Ethan smiled evilly and whispered to Chloe, who was crying in her white dress:"Honey, our wedding night will be at the Cole Estate. Your ex-husband's family invited us."Chloe's blood froze.The marriage certificate was still warm in her hands. Her white dress was already stained with Ethan's blood. Her father Robert sat alive but weak in his wheelchair, holding Patricia's shaking hand.Patricia read the message on Ethan's phone and started crying.It was from Victoria Sterling."Congratulations, Mrs. Blackwood. Grandfather Edward wants to see the new couple tonight. Cole Estate. Locked doors. Come, or your father stops breathing.""No! It's a trap! Chloe, don't go!" Patricia sobbed, hugging her husband.Ethan grabbed Chloe's wrist hard, grinning like he won the world."It's not a trap. It's power. The Coles are scared! We married, we merged, we have the kidnapping video! Now they want to beg us!"Chloe looked at the door where Liam had left. He didn't look back. He said he saved her

Victoria's wrist was cold in his grip. But her eyes were burning.The door of the private lounge slammed shut. Outside, the golden hall was still in chaos - Patricia unconscious on the marble, Robert choking on his oxygen, Chloe on her knees in torn papers, Lily laughing and crying at the same time.Inside, it was silent.Liam let go of Victoria like she was poisonous."Let's call off the engagement," he said, his voice low, grey eyes empty. "Right now."Victoria rubbed her wrist where he grabbed her. Her red lips curved, but it wasn't a smile. It was hurt."You're angry because I helped you?" she whispered."I never begged for any help. This is MY fight!" Liam's voice finally rose, fury cracking through his cold mask for the first time in three years. "You brought Lily here. You forged a DNA report. You turned a wedding into a slaughter. Why? You think I need you to destroy the Carters? I endured them because my grandfather told me to endure! Not so you can play god!""I did it for y

Carter Family Mansion.The house was too quiet.No servants. No lights in the dining hall. The big Carter family portrait on the wall Robert, Patricia, and Chloe smiling had a crack straight through Chloe's face. From when Patricia threw a vase this morning.Robert sat in his wheelchair in the living room, oxygen tube hissing, staring at the empty stairs. He was alive, but he looked more dead than when he was in the hospital.Patricia paced. Back and forth, Hands shaking, eyes red, makeup gone."Chloe! Chloe, please open the door! You haven't eaten since yesterday! You haven't said one word!"Upstairs, Chloe's bedroom door was locked.Inside, Chloe sat on the floor.Still in the bloody white wedding dress from the banquet. She didn't change it. She didn't wash her face. Torn marriage papers scattered around her like snow.The torn certificate Ethan threw at her. The DNA report that said 0% match. The photo of her mother and father smiling that now looked like a lie.She stared at th

Lily's hand was shaking.The dirty envelope old, yellow, tied with a faded blue thread was in her palm, dust from the village still on it."Young Master Cole! I found it in my grandmother's box! She said it was about your mother! She said a Carter girl gave it to her before she died!"Liam stared at it.His bandaged hand reached out slowly for the first time in three years, his hand shook not from anger, but from fear.Who was his mother? The woman with the scar on her eyebrow? The Carter girl his grandfather called his biggest sin?His fingers touched the blue thread RING! RING! RING!His phone rang. Loud. Sharp.The screen: "GRAND SECRETARY Liam's jaw tightened. He answered."Young Master Liam, where are you?" the secretary's voice was cold, panicked. "Master Edward is furious. Emergency board meeting. Right now. Cole Tower, 40th floor. All directors are here. They are shouting about your work progress. About the Carter loan you just bought without board approval. You must come

Liam stood alone. Every employee was staring. Whispering."That's the ex-heir... demoted yesterday... his uncle is president now...""He got dumped by Victoria Sterling... after three years washing dishes, now he lost everything..."Liam didn't move. Bandaged hands in his pockets, white shirt clean, grey eyes cold but inside, something broke yesterday and hadn't healed.He watched her black dress disappear into the elevator that used to be his. The elevator only the president uses.That elevator now belonged to his uncle, Daniel Cole.Liam smiled. A small, cold, terrifying smile the smile he wore the night he made the whole banquet hall kneel.He took out his phone, He called Butler Chen."Where did Victoria go last night after my call cut?" he asked, voice calm."Young Master... she... she went to Sterling Hospital. Her father, Mr. Sterling, had a heart attack at midnight. After your call. She was unreachable because she was in emergency. Ethan Blackwood was there with her."Liam's