CHAPTER 372: CHAPTER 372: I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

Blood dripped from the fingertip onto the ground.

Miles Sterling showed no sign of pity in his eyes, coldly smiling at her, as he reached down, picked up the discarded nail and examined it, saying, "I hope you remember this punishment and keep this nail safe. Next time you feel the urge to see him, take it out and ponder, do you think this method will work?"

Vanessa Sterling bit her lip hard, tears streaming down her face from the pain.

Miles tossed aside the pliers in his hand, turned to the toolbox, and rummaged until he found some coarse sandpaper, then grabbed her hand and roughly sanded her other fingers.

At the same time as removing nail polish, he also abraded the skin around her nails.

Compared to the pain of pulling out her nails earlier, this seemed almost insubstantial.

He silently rubbed each nail one by one, with great force.

Vanessa sat silently on the floor, tears falling, her body trembling slightly beyond control.

She was already small and frail, evoking pity in her appearance, yet in Miles’s eyes at this moment, there was not a trace of mercy.

Softness was never in his vocabulary regarding her.

After finishing one hand as if he was tired from sanding, he threw the remaining sandpaper onto Vanessa: "Clean it yourself! If I see your red nails again tomorrow, I’ll yank them all out one by one."

Vanessa assumed it was over, reaching out to pick up the sandpaper scattered around her.

She heard his footsteps walking away, glanced sideways, and saw him pull out his phone from the coat he had tossed on the sofa earlier, then turn back.

Without explanation, he grabbed her arm and lifted her, "Get up."

Vanessa’s legs were a bit numb, she slowly stood up using the sofa for support.

"Take off your clothes."

Upon hearing his request, Vanessa was momentarily stunned.

He aimed the phone at her, seeing she wasn’t moving, he impatiently repeated, "Take them off!"

Instead of undressing, Vanessa pulled up the slipping shoulder straps.

Seeing her reluctance, Miles’s patience wore thin, he reached forward, grabbing her dress and violently tugging.

The delicate straps couldn’t withstand his force, without their support the dress slipped down, and Vanessa hurriedly grasped it with her hands.

Miles said irritably, "Hands off."

They stood in silence for two seconds, his voice cold and sharp, "Don’t make me repeat myself."

Hesitantly, Vanessa let go of the dress.

He tugged the dress further down, then stepped back a few paces, pointing the camera at her once more.

As he prepared to take a photo, he noticed Vanessa covering her chest with her hand, and glared at her commandingly, "Hands down!"

Vanessa lifted her tear-stained eyes, looking at him with some fear.

"Smack"—the slap landed heavily on her face, a roaring sound echoed in her ears, and her vision went black for a moment.

He pulled her hands down, then raised her bowed head and stepped away, aiming the phone at her and pressing the shutter button.

Saving the photo, he said, "Next time, I’ll send this photo to your dear uncle. After all, don’t you love flaunting in front of him?"

He put away his phone, walked towards upstairs, and still dissatisfied, grabbed a nearby glass orb decoration and hurled it at Vanessa’s back: "I really want to kill you!"

The crystal ball hit Vanessa’s back with such force she staggered forward.

The crystal ball fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.

His footsteps faded upstairs, Vanessa’s tears fell urgently, but she bit her lip, not daring to cry out loud.

She reached for the torn dress to cover herself, picked up the sandpaper and Audrey Sutton’s shawl, stumbling back to her room.

She lifted her left hand for a look, it was covered in blood.

Especially the ring finger, the bleeding hadn’t stopped, and it throbbed with pain.

She hastily wrapped a tissue around her finger to stem the bleeding.

The bandaids in the drawer were nearly gone, and she had run out of painkillers.

After stopping the bleeding, she gritted her teeth as she cleaned the wound with alcohol swabs.

Her left hand’s five fingers were far from intact, exerting any force brought pain, yet she still had to remove the nail polish from her other hand using the sandpaper.

As she sanded, tears fell, biting her lip to suppress her sobs.

She sat by the window, looking at the inky night outside.

Poking her head out to gaze below, the building was high, she wondered whether death might be the only path to happiness...

"Boom"—the loud sound of a door closing yanked her thoughts back, she withdrew her head and shut the window.

He should be gone, likely not returning tonight.

This made Vanessa feel slightly relieved, fearing he might stew in his anger before resentment drove him to cause her more trouble...

She barely slept all night, the pain in her hand making sleep impossible.

The sky was faintly cold, she waited for six o’clock, when the pharmacy downstairs opened.

She went downstairs to buy some alcohol, bandaids, and painkillers, items as essential to her as cold medicine kept ready in others’ homes.

After medicating she eased somewhat, exhaustion taking over as she lay in bed, and with the dawning day, drifted into sleep.

In the morning, when Audrey Sutton woke up, she unexpectedly heard no sound from the gym, instead there was noise downstairs.

She went downstairs and saw Shane Warner by the counter preparing breakfast.

"Why are you stealing my job?" Audrey teased with a smile.

Shane looked up at her, "Awake?"

"Why are you up so early today? Anything at the company?"

"Nothing special, just suddenly wanted to make breakfast for you."

Audrey beamed, walking over to him, "The sun must rise from the west, how come you’ve changed so much lately? Preparing for your ’good dad’ role?"

Shane smoothly followed her joke, "Just practicing daily life for when you’re pregnant, at least for those ten months I’ll take care of it."

"It’s not that delicate! I can make breakfast even while pregnant, you’re just too anxious. The belly hasn’t even shown yet, and you’re already eager to plan the child’s entire future." Audrey approached, inspecting the breakfast he made, which was perfectly done.

Shane looked at her seriously, "Maybe we’re not sowing often enough?"

Audrey scolded him with a glance, "You insist on sowing for seven days a week, isn’t that diligent enough?"

"Then what’s the problem?"

"I think we miscalculated the timing, I’ll ask my mom at home this weekend, calculate it right."

After speaking, Audrey childishly embraced him from behind, following him wherever he went, saying nonsensically, "Honey, I love you so much, do you love me?"