Chapter 7: Money-trap!
Author: KikiBae
last update2026-08-20 17:33:14

“Grace, please try to understand. I'm not against Chloe, in fact, I'm also doing this for her own good.” 

Liam spoke, his voice rising with frustration. “I just can't understand, why can't she just come clean? If she really loves another man, she can just admit it and be with the person she really wants. Why do you want her to keep lying, and forcing me to raise a child that is not mine? What's the point of continuing this fake marriage?”

Grace’s eyes flickered with a brief moment of doubt. She looked away for a second before answering.

“I don't know what you are talking about. I truly don't know about any of this.”

Then, deciding something, she picked up her phone from the table. 

“Chloe, come home right now,” Grace said into the phone, keeping her voice firm and urgent. “Your husband is here, and we need to talk about something important.”

After ending the call, Grace dialed another number. This time, it was for her husband.

“Come back to the house immediately. Something serious has come up with Liam and Chloe. I need you here.”

A shadow of uncertainty crossed Grace’s face as she put the phone down. The tense silence continued for almost ten minutes before Chloe stormed into the living room, her face slightly sweaty and full of anger.

The moment she saw Liam, her anger climbed another level. She couldn't understand why he wanted to defame her and ruin their marriage in front of everyone.

“What are you up to now? Why are you bothering my mother with your crazy stories? Have you lost your mind completely, don't you have any concern about my dignity?”

Liam turned to face her, and his own anger flared up again like a fresh fire.

“I am not up to anything, Chloe! You need to explain the truth right here in front of your mother. Tell her how one of our daughters is not mine…!”

Chloe planted her hands on her hips and raised her chin high, insisting stubbornly. She wasn't going to let her family fall apart in front of her eyes. 

“I don't know what the hell you are talking about. Both of those children are yours! I have never cheated on you! So stop making up sick stories just to embarrass me, what will you get by hurting me like this?”

Liam stepped closer to her, his body tense.

“Chloe, please… I have given you everything I had, I'm just asking for a small thing in return. I only want your honesty, so please stop lying to me. The DNA results prove everything! How can you still stand there and deny it?”

Their voices rose higher and higher, as they argued fiercely in the middle of the living room. 

“Liam, I was giving you the benefit of doubt till now, thinking that you might be stressed with work or something else, but you are crossing all limits now. First, you abandoned our family. And now this… why are you dragging my mom into this?”

“What family? The family that I just found out was a lie? I don't get it Chloe, when you have already committed the sin, why don't you just admit to it?”

Liam spoke, his heart clenching in pain. Every time he spoke about his wife's infidelity, his own heart shattered into pieces. But she wasn't understanding his predicament, only bothered with keeping up appearances.

“Why don't you go be with whoever you actually want, instead of destroying my life to keep up appearances?”

"For the last time, there is no truth to tell!" Chloe shrieked. "Both of those girls are yours! You are being paranoid and delusional”

“Chloe, for God's sake! I WANT to believe you, I want to think both my daughters are my own! But that's just a fantasy now, and once the fantasy breaks, nothing can make me believe in it again.”

Liam's exhaustion was becoming visible in his words now.

“Just tell me… how should I trust you when the results are right there?”

Chloe's eyes darted to the papers on the table, which were the root of all her problems. 

Feeling helpless that her husband was ignoring her words just because of those papers, she snatched them up and tore them cleanly in half, then further in half, letting the shredded pieces flutter to the floor like dead leaves.

“There! Problem solved now?” 

Liam let out a cold, bitter laugh. 

“Really Chloe? What will be solved by tearing the reports when the truth is running in Hannah’s veins— she's not my daughter. I have more copies of the report, but you have to understand! The facts won't disappear just because they are uncomfortable.”

Chloe’s delicate face was covered with cold sweat, as her whole body was shaking with anger. No matter what she said or did, he was stubbornly refusing to believe it. 

“Liam, you are slandering me! What kind of husband are you, aren't you supposed to protect me? Instead, you are the one trying to destroy my reputation with these disgusting lies–?”

"Chloe! Are you even listening to yourself—”

Chloe whirled toward her mother. 

"Mom, do you know what he's actually after? He is not here to save his family, he doesn't give a damn about the kids. He is demanding one billion dollars in compensation before he will divorce me quietly. Can't you see why he's here today?”

Grace’s expression changed instantly. All the earlier concern vanished as she stared at Liam with hard, accusing eyes.

“Is it true?! Is that what all this is about? Liam, you have really let me down today. I really thought you were a decent young man!”

Liam was still fuming inside. His blood was boiling from all the accusations and the way everyone kept protecting Chloe.

When confronted by Grace, he didn't even try to defend himself or soften his words. Instead, he stood tall and admitted it with a cold, bitter look on his face.

“Yes, it is true. I asked her for one billion dollars in compensation, but you know what? Actually, one billion can't even cover for the betrayal and humiliation that I've suffered. I deserve much more than that.”

“And what exactly do you think that is!?”

The voice belonged to Liam’s father-in-law, Richard Harrington, who had just walked into the living room. 

Looking at his windswept grey hair and crooked collar, it was clear that he had rushed back from his fishing trip after receiving Grace’s call. 

The moment he stepped inside, he heard Liam’s last words about deserving much more than a billion dollars, and Richard’s face turned dark with fury. 

“What did you just say, you ungrateful dog?” 

Without any warning, he stepped forward and slapped Liam hard across the face.

"You parasite, you only care about money, don't you!" 

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