Chapter1

The day the pregnancy was confirmed, I held the test report between my fingertips. My thumb repeatedly rubbed over the line that read "6 weeks intrauterine early pregnancy," my breath felt sweet. Outside the window, plane tree leaves were falling vigorously as I made my way to Kellan Vance's company. Suddenly, two men in black suits rushed from behind, covered my mouth, and dragged me into an alley. I struggled desperately. The pregnancy test fell from my pocket onto the ground, where one of the men stepped on it with his leather shoe, crumpling it until the words blurred into an ink stain. I screamed, but the sound was muffled by the cloth in my throat. The smell of leather and rust in the car seat made me nauseous. I don't know how long passed before the car stopped. I was dragged out. My feet stepped onto rough wooden planks, and the sound of waves hitting the boat filled my ears. One of the men ripped the cloth strip from my mouth. The cold glint of a dagger pressed against my cheek. "Behave, and you'll suffer less." My heart tightened violently. "Why are you doing this?" The man sneered coldly and didn't answer, just pressed me down onto the cold cabin floor. Another man's foot kicked me squarely in the lower abdomen. Excruciating pain instantly swept through my whole body. I curled up on the floor, tears mixing with cold sweat as they hit the wooden planks. The cold gleam of the dagger aimed at my eyes. "No!" I screamed, turning my head away, but the man held the back of my head firmly in place. The moment the cold metal pierced my eye socket, I heard my own scream tear across the sea. It felt like my nerves were being ripped apart, the pain so intense I nearly lost consciousness. Warm blood trickled down from the corners of my eyes, dripping onto the planks. I could feel the eyeballs being forcibly ripped from their sockets. That hollow, tearing pain was a thousand times worse than the pain in my abdomen. I reached up to touch, but the man grabbed my wrist. "President Vance's orders. These eyes must remain intact. Don't damage them." As my consciousness faded, I caught a familiar scent of cedarwood. "Sloane, don't be afraid." He walked over, crouched down, gently wiped the blood from my face with his fingertips, his tone still as gentle as I remembered. "It'll be over soon." I opened my mouth, wanting to demand why, but only hoarse, guttural sounds came from my throat. He leaned down and placed a feather-light kiss on my forehead. That kiss, mixed with the metallic taste of my blood, made my stomach churn with nausea. When I woke up, I was lying in a hospital bed. An endless, boundless blackness lay before me. It was only then I realized, belatedly, that I was blind. My fingertips touched the thick bandages over my eye sockets. Even the slightest touch sent a piercing pain through me. "Sloane, you're awake?" Kellan Vance's voice sounded in my ear, laden with deliberate concern. "I'm sorry. I didn't protect you well enough. I let you suffer so much." He reached out to touch my face, but I flinched away as if burned. I remembered the men's words on the fishing boat, remembered his scent of cedarwood. All the details I had deliberately ignored now pierced my heart like needles, a dense, numbing pain. "My eyes..." My voice was hoarse, as if scraped by sandpaper. "Where are my eyes?" He was silent for a moment, his tone filled with guilt. "Sloane, don't worry. I will be your eyes. I will take care of you for the rest of your life." "Rest well. I'll step out for a moment." After he left, I groped my way up, leaning against the wall, and overheard his conversation with the doctor. "President Vance!" Dr. Bennett's voice interjected, trembling. "Miss Prescott has already lost her eyes! This child is her only solace now! And... and it's your own flesh and blood! Please reconsider!" "Reconsider?" Kellan Vance's voice turned cold. "She's blind. Even if she gives birth, how can she take care of a child? I'm doing this for her own good." He chuckled lightly, dripping with sarcasm. "Besides, a blind mother would only bring the child shame." I could no longer hold myself up and slid to the floor. My nails dug deep into my palms, blood beads oozing from between my fingers onto my clothes. So, he wouldn't even leave me this last shred of hope. Even the child in my womb had to make way for his and Tiana Sterling's "happiness." "Tiana's eyes are what matter most." His voice softened again. "I promised her that once her eyes are better, we would have a baby together. I'll take her back to the Vance family and marry her with great fanfare." "Using Sloane Prescott's eyeballs as a dowry," he played with the glass jar, his voice full of pride, "Tiana will love it." "As for Sloane," his tone shifted, carrying a condescending pity, "I will be her eyes. I'll give her the best material life to compensate her for the rest of her days." I heard Dr. Bennett sigh heavily, a sigh filled with helplessness and sympathy. It seemed someone was about to enter, so I quickly scrambled back onto the bed. Before I could speak, a cold needle pierced my arm. The anesthetic liquid spread through my veins. I felt a warm fluid flowing from between my legs. That was my unborn child, the future I had once so eagerly anticipated. I wanted to struggle, to scream, but I was trapped by the anesthetic, unable to move even a finger. Tears of blood streamed from my hollow eye sockets, dripping onto the white pillowcase, staining it with dark red marks. Kellan Vance had never loved me. He approached me, was good to me, only because my eyes could save his childhood sweetheart. Both I and the child in my womb were merely "gifts" for Tiana Sterling. The anesthetic grew stronger, and my consciousness blurred. At the last moment, I heard Kellan Vance's voice in my ear, still gentle but carrying a bone-chilling coldness: "Sloane, sleep. When you wake up, everything will be better."