After cleaning my mother-in-law Ruth’s body, I scrolled across a post titled “What’s the Ultimate Way to Spoil Your Wife?” “Of course it’s finding an old woman to keep at home to serve your parents~ My husband does exactly that. He married that woman, and now she has to stay home wiping my mother-in-law’s ass and piss, serving his half-paralyzed father-in-law, and he doesn’t even have to pay her. He gives me $50,000 a month, and all I need to do is stay beautiful~” Many people questioned whether she was just a kept mistress. But the blogger posted a wedding photo: “That woman is the mistress! I’m the legal wife!” Looking at that photo, my heart clenched violently. Wasn’t that my husband Ferdinand? The blogger continued showing off: “My husband threw that woman a fake wedding that only cost six thousand dollars—the same price as our dog. What a bargain!” My hands trembling, I called my brother, whom I hadn’t contacted in ages: “I regret it.” “What are you dawdling for! Hurry up and make dinner!” Ruth sipped her tea while impatiently giving orders. But this time, I didn’t submit meekly. Instead, I turned and went back to my room. Ruth froze for a few seconds, then cursed furiously, spittle nearly hitting my face. “Doria, are you deaf! Didn’t you hear me!” “Your father-in-law ate too much and shit the bed again. Get over there and change his clothes! What are you doing messing around in here!” She kicked over my suitcase. I didn’t even look up. “It’s New Year’s. I’m going to bring Ferdinand some things and surprise him.” Panic flashed through Ruth’s eyes as she stuttered a rebuttal. “Wh… what surprise! You just stay home obediently and take good care of us for Ferdinand’s sake. That’s more important than anything!” A voice came from the next room—my father-in-law. “Exactly! At New Year’s, Ferdinand’s company must be swamped. Why are you causing trouble for no reason?” My hands paused. I raised my head and met Ruth’s panicked gaze. So they all knew. They knew Ferdinand had another wife he treasured outside. The whole family had conspired together, letting those two live freely outside while using moral obligation to bind me, making me waste my entire life at home, day after day cooking, washing clothes, and dealing with their shit and piss. I clenched my fists and said nothing, then headed to City Hall. The clerk took the marriage certificate and frowned slightly. “This certificate is fake. The system also shows you as unmarried.” My mind exploded with a buzzing sound, leaving only a sharp ringing in my ears. Ten years ago, Ferdinand and I were tied for first place in our university’s finance program. During college, we won countless awards and secured investment from top financial firms. After graduation, when his parents had back-to-back accidents, I willingly stepped back to support him, letting him pursue his entrepreneurial dreams without worry. The day he proposed, he cried like a child, his voice trembling. “Doria, I will make you the happiest person in the world.” I believed him. But where did it all go wrong? I stumbled out of City Hall, whispers following behind me. “Young women these days are so gullible, getting used for nothing.” “Maybe she’s the mistress on the side!” I couldn’t wait any longer. The next morning, at the crack of dawn, I left without telling Ferdinand’s parents. No matter what, I needed an explanation from Ferdinand. But as soon as I arrived at the company, security stopped me. “Who are you? Do you have ID?” I said expressionlessly, “I’m Ferdinand’s wife.” The moment the words left my mouth, harsh laughter erupted around me. “You? Ferdinand’s wife? Why don’t you piss and look at yourself in the reflection!” “Everyone in Las Vegas knows Ferdinand’s wife is our company’s director. The two of them are lovey-dovey all day long, even planning for a third kid!” The guard held a cigarette in one hand while pointing inside with the other. “See that? That’s the real Mrs. Ferdinand, head to toe in designer brands! One necklace alone is worth $200,000!” “Looking like a beggar and trying to scam us? Get lost!” I said nothing, just stared at the woman’s back. The moment she turned around, my heart was viciously wrenched. It was her. Christiana.

Six years ago, she broke her right leg. Ferdinand told me she was a distant cousin and asked me to take good care of her. During those days, loving him meant loving those around him. I willingly washed her underwear, made nutritious meals with variety every day, and served her for over half a month. Before she left, worried that a young woman alone might not be safe, I even gave her five thousand dollars. Five years ago when Christiana had a baby, three years ago when her child got sick—Ferdinand sent them both to me to take care of. His reason? Her husband was gone, and single mothers have it hard. So the child was his. It was all an excuse. They’d been involved all along. Then what was I? A caregiver or a nanny? I clenched my fists, my nails digging painfully into my palms. Ferdinand, what right do you have to treat me this way? Tears slid from the corners of my eyes. I rushed forward regardless. “Everyone move aside. I need to see Ferdinand.” The guard laughed mockingly. “Are you crazy! Are mistresses this brazen now?” “Someone get her out of here! Don’t disturb Ferdinand and Christiana’s good mood!” With that, he was about to forcibly throw me out. “What’s going on?” A sickeningly sweet voice came from inside. Christiana wore an expensive gown, her figure graceful. Seeing her, the guard immediately bowed and scraped. “Director, why did we disturb you? This crazy woman says she’s Ferdinand’s wife. I was just about to throw her out!” Christiana smiled brightly, waving her hand magnanimously. “Oh, it’s Doria. I know you’ve liked Ferdinand for a long time, but… but after all, today is the company’s New Year party. It’s not very appropriate for you to come cause trouble, is it?” The guard frowned. “Director, you know this person?” Christiana spoke gently and generously. “She’s an acquaintance. The housekeeper from our hometown, specifically hired to take care of Ferdinand’s parents.” Hearing this, everyone began talking, looking at me with contempt. “So the housekeeper wants to climb the ladder! The real wife is standing right here! How shameless!” “Girls these days don’t study hard, just want shortcuts!” My heart felt like it was being stabbed by millions of needles. I wanted to refute, but when even the marriage certificate was fake, what could I say? Bitterness spread through my heart, but I had no words. Christiana continued graciously. “Everyone don’t worry. I trust Ferdinand. He won’t do anything to betray me.” With one casual sentence, she nailed me to the pillar of shame as the mistress. Everyone fawned and flattered. “Exactly! Ferdinand treasures you like a precious jewel! Not just anyone can insert themselves!” “She doesn’t weigh her own worth, thinking she can climb high branches. Pure delusion!” Facing everyone’s mockery, I held back the tears threatening to spill and asked calmly. “Christiana, where’s the money?” “What?” “I mean, the salary.” I raised my head, meeting her smug gaze, my tone calm. “Since you say I’m the housekeeper, where’s the salary? Seven years taking care of two elderly people—surely Ferdinand isn’t too poor to pay?” Hearing this, Christiana’s face turned from green to white. The next second, she suddenly smiled and came forward, grasping my hand, whispering. “Doria, I advise you not to cause trouble.” “Otherwise, it’ll only make Ferdinand hate you more.” Christiana completely revealed her true nature, her eyes full of undisguised provocation and smugness. “He’s the one who wronged me!” I pushed her away without hesitation. But before I even touched a hair on her head, Christiana screamed and stepped back, finally stumbling into Ferdinand’s arms. “Who dares touch my wife?” The man was full of anger, about to settle accounts with me the next second. The moment he saw my face, Ferdinand visibly panicked. “Doria? How did you get here?” I stubbornly raised my head, staring into his eyes and demanding. “Ferdinand, you tell me, what am I? A housekeeper or a caregiver?” “And what is Christiana to you? Your wife?”

A flash of guilt passed through Ferdinand’s eyes, but he said nothing. His silence was like a bucket of cold water, chilling me from head to toe. Christiana quickly emerged from his embrace to smooth things over. “Alright Ferdinand, I’m fine, aren’t I?” “Doria is just too lonely, that’s why she came looking for us.” “How about this, Doria—John from the security team lost his wife two years ago. Why don’t I introduce you two?” “John is divorced, but he’s the security captain. He makes good money!” Hearing this, everyone covered their mouths and snickered. “A housekeeper matched with a security guard—perfect match!” “The director is doing you such a favor, and you’re not grateful!” The mocking laughter drilled into my ears. I bit my teeth and roared. “Using a security guard to humiliate me—Christiana, is this what you call class!” Seeing my barely contained tears, Ferdinand’s expression wavered for a moment, then he gripped my wrist and threatened in a low voice. “Enough, Doria. I’ll talk to you about this when we get home.” “Go back first. Mom just had surgery two days ago, and Dad’s still half-paralyzed. You’re leaving them unattended—are you even a qualified daughter-in-law!” He looked at me coldly, his words piercing like ten thousand arrows. To this day, he felt no guilt for what he’d done, still using that same rhetoric about being a dutiful daughter-in-law to control me. At this moment, Ferdinand still pretended to be the perfect husband. When we first married, I mentioned trying for a baby, but he said: “Doria, the company is just starting. I want to give you and our child a stable life. Can we wait a few more years?” I waited seven years, while he had three children with another woman outside. Tears blurred my vision. I was wrong. I should never have broken with my entire family for this kind of person. I mentally slapped myself hard twice for my poor judgment. I wiped my tears and stubbornly raised my head. “Misunderstanding, Ferdinand. I’m not here looking for a man. I’m here for my salary.” “Taking care of two elderly people, $10,000 a month isn’t unreasonable, right?” “Twelve months a year, seven years—that’s $840,000 total. Cash or transfer?” At these words, the entire hall fell silent. Ferdinand’s face turned black as the bottom of a pot. “Doria, must you humiliate yourself here!” Me, humiliate myself? Should I just be kept in the dark my whole life, being their family’s unpaid labor! Just then, Christiana stepped forward again, biting her lip and righteously accusing me. “Doria, how can you extort us? Moreover, you stole their family heirloom last time, and I didn’t even report it to the police!” At her words, the scene exploded again, countless insults flying at me. “So she’s a thief too. How could you keep someone like that in your home?” “Director, you should send her to jail!” Christiana nestled in Ferdinand’s arms, tears in her eyes. “I took pity on her poverty and couldn’t bear to fire her…” Hearing this, everyone gave her thumbs up, praising her kind heart. Christiana smiled while accepting everyone’s flattery. I couldn’t take it anymore and raised my hand, slapping her hard across the face. “Ahhh—” Her cheek instantly swelled red, tears falling in large drops. Two children rushed over, desperately beating my shins. “Bad woman!” “Daddy! Kill this bad woman!” Everyone pointed at me, their eyes full of disgust. “Ferdinand is such a good person. How did he end up with this housekeeper?” “Good people really get no reward!” Ferdinand turned to look at me with a vicious expression. “Doria, apologize to Christiana.”

I gritted my teeth stubbornly. “Want me to apologize? Give up that dream!” Smack! He slapped my face, making me stumble backward. “Someone make her kneel and apologize!” A guard kicked the back of my knee. With intense pain, I was forced to kneel on the ground. Christiana’s son raised his wine glass and smashed it hard against me. “Bad woman! I’ll kill you!” Blood flowed from my forehead down my cheek, but I felt no pain. Glass shards pierced my body, staining the floor crimson. Ferdinand frowned and ordered sternly. “Enough. Take her away so she stops embarrassing herself here.” But the next second, with one look from Christiana, those guards rushed over, looking at me with lewd, greasy eyes. “Not bad looking. Feeling lonely? We’ll keep you company!” I used all my strength to raise my head and spat at the man. “Get lost!” The lead guard became furious and slapped my face. “Well, quite the temper!” Then they covered my mouth tightly, leaning close to my ear and threatening in low voices. “Bitch! Already been played by everyone, still pretending to be virtuous!” “Today we’ll show you what we’re made of!” Ferdinand frowned slightly. “Just teach her a lesson.” The guard bent over, squeezing out a fawning smile at him. “Don’t worry, the guys know what to do.” But the next second, they showed disgusting expressions, their rough hands roaming over my body. Before leaving, Christiana looked down at me condescendingly, her eyes full of smugness. “Doria, everyone has their fate. You should just go back and obediently serve Mom and Dad. Stop hanging around in front of us—it’s an eyesore.” She turned and picked up the two-year-old child, her face full of triumph. “Son, let’s go! Daddy and Mommy prepared presents for you!” My vision kept going black. I was about to pass out. Just as I was being dragged away, more than a dozen Maybachs suddenly raced over, stopping steadily at the entrance to the hall. The next second, a bullet pierced through the lewd man’s palm. Blood splattered, and heart-wrenching screams echoed throughout the entire hall. My brother rushed to me, held me, and asked with heartbreak: “Doria, who did this?”

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My fiancée’s childhood friend, Derek Hayes, loved playing pranks. The first time, he dyed my custom-tailored suit fluorescent green. He blinked innocently. “I just thought white was boring. Wanted to add some color for you.” The second time, he tampered with my wedding invitations, changing the venue from a five-star hotel to a cemetery in the suburbs. When I caught him, he said: “This is way more interesting! You should thank me for planning such a unique wedding!” The third time, he put industrial-strength hair removal cream in my facial cleanser. A week before the wedding, I lost almost all my hair and eyebrows. Every time, my fiancée Summer Whitmore would tell me: “Derek just likes joking around. He doesn’t mean any harm.” Because I loved her, I endured it all. Until our wedding night, when Derek’s gift was a blood-stained bedsheet. The moment I saw Summer shielding Derek, I knew it was time to end this relationship. The blood on the sheet was still fresh. I had just tossed it aside when Summer came through the door in her wrinkled wedding dress, surrounded by a crowd of people. The one with his arm around her was Derek. I stepped forward quickly, about to take Summer from him, but she instinctively pulled away. Summer realized her rejection was too obvious and awkwardly explained. “You reek of alcohol. Just let Derek take care of me.” Hearing this, I laughed in disbelief. After the wedding reception, I’d been forced to drink by Derek’s group of friends. As my wife, she hadn’t even been there, and now she had the nerve to complain about me? I lowered my gaze and noticed Summer’s weak legs, her body limp, her eyes unfocused. Combined with that still-damp blood-stained sheet, I suddenly understood where Summer had disappeared to for those hours—she had slept with Derek right before the wedding! “Where were you just now?” I asked, suppressing my rage, wanting to give Summer one more chance. She pressed her lips together, about to speak, when Derek cut in. “We just got married and you’re already this controlling with Summer?” Summer had always hated being interrupted. Once when I went to her office without knocking, she lectured me for a full thirty minutes. She even gave me the cold shoulder for half a month after that. But after Derek spoke, not only did she not get angry, she affectionately pinched his nose. “You’re always defending me. Be careful, or Logan might hold a grudge against you.” After hearing this, Derek shot me a provocative look. “You two are just a business marriage. Even if you’re married, she can only love me!” As he spoke, he pulled a lace thong from his pocket: “Summer, don’t forget your stuff. Otherwise he’ll just use it to start drama with you again.” Summer blushed and threw the underwear onto the bed, pouting coyly: “Derek, if you keep saying things like that, I’m going to get mad.” Her light fist landed on his chest. This wasn’t punishment. It was flirting. Derek grabbed her hand and planted a playful kiss on her fingertips. “Summer, you’re the best. You felt sorry that I’d never had a girlfriend, so tonight you finally showed me what a woman feels like.” Summer didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with fooling around with another man on her wedding night. She looked up at me. “Stop with the cold face. It’s supposed to be a happy day. I don’t want to fight with you.” “Fight?” I stared at the hickeys on her neck, my eyes turning red with fury. “Am I the one who wants to fight? Today is our wedding day, and you ran off to another man’s bed. Have you ever treated me like your husband?”

Summer didn’t take my anger seriously. She frowned impatiently. “What century is this? Is virginity really that important to you? If you care so much, I can just go to the hospital and get it fixed.” Seeing her indifferent attitude, I was completely disappointed. She was the one who’d told me her family was traditional and wouldn’t allow her to have sex before marriage. So for three years of dating, I’d held back and never actually slept with her. “By that logic, this wedding isn’t that important either. Since you don’t care, then find someone else to marry!” At this, Derek immediately put on an innocent expression. “Don’t fight because of me. I’ll just leave now.” He started walking toward the door. As he left, he didn’t forget to deliberately bump his shoulder into me. With a bang, the door closed, and Summer slapped me across the face. “Are you done? Do you have to drive Derek away before you’re satisfied?” “Do you have any idea how heartbroken Derek is that I’m marrying you?” “He’s already stepping aside for us. Can’t you be a little more gracious?” My throat tightened, my face stinging hot. At that moment, I couldn’t understand how the pure girl I’d fallen for had become this unreasonable. Summer grabbed her phone, preparing to leave. Before going, she didn’t forget to threaten me. “Let me tell you—if you want me to stay married to you, stop going after Derek!” After Summer left, the festive bridal suite fell into silence. Her parents somehow got word and rushed over. Seeing only me there, Summer’s father’s face showed frustration. “Logan, I failed to raise my daughter properly. I’ll go discipline her right now.” I looked up. “No need. The alliance between the Whitmore and Carter families is cancelled.” Summer’s father nearly collapsed to the floor. I had pursued Summer for three whole years. Global first-release designer bags always went to her first; When she wanted to hold an art exhibition, I bought the most luxurious gallery in the museum; When she wanted to act in movies, I bought an entertainment company just to serve her alone. To be with her, I moved my company’s headquarters to Riverside City. I even did business with her family at a loss just to please her parents. With my support, her father’s small company became a top 100 national enterprise. I thought I’d done everything I could for Summer, but there was always a Derek by her side. I remember the first time I met Summer’s parents, Derek walked out of Summer’s room wearing shorts. He sat on the couch and casually asked Summer. “Summer, how long are you planning to string this one along?” His attitude showed he didn’t consider me worth noticing at all. When Summer said I was her future fiancé, the look Derek gave me turned particularly cold. From then on, Derek targeted me relentlessly. On dates with Summer, he would secretly order food I was allergic to. Watching my entire face swell up, he’d laugh in my face. Every time he pulled a prank, Summer would say Derek was just joking. I kept thinking that after we got married, maybe she’d finally keep her distance from Derek. But Summer took my tolerance as permission and completely crossed the line. I called my secretary. “Cancel all cooperation with Whitmore Group. Withdraw all our investments in their company. From now on, whatever projects Whitmore Group wants, acquire them at any cost.”

“Also, the Hayes family’s company—I want to hear news of their bankruptcy within three days.” After the call, I took a photo of the blood-stained sheet. Then I posted it on Instagram. **[Thanks to my ex-fiancée’s boyfriend for the wedding gift.]** The next second, my phone exploded. Summer’s calls came in the most. “What’s that post supposed to mean? Don’t you know Derek is applying to Ivy League schools? What you posted could ruin his chances!” I didn’t respond, hung up decisively, and blocked her number. At 3 AM, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. I opened my phone and saw Derek had updated his Instagram. He posted a bar photo—Summer leaning against Derek’s shoulder, her cheeks flushed. Caption: **What’s a husband compared to a friend? May our friendship last forever!** The comments were full of likes. One friend, unhappy with their behavior, commented: “Summer’s about to get married. You two should keep your distance!” Summer replied directly in the comments: “It’s just having drinks with a friend. If Logan can’t even handle that, we just won’t get married.” Expressionless, I liked the post. After taking a few sleeping pills, I finally felt drowsy. That’s when my phone rang—a friend calling. “Logan, this is bad. Summer’s causing a scene at the bar. Come help!” My head was fuzzy. It took me a moment to process what he’d said. “I’m not going. Why would you call me? Just call the cops.” “If you don’t come, Summer’s going to get hurt!” my friend urged. Summer’s screams came through the phone. Even though I’d decided to cut ties with her, we had dated after all. I couldn’t just let her get hurt. I dragged myself out of bed and headed to the bar. The moment I pushed open the bar door, a bucket of red wine poured down from above. Seeing me drenched and pathetic, Derek doubled over laughing. “Logan Carter, you’re such an idiot. All it took was a made-up excuse to get you here.” Summer sat on the couch, confidently raising an eyebrow. “See, Derek? I told you Logan is just a lovesick puppy who won’t leave. No matter what I do, he can’t bear to walk away from me.” Derek sat back down next to Summer. “I lost the bet. How are you going to punish me?” The crowd egged them on. “How else? Kiss her!” Summer blushed. “My fiancé is right here. You guys are too much.” Her mouth said no, but her body leaned honestly against Derek. I walked up, grabbed an open champagne bottle nearby, and poured it directly over their heads. Summer shrieked at me. “Logan Carter, have you lost your mind?!” Derek’s curly hair was plastered wetly to his forehead, making him look like a drowned rat. Summer immediately grabbed tissues to wipe him off, full of concern. She glared up at me. “Logan, Derek just likes pranks! He doesn’t mean any harm! Why are you being so petty!” I scoffed. “So sleeping together was just a prank too?” Summer’s face turned crimson. Finally, she stood up and shoved me hard. The champagne tower scattered across the floor. I fell onto broken glass, pain shooting through my back.

“That’s enough! Interrogating me like a lunatic—what’s the point?” I braced myself against the wall, watching Derek lean intimately against Summer’s shoulder, and suddenly felt completely drained. But I refused to back down. “What? You had the nerve to make me a cuckold, but not the guts to let me call you out?” Derek tugged at Summer’s sleeve, looking pitiful. “Summer, forget it. It’s just getting a drink poured on me. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have pranked him.” When I got drenched in red wine, Summer laughed and called it a prank. But when Derek got his hair a little wet, Summer couldn’t wait to defend him. Summer looked at me with disappointment. “Derek is younger than you and more forgiving! Can’t you learn something from him?” I sneered. “Learn what? Learn to sleep with someone else’s fiancée?” Before I could finish, Summer punched me in the face. “Apologize to Derek!” I swallowed the blood in my throat. “In your dreams!” Derek pretended to be frightened and stepped back. “Logan looks so scary. What if he ends up abusing you later?” He tested the waters: “Summer, since my friends are all here, maybe I should teach Logan how to be a considerate husband?” Summer heard this and gave an almost imperceptible nod. The next second, fists rained down on me. Derek stepped on my face, bent down, and whispered in my ear. “Logan Carter, so what if you married Summer? The most important person in her heart will always be me.” I struggled to get up in fury. Derek picked up my car keys from the ground and said to Summer: “Summer, I haven’t had a car lately. I’ll just take this Maybach.” Summer nodded, not giving me a second glance. All these years, whenever Derek asked, even my most prized possessions had to be handed over. I pushed myself up against the wall, trying to get my things back. But Summer thought I was going to hit Derek, so she had her friends surround me. A kick sent me back to the ground. My head slammed against the table corner, and suddenly everything went red. Seeing this, Summer rushed toward me in panic. “Logan! I—” Derek dramatically blocked her path. “Logan! You’re so manipulative! You poured wine on your own head just to trick Summer!” “Summer, don’t fall for it. He’s faking. How could anyone bleed this much?” Summer actually believed him and stopped in her tracks. “Logan Carter, think about what you’ve done!” With that, she led everyone out of the private room. I lay in a pool of blood, my vision swimming. I picked up my phone and numbly dialed a number: “The video I recorded earlier… you can release it now.”

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On my wedding day, my wife brought her lover to crash the ceremony. She secretly showed me their intimate videos, and her lover mocked me, saying I wasn’t as good as him in bed. In my rage, I hit her lover. But she joined forces with my family and had me committed to a psychiatric hospital. Even my own parents, wanting to give my company to my brother, testified to the police that I was mentally unstable, even producing plenty of evidence. On the wedding day, almost everyone with a name in New York showed up. I arrived early at the venue, warmly welcoming friends and family. But Lena was two whole hours late. When she arrived, her face was flushed, with hickeys on her neck. Her wedding dress looked like it had been torn, her long hair was disheveled, and when she lifted her skirt, even her white stockings were ripped. The moment I saw her, everyone—including me—was shocked, and then their gazes gradually turned knowing. She didn’t come alone. She brought Tony with her. This Tony was her childhood friend, supposedly they almost got together once. It was only because Tony went abroad that they didn’t end up together. Recently Tony had returned, and they’d been meeting up frequently. I’d questioned her about it, but she said she and Tony didn’t have that kind of relationship. Honestly, I didn’t really believe her, but my company was too entangled with her family. This marriage had to continue. So I endured it. After Lena got on stage, she didn’t even glance at me. Instead, she snatched the microphone from the officiant and said, “Everyone, the wedding will proceed as planned, but I want to change the groom.” Her words caused an uproar throughout the venue. I saw Tony smirking at me maliciously. Lena walked up to me, held out her phone in front of my face, and said, “See for yourself.” On the screen, she was wearing her wedding dress, engaged in vigorous combat with Tony. She’d deliberately left the sound on, so even though others couldn’t see the screen, they could hear the audio and naturally knew what the video contained. I took a deep breath and asked as calmly as possible, “You know how important this marriage is. Do you really need to make a scene like this?” Lena smiled faintly. “If Tony hadn’t come back, I could have reluctantly married you and then flown overseas to sleep with Tony. But now that Tony’s back and agreed to marry me, why would I marry you?” I nodded. “So when you kept saying you were going abroad for business, you were actually going to see Tony?” Lena smiled and nodded. “That’s right. I saved videos every time. Want to watch them?” I shook my head and smiled. “I’ll pass on that. It’s just that sort of thing anyway—not like I haven’t seen it before. But I’ll give you some advice: let’s continue the wedding and deal with the aftermath after we’re married.” Tony scoffed and said loudly, “Torres, stop dreaming about marrying Lena. You’re too weak. I’m way better than you. Lena finds being with you disgusting. Don’t you get it? Compared to me, you don’t even count as a man!” “Why do this?” I shook my head with a bitter smile. “Why make such a scene? How are we supposed to resolve this?” As I spoke, I threw a punch. Tony immediately fell backward, his mouth full of blood, spitting out several teeth. I stepped forward again, raised my foot, and stomped down hard on Tony’s vital area. He screamed—the sound almost feminine. Lena rushed at me and pushed me. “How dare you hit Tony?” I glanced at the guests below and smiled faintly. “I had to. Otherwise, the whole city will know I’m weak, and I won’t be able to do business anymore.” Lena swung her hand to slap me, but I caught her wrist directly. I shook my head and smiled. “I never hit women, but I have one flaw—sometimes I can’t tell men and women apart.” I struck her across the face, sending Lena flying.

At that moment, Lena’s sister Mira rushed onto the stage with people and had me restrained by a group. My parents and my brother also immediately rushed over. My dad shouted, “Someone come quick! My son’s having another mental breakdown! Take him to the psychiatric hospital!” My mom cried out, “My life is so hard! How did my perfectly good son become mentally ill? I don’t even want to live anymore!” My brother Alex hugged my waist and shouted, “Torres, please snap out of it! Today is your wedding day—you can’t have an episode!” Mental illness? Fine. On my wedding day, betrayed by everyone close to me, is that it? I let out a sinister laugh, lowered my center of gravity, unified my stance, and suddenly raised my knee, slamming it hard into Alex’s groin. “Ahhhh!” Alex screamed and instantly collapsed to his knees before me. But no matter how good a fighter I was, I couldn’t take on dozens of people. Before long, they had me captured. Then I was sent to a psychiatric hospital. They used many straps to bind me to a chair. Only my family remained in the room, along with the sisters Lena and Mira. As for Tony, he seemed too severely injured and was in the hospital. Oh right, Alex had also gone to the hospital. I looked at them almost maniacally and said, “Why are you doing this to me?” No one spoke. I continued shouting, “After all these years, haven’t I been good to you?” “You only have your current success because Alex gave up his studies so you could go to college!” My mom shouted. I laughed. “He failed every single subject since childhood. In the end, he got expelled for getting into a gang fight. Is it my fault he couldn’t go to college? And I went to college on student loans and scholarships from the school and government. Did I spend a single cent of yours?” My dad roared, “If you’d given that money to Alex to invest in cryptocurrency, he’d be a multimillionaire by now!” Just as I expected, no matter what, they always favored Alex. Lena covered her swollen face and sneered, “Torres, I’ll be honest with you. Today’s scene was all planned by us. Mira was the mastermind. The goal was to get you committed to a psychiatric hospital so Alex could take over your company. And the marriage alliance with my family will now be between Alex and Mira.” I glared at Mira. “I really underestimated you. You look so small and sweet, but you have the most vicious heart of all!” Mira gave me a sweet smile. “It’s all about money. You can’t blame me for that.” Then she took out her phone and showed me many videos. These videos all showed me losing my temper and smashing things. Each time I lost my temper, it was because my parents deliberately provoked me, or because Alex had lost money gambling in Las Vegas. But now, these would become evidence that I was mentally ill. Lena closed her phone. “Oh, by the way, I’ll have the doctor inject you with a certain drug. Even if you’re not mentally ill, you’ll be diagnosed as such.”

They left, and I really did become mentally ill. At first, Lena and my parents would occasionally come to see me. Of course, they weren’t visiting—they were checking to see if I’d completely lost my mind. Each time they came, they would beat me, because Tony and Alex were now crippled. I’d hit their vital areas too hard, and it would take a long time for them to recover. As a result, even Alex and Mira’s wedding had to be postponed. But Lena still proudly boasted that my company was now under Mira’s control. Apparently, they’d worked things out with the board of directors and pushed Mira into the CEO position. Each time I cursed them out, but the more I cursed, the more excited they seemed. Later, they became too lazy to visit, but Mira came every day. She would provoke me daily, making me extremely depressed and agitated, then record videos and share them in their group chat. Eventually I started breaking down, begging them to let me go. My breakdown excited them even more. They’d come frequently to humiliate me and enjoy my suffering. Tony, who’d been discharged from the hospital, hadn’t fully recovered but could move freely. He sat across from me, his arm around Lena, and said, “Torres, beg me. If you beg nicely enough, maybe I’ll let you go.” As he spoke, he tried to kiss Lena. But Lena dodged, and he missed. Tony looked embarrassed, then threw things at me to vent his frustration. Alex also tried to kiss Mira, but she slapped him across the face. Mira looked as cute as a Lolita, but her eyes were ice-cold. “You pathetic waste. Even though we’ve announced our engagement, it’s just a business marriage. Do you really think a loser like you can touch me?” I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Alex, oh Alex. A loser is a loser. No one will ever respect you.” Alex rushed at me like a mad dog and threw a punch. But I headbutted him. Though my hands and feet were bound, I bit down on his neck. “Ahhhhhhh!” Alex screamed, but didn’t dare struggle. Because I was biting hard. The more violently he struggled, the more it would hurt. I shook my neck like a wild animal, tearing off a chunk of flesh and skin, then spat it out. Alex covered his bleeding neck, already crying from fear. He’d even wet himself. Lena said coldly, “Torres, you’re already like this and you’re still acting tough?” I smiled at her. “Lena, you all want my company. You think making me mentally ill is enough? Do you know how complex my company’s equity structure is? Even if I died, the company wouldn’t fall into your hands.” Lena looked at Mira in surprise. Mira sighed and nodded. “The company’s equity structure is extremely complex, one layer nested within another. There are even some funds involved. In short, it’s very complicated. I don’t have a particularly good solution yet.” “Useless!” Lena cursed angrily. “Mira, have you forgotten who you are? If it weren’t for my parents, you’d be an orphan. Now I’m asking you to do something and you can’t even manage it. Why don’t you just die?” Mira hung her head, not daring to speak. I laughed heartily. “Good, good, good! Dogs turning on each other!” “Shut up!” Tony shouted, then said to Mira, “Mira, is there really no way at all?”

“There is a way, but it requires capital injection.” Mira sighed. “No matter how complex his equity structure is, it doesn’t really matter. As long as we change the legal representative, then inject capital to dilute the shares, we can get the major stake. But being the legal representative carries great risk too.” “Mira, don’t say another word!” I shouted. Seeing my agitation, Lena quickly said, “First figure out how to change the legal representative!” Mira nodded. “It’s not difficult. After all, Torres is already mentally ill. Changing it to Alex should be no problem.” But Alex shook his head vigorously. “I don’t want to be the legal representative. I just want money!” He was afraid of being the legal representative because the risk was too great—he’d be the one taking the fall. Lena looked at me, then at Mira, and suddenly smiled. “How about this—I’ll arrange for you and Torres to get a marriage certificate. Then you can be the legal representative.” Mira’s eyes widened. “Lena, you’re setting me up!” Lena sneered, “If you want to know who your biological parents are, then listen to me. Otherwise, you’ll never know in this lifetime!” Tony also threatened, “We know where your biological parents are buried. If you don’t agree, we’ll dig up their graves!” Mira collapsed to the floor, hugging her knees and crying, but she nodded. She could only nod. This psychiatric hospital was funded by Mira, and everyone inside listened to her. So changing my medical records was very easy. They first altered my records, had Mira and me get our marriage certificate, then changed the records again. This way, Mira and I were legally married. Then Mira used my mental illness as grounds to change the legal representative. Next, Lena’s family and Tony’s family basically bet everything they had, obtained cash flow, and injected capital to dilute the equity. In just half a year, Mira already held forty-five percent of the shares. Another half year passed, and they’d also recovered much of the equity from the board shareholders. In one year’s time, Mira already held sixty-five percent of the shares. And on this day, they actually let me out and brought me to the company’s main conference room. They even dressed me in a suit, making me look presentable. Lena sat like a queen in the chairman’s seat, with Tony beside her, while Mira could only stand behind her. Besides them, my parents, Lena’s parents, Tony’s parents, and the shareholders who still had stakes were all there. Especially those shareholders—when they saw me, they couldn’t help but sigh. Darren, who’d started the business with me, sighed. “Torres, back then it took us just three years—only three years to build this company. Who could have imagined it would come to this?” I smiled bitterly, saying nothing. Lena laughed coldly. “Torres, you don’t even know that when I first pursued you, it was all to drain you dry. I never expected you’d be so shrewd in business, yet so impulsive that you’d let this waste Mira scheme you into mental illness, and even lose your company to us.” I smiled bitterly. “So you never loved me, did you?” Lena laughed loudly. “I never imagined that even at this point, you’re still thinking about romance. You’re such a pathetic waste.” I sighed and continued, “If I’m not mistaken, since all the shareholders are here, they’re already on your side, right? Since that’s the case, at least let me die knowing the truth. I want to know exactly how you planned all this.” Lena smiled faintly, looking very smug. “Since you want to know, I’ll tell you everything!”

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I had been secretly in love with Anderson for five years when he finally saved up enough money to propose ending our arrangement. “Let’s end this. I don’t want to live like this anymore. Besides, I’ve found someone I like.” His spine was ramrod straight, his eyes filled with determination as he looked at me. In my past life, I was stung by his coldness. In a fit of rage, I tore up his money. I trampled him underfoot and toyed with him even more recklessly. So much so that later, after lying low for years, the first thing he did after achieving success was to destroy my family’s business. He kept me captive in a basement, torturing me in every way imaginable. In the end, unable to bear it any longer, I fled in panic when he came to bring me food. I ran headlong into traffic and died right in front of him. So in this second life, I smoothly took his money. Lifting my chin, I said, “Have a good trip. I won’t see you out.” Anderson froze, his eyes full of wariness. As if to say, “What are you up to now?” I simply pulled out his suitcase. Almost urgently, I stuffed his clothes inside. A flash of embarrassment crossed his face as he snatched the coat from my hands. Coldly, he said, “I’ll do it myself.” I let go, crossing my arms and letting him handle it. Anderson had been a famous genius in New York since childhood. Handsome and from a well-off family, the girls who wrote him love letters could fill the busiest street in town. And I was one of the most unremarkable among them. Anderson had never paid me any attention. So when his family fell on hard times and he went from a wealthy young master to an impoverished student, I instinctively rushed to “lend a helping hand.” After all, no one could resist the chance to possess a star. “Babe, are you bored with him already?” My friend suddenly linked arms with me affectionately, excitement flashing in her eyes. “If you’re done playing, can you give him to me?” Instantly, the room fell deathly silent. Anderson’s body tensed, his handsome profile cold as a sculpture. I was silent for two seconds, then shrugged. “If he’s willing, sure.” This was what he had said to me in my past life. After keeping me locked up for nearly a year, he once whispered drunkenly while choking my neck: “Why won’t you speak? I’m bored with you anyway. How about I give you to someone else?” I trembled all over, kneeling and begging him through my tears. “Please, don’t give me to someone else. I’ll do whatever you say.” He was very satisfied then, pulling me into his arms with a low laugh. But a few days later one evening, a man broke in. His naked gaze fixed on me in my thin clothing. In the end, I resisted with all my might. I held on until Anderson burst in. That day, the man was dragged out covered in blood. But I hated Anderson desperately, slapping him repeatedly like a madwoman. He didn’t fight back, just silently scrubbed me until I was nearly raw. Only when I begged hoarsely for mercy did he let me go. Pulling my thoughts back, Anderson suddenly turned around, his ears and neck flushing red. As if both ashamed and hurt. Without finishing his packing, he grabbed his nearly empty suitcase and stormed out. In the night, a female voice spoke eagerly at the door. “Anderson, I’m here to pick you up.” Milia stood waiting at the door in a faded dress, her eyes bright. She was Anderson’s current neighbor, sometimes helping to look after Anderson’s mentally unstable mother. In my past life, after Anderson rose to power, she naturally became Mrs. Anderson. When I was running a food stall, she would constantly bring friends to harass me. In the moonlight, Anderson’s retreating figure was resolute. But as he got in the car, he suddenly paused, turning back with turbulent darkness in his eyes. “Linda, every second with you makes me utterly disgusted.” With that, he drove off without waiting for my response. I leaned against the doorframe, my indifferent face showing weary fatigue. The word “disgusted” – he had said it many times before. When we went out together. When he was forced to get a tattoo of my name. Even when we were in bed. No matter how closely our bodies pressed together, we were like two coiled snakes that never trusted each other.

After sending Anderson away, I returned to my carefree life. I attended classes as usual during the day, and in my free time played sports and drank coffee with friends. But one day after a shopping trip to Paris, I suddenly realized the birthday necklace my mom gave me was missing. After thinking hard, I guessed it most likely fell into Anderson’s suitcase that day. After much hesitation, I still made the trip to his place. Because the location was remote and narrow, I had to park my car at the entrance and walk into the alley. When Milia saw me, she immediately rushed over, blocking my way with a wary expression. “What are you doing here! You’re not welcome here, leave now!” She pushed me forcefully. As we struggled, an O-shaped chain with blue crystals at her neckline flashed by. That was my missing necklace. My mind buzzed as I reached out to grab it. Suddenly, Anderson’s mother ran out. Milia excitedly said to her: “This is the bad woman who bullies Anderson!” Anderson’s mother was already mentally unstable. Incited by her words, she immediately started hitting me frantically. “Bad woman, you’re the one who made Anderson stop talking! Made him cry! I’ll beat you to death!” She had tremendous strength. My face instantly turned red. But as I struggled to grab her hand, we both fell to the ground. “Mom!” Standing at the alley entrance, Anderson’s eyes widened as he ran over with long strides. Anderson’s mother instantly became like a wronged child, throwing herself into his arms. Milia cried, her expression frightened: “Linda came here for no reason to cause trouble for us, and even hit your mother.” The fall had caused my ankle to swell up badly, now throbbing like needles. But hearing her complete lies, I grabbed her collar and pulled out the necklace. Suppressing my anger, I said: “This is mine! You’re a thief, and I didn’t hit anyone!” Milia’s face flushed red as she bit her lip pitifully: “I found this. If you had just said so, I would have returned it. Why did you have to hit people?” “I didn’t hit—” “Enough!” Anderson coldly interrupted me, scooping up his mother. Looking down at me: “Linda, stop making excuses.” With that, as if even looking at me was disgusting, he turned and left. Milia smugly lifted her chin at me, following Anderson inside. A heavy door slam was like a slap across my face. I pretended not to care, but my eyes still burned. After sniffling, I slowly got up and shuffled out, supporting myself against the wall. The sky darkened. This area was a mixed bag, and passing men looked at me with ill intent. Finally, seeing I was helpless, a man reeking of alcohol approached me. “Hey beautiful chic, need some help?” His large hand reached toward my face. I backed away, my fingers trembling as I reached for my phone. But just as I was about to call the police, The man suddenly screamed and fell to the ground. I looked up sharply to see Anderson, who had just thrown a punch. Full of hostility, he approached me. I nervously swallowed. “What are you going to—ah!” Before I could finish, my body was lifted into the air. He silently carried me on his back, walking out quickly and steadily. My body stiffened, my eyes suddenly wet, my mind uncontrollably flashing to scenes from before. A year ago, after fighting with him, I fell and got injured while hiking in the mountains. I held tightly to Anderson’s back and gave in: “Please don’t leave me behind. I won’t fight with you anymore.” “There are bugs and mosquitoes and snakes here! I’m so scared…” Perhaps my submissive appearance was too funny. Laughter kept escaping from his throat, his body trembling slightly with it. He carried me on his back for an hour on that path. When we got down, he was soaked through. But he never put me down for a single second. Anderson walked very fast. When we got to the car, he roughly shoved me inside. His tone seemed angry yet lecturing. “Are you out of your mind? Wearing a dress and running to a place like this! Do you know what kind of people are here? I—” He rambled on for a while before realizing he’d said too much. Abruptly stopping, he irritably ran his hand through his hair. As he turned away, his eyes darkened: “Linda, don’t come here again.” “This isn’t a place for you.” The last sentence was both light and heavy, quickly merging with the night. I didn’t want to listen anymore, pathetically starting the car in a hurry, afraid that if I stayed any longer, I’d expose my reddened eyes. After returning, I came down with a high fever. Mom kept me at the family home, and I lay sick for three whole days.

By the fourth morning, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I made dinner plans with a friend. William drove over in a flashy sports car and took me to our usual restaurant. “Linda, you’re really not cool. Why is it so hard to get you out?” William pulled out my chair while teasing me. I rolled my eyes at him and leisurely ordered. “Pan-seared sole, French terrine…” As my words fell, a familiar voice responded. “Right away, please wait.” I froze, looking up to see Anderson’s cold face. As if he didn’t recognize me, he served dutifully and professionally. My fingers twitched involuntarily, vaguely recalling scenes from my past life when I fought with him because I couldn’t bear him working part-time. “I’m giving you money, why do you still need to work? Just focus on school, and spend the rest of your time with me!” But he just looked coldly at me losing it, then stubbornly said: “Linda, I’m not your pet canary.” I was hurt by his expression and spoke without thinking: “Haven’t you spent my money? Even the clothes on your back are what I bought you!” Without a word, Anderson started stripping off his clothes in the street. “I’ll give it all back to you. What else do you want? Tell me!” Scared, I threw myself at him, immediately compromising and soothing him. “Never mind, calm down.” In the three years we were together, although he seemed controlled by me on the surface, he was always the one with the upper hand emotionally. A snap of fingers suddenly sounded in front of my eyes. William’s handsome face, full of spirit, enlarged before me. His tone melancholic: “He’s already gone, what are you daydreaming about?” My face suddenly flushed as I pushed my hand against his face. William yelped and fell back with the force. “Babe, give up. Your parents will never approve.” Thinking of something, he leaned forward slightly, his eyes showing a hint of seriousness. “If you really want to get married, what do you think of me?” My movement of drinking paused, my eyes shifting slightly. As my gaze fell on William’s striking features, my heart suddenly pounded. Even though I’d seen this face for over twenty years, it was undeniably handsome. But… “Your order.” A cold, mechanical male voice suddenly interrupted my thoughts. Exposed to Anderson’s gaze, I awkwardly raised my glass to drink. William didn’t care, raising an eyebrow casually. Fortunately, Anderson left after serving the dishes. But William wasn’t going to let me off, continuing his earlier proposal. “Our families are well-matched in status, we have an emotional foundation, and as for looks, well, you’re getting the better deal…” I burst out laughing at his joke. The server bringing soup seemed startled and spilled it all over my hand. “Ah!” William’s expression changed instantly. He pushed that person away and checked my hand. Milia fell to the ground, her crying immediately drawing a crowd, including Anderson. My hand started blistering. The restaurant manager immediately took me to run it under cold water. William couldn’t swallow this insult, pointing at the still-crying Milia: “Not even an apology. Fire this server.” Anderson’s face turned iron-gray as he stood in front of her. Looking at me, he said word by word: “I’m sorry. I’ll apologize for her, is that enough?” His impatient tone made it seem like I was the instigator. William sneered, openly sizing him up for a few seconds. “Doesn’t she have a mouth?” The atmosphere became tense instantly. Though William usually joked around with me, he’d been pampered since childhood and couldn’t tolerate being challenged. I took a deep breath and blocked William. “Go buy some medicine for me. I can handle this myself.” He glanced at me, reluctantly pulling at the corner of his mouth, but still dutifully headed out. After William left, I calmly said to Milia: “You should apologize to me.” Milia’s eyes were very red, her voice weak: “I didn’t mean to, it’s because you laughed so loud—” I interrupted her: “Whether it was intentional or not, you burned me. You should apologize, shouldn’t you?” Milia cried again. The manager was also getting impatient. “If you don’t apologize, don’t bother coming in tomorrow!” Milia’s face went pale. She looked at me tremblingly, like a little white flower swaying in the wind. Anderson couldn’t watch anymore and grabbed my wrist. His voice low: “Enough, Linda!” “She’s from a poor family. She relies on this salary to make ends meet. Why are you being so aggressive?” So asking for an apology had become me being aggressive. Anderson was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly smiled. Lifting his eyelids to look at me. “It’s all because of me that you’re making trouble for Milia, isn’t it?” I shook my head: “You’re overthinking it.” Anderson suddenly stepped closer, his eyes shooting cold light. “Still denying it? Going to my house, coming to my workplace – don’t you know what you’re up to!” “You just want to force me back, don’t you? Linda, you—” “You’re really overthinking it.” I decisively cut him off. Dying miserably in the street in my past life was warning enough. I wasn’t shameless enough to insist on him. Seeing Anderson’s obvious disbelief, A flash of William’s proposal crossed my mind. So I looked at him calmly and said: “Anderson, you can rest assured, because I’m getting engaged.”

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A young intern named Jade boasted about her hacking skills by sending out mass resignation letters in everyone’s name. The company group chat exploded instantly. The boss, Marcus, posted a laughing emoji in the group: “Jade’s got some serious tech skills! No need to panic, everyone. I’ll withdraw all the resignation letters. Afternoon tea is on me!” Immediately after, I watched as everyone else’s resignation requests were rejected—except mine, which was approved. Out of 100 people in the company, he retained 99 of them but laid off only me, the core programmer. Since that’s how it was, there was no point in staying where I wasn’t wanted. Before leaving, I casually revoked my self-developed AI’s authorization to protect the database. By the time I was sitting in my new company’s director’s office, Marcus’s desperate phone calls had gone completely insane. … A notification popped up on my computer screen about the mass withdrawal of resignation letters. I scrolled to the bottom—only my approval form showed “Approved.” Lisa from HR slapped my resignation report on my desk. “Adrian, you’re the only one who got approved. Such a shame—the year-end bonus will be distributed in a few days, and you’ll miss it.” My heart sank as I pleaded, “Lisa, I can’t lose that $200,000. My family desperately needs that money to save a life…” She shrugged indifferently. “I’m just an employee. You’ll have to talk to Marcus and see if he’s willing to give you any consideration.” I rushed into Marcus’s office. He was fiddling with a cigar and waved his secretary out. “Marcus, I need an explanation about the resignation approval.” Marcus exhaled a puff of smoke and brushed me off casually. “Adrian, we need to give young people opportunities. You just can’t keep up with the times anymore.” He propped his feet up on the desk, speaking with mocking sarcasm. “If you want that year-end bonus, fine. I can withdraw the resignation letter, but…” I forced out the words through gritted teeth. “What’s the condition?” Marcus sneered and held up five fingers. “Drop to Level 12, monthly salary at intern standard—$500. Consider it paid learning.” I stood there frozen, my head buzzing. “$500? When you begged me to join your startup, that wasn’t the price you offered.” Marcus’s expression instantly turned cold, his voice icy. “The company needs to optimize now. Your ability to stay is my gift to you. Take it or leave it.” I stood rooted to the spot, palms sweating. My phone buzzed with a hospital bill notification. My wife had been diagnosed with ALS, and the daily hospital fees were a non-negotiable $5,000. To get back that life-saving $200,000 year-end bonus, I clenched my teeth and nodded in agreement. As I walked out of his office, Marcus made a public announcement. “I’m appointing Jade as Technical Supervisor with Level 5 salary benefits, effective immediately!” The income that should have been mine had just been handed to an intern. Keith, the deputy manager, led the applause, shouting at the top of his lungs. “Jade is our company’s future! Everyone should learn from Supervisor Jade!” Afternoon tea arrived at the office, and cheers erupted throughout. Jade carried the milk tea around, handing it out to everyone. When she reached me, she held up the empty bag mockingly. “Adrian, we didn’t count you in. Why don’t you drink some tap water instead?” Keith chimed in from the side, spitting maliciously. “Interns should act like interns. You think you deserve afternoon tea?” I grabbed my worn laptop bag and walked into the storage room, looking at the moldy walls with a self-mocking laugh. I remembered the early startup days when Marcus and I carried servers while dodging the rain. Back then, he personally promised to split everything fifty-fifty. That scene felt like yesterday. Now, he was popping champagne with Jade to celebrate. I wiped my face and my fingers flew rapidly across the keyboard. Since they wanted a genius, I would withdraw all bottom-layer authorization for my self-developed AI. I entered the command in the code terminal: Revoke upon resignation effective immediately. I said nothing, just watched this absurd farce with cold eyes. This place that didn’t treat people like human beings didn’t deserve the defense system I’d maintained for three years.

The next day, Jade sat at the core control console, pointing at a section of continuously erroring code on the screen and laughing. “Oh my God, this infinite loop bug has been here for three years? No wonder the system runs as slow as a turtle.” Her finger hovered above the Enter key, her face full of disgust. “I’m going to fix this bug and delete it completely.” My scalp exploded instantly. I rushed over and pressed down on her hand. “Stop! That’s not an ordinary bug—it’s a logic compromise made to maintain compatibility with legacy hardware!” I was so anxious my throat was hoarse, staring at her intently. “This bug throws errors, yes, but it forces other control units to run at reduced frequency. Delete it and the system will overload and crash!” Jade shook off my hand, looking at me with complete contempt as she brushed off her sleeve. “Adrian, your skills are terrible. You write bugs you can’t fix, then make up terms like ‘logic compromise’ to deceive people?” The commotion grew loud. Marcus walked over with his hands behind his back, brows furrowed. “What’s all this noise? Can’t people have peace in the morning?” I grabbed at this lifeline, pointing at the screen to explain. “Marcus, Jade wants to delete that load-balancing bug. This will cause serious problems—you have to stop her immediately!” Marcus looked at Jade, then at me, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. Jade immediately pouted, her eyes reddening. “Marcus, Adrian is just jealous of me. Fixing this bug would improve speed by at least 20%. He doesn’t want the company to progress.” The hesitation in Marcus’s eyes gradually disappeared. He turned his head and looked at me coldly. “Adrian, we need to give young people room to make mistakes. Don’t always suppress them with your old methods.” He patted Jade’s shoulder. “Jade, go ahead and fix it boldly. If anything goes wrong, I’ll take responsibility.” I stood frozen, watching helplessly as Jade pressed the Enter key. In that instant, all the indicator lights in the server room suddenly went dark. The mainframe let out a muffled hum, and the screens instantly went black. The entire office area fell into deathly silence, with only the emergency lights casting a ghastly pale glow. Jade’s face turned deathly white as she jumped up from her chair. “I… I only deleted one line of code…” The red dedicated phone on the desk suddenly rang shrilly. It was the direct hotline to DragonPeak Corporation, a major client. Marcus fumbled to answer the phone, his forehead covered in cold sweat. “Boss…. Boss, calling so early?” An angry roar came through the phone, loud enough for even me to hear. “Marcus! We’re receiving red alert signals! What the hell are you people doing?” Marcus’s legs were shaking. Just as he was about to explain, the mainframe behind him suddenly beeped. The power reconnected, the screen lit up again, and the glaring red warning disappeared. Jade pointed at the screen, screaming excitedly. “It’s on! Marcus! System restart successful!” A line of large green text appeared on the screen: [System Logic Optimization Complete]. Jade couldn’t wait to hit Enter and run a performance test. The progress bar flew through completion, finally settling on an astonishing number. [Current System Comprehensive Operating Efficiency: Increased by 30%]. Marcus breathed a long sigh of relief and immediately switched to a fawning expression. “Boss, you misunderstood. We were just performing a core technology upgrade. It’s completed now.” He hung up the phone, pointing at the big screen, his face full of wild joy. “See that? This is what they call ‘breaking to rebuild’! 30% speed increase!” Jade raised her chin proudly, looking at me provocatively. “Adrian, I wonder who was fear-mongering just now. Does your face hurt?” Keith led the applause, shouting at the top of his lungs. “Jade is amazing! Not like some people who just occupy space without contributing, always crying wolf!” He glanced at me sideways, adding sarcastically. “This is what they call technological dominance—the difference between genius and waste!” The entire company erupted in cheers, everyone celebrating this so-called “technological breakthrough.” Only I knew that the seemingly perfect data flow was just the last flash of brilliance before death. I returned to the storage room. My phone vibrated. It was a familiar number. When I answered, a respectful voice came through. “Mr. Adrian, this is HR from Skyward Tech. About the job offer we discussed last time—have you considered it?” I looked at the group of people celebrating outside the door, gathered around Jade popping champagne. “The job offer is fine.” I lowered my voice, speaking calmly. “But I still have a $200,000 year-end bonus to collect. That’s my hard-earned money.” The headhunter paused on the other end, then said. “Understood. We’ll wait for your good news.” I hung up the phone and laughed mockingly at myself. Marcus, since you chose your “genius,” I’ll take back what belongs to me.

On the morning of the third day, the final deadline for handover arrived. The company group chat suddenly exploded. Messages about year-end bonuses arriving flooded the screen. Everyone was celebrating amounts much higher than previous years. I opened my bank message, my fingertip trembling as I stared at that string of numbers. [Deposit: $2,000] Before I could catch my breath, my phone rang shrilly. It was the director of City First Hospital’s emergency department. When I answered, the sound of urgent monitor alarms came through. “Mr. Adrian, your wife has suffered sudden respiratory arrest! We’re performing CPR!” The doctor’s anxious voice came like thunder. “The situation is critical. We must perform an emergency tracheotomy immediately. Please pay the $50,000 surgery fee at once!” My head buzzed. I almost dropped my phone. “Save her! Please, you have to save her! I’ll transfer the money right away!” I hung up and rushed into Marcus’s office like a madman. Inside, Marcus was stuffing a thick stack of cash into envelopes and handing them to Jade. “Marcus! You have to give me that $200,000 commission! My wife is being resuscitated!” I rushed to the desk, eyes bloodshot, voice hoarse. Marcus leisurely sealed the envelope without even looking up. “Adrian, what are you yelling about? That money has already been divided among everyone.” He pointed at the cheering employees, speaking righteously. “Jade improved speed by 30%. Everyone worked very hard. This money should reward those who contributed.” My whole body trembled uncontrollably, blood rushing to my head. “That’s my life-saving money! How could you use it to buy favors?” Marcus suddenly laughed, grabbed my collar, and physically dragged me out of the office. “Come! Everyone, stop for a moment!” He pushed me unceremoniously into the center of the office area, shouting loudly. “Adrian says he wants back that $200,000 commission!” The entire room fell silent instantly. Dozens of pairs of eyes stared at me in unison. Marcus spread his hands, looking completely shameless. “I’ve already distributed the money to everyone. If I give it to him, you’ll all have to return the bonuses you just received.” He looked around, deliberately asking. “Do you agree to that?” Keith was the first to jump out, stuffing his envelope into his pocket and pointing at me while cursing. “Why should we? Money that’s already in our pockets, you want to claw it back out?” “Adrian, you’re shameless! Taking everyone’s money to fill your family’s bottomless pit?” With someone leading, the jeering around me instantly erupted. Jade giggled and raised her hand, shouting loudly. “Marcus, since Adrian is leaving anyway, why not use his freed-up salary budget to give everyone a $500 monthly raise!” The room fell silent for a second, then erupted in earth-shattering cheers. Marcus waved his hand magnanimously. “Approved! Jade is so considerate, unlike some people who only take and never give.” I stood in the crowd, my heart feeling like it was being stabbed with needles. I remembered last year when I led the team through five days and four nights to overcome difficulties, everyone sleeping in the server room. To fight for a $200 hardship allowance for my colleagues, I begged Marcus for three days. At that time, he smashed a cup and shouted at me, pointing at my nose. “Adrian! The company is in startup phase with no money! You need to understand my difficulties. Don’t always focus on money!” Now he was using my hard-earned money to buy loyalty, appearing extremely generous. “Long live Jade! Supervisor Jade is our real mother!” The employees’ gazes toward me instantly changed from disgust to hatred. As if I were the criminal blocking their path to wealth. Suddenly, a figure rushed out from the crowd. It was Ryan, whom I’d taught code to by hand. Smack! A resounding slap landed hard across my face.

Ryan’s face flushed red as he pointed at me and roared. “Adrian! Get out now! You almost cost us our raise!” “Acting so high and mighty all this time—turns out you’re a bloodsucker trying to cut off everyone’s income!” I covered my stinging cheek, looking in disbelief at this apprentice for whom I’d taken the blame countless times. Marcus watched this scene, leaned close to my ear, his voice icy cold. “See that, Adrian? This is human nature. Now you’re the target of everyone’s anger.” “You were always the high-and-mighty honor student in school. I’ve been annoyed with you for a long time.” “Controlling you—that’s making you, the genius, bow to me, the poor student, for a few dollars.” Before I could recover, Jade walked over carrying a cup of scalding coffee. “Adrian, still not awake?” Her hand “slipped,” and the brown liquid splashed directly onto my face and chest. “Oops, my hand slipped.” The scalding pain made me gasp. Coffee dripped from my chin onto the floor. The entire room erupted in laughter, whistles rising and falling. Jade covered her mouth, looking completely gleeful. “Awake now? Take your two thousand dollars and get lost.” Marcus clapped his hands, making his final summary statement. “Adrian, the facts prove that both your skills and character are inferior to Jade’s.” He pointed at the door, issuing his eviction order. “Radiant doesn’t need a waste who can’t even fix bugs. You can leave with peace of mind.” “From now on, this is Jade’s world!” The humiliation burned through my entire body like fire. My nails dug deep into my flesh, drawing blood. I wiped the coffee stains from my face without saying another word. I didn’t even look at them. I turned and walked out the door. Behind me was unrestrained celebration. In the hallway, I leaned against the cold wall and dialed the number I’d saved long ago. The phone was answered after just one ring. “This is Adrian.” I pressed down my voice, speaking with terrifying calm. “The job offer from Skyward Tech—I accept.” An excited voice came through the phone. “Excellent, Mr. Adrian. Salary and benefits as we discussed previously, doubled, with a $500,000 signing bonus transferred anytime.” “I need the money. Now.” “No problem. It’ll be in your account within ten minutes.” I hung up the phone, looking at that tightly closed company door, listening to the cheering inside. Cheer away. Cheer to your heart’s content. This is your last moment of happiness. Through my phone, I entered a command on my personal terminal: Revoke Aegis AI virus protection function. A red warning appeared on the screen: [Confirm revocation? After revocation, the system will lose AI virus protection function]. I pressed confirm. Watching the error red dots gradually appear on the screen, I breathed a long sigh of relief. Your tower is about to fall.

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While participating in a reality show, my sister and I both fell into the water. Without hesitation, my husband Holt jumped in and rescued my sister. He held her with such concern and urgency, walking away without looking back. I was left behind, nearly sinking to the bottom of the lake before the crew finally pulled me ashore. The next day, when I handed Holt the divorce papers, he scowled at me. “Lily can’t swim, that’s why I saved her first. Are you really going to be jealous over this?” I looked calmly into his eyes. “Yes. Sign it.” Holt and I quietly finalized our divorce. Holt kept his brows furrowed, but at this point, he could no longer stir any emotion in me. He stuffed the certificate into his pocket. “I’ll drive you home.” I shook my head. “No need.” Holt seemed displeased with my attitude. “Genesis, there’s no need to be like this. No matter what, we were together for three years. Divorce doesn’t mean we have to be strangers forever.” I was momentarily shocked. I could hardly believe those words came from Holt’s mouth. After all, now that Lily had returned, he should be thrilled that I was being so sensible and making room for them. “Mr. Pierce, to me, divorce means divorce. We’re not family, and we certainly can’t be friends.” “You—” “Besides, we don’t have children. There’s no need to stay in contact.” My words infuriated Holt. He turned and left. I watched his retreating figure and sighed helplessly. But when I thought about my bank account balance, those unhappy feelings vanished in an instant. Although I was the second daughter of the Shaw family, I never received any money from them. Instead, the divorce had made me a small fortune. There was no way I could get half of Pierce Holdings, so when I had the lawyer draft the divorce agreement, I only asked for twenty million dollars. Holt agreed, and he also gave me two luxury homes—one in New York and one in Los Angeles—along with three other properties and six commercial apartments in prime locations. This was enough to keep me comfortable for the rest of my life. Looking at those cold numbers, I suddenly couldn’t help but laugh. How wonderful. I could finally start living for myself. After the divorce, in just one day, I moved into a downtown penthouse. Having it under my name gave me an unprecedented sense of security. I thought leaving Holt would leave me in pain and despair. After all, during our three-year marriage, I had loved him. But unexpectedly, that night I slept exceptionally well. The long-absent relaxation let me sleep until noon the next day. Holt and I had a business marriage arranged by our grandfathers, who were war buddies. But originally, this marriage was meant for Lily. The reason was simple—she was the rose the Shaw family had cultivated for eighteen years. And I was the Shaw family’s biological daughter who had been switched at birth. Someone like me could never have met a privileged heir like Holt, let alone fallen in love with him. Until I turned eighteen, when Mr. and Mrs. Shaw found me, tearfully explaining that I was their biological daughter, and that a nurse’s mistake all those years ago had caused our separation. At that time, I was living in an orphanage. When I saw them arrive in their luxury car, I thought my future would be easier—at least I wouldn’t have to collect trash to earn money for school fees. The orphanage was poor, and not every child could afford to go to school. But I didn’t receive the guilt and compensation I expected from them. Only cold treatment. I thought, as long as I could go to school, that would be enough. They said Lily’s parents had both passed away, so they wouldn’t send her away. But their daily treatment of us was vastly different. I wasn’t like a daughter of the family at all. I was more like the maid’s daughter.

It wasn’t until Mrs. Shaw told me to enter into a business marriage that I learned the handsome young man Lily had always followed had been in a serious car accident. They said his leg would never fully heal, and he would limp for the rest of his life. Lily cried and screamed that she would never marry a cripple. So this mission fell to me. I could have refused. But when I thought about that face, so handsome in the sunlight, which I hadn’t seen in a year, I inexplicably agreed. I was twenty years old that year, about to start my sophomore year. They had me take a leave of absence from school, and I got married at a young age. When I went to see him, he flew into a rage, smashing a vase at my feet and shouting for Lily to come. But Lily had already gone abroad to study with the black card they gave her. The Shaw family’s business depended on Pierce Holdings. Lily didn’t want to marry a cripple, but they needed someone to stabilize the relationship between the Pierce and Shaw families, so they pushed me forward. That was the first time Mrs. Shaw showed me any kindness. She cried about how difficult things were for the family, cried about how pitiful Lily was, cried about how Mr. Shaw’s hair was already turning white. I remained unmoved. I said, why say all this? If I wanted to marry him, it wasn’t because of them—it was because of Holt himself. During my freshman year, Holt was a senior—the famous campus heartthrob and big man on campus. The social media pages were filled with declarations of love for him, and countless daughters from prominent families tried to win his favor. But back then, the only person by his side was Lily. Because of this, Lily became the object of everyone’s admiration. She proudly talked about how special she was to Holt, how she occupied an unshakable place in his heart. I appreciated good-looking people, but what I admired more was his academic achievement. His obsession with and dedication to mathematics led him to publish many research papers. I’d read every one of them, and they’d even helped me solve several problems I’d been stuck on. I was won over by his talent. Going from admiration to love wasn’t difficult at all. On our wedding day, Holt never smiled once, and I was so nervous I kept wiping the sweat from my hands. I even nearly fell when Holt took my hand. People around us laughed. I felt like something that didn’t belong on stage. I vaguely heard people mention Lily, and Holt’s face darkened even more. I thought he must love Lily. Otherwise, how could he resent me so much? In that instant, I regretted it—regretted my marriage, and regretted my secret crush. That night, Holt was on top of me like he was venting his frustrations. But his leg wasn’t very agile, and it hurt terribly, so I pushed him down, stopped him from moving, and sat on top of him instead, slowly taking him in. Before long, both our breathing grew heavy. Holt’s face flushed red, and I lost myself in my own movements. There wasn’t much conflict in the Pierce household, and here I actually lived more freely than I had at the Shaw house. I loved reading and still enjoyed delving into academic problems. Although I’d taken a leave of absence, I never stopped learning. As for Holt, he went from not coming home for days at a time to eventually coming back on time every day. Even when work was busy, he would send me messages telling me where he was. I learned massage techniques from a physical therapist. I wondered if Holt’s leg could slowly improve through massage. Once I had the idea, I started doing it. The first time I shyly told Holt about my plan. Later, I became skilled at massaging him. It took me half a year, and I even memorized all the pressure points on the human body. Holt went from initially protesting to eventually accepting it, and even waited for me to massage him for half an hour every day. I felt like my hands were getting stronger.

Life was actually quite boring. So one time when I went to Pierce Holdings to deliver documents Holt had left at home, a short drama editor spotted me and asked if I wanted to try playing a supporting role in their series—a smart student character. They thought my temperament was perfect for it. I inexplicably agreed, and Holt didn’t object either. What I didn’t expect was that the short drama would become a huge hit, and even I, as a supporting character, gained my own fans. I found it novel. I’d never imagined entering the entertainment industry, a place that had nothing to do with me. Pierce Holdings had many business ventures, and Rainfall Entertainment was just one small piece. Holt said that as long as I didn’t use the Pierce name externally, I could do whatever I wanted. So gradually, I got an agent, Lisa, and also a young assistant. I took on several supporting roles in major productions—fourth, fifth, sixth female leads. I became a minor actress. Sometimes scrolling through social media felt especially interesting. I would lie in bed laughing as I read fan comments to Holt, one hand massaging his leg. Without paying attention, I pressed on some spot, and Holt let out a muffled groan. Thinking I’d hurt him, I quickly dropped my phone to check, but Holt pushed me down onto the bed. Kissing came naturally, and what followed was a natural progression. We became more and more in sync, both finding pleasure in it. From that point on, our relationship progressed by leaps and bounds. He would bring me the little cakes I loved, buy me clothes and jewelry, and occasionally take me to watch movies or walk by the lake. We were like an ordinary married couple. And under my massage therapy, Holt’s leg got better and better. Even the doctor said it was a miracle. Now when Holt walked, as long as he didn’t go too fast, you couldn’t tell he had ever limped at all. In the third year of our marriage, Lily came back. The day she returned, Holt unusually didn’t cling to me. And for the first time in three years, Mr. and Mrs. Shaw called, asking Holt and me to come home. Lily had been gone for three years and had never come back once. During the one family gathering at New Year’s, the Shaws had awkwardly said that Lily was busy with her studies. Holt’s face was cold, and he didn’t speak. I didn’t know what he was thinking. After all, since getting married, I, their biological daughter, had barely returned to the Shaw house either. But the preferential treatment given to the Shaw family had never stopped flowing. When Holt and I returned to the Shaw house, I saw a graceful young woman throw herself into Holt’s arms like the wind. I stood beside them watching. Holt didn’t push her away. The woman in his arms had matured considerably, but she still kept calling him by his first name, tears streaming down and soaking Holt’s suit. Watching this scene, my heart ached. I deeply regretted agreeing to return to the Shaw house. Seeing me beside them, Lily straightened up. “I’m sorry, Genesis. I was just so happy. Holt, oh wait, should I call you by your name now?” Holt’s jaw tightened. He took my hand with a cold expression and led me to our seats. Lily watched us with obvious shock. That dinner was utterly frustrating. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Shaw asked how I’d been doing recently. Instead, they desperately tried to get Lily and Holt to talk, saying how much Lily had been thinking about Holt. I suddenly felt like they were trying to push Lily onto him. From that day on, Lily was like a fly, appearing around Holt and me constantly. And Holt went from initial resistance to eventual acceptance—all in less than a month. Lily wanted to enter the entertainment industry, so Holt had Rainfall Entertainment’s top agent take her on.

Lily came and went from the Pierce Holdings building like she owned the place. Everyone assumed she was Mrs. Pierce. After all, I’d kept my identity hidden at Rainfall Entertainment—no one knew about my relationship with Holt. But Lily was different. She would loudly call Holt and act cute on the phone, then take takeout to his office. As for me, after Holt coldly dismissed me the first time I visited, I never went again. Everyone else assumed I was some D-list actress trying to climb into the CEO’s bed. Lily was pure and lovely, and with Holt’s backing, she quickly became popular, with resources constantly flowing her way. When Lisa asked if I knew Lily, I said I didn’t. Lisa then started gossiping about Lily, saying she acted like a diva and used her relationship with the CEO to snatch whatever endorsements she wanted. It wasn’t until three of my endorsements were stolen that I realized Lily was targeting me. As for Holt, since I’d entered this industry, he’d never given me any preferential treatment. When we ran into each other in the building, he’d act like he didn’t see me. Back then, I still hadn’t thought about divorce. After all, I really did like Holt. Until something happened that seemed small to him. For the first time, I felt that Holt and I couldn’t make it work. It started with a popular outdoor reality show that had invited both Lily and me. The whole thing had been harmonious. Lily played the lively, cheerful starlet, while I dutifully showed my strengths in the games. That day, Holt unexpectedly came to visit the set. The directors around him all greeted him warmly. That’s when the accident happened. The wooden bridge by the lake was old and poorly maintained. When both Lily and I stepped onto it, it suddenly broke. Both of us fell into the lake. Chaos erupted around us. The crew members all started to jump in to save us. But what no one expected was that Pierce Holdings’ CEO Holt would be the first to jump into the lake. I couldn’t swim. When I saw Holt dive in, I thought he was coming to save me. After all, I was his wife, wasn’t I? But when I saw him grab Lily and start swimming toward the shore, my heart suddenly felt at peace. I only had one thought: So after three years together, he doesn’t love me. Holt acted like he didn’t even see that I’d fallen into the water too. He carried Lily to his car, so anxious, so distressed. As I sank to the bottom of the lake, all I could see was the car driving away. By the time the crew members pulled me out, I’d already lost consciousness. It was just that coincidental—everyone thought someone else would save me. But Holt’s interruption made them forget about me entirely. When the assistant director shouted to save me, everyone suddenly remembered I existed. I was rushed to the hospital. The show was suspended. When I woke up, only my agent Lisa was by my side. She was terrified, looking at me with red-rimmed eyes. I moved my body. I didn’t seem badly hurt. “Lisa, I’m not dead.” “Don’t say that! You scared me to death, Genesis. How could you be so unlucky? It’s all because Mr. Pierce made such a big scene rescuing Lily that everyone forgot about you. Don’t you feel terrible?” “No.” My heart was very calm. I’d foolishly thought that Holt and I were husband and wife, that we were one unit. Reality had given me a harsh blow. I thought, Holt and I—our fate ends here. I was discharged that afternoon. I saw Holt supporting Lily, with Mr. and Mrs. Shaw following behind them. They were smiling, like a happy family. Lily leaned weakly against Holt while Mrs. Shaw gently draped a jacket over her shoulders. It was like they’d completely forgotten about me.

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On the day my wife gave birth, my mother and I accidentally overheard her conversation with her assistant outside the delivery room: “Felix, I gave birth to twins with different fathers. This one with the birthmark on his hand is your son. The other one belongs to my husband.” “Clara, really? That’s unbelievable!” Felix’s face was full of disbelief. “It’s true! That night after I had sex with Benjamin, I had sex with you several more times. I wasn’t sure… so I got a DNA test right away. The results showed the two babies are fraternal twins with different fathers!” After hearing this, Felix was overjoyed. He took his child and passionately kissed Clara. Witnessing this scene, my mother couldn’t handle the shock and fainted. She never woke up again. As I wept over my mother’s body, Clara sent me a message: “Honey, I’ve decided to recover at a postpartum care center. I’m only taking one child with me. You can take care of the other one—it’ll let you experience the joy of being a father!” The double blow left me devastated, and I spat out a mouthful of blood!

I don’t know what emotions to use to describe my grief and rage at this moment. My lover’s betrayal, my mother’s death, the discovery that one son isn’t mine—all these humiliations were like an invisible black hand, ruthlessly squeezing my heart until I could barely breathe. Looking at my mother’s cold body, my guilt grew deeper and deeper. But time didn’t allow me to grieve. A nurse came over carrying a baby. “Mr. Anderson, please hold your child! Ever since your wife left with his brother, he hasn’t stopped crying.” “It’s like he knows his mother abandoned him.” I lifted my bloodshot eyes and slowly turned my head toward the baby in the nurse’s arms. With trembling hands, I took the child. In that moment, my heart struggled violently. I could only hope that Clara had taken my child with her, not that bastard’s. But when I saw that the baby’s hands had no birthmark, it felt like someone had punched me hard in the gut. I instantly collapsed to the floor. She had chosen to abandon my child and only take Felix’s spawn to live their happy family life. At that moment, my heart felt like it was being cut by knives. Right then, Felix sent me a message: “Benjamin, I’ll take good care of Clara and the baby for you. Don’t worry! I’m even making him my godson.” Immediately after, he posted on social media. Two photos. One showed his hand interlocked with a soft, pale hand wearing a wedding ring. I recognized that hand. The ring finger still wore the wedding ring I had designed for her myself. The other photo showed him holding the baby in one arm while his other hand wrapped around Clara’s back as she rested her head on his shoulder. “Grateful for the two most important people in my life—my son and the woman I love most.” “Even during her postpartum recovery, she insisted on staying with me and our son.” Our colleagues commented below, puzzled but still offering likes and congratulations. Only I remained motionless, gripping my phone tightly, my eyes trembling with rage. What a perfect family of three. What a devoted pair of cheating dogs. To accommodate Felix’s feelings, she abandoned my son under the guise of letting me “learn how to be a father.” In reality, she just didn’t want my child disturbing them. He was so small, just born, and his own mother had already abandoned him. I silently removed my wedding ring and threw it out the window. Who would have thought that seven years of deep love would end in mockery and betrayal? What should have been a joyful occasion now turned into a funeral. I handled my mother’s funeral alone, carrying all the heartache. Since that day, Clara hadn’t called me once. Not even a single message. She hadn’t even asked about her infant son.

That very night, I contacted a lawyer to draft divorce papers. When she returned, I would file for divorce. Since the baby was so young, I hired a nanny to help care for him. Life had to go on. Work couldn’t stop. I returned to the company. As soon as I walked in, I heard colleagues whispering among themselves. When I passed by, they all turned to look at me with eyes full of mockery, pity, and sympathy. “Did you hear? Clara actually gave birth to twins with different fathers. One of them belongs to Felix.” “What? You can’t just say things like that.” “I’m not making it up. It’s true. On the day Clara gave birth, I happened to pass by and overheard the doctor talking to her.” “Look, Felix even posted about it on social media, saying he’s the godfather. But he’s actually the biological father.” “Oh my god, that’s insane!” “Poor Director Anderson. He has no idea. Not only did Clara cheat on him, but she even left his child behind…” All these humiliating words pierced my ears, making them ache. Everyone knew that Clara had cuckolded me. I don’t know how I made it to my office. Only my chest ached as if it were bleeding. Before I could collect myself, a colleague came in to tell me about a meeting. “Director Anderson, Ms. Hayes just called to notify everyone to gather in the conference room.” When I entered the conference room, it was already full. I looked up at the projector. Clara was holding Felix’s child while announcing something to everyone. “During my postpartum recovery, I’ve decided to let Felix temporarily assume the CEO position. The previous project needs to continue moving forward. Whoever can close the deal will receive a substantial bonus from the company.” As soon as she finished speaking, everyone turned to look at me. “I thought Ms. Hayes would let Director Anderson manage the CEO position. After all, he’s her husband.” “Come on, stop talking.” I ignored these murmurs and focused my energy on securing this project. After all, I would soon divorce Clara and resign. Before leaving, I wanted to earn some money for my child’s expenses. For the next several days, I juggled between company and home, coaxing the baby to sleep while staying up late working on the project. After several sleepless nights, my body couldn’t take it anymore. When I finally completed the project and proactively contacted the client, they were very satisfied with my proposal. But the moment I returned to my office, I collapsed from exhaustion. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in the hospital. I desperately wanted to be discharged because today the client would come to sign the contract. But when I rushed into the conference room, I saw Clara with Felix, signing the contract with the client. “I never expected Felix to be so talented. This project actually came from his hand.” “I thought it was Director Anderson’s.” “How could it be? I’ve been responsible for this project all along. I worked so hard on it.” Standing at the door, I couldn’t hold back any longer and rushed inside. I finally understood—Felix had stolen my project while I was unconscious and claimed it as his own.

“Felix, when did the project I worked so hard on become yours?” I glared at this despicable bastard, wanting nothing more than to punch him in the face. Seeing the fury in my eyes, he immediately looked guilty and hid behind Clara. “Ms. Hayes, this project is definitely mine. Director Anderson must be going crazy from taking care of his kid. He’s trying to steal credit.” Hearing this, Clara glared at me with displeasure, then politely addressed the confused client. “Don’t listen to him. Since I announced that whoever creates an outstanding project will receive a substantial reward, everyone wants a piece of the pie.” “I believe this project was done by my assistant Felix.” The client suddenly understood and looked at me with contempt. “I never imagined that for a few dollars, some people in this world would do such sleazy things.” His words made everyone at the meeting mock me as a thief. “I can’t believe Director Anderson is this kind of person. Who would have thought?” “You really can’t judge a book by its cover!” “Is he doing this out of revenge? Because of that…” “Shh, don’t say anything!” I stood there like a clown, utterly humiliated. I couldn’t take it anymore. I punched Felix in the face. “This is my project. How dare you just take it?” Clara’s face immediately darkened. She had employees escort the client out, not wanting them to witness the company’s internal conflict. Once they left, Clara slapped me across the face. After hitting me, her body trembled violently, and she quickly withdrew her hand. Since our marriage, we had always been loving. We had never fought. Now, because of Felix, Clara was getting physical with me for the first time. “Are you done making a scene? Must you embarrass me in front of everyone? If you want money, I can give it to you.” “The client was still here, and you acted so childishly, playing the thief trying to steal the project.” She didn’t offer me a single word of explanation. Even if I continued insisting the project was mine, no one would believe me. Felix pretended to be considerate, quickly holding Clara back. “Ms. Hayes, don’t blame Director Anderson. Don’t let my situation cause a fight between you two.” But because of him, our marriage had already cracked. We’d even produced an illegitimate child. I laughed bitterly, tears of extreme disappointment filling my eyes. Seeing me like this, Clara’s heart trembled involuntarily. She wanted to say something to me, but I had already removed my work badge and thrown it on the floor. “Clara, I’ll send you divorce papers later, along with my resignation letter.” After dropping those words, I disappeared from the doorway. Clara stood frozen, never expecting me to bring up divorce. Just as she was about to chase after me, Felix quickly stopped her. “Clara, let’s go home!” “Mom just called and said the baby won’t stop crying.” “I think he misses his mother.” Hearing this, Clara had no mood to look for me and hurriedly left with Felix. I watched her departing figure, so decisive. She never thought that she had another child at home waiting for her to come back, also wanting his mother to hold him. Son, we don’t need this kind of mother.

As soon as I got home, I heard my son crying. At that moment, my heart filled with endless bitterness. His mother was on the other side, caring for another man’s child, never once asking about him. I picked him up, gently comforting him and coaxing him to sleep. Just as he finally fell asleep, my phone received a video call from Felix. My finger accidentally swiped and answered it. The baby who had just fallen asleep immediately started crying again. But I stared deadly at the video, watching a naked man and woman locked in a passionate embrace and kiss. “Felix, be gentle. I just finished my postpartum recovery.” “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.” “Let’s indulge ourselves one last time. After tomorrow, I need to go home.” “Because of you, I’ve neglected him for so long. When I think of the disappointed look in his eyes, I’m so afraid of losing him.” “Why did you have to steal his project and make me frame him?” Clara playfully raised her hand to hit Felix, but after a few taps, she slowly sank into Felix’s tender embrace. With bloodshot eyes, I shouted at the cheating couple in the video like a madman, but they couldn’t seem to hear me. I was the only fool being tortured. So Clara knew the project was mine, but she chose to frame me for Felix’s sake. A heart dies in an instant. Finally, I hurled my phone against the wall. My heart hurt so much, felt so cold. There was no need to stay in this house anymore. After all, it was Clara’s premarital property. The day I married her, her many friends had secretly called me ungrateful, mocked me as a poor loser unworthy of Clara. For her sake, I had always endured it. This was also why I worked so hard on that project. I never expected that in the end, I’d just be making a wedding dress for someone else. The next morning, I woke up early and packed my things. Before leaving, I signed the divorce papers and left them on the coffee table. Taking my son with me, I left without any lingering attachment. But just as I opened the door, Clara came back with Felix’s spawn. As soon as she saw me, she leaned into my arms. “Benjamin, I’m back!” “I know you and our son must have missed us, right?” Missed you? Ha! I coldly pushed Clara away without any emotion. Thinking of her betrayal and her indulgence of Felix, I never wanted to see her again for the rest of my life. “Benjamin? What’s… wrong with you?” “Are you still angry about the project?” I said nothing, just watched coldly to see how she would explain herself. Right then, Felix’s child started crying. Clara’s eyes lit up. She handed me the baby. “Benjamin, you haven’t seen Jacob yet. Hold him.” I raised my hand and slapped her across the face. She’d been back all this time without asking about our child at home even once, yet wanted me to hold Felix’s spawn. “Clara, can you stop pretending?” “This child is clearly from the different-father twins you conceived. He’s Felix’s spawn. Why would I hold my wife’s lover’s child?” Clara’s eyes widened. She stood frozen for a long time. “You… you know everything?” “The truth always comes out eventually.” I threw the divorce papers in her face. “Now that it’s come to this, let’s just divorce. I’ll fulfill you and your star-crossed lovers.” Just as I was about to leave, Clara cried and hugged me from behind. “No, let’s not divorce.” “I’ll change. To make up for my mistakes, I’ve decided to hold a celebration for the baby tomorrow and announce that I’m transferring all my assets to our child. Okay?” Seeing that I remained unmoved, Clara snatched my child and held him while crying with red eyes. As soon as the baby saw his mother, he smiled. I began to hesitate, so I waited. For my child’s sake, I’d give her one more chance. That night, Clara dressed herself very seductively and entered my room to sleep with me, but I kicked her out. She didn’t get angry and was about to continue pestering me when she received a call from Felix. Before long, she looked shaken and without hesitation changed her clothes and hurried away. It wasn’t until the next day, at the baby’s first-month celebration. Clara had already instructed her new assistant to seat my son and me at the head table. Before long, she appeared holding Felix’s child in one hand while her other arm was linked with Felix’s. She chatted and laughed with numerous distinguished guests, leaving my son and me behind. Everyone was watching me as a joke. When it came time for the announcement, Clara looked conflicted, never daring to look at us. “Since today is my child’s first-month celebration, I’m announcing some happy news.” “I’ve decided to transfer my company and assets to be inherited by the child in my arms.” At that moment, everyone cheered. Only I picked up my child and left in desolation. Clara, oh Clara. Since you couldn’t do it, why did you make that promise? You gave us hope again and again, only to give us despair in the end. This time, I completely gave up and left this sad city with my child. When Clara searched everywhere at the banquet but couldn’t find my son and me, her heart panicked and trembled. Right then, her assistant came running over in a panic. “Ms. Hayes, this is bad!” “The client just called saying that the project design isn’t the real copy, just an incomplete draft.” “They’re demanding the real copy now, or they’ll cancel the contract and sue us for fraud.”

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I spent ten years supporting my husband through building his startup. The company finally went public. My husband, Adrian Crawford, sent over a custom-made million-dollar gown, wanting to take me to the gala. But I couldn’t even fit into that dress. I clutched the pregnancy test results in my pocket and asked for a divorce over the phone. Adrian’s assistant was crying her eyes out: “It’s all my fault. I didn’t ask for her measurements properly.” Adrian patiently comforted her for a long while, then turned to me and said, “Since that’s the case, let Lily attend the gala in your place.” Watching them on TV standing hand in hand together, I calmly packed up my things and left. After packing everything up, I had wanted to say a proper goodbye. I didn’t expect Adrian to only come home close to one in the morning. Hearing the password lock click open, I thought it was Adrian. Looking up, I unexpectedly met Lily Bennett’s finger that she hadn’t had time to withdraw. She wore that evening gown I’d been anticipating for ten years. Just as breathtakingly beautiful as it appeared on TV. “I’ve picked up documents for Mr. Crawford several times before. Entering the password each time was troublesome, so I just registered my fingerprint.” She explained somewhat awkwardly. In the past, I would have definitely made a scene. But now, my heart was calm. Apart from that unavoidable sourness welling up from the bottom of my heart, I didn’t feel surprised at all. Before I could respond, Adrian, leaning loosely against her, mumbled, “She can’t hold her liquor. I drank for her.” We both understood who that “her” was, making the atmosphere even more delicate. She quickly lowered her head and coaxed in the gentlest tone, “Mr. Crawford, we’re home.” As she spoke, her eyes couldn’t help but glance toward me, concealing triumph. In the past, I would have questioned them without caring about anything else, but today I was unusually calm. Watching the goal we’d worked ten years toward, seeing that the person walking with him into glory and splendor wasn’t me. Suddenly, it seemed like I could let it go. Only then did Adrian lift his head, his half-closed eyes opening. Seeing me, he stumbled toward me and wrapped his arms around my neck. “Serena, we finally made it.” Lily, seeing this scene, seemed somewhat unwilling, but right now no one clearly had time to care about her. “You’re drunk.” As soon as Lily left, I pushed away Adrian’s body and said coldly. He slumped onto the sofa, looking at me with somewhat guilty eyes. Then he pulled out a bag from inside his jacket. Inside was an even more exquisite gown. According to him, this one cost three million, far more prestigious than the one Lily wore today. I didn’t reach out to take it. Both he and I knew clearly that this wasn’t what I cared about at all. The TV was still looping footage of them entering the venue together today. He immediately turned off the TV and guiltily covered my eyes. “Don’t look.” “You suddenly refused to come today. I had no choice but to let her substitute for you.” The drunkenness in his eyes had mostly faded, as if he were sincerely explaining to me. “Adrian, is this really the first time she’s substituted for me?” “Was it really because you had no choice?” “Or did you feel from the very beginning that she was more suitable to stand with you in that position?” Hearing these words, the man who had been patiently explaining somehow had a nerve struck. His handsome brows furrowed tightly. “Serena, do you have to be so sensitive?” “Why can’t you be more understanding, like Lily?” “If you could learn from her a bit, maybe Mom and Dad would finally accept you.” I found it laughable. Laughable that he was the one with a guilty conscience, yet he wanted to blame me for not being as stupid as he imagined. The evening gown I’d anticipated for ten years was in someone else’s size, and he still wanted me to be magnanimous. “Adrian, you know I can’t learn to be like her.” “How about this—I’ll give up my position as the Crawford family’s fiancée to her. Let’s break up, okay?” I looked at him quietly. I smiled with my lips parted, smiling so hard my heart ached. That man who said he’d sever ties with his family and defy the whole world to protect my frankness—today he wanted me to learn to bow and scrape like someone else to please him.

Adrian’s expression turned cold. That little bit of gentle warmth from earlier vanished completely. He frowned and warned me, “Serena, don’t say things you don’t mean. You know I don’t have the patience to coax you.” I had already told myself not to care, yet my nails still dug fiercely into my palms. I hadn’t heard this phrase in a long time. A woman’s sixth sense is keen. The first time I saw Lily, I felt she was hostile toward me. So every time the two of them got too close, I would throw a tantrum. At first, Adrian would explain, would promise, even said he’d transfer her to another department in the company. But when I saw Lily again, I discovered Adrian hadn’t done anything like he promised. He even gave her extra privileges because of Lily’s thoughtfulness and liveliness. Like how she could get a ride in the boss’s car every day just by acting cute. While I, the legitimate girlfriend, had to struggle to hail a cab home in the pouring rain. Like how she could call Adrian on stormy nights saying she was scared, never considering that I’d lie awake until dawn because of his departure. In my eyes, it was like witnessing a grand betrayal firsthand. Painful, while hollowing out my heart bit by bit. And when I questioned him about it? He would always warn me in a disgusted, incredulous tone: “Serena, how old are you? Why do you have to compete with a young girl like Lily?” “She’s so innocent, she doesn’t think that much. You’re too suspicious.” You’re too sensitive… You’re too petty… These were the words he said to me most often after Lily appeared. Until finally I stopped making scenes, and our relationship returned to normal. But only I knew what kind of torment I was going through. After he finished speaking, he turned to leave. Watching his retreating back, I suddenly spoke up: “If I were pregnant, would your parents accept me?” His footsteps froze. Exhaustion made the corners of his eyes red, his brows knitting in irritation. I carefully studied this man I’d loved for ten years. There was no surprise in his eyes, no anticipation. I pulled the corners of my mouth into a smile. “Just kidding.” He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “We’re not ready for a child right now.” “I understand.”

While he was showering, I walked out the door with my already-packed luggage. Late at night, a couple was riding bikes while laughing and playing around. I stood under the streetlight, watching until my eyes became blurry. Perhaps my relationship with Adrian had never been equal. The first time I met Adrian, he was already the lofty flower on the snowy ridge. And I was the daughter of a murderer and a nightclub dancer. When my deadbeat dad found my mom at the nightclub, she was working hard. My dad asked her for money. She refused. Originally, my dad was just trying to scare her, but who knew my mom’s temper would flare up—she grabbed his hand and brought it to her own neck. As a result, one slip of the hand, and someone actually died. My mom died, and my dad was sentenced to fifteen years for manslaughter. That video circulated widely at the time. After people dug up the fact that I was their daughter, I was inevitably bullied. Even many parents demanded the school expel me. Since childhood, I’d lived in hell. Education was my only way out in this life. I knelt in the principal’s office until my forehead was red and swollen from kowtowing, crying my heart out. Adrian came to deliver homework and happened to see it. He pulled me out of the office and took me to the infirmary to bandage my forehead. I slapped him across the face. He had no idea what it meant for me if I couldn’t get the principal to relent. But he just smiled and took it. “Pretty strong hand you’ve got.” Then he ruffled my hair. “Don’t worry, I’ll take responsibility.” Later, the rumors disappeared, and the principal stopped mentioning expulsion. He seemed to naturally consider me his person and started taking care of me. Until the day we filled out college applications, he nervously asked me which one I’d chosen. Finally, with a nervous voice, he confessed to me. Back then, he really did care about my feelings. We naturally got together. After confirming our relationship, I worked even harder. But when he brought me home to meet his family, we still faced strong opposition. The Crawford family saw me as a dangerous threat, as if letting down their guard for a moment would drag Adrian into the abyss with me. That day, he gripped my hand tightly and walked out of the Crawford family villa with his head held high, saying we would forge our own world together, and he would make the Crawford family accept me. He also told me that what his family said wasn’t true—they just hadn’t seen my good qualities yet. Both he and I held a grudge in our hearts, vowing to achieve something. Back then, the lofty Crawford family heir worked three jobs simultaneously. Clearly exhausted like a dog, he would still hold me and cry uncontrollably when he saw me throwing up from business drinking. He said it was all his fault for not being able to give me a good life. He said he would never let me down in this lifetime. He also said that one day, he would walk hand in hand with me under the spotlight, letting everyone know I deserved the best. For the sake of his words, I rejected offers from all the major listed companies and wholeheartedly helped him with his startup. Secretly enduring the Crawford family’s repeated difficulties and insults. In their mouths, I was trash, lower class, a whore. But as long as Adrian could still firmly hold my hand, I would die before letting go. I also worked extremely hard to gain the Crawford family’s approval. He said he was the only son for three generations in the Crawford family, and the old lady had always hoped to hold a great-grandchild. So I always thought having a child could ease the relationship with the Crawford family. But he never seemed to take it to heart. Maybe the road was too long, and halfway through, I was the only one still fixated on reaching the destination. And he did it. He built his tower, hosted his guests, became the center of attention. Yet he alone forgot about me. The wind was a bit cold. I pulled my coat tighter, dragging my suitcase. The city was vast. The empty, long streets seemed to suggest that everyone had a place to belong—except me. In the end, I chose to return to my old home. The moment I opened the door, a musty smell wafted out from inside. I hadn’t come back since my mom died. The bed had spots and traces of intimate activities. From age five, I watched my mom bring one man after another in here. Everyone had the right to despise my mom, except me—after all, she spent most of the money she earned on me. After cleaning up the house, I lay on the bed. My hand rested on my stomach, where the little life I’d long anticipated resided. Though reluctant, having already decided to break up, I didn’t want to give myself any chance to turn back. I just didn’t expect to run into Adrian on the day of the abortion.

“Miss Sullivan, the baby in your belly is very healthy. You’re still young—it’s a good time to have a child. Are you sure you want to terminate it?” The cold instrument slid across my stomach. I could see a tiny fetal form on the screen. My heart instantly softened beyond measure, and even my throat felt blocked by damp cotton. I forcefully suppressed the urge to cry and nodded at her. “Yes.” After the doctor’s examination, I decided to schedule the surgery for tomorrow. After paying the fees, while waiting for the elevator, I unfortunately ran into Adrian and Lily. Lily covered her arm, leaning weakly against him. The moment he saw me, his expression darkened. Probably thinking I was going to make a scene again. I ignored them, just looking at the long queue somewhat irritably. I don’t know if it was intentional, but Lily suddenly bit her lip and looked at Adrian with tearful eyes, saying it hurt. He gently rubbed her hair, patiently coaxing her. From their conversation, it seemed that the night of the gala, Lily had taken the subway home and fallen. Between the lines, there was even a sense of blaming me for not taking her home. I found it ridiculous. Falling this badly from riding the subway—if that were the case, with so many people riding subways every day, who knows how many would end up disabled. Fortunately, the elevator doors opened. I instinctively protected my stomach and surged into the elevator with the crowd. But there were too many people, and my stomach still got bumped several times, causing dull pain. On the other side, Adrian was protecting Lily securely in his arms, afraid she might get knocked or jostled. He wasn’t far from me. Looking at the payment slip in my hand, his expression darkened as he asked me, “You’re sick?” “Why didn’t you tell me?” “And you moved all your things out. Just because of that little thing, you had to make such a big deal out of it?” “Move everything back today. I promise you, I’ll let everyone in the company know that you’re my wife. Is that okay?” I found it laughable. To him, our ten years of persistence was just “that little thing”? He clearly knew what it meant to me. “No need. And I wasn’t making a scene—I’m serious.” I communicated with him calmly, wanting him to realize I truly wanted to break up with him. I don’t know if the little one sensed their father’s presence, but they actually kicked me for the first time. My whole body stiffened. Thinking that I’d have to terminate the pregnancy tomorrow, a mix of emotions welled up inside me. The elevator quickly arrived. I walked out, looking at the two people inside. My hand rested on my stomach as I turned back to look at Adrian. “Adrian, if I asked you to leave her right now and come with me to see a doctor, would you agree?”

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On the day of my wedding to Declan, he ran away with his childhood sweetheart, Sylvie, and left the country. Before he left, he made a point to explain: “Sylvie wants a baby. I don’t trust any other man to do it, so her child can only be mine. But don’t worry, we’re doing IVF. Once Sylvie gets pregnant, I’ll marry you. Don’t be upset, okay?” Three years later, Declan finally returned from abroad with Sylvie. He found me, his tone matter-of-fact: “The baby in Sylvie’s belly is mine, after all. From now on, you two will share me as your husband. She’s already gotten a marriage certificate with me, so to be fair, you’ll get a wedding ceremony with me. That way neither of you loses out.” Sylvie immediately linked her arm through Declan’s, her expression full of envy: “Summer, Declan is so good to you. He specifically wants to hold a wedding for you, so you can be Mrs. Walsh in front of everyone and be recognized by all. What a blessing!” Looking at how the two of them played off each other, I let out a cold laugh. “You can keep that blessing for yourself.” After all, three years ago, I had already married Declan’s older brother, Hudson.

Declan’s expression darkened. He immediately decided I was throwing a tantrum. “Why can’t you be as smart as Sylvie?” “I’m giving you a wedding to let everyone know you’re Declan Walsh’s woman. What an honor that is!” “Sylvie only got a marriage certificate with me, not even a proper ceremony. She’s endured so much in silence, and yet you’re still not satisfied?” As soon as he finished speaking, Sylvie lowered her head and tugged at Declan’s sleeve: “Declan, don’t talk to Summer like that. She probably just needs time to process this.” “I’m fine with it. Being wronged a little doesn’t matter, as long as you’re with me and the baby. Don’t fight with Summer because of me.” I stared at the two of them in front of me, completely stunned. Had these two lost their minds? I looked up, my tone laced with sarcasm: “Declan, what makes you think that after you spent three years abroad with Sylvie, I’d still be waiting for you?” Declan froze for a moment, then laughed as if he’d heard the funniest joke: “Everyone in Silverton knows you, Summer, are head over heels for me, Declan Walsh. That you’d never marry anyone but me in this lifetime!” He reached out and pulled Sylvie closer, looking as if he was certain I’d spend my whole life revolving around him. He thought I was just throwing a little fit now, that with a few sweet words and some coaxing, I’d obediently give in. “Besides, if you really didn’t want to marry me, you would’ve broken things off three years ago.” That statement instantly brought back memories from three years ago. That day was Sylvie’s birthday. Declan canceled our anniversary dinner, eagerly running off to her party, saying he was just celebrating her birthday and telling me not to be unreasonable. By midnight, Declan still hadn’t come home. Worried, I brought some hangover soup to the hotel where they were having the party. But the moment I pushed open the door, I froze. Declan and Sylvie lay naked in each other’s arms on the hotel bed. My hands began trembling uncontrollably. The soup bowl crashed to the floor, the shattering sound waking them up. There wasn’t a trace of guilt on Declan’s face—only righteous indignation. “Summer, don’t read too much into this. We just drank too much and fell asleep together. Nothing happened.”

“After all, Sylvie and I have been like two peas in a pod since childhood. If something was really going to happen between us, would it be your turn?” How laughable! How absurd! Naked in each other’s arms, and nothing happened? But back then, for the sake of my mother’s dying wish, I ultimately chose to forgive. And that one act of leniency gave Declan and Sylvie the nerve to push even further. They’d wear matching outfits, check into the same hotel room constantly… It wasn’t until later, when Declan took Sylvie abroad saying he’d help her get pregnant, that I finally announced our breakup. Did Declan think I was just saying that in anger? Whatever. What he thought didn’t matter at all anymore. Looking again at this shameless pair of cheaters in front of me, I felt disgusted even looking at them for another second. I turned to leave. Seeing this, Declan’s furious shout rang out behind me: “Summer, are you done throwing your tantrum? Let me tell you, don’t be ungrateful! Think it over yourself. When you’ve figured it out, come find me like a good girl. Don’t wait until I’m really angry! You’ll regret it then.” I rolled my eyes and walked straight toward the parking lot. Today was supposed to be the day for my prenatal checkup, but I hadn’t expected to run into these two unlucky people. After parking, I’d just walked into the hospital lobby when my phone vibrated. It was a message from Hudson: “Honey, don’t be nervous going to your first prenatal checkup alone. You’re the bravest baby! Once I finish my work, I’ll come home to be with you and the baby. Be good.” Looking at this message, my mood finally improved a little. But my mind grew even more confused—how could two sons from the same Walsh family be so different? Declan was selfish, hypocritical, and unfaithful, trampling my genuine feelings underfoot. But Hudson had always been gentle and considerate. In the three years since our marriage, he’d spoiled me like a child. He remembered all my little preferences. When I needed him, even if he wasn’t by my side, he’d find every way to help me solve my problems. The prenatal checkup went smoothly. The doctor said the baby was developing well. After sending a photo of the checkup report to Hudson, I drove home. But the moment I pushed open the front door, I saw Declan and Sylvie sitting on the sofa. That’s when I suddenly remembered—Hudson and I’s new house was still being renovated. Right now, we were still living at his parents’ house. This was originally Declan’s home too. Running into them somehow instantly filled me with disgust. Hearing the noise, Declan looked up at me and immediately sneered: “I thought you had such a backbone, Summer? It’s only been a few hours, and here you are crawling back to find me?” “So? Have you thought it through?” Before I could speak, Sylvie immediately chimed in: “Summer, I’m glad you’ve thought it through.” Then she continued: “Oh, by the way, Summer, when Declan and I went to the hospital for a prenatal checkup earlier, we saw someone whose back looked a lot like you. Did you go to the hospital too? Are you feeling unwell?” As soon as she finished speaking, Declan sneered again: “What else would she be doing at the hospital? She was obviously following me, afraid I’d really ignore her, so she went to the hospital to put on a show, hoping to soften my heart.” Sylvie feigned surprise, blinking as she tilted her head to look at me: “That doesn’t make sense though, does it, Declan? I remember Summer seemed to go to the hospital before we did. And I specifically noticed—Summer went to the obstetrics department.” At this point, she covered her mouth with a soft laugh: “Could it be, Summer… that you have fertility issues?”

As soon as she said that, Declan immediately frowned, thinking for a moment before speaking: “That’s fine too. After all, Sylvie is already carrying my baby, and it’ll be a Walsh heir.” “As long as you behave and treat Sylvie and the child well, when the baby is born, I’ll let him call you ‘Mom’ too.” Hearing this, I wasn’t angry at all. Instead, I couldn’t help laughing twice. Did Declan think way too highly of himself? When I’d laughed enough, I finally looked up at them, saying each word clearly: “I went to the hospital for a prenatal checkup.” As soon as I said that, Declan’s expression froze instantly. But within a second, he burst out laughing: “Summer, when you’re making up lies, could you at least put some effort into it? Do you think I don’t know who’s in your heart? In this lifetime, besides me, how could you possibly be pregnant with anyone else’s child?” Sylvie nodded too, looking at me with contempt in her eyes: “Summer, I know what happened between Declan and me makes you angry, but you can’t deliberately say things like this to upset Declan and make him jealous. That’s way too childish.” I wiped the smile off my face. Since that’s how it was, I might as well say everything clearly at once. Given Hudson’s jealous nature, if he found out what was happening right now, who knows what kind of scene he’d make. After a pause, I spoke: “Declan, the day you took Sylvie abroad, we already broke up.” “And now, I’m already married. My husband is very jealous, so stop bothering me.” “Also, didn’t you already get a marriage certificate with Sylvie? Then I wish you both a lifetime of happiness together. Don’t say these things to me anymore. It’s pointless.” With that, I didn’t give them another glance and headed upstairs. But just then, my wrist was suddenly grabbed. Anger crept onto Declan’s face: “Summer, so this is how you want to play it?” “Sylvie and I have been trying to appease you ever since we got back from abroad, giving you every way out! But you just keep pushing your luck!” “Fine, fine, fine. If that’s how it is, then get out. Get out of my house.” Sylvie quickly followed, pretending to pull at Declan’s arm, though her eyes couldn’t hide her smugness, her voice soft and gentle: “Declan, don’t be angry. Summer is just confused for a moment. Don’t make her leave. It’s so late now, and Summer is an orphan with no one to rely on. Besides here, where else can she go? Please forgive her one more time, okay?” Her words completely ignited Declan’s fury. Not only did Declan not let go, he gripped even tighter: “So what if she’s an orphan? She’s the one who doesn’t know what’s good for her, who’s ungrateful. Then she can get out and fend for herself!” With that, he yanked hard, trying to drag me downstairs. I frantically raised my hand to cover my lower abdomen, shouting at him: “Declan, let go of me! Let go!” But Declan acted as if he hadn’t heard, still gripping my wrist tightly, forcefully pulling me down: “Weren’t you so capable just now? Why are you clinging to my house now?” Just then, the kitchen door was pushed open. The housekeeper, Mrs. Moore, came out carrying dishes. She immediately saw what was happening. Her face changed drastically. She set the plate down on a nearby cabinet with a clang and rushed over, running and shouting: “Let go of Summer right now! Summer is pregnant—she can’t handle this kind of treatment! Let go, don’t hurt Summer and the baby!”

Mrs. Moore shielded me firmly, afraid that Declan would hurt me further. Declan’s grip on me loosened. The ferocity on his face froze. He turned to look at Mrs. Moore, his eyes full of disbelief: “What did you say? She’s pregnant?” Before Mrs. Moore could speak, Sylvie immediately stepped forward, her tone accusatory: “Oh my, Mrs. Moore, why are you making things worse?” “Declan is already angry enough. How can you help Summer lie to Declan? At the end of the day, Declan is the Walsh family child, one of the owners of this house. How can you help an outsider deceive your own employer? If word gets out, which family would dare employ you?” After hearing this, the wavering in Declan’s eyes vanished without a trace. He slowly turned to look at me, a cold smile forming at the corner of his mouth: “I have to hand it to you, Summer. After three years, you’ve really developed some skills.” “You can even get our family’s old servant to lie with you to deceive me. You’re really getting better and better at this.” As he spoke, his grip unconsciously tightened again: “Let me tell you, don’t think you can fool me with this. I, Declan Walsh, am not that stupid! If you keep up this act, don’t blame me for being rude to you!” Mrs. Moore’s face paled with anxiety. She quickly blocked my way, saying urgently: “Declan, I’m not lying to you. Summer really is pregnant.” At this point, Mrs. Moore slapped her forehead: “That’s right, I still have Summer’s previous prenatal checkup reports. I’ll get them for you right now!” With that, Mrs. Moore hurried toward her room. Declan still gripped my arm tightly, mockery floating in his eyes: “I’d like to see what fake evidence you two can come up with to deceive me!” My wrist hurt from his grip, and the dragging pain in my lower abdomen was becoming more and more obvious. Before long, Mrs. Moore came running back out of breath, handing the prenatal reports to Declan: “Declan, see for yourself. These are all Summer’s prenatal checkup reports, with the doctor’s signature and the hospital’s stamp. How could they be fake?” Declan unconsciously released my wrist, snatching the reports and staring fixedly at the writing and stamps. The next second, he violently threw the papers on the ground, his whole body trembling: “Summer, you actually dare to cuckold me!” “Tell me, whose bastard is in your belly!” Hearing Declan’s words, my eyes instantly reddened. Before, for Hudson’s sake, considering Declan was Hudson’s brother, I could endure it all, I could let it all go. But now, he dared to insult my baby like this—this was a line I absolutely could not tolerate! I raised my hand and used all my strength to slap him hard across the face. The sharp “smack” echoed through the living room, and everything fell deathly silent. Seeing this, Mrs. Moore anxiously spoke: “Declan, don’t be angry. The baby in Summer’s belly is—” Before she could finish, Declan roared at Mrs. Moore: “Shut up! This isn’t your place to speak. Get out!” Mrs. Moore trembled from his shouting. She wanted to say something more but was scared back two steps by Declan’s murderous glare. Seeing this, Sylvie put on an expression of concern for him: “Declan, don’t be angry. What if you make yourself sick?” “Now that this has happened, the most important thing is to solve the problem.” She paused, sneaking a glance at me, a flash of malice in her eyes, then continued: “Either you cut ties with Summer completely, and from now on we’ll live our lives peacefully, not caring about the bastard in her belly.” “But I know… you have feelings for Summer in your heart, so you definitely won’t agree to that.” Sylvie sighed, then said: “Then there’s only one solution left. Take Summer and abort that bastard in her belly. Then everything can go back to how it was before. We’ll be just like we used to be, okay?”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “361493”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic #魔幻Magic #惊悚Thriller #重生Reborn

On the day of Isabelle Jensen’s coming-of-age ceremony, the Jensen family went bankrupt and was acquired. Both her parents took their own lives. Her childhood sweetheart called off the engagement. When she threw herself into the sea in despair, I was the one who saved her. I gave up my chance to study abroad and stayed by her side as she fought her way through the business world. We spent eight years together. We built a publicly traded company from nothing. But at our child’s birthday celebration, her childhood sweetheart burst into the banquet hall, a vicious smile twisting his face. “You swore to me back then that your first child would be mine.” “As the child’s father, I should be allowed at my own son’s celebration, don’t you think?” His words hit me like a thunderbolt. I turned to Isabelle, waiting for an explanation. She just looked back at me, expressionless. No denial. Nothing. In that moment, the heart that had loved her for twenty years died completely. “Do you really have nothing to explain to me?” My voice trembled as I asked Isabelle. Zachary Mitchell’s arrogant voice still hung in the air. Every guest at the banquet looked at me with eyes full of mockery, trampling whatever was left of my pride. Isabelle’s expression was calm. She tilted her head, almost confused. “Explain? Didn’t you promise me that you’d love any child of mine?” She looked at my pale face and spoke flatly. “I already told you. You’re the father. Having a child for him was just keeping a promise I made a long time ago.” She took my hand. Fake reassurance. “I’ll make him leave right now.” “It’s a happy day. Don’t make that face. Everyone’s watching.” Her voice was gentle, but to my ears it sounded as cold as a viper’s hiss. I stared at her, furious. My heart felt hollow. So she knew exactly how many people were here today? And still she let them trample my dignity. In public. In front of everyone. The security guards rushed over and tried to pull Zachary away. He shook them off and walked up to me, a malicious smile on his face. “I’m not here to fight you for the child. I’ve got nothing now anyway. The kid will get the best education staying with you.” “And then inherit all your assets.” “Today I’m just here to give you a birthday present.” He pulled a bright green hat from a black bag and placed it on my head, laughing wildly. “I picked it out myself. It suits you perfectly.” He leaned close to me with the arrogant posture of a victor, speaking mockingly. “Take good care of my child for me, you pathetic cuckold!” Humiliation and rage flooded my chest. I couldn’t hold back anymore. I grabbed a plate from the table and smashed it hard into his disgusting face. Zachary’s head was covered in blood from my strike, but his eyes flashed with triumph. The next second, Isabelle’s indifferent expression turned anxious as she rushed to Zachary’s side, carefully supporting him while shoving me away with her other hand. I hadn’t guarded against her. I stumbled and fell to the ground. My palms were pierced by glass shards, blood flowing freely. I gasped in pain, but Isabelle didn’t notice at all. All her attention was on Zachary. I stared at her fixedly. In the eight years we’d been together, she had never shown me such concerned, anxious expressions. Now she was worried about her enemy. Bitterness spread from my heart through my entire body. Eight years ago, I saved Isabelle from drowning herself in the sea. She cried uncontrollably in my arms, begging me to help her make the Mitchell family pay. I gave up my own dreams, tore up that acceptance letter from a foreign university, and fought alongside her in the business world, slowly rebuilding the Jensen Corporation. I still remember that to secure a contract worth hundreds of millions, I drank with the client for three days straight before finalizing the deal. That same day I was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment. When I woke up, what I received wasn’t Isabelle’s concern, but her cold complaint: Why couldn’t I have held on one more day before going to the hospital? The client almost canceled the cooperation when they saw me collapse. Back then, I told myself she was too focused on revenge to notice the people around her. Now, watching her worry over Zachary, I finally understood. She never cared about me. Not once. But that’s fine. I know how to love. And I know how to let go. Isabelle Jensen, since you’ve betrayed me, I don’t want you anymore.

“I’ll send you… I’ll have someone take you to the hospital.” Isabelle looked at the guests. Halfway through her sentence, she changed her words. She walked toward me somewhat guiltily, frowning at my wound. “How did you get hurt so badly? I’ll take you to the hospital.” I watched Zachary leave with a triumphant expression all over his face, and coldly withdrew my hand. “No need. You should go accompany your little lover instead!” Isabelle frowned. “Do you have to speak so nastily?” I looked at her sarcastically. “I’m not pathetic enough to stay with you after being cheated on. Let’s get a divorce.” “Wait. I almost forgot. You and I never actually got married.” I smiled bitterly, laughing at myself from eight years ago who gave away his whole heart. Eight years ago when I proposed to her, she agreed but told me she no longer believed in marriage. She could be with me, but wouldn’t register the marriage. I pitied her for having her heart broken by her childhood sweetheart. For these years I stayed by her side without title or status. Friends advised me that I was working for free. If she ever changed her mind, my years of youth would be wasted and I’d get nothing. Back then I didn’t believe them. Now their words had come true. I had become a complete fool. Hearing me talk about separating, Isabelle’s expression changed. She looked at me in disbelief. “I just kept a promise. That’s all. Zachary and I are done after this child.” “We can still have a good life together. Why are you so hung up on one thing?” “You keep saying you love me. Is this how shallow your love is?” I stared at Isabelle. She was still as beautiful as the day we met. But her heart had changed. She was no longer that kind girl. Now she was petty. Hypocritical. Selfish. I closed my eyes, hiding the tears in them, and spoke coldly. “Yes, I’m not that magnanimous.” “Don’t talk to me about love anymore. You’re not worthy of my true heart!” After saying this, I left resolutely, leaving Isabelle alone in the banquet hall. I drove straight to the hospital. When the doctor cleaned my wound without anesthesia, I didn’t feel any pain. The ache in my heart had already filled my brain’s nerves. My mind wandered. The first time I met Isabelle was in a village. I came from a single-parent family and lived in poverty from childhood. The Jensen Corporation came to the village to do charity work. Young Isabelle handed me a set of books, encouraging me to study hard. Her innocent, kind smile left a mark on my heart. I had always admired Isabelle from a worshipful position, which is why when the Jensen family went bankrupt, I gave up my dreams without hesitation to help her. I thought I had finally picked the rose, but it was just an illusion. After my wound was bandaged, I suppressed all my emotions and stood up. Forget it. We’ll part amicably. Consider it repaying the Jensen family’s kindness to me. After leaving the hospital, I first went to the company to resign and pack up my personal belongings, then drove to the villa to pick up Shadow. Shadow was the only thing my mother left me. I could give up everything else. But him, I had to take with me. However, when I opened the villa door, I saw a scene that tore my heart apart. Shadow lay dying in a pool of blood. Zachary held an axe, smiling cruelly, while Isabelle stood nearby, smiling indulgently. “What are you doing?” I rushed over like a madman, my hands trembling as I held Shadow.

Shadow stretched out his tongue to lick my palm, his gentle eyes full of reluctance. “Shadow, hang on. I’ll take you to find a doctor right now.” Tears streamed down my face. I frantically tried to run out with Shadow in my arms, but was pinned down by security guards. Zachary stepped on my shoulder, looking down at me from above. “Pure black dog blood is the most nourishing. I lost so much blood.” “Killing this beast to replenish my body is only right, isn’t it, Isabelle?” I glared at Isabelle with reddening eyes and roared. “Isabelle Jensen, you know perfectly well that Shadow is the only thing my mother left me. He even saved your life!” “Do you have any conscience? For this enemy, you’d even kill Shadow!” Isabelle slightly avoided my gaze and argued unreasonably. “If you hadn’t impulsively injured Zachary, he wouldn’t have had to die.” “He was just an old beast about to die anyway. Dying while contributing to people, accumulating some merit-maybe he’ll be reborn into a good life.” Zachary laughed loudly. As I watched with splitting eyes, he chopped off Shadow’s head with one axe blow. He laughed triumphantly. “Adrian Stone, so what if you’ve licked her boots for eight years?” “In her heart, you’ll never compare to me!” He looked at Isabelle, his tone frivolous. “You’ve already completed two of the three promises. For the last one, I want you to register our marriage with me.” I didn’t hear his words. I just stared blankly at Shadow’s corpse. Endless hatred grew in my heart. To hell with parting amicably. I looked at Isabelle with bloodshot eyes, cursing her word by word. “Isabelle , you bitch! If your parents’ spirits in heaven saw you bearing a child for their enemy, they’d probably regret ever giving birth to you!” “Five years ago, Shadow shouldn’t have risked his life to save you from those criminals. He should have let you be violated to death.” “Isabelle Jensen, you’re not worthy of anyone’s love!” Isabelle’s expression changed drastically, as if my words had struck a painful spot. She spoke impatiently. “You keep talking about gratitude. If we’re talking about that, the Jensen family’s kindness to you is greater!” “My parents supported you growing up. Helping me was your obligation from the start. Don’t try to guilt-trip me!” I laughed loudly at Isabelle. Through my blurred vision, I seemed to see again the woman who once cried and promised to love me forever. In another blink, what I saw was her hypocritical, selfish face. Overcome with anger and grief, I passed out directly. When I woke up, I found myself in a hospital bed. I struggled to leave but was stopped by security guards. Isabelle had imprisoned me in the hospital. She didn’t arrive until evening, handing me an urn. She said softly. “Shadow’s ashes.” I took the box and held it tightly in my arms, speaking sarcastically. “Should I thank you for collecting his remains?” Isabelle looked at my cold eyes, feeling a slight stabbing pain in her heart. I had always been gentle and considerate toward her. She was very uncomfortable with this coldness. She comforted herself that I was just angry. Once she completed the three promises, she would properly soothe me. With this thought, her heart settled. She held my hand and spoke gently. “Adrian, my heart isn’t made of stone. After eight years together, I’ve long since fallen in love with you.” “Once I fulfill my last promise to Zachary, I’ll live a good life with you.” “I’ll give you a grand wedding, even grander than the one with Zachary.” I looked at her mockingly. “What gives you the illusion that I’d still be with you?” A flash of anger appeared in Isabelle’s eyes. She raised her voice. “You’re a penniless househusband now. If you don’t stay with me, where can you go?” I thought I wouldn’t be hurt by her anymore, but these words still stabbed my heart. Back then, I willingly returned to domestic life for the sake of the child, wanting to create a warm and happy family of three. All those beautiful visions had now turned into arrows, piercing my heart until it bled. “Get out! I don’t want to see you anymore!” I roared, chasing her away. Isabelle wasn’t angry. She gently patted my hand. “I’ll give you time to accept reality. No matter what, I won’t abandon you.” “Just be good. While Zachary and I are preparing for the wedding, don’t appear. It’ll save us from uglier rumors spreading.” After saying this, she turned to leave. Before going, she didn’t forget to tell the security guards to take good care of me. Hearing her hypocritical concern, I felt physically sick. After she left, I tore off the necklace I’d been wearing. The built-in alarm was triggered. Half an hour later, all the security guards Isabelle had left were subdued. I looked at the butler, Mr. Morrison, standing respectfully before me and said coldly. “I agree to return and inherit the family assets. But first, investigate all of Zachary’s and Isabelle’s interactions over these years!”

I patiently waited for Mr. Morrison’s investigation results. I understood Zachary very well. He was selfish and mean by nature. Isabelle bankrupted the Mitchell family. He wasn’t some lovesick fool-how could he still love her? There must be a conspiracy here! Mr. Morrison moved quickly. Half an hour later, he handed me a thick stack of documents. After reading through them, I laughed loudly, tears forming at the corners of my eyes. Just as I thought, this was all a scam. Zachary approached her only for revenge. He just told one lie-that his betrayal of her back then was forced-and Isabelle stupidly believed it. She even went to have his child through IVF under his coaxing. But in reality, that child wasn’t hers at all. It was Zachary’s and his true lover’s. All of this was just Zachary’s revenge on Isabelle! And Isabelle, the woman I once cherished-with just one simple sentence from Zachary, she suspected I had ulterior motives staying by her side. She wanted to break my self-respect and train me into her most convenient tool. In the darkness, the rage and hatred in my eyes were particularly evident. These two people toyed with my true feelings and destroyed Shadow, whom I cared about most. Did they really think I was a powerless orphan? Zachary Mitchell, Isabelle Jensen! I silently chewed on these two names, my teeth grinding loudly. You joined forces to trample my dignity. This generous treatment-on your wedding day, I will definitely prepare a generous gift in return! Seven days later, the wedding proceeded as scheduled. Isabelle wore a white wedding dress. Looking at Zachary walking toward her, she unconsciously revealed a happy smile. The two completed the ceremony under the pastor’s blessing. Just as they were about to toast, several drones flew in, scattering DNA test reports into every guest’s hands. In the chaos, I walked onto the stage. Dressed in mourning clothes. Laughing. “Today’s my ex’s wedding. How could I, the ex-boyfriend, not show up to toast the happy couple?” “First glass. To you two scumbags. Locked together forever. May you never part.” “Second glass. On behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Jensen. Their own daughter married the man who drove them to their graves. They must be spinning in theirs.” “Third glass. To you, Isabelle Jensen. The fool who got played from start to finish. Carrying another man’s child for him. Congratulations, new mother.” My voice echoed through the speakers, filling the entire hall. Isabelle’s face went pale. Her body swayed. Then she shrieked. “Security! Throw this lunatic out! Don’t let him say another word!” Two burly guards rushed over, pinned me to the floor, and covered my mouth as they dragged me away. The next second, dozens of black-suited bodyguards burst through the doors. A voice boomed like thunder. “Who dares lay a hand on Raymond Parker’s son?!”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “361492”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #浪漫Romance #现实主义Realistic #魔幻Magic #惊悚Thriller #重生Reborn