Chapter 3

Less than two hours after he left, Henson stock started to waver.

The decline wasn't fast yet, but I knew it wouldn't be long before it was.

This was all Egbert's doing. This was how he was forcing me to apologize to Ava.

Inside the Henson high-rise, the employees were run ragged.

The Gilberts had become the top family in the Capital. If Egbert wanted someone finished, they wouldn't last past the next day.

My father collapsed from exhaustion, and I rushed him to the hospital.

The operating room door had just closed when Egbert called.

"Have you learned how to apologize yet?"

"Don't think that just because you're my wife, you can carry yourself so high in front of me."

I raised my voice and shouted at him, "My father always treated you like his own son. When your Gilbert family fell on hard times, he helped you the moment you needed it."

Egbert let out a careless laugh.

"I already gave your Henson family their due. We settled up long ago."

"Day after day, dragging up old favors—aren't you tired of it?"

The conversation was ugly, and it ended fast.

But less than a second later, the phone rang again.

"Madam, please come back quickly."

"What's wrong?"

"Sir threw out all of your mother's belongings to burn them. I couldn't stop him."

I got back as fast as I could.

The whole yard reeked of burning, and the last thing that hadn't burned was a pair of butterfly clips.

I ran over, reached into the fire, and grabbed the scalding butterfly clips.

That was the last gift my mother gave me, on the night of my birthday.

But I was still a step too late—more than half of it was ruined.

Footsteps came from behind me.

"Well, well. I never thought you'd care about keepsakes."

That smug voice belonged to Ava.

"You're the one who burned them?"

"That's right!"

"It's really bad luck to keep a dead person's things in the house..."

"This is my home. What business is it of yours whether it's bad luck or not?"

I turned and stared at her, but she didn't show the slightest panic.

"Isn't your home just my house? You can live here, and so can Ava."

Egbert's icy voice grew closer.

"Is this the cheap, underhanded trick you're pulling to force me to apologize?"

"You could put it that way, but there's more coming."

I couldn't help but laugh bitterly at myself. My heart ached as if a huge boulder were pressing down on it.

"First you throw the Henson stock into turmoil, then you set fire to my mother's belongings."

"All of this just so I'll apologize to Ava?"

Neither of them spoke, letting silence stand in for the answer.

"Drag this out one more day, and the stock will fall twice as fast."

My hands clenched, but there was nothing I could do.

Now and then the servants shot me strange, pitying looks that made me burn with shame.

"If I'd known you were such an ingrate, I should have wiped the Gilbert family off the map of the Capital back then."

"No—to be exact, it was you who put the Hensons in this deadlock."

"Egbert, can't five years of true devotion warm your heart at all?"

"I've done so much for you—can't you see it?"

For the first time I lost control and my voice rose.

"Have I never shown you any mercy? You know she was only doing a check-up on a live stream—what was so shameful about that?"

"And Ava? She can never be a doctor again."

"I tried to persuade the director, but he has a strange temper, and he's got some mysterious backer behind him. I can't touch him."

"All I need is for you to do a live apology and say that you're the one who forced Ava to say those things."

"It's better this way, for you and for her."

"You have three more minutes to decide, because in three minutes the Henson stock will—"

"I'll apologize!"