******In the past, Irene had always suspected that Victor’s heart was far from pure toward her.There was something in the way his eyes always roamed over her body every time he thought she wasn’t aware… a heavy, watchful look that always seemed to pry into her skin.Yet Irene had never been able to pin him down, never once catching him red-handed in the act.No… she has caught him several times more than she knew, but she had always concluded that she was just overthinking things, assuming there was no way her brother-in-law would have any dirty intentions toward her.However, after the incident of two nights ago, everything had completely changed, and now… James no longer even pretended to hide what he wanted again.The mask he had always worn had been taken off by him, revealing nothing under it but raw hunger.His intent was obvious to see.... crude and vile, revealing how desperate he longed to have her body. And the worst part was his persistence; even after his failed

******All Irene could do at this moment was stare blankly and wide-eyed as James continued talking, his tone turning colder, and his face hardening into something far uglier than before.It was… monstrous, watching him lay out his twisted logic as though it were generosity and hearing him degrade her like she was not a living being while disguising it as kindness.“But since you were too stupid to recognize what was good for you,” he pressed on, his voice sharpening into venom, “since you took the meal that was meant for me and tossed it away to some stray dog… and not only that, but even strutted around without an ounce of remorse, I decided you needed to learn the consequences.”James’ words fell heavy, each one sharp and intentional, his eyes burning with the wounded pride of a man who believed that the world revolved around him.“Because of that,” he continued, his grin sharpening like a knife, “I decided to arrange with my dear brother to marry you, convincing your greedy,

******The moment James and Irene turned and saw Avery standing there, they were both dumbstruck for a moment. But then their faces shifted dramatically.On Irene’s face, a sudden look of relief appeared, her chest abruptly rising and falling sharply as though she had been holding her breath for hours, her eyes widening with a sudden flash of realization.‘She must have heard him and caught every word he said,’ she thought, her heart thundering in her chest.At that very moment, the corners of her lips curled up faintly, and she darted a mocking look in James’s direction, the helplessness that had heavily weighed upon her shoulders easing off for the first time since his vile revelations.Only moments ago, Irene had been completely paralyzed and terrified by James’s words, struggling to process the full extent of his depravity.At the back of her mind, however, she had already made a desperate decision that even if she ended up getting ruthlessly punished, cast out of the family

******“Aish! So that was it?!”James didn’t even realize when the words left his mouth, because… the relief that flooded him was so overwhelming that it was way beyond his controlTo call it a weight lifted would’ve been nothing but a great insult… this felt like the entire planet had just been rolled off his chest.His knees nearly gave out, a dizzying rush sweeping through his entire body, and for one absurd, terrifying second, he thought he might actually collapse from sheer gratitude.The terror he had felt only a moment ago wasn’t just ordinary. It had been a raw, suffocating, and terrifying horror… the kind that made every beat of his heart sound like the pounding of a death drum in his head.He had been seconds away from fainting under the crushing realization that he had doomed himself by blurting his true intentions to Avery’s ears, every part of him convincing him that she had heard every word.Her expression, her silence, and her anger… all of it had matched perfect

******Just like James, Irene had also believed that Avery had overheard his earlier confession, a thought that had thrilled and comforted her, bringing her the sudden, dizzying relief that perhaps she wouldn’t have to bear the impossible task of trying to convince her sister again.For a fleeting moment there, it had felt like heaven itself had finally taken pity on her and extended a hand to drag her and her family out of the inevitable, destroying trap that was closing around them.But… she had been utterly, heartbreakingly wrong.Avery hadn’t heard anything… not a single damning word.She hadn’t even come close to guessing the truth. Instead, her fury, her disbelief, and the raw pain that was on her face… had nothing to do with James’s secret plans.No, it was all over something as ridiculous as being given the iPhone 15 Pro Max instead of the 17 Pro Max she had been promised.If the situation had been different, Irene might have laughed until her stomach ached; after all,