After I Left, My Billionaire Boyfriend Went Completely Mad

I was the Whitmore family's dirty secret, an illegitimate daughter. Growing up without anyone to rely on, despised by everyone around me. The only lucky thing that ever happened to me was meeting Damian. When people talked about my birth, he stood up for me every single time. For years, he treated me with nothing but tenderness. He was the only light in my otherwise dark and hopeless life. Until someone accidentally pulled me into a voice chat room. Our mutual friends were excitedly discussing wedding arrangements. I was about to speak up, flushed with shyness. When Damian's best friend suddenly teased, "Aren't you worried Amelia will find out you're marrying Serena and crash the wedding? But don't worry, if she actually shows up, we'll lay down our lives to protect our boy's happiness." Then came Damian's voice, still gentle and smooth as ever. "She's not the kind you bring out in public. Fine to play around with on the side, but that's all she is." "At the end of the day, only someone with Serena's status as the legitimate Whitmore heiress deserves to stand by my side." Chapter 1 I didn't leave the room. My fingertip pressed hard against the phone screen until my knuckle turned white. The mockery in the voice chat room drilled clearly into my ears. "Amelia has never known her place. Does she really think Damian actually has feelings for her?" "Damian's just too nice for his own good, putting up with her this long. Anyone else would've dumped her ages ago." "Serena is the only one who truly deserves to be with Damian." That last one was Natalie, another illegitimate daughter of the Whitmore family. My younger half-sister. Just last month, she'd been working as a waitress at a banquet. Serena, who was attending as a guest, had mocked her in front of everyone, calling her a worthless illegitimate nobody. I was the one who stepped in front of her to shield her. The girl had stood there with red-rimmed eyes, timidly calling out to me. But now her voice was light and carefree, as if she'd long forgotten Serena's humiliation. Several business associates who had only gotten connected to Damian through my introductions chimed in. "Marrying into the Whitmore family would be a huge boost for Ashford Group's growth." "Someone like Amelia, with no real standing, was never going to be taken seriously." Even the mutual friends who used to tease Damian about marrying me had all switched sides. Not a single person in that room remembered me with any kindness. A dense, stinging pain spread through my chest. I gripped my phone tighter. My finger accidentally brushed the microphone. A small, audible gasp traveled through the speaker. Then someone seemed to notice me. "Wait, Amelia's account is in the room?" The room went dead silent. The next second, people started dropping out one after another. The lively voice chat room emptied in an instant. Before I could even react, a phone call popped up on my screen. Caller: Damian. When I picked up, it was Serena's voice that came through first, trembling and fearful. "Amelia, I'm so sorry." "The arranged marriage was set up by our families. I never knew how to tell you..." "Please don't blame Damian. It's all my fault. If you're angry, take it out on me." I held back my fury and answered coldly, "I have no interest in hearing your excuses for being the other woman." The other end went quiet for a moment. After a brief silence, Damian's voice came through, low and gentle. "Mia, don't overthink this." "The arranged marriage was a business deal set up entirely by our parents. Serena had no choice either. Don't take it out on her, okay?" His tone was patient and soothing, like he was coaxing a sulky child. Then he softened his voice even further. "Be good. I'm going to be busy with the wedding for a while." "I've reached out to an overseas medical team that specializes in your mother's condition. Once the wedding is over, I'll arrange a consultation for her right away." My mother had been seriously ill for years. The staggering treatment costs and access to top-tier medical care had all been arranged through Damian. I couldn't leave him. After a long pause, I swallowed the bitterness rising in my chest. "Fine. I understand." After that day, everyone dropped their masks. People sent me private messages mocking me for being pathetically clingy. Damian's closest friends even showed up at the hospital to intimidate me in person. "Amelia, Damian's wedding date is set. You'd better be content staying his secret mistress." Everyone stood on their moral high ground, pointing fingers at me. Only Damian seemed oblivious to all of it. Just as he'd said, he'd been consumed with wedding preparations. He didn't show up for nearly a month. Until the night before the wedding, when I had just arrived at my mother's hospital room. The first thing I saw was Damian sitting beside her bed, chatting with her, tucking the blanket around her with practiced ease. Just like he'd done for years. I stood frozen in the doorway. Then a shadow fell over me. Damian had walked up without me noticing. Before I could look up, he leaned forward slightly and rested his forehead against my shoulder. His voice was exhausted, barely a murmur. "Mia, I've been so tired lately." "I don't know why, but the closer the wedding gets, the more I want to see you." "There's this emptiness inside me that nothing fills. Only seeing you makes it go away." His warm breath spilled across my neck. My body went rigid. A wave of nausea churned in my stomach. I used to lose myself in this tenderness. When people belittled my background, he publicly stood up for me. When I was too exhausted from caring for my mother, he would force me to rest and stay up through the night himself. Those days had been too perfect. Perfect like a dream someone had carefully woven. I stepped back without showing any emotion. "You're about to get married. We should keep our distance." His forehead met empty air. He assumed I was still sulking. "Mia, be reasonable." He coaxed me in a low voice. "The wedding and the title are just for show. You've always been the only one in my heart." I knew perfectly well what he was really saying. He couldn't give up the family resources that came with Serena. But he also couldn't bear to let go of the effortless obedience I offered. What Damian didn't know was that I had quietly submitted an application to an elite overseas medical research team. I'd asked a former senior classmate to write me a recommendation letter, and attached my near-perfect GPA from college. They would give me an answer in three days. I didn't expect any problems. But right now, for my mother's sake, I had no choice. I looked up at him and played along. "I understand. I won't make a scene." Satisfaction finally spread through Damian's eyes, and he pinched my cheek. Chapter 2 That afternoon, I had just finished tending to my mother. Serena and Natalie cornered me in the hospital corridor, blocking my path. Natalie marched up and slapped a photograph across my face. The sharp edge of the photo scraped my cheek, leaving an instant red mark. I bent down and picked it up. It was a picture from yesterday: Damian resting his forehead on my shoulder. Natalie's voice was shrill. "Amelia, Serena and Damian's wedding is days away. Do you still not know your place?" "You're in a hospital and you're still trying to seduce someone else's husband. Have you no shame?" The commotion drew stares from passing visitors and family members. I tried to explain. "He came to me that day. I've never pursued him." Serena stepped forward, looking down at me. Without Damian around, she didn't bother with her innocent act. "If this were the Victorian era, I might have let you play the mistress." "But times have changed. Not just anyone gets to climb the Ashford family tree." I held the thin photograph, my voice steady. "What you choose to think is your business." "Whatever you believe, I stopped wanting to marry Damian a long time ago." Serena's lips curved upward, and she raised her voice. "Do you really think I'd believe that?" She took a few more steps closer, leaning in until she was almost at my ear. "Amelia, deep down, aren't you glad your mother is stuck in that hospital bed?" "As long as she's clinging to life, you'll always have an excuse to stay at Damian's side." People could say whatever they wanted about me. I could grit my teeth and take it. But I would never let anyone curse my mother like that. Her words ignited all the rage I'd been holding back for days. My whole body trembled, my fingertips white from clenching. "Shut up!" "You can say whatever you want about me, but you do not get to curse my mother!" The moment the words left my mouth, Damian's footsteps echoed from the end of the hallway. The first thing he saw was my flushed face and my sharp voice lashing out at Serena. The instant Serena spotted Damian, she pulled back all her aggression. Her eyes glistened with tears, her voice laced with hurt. "Amelia, I didn't come here to bother you." "I just wanted to visit your mother and talk with you." "If you don't want me here, I'll go. Please don't be upset." Damian strode over and pulled Serena into his arms. Watching him do it sent a stabbing pain through my chest. His gaze settled on me, his brow furrowed. There was a hint of caution in his voice. "Mia, was there a misunderstanding?" "Serena just came to check on your mother. She's sensitive, so if she did something wrong, just tell her gently. Don't scare her." Before I could say a word, Serena jumped in. "Damian, don't blame Amelia." "I'm the one who got between you two. She has every right to be angry at me." Natalie immediately backed her up. "Damian, I can vouch that this had nothing to do with Serena!" "We just came to see how her mother was doing, and the second we got here, she threw us out." Looking at the two of them putting on their perfectly coordinated act, all I felt was bitter amusement. I lifted my gaze and looked straight at Damian. "Do you believe me, or do you believe her?" His expression darkened. People nearby were already holding up their phones to record. My question had backed him into a corner. Choose me, or choose the golden marriage that had just fallen into his lap? Damian said nothing. And my heart went cold. "You know my mother means everything to me. But you won't even give me a fair chance." "You keep calling it a misunderstanding, but let's be honest. All you've ever cared about is yourself." Damian valued his authority and his image above everything. My words wiped away the last trace of hesitation in his eyes. "Amelia! You're being completely unreasonable!" "I've put up with your moods and accommodated your temper time and again, and all it's done is make you push for more!" "Maybe I've been too lenient with you, and now you can't even see where you stand." I stood perfectly still, looking at his face. Cold. Unrecognizable. "Oh, and Serena, you really don't need to target me like this." "Because by the time your wedding happens tomorrow, I'll have already left this city. You'll never see me again." Damian let out a sharp laugh. He sauntered toward me, his eyes lazy with amusement. "Leaving tomorrow?" "Then tell me, what exactly do you have to leave with?" Years of dependency had made him certain I could never break free. I looked up and met his contemptuous gaze. "My application to the overseas medical research team has been approved." "They have a full set of top-tier medical resources, more than enough to support my mother's ongoing treatment." "All the paperwork for leaving the country is done. Tomorrow, I'm taking my mother overseas. I'm never coming back." The moment those words landed, Damian's body went rigid, the tremor so faint it was almost invisible. He lunged forward and clamped his hand around my throat, his grip tightening savagely. "How dare you?" Beneath the rage, there was a note of panic he hadn't even noticed himself. For all these years, he'd grown used to my dependence and obedience. But now I was actually about to break free of his control. The sudden loss of power terrified him. That panic vanished in a flash. The next second, he let go abruptly, his tone turning light. "Leaving tomorrow? Go ahead and try, Amelia." "But if you take one step out of this city..." "I guarantee your mother won't make it through the day." My heart plummeted. He knew my mother was my only weakness. And he was still ruthless enough to hold her life over my head. Nearby, Serena had been standing quietly the entire time. She caught that fleeting flash of panic and concern in Damian's eyes. Her fingers clenched at her side, and a cold, vicious glint crossed her gaze. Chapter 3 Today was Damian and Serena's wedding day. All of Southport was buzzing about the lavish union between two powerful families. The ceremony was extravagant down to every last detail. Serena stood at the center in a custom-made gown. Guests streamed in without end. Everyone said she and Damian were a perfect match. Perhaps still not trusting that I wouldn't try to leave, Damian had threatened me into attending his wedding to Serena that very morning. I stood alone at the edge of the crowd, separated by a sea of people. Watching a grand, blinding ceremony that had nothing to do with me. Halfway through the wedding, the unexpected struck. The large screen, which had been playing highlights of the newlyweds, suddenly cut to something else. It was filled with the Whitmore family's secrets. Slanderous claims that my mother had been a homewrecker who schemed her way into the family. Ugly accusations plastered across the entire screen. The guests erupted. Whispers exploded through the room. Damian cut the power immediately. He sent security to make sure every guest deleted any footage they had recorded. But gossip among the wealthy can never be contained. By that same day, the scandal had become the talk of the town. Both the Ashford and Whitmore families took a hit. Stock prices fluctuated. I was dragged back to the old family estate. Every Whitmore elder was seated. Damian's parents sat nearby. Damian stood at the front of the room, looking at me with nothing but disappointment. Serena leaned against him, her eyes red. "It's my fault for making the wedding too flashy. That's what caused all this trouble." "Amelia has every right to resent me. I deserve to have my wedding ruined." "But you shouldn't drag the entire Whitmore family into this. And Damian has been so good to you. What you did will hurt the Ashfords too." Everyone assumed this had been my act of deliberate revenge. Mrs. Ashford spoke first, her tone cutting. "We never approved of Damian being involved with you. An illegitimate daughter with no proper status was never good enough for the Ashford family." "And now you have the nerve to sabotage the wedding. Someone like you shouldn't even dream of setting foot in our home." Mr. Ashford's stern voice followed right after. "The Ashford family expects a daughter-in-law of equal standing, not a petty, small-minded woman like you." My throat tightened. "It wasn't me..." Before I could finish, my father cut me off sharply. "I always knew you and your mother were nothing but trouble." "If I'd known you two would bring this much disaster to the Whitmore family, I never should have let you be born." He jabbed his finger at me, his face flushed with rage. "And that shameless mother of yours. She was nothing but trouble back then, and she's still dragging me down." I stared at him, overwhelmed by disbelief and a bone-deep chill. "You know perfectly well what really happened back then." "Who was the real homewrecker?" The truth was, my mother had been the one the Whitmore elders had formally chosen as the family's bride-to-be. Her background was impeccable, her temperament gentle and composed. She and my father had loved each other, and she was pregnant with me, waiting to be married. Back then, Serena's mother had been nothing more than a distant relative working as hired help for the Whitmore family. But she was wildly ambitious. She slipped drugs into my father's drink at a banquet. She schemed her way into his bed. The cruelest part was that she had carefully timed it to coincide with my mother's daily walk. She made sure my pregnant mother walked in on them half-undressed. The shock sent my mother into hemorrhaging. She nearly died giving birth to me. She survived, barely, but only just. But the damage was done. Her health never recovered, and she’d been bedridden for over twenty years. My father had come to her at first, wracked with guilt, begging for reconciliation. But my mother was too proud to settle for that. Humiliated and furious, he abandoned my mother, who had just given birth, and me, still an infant. He turned around and married the woman who had crawled into his bed. The next year, she gave birth to Serena, who was raised as the family's precious, pampered princess. While my mother and I scraped by for over twenty years, and now we were the ones bearing the blame. Every elder in that room had witnessed what happened all those years ago. But for their own interests, every single one of them chose to stay silent. When I exposed the truth, my father's disgust only deepened. "Insolent! Spreading slander and refusing to repent!" "Get her out of my sight! Teach her a lesson!" The servants seized me, pinning my arms. The blows fell on my body. Skin split open on impact. I clenched my teeth and endured in silence. By the time my consciousness was fading, I was roughly dragged to a remote attic in the estate. Damian followed close behind. He stood over me, looking down at my broken, bloodied state, his eyes ice-cold. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." "That dinner three years ago. Your mother taught you to drug me, didn't she?" "You tried to crawl into my bed while I was out of my mind, copying the same disgusting trick your mother pulled." I froze, staring at him in disbelief. He continued, his voice detached. "The drugs made me lose control that night. I wasn't myself." "Serena put herself on the line to protect my dignity." "She was so pure and innocent, and my loss of control left her covered in bruises." The tenderness in his voice for Serena was so thick it practically overflowed. My heart felt like it was being torn apart. The pain was suffocating. But I held on, forcing my voice to stay level. "I didn't—" Before I could finish, Damian cut me off. "I gave you chance after chance." "If you'd just stayed by my side and behaved, I would still have given you and your mother a place to live." He paused briefly, then continued. "But you ruined the wedding Serena had been dreaming of. That crossed my line." "If it weren't for this disaster, I never would have seen your true colors." "Leave. I don't want to see you again." Chapter 4 The tidal wave of vicious rumors eventually reached the hospital. Every nurse and visitor I passed lowered their voices to blame me. I couldn't help but smile bitterly to myself. I'd always hoped I could leave with my head held high. I never imagined I'd end up leaving under a cloud of false accusations. At least once I got through this, I could take my mother overseas for the best treatment available. As long as she could live, I could endure anything. But the moment I walked into the hospital lobby, a nurse stopped me with a complicated expression. She told me my mother had been emergency-transferred to the ICU isolation ward. My heart dropped. Panic flooded my entire body. My phone buzzed with a text. From Serena. "Hope you enjoy the gift I arranged for you." "I pulled some strings to get your mother transferred to the critical infectious disease ward. I made sure she'd get the full experience." The words "critical infectious disease" were deliberately emphasized. I forgot everything else. With tears burning my eyes, I rushed toward the ICU. But a crushing grip suddenly locked around my wrist. It was Damian. Every drop of frustration and despair I'd bottled up over the past days finally shattered. I thrashed against his grip, my voice cracking into a raw, desperate wail, "My mother was never the other woman! She never was!" "They twisted everything, and my mother is the one who has to pay for it! Why? Why her!" Damian frowned at my outburst. "Amelia, calm down." Just as my strength was about to give out, a doctor rushed out of the room. "The patient has contracted an aggressive virus. Multiple organ failure is progressing rapidly. The situation is critical!" "The only medication in the city that can suppress this is the batch of imported drugs that Ashford Group just purchased." This was my mother's last chance at survival. In that moment, I threw away every last shred of dignity and pride. My legs buckled, and I dropped to my knees on the freezing floor. "Damian, please." "Release those drugs. Save my mother." "I won't fight for anything anymore. I'll do whatever you want." My voice broke. I had to take a deep breath just to finish. "Just... save her. This one last time." Damian looked down at me kneeling there, broken and desperate. Something shifted in his eyes. His fingers loosened, almost imperceptibly. He was about to speak when the Ashford family's driver came running up. "Mr. Ashford! Your wife's grandmother has collapsed. You need to come right away!" One sentence. That was all it took to extinguish every last hope I had. The softness in Damian's eyes vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Without another glance at me, he gave his orders coldly. "Send every imported drug in Ashford's supply to the Whitmore estate immediately. Treat the old woman with everything we have." He turned and walked away without hesitation. And with him went my mother's last chance. I stayed on my knees, frozen, cold seeping into every bone. Half an hour later, the doctor walked slowly out of the ICU and shook his head. "I'm sorry. The patient missed the critical treatment window. There was nothing more we could do." One sentence. That was all it took to break me completely. I didn't cry. I didn't scream. After grief that absolute, there was nothing left but a deathly calm. I braced myself against the wall and slowly stood, my heart turned to ash. I turned around and walked away, step by step, from the place that had buried my last shred of warmth.