Chapter 1

For three years, I was Susan's devoted lapdog. She toyed with me 98 times.

Until the eve of our wedding, when she threw a tantrum and tossed away the engagement ring.

"If you find it, I'll marry you," she said.

After spending a night searching for the ring in an alligator-infested pond, I was about to go comfort Susan when I accidentally overheard her conversation with a friend.

"Miss Shaw, how many times have you messed with Frost now?"

"How long has George been gone? Can't you let him go?"

Susan replied coldly, "He's the one who got George killed. He deserves everything coming to him!"

My knuckles turned white as I gripped the wedding ring, my blood freezing in an instant.

So my undying love was just a tool for Susan's revenge.

At that moment, I threw away the ring and dialed a number. "I'll agree to the arranged marriage. Let's have the wedding in three days."

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1

I crawled out of the freezing alligator pool at three in the morning.

The torrential rain hadn't let up, and in my palm lay that ice-cold diamond ring.

This was the engagement ring Susan had carelessly tossed away last night, accompanied by a flippant, "Find it, and I'll marry you."

For seven hours, I groped around in a pool full of alligators, my body covered in bite wounds, all to complete her offhand "test."

For her, it seemed I had no limits.

For three years, I've been chasing Susan, a woman whose heart still belonged to her deceased ex-boyfriend, George.

But I still firmly believed my love could melt the ice, and the wedding in three days would be the sweet reward after all the bitterness.

Wrapping myself tightly in a blanket, I stumbled towards Susan's mansion, ignoring my still-bleeding wounds.

The light in her room was still on.

Thank goodness, she wasn't asleep.

I imagined how happy she'd be when she saw the ring.

However, as I approached the floor-to-ceiling window, her conversation with her best friend Aria pierced my eardrums like an icicle:

"This is the 98th time already... How long are you going to toy with Frost?"

"Toy with him? He deserves it!" Susan's voice dripped with venom. "Aria, have you forgotten how George died?"Three years ago, if Frost hadn't insisted I pick him up at the airport, George wouldn't have gotten into that car accident!"

"He's the one who killed George! I'll never forgive him! I only agreed to marry him so I could crush him into the dirt when he's at his happiest! Let him taste what it's like when hope is shattered!"

"The wedding will be my 99th act of revenge. He owes George, and I'm going to make him pay double!"

The world crumbled around me.

Three years of deep affection, nothing more than a tool for her vengeance.

And these countless times of toying with me, just her means of avenging George.

The first time, she orchestrated her own kidnapping. To save her, I had my hand broken by the kidnappers and was bedridden for three months.

The second time, she tricked me into a car accident. While rushing to her on my motorcycle, I was hit and my leg was broken, nearly leaving me disabled.

...

The 98th time, she threw our wedding rings into the alligator pit.

And the soon-to-be-executed 99th time is the wedding I've been looking forward to for three years.

A bone-chilling coldness instantly engulfed me. Not from the lake water, but from the human heart.

The ring in my palm now felt like a red-hot branding iron, confirming my stupidity.

Enough!

I suddenly raised my hand and violently threw the ring back into the dark heart of the lake.With a resounding "splash" - the funeral of my three years of foolish love came to an end.

I turned around, pulled out my frozen phone, and dialed home.

"Mom," my voice eerily calm, "I've made up my mind. I agree to the arranged marriage with the Winters family. Let's set the wedding for three days from now."

After hanging up, I sent a message to Susan: [It's over between us.]

Then I stared at the pitch-black lake surface, my eyes reflecting only emptiness.

The next second, several messages popped up at once.

[Frost, stop playing these stupid games.]

[My patience is wearing thin. I'm giving you one day to drag yourself back here and explain everything.]

...