At the engagement party, just as I was about to slip the ring onto Chloe’s finger, her childhood friend, Ryan, stepped forward, blocking my way with a stack of papers.
Julian Sterling, Ryan declared, his voice firm. You can marry Chloe, but first, sign this agreement.
For three years, you cannot pressure Chloe to have children. If any negative rumors about Chloe arise, you must take full responsibility.
I stared at the “Family Planning Agreement” in his hand, not taking it. My gaze instead fell on Chloe’s face.
“Is this your wish too?”
Chloe’s eyes flickered, avoiding mine. “While it wasn’t my idea, I think Ryan is right. I’m not ready to have children so soon.”
Seeing her defend Ryan so fiercely, I let out a bitter laugh.
So, she really was planning to have a child with Ryan first, to fulfill his critically ill father’s last wish.
Being a doormat got me nowhere. I should just go back and accept the arranged marriage my family had set up.
After all, a woman like her wasn’t worthy of being the mother of the Sterling Corporation’s heir.
“Julian, are you going to sign it or not?”
“If you don’t, then this engagement is off. Don’t you dare treat our Chloe like a breeding machine.”
Ryan pointed an accusing finger at me, his tone righteous, then shoved me, urging me on.
Anyone who didn’t know better would think he was Chloe’s father, protecting his precious little girl.
I snatched the agreement, threw it at his face, and spoke, my voice chillingly low,
“What gives you the right to meddle in Chloe’s and my private matters?”
Then, ignoring Ryan’s furious glare, I turned to Chloe.
“Chloe, this is between us. I’ll listen to you!”
Chloe looked at me with a conflicted expression, then at Ryan, before finally mumbling,
“Julian, I… I really think we should wait a few years before having kids. I’m just not ready.”
My heart felt like it was being ripped to shreds, a searing pain spreading through my entire body.
Six years of devotion, and I was twenty-eight. She still wanted me to wait ‘a few years.’
Last night’s whispered conversation echoed in my ears:
“Chloe, my dad’s been diagnosed with late-stage cancer. His biggest wish before he dies is to have a grandchild.”
“Chloe, what am I supposed to do? For all these years, you’ve been the only one in my heart. How can I give him a child?”
“Chloe, would you help me have a child? Please? As long as my father’s wish is fulfilled, I’ll dedicate my life to you. I’ll never marry anyone else, and I won’t ask for any official title, just to be by your side.”
Chloe hesitated.
“Ryan, tomorrow I’m getting engaged to Julian. The wedding date is even set. What about him?”
Ryan excitedly stood up and hugged Chloe.
“It’ll be fine, Chloe. Tomorrow, I’ll force him to sign a prenuptial agreement. If he refuses, the engagement’s off.”
“Julian loves you so much, he’s waited six years for you. He definitely won’t want to cancel the engagement. He’ll agree to anything.”
Chloe eventually fell silent.
That day, I still held onto a sliver of hope. I thought she wouldn’t agree to such an absurd agreement, that she just found it difficult to argue with Ryan.
I never imagined that at our engagement party today, she would actually ask me to sign a fertility agreement.
And when I pressed her, she even said Ryan was doing it for her own good.
How could she say that with a straight face? Didn’t she feel any shame?
Seeing my silence, Ryan thought I was scared. He shot me a smug, triumphant look.
“Julian, if you don’t sign, you’re treating Chloe like a breeding tool. Then you can forget about this engagement.”
“When you learn to respect Chloe, then we can talk about getting engaged.”
He believed a mere engagement cancellation would scare me. He was leveraging my endless love for Chloe, thinking he could manipulate me into signing this humiliating agreement.
But I wouldn’t.
*Slap!* I swung my hand across his face.
“You’re so eager to stop Chloe from having kids with me. Are you implying you want her to have them with *you*?”
Chloe’s face changed, then she angrily retorted,
“Julian, what are you talking about? Ryan is only looking out for me. How can you be so barbaric?”
She then lovingly checked Ryan’s face, gently stroking his cheek.
I let out a soft laugh.
“Looking out for you? Oh, he was ‘looking out for you’ so well, he ended up in your bed.”
“Just like some people ‘care’ for you until their twisted schemes come to fruition.”
My words were pointed, and Ryan’s smile froze. A dark glint flashed in his eyes.
The surrounding guests had gathered, whispering among themselves.
“Exactly, what kind of couple signs an agreement like that? He’s making a fool of her!”
“What’s an assistant meddling for? He’s getting too big for his britches.”
Chloe’s expression turned ugly. She ripped off her corsage and slammed it onto the table with a bang.
“Julian, that’s enough!”
“Ryan is like my brother! How dare you hit him!”
“Apologize to him right now.”
Three rapid-fire sentences, full of righteous indignation, not a hint of guilt.
The next second, I laughed out loud.
“What if I don’t apologize? Will you say that this engagement is off today too?”
Chloe’s gaze wavered. She picked up the corsage again.
“Julian, you know Ryan saved my life. Hitting him in public just makes me look bad, doesn’t it?”
“Apologizing would be for my sake.”
She looked at me helplessly, just like countless times before, expecting me to bend to her will for her sake.
I stared intently at Chloe, speaking each word slowly and clearly.
“A year ago, Ryan messed up a contract, and you made me take the fall. I went and apologized to Mr. Davis.”
“Ten months ago, Ryan got drunk and fractured someone’s skull. You called me in the middle of the night, told me to rush to the bar, and made me tell the police I was the one who hit them. I ended up detained for a month.”
“Six months ago, he mixed counterfeit drugs into Westbrook Pharmaceuticals’ products. You made me admit it was my doing, and I was sentenced to six months.”
…
I listed each incident.
“Chloe, every single time, you’ve made me help him for your sake. Even if I signed over my life, I should have paid off my debt by now, shouldn’t I?”
Though my voice wasn’t loud, everyone heard me clearly, and their gazes at Ryan grew even more disdainful.
“Always following CEO Westbrook, always causing trouble.”
“A pure sugar baby, a spineless good-for-nothing. I don’t know what CEO Westbrook sees in him.”
Seeing this, Ryan immediately changed his demeanor. *Slap!* He slapped himself again.
“Alright, alright, it’s all my fault. I deserve to be hit.”
“Who told me I didn’t have an older sister and treat Chloe like my own? I was just protecting her.”
“Mr. Sterling, I apologize. Take out all your anger on me, don’t make things difficult for my sister.”
He then made to kneel before me.
The slight look of guilt in Chloe’s eyes quickly vanished, replaced by distress.
“Ryan, get up! With me here, you don’t need to kneel or apologize to anyone!”
She then angrily yelled at me, “You just won’t let go of a little act of kindness, will you? Do you want to force Ryan to kowtow to you?”
Her words chilled me to the bone.
Ryan’s acting was flawless. He pushed Chloe aside, then *thump*, he kowtowed to me.
“Mr. Sterling, the debt of gratitude I owe you, I’ll repay myself.”
“Don’t use this to pressure Chloe. Can you sign the family planning agreement now?”
Ryan hit his head hard, and blood immediately streamed from his forehead.
Chloe’s eyes widened. She rushed forward, hugging Ryan tightly and pressing her hand to his forehead.
“Ryan! I can’t believe you’re such a calculating opportunist, using your supposed kindness against me. You’re despicable!”
At that moment, her eyes blazed with rage and resentment, as if she wished to tear me to shreds.
It was as if I wasn’t her lover, but her mortal enemy.
Yet, from start to finish, I never asked Ryan to repay any debt of gratitude, nor did I demand he kowtow.
Ryan was the one forcing me to sign the agreement.
She was the one whose heart had changed.
Yet she blamed everything on me.
Not to mention, for six whole years, I’d brought Sterling Corporation’s assets into Westbrook Pharmaceuticals, helping it leap to the top tier, making Chloe a renowned CEO.
I pushed myself to the brink, even getting a bleeding ulcer, all to secure hundreds of millions in profit within three months.
In my personal life, I was meticulously attentive, making her nourishing soups, taking her on trips, rejecting countless arranged marriage proposals from my family for her sake, and maintaining strict boundaries with other women.
Six years, day in and day out, and what did I get in return? That I wasn’t considerate enough of her? That she looked at me with angry eyes?
The surrounding guests came forward, trying to mediate.
“It’s a happy day, let’s all calm down.”
“Exactly, let’s all compromise a little, don’t mess up the auspicious moment.”
But Chloe’s expression was icy, showing no signs of budging.
“Julian Sterling, since you’re so unwilling to be understanding, let’s call off the engagement. When you apologize to Ryan, we can reschedule.”
Watching her still holding Ryan, a desolate laugh escaped me.
I slowly took off the corsage from my chest and placed it on the table.
“Chloe, I’m not good enough for you. This engagement really shouldn’t happen.”
Seeing that I wasn’t apologizing or begging for forgiveness, but actually daring to call off the engagement, Chloe instantly flew into a rage. She grabbed a nearby wine glass and hurled it at me.
“Get out!”
“Julian Sterling, if you walk out that door, you’ll never marry me in this lifetime! Even if you kneel and kowtow to me a hundred times, I’ll never want you again!”
*Crash!* The glass shattered on the floor, and blood trickled down my forehead, into my eye.
Chloe flinched, but she still didn’t release Ryan. Her face was dark with anger as she snapped,
“Serves you right.”
“Who told you to cause a scene on such a happy day? If you were even half as good at making me happy as Ryan is, we wouldn’t even be engaged today.”
At that moment, Chloe’s eyes were filled with resentment, disappointment, and lingering regrets.
So that was why she had rejected my proposals time and again.
I could no longer bear to see the smug disdain in Ryan’s eyes. I pushed through the crowd and strode out of the hotel.
This time, I had lost. Lost completely and miserably.
I’d sacrificed my health, my time, only to be another man’s unresolved longing.
“Chloe, I’ll grant you your perfect romance and moonlit nights.”
When I reached the gate of our old estate, my father, Richard, was already waiting in the main hall.
He looked at me with deep, knowing eyes.
“Do you see clearly now?”
I knelt before him in shame. “I’m sorry, Dad.”
For six whole years, I’d neglected the Sterling Corporation, leaving my father to toil day after day with his ailing body.
He even had to introduce clients and orders to Westbrook Pharmaceuticals for his useless son.
My father’s tone was calm.
“It’s not that I interfered with your marriage, son. The Westbrook family was never a good match.”
“Years ago, old Mr. Westbrook conspired against Master Liam’s family, killing all eighteen members and stealing their ancestral formula to make his fortune.”
“For years, he’s dealt in counterfeit drugs, cold-hearted and selfish. Everyone in high society knows.”
I lowered my head in shame. When I returned from my studies in the US, I instantly fell for the lively and beautiful Chloe.
Listening to her soft, gentle voice, I was utterly captivated.
I thought she was different, a delicate and innocent young woman. How could she be ruthless?
But some things, deep down, never change.
“Dad, I agree to the arranged marriage. Please propose to the Thompson family.”
My father immediately smiled.
“Good. I’ll call old Mr. Thompson right away. Grace has been waiting for you, you know.”
Then, he looked at me uneasily.
“Son, think this through carefully. Once you’re allied with the Thompson family, you can never contact Chloe again. You mustn’t let Grace down.”
I nodded solemnly. I couldn’t blame my father’s doubts. After all, my pathetic devotion was infamous throughout the city, utterly without bottom line.
When the counterfeit drug scandal turned deadly, I stood in front of Chloe’s father, taking three stabs and breaking my ribs for him.
I publicly apologized, voluntarily took the blame, even tarnishing the Sterling family’s reputation.
When Chloe and Ryan’s rumors spread, I was the one who stepped forward, claiming Ryan was like a younger brother to both of us, and that I’d asked him to look after Chloe.
Recalling all those past events, my face burned with shame. I spoke decisively,
“Dad, withdraw all resources from Westbrook Pharmaceuticals. From now on, I will never interfere in any of their affairs again.”
The next day, my father spoke with Mr. Thompson about the arranged marriage. To my surprise, Grace came to find me that very evening.
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