Steffi fell to the floor with her cheeks reddened by Leon's repeated slaps. Her face was wet with tears that never stopped flowing from her eyes.

"Once again I see you set foot in my office, then I will immediately throw you into the street where you came from, Steffi! I, Leonardo Ganke, always keep my words!" Leon spoke in a very loud voice with his hands on his hips, looking at his wife who was sitting fell on the floor with cheeks showing the marks of his hands a few minutes ago.

​​

Leon really did not forgive Steffi. Remembering Anne's words that suddenly wanted to resign made Leon go crazy. He didn't care about Steffi's cries of pain and her pleas for forgiveness. All that was in his mind was teaching Steffi a lesson.

After venting all his annoyance on Steffi, who had not answered a single word to his words, Leon then stepped out of the room into the front yard, where his car was parked in front of the gate. Leon deliberately didn't order Alex to go into the house so he could quickly return to the office. Therefore, Steffi, who was doing her makeup, didn't hear the sound of Leon's car.

With chapped lips on both sides, Steffi tried to get up from the floor. She tried to walk to the dressing table to see the condition of her face. But because her legs were still weak, she finally fell. Steffi's cries were heard again in the room.

Bang

"Madam!!!" Both Steffi's maids shouted loudly. The two women immediately approached and helped Steffi.

They carefully carried Steffi to bed and nursed her, wiping the blood from the corner of Steffi's cheek with a small towel that had been soaked in warm water to avoid infection and to reduce swelling before being given medication.

"Why is Master angry again, Madam? This morning when he left for the office, everything was fine," asked Gisele, Steffi's loyal servant who was brought from Germany, politely. Steffi had called her old maids from Germany to work in London instead of the previous two maids, because the two maids were seen stealing glances at Leon several times, and this made Steffi worried. Therefore, she immediately fired the two girls and called his old employees.

"It's Marianne. I'm sure Leon's anger has something to do with that cheap woman," Steffi answered quietly while wincing in pain as Gisele wiped the blood from her lips.

"Marianne? Marianne, Master's ex-wife..."

"Stop, Bertha, don't call that woman as my husband's ex-wife. She's just a shameless lowly woman who has seduced Mrs. Catherine Ganke into marrying her perfect grandson, Leonardo Ganke. That rotten woman seduced the very kind old lady for her money, so don't call Marianne my husband's ex-wife anymore," Steffi loudly cut off Bertha's words. Her eyes were fiery, showing her displeasure towards Bertha for calling Anne as Leon's ex-wife.

Bam!

Bertha immediately fell to her knees regretfully apologizing to Steffi. She regretted her presumptuous words like that. Even though Steffi had long forbidden anyone from referring to Anne as Leon's ex-wife on her first day as Mrs. Ganke, all of Anne's memories were completely erased from Leon's big house in Berlin, including from the memories of the maids. They were forbidden to refer to Anne as Leon's ex-wife. Steffi didn't want to be Leon's second wife. That was why she wrote off Anne, including the marriage data of Leon and Anne at the civil registry office, so that when Leon married her, he was still a single man. And Leon agreed to what Steffi had done at that time.

With pain, Steffi turned to Bertha. "Get up, don't do that. You are my loyal maid, don't ever kneel like that. I don't like it."

"I'm sorry, Madam. I was really rude and stupid. I didn't mean to, Madam," answered Bertha regretfully.

"I forgive you, Bertha, it's not your fault. It's the cunning fox woman's fault that you still remember her outdated name. Now get up, I don't like seeing you like that," Steffi said quietly.

"Thank you, Madam, thank you." Bertha thanked Steffi over and over. She then approached Gisele to help her take care of Steffi.

Steffi closed her eyes. She let her two maids to take care of her wounds. Today she had to cancel her activities to meet with her socialite friends for a gathering. She did not want to go out in this condition. No one should know that she and Leon were often fighting, because it would make many women target her husband. Therefore, she must look harmonious in front of everyone in order to maintain her position as Mrs. Ganke.

"I'm sure that little bitch must have talked to Leon. I know Leon very well. Leon has never been this rude to me. Ever since he lived in London and met that shameless woman, Leon's character has changed 360° and I'm sure right now she must be laughing with satisfaction knowing that Leon came home and scolded me. Right now you can laugh, Marianne, you can be happy over my suffering. But in a moment, I will destroy you. If I had succeeded in kicking you from your position as Leonardo Ganke's wife, then I will make sure you will be very ashamed to be born as a woman. I will make you ashamed to meet everyone. Wait for it, Marianne, wait for my revenge. I will make sure you'd choose to die rather than live," Steffi said in a vengeful heart. She was now planning to destroy Anne. Steffi planned to embarrass Anne. Her current plan was to trap Anne to sleep with some paid men who were experts in this kind of business. Moreover, she already knew how to find Anne. Steffi was really determined to destroy Anne.

* * *

Meanwhile, Anne, who was out of the office to buy coffee with Edward, was surprised by a call from Aaron who happened to be at the same coffee shop. Edward, who knew Aaron very well, felt embarrassed. He got up from his chair and invited Aaron to sit and talk to Anne.

"I'm sorry, Anne. Please forgive my selfishness last time. I'm sorry for being stupid, Anne," Aaron apologized to Anne for the third time.

"Never mind, Aaron, don't think about it again. It's all over, I don't want to remember it," Anne replied softly with a smile. Her dimples were showing when she smiled.

"There were too many wounds have happened in my past, Anne, that I had acted so stupid to you. I'm sorry. I'm now aware of it and sane enough. I want to start all over again with you. I accept you with all your past, Anne. I don't care if you're a divorced widow or a widow because of your husband's death, I really want to start a new relationship with you from zero, without any secrets between us," Aaron said at length, expressing his heart as he grabbed Anne's hand on the table.

Hearing Aaron's words made Anne pull her hand from his grip quickly and say, "Sorry, Aaron, I can't."

continued