looked at him.

"I wrote this fairy tale for Oliver. I will never give it to anyone, especially not Yolanda!"

Oliver, Oliver Hayes, my younger brother who had autism.

Hearing my refusal, Ethan's gaze turned ice-cold in an instant.

He stepped forward, his long fingers gripping my chin with force enough to crush bone.

"What makes you think you have the right to negotiate with me?"

Ethan looked down at me from above, his voice laced with frost.

"Everything you and your brother have had these past years. Who do you think paid for it? Now Yolanda needs it. So you'll give it to her."

My heart felt like it was being crushed by an invisible hand. I couldn't breathe from the pain.

Eight years.

When I was eighteen, my parents died, leaving me alone with my autistic brother with nowhere to turn.

Ethan descended like an angel and gave me a home.

I thought it was salvation, so I gave him my entire heart, my entire life.

I was the quiet, obedient woman by day and the bedmate he could take at will by night.

I thought if I was good enough, if I loved him enough, someday I could melt this iceberg.

Even in bed, in his most passionate moments, he had kissed my forehead and called my name.

Turned out it was all just a dream.

A tear fell from my eye onto the back of Ethan's hand, scalding him into a brief pause. But he quickly released me in disgust.

"Sign it."

Ethan took the fountain pen his assistant handed him and threw it on the coffee table.

"Don't make me use other methods. You know Oliver is still at the care facility."

My whole body trembled.

He was threatening me with my brother.

I closed my eyes as tears slid down my cheeks.

Eight years of devotion, and in the end, all I got was a calculated robbery with a price tag.

My hand shook as I picked up the pen and signed my name on the agreement.

Every stroke felt like carving flesh from my own body.

Sienna POV

Three days after signing the agreement, Yolanda made her high-profile comeback with "The Deer Above the Clouds."

News articles flooded every outlet praising Yolanda as a "talented beauty author," saying she used fairy tales to heal herself and the world.

I sat in my dim room, watching Yolanda's radiant smile on the screen, my heart bleeding with every beat.

But I didn't even have time to grieve.

The care facility called. Something had happened to Oliver.

I stumbled to the facility in a panic. When I arrived, Oliver was curled in the corner of the art room, trembling violently, clutching broken paintbrush shards in his hands. Torn papers littered the floor.

"Oliver!"

I rushed over and wrapped my brother tightly in my arms.

Oliver was an autistic savant. He couldn't speak, so all his emotions came through in his art.

Every illustration in "The Deer Above the Clouds" had been drawn by Oliver, stroke by painstaking stroke.

"The deer... it's gone..."

Oliver forced out a few words, his eyes filled with terror and despair.

My heart felt like it was tearing apart.

I turned around to see Yolanda standing at the art room door, with Ethan beside her.

Yolanda wore a pristine white dress, looking like an innocent angel.

She hid behind Ethan, her eyes rimmed with red.

"Ethan, I just wanted to visit Oliver and let him know his paintings would be published under my name from now on, so he wouldn't worry. Who knew he'd suddenly go crazy and almost hurt me..."

My brain exploded with rage.

It wasn't just the words. They were stealing Oliver's artwork too!

"Yolanda Reed, do you have no conscience?!"

I stood up.

"Stealing my book wasn't enough? You had to come provoke Oliver too? Those paintings are his life!"

I lunged forward to push Yolanda away, but Ethan grabbed my wrist and flung me aside violently.

I lost my balance and crashed hard onto the floor covered with torn paper. A broken paintbrush sliced open my palm, leaving a long gash that bled profusely.

Ethan looked down at me from above, his eyes full of warning.

"Sienna, have you lost your mind? Yolanda came here out of kindness to visit him, and your brother not only showed no gratitude but almost injured her hand. She's a violinist. Don't you know how important her hands are?"

I lay on the floor, staring at my bleeding palm, and laughed.

Yolanda's hands mattered, but my brother's life didn't?

"Ethan, are you blind?"

I pointed at Oliver cowering and trembling in the corner.

"She came here to steal Oliver's paintings! She's the one who pushed him to this!"

"Enough!"

Ethan cut me off coldly.

"It seems this facility is no longer suitable for Oliver. I'll arrange to send him to a closed psychiatric rehabilitation center abroad. There, he can receive proper discipline."

I felt like I'd been plunged into ice water.

A closed rehabilitation center abroad. In other words, a psychiatric institution.

For someone like Oliver, going there was a death sentence.

"No! You can't take Oliver away!"

Ignoring my injured hand, I crawled over and clutched Ethan's legs desperately.

"Mr. Pierce, I'm begging you. I gave you the book, I gave you the paintings, let Yolanda take everything, all of it! Just please don't send Oliver away. He'll die without me!"

I abandoned every shred of dignity, humbling myself to dust.

Ethan looked down at me clinging to his legs, his brow furrowing slightly.

But then Yolanda gently tugged at his sleeve.

"Ethan, I'm so scared. Oliver looked terrifying just now..."

Yolanda leaned weakly against his shoulder.

Ethan's gaze hardened once more.

He pried my fingers off one by one, his voice utterly flat.

"This isn't up for discussion. Keeping him here will only make him a threat to Yolanda. Tomorrow morning, I'll have someone pick him up."

With that, he put his arm around Yolanda and left the art room without looking back.

I collapsed on the floor, watching their retreating figures, tears streaming down uncontrollably.

I had always thought that even though Ethan was cold, he at least had some compassion for me.

Now I understood. In Yolanda's presence, my brother and I didn't even qualify as human beings.

We were just stepping stones on Yolanda's path to success, ready to be crushed at any moment.

I turned and held Oliver, burying my face in my brother's thin shoulder, crying silently.

I had to find a way to save my brother.

Even if it cost me my life, I couldn't let Ethan take Oliver away.

Sienna POV

To stop Oliver from being sent abroad, I stood outside Ethan's villa all night.

The autumn night rain cut through me with bone-chilling cold. I was soaked to the skin, but I didn't care.

It wasn't until the next morning that Ethan's black sedan finally pulled through the gate.

The car window rolled down. Ethan saw me standing in the rain, his brow furrowed deeply.

"Get inside."

He threw out those cold words.

I followed him into the living room. Rainwater dripped from my hair onto the expensive carpet.

Ethan removed his suit jacket and loosened his tie, his sharp gaze fixed on me.

"Playing the victim? Sienna, when did you learn these underhanded tactics?"

I stood there numbly, my voice so hoarse I could barely speak.

"As long as you don't send Oliver away, I'll do anything."

Ethan let out a cold laugh and walked up to me, his long fingers hooking open my soaked collar.

"Anything?"

His tone was mocking.

"Besides this body of yours, what else could possibly interest me?"

I closed my eyes and didn't resist as he scooped me up and threw me onto the bedroom's large bed.

What followed was a conquest without foreplay, only punishment.

Ethan seemed to be venting some unknown fury, his movements rough and brutal.

I gritted my teeth and didn't cry out once in pain. Only silent tears slid from the corners of my eyes, soaking the pillow.

I let him tear into me.

When it was over, Ethan looked at me, his brow furrowing slightly.

"Oliver can stay for now."

Ethan lit a cigarette, dispensing his mercy in the coldest tone possible.

"But you have to move out of your current apartment and live in my villa in the western suburbs. You're not allowed to leave without my permission."

The western suburb villa was where Ethan kept his "pets" in a gilded cage.

"Okay."

I agreed without a moment's hesitation.

As long as I could protect my brother, I would give up even my life, let alone my freedom.

For the next two weeks, I was completely confined.

Ethan came almost every night.

He adorned me with the most expensive jewelry and possessed me with the most extreme control.

He was trying to prove that I still belonged completely to him.

But during the day, I was forced to do the most humiliating work. Ghostwriting for Yolanda.

"The Deer Above the Clouds" was a huge success, and the publisher demanded Yolanda produce a sequel as soon as possible.

Yolanda couldn't write a single word herself, so Ethan forced the task onto me.

"Ten thousand words per day. If you don't finish, Oliver's medical expenses stop."

Those were Ethan's exact words.

I sat at the computer, staring at the screen filled with fairy tale elements that should have been mine, now bearing someone else's name. Every keystroke felt like a knife cutting into my heart.

I wrote faster and faster, but the stories grew sadder and sadder.

The princesses in my stories no longer had knights to protect them. They could only bleed alone in dark forests.

One afternoon, the villa door opened.

It wasn't Ethan who entered, but Yolanda.

Yolanda looked at me, a triumphant smile playing on her lips.

"Sienna, do you think Ethan comes to see you every night because he loves you?"

Yolanda walked to the desk and casually flipped through my discarded drafts, her tone contemptuous.

"He just doesn't want to hurt me. My wrist was injured, my body is delicate. He can't bear to touch me. So he uses you as a tool to vent his frustrations instead."

My fingers froze on the keyboard.

"Do you know Ethan bought me a wedding dress yesterday?"

Yolanda leaned closer, lowering her voice.

"At next month's book launch, he's going to propose to me. And you? You'll always be nothing but a dirty woman who can't see daylight, who doesn't even deserve to have her name on her own work."

I stared at the screen, my nails digging deep into my palms. I said nothing.

I thought my heart had already died, but hearing the word "propose" still made it convulse with pain.

Seeing that I wouldn't fight back, Yolanda seemed to lose interest. She scoffed and left.

The room fell silent again.

I looked at the sentence on my screen. "The deer finally died on a night without stars." I covered my face and let out a desperate, muffled cry.

Sienna POV

The launch event was dazzling, packed with media and celebrities.

I was supposed to be confined to the western suburb villa, but out of the blue, Ethan had someone deliver a haute couture gown and ordered me to attend.

"Yolanda's signing session needs an assistant to hand her pens and organize manuscripts. You're most familiar with this material. You'll go."

Ethan's reasoning sounded official, but every word cut like a blade.

I wore an ill-fitting gray business suit and stood in the shadows where the spotlights couldn't reach.

I watched the center of the stage.

Yolanda wore a white haute couture gown, looking every bit the fairy tale princess. She held the trophy that should have been mine, smiling gracefully and beautifully.

"This work wouldn't exist without the most important person in my life."

Yolanda spoke into the microphone, gazing affectionately at Ethan in the front row.

"He gave me inspiration, and he pulled me out of the abyss of depression."

Thunderous applause erupted.

Ethan walked onstage and took the microphone from the host.

His usually stern face now wore an unusually gentle smile.

"Yolanda is a genius. She deserves the best of everything this world has to offer."

Ethan looked at Yolanda, his voice deep and pleasant.

Then, before countless flashing cameras, he dropped to one knee and produced a dazzling diamond ring.

"Yolanda, marry me."

The crowd went wild. Romantic confetti rained down from above.

I stood in the corner, coldly watching this scene unfold.

My heart had gone numb from pain. Even breathing tasted like blood.

Eight years.

I had accompanied him through his family's most difficult power struggles, shielded him from harm in the business world, and even nursed him meticulously for a month when he had a bleeding ulcer.

I had naively thought that if I just kept waiting, someday he would turn around and truly see me.

But now, he was giving all his glory, favor, and promises to another woman.

And I had been personally pushed into the mud by his hands, forced to witness their happiness.

"Could the assistant please bring up the books for signing?"

The host's voice suddenly rang out.

A spotlight hit me.

Every eye in the venue focused on me.

I froze in place.

Yolanda smiled and beckoned.

"Come on over, everyone's waiting."

Ethan also turned his head, his gaze locking coldly onto me with unquestionable authority.

I took a deep breath, picked up the thick stack of new books, and walked toward the stage step by step.

The book's cover bore Yolanda's name. The illustrations were Oliver's. The words were mine.

This was my brother's and my flesh and blood, now reduced to props for someone else's romance.

When I reached Yolanda's side, she suddenly lowered her voice to a volume only we could hear.

"Sienna, see? Your life's work, your man. They're all mine now. You're nothing but a complete failure."

My hands trembled violently. The books tumbled from my arms and scattered across the floor with a loud crash.

Gasps rippled through the audience.

"What kind of work is this? You can't even do such a simple task!"

Ethan shouted harshly.

"Hurry up and pick them up! Apologize to Yolanda!"

I looked at the books scattered on the floor, at Ethan's heartless face, and suddenly found it all absurd.

I didn't bend down to pick up the books. Instead, I stood straight and looked directly at Ethan.

"Ethan, do you really love her?"

My voice wasn't loud, but in the quiet venue, it rang out clearly.

Ethan's brow furrowed tightly.

"What nonsense are you spouting? Security, get her out of here!"

"If you don't love her, why did you steal my life to give to her?"

I smiled, the last light in my heart extinguishing completely.

"If you do love her, then why do you pin me down every night and call out her name?"

The moment those words left my mouth, the entire venue fell deathly silent.

Yolanda's face went deathly pale. Ethan's eyes churned with a terrifying storm.

"Shut her up and drag her out!"

Ethan exploded with rage.

Several security guards rushed forward, roughly twisting my arms behind my back and dragging me away.

I didn't struggle. I just turned back and looked deeply at Ethan one last time.

In my heart, there was no more love, no more hate. Only the dead ashes of what once was.

Ethan, I don't owe you anything anymore.

Sienna POV

After the launch event scandal, Ethan's revenge became absolutely insane.

I was completely cut off from the outside world, locked in the western suburb villa like a real prisoner.

Every day, aside from being forced to write, I endured Ethan's furious punishment at night.

Ethan used his actions to show me exactly what happened when I defied him.

But I didn't care about any of it anymore. The only thing I still worried about was Oliver.

However, the thing I feared most still happened.

Late one night, the villa's landline suddenly rang.

The servant watching over me wasn't there, so I picked up the phone.

"Is this the family member of Oliver Hayes? This is the care facility. The patient's condition is critical. Please come immediately!"

The doctor's voice was extremely urgent.

My mind went completely blank.

I bolted out of the villa without thinking.

Rain poured down. I had no umbrella, no money, didn't even have my shoes on properly. I ran barefoot through the storm for what felt like forever before finally flagging down a taxi.

When I reached the facility, Oliver had already been rushed into the emergency room.

"What happened? What's wrong with Oliver?"

I grabbed the nurse's hand, trembling uncontrollably.

The nurse sighed.

"This afternoon, a Miss Reed came to visit him. We don't know what she showed him, but the patient suddenly lost complete emotional control, triggered severe stress-induced heart failure, and... and mutilated both his hands."

I felt like I'd been struck by lightning.

Yolanda! It was Yolanda again!

I rushed into the hospital room and saw the floor covered with twisted, bloody drawings Oliver had made. Every single one screamed silently.

I collapsed in the pool of blood, my heart so broken I couldn't even cry.

I pulled out my phone with shaking hands and dialed Ethan's number.

Once, twice, three times... no answer.

Oliver needed to be transferred. He needed the top specialists for consultation. All of this required Ethan's approval, required the Pierce family's resources.

I had one last option. I called Ethan's special assistant.

"Miss Hayes, Mr. Pierce is currently on a yacht celebrating Miss Reed's birthday. He's given strict orders not to be disturbed by anyone."

The assistant's voice was ice-cold.

"Please, just let me speak to him for one second! Oliver is dying. He needs to be transferred to another hospital. Please!"

I stood outside the emergency room, desperately pleading into the phone.

After a moment of silence, Ethan's impatient voice finally came through.

"Sienna, what game are you playing now?"

Hearing his voice, I grasped at that sliver of light.

"Ethan, Oliver is dying! Yolanda went to provoke him. He went into heart failure and destroyed his hands! Please help me. Send a helicopter to get him to the best hospital. I'm begging you!"

I could hear Yolanda's sweet laughter in the background, probably cutting cake.

Ethan's voice instantly turned arctic.

"Sienna, there's a limit to how much you can lie. Yolanda has been with me all day. How could she possibly have gone to the facility? Are you so desperate to ruin her birthday that you'd even curse your own brother's life?"

"I'm not lying! Check the surveillance footage! Ethan, this is a human life!"

I screamed hoarsely, my throat filled with the taste of blood.

"Enough!"

Ethan cut me off brutally.

"Oliver going crazy is his own problem. Since he destroyed his own hands, he's just a useless wreck now anyway. I don't have time to deal with your mess."

The call ended mercilessly.

I stared blankly as my phone screen went dark.

Useless wreck.

My brother was a genius who had been driven to this, step by step, by them!

Just then, the emergency room light went out.

The doctor emerged, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry, Miss Hayes. We did everything we could. The patient... didn't make it."

I didn't cry.

I slowly stood up and watched as they wheeled out Oliver's body, covered with a white sheet.

I pulled back the sheet and looked at his pale face and his hands, which he had bitten until they were mangled beyond recognition.

"Oliver, don't be afraid. I'm taking you home."

I gently stroked his ice-cold cheek.

My heart, in that moment, died completely.

Not even ashes remained.

Sienna POV

On the luxury yacht Ethan had chartered for Yolanda, lights blazed and elegantly dressed guests mingled.

Yolanda wore that starry gown, nestled against Ethan's side, accepting everyone's blessings and envious gazes.

I shoved the banquet hall doors open with force.

The cheerful music cut off abruptly. Every eye turned to me.

I wore a thin windbreaker soaked through with rain and mud, barefoot, the soles of my feet covered in bloody cuts.

The moment Ethan saw me, his expression darkened sharply.

"What are you doing here?"

Ethan strode over, trying to block everyone's view, and hissed quietly in fury.

"Didn't you embarrass yourself enough last time? Get out of here!"

I ignored him. I stared hard at Yolanda hiding behind him.

"Yolanda Reed, what did you show Oliver this afternoon?"

My voice was eerily calm.

Yolanda flinched and clutched Ethan's sleeve tighter.

"Ethan, I'm scared... She looks like a lunatic..."

"Sienna! I told you, Yolanda was with me all day!"

Ethan grabbed my wrist, squeezing hard enough to shatter bone.

"Where's security? Drag her out!"

I laughed.

I wrenched my hand free from Ethan's grip and pulled a blood-stained phone from my pocket.

It was Oliver's phone. Inside was a video Yolanda had sent him.

In the video, Yolanda threw Oliver's original artwork into a fire pit one by one, burning them while telling him in the most vicious language:

"Your sister has been used up by Ethan. She'll be thrown out of the Pierce family soon. You idiot, you do nothing but drag her down. These garbage drawings of yours are only good enough to be my stepping stones."

I held the phone screen up to Ethan's face.

"Ethan, look closely. This is the kind, fragile woman you've been protecting with your life!"

Ethan's gaze fell on the screen. His face instantly darkened. He turned to look at Yolanda.

Yolanda panicked. Tears immediately started falling.

"Ethan, it's not like that! That autistic boy went crazy first and tried to hit me. I just got upset and scared him a little... I really didn't..."

"Scared him?"

I advanced step by step.

"Do you know that because you 'scared' him, he went into heart failure? He's dead! Yolanda Reed, you killed my brother!"

The entire room gasped.

Ethan's body went rigid.

He looked at me in disbelief.

I pulled a sharp knife from my sleeve and lunged straight at Yolanda.

"You're going to pay for his life!"

Yolanda screamed and dodged.

In that critical moment, Ethan instinctively stepped in front of Yolanda.

With a sickening sound, the blade slashed Ethan's arm. Blood immediately gushed out.

I froze.

I stared at the blood on the knife's edge, then at how Ethan had protected Yolanda without hesitation. Suddenly, it all seemed laughably absurd.

"Have you lost your mind?!"

Ethan snatched the knife from my hand and shoved me violently to the ground.

I crashed hard onto the cold marble floor. My bones made a dull thud.

"Oliver is dead because he had bad luck. What does that have to do with Yolanda?"

Ethan looked down at me from above, his eyes utterly devoid of warmth.

"You actually dared to pull a knife and try to kill someone on my turf because of some autistic kid?"

"Bad luck?"

I lay on the floor, tilted my head back to look at him, and finally let the tears fall.

"Ethan, it wasn't bad luck. It was meeting you! You enabled Yolanda. You personally cut off his path to survival!"

"Send him for cremation. I'll cover the funeral expenses."

Ethan cut me off impatiently and turned to order the security guards.

"Take Sienna back to the western suburb villa. Lock her in the basement. Without my permission, no one is to let her out. When she learns to apologize to Yolanda, then she can eat again!"

I didn't struggle. I let the security guards drag me away.

I watched Ethan anxiously check whether Yolanda had been hurt, watched him cradle that murderer in his arms protectively.I closed my eyes and told myself:

Ethan, this is the last time I'll cry for you.

From now on, we'll never see each other again.