Chapter 1

The Crown Prince of the capital’s elite was a complete lunatic.

Even though he had died unexpectedly, he still spent every night indulging with me.

“Baby, were you happy today?”

Feeling the cold air radiating from his whole body, I trembled all over.

But what I got in return was even more demand from him.

His possessiveness terrified me, because I had already been with his younger brother...

The Crown Prince of the capital’s elite died unexpectedly, and I cried bitterly at the funeral.

Everyone bowed in silent mourning for him, sighing over his fall.

Everyone knew I was his partner, and we had been about to go abroad to enter a legal marriage.

As I looked at his black-and-white portrait, I broke down sobbing, yet secretly felt relieved too. I had finally escaped Julian Sterling’s control.

He was the reserved and noble heir, but in private, he was an outright madman.

Julian was in poor health and was hospitalized almost every year because of a hereditary illness.

When he made love to me, he would lick my ear and sigh softly, “Avery, come to the underworld with me, and we can still love each other there.”

Every time he asked me to die with him, he was so serious that it scared me.

I knew he always did what he said.

If I did not answer him, he would bite my neck harder in dissatisfaction, his sharp teeth pressing precisely near my artery.

His stubborn black eyes chilled me again and again, and he said he would deal with me first, then take his own life, and have us buried together so we could never be separated for all eternity.

I lay on my back with tears streaming down my face, and Julian rubbed the top of my head, his arms holding me tightly as he gently wiped away the tears from the corners of my eyes. “Avery, I can’t bear to part with you.”

He could not bear to be separated from me, so he wanted to take me away, and his love for me grew more obsessive and insane.

This time, he suddenly vomited blood at night and was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment, but he died on the operating table in less than three hours.

Everything happened so suddenly, and I was lucky enough to survive.

“Avery, Julian will be buried tomorrow, so please take care of yourself.”

I snapped out of my daze, and Noah Sterling stood beside me to comfort me.

He was the child the Sterling parents had adopted from an orphanage as an act of charity, and he was also Julian’s younger brother.

Although he and Julian were not related by blood, they looked very similar, with only a small mole at the corner of Noah’s eye setting them apart.

Noah was completely different from Julian, gentle, humble, and very good-tempered.

In the Sterling family, he moved with ease and everyone liked him, but Julian hated him and strictly forbade me from going near him.

I knelt on the prayer cushion and cried bitterly, and when I stood up, my head felt heavy, and as I stepped over the threshold, I stumbled backward.

A pair of strong, powerful arms caught me, and I leaned against his chest, lifting my eyes to see his rolling Adam’s apple.

The faint scent of incense on Noah drifted to my nose, and even through my clothes, I could feel the heat of his palm supporting my waist.

I steadied myself and thanked him softly, but after all, our positions were different, and he still kept his arm around my waist without letting go.

His scorching palm pressed close to my waist, and I could not tell what he wanted to do.

“I’ll take you home. Even though Julian is gone, you are still his partner, so I should take care of you in his place.”

Noah’s eyes were very gentle, but his tone and movements left no room for me to resist.

He took me into the car.

I knew his character, so I did not ask anything, but taking care of his brother’s partner felt a little too intimate, didn’t it?

I had knelt all night and was exhausted, so I rested my head against the car window.

Noah generously offered me his shoulder, his eyes clear and clean. “Avery, you’ll feel better leaning on me.”

Thinking back on the wariness in my heart just now, I figured I must have been overthinking it, because someone as gentle as water could not possibly harbor such thoughts.

Leaning on his shoulder, I did feel much more comfortable, and while I was half asleep and half awake, I felt a gust of cold wind.

How could there be wind inside the car?

I curled up and instinctively burrowed toward the source of warmth, but a cold, coercive voice sounded beside my ear.

“Avery, you forgot my warning. I hate it when you get close to men. You belong only to me!”

It was Julian!

He had come back!