Chapter 4

"Forget it. Once this is over, I'll buy you a better one."

Julian answered his own question, effectively cutting off the breakup speech I was about to deliver.

I let out a cold laugh, pulled my hand back, and walked toward the party in the front yard.

I stood beside Chloe, grabbed the microphone, and delivered the fake, pretty speech they wanted to hear.

"Chloe is my sister."

"Her mother was not a mistress, but my father's second wife."

"I am gifting this manor to Chloe of my own free will as a welcome-home present."

...

Below the stage, Julian led the applause, successfully helping Chloe secure her standing in the high society circle.

As I turned to leave, Chloe grabbed the hem of my dress.

"Thank you for clearing my mother's name, Valerie. We haven't had a proper chat since I got back. Do you have a minute?"

With everyone watching, I couldn't make a scene.

I followed her to a secluded corner of the estate's garden, near the deep pond. The moment we were alone, her innocent facade crumbled.

She sneered, "You really thought forcing Dad to send me abroad back then would work?"

"The moment I come back, everything belongs to me anyway. So what if I'm illegitimate? With Julian backing me, nobody in this city dares to even look at me wrong."

"Valerie, very soon, you’ll end up just like that dead dog of yours—crushed under my feet!"

My eyes wandered over to the hidden security camera nestled in the eaves of the garden gazebo.

I chuckled and baited her.

"The Sterling family will never allow a cripple to become the mistress of their household."

As expected, Chloe wasn't angered by my words.

Instead, she slowly, triumphantly stood up from her wheelchair right in front of me.

"Surprised? I faked it all," she bragged.

"Just watch. The best is yet to come!"

"I took your manor, and very soon, your man will be mine too!"

The moment the words left her mouth, Chloe climbed over the stone railing and jumped straight into the deep pond, screaming at the top of her lungs:

"Help! Help me!"

Hearing her cries, Julian rushed over like a madman.

Without a second thought, he dove into the water and dragged Chloe out.

Her face was pale as she clung to Julian, sobbing.

"Valerie, why did you push me?!"

"I know you hate me, but pushing a disabled girl into a pond is practically murder!"

Julian hugged Chloe tightly, his eyes shooting daggers at me.

"Valerie! I thought you were just cold-hearted, but I didn't expect you to be this evil! If I had been a second later, Chloe would have drowned! How could you do this to a disabled person?!"

"Apologize!"

I frowned. I didn't expect Julian to condemn me without even asking for my side of the story.

"She jumped in herself!"

Julian’s rage flared even hotter.

He roared, "Shut up!"

"Chloe can't even walk! How could she jump in herself?!"

I pointed at the security camera on the gazebo, my voice steady.

"There's a security camera right there. If you think I'm lying, we can just check the footage."

I was about to call the security team to pull up the video.

But Julian, blinded by fury, suddenly lunged forward and shoved me hard.

Splash!

I tumbled straight into the freezing pond.

"There's nothing to check! Since you dared to do it, you must have wiped the footage already."

"Instead of forcing a fake apology out of you, I'll let you experience what it feels like to drown! Let's see if you ever dare to touch Chloe again!"

The pond wasn't incredibly deep, but as I struggled to stand up to catch my breath, Julian proved he was determined to punish me.

The moment my head broke the surface, his large hand came down, brutally shoving my head back underwater.

Water rushed into my nose and throat. My lungs burned, and my chest felt like it was going to explode.

Then, he pulled me up by my hair, but before I could gulp in air for even two seconds, he shoved me under again.

He repeated this torture until my body went completely limp.

Eventually, I lost the strength to struggle, and my consciousness began to drift into a pitch-black void.

Finally, Julian showed some twisted mercy. He hauled me out of the water and threw me onto the grass like a wet rag, leaving me there gasping and coughing violently.

"I hope this teaches you a lesson. Go home and reflect on what you did!"

"I want to see you apologize to Chloe tomorrow morning at nine."

With that, Julian picked up Chloe and strode away.

The crowd of guests watched me with a mix of pity, mockery, and amusement before slowly dispersing.

I lay on the cold ground, unable to even find the strength to stand up.

"Cough... hack..."

I choked up a large mouthful of pond water.

I wiped the tears mixed with dirty water off my face. I laughed dryly for a second, and then the laughter turned into uncontrollable, heavy sobbing.

But honestly?

I was glad Julian had been this ruthless.

His quickness to doubt me, abandon me, and torture me had successfully killed every last bit of love I had left for him.

I ended up laughing out loud under the night sky.

I toasted to my completely dead heart. I toasted to my newfound freedom.

The next morning at nine o'clock, I was standing at the boarding gate of the airport. My phone was blowing up with texts from Julian:

“Apologize to Chloe now! Don't think you can run away from this.”

“Where the hell are you?!”

“Valerie, pick up the phone!”

I didn't reply to a single one.

Instead, I blocked and deleted his contact info across all platforms.

Then, a text popped up from my private investigator:

“Ms. Vance, as per your instructions, the security footage of Chloe jumping into the pond has been uploaded online. Within twenty minutes, it will hit the top trending topics on Twitter and TikTok.”

“Perfect,” I replied.

The plane took off, carrying me away from this toxic city.

I made a silent vow in my heart.

The next time I returned, I would take back everything that belonged to me.

Meanwhile, back at the office, Julian stared at the red exclamation mark next to his sent message. He frowned, thinking I was just throwing a tantrum. But just as he was about to call my phone again, his assistant burst through the door, holding up his tablet.

"Mr. Sterling! Look at the trending topics! Yesterday's incident... something is seriously wrong!"