You Gave Me Away

Joanna Shaw saved me when I was lying by the road close to dying. Because of a serious injury to my head, I had lost all my memories. Joanna brought me home and took me in. However, she also made me sign a contract that had no expiry date. "Sign it. You'll be my bodyguard from now on and you'll take orders only from me." For the next five years, I stayed by her side and stopped countless assassination attempts on her life. I was her bodyguard by day, her lover by night. Everyone said the heiress had fallen for her bodyguard. But when she heard that Allen Clarke, the heir of the Clarke family in Oceanton, was going to marry her bitter rival Tina Jackson, she chose to destroy the contract. "Find a way to get close to Tina and make her fall in love with you. Consider it repayment for saving your life. Only after Allen gives up on her will he marry me willingly." I nodded and agreed, and I gave up on Joanna for good. She didn't know I had already recovered my memory. The "Allen Clarke" she was so desperate to marry was nothing but an impostor. Chapter 1 "I heard Allen is going to marry Tina." There was no emotion in Joanna's voice, but her eyes were cold. I stood there in silence and waited for her order. She picked up the contract on the table and tore it apart without hesitation. Scraps of paper drifted down around my feet. "Morgan Black, our contract is now terminated. There's nothing between us after this." At that moment, I could feel my heart being shredded just like the paper on the floor. "Now do one last thing for me. Consider it repayment for saving your life," she said before pausing for a moment. "Find a way to get close to Tina and make her fall in love with you. I know Allen. He can't stand disloyalty in a relationship. He would never want a woman who has ever been with another man. Only after he gives up on Tina completely will he marry me and ally with the Shaw family." My hand hung at my side, my nails sinking deep into my palm. However, I showed no emotion. I simply nodded calmly and said, "Alright." Five years ago, Joanna saved me when I was dying in a deserted alley in Oceanton, lying there all alone. A hard blow to the head had wiped out my memories. She brought me home and gave me a new life. From that day on, I became Joanna's most loyal bodyguard, shadowing her wherever she went. For five years, I stopped countless assassination attempts for her. Countless scars covered my body from those attempts. Everyone in Oceanton's high society said the cold heiress of the Shaw family had truly fallen for her bodyguard of unknown origin. They said the way Joanna looked at me carried a sort of possessiveness, something even she had not noticed it herself. For a while, I believed I was special too. Only today did I finally wake up. Seeing how obedient I was, she smiled in satisfaction. "I knew it. You've always been the most obedient one." I looked at her, and I could feel my heart wrenching in pain. Had she never felt anything for me at all, even after five years? "Ms. Shaw, what exactly am I to you?" It was the first time I had asked that question in five years. Joanna looked as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world, her expression full of contempt. "What are you?" She stepped forward and raised my chin, forcing me to look at her. "Morgan, you've been with me for five years. Do you still not understand your place? You're nothing but a stray I brought home. A stray that can take knives for me by day, and one that can warm my bed by night. That's all." I could feel something in my mind snapped. "You didn't actually think I would fall in love with you, did you? Don't be so naïve," Joanna said. She let go of me and wiped the fingers that had touched me with a tissue, as if I were something filthy. "The only man worthy of standing beside me is someone like Allen." She looked me up and down and sneered. "You think you're worthy of that?" I could feel my heart being hollowed out. She smoothed her immaculate skirt. "Forget about any ideas you never should have had in the first place and do what I told you. Stop living in your fantasies." I lowered my eyes and nodded slightly. "Once this is over, I won't owe you anything." She waved impatiently. "Get out." Unfortunately, she still did not know that I had already recovered all my memories during a high fever caused by an old injury flaring up about half a year ago. Chapter 2 Joanna moved fast. A detailed file on Tina was already delivered to me the next day. Her favorite place was a private fight club called "Iron Fist". I appeared at the fight club as a new member. Soon, I saw Tina sparring with a tall man. Her opponent was clearly impatient. After Tina dodged one of his attacks, he lost his temper and threw an illegal heavy punch straight at her temple. I immediately took a step forward and took the punch head-on. Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth. The man froze, and Tina stopped too. "Are you alright?" she asked as she walked over. I shook my head, wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth with my thumb, and forced a somewhat painful smile. "I'm fine. I overreacted." After a moment, she took a tissue from the nearby lounge and handed it to me. Her tone was still calm as usual. "You're good. You should have been able to dodge that punch." My heart sank slightly. This woman was very observant. "Maybe." I gave her a vague answer and pressed the tissue to the corner of my mouth, blood was still trickling out. Tina did not ask anything else. She only looked at swelling quickly forming on my face with a slight frown. She turned to the club manager and said, "Bring me the first aid kit." On the couch in the lounge, she treated my injury skillfully. We were close enough that I could smell the faint woody scent on her. "Well, look at that. Isn't this Ms. Tina Jackson?" Joanna's voice was sharp and mean. Her gaze moved between us before landing on Tina's hand as she put the ointment on my face. "Touching some random man in public, are we? Your private life is very exciting indeed." Allen, who stood beside her, looked displeased too. He looked at Tina and demanded, "Tina, who is he?" Tina set down the cotton swab and stood up, her expression cold. "Watch your mouth, Ms. Shaw. He simply stepped in to help me." "Stepped in to help?" Joanna looked like she had heard the funniest joke in the world. She pointed at me and said to Allen, "Allen, look. A stray I had just abandoned has already found a new owner in Ms. Jackson." I lowered my eyes, hiding the chill in them. "Joanna, you're crossing a line!" Tina stepped forward and shielded me behind her. I raised my head and met Joanna's eyes. "I only blocked a punch for her, and she's only treating the injury. Is there a problem with that?" Joanna had not expected me to talk back, much less expected Tina to protect me. Her face turned pale with anger. She glared at me, then grabbed Allen's hand and said bitterly, "We're leaving. We shouldn't stay around people who are nothing but eyesores." After they left, Tina turned back and studied me again. "You seem reliable." She paused and took a business card from her bag. She then handed it to me. "My company needs a security chief. Fifteen hundred dollars a month, accommodation and meals included. Interested?" I took the business card, but I did not answer her right away. Chapter 3 That night, I dragged myself back to my cramped rental apartment completely exhausted, only to find Joanna waiting at the door. She was crossing her arms as she stared at me with a dark expression. "Morgan, feeling a bit gutsy now, aren't we? Why did you speak up for that wench Tina today?!" she demanded the moment she opened her mouth. "To make her lower her guard and believe you didn't send me," I answered without expression. I then took out Tina's business card from my pocket and waved it in front of her. "I'll be working at her company starting tomorrow." Joanna stared at the business card and froze. She probably had not expected the plan to go this smoothly, but my attitude gave her a strange feeling that she was losing control. Still, she warned me, "Don't get too invested in your act. A woman like Tina has impossibly high standards. She would never really look at a poor man like you. She's only using you to provoke Allen." "That's my personal business," I said flatly. "You..." Joanna choked on my words. Suddenly, she stepped forward and grabbed the back of my neck, then kissed me hard. It lasted only a few seconds before she shoved me away so hard that I staggered into the wall behind me. Then, she yelled, "Morgan, how dare you touch me!" Before I could react, a dark figure rushed over from the stairwell and punched me hard in the stomach. "You piece of…! How dare you touch Joanna!" Allen roared and kicked me to the floor while I was completely unprepared. Joanna immediately threw herself into Allen's arms, sobbing hard. "Allen, I was so scared... He said that even if I didn't want him anymore, he would still have me... He also said Tina could not compare to me at all..." I curled up on the dirty concrete floor outside my apartment door. The pain in my stomach nearly made me throw up, and the taste of blood spread through my mouth. "Hit him! Hit him until he can't get up." Allen's voice echoed through the narrow hallway, clearly enjoying the venting of his anger. Several muscular bodyguards obeyed his orders as their polished leather shoes slammed into my ribs and back without mercy. Sweat and blood blurred my vision, and I stared at the figure not far away. Joanna leaned into the fake Allen's arms without looking at me even once. She simply held his arm, stepped away in her thin high heels, and left without the slightest attachment. Chapter 4 The next day, I stood in the CEO's office on the top-floor of Jackson Group, covered in bruises and with the corner of my mouth split. Tina sat behind the broad desk, calmly examining me. "I sent my last security chief into prison for stealing the company's trade secrets," she said, her voice cool and emotionless. "So, I need someone more reliable." "I can do it," I answered. My voice was hoarse because my throat was sore, but my eyes were steady. She did not seem surprised by my answer. She pushed a new contract in front of me, with the words "Chief Security Consultant" stamped in gold on the cover. "The title stays the same," she said, "but your real job is to serve as my personal bodyguard. You will be present at every event I attend. Can you do that?" I looked into her sharp eyes and nodded firmly. "Yes." From then on, I became Tina's bodyguard. As her chief security consultant and personal bodyguard, I accompanied her to all kinds of business receptions and tense negotiations. Every single time, we somehow ran into Joanna and Allen. With the wedding date drawing closer, the marriage alliance between the Clarke family and the Jackson family never wavered, no matter how hard Joanna tried to split them up. The Clarke family's stance was unusually firm, and that made Joanna lose patience completely. Joanna came to me again. With gritted teeth, she said, "Morgan, you useless trash! It has been this long and there has been no progress at all! This is the invitation to the engagement banquet. At the banquet, find a way to put something in Tina's drink and take her to the innermost lounge on the third floor. I'll arrange the rest!" A vicious light flickered in her eyes. "You promised me this! And don't forget, I did save your life!" I tightened my grip on the paper packet in my hand, and I could feel the powder inside shift beneath my fingers. I raised my head and nodded calmly as I met her crazed eyes. The night of the engagement banquet soon arrived. Joanna watched me stand behind Tina, her eyes full of confidence and malice. She could hardly wait to see Tina, the woman who had always outshone her, ruined in front of everyone. Time passed second by second, and by the time the banquet was half over, the chaos she had imagined still had not happened. Joanna could not hold it back anymore, and she pulled me into an inconspicuous corner of the banquet hall. "Morgan." She lowered her voice, but she could not hide the anger and shrill edge in it. "How dare you make a fool of me! Where's the drug?! Why did you not do it?! You ingrate!" I only looked at her calmly and said nothing. Just as she was about to lash out again, Tina appeared on the stage with a microphone in hand. "Thank you, everyone, for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend my engagement ceremony." Her voice carried clearly through the high-end sound system and across the entire hall. Joanna froze. For the moment, she could only swallow her anger and look toward the stage. She thought the drug might not have taken effect yet. If she waited a little longer, Tina would embarrass herself on stage. Tina's gaze scanned the crowd before finding me. Then, she walked straight to me. "This man is my fiance, the heir of the Clarke family."