The Protection You Gave Me Was Empty

My best friend said a woman of my wealth only lacked one thing: security. So my husband synced all my dashcam footage to his phonethe best protection his lawyer skills could offer.

That worked until the neighbor girl Penny scratched my car with a shared bike for the tenth time. In her faded uniform, tear-streaked, she pleaded, Sister, Im sorry Ill pay. Id let her go the first nine times.

But this time, she just glanced at me, no remorse. Its just a scratch. Youre richyou wouldnt hassle a poor student, right?

I laughed coldly. Well handle it legally. The dashcam has it all. Full compensation, plus the past nine incidentsthree million dollars total.

She froze, then cried, Three million? You hag, this cars worth around five hundred thousand! My boyfriends a top lawyerIm not scared of you!

She didnt know it was a limited Maybachone body line alone cost half a million.

I shrugged off her threat until the court date. There, a man in a sharp suit held her, whispering, My crybaby, ready to call me your boyfriend now? Ill help you send her and her lawyer to jail.

The man was my husband, Danny Davenportsupposedly on a London business tripthe undefeated top-tier lawyer.

"Really? She's so rich, and I'm just a poor student. How could I possibly win against her?"

Penny sobbed.

Danny wiped the tears from her face.

"You don't trust your boyfriend, hmm?"

"Your boyfriend is a famous, top-tier lawyer. I'll make her kneel and beg for your forgiveness, how about it?"

Penny finally broke into a smile through her tears.

"Okay."

"Beat that old hag. Humph."

"Alright, my little princess, whatever you say goes."

I stared at the two of them for a long moment, then picked up my phone.

Danny answered my call, unconsciously frowning.

After a moment, he moved away from Penny and pressed the answer button.

Danny's smiling voice quickly came through: "Honey, you just left and you already miss me?"

"Where are you?" I asked directly.

Danny paused for only a second.

"On a business trip in London, I report to you every day, don't I?"

"Gotta go. Otherwise, the client will get moody."

I watched him lose his smile, his face changing instantly as he hung up.

Penny leaned in: "Who were you talking to?"

Danny quickly kissed her on the cheek.

"Just some insignificant woman. What, are you jealous?"

I stood not far away, watching the backs of the two, like a couple deeply in love, and my heart involuntarily twitched.

I didn't attend the hearing that day; I sent my assistant in my stead.

That evening, I returned home.

I sat on the sofa, flipping through photo albums, looking at every little moment with Danny, my heart numb.

Danny graduated from a prestigious university, and at a young age, he had already become a top-tier professional in his field.

Everyone said we were a perfect match.

Until then, I believed it too.

I laughed, a self-mocking sound.

Then, a text message arrived on my phone.

Penny flaunted a message to me.

"What's the use of having so much money? Does anyone love you, old hag?"

"But my boyfriend loves me very much."

Then came a series of intimate photos of them, hand in hand, cheek to cheek.

The last one was her victory statement.

I stared at that victory statement, every word on it mocking me.

Before I could even reply, Danny's call came in.

"Blair Kingsley, what's wrong with you? A woman almost thirty, making things difficult for a nineteen-year-old girl."

"How could you be so vicious, making a poor student pay three million dollars?"

I smiled. So he knew it was me on the other side.

And he knew the whole story, yet still chose to help her win the lawsuit.

Truly a top-tier lawyer.

I didn't say anything, just hung up the phone and called my company lawyer.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Kingsley, we're simply no match for your husband."

"All of your dashcam videos were deleted by your husband. We have no substantial evidence to prove the car was scratched by the other party."

"It's alright. I have another lawsuit, and I might need to trouble you further."

The person on the other end paused.

"What lawsuit? Why not ask Mr. Davenport?"

I spoke slowly.

"A divorce lawsuit."

"He's the defendant."

Danny returned three days later.

I merely gave him a cold glance and turned to walk away.

"Blair, honey, why are you still angry?"

"My attitude was bad the other day, I apologize, okay? I was too short-tempered."

"When I saw Penny, I remembered when I was in college, I was just as poor as her. I couldn't even afford to eat. That's why I felt sympathy."

He didn't mention his relationship with Penny at all.

"We don't lack this money in our family. Just consider it good karma, helping the poor."

I stared at him, unmoving.

Danny took my hand and led me out, saying it was compensation to buy me a handbag.

Initially, I didn't want to go, but I had been cooped up at home for too long these past few days.

As we entered, a shop assistant walked over.

"Ms. Kingsley, you're here? And your husband too?"

She enthusiastically showed me the new arrivals.

Danny said beside me, "My dear wife, pick any bag you like today."

"Consider it my apology for upsetting you."

The shop assistants whispered to each other.

"Mr. Davenport is so good to you, Ms. Kingsley."

"You two are even at the top of our city's exemplary couple list."

Exemplary couple?

I laughed mockingly.

No longer interested in choosing a bag, I just picked one at random.

Just then, Penny ran over, her face alight with surprise, and grabbed Danny's arm.

"Danny, darling, what are you doing here?"

"Wow, the bag in Ms. Kingsley's hand is so beautiful."

The shop assistant froze, looking at us in confusion.

I watched Penny's expression.

It seemed she already knew I was Danny's wife, yet she showed no intention of avoiding him.

No, perhaps she had known all along.

My eyes lowered, and I handed the bag toward her.

"Pretty, isn't it? Two million dollars. You wouldn't earn that even if you worked your fingers to the bone for ten years."

Penny's expression stiffened, then tears started to fall.

She didn't speak, just stared at Danny with tearful, wronged eyes, and after a long moment, she cried out.

"I really can't afford it."

"But Mrs. Davenport, you don't have to look down on people so much. I'm poor, so what? Does being poor mean I don't deserve to live?"

"I'll leave, alright? I'll never appear before you rich, noble people again."

Danny frowned at me, his earlier patience for coaxing completely gone.

"Who says she can't afford it? I'll pay for this bag for her."

With that, he pulled out a ten-dollar canvas bag from somewhere, throwing it at me.

"You wear this today."

"Go reflect on yourself, on when you became so snobbish, looking down on the poor."

"You're nothing but a parasite who only got by on family connections since childhood. In another ten years, Penny might not be any worse than you."

He finished speaking and ran after Penny, leaving me alone in the store.

The shop assistants exchanged glances, then looked at me with pity.

I watched his retreating back, my heart involuntarily contracting.

A fine, prickling pain, like needles, intense and pervasive.

I lowered my eyes, masking my emotions, pulled out my phone, took a photo of the bag's payment record, and the backs of the two embracing downstairs.

"Mr. Stark, evidence of infidelity."

"Received."

I looked at Mr. Stark' text, lowered my eyes, then put my phone away.

The shop assistant behind me looked at me timidly.

"Ms. Kingsley, that bag was the last one are you still displaying your photo with Mr. Davenport?"

My gaze shifted to the photo on the store's shelf.

It displayed a picture of Danny and me taken right after we graduated from college.

Danny had just joined the law firm then, still an unknown legal assistant.

He saved up his first three months' salary, earned from eating instant noodles, to buy me the cheapest bag in this store.

When he gave it to me, he held me and said,

"Though I don't have much money now, Blair, I promise you.

We will definitely have a happy and bright future, definitely."

That bag is still in my closet, my favorite one.

Because every time I saw it, I remembered Danny's words, immersed in the future he had planned.

Now he had money, successful and famous.

That photo, however, felt like a slap, a harsh blow to my face.

"Ms. Kingsley?"

The shop assistant's voice pulled me back from my memories.

My gaze fell upon that photo.

My smile in the picture was radiant, I had never imagined a day like this.

"Throw it away."

"It's not important anymore."

What use was a useless photo?

Just like a useless person, I no longer wanted him.

I averted my eyes, fiddling with my phone, then walked out of the store without looking back.

I spent three hours by the sea, letting the wind blow over me.

From dating in college to being married for seven years, every little moment replayed in my mind.

That dull pain in my heart, which had surged like the waves, now completely subsided.

I sent him a message.

"Tomorrow is our seventh anniversary. I think we should talk."

Danny didn't reply to me.

Penny, however, posted something on her social media.

She showed off the designer bag Danny had given her, with the caption:

"The one who loves you will cross a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers to be with you."

"In love, only the unloved are the home wreckers."

Then I saw Danny had liked her post.

I laughed mockingly.

He had time to look at social media, but no time to reply to my message.

Fortunately, I didn't care anymore.

Just then, my phone suddenly received a video call invitation.

It was from Penny.

"Sister. Guess where I am now?"

"Sister is indeed rich. Even the dogs in her house eat better than me. A mere animal, what right does it have?"

I looked at Penny in the video. At some point, she had gone to my villa, and Snowball, the dog I had raised since it was a puppy, was tightly held in her arms.

"What do you want? Let go of it."

Snowball had always been aggressive towards people it disliked. It struggled wildly in her arms, perhaps having heard my voice.

It struggled even harder, and Penny gripped its head tightly. Snowball turned its head and bit Penny's hand hard.

I watched Penny's face, which had been flaunting, begin to contort.

"You dead animal."

"That old hag bullying me is one thing, but you're bullying me too."

Penny, wearing high heels, brutally kicked Snowball.

I ran like a madwoman.

"Don't you dare touch it."

The ten-minute walk from the beach to my house, I covered in just five minutes.

But it was still too late.

I pushed open the door of my house and saw Snowball lying on the ground, tears in its eyes, whimpering softly.

That was the expression it only showed when it was in pain.

My heart was fiercely pierced.

"Penny, let go of it. You let go of it."

Penny smiled at me.

"Sister, you're back. Your house is really big, it's just that your dog is a little naughty."

"Oh, by the way, are you so out of breath because you rushed back for this dog?"

She looked down at Snowball, her eyes suddenly turning sinister, and she laughed at me.

"You wait. I'll bring it down for you right away."

I saw her expression, and a bad premonition instantly enveloped me.

"No"