The Billionaire Who Felt My Pain

I was born with a highly sensitive personality. When someone says something harsh to me, I want to cry. When someone scolds me, I want to die.

But later, a billionaire heir told me:

You are my princess. I'd give you my life!

Because we're sensates, every emotion I feel is amplified a hundredfold for him.

When his childhood friend made me cry, he tearfully terminated all business partnerships with her family.

When his mother slapped me and yelled, "Here's five million dollarsleave my son now!"

I was terrified, and the next second, he had a full-blown panic attack and sent his mother to a nursing home.

From that day on, everyone knew his life motto:

"If she sheds a single tear, I'll burn down a city!"

But his first love, who had just returned to the country, didn't know. She kicked down my dorm room door with her people:

"How dare a beggar like you seduce Gideon!"

The next second, I was dragged toward a dark room, feeling like my life was over...

The grip on the back of my neck was tight.

As two bodyguards in black suits dragged me toward the abandoned warehouse, students along the way craned their necks to watch.

Their whispers felt like tiny needles drilling through my ear canals into my brain.

My hypersensitive nerves instantly snapped taut. My fingers clutched at my shirt hem desperately. My heart pounded so hard it felt ready to explode, and my nose stung with the threat of tears.

I'd been like this all my life.

If someone casually said something harsh, I'd ruminate on it for three days. If someone gave me an impatient look, I'd blame myself endlessly.

Not to mention being dragged through a crowd like this, with the entire building's eyes glued to me. The shame instantly washed over my head.

"Still putting on that sullen face? Who are you showing off for?"

"Why are you crying? Are you trying to scam me or something?"

Lindsay walked up to me in her four-inch stilettos, her fingers painted with bright red nail polish. She raised her hand andSLAPstruck me across the face in front of everyone.

She was Gideon Ashford's recently returned first love, the spoiled heiress everyone at school knew about.

Ten minutes ago, when she'd kicked down my dorm room door, I'd been working on my thesis. I hadn't even finished typing a sentence before she dumped half a cup of iced Coke over my head.

"How dare a beggar like you seduce Gideon?"

Her voice wasn't quiet. Everyone on the entire dorm floor stuck their heads out to watch.

Those starescurious, mocking, eager for dramaswept across my face. Instantly, I felt both humiliated and furious. The words of protest stuck in my throat. I couldn't open my mouth.

Just as I tried to force myself to speak, a surge of tears rushed straight to my brain. The next second, tears filled my eyes.

"What are you doing! I've already called the police!"

My roommate Willow rushed over to stop them, but a bodyguard behind Lindsay shoved her hard against the wall. Her phone crashed to the ground with a loud clatter, the screen shattering into pieces.

Lindsay scoffed, stepped over my scattered belongings, and ordered the bodyguards to keep dragging me.

"The police?" She laughed arrogantly.

"Go ahead and call them. Even if you report this to the United Nations, it won't matter. My family donated the new lab building to this school. What are you compared to that?"

I looked at my thesis papers and materials, now covered in muddy footprints.

The grievance hit its breaking point instantly. I couldn't hold back my tears anymore. One drop fell onto the back of my hand with a soft plop.

I bit my lip, trying not to cry out loud, but my condition made it impossible to control.

When Lindsay saw me like this, she mocked me directly:

"Oh, what kind of damsel-in-distress act is this?"

Just as she raised her hand, her slap about to land on my face

A voice suddenly rang out from the hallway: "Stop!"

The man leading them was Gideon Ashford's executive assistant, Ethan Mitchell.

Behind him stood four uniformed security guards in a neat row.

Ethan looked at Lindsay with a cold laugh, his voice icy enough to freeze:

"Miss Lin, I advise you not to act rashly."

"If anything happens to Miss Carter, I'm afraid you won't be able to bear the consequences."

Lindsay froze for two seconds after hearing this, then burst out laughing. She even stepped forward, not the slightest bit afraid.

She pointed her finger at Ethan's nose, her sharp nail almost touching his face, her tone so arrogant it was practically smoking:

"Who the hell are you? A dog raised by the Ashford family dares to block my way?"

"You're not afraid of biting off more than you can chew. I've known Gideon for over ten years. You're just an employeehow dare you bluff using his name?"

As she cursed, she reached out to push Ethan's shoulder, glaring at him imperiously:

"Get the hell out of my way. Don't hold up my business. When Gideon gets here, I'll have him fire you on the spot!"

After Lindsay finished, she turned to me and said:

"Lydia Carter, don't think having an assistant backing you up makes you something special. He's just a working dogI don't even take him seriously!"

When Ethan heard this, his expression turned ice-cold. Even the standard smile he'd been maintaining couldn't stay on his face anymore. After all, no one likes being called a dog.

But Lindsay, spoiled as she was, couldn't read the room at all. She kept mocking me and even started spreading rumors:

"Your mom died young, your grandma's bedridden and paralyzed, you can't even scrape together tuitionif you weren't sleeping with men, how could you possibly get on Ashford Corporation's internship list?"

With every sentence she spoke, the whispers around us grew louder.

My hypersensitive nerves instantly maxed out to their breaking point.

The sounds around me felt like someone had turned on an amplifier.

Some students who barely knew me and didn't understand the situation straight-up believed her lies.

"So her family's that bad off?"

"I heard she doesn't even get meat dishes in the cafeteria. No wonder she's dirt poor."

"Is what Lindsay's saying actually true? Ashford Corporation's internship is so hard to gethow could a poor student with no parents possibly get selected?"

"Tsk tsk, she does look pretty innocent. Turns out she's so loose in private."

My fingers dug hard into my palms until they turned pale. I couldn't even tell what emotion I was feeling anymore.

I wanted to cry because I felt wronged. I was also furious because she was spreading false rumors about me. At the same time, I felt afraidscared that these rumors would spread.

It was true my family was poor.

Grandma had been paralyzed from a stroke for five years. Her monthly medical expenses were over four thousand dollars. I worked three part-time jobs during my free time and still had to win scholarships to cover tuition.

But I earned that Ashford Corporation internship spot by beating out over three thousand people through five rounds of interviews. I had a clear conscience.

But these words stuck in my throat. I opened my mouth but couldn't make a sound.

All the blood in my body rushed to my head. My heart pounded like it would explode. My ears buzzed.

Ethan, standing beside me, saw my expression change and tears streaming down like they were free. His face instantly shifted.

Only he knew what this meant.

A year ago, during a board meeting, Mr. Ashford suddenly burst into tears for no apparent reason. Later, he experienced inexplicable fainting spells from terror and anxiety. Every time they checked, they couldn't find a cause.

Even the psychologist suspected Mr. Ashford might have split personality disorder.

But Mr. Ashford showed no other symptoms. All his evaluations came back normal. He didn't seem like someone with so many psychological disorders at all.

Then one time, Mr. Ashford came to campus for an inspection visit. I happened to be ostracized by my classmates and was breaking down crying in the classroom.

When I cried, he cried even harder. When I felt desperate and anxious, he nearly wanted to die.

That's when they confirmed we could sense each other's emotions.

Even worse, when my emotions collapsed to the extreme, he could potentially go into cardiac arrest.

Within the entire Ashford Corporation, only Ethan knew about this. That's why Gideon had warned him repeatedly to monitor my every move 24/7. If anyone dared make me suffer even the slightest grievance, he should deal with them ruthlessly.

Ethan's voice was tense. He turned and shouted at the security behind him:

"What are you standing there for? Confiscate the phones of everyone who filmed videos and gossiped just now. Write down the names of everyone who spread rumorsthe legal department will send lawyer's letters to each of them later!"

When Lindsay saw Ethan getting worked up, she became even more pleased:

"Oh, don't tell me you're also sleeping with this woman? Is that why you're protecting her so much?"

"Watching a dog protect its bone is just too entertaining."

Then she picked up my cloth bag from the side and threw it on the ground.

That bag contained my grandma's imported medication.

When she threw the cloth bag down, a white medicine bottle rolled out and shattered into pieces.

Light yellow pills scattered all over the floor, covered in dust, completely unusable now.

"Go pick them up quick. You dogs love picking things up, don't you?"

Lindsay laughed maliciously, contempt practically overflowing from her eyes.

My fingers trembled violently. I was about to bend down to grab the pills that hadn't gotten dirty yet.

But the shadow of her stiletto heel fell first, crushing the pills viciously.

The light yellow powder mixed with dirt, completely ruined beyond any use.

"Pick them up, why don't you? Why'd you stop?" Lindsay laughed until she was doubled over.

"Is it not dirty enough? How about you lick it, and I'll buy you ten bottles? Deal?"

I snapped my head up to look at her, my eyes so red they could bleed.

Ethan's face had turned black as ink. He raised his fist and punched one of the bodyguards blocking Lindsay.

Having followed Gideon for years, Ethan had professional certification in hand-to-hand combat.

Two hired street thugs were no match for him. He took them down in a few moves, leaving them groaning in pain on the ground.

The security guards behind him snapped to attention and rushed forward to pin down all of Lindsay's people.

Ethan ran up to me in three quick strides, took off his suit jacket and wrapped it around me, blocking all the prying eyes around us. His voice became as gentle as possible, afraid of triggering me:

"Miss Carter, it's okay now. I'll have someone get an expert appointment at the hospital right away to buy the exact same medication. Don't be afraid. I'm here."

I leaned against his arm, still trembling. My tears fell on his suit jacket, spreading into small damp spots.

I thought this farce was finally over.

But I didn't expect that when Lindsay saw her people being restrained, not only was she not afraidshe laughed even more crazily. The viciousness in her eyes sent chills down people's spines.

"Ethan Mitchell, you're quite the fighter, aren't you?"

"You think you can protect her? Let me tell you, even if God himself showed up today, he'd have to kneel and beg me!"

When Ethan heard her words, his expression darkened further. The killing intent in his voice practically overflowed:

"Lindsay Lin, don't court death. Mr. Ashford will never forgive you!"

"Never forgive me?" Lindsay scoffed. Her fingertip swiped across her phone screen twice, then she held it directly in front of my face. The bright screen was blinding. "I'd like to see who won't forgive whom!"

I instinctively looked up at her phone screen.

With just one glance, all the blood in my body froze.

On the screen was an abandoned old factory building, the floor covered in dust and puddles, not even a window in sight.

My grandma was lying on a hard board bed in the middle of the factory. Her withered hand still had an IV needle in it. The IV bag hung from a rusty iron stand beside her, swaying in the wind. You could even see blood backing up in the tube.

Two men with full-sleeve tattoos stood nearby, smoking cigarettes and playing games.

The camera shook and focused on Grandma's face.

Grandma seemed to hear something. She opened her cloudy eyes and turned her head with difficulty. She opened her mouth, her voice hoarse like sandpaper:

"Lydia... Lydia, where are you? Grandma's so cold..."

My mind went "BOOM"all sounds instantly disappeared.

She was my only family in this world.

I grew up without parents. Grandma raised me by collecting scraps.

After her stroke last year, I worked myself to the bone so I could send her to the best nursing home in the city. I spent most of my salary every month hiring a one-on-one caregiver for her. I just wanted her to be comfortable and stay with me a few more years.

Lindsay actually took her from that warm nursing home and threw her in that kind of place.

"Look at that. So pitiful."

Lindsay's voice coiled around me like a venomous snake.

"I already bought off the nursing home caregiver. No one knows where your grandma is. Only I know where she is now."

"Get on your knees right now and cut up your face with a box cutter yourself, and I'll consider letting your grandma go."

"Otherwise, I'll call my people right now and have them disconnect her IV. When she dies, don't blame me."

My whole body shook like a leaf. My heart hurt like someone had ripped it out and crushed it in their hand.

Tears fell endlessly. Lindsay's triumphant laughter filled my ears.

When Ethan saw Grandma's condition on the screen, he reached out to grab Lindsay's phone.

"Lindsay Lin, you're fucking insane! Illegal detention is a serious crime! If you let her go now, I can still plead for leniency on your behalf. Otherwise, you'll never get out of prison in this lifetime!"

Lindsay dodged sideways and directly hit the call button, putting it on speakerphone.

The tattooed man's careless voice immediately came through:

"Boss Lindsay, what's the call? Should we pull the tube now?"

Lindsay lifted her chin and glanced at me, her eyes full of viciousness:

"Lydia Carter, you heard him. I'm counting to three. If you don't kneel, I'll have them pull the tube right now."

"Three."

"Two."

All the strength drained from my body instantly.

Grandma's coughing came through the speaker, hoarse like a broken bellows.

I couldn't lose her.

My knees went soft. I dropped straight to the ground.

Lindsay's voice stopped mid-count. Then she burst into triumphant laughter.

"Well, well, how obedient. Now slap yourself. Ten times. One less doesn't count."

Ethan frantically tried to pull me up:

"Miss Carter, don't kneel! Mr. Ashford will be here any minute! I've already sent people to rescue your grandmother!"

His phone in his pocket vibrated like crazy. Gideon Ashford's name flashed urgently on the screen.

Just as he was about to answer, Lindsay kicked his wrist. The phone smashed to the ground with a crack. The screen went black.

"Mr. Ashford this, Mr. Ashford that. All you talk about is Mr. Ashford. When Gideon gets here, I'll have him kill you first."

Lindsay sneered and tilted her chin at me:

"Hurry up and slap yourself. Don't waste time. My patience is limited."

I bit my lip and raised my hand to slap myself.

"SLAP." The first strike. I heard the surrounding discussions explode.

"SLAP." The second strike. Lindsay laughed even harder: "Harder! Did you not eat?"

People around pulled out their phones to secretly record. Some shook their heads. Some said I deserved it.

The third strike. The fourth strike.

...

By the tenth strike, blood flowed from the corner of my mouth. It ran down my jawline and dripped onto my white hoodie, spreading into a large, glaring red stain.

I braced myself against the ground, gasping for breath. My vision was already blurring. My heart hurt with every beat, like someone was stabbing it with a knife.

"Not bad. Very obedient."

Lindsay nodded with satisfaction and pulled a box cutter from her bag. She flicked it open with a "click" and threw it on the ground in front of me.

"Now, cut up your face. The worse you cut it, the better. If I'm satisfied, I'll let your grandma go."

I stared at the box cutter. My fingers trembled violently.

If I just cut myself, Grandma could live.

Seeing me hesitate, Lindsay frowned and kicked my arm:

"Hurry up! What are you dragging your feet for? If you don't do it now, I really will pull the tube!"

"What, can't bear to ruin that face? Still want to use it to seduce men, huh?"

I gritted my teeth and reached for the box cutter.

The moment the cold blade touched my fingertips, all the grievance, despair, and fear surged up at once. My vision went black. My emotions crashed to the breaking point. Tears mixed with blood fell. I could barely breathe.

Just as I gripped the box cutter and was about to cut my face, a thunderous roar suddenly came from the hallway entrance.

"STOP!"

Everyone turned to look.

I also lifted my head. Through my blurred vision, I saw Gideon Ashford standing in the sunlight.

His usually meticulously combed hair was a mess. His usually ice-cold face was now covered in tear stains. His eyes were red as if they'd bleed. Tears fell one by one. His lips were white without a trace of color.

The area instantly fell silent as death.

When Lindsay saw Gideon's tear-stained face, she thought he'd heard she was being bullied and was crying out of heartache.

"Gideon!"

She rushed over in her stilettos, her voice sickeningly sweet.

"You're finally here! This woman conspired with Ethan to bully me. Quick, teach her a lesson for me!"

Her outstretched hand didn't even touch the hem of Gideon's clothes before he dodged sideways.

Gideon didn't spare her a single glance. He walked straight to me and crouched down.

His fingertips carefully tucked a blood-stained strand of hair behind my ear.

I stared at his reddened eyes, looking at the tear tracks on his facethose were the result of my desperate emotions transmitted to him and amplified a hundredfold.

"Gideon Ashford, tell your first love..."

"If I collapse... what will happen to you?"