Chapter 3

During the ring exchange ceremony, his phone rang.

His face drained of all color. Ignoring my tears and my hands clawing at his sleeve, he turned and ran.

Halfway through the ceremony, the groom abandoned the bride.

The Vance family became the biggest laughingstock in high society.

I stood on the altar, my makeup ruined by tears.

My father was so enraged that he suffered a massive heart attack on the spot and was rushed to the ICU.

When I needed him most, I couldn't reach Ethan at all.

When my father finally woke up in the hospital, the first thing he did was apologize to me.

He hated himself for helping a monster, and he hated that he hadn't seen through Ethan's mask sooner.

Eventually, I tracked Ethan down.

But when I found him with the divorce papers in my hand...

He was holding Fiona’s hand, walking her out of an OB-GYN clinic after a prenatal checkup.

In that single second, I heard the sound of my own heart shattering into a million pieces.

The call Ethan had received at our wedding... was from Fiona.

She had told him she was pregnant and was leaving the country forever.

Ethan snatched the divorce papers from my hands and ripped them to shreds.

"I am not the powerless kid who had to beg for your family's approval anymore, Amy," he sneered.

"I have the right to choose who I want to be with."

"Accept Fiona, and we can still keep this marriage going."

Now that he was powerful, he turned his weapons on us.

Abandoning me at the altar was his twisted way of taking revenge on the Vance family for "patronizing" him.

In the end, I couldn't even divorce him.

His influence in the city had grown so immense that the Vance family could no longer compete.

I couldn't find a single lawyer in the state who dared to take my case against Ethan Sterling.

Lucy looked astonished.

"It sounds like Mr. Sterling still wanted to keep you around. How did it escalate to a matter of life and death?"

At the time, I also foolishly believed he still had lingering feelings for me.

But reality slapped me in the face immediately.

My father’s life's work—the Vance Conglomerate—went completely bankrupt overnight.

The mastermind behind it was Ethan.

Before I could even confront him, he found me first, dragging me brutally into his car.

"Why did you have to bring Fiona into our mess?!" he roared.

"Did you think hiring someone to force a miscarriage on her would solve your problems?"

"You're dead wrong. I can have ten more kids with her if I want."

"I told you before, Amy—never try to control me. Ruining your father's company was just a small warning."

He drove me to Fiona's apartment and forced me to apologize to her.

"If you behave, I will still take care of you and your mother," he said coldly.

Fiona cradled her stomach, sobbing like a victim.

But the moment Ethan turned his back to take a call, she leaned in close to my ear, her voice dripping with venom.

"Sacrificing a baby to make Ethan hate you forever? Best bargain of my life."

My mind went completely blank. I realized what she had done.

In a fit of pure rage, I shoved her to the ground, screaming her plot out loud.

But Ethan violently threw me off her, roaring that I was completely insane.

"I’ve spoiled you too much, Amy! Get the hell out!"

"Try something like this again, and you'll find out exactly what I'm capable of."

That was the first time he ever laid a hand on me.

I don't even remember how I dragged myself back to the hospital.

Despite my best efforts to hide it, my father saw the violent red handprint on my cheek.

Clutching his aching chest, he dialed Ethan's number, just as he had done many times before.

Only this time, there was no respect on the other end of the line.

After hanging up, my father's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed.

My mother and I screamed, trying to run out to get a doctor.

But the heavy suite door had been locked from the outside.

We pressed the emergency call button for a solid hour, but no one came.

In the end, we could only watch in agonizing silence as my father died of cardiac arrest.

Before he drew his last breath, he mumbled a few words.

He expressed his deep regret to my mother, and his terrifying worry for me.

The blood feud between Ethan and the Vance family was no secret in high society.

My father had been a good man his entire life, yet hardly anyone dared to show up at his funeral.

Ethan arrived just as the service was ending.

Behind him was Fiona, wearing a bright red dress.

"Arthur was such a good man. It's such a pity he left so early," she said, wiping fake tears.

As she lowered her hand, she "accidentally" knocked over a heavy memorial candle.

In an instant, the flames devoured my father's portrait.

As the fire grew, something inside me snapped.

I pulled a dagger from my bag and lunged at them like a feral animal.