to meld her into his very bones, forbidding her from distancing herself.

    The room’s temperature seemed to rise.

    Maureen could only passively endure.

    Suddenly, at that moment, knocking sounded at the door.

    Geoffrey stopped, displeasure filling his eyes: “Who?”

    Jessica stood outside, having long heard the sounds inside, her face flushed crimson with envy and jealousy.

    “Young Master, the old master requests your presence,”

    she said, rubbing her heated cheeks.

    “Understood.”

    Geoffrey looked at Maureen in/his arms, limp and drained, wrapped her in his clothes, andid her on therge bed nearby.

    “Rest well.”

    Who knew how she’d survived abroad these years–her constitution remained so fragile.

    Maureen pulled the quilt higher, her face slightly pale: “Mm.”

    Geoffrey changed clothes but didn’t leave. He approached Maureen, where the bite marks she’d left on his shoulders and the bloody scratches across his back were clearly visible.

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    As if truly numb to pain, his hand brushed Maureen’s cheek, unangered: “I’m leaving. Shouldn’t you offer something?”

    This move was learned from Ethan.

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    Maureen stared at him in confusion–hadn’t he been bitten enough?

    Geoffrey met her dewy eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly, before giving in and kissing her.

    Bitten by Maureen again, he seemed to have learned, biting back at her, just not as fiercely or as hard as she did.

    Maureen hurriedly dodged away.

    Geoffrey raised his hand and touched her lips: “Does it hurt?

    Actually, I hurt too.”

    He didn’t say anything more, got up, and went out.

    Maureen watched his figure disappear, slowly closed her eyes, murmuring silently.

    “Do you really hurt too?”

    Over the three years of their marriage, the pain she endured was only this little.

    Maureen lifted her hand, looking at the spots of blood on her fingertips, dazed.

    At that moment, the door was pushed open from outside, Jessica walked in, saw the clothes scattered all over the room, and her eyes turned red with jealousy,

    Especially when she saw that on Geoffrey’s bed, the person sleeping

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    was that deaf woman who wasn’t even as good as her, she felt even more resentful.

    “Ms. Ramirez, it seems your time abroad wasn’t wasted, you’ve learned a lot of tricks to charm men, haven’t you?”

    The woman’s mocking, piercing voice snapped Maureen back to reality. Her gaze drifted toward Jessica.

    Jessica wore standard formal attire, deliberately showcasing her cleavage. Her oval face tightened slightly, slender brows furrowed, eyes brimming with envy.

    Maureen had seen her a few times before.

    Though merely the butler’s daughter, she carried herself like Sutton Family royalty.

    When Maureen didn’t respond, Jessica assumed she wasn’t wearing her hearing aids. Kicking dirty clothes aside with her foot, she hurled insults:

    “Shameless cripple, always scheming to seduce people.”

    “Used to y innocent–what’s this trash you’re wearing now?”

    Spotting the luxurious garments on the floor, Jessica stomped on them viciously before Maureen’s eyes.

    She was certain Maureen wouldn’t dare retaliate.

    Just like before–once she dismissed the others, she could torment Maureen freely.

    She had no idea Maureen no longer endured everything for Geoffrey’s sake.

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    Maureen threw on a coat and rose from the bed, step by step closing in on Jessica.

    Jessica looked up, noticing the hearing aids in Maureen’s ears. A cold smirk twisted her lips.

    “Tsk, so you can hear?

    Thought you’d gone thoroughly deaf.”

    Maureen’s hand shot out with a sharp crack, a stinging pnding hard on Jessica’s face.

    Jessica froze, her cheek burning.

    “You dare hit me?”

    Maureen flexed her stinging palm. “Yeah, I did. What’re you gonna do about it?”

    Jessica lunged forward to strike back, but Maureen seized her wrist lightning–fast and delivered another brutal p across her face.

    Jessica never imagined the timid pushover everyone bullied could be this fierce.

    Staggering in her high heels from the second blow, she crashed to the floor.

    She scrambled up, teeth clenched. “Maureen, get out. You’re not wee here.”

    Maureen couldn’t help butugh.

    “A Sutton family servant acting like she owns the ce?”

    Jessica’s eyes reddened with fury. “Yet this servant can still throw you

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    out. Remember that New Year’s Eve?”

    Jonathan had served the Suttons for decades. Jessica grew up in the Sutton household, cherished by Nichs himself.

    One tearful plea from her to Nichs would decide Maureen’s fate.

    Of course Maureen remembered.

    Exactly one year after her wedding, on New Year’s Eve, Jessica’s crocodile tears had gotten her thrown out of the Sutton estate. She’d stood alone in the snowdrifts, nearly freezing to death.

    To Nichs, she–bereft of family background, support from her birth family, and physically impaired–could never measure up to Jessica, who’d grown up before his eyes.

    “You needn’t go crying to the old master. I’m leaving now.”

    Maureen stated calmly, changed into neat clothes, and walked out past Jessica.

    Her back ramrod straight, she exited the room without hesitation.