You Scorned My Love, So Why Are You Kneeling When I Asked for a Divorce?

He silenced her with a kiss.

He was fierce, his kiss filled with an anger that crushed her soft lips.

Holly struggled and hit him, but he grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head.

His kiss deepened.

Tristan Sterling was finding it hard to control himself.

From the moment he saw her in her riding gear, a fire had ignited deep in his belly.

It threatened to rage out of control.

Holly felt like the savage man was stealing all the air from her lungs.

The corners of her eyes flushed red with anger.

"Still have the guts to curse at me?"

After a long moment, he finally stopped. His lips brushed against hers, and his hoarse voice, thick with passion, was dangerously seductive.

Holly’s reddened eyes were misty. She said nothing, just glared at him with hatred.

"Hmm? Do you?" he asked, nipping gently at her lip.

Furious, Holly tried to bite him back.

But he tilted his head back, dodging her.

A cruel smile played on the man’s lips, as if he were teasing a spooked little kitten.

A sharp pain, like a needle, lanced through Holly’s heart.

’She’d said the relationship between Wendy Wyatt and Nathan Fletcher was imbalanced, but wasn’t hers with Tristan Sterling the exact same?’

’To Tristan Sterling, she was nothing more than an insignificant pet.’

’He’d play with her when he was happy and kick her aside when he wasn’t.’

"Tristan Sterling, are you here to get revenge for Vivian Linton?"

Suppressing the bitterness in her heart, Holly’s lips curled into a sneer as she asked coldly.

The man’s brow furrowed, but he pursed his lips and remained silent.

She sat up, pushed him away, and scoffed, "I hit her again. You must be heartbroken, so you came to humiliate me on her behalf, is that it?"

"You shouldn’t have hit her."

Tristan Sterling stood by the bed, his expression unreadable as he stared down at Holly, his words coming out flatly.

’Always resorting to violence.’

’How is this any way for the future matriarch of the Sterling family to behave?’

"But I did. So what? Are you going to hit me back?" Holly tilted her chin up, a bitter laugh escaping her lips.

’Vivian Linton falsely accused her, and he played dumb.’

’She only slapped Vivian Linton once, and now he was here for revenge...’

Tristan Sterling didn’t speak.

A cold glint in his deep, dark eyes, he moved toward her, one step at a time.

Holly instinctively held her breath.

She stared intently at the man leaning over her, secretly clenching her fists, ready to take him down with her if she had to.

’If he dares to lay a hand on me, I swear I’ll take him down with me today!’

Tristan Sterling reached out—

"Ah!"

Holly let out a pained cry.

She thought he was going to slap her and instinctively threw her arms up to shield her face. But instead, his hand shot out and grabbed her ankle.

The sudden pressure on her already sprained ankle made her eyes well up with tears of pain.

She thought this was some twisted form of punishment, but a second later, a cold sensation touched her ankle.

Startled, she cried out instinctively, "Tristan Sterling, what are you do—AH!"

His large hand began to rub her ankle forcefully.

"Ah, that hurts! Stop, stop, stop... it hurts..." Holly cried out, a cold sweat instantly breaking out on her forehead. She wanted to writhe on the bed.

Tristan Sterling was unmoved.

He poured the medicinal balm into his palm and continued to rub, his motions firm.

"Serves you right!" he cursed as he rubbed.

’If she weren’t already injured, I’d give her a real thrashing.’

’In such a dangerous situation, how dare she try to save someone? Wasn’t she afraid of being trampled to death by that horse?’

’Serves her right...’

Holly’s heart clenched painfully.

A mix of fury and pain twisted inside her. With tears in her eyes, she gave a cold laugh. "You’re right! It does serve me right! Are you disappointed I wasn’t killed in the fall? If I had died today, no one would be left to bully your precious one that got away... Mmph—"

He casually grabbed a pillow and threw it at her face.

’Nothing good ever comes out of that mouth of hers.’ He didn’t want to hear it.

Holly was livid. "Tristan—AH!"

He retaliated by rubbing her ankle even harder.

It sent her over the edge.

"Get off me! I don’t want your help! It hurts so much!"

She screamed, on the verge of breaking down, kicking at him with tear-filled eyes.

She wanted to free her foot from his demonic grip.

But his hand was like an iron vise; she couldn’t break free.

Holly was miserable, and tears of indignation welled in her eyes.

’He’s doing this on purpose!’

’He’s deliberately hurting me to get back at me for Vivian Linton.’

’I’m sure of it!’

"If it doesn’t hurt, you won’t learn your lesson! You idiot!" Tristan Sterling snorted.

Cut to the quick, Holly retorted angrily, "You’re right! I am an idiot! If I weren’t such an idiot, I wouldn’t have—" ’—loved you so devotedly for all these years!’

At the critical moment, she cut herself off.

"Wouldn’t have what?" the man asked, his eyes narrowing. His sharp gaze felt like it could pierce right through her.

Holly gave a bitter smile.

All the fight seemed to drain out of her in an instant. Her head drooped as she mumbled, "Nothing."

’What’s the point of saying any of that now?’

’All I want now is to get my studio up and running, make enough money for my brother’s treatment, and then divorce him. We’ll go our separate ways and never see each other again.’

"When did you learn to ride a horse?"

Tristan Sterling didn’t press the issue. The pressure from his hands lessened as he changed the subject.

When he saw her in riding gear, he’d assumed she was like Vivian—the type who needed an instructor’s assistance.

He never expected her to be such a skilled rider.

Looking back now on the moment she leaped from her horse to save that person, it was truly breathtaking.

It was dangerous, but he had to admit—

’She looked so damn cool.’

This was a side of her he had never seen before.

Tristan Sterling suddenly realized he didn’t know this woman in front of him at all.

’She can design qipaos. She can ride horses.’

’And she’s remarkably good at both.’

’She hits people. She defies him at every turn.’

’She’s infuriating enough to kill a man.’

’So, how many other sides to her were there that he didn’t know about?’

Hearing his question, Holly snapped, "None of your busin—AH!"

He had squeezed her ankle hard again.

"Talk to me properly," the man said, his tone flat yet full of pressure.

"Tristan Sterling, if you had even the slightest bit of concern for me, you wouldn’t be asking a question like that today," Holly scoffed, her eyes filled with derision.

’She had won an award in an equestrian competition once.’

’The first-place trophy was still sitting on a bookshelf at home.’

’Two years, and he had never even noticed it.’

’It just went to show how little he cared about anything related to her.’

"What do you mean?" Tristan Sterling frowned.

"It means nothing," she sneered.

’Indeed.’

’There was truly nothing meaningful between them.’

When she refused to answer, he applied a little more pressure.

"Ah, that hurts... I don’t want you to rub it! Ah..."

Holly cried out, convinced he was torturing her on purpose. Furious, she kicked at him hard with her other foot.

But he suddenly flipped her over onto her stomach.

SLAP!

A hard slap landed squarely on her rear.

"Behave!"

The sound was accompanied by the man’s cold, warning bark.

Holly’s face was shoved into a pillow, and she was mortified.

’He went too far!’

’She wasn’t a child, how could he hit her... there?’

Holly snapped her head up, her eyes red as she glared fiercely at the man.

"Don’t look at me like that!"

Tristan Sterling glanced at her coldly.

’That look of hers... it made a man want to bully her, to ravage her...’

’He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to hold back.’

Holly wished her glare could tear him limb from limb. Of course she wasn’t going to look away.

Seeing her still glaring at him with pure resentment, Tristan Sterling’s eyes narrowed, a dangerous aura radiating from him.

"You just have to provoke me, don’t you?"