Chapter 4

"Carl, I'm in so much pain I can't even hold the pen!"

My whole body was trembling as I said it to Carl.

The words had barely left my mouth when Carl looked at me coldly and said, "Catherine, quit the act!"

"Either you sign right now!"

"Or there's no way I'm taking you to the hospital!"

He said it with brutal finality, and I just stared blankly at him.

The pain washed over me. By now I was on the verge of passing out.

With trembling hands, I took the pen Carl held out to me.

I was ready to sign the document.

But the pain had my hands shaking so badly I couldn't even keep hold of the pen!

Watching me like that, Carl and the others only grew more impatient.

"Catherine, quit the act!"

Looking at me, Carly spoke up right then. "You think I don't know what you're really like?"

"You're putting on this act because you figure that if you don't sign, you're off the hook, right?"

"Let me tell you, if you don't sign, there's no way you're leaving!"

The moment Carly finished, she grabbed my hand and said quickly, "Hurry, sign it!"

Carly's yank almost made me black out.

The agony had me unable to get out a single word.

I lifted my head and looked at Carl, pleading.

I was hoping that Carl, seeing me like this, would save me.

But I never expected that all I would see was Carl's cold, icy eyes.

He just watched me with a cold face.

There wasn't a trace of tenderness in that gaze—only coldness.

Seeing this, I nearly burst into tears.

A few years ago, this was the man who, in order to marry me, had been willing to sign a prenuptial agreement.

Now, he was doing nothing but pressuring me.

Only in that moment did I understand how naive I had been.

From start to finish, Carl had been scheming against me.

"Catherine, hurry up!"

Carly was still pushing me, and I truly didn't have an ounce of strength left.

My mind was already starting to blur.

And right at that moment, the front door of Carl's house was violently slammed open.

Hearing the door being burst open, I lifted my head and saw several of my cousins rushing in.

The moment Carly saw them, she panicked and shouted, "What do you think you're doing!"

Seeing me surrounded by the three of the Henson family, my cousin barely said a word before he strode up and slapped Carly across the face.

After that slap, my cousin looked at me anxiously.

When he saw that I was even losing consciousness, he grew more anxious still.

"Quick, get Cathy to the hospital!"

With that, my cousins scooped me up and got ready to leave.

Even then, Carl's family still tried to stop my cousin.

But Carl had barely lunged forward when my cousin kicked him to the ground.

My cousin lifted me up, glanced at the document on the floor, snatched it up in his hand, and carried me out.

My mind was already hazy.

And yet, as I slipped under, I felt strangely at ease.

Because I knew that with my cousin there, nothing could possibly happen to me.

"Cousin, Carl is scheming against me!"

In my daze, I got the words out.

"Cathy, don't worry!"

"With us here, there's no way he can scheme against you!"

"Cathy, hang on, we've already got the hospital lined up!"

"You're going to be fine!"

Hearing my cousin's words, I let out a breath, and the next instant I passed out.

Seeing me black out, my cousin only grew more frantic, and hurried me downstairs.

As they were heading down, my cousins turned back and fixed their eyes on Carl.

"Carl, if anything happens to Catherine, I'll make your whole family go down with her!"