Chapter 2 Bear With It

Hanna's eyes were filled with sarcasm.

"You want to curry favor with the Collins family, yet you hesitate to marry your beloved daughter into that family. Why don't you just marry into that family yourself?"

"How dare you speak to me that way!" Without the need to play nice, Jessie showed a vicious face.

"You have been searching for Helena, haven't you? Three days ago, your father and I found her. We're the only ones who know where she is. If you agree to marry in Brynn's place, I'll disclose her whereabouts and allow you to see her again."

A photo was tossed beside Hanna.

With trembling hands, Hanna picked it up, and tears she had suppressed for so long began to flow when she saw Helena in the picture.

Helena Owen was Hanna's biological mother.

Fourteen years earlier, Cristian's mistress Jessie had driven Helena to madness, resulting in her confinement to a mental institution. Since then, Hanna had been forced to live with Jessie and her daughter.

For the past fourteen years, Hanna had visited Helena daily.

However, Helena had vanished from the mental institution last month, and Hanna had been tirelessly searching for her.

The cruelty of Jessie and Cristian took Hanna by surprise.

They had located Helena three days earlier but withheld this from her, now using Helena as a leverage to manipulate her!

"A crazy woman like Helena wandering out on her own would face numerous dangers. She could meet an untimely end through drowning, being struck by a billboard, or a traffic accident. Hanna, you care deeply for Helena, don't you? Just agree, and I'll tell you where she is. Once you bring her back, she'll be safe. Helena..."

"Shut up!" Hanna cut Jessie off sharply. "You have no right to even speak her name!"

As she looked at Helena in the photo, her resolve hardened.

"I'll do what you've asked."

Ever since Helena was declared insane, Hanna had not felt any genuine warmth in this harsh world.

Now, despite Helena's mental condition, she was the only person who had ever shown Hanna love and the only one Hanna truly cared about.

For Helena, Hanna was willing to do anything!

Six days later, Hanna was marrying into the Collins family.

Because the wedding was put together in a short time, everything was kept simple.

The Collins family did not organize a grand wedding ceremony; they simply sent a wedding car to pick up Hanna from the Murphy family's villa at nightfall.

By the time the wedding car reached the Collins family's mansion, night had already fallen.

Two women escorted Hanna to a bedroom.

The room was dark except for a single red candle burning, casting a flickering red glow.

In the dim candlelight, Hanna could barely make out a figure lying motionless like a corpse on the double bed near the window.

This person had to be her groom-Kayce.

"My bride is finally here." The "corpse" suddenly spoke.

His voice was gentle yet chilling, with a commanding presence that seemed to freeze Hanna in place.

It was rumored that Kayce had become severely ill a month earlier, paralyzed from the waist down and his face was so disfigured he looked like a zombie. He had become a useless person who could die at any moment.

Hanna couldn't believe that the voice of a greatly ill person could be so powerful.

"Come to bed." That voice sounded again.

Before Hanna could move, something soft yet firm encircled her waist.

She was pulled forward with great force and tumbled onto the bed.

"Oh, God."

Hanna cried out as pain surged through her and she opened her eyes. Above her was a man pressing down, his face as perfect as a statue. His eyes, cold and deep, pulled her in with a single look.

"Are you really... Kayce Collins?"

Hanna's breathing was unnaturally heavy, her voice shaking.

Wasn't Kayce supposed to be disfigured?

Had she walked into the wrong room...

"Yes, I am Kayce Collins." The man's tone remained unemotional. Yet, the breath he exhaled was warm, like a gentle spring breeze caressing Hanna's delicate face.

Hanna's heartbeat quickened even more.

The man fixed his gaze on her, a trace of curiosity flickering in his cold, narrowed eyes.

He was drawn to a unique scent coming from Hanna.

It was a distinctly unique natural aroma, like an ice flower blossoming on the top of a snowy mountain, faint yet soothing, calming Kayce's heart.

Just seven days earlier, Kayce had encountered this scent for the first time in a hotel room.

That night, his loss of control over the girl wasn't solely due to the poison but also because of the captivating scent she carried.

He couldn't believe Hanna had the same scent, which brought back memories of that night, the urge to indulge without restraint, the overpowering desire that consumed him...

Damn it!

As a man who valued self-control, he detested the sensation of losing it the most!

Kayce quietly fought back the rising desire.

"Have we met before?"

Hanna, gaining back some of her calm, blushed without realizing it. "No..."

"Are you sure?" Kayce's gaze remained intense as he looked at her, his presence commanding.

Hanna normally wasn't intimidated by anyone's stare, yet now she felt unusually anxious under his.

"Uh-huh." She instinctively lowered her eyes but could still sense his daunting stare, causing her cheeks, already warm, to turn even redder, as though they might bleed.

"I'm sure."

Girls naturally appreciate beauty.

If Hanna had ever seen such a remarkable man, she would definitely have taken a keen interest and remembered him clearly.

Kayce's expression shifted suddenly.

"Then, it might hurt. Bear with it."

His face was already close to Hanna's, and as he spoke, he leaned in closer, his perfectly shaped lips inching towards hers.

Hanna's heart missed a beat.

Then, it began to race uncontrollably.

But just as Kayce's lips were about to meet hers, they stopped less than one inch away and instead moved downward, pressing against her neck.