This Life Wasn’t for Love, It Was for Payback

Bryant's POV

In there, there was no pressure to study. It was just about getting a nice-looking diploma.

And yet, despite being the one arranged to marry her in the future, I was now treated like an outsider.

After struggling to break free but failing, I finally gave up and closed my eyes, waiting for it all to end.

When I opened them again, Toby was walking through the door.

I knew why he was here.

He came to watch me suffer.

The smug expression on his face and the designer suit said everything.

But in that moment, I looked at him like he was my only way out.

“Toby,” I said calmly, “let’s make a deal.”

He froze.

“You know that eventually, Ellen is going to marry me,” I continued. “Even if she gives all her love to you, it’ll be my children who inherit her legacy.”

His face turned pale.

“So, here's the deal,” I said. “Let me go, and we’ll go our separate ways. If they no longer have a reason to tie me to her, she can marry you freely. And your children can be the heirs.”

He was quiet for a long moment.

Then he looked at me, uncertain. “You’re really giving her up?”

“If I’m lying, may I never have children,” I said coldly.

For someone like him, that was as serious a vow as it got.

After a moment’s hesitation, he untied me and agreed, “Fine. Come with me.”

He led me through an empty hallway, moving carefully, one step at a time.

“When we get down the stairs, just go through that door. You’ll be free,” he instructed.

“Thank you,” I said, and took a step forward.

But suddenly, he grabbed my wrist.

“I changed my mind,” he said.

My breath caught. “What do you mean?”

“The only way I can truly believe you won’t try to take her back is if you’re dead.”

And with that, he shoved me.

My head slammed into the edge of the stairs, and my body tumbled down violently.

The crash echoed through the house.

Upstairs, Ellen’s voice rang out. “Toby? What are you doing?!”

His face went ghost white.

Then, without missing a beat, he shouted back, “Bryant! You said you wanted a quick tour, why’d you suddenly throw yourself down the stairs?! If I’d known you were planning to frame me like this, I wouldn’t have bothered bringing you food!”

“Bryant?” Ellen came rushing over, and when she saw me, covered in blood, her breath hitched.

But then Toby looked at her with teary eyes, and her gaze started to soften.

“Ellen… I just wanted to bring him food, but he had it all planned.”

“Bryant,” she said coldly, stepping in front of Toby like a shield. “With how cruel you are, how could anyone trust you to raise a worthy heir?”

Toby took a shaky breath. “Ellen, I know it’s my presence that’s made things hard for him. He even said earlier that if I kept clinging to you, he’d have the hospital pull my grandma’s oxygen tube. Ellen… I love you, but I can’t just abandon my grandmother.”

He then turned away, pretending to make a painful choice.

“Toby!” Ellen panicked, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

But Toby fought her off with tears in his eyes.

“Let me go!” he cried. “Let me be the bigger person. Just please, don’t hurt my family!”

“Guards!” Ellen’s eyes were red as she gave the order. “Strip Bryant, hang him up and beat him!”

I coughed up blood, staring at her in disbelief. “What did you just say?”

But she only clung tighter to Toby. “If I destroy his reproductive organs, he won’t be able to have kids anymore. That way, he’ll have no choice but to raise our children.”

“Anyway, my parents only kept him around for that purpose. They won’t object. Now, will you still leave me?” she cooed.

Toby suddenly wrapped her in his arms, trembling.

“Ellen! This is a crime! You—mmph!” I barked, but before I could finish, they gagged me and strung me up.

After that, one of the bodyguards grabbed a thick baton and slammed it into my abdomen.

The pain was so unbearable that my tears and sweat poured out together.