In Los Angeles, at the Yorks' private villa.
"Elizabeth, you disgusting wench, how dare you use Grandpa as leverage against me!" A man, with an aura akin to an emperor, was roughly tearing at the clothes of the woman on the bed. In his violent haste, Elizabeth Jones was sent rolling off the bed. She pleaded, looking up at him. "Stop!"
"Stop?" Samuel York scoffed, his hand tightly gripping her neck, his eyes swirling with a monstrous hate. "Elizabeth, wasn't it you who told Grandpa that I wouldn't touch you? Didn't you have someone drug me?"
"Fine, today I'll grant your wish!"
Elizabeth's protests were swallowed up in Samuel's forceful kiss, followed by a sudden and excruciating pain.
"Ah!" Elizabeth's body felt as though it was being torn apart, her hands clutching onto Samuel's shoulders. Up close, she was looking at the face she had loved for twenty years, its cold, hard lines, the deep-set eyes, the prominent nose, the sturdy, perfect chin. His appearance was a gift from God, especially his scent, a light hint of tobacco that was intoxicating.
Yet in Samuel's eyes, she only saw a terrifying coldness. "Does it hurt?" Samuel seemed quite pleased with her reaction. "This is the consequence of your own lascivious desires. I can only touch you under the influence of drugs. Elizabeth, to me, you're just a dog the Yorks keep around!"
Elizabeth couldn't tell if it was physical pain or heartache anymore. Her body spasmed, cold tears lost in the dark of the night.
His words, like a knife, shredded her heart.
So she was nothing more than a dog kept by the Yorks in his eyes!
In Los Angeles, everyone knew that Elizabeth was Samuel's disgrace.
Elizabeth was the adopted daughter of the Yorks, dubbed Samuel's child bride, and notorious for her ugliness in Los Angeles.
She had a birthmark the size of a thumb on her left cheek, and she usually hid it under her hair. Despite this, she couldn't hide her inferiority complex when facing others.
She had admired Samuel since she was a child. Three years ago, Tomas York forced his beloved grandson Samuel to marry her.
Yet, for these three years, Samuel hadn't touched his newlywed wife, Elizabeth.
Last night they went to the York Old Manor. Tomas, eager for a great-grandchild, asked about her conspicuously quiet belly.
Elizabeth lied offhand, but Tomas saw through it. Once they returned, Samuel flew into a rage, accusing her of drugging him.
"Samuel, stop it! I didn't!"
After a night of torment, at the break of dawn, Samuel finally got up from Elizabeth's barely alive body. He dressed in his stylish pants, still as charming as ever. He looked down at the woman on the floor, then threw a document, prepared earlier, at her.
"Elizabeth, you got your wish. Sign it as per our agreement."
Ravaged and wrapped in a sheet, Elizabeth looked at the document under the dim light. Her pale skin bore several scratch marks. They were remnants of their mad escapade the previous night. She glanced down, clearly seeing the bold words on the document. "Divorce Agreement".
Was he really this eager?
For a divorce, he was willing to sacrifice his dignity, to take her virginity, all because of a joke she often made.
She had said, "Samuel, if you want a divorce, let me be your legitimate wife."
He told her, "Elizabeth, give up any hope of being with me. Even if all the women in the world were gone, I wouldn't sleep with you!"
"Fine," she replied. "If one day you sleep with me, I'll agree to a divorce."
"In your dreams!"
Elizabeth remembered, until her last breath, the disgust in his voice when he said these words. How much he didn't want to touch her. Yet, she clung to that hope and stayed in the position of Mrs. York.
Over the years, she lived a humble life among the Yorks. Always walking on eggshells, often bullied, she'd had enough.
"Samuel, since you despise and hate me so much, I'll grant your wish!"
"Elizabeth, remember this, your last name is Jones. You have nothing to do with us, the Yorks!" Samuel's face was cold and full of disgust. "As for Grandpa, you explain it yourself!"
Elizabeth's heart felt as if it had been ruthlessly stomped on the ground, the pain was hundreds, thousands of times more than the torment of the previous night.
What it felt like to have a heart as cold as ice, she now knew all too well.
"Samuel, you're too cruel."
Tears welled up in Elizabeth's eyes as she signed the documents with her shaky hand.
Samuel squinted, picked up the documents off the floor, and turned around indifferently, as if even the air smelled bad wherever Elizabeth was!
Elizabeth always wondered why Samuel hated her so much. Was it just because three years ago Tomas forced Samuel to marry her, a woman so plain?
After dressing, she went to the bathroom. Standing in front of the mirror, she was stunned the moment she looked up.
The birthmark on her face was gone!
Was she dreaming?
She brushed away her hair in disbelief, tears of excitement rolling in her eyes.
The woman in the mirror had an incredibly beautiful face. Both her left and right cheeks were smooth and rosy. Without the birthmark, she was actually so beautiful!