When the Dream Finally Died

Colby acted as if he hadn't heard a single word she said. As usual, he reached for her hand with a smile. "Whatever it is, we'll talk when we get home. You've suffered this time. I'll cook for you myself to make it up to you."

Ryann yanked her hand back sharply. There was nothing left in her eyes but despair.

No one understood better than she did—Colby would never agree to a divorce.

Since the day Charlee had been forcibly sent to the psychiatric hospital, this was the ninety-ninth time she had asked to end their marriage.

Every single time, he tore the divorce papers to shreds right in front of her. "Ryann, what's between us ends only in death. Don't even think about leaving me."

No matter how far she went, booking out entire nightclubs, letting male escorts serve her alone, creating scandals that turned Colby into a laughingstock.

He still refused to divorce her. He even used his influence to silence every rumor, erasing the scandals as if they had never existed.

He claimed Suzanne was nothing more than a pitiful younger sister he felt sorry for. That the person he truly loved, from beginning to end, was only Ryann.

He said he still wanted to grow old with her, hand in hand, walking beneath the sunset.

Ryann felt cold to the bone. She couldn't understand how things had ended up like this.

How the man who once cherished her like a priceless treasure had become so utterly unrecognizable.

They had grown up together. When Colby pursued her back then, the spectacle had shaken the entire city.

Ninety-nine confessions, each more extravagant than the last.

He rented out an entire private beach, using drones to recreate her favorite Van Gogh Starry Night across the night sky.

He bought every electronic billboard in the city, playing a confession video he recorded himself on loop.

On her birthday, he even made the glass facades of skyscrapers throughout the city display her portrait.

She was finally moved. But her parents were firmly against it.

Her father, a veteran of the business world, could tell this young man was dangerously calculating, hardly a good match.

In response, Colby personally drafted a prenuptial agreement, unconditionally transferring most of his assets to Ryann.

She still remembered that late-autumn day with pouring rain, rare and violent. Colby stood soaked and shivering, yet still knelt there, begging her parents to approve the marriage.

In the end, they gave in.

After the wedding, he treated her with meticulous care.

She was afraid of the cold, so he spared no expense installing a full climate-control system, transforming the entire estate into a perpetual spring.

If she casually praised an artist's work, the next day he would invite the artist personally to paint a portrait of them.

She once believed she had found true love.

Until Suzanne entered their lives.

At first, it was just something she overheard from his assistant— a female student he sponsored often came to the company, and the way she looked at Colby was different.

Ryann didn't think much of it. Women had always surrounded him, and he had always known where to draw the line.

Until one night, in the middle of intimacy, his face buried against her neck, he unconsciously murmured, "Suzanne…"

Her entire body went ice-cold.

When confronted, he held Ryann and explained patiently, saying it was just a publicity stunt—a student thanking her benefactor for the group's image.

"Ryann, trust me, you're the only one in my heart," he said gently.

But after that, his boundaries grew more and more blurred.

He gifted Suzanne limited-edition jewelry, rented her a luxury apartment, and even brought her to exclusive private business dinners—events Ryann herself rarely attended.

Whispers began spreading through their social circle.

When Ryann tearfully confronted him again, all she received was a cold glance. "Are you done making a scene?" he asked.

Then he slammed the door and left.

That was when the thought of divorce first took root.

But before she could even bring it up, disaster followed one blow after another.

Charlee was suddenly accused of attacking Suzanne with a knife. Colby had him thrown straight into a psychiatric hospital and broke the hands that could have made him a world-class pianist.

Ryann knelt in the freezing snow for five hours, begging Colby to investigate the truth until she miscarried and collapsed unconscious.

Even then, the man stayed inside the house, comforting Suzanne. He didn't spare Ryann a single glance.

Later, because Suzanne casually said, "The way he looked at me was disgusting, like a pervert," Ryann's father was forced to jump to his death to atone.

When her mother received the news, she fell gravely ill and passed away soon after.

Overnight, Ryann lost everything.

And Colby's response was cold.

"Suzanne said she's forgiven you. Stop making a fuss. This is the price they deserved to pay," he said.

Ryann looked up sharply, her eyes bloodshot.

"What a price," she said hoarsely. "Just a few careless words from her, and my family lost three lives and a pair of hands!"

And Charlee was beaten into a coma, no one even knew if he would survive.

Colby only replied indifferently, "You should understand, if you touch someone I protect, you'd better be prepared to face the consequences."

In that moment, Ryann finally understood what it meant to be completely, utterly heartbreaking.