It took me five minutes to turn my arrogant, self-proclaimed elite wife into a penniless woman, saddled with a debt of eight hundred million dollars! Just five minutes ago, for her brother who had recently undergone a minor procedure, she was gripping my hair, forcing me to kneel. She claimed the wedding anniversary cake I made had upset her poor brother. What a cruel irony. She wanted me to mourn the very scandal she had orchestrated and buried herself. She demanded I kneel and repent, but every time I had bent my knee in my past life, it was paid for with the blood of my entire family. This time, I was reborn. I wiped the cream from my face and made just one call. “Dad, I’m done playing.” Game over. The reckoning begins. *** My eyes snapped open again, my face covered in cold, sticky cream. From beside me, my brother-in-law, Bryce, wailed shrilly, “Chloe! He did it on purpose! He knows I just had surgery and I’m in a bad mood, and he still made this to provoke me!” I was back at our third wedding anniversary party. Back to the moment my nine-tiered fondant cake, which I had made with my own hands, was smashed into my face. In my previous life, it was from this very day that my life spiraled into hell. To prove I wasn’t trying to steal the spotlight, and to avoid putting Chloe in a difficult position, I had knelt before Bryce and apologized in front of all the guests. I told myself he had just had a procedure, his emotions were unstable, and I should be understanding. But my tolerance only emboldened their bullying and contempt. This life, I wouldn’t. Chloe rushed over, not to help me, but to immediately shield her brother, Bryce, in her arms, anxiously checking his hands. “Bryce, are you okay? Are you hurt?” She spun her head towards me, her eyes like poisoned daggers, and roared, “Daniel, get down on your knees and apologize to Bryce!” Her voice was exactly the same as when she’d announced my parents’ deaths in my memory. I didn’t move. I simply reached up, scraped a bit of cream from my cheek with my fingertip, and then slowly, deliberately, put it into my mouth to taste. It was sweet. My favorite white chocolate. I had spent three months learning to make this cake. My silence and this bizarre gesture plunged the entire ballroom into an eerie, suffocating stillness. All eyes focused on me, filled with the casual disdain of people watching a good show and a hint of confusion. Chloe’s brows furrowed. She felt I was challenging her authority. “I told you to kneel! Are you deaf?!” She stepped forward, just like in my past life, reaching out to grab my hair, intending to shove me to the ground. A sharp pain shot through my scalp. This familiar ache instantly cleared my head. The surrounding guests began to whisper: “This Daniel is truly uncouth. Look at him, he looks like an idiot.” “Exactly, he’s from an orphanage. Just no manners.” My mother-in-law, Beverly, that vicious woman who, in my past life, had simultaneously urged me to be magnanimous and helped her daughter scheme against me, now played her usual ‘peacemaker’ act. She walked over, tugging on Chloe’s sleeve, her tone, however, clearly blaming me. “Daniel, just give in. Bryce isn’t feeling well. Apologize, and this whole thing will blow over. We’re family. Don’t let outsiders laugh at us.” I looked at these three culprits, watching their sickening performance of ‘loving siblings’ and ‘doting mother,’ and I smiled. I pulled out my phone from my pocket, unlocked it for everyone to see, and dialed the number etched into my very soul. In my past life, the owner of this number died on a highway in Ocean City, trying to save me from my misery. The phone rang only once before it connected. “Hello?” It was my father’s voice. Deep and steady. It took all my strength to keep my own voice perfectly even. “Dad.” “Hmm? Daniel?” The voice on the other end immediately became surprised and gentle. “What makes you suddenly call your dad?” I spoke each word deliberately, with every ounce of restraint, uttering the code I had buried for two lifetimes. “Dad, I’m done playing.” This game of love I had deluded myself into believing, this marriage that had destroyed my family, I wasn’t playing anymore. Chloe’s face darkened when she saw me on the phone. She thought I was calling for help, which made her feel utterly humiliated. “What are you doing? Who are you calling? I’m telling you, no one can save you today! You have to kneel before Bryce!” On the other end of the line, my father fell silent for two seconds. With his intelligence, he instantly grasped the immense crisis hidden behind my words. His voice immediately became calm and authoritative. It was the powerful aura of the Global Capital founder. “Got it. Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Do as I say.” Just one sentence, telling me to hold steady. I understood. The game was changing. And this time, I was the dealer. “I’ll kneel to your brother once I hang up the phone,” I told Chloe, my voice so calm it felt foreign to her. She thought I was giving in, a triumphant sneer spreading across her face as she released her grip on my hair. The call wasn’t disconnected. I heard my father calmly giving instructions on the other end. I held the phone to my ear, spoke into the receiver in a low voice – just loud enough for my father to hear, and for Chloe and Bryce standing nearby to catch every word. “Chloe, you want me to kneel, are you asking me to mourn the illicit child you had with Bryce?” My words dropped like a bomb into a deep pool, creating not chaos, but a dead silence. A silence more profound, more suffocating than before. The guests’ murmurs were cut off as if by an invisible hand. Everyone’s expressions froze. The triumph and malice on Chloe’s face shattered instantly, replaced by a bone-deep terror. She instinctively took a step back. “You… you’re spewing lies! Daniel, you’re crazy!” Her voice became shrill and piercing, betraying her guilt. “Crazy?” I smiled, but the mirth didn’t reach my eyes. “Am I crazy, or do you think everyone else is blind? Do you dare, in front of all these prominent figures in Ocean City, to point at your brother beside you and swear that the child you were carrying was in no way related to him?” Bryce’s wailing stopped abruptly. He shrieked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, “You B-word! You’re talking nonsense! Chloe, tear her mouth out!” His reaction was too extreme, only confirming his inner panic. My father-in-law, Richard, the CEO of Horizon Group, finally couldn’t maintain his composure. He abruptly rose from the main table, his face turning a furious shade of purple. He pointed at me, his finger trembling violently. “This is outrageous! Our Parker family must have been blind to let Chloe marry a rabble-rouser like you! Security! Where’s security?! Get this lunatic out of here!” Several security guards moved at his command, their eyes hostile as they approached me. Chloe also reacted then, her fury making her lose all reason. Like an enraged bull, she charged at me, aiming for the phone in my hand. She thought I would cower and tremble at her roar, as I had in the past. But I simply watched her with cold detachment. The moment she lunged, I didn’t retreat. Instead, I swiftly spun to my left, subtly extending my foot to trip her. Chloe’s momentum carried her forward uncontrollably. With my trip, she completely lost her balance, stumbled awkwardly for several steps, and then crashed headfirst into a nearby table laden with champagne towers. *Smash!* The sound of shattering glass was sharp and piercing, echoing exceptionally loud in the silent ballroom. Golden liquid and glass shards flew everywhere. Chloe’s forehead was instantly gashed open, blood mixing with champagne trickling down. Her expensive dress was stained with wine and cream. She looked like a rabid dog. This sudden scene made all the guests gasp. “Chloe!” Bryce’s scream pierced the silence. He rushed over to help Chloe up. Seeing the blood on her forehead, he immediately pointed at me and shrieked furiously, “You B-word! How dare you hit my sister! You even laid hands on her!” Chloe steadied herself with her brother’s help. She wiped a hand across her bleeding forehead, and seeing the crimson on her fingertips, any remaining reason in her eyes was completely consumed by rage. “You’re dead!” She growled, tearing off her pretense, and once again charged at me recklessly. This time, the two security guards behind her followed closely, forming a crescent-shaped encirclement, completely cutting off my retreat. Father-in-law Richard’s face was ashen. He watched everything with a dark, tacit approval in his eyes. In his view, they had to use the toughest methods today to completely suppress my spirit and violently stifle this shocking Parker family scandal in its infancy, using fear and brute force. “Mr. Parker, what’s going on here?” A leisurely voice, clearly enjoying the drama, cut through the crowd. It was Mr. Davies, the CEO of Vanguard Group, Horizon Group’s arch-rival. “On such a joyous day, why does it look like an all-out brawl? Anyone who didn’t know might think Horizon Group has cash flow problems, making the CEO resort to public bullying of his son-in-law.” His words were like a subtle jab, hitting Richard right in the gut. Richard snapped, “Mr. Davies! This is my family’s private matter, it’s none of your business!” “Family matter?” I clutched my cold phone, a chilling smile playing on my lips. “Mr. Parker, are you sure this is just a family matter? I believe everyone present clearly heard what I just said. Chloe and Bryce, secretly pregnant with his child. If that gets out, it won’t just be a family matter; it will be social news, an incestuous scandal shocking enough to send Horizon Group’s stock price freefalling!” Every word I uttered was like a heavy hammer, striking fiercely at the Parker family’s nerves. My mother-in-law Beverly’s face was already ashen white. She rushed forward, fully revealing her true colors as a shrew. “You’re lying! Don’t waste words on him, tear his mouth out! Grab that damn phone and smash it!” Given her mother’s command, Chloe’s movements became even more frantic. I was forced to retreat repeatedly, my back quickly pressing against the cold wall. I had nowhere left to go. Chloe smirked, her voice squeezed out through gritted teeth, “Daniel, I’m giving you one last chance. Kneel, and hand over your phone!” I looked at her, and at the gloating eyes behind her. I gripped my phone tightly in my palm. My other hand, swift as lightning, grabbed a heavy bronze statue from the decorative table behind me, aiming it without hesitation at the nearest security guard. “Anyone who takes another step forward, I’ll smash his head in.” My voice was low, but carried a desperate, do-or-die resolve. The security guard was shaken by the unfeigned determination in my eyes, and instinctively froze. My gaze swept past them, like two sharp swords, directly piercing the root of all evil: Richard Parker. “Mr. Parker, have you really thought about the consequences? Stop your rabid children now, and there might still be room for maneuver. Once they truly lay a hand on me, I promise you, every scream heard from the other end of my phone will become a death knell for your Parker family, for your Horizon Group.” I raised my phone. The screen was still lit, the call duration ticking mercilessly, second by second. This gesture made Richard’s pupils constrict sharply. But if he backed down now, the Parker family’s reputation would be utterly ruined! The immense sense of humiliation and the long-standing contempt he felt pushed him to make the most foolish decision. Richard finally gave his last command, his voice hoarse and venomous, “Grab him! I’ll take full responsibility for anything that happens!” Just at this critical moment, the heavy double doors of the ballroom were leisurely pushed open from outside. A devil-may-care, yet incredibly soothing, voice drifted in: “Well, well, what’s all this commotion? Mr. Parker, are you hosting a wedding anniversary, or a family martial arts show?” It was Scarlett Davies! She walked in like a socialite strolling through her private garden, clad in a show-stopping, floor-length pink dress, an unlit cigarette dangling from her lips, her hands casually tucked into her pockets.
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