Chapter 1 Shattered Promises

"Austin, don't."

Ella Brooks held her hands protectively across her chest, looking at the man hovering over her.

She hadn't expected Austin Raymond to return home after two months of tabloid scandals, much less for him to immediately initiate intimacy.

The bedroom was dimly lit with only a small bedside lamp casting a warm yellow glow, highlighting Austin's chiseled features and sharp profile.

His piercing eyes reminded her of a hawk, predatory and intense.

Austin spoke solemnly, swiftly stripping away the nightgown adorning her.

The moment his broad palm brushed against Ella's skin, an inexplicable surge of familiarity and tranquility welled up within him.

Frowning, he forcibly subdued this strange sensation, his movements growing increasingly brutal, as if endeavoring to affirm that this was merely a mission to be carried out solely for the sake of accomplishing a predetermined objective.

Ella quickly found herself responding to his touch despite her reservations.

Her slender hands pressed against his muscular chest while her beautiful eyes grew misty with both emotion and desire.

Before she could voice her protest, desire consumed her words.

Austin pulled her into a shared descent into passion.

Outside, rain had begun to fall, the gentle patter against the windows creating a natural melody with the man's low groans and the woman's trembling whimpers.

When it was finally over, Ella couldn't even summon the strength to lift her arms.

Her body felt as if it had been crushed by a truck, especially the aching soreness between her legs.

She struggled to prop herself up, her delicate skin marked with evidence of their intense encounter.

Austin had tasted every inch of her from collarbone to abdomen, tried dozens of positions, and even experimented with several new techniques.

Ella initially intended to go to the bathroom to clean up, but before she could leave the bed, Austin pulled her back.

He seemed to possess endless enthusiasm and energy.

Austin's broad shoulders supported Ella's slender legs as he drove into her, then flipped her over to enter her from behind.

Remembering his grandmother's meaningful conversation yesterday and the family's watchful scrutiny.

Austin's thin lips pressed gently against the shell of Ella's ear, his low, husky voice steeped in the haze of desire.

He paused an unusual hesitation, seemingly gathering his thoughts before finally uttering, "Ella, we need a child."

The words were not a command but rather a reluctant declaration tinged with the bitterness of an unspoken bargain.

In that instant, clarity flickered in Ella's eyes, while an overwhelming bitterness settled deep within her heart.

Indeed, Judith was returning, and he required a child to fortify his standing, to appease his grandmother, to clear obstacles for Judith.

A wry self-deprecation flickered in her mind; this time, Austin would surely be disappointed; her body was ill-suited for conception.

An icy chill, sharp and penetrating, spread once again, a haunting echo from the snowy summit of the mountains when she was eighteen and now at twenty-eight.

The frigid wind threatened to freeze her very marrow, and the only tether that had kept her alive then was Austin's promise.

He had assured her that once they descended the mountain, he would marry her. Yet what she received instead was the news of his engagement to Judith.

Seeing Ella remain unresponsive, Austin's agitation deepened; with an almost punitive determination, he intensified his grip, wrenching her back from the abyss of her thoughts.

"Is that understood?" This time, his voice carried a hardness born from losing control.

Summoning every ounce of her strength, Ella suppressed the bone-deep chill and piercing pain, forcing her words through clenched teeth. "Yes."

After two rounds of passionate lovemaking, Ella's legs were nearly boneless when she finally left the bed.

She dragged her exhausted body toward the bathroom.

When she emerged wearing a bathrobe after washing up, she heard Austin speaking on the phone with unexpected patience and tenderness.

"Don't be afraid. Wait for me at home, I'll come right over to be with you."

Austin stood by the window as he made the call, his eyes filled with softness.

Ella froze in place, suddenly feeling as if someone had thrown sand in her eyes, making them burn painfully.

Without having to guess, she knew exactly who was on the other end of that call.

She had known Austin since she was ten years old.

Yet this gentle side of him was reserved only for Judith.

Outside, the rain grew heavier. Thunder threatened to split the sky.

She used to be terrified of thunderstorms.

Ella clenched her fists tightly.

After hanging up, Austin finally noticed Ella standing in the doorway.

The tenderness in his eyes instantly vanished, replaced by his usual coldness.

The Raymond family had strict rules: as the eldest grandson, Austin must produce an heir with a family-approved woman to fully inherit the family fortune.

If not for the Raymond family's wealth, he wouldn't have asked her to have a child.

If not for the stability of the Raymond business against competitors, he wouldn't have asked her to have a child.

"Remember to take your medicine," he instructed.

This time, it wasn't contraceptives but fertility medication.

Once he secured his inheritance rights by producing an heir, he could be rid of Ella.

Yet for some reason, whenever he was intimate with Ella, his body instinctively relaxed, subconsciously wanting to be close to her.

Austin maintained his cold expression. After giving his instructions, he grabbed his coat and walked unhesitatingly into the rainy night.

Ella approached the window, just in time to see the Maybach driving away.

Despair and bitterness filled her eyes.

More than once, she felt as if she had never truly survived that mountain.

That bone-deep cold had spread from her eighteenth year to her twenty-eighth.

Pushing aside her thoughts, Ella went to bed in a daze, only to dream of the past.

Ten-year-old Austin had promised to protect her forever. Eighteen-year-old Austin had promised to marry her.

Who could have imagined that at twenty-four, he would be in a car accident that left him paralyzed, condemned to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair?

From golden boy to rock bottom overnight.

He had obsessively pushed everyone away.

When Judith chose to leave the country, it dealt him a devastating blow.

When everyone had written Austin off and believed his life would remain in darkness, Ella had stayed faithfully by his side through three years of rehabilitation therapy.

Combined with his secret treatments, Austin had finally stood again.

The media called it a medical miracle.

Everything finally seemed to be improving, but then Judith returned.

All these years, Ella had thought she might eventually melt his icy heart.

Yet with Judith's return, a single glance from her was enough for Austin to abandon everything and rush to her side.

Though they married, Austin was constantly surrounded by various scandals.

She had grown from an innocent girl into the woman she was today, giving all her love to just one man, Austin. She was truly exhausted.

Chasing someone who would never reciprocate her feelings.

It felt like being lost in thick fog, unable to see ahead or determine direction.

Exhausted but still determined to persevere a little longer, hoping to eventually reach the light.

That night, Ella slept fitfully, tossing and turning through various dreams, as if invisible hands were tightly gripping her throat.

The next morning, when she checked her phone, the news headlines were overwhelming – all about how Austin, heir to a top financial empire, had been seen entering renowned fashion designer Judith's home late at night.

The headline was in bold, oversized red letters.

The sight pierced Ella's chest with pain, like an invisible knife repeatedly stabbing her heart.

At that moment, she received a message from Austin:

[Wait for me at home tonight. Take your folic acid regularly during this period.]

Reading this message, Ella could almost imagine Austin's cold and impatient expression.

He seemed to treat having a child as merely a task.

What did that make her?

A vessel?

A tool to free him from his obligations?

After all, he had promised his grandmother they would have a child.

He spent his days with Judith, then came from Judith's bed to Ella's.

Or perhaps she was just a tool for Austin to satisfy his desires whenever he pleased.

Crystalline tears slid down from the corner of her eye.