Chapter 3: Death of an Unloved Woman  

Bai Ye Qing's eyes narrowed and he waved his hand, asking her to stop with her theatrics. He had nothing to offer her neither sympathy nor comfort. She wouldn't have accepted them either.

"How did he pass?" she found herself asking. He didn't answer her question.

"I just wanted to inform you that you will be going to the Yun house." He shrugged. "I would have left you a note explaining the situation but I gave you a chance to prepare. I also thought it might have been unkind." He sneered the last word at her. She flinched back, not knowing what else to do.

"I will stay for a couple of days. You can fend for yourself," she said, unable to muster a louder volume. He sighed and brushed his fingers through his hair.

"You misunderstood," he said as he stood up, taking slow steps around the desk to come near her. When he reached her, he folded his arms in front of him.

She took an automatic step back, her shoulder blades brushing against the door behind her.

"I'm going with you," he said, his voice still calm. Her brows furrowed in confusion. She looked for some indication on his face to show that he was joking but there was none.

"What?" her voice was louder than a whisper.

"Did you go deaf?" He demanded, his mouth twisting into an unfeeling grimace.

"You can't do this," she hissed. She hated his voice. She hated his intention. There had been nothing wrong with her father, not that she knew of. Now, this man was asking to accompany her to her maiden home. She could guess what he wanted. He wanted everything that she owned, even the Yun Corporation that her father had left for her.

His brows rose slightly and she watched as the corner of his mouth twitched. The beginning of an amused smirk. "I really, really can." He sounded almost entertained. Like he had orchestrated everything.

She couldn't take this. She couldn't stand him. He spoke to her as if her life was a joke. Like she was just a pawn to him and as if he viewed her as a possession and not a person.

But she was a person. Where had her voice gone? Where had her prowess as a businesswoman gone? What had happened to her?

"You can't force me," she snapped back at him.

A dangerous glint flashed in his eyes.

"You are my wife. You will do exactly as I say." In the years they had been married, this was the first time she saw his real face.

She crushed back the fear she felt. Bai Ye Qing was not the man she knew. No, she remembered that she had never known him.

"Not for much longer," she said, inhaling deeply.

"Look at you, thinking that you can do it," he taunted her.

The anger coursing through her body dissipated any fear she felt. "Why not?" she ground out harshly. "I don't love you. You don't love me. This marriage-" he cut her off.

"What will you do? Where will you go?" He demanded the answers. Without waiting for her, he told her himself. "Your companies are mine, your money is mine. Your father is dead. Your birth mother doesn't care. And your stepfamily would rather you be dead." He snickered.

"I..." she trailed off.

"You have no one." There was finality in Bai Ye Qing's voice.

She had no one. He was right.

She had given up everything for him, cut herself off from everyone, and dedicated every breath to him. He took advantage of her upbringing. He took advantage of the fact that no one really cared about her.

"You're right. I don't love you," he paused. She waited for the blow. "But neither does anyone else."

She felt the tears roll down her cheeks. She tried to brush them away but Bai Ye Qing had seen them. There was pride over victory in his eyes. As if breaking someone who had nothing in life could be considered that.

Everything she had done in her life seemed to lead up to that single moment. She found herself tied to a man she didn't love, trapped in a life she didn't want, unable to leave because she had nowhere to go. If she left him, she would be alone.

In spite of the monster he was, he had become the only thing she still had.

He followed her to her house that day. The lawyers read out the division of inheritance. Despite her father's follies, he left her quite a lot. Bai Ye Qing looked on silently, acting as the ideal man.

When they left the house, she saw the smile on his face. Something crept into a heart... a fear that she couldn't pinpoint. She didn't get much sleep that night.

Soon, her fears came to fruition.

- - - - -

"We will finally get married. I will get rid of you," the other woman sneered, her teeth showing. She was the one who wrote Qian Meng's fake suicide letter. Bai Ye Qing injected something into her veins.

Her consciousness slowly seeped out of her body.

She was twenty-nine. She had given her life for someone so inconsequential. It angered her.

It burned inside her soul with a fiery passion.

"Goodbye, Meng'er."

As she took her last breath, she uttered a silent vow.

She would get her revenge.

As her consciousness slipped out of her body, she felt a new sensation overtake her. It was like nothing she had experienced. It felt like she had been submerged underwater: everything looked distorted, she could hear nothing, feel nothing, but she was acutely aware of her surroundings. No sound escaped her mouth when she tried to speak. Slowly, she didn't even feel the need to breathe. She didn't need air.

Most astonishing was seeing her body lying on the sofa as her spirit hovered over it. Despite the flames of rage licking at her soul, she felt no compulsion to re-enter her body.