In that moment, Leanna realized thinking too much was the last thing she could afford.

Her last trace of restraint slipped away almost immediately; instinct drew her body into a tight curl while her fingertips clenched the rumpled sheets, heat flooding her cheeks as her pulse pounded wildly.

Close to her ear, Wesley's low, gravel-rough voice brushed against her skin. "You're in bed with me, and your mind's still wandering somewhere else?"

Silence was the only response she managed.

Shallow breaths rushed from her lips in quick, uneven bursts as the relentless pace of his movements swept her under, leaving her far too overwhelmed to cling to any stray thoughts.

Throughout the room, the charged atmosphere thickened with every passing second.

Leaning closer, Wesley seemed entirely absorbed in her, his fingers lifting her chin with firm gentleness while his dark gaze sharpened. In a quiet murmur he said, "I'll remember you, little one... along with the Wheeler family."

As the last thread of awareness slipped away from her grasp, Leanna faintly sensed him leaning in to whisper something against her ear.

Perhaps it had been a name. Yet when everything finally blurred into darkness, not a single word remained in her memory.

Exhaustion pulled her into a deep, dreamless rest that lasted until six the following morning.

Morning light filtered into the room as Leanna stirred awake, immediately noticing the dull soreness lingering between her legs.

Yesterday had been her first time, yet he had continued again and again with relentless stamina.

His intensity had been overwhelming, leaving her body aching even now.

Turning her head toward the other side of the bed, Leanna realized the man had already left.

Resting on the nearby table lay what looked like a placed note.

Rising from the bed, she felt the blanket slide down her shoulders, revealing the scattered marks their wild night had left across her skin.

After quickly putting her clothes on, she reached for the paper lying on the table.

Only then did she realize it wasn't a note he left at all. Instead, it was a check written for ten million.

A stunned pause settled over Leanna as the realization sank in.

Could the Spencer family truly be this wealthy?

She knew almost nothing about the true scale of the Spencer family's fortune, but one thing she understood perfectly—Carl could never scrape together ten million. Even coming up with a couple million would have drained him dry.

Yet the man from last night had written out ten million as casually as if it were spare change.

Shaking off the spiraling thoughts, she suddenly felt an odd hollowness spread through her chest.

By leaving that check behind… had he meant to cut things off completely, ensuring they would never cross paths again?

The idea made a quiet laugh slip from her lips.

When she thought about it, the arrangement made perfect sense.

After all, what they shared had been nothing more than a fleeting, reckless encounter.

One single night had earned her a check worth ten million—no matter how she calculated it, she had clearly come out ahead.

From here on out, all she needed to do was remain in her own world and make sure she never crossed his path again.

With that money in hand, she was certain she would finally have the means to strike back at Carl and the entire Wheeler family.

After sorting through her thoughts, Leanna folded the check carefully and headed straight for the bank to cash it.

It wasn't a scam after all.

That check for ten million was completely valid and could truly be withdrawn.

What troubled her instead was the way she walked—an obvious limp betraying her, every step sending a dull, pulsing ache through her lower body, as though the strain of the previous night had left her bruised and swollen.

Just then, her phone vibrated with a message from Emilio.

Across the screen appeared a short command. "Come back."

Moments later, another notification appeared—a video he had forwarded.

Within the footage, the gleam of a knife suddenly appeared, its blade creeping forward with chilling deliberation toward someone just out of view.

A moment later, the camera angle shifted, revealing Leanna's mother, Melody Wheeler, lying unconscious in a hospital bed, fragile and motionless, her body surrounded by a tangle of medical tubes. Hovering just above her wrist, the knife glinted, its blade swaying with quiet menace.

Shock slammed into Leanna, her eyes flying wide as the horrifying sight sank in.

A new voice message abruptly appeared on her screen. Emilio's cold, threatening voice rang out. "Did you see that? You have thirty minutes to come back. If you're even a minute late, I'll carve a mark into your mother's wrist. Got it?"

Inside, Leanna seethed with fury at the monster he had become, her fingers tightening around the phone. Anger flared in her gaze, making her eyes burn with fierce intensity.

Ten years ago, a devastating car crash had nearly claimed Melody's life—she had thrown herself forward to shield Leanna, and the impact had left her trapped in a vegetative state ever since.

All these years, the Wheeler family had been the one paying for Melody's hospital bills.

Emilio understood perfectly that the moment Melody's condition remained in his hands, Leanna would have no choice but to return.

And just as expected, she would come back.

With a steady breath, she sent Emilio a brief message before dragging her aching body toward the roadside to flag down a taxi.

...

From the upper floor of the bank building, Wesley stood before the towering window.

Below, through the glass, he watched Leanna struggle slightly as she climbed into the waiting taxi.

Against the surface of the sleek black desk, his fingers tapped in a slow, thoughtful rhythm.

A shadowed intensity settled in his gaze.

Never had he imagined that last night had been her first time.

She was his first as well, and at the start his movements carried a hint of uncertainty.

Yet once their bodies finally met, the dizzying pleasure swallowed every trace of hesitation, and he found himself unable to stop as one heated moment slipped seamlessly into the next.

By the time it ended, her fingers trembled weakly against the rumpled bedsheets, barely able to hold on.

To her, the night had at some point become nothing short of a grueling trial of endurance.

Though it was her very first time and he hadn't exactly been gentle, she stubbornly pressed her lips together, biting down hard to keep even the faintest cry of pain from escaping.

A quiet stab of remorse stirred inside him when he realized how much she must have endured.

As he stood quietly before the wide glass window, Wesley's gaze slowly sharpened. Shifting back a little, he murmured her name under his breath as if savoring its sound. "Leanna Wheeler… the Wheeler family, huh? Now that's interesting."

Leanna rushed back to the Wheeler Mansion as fast as she could.

Several servants were already standing by the front door, waiting for her to arrive.

Two of the staff members jumped forward the moment she stepped through the door and grabbed her wrists. They forced her arms behind her back, pinning her in place.

Emilio walked toward her while leaning heavily on his cane, his face twisted in anger. "You ungrateful girl! How dare you try to back out of this engagement!"

He lifted his hand high in the air, getting ready to slap her, but a sudden cough from across the room stopped him.

Shifting her focus toward the sound, Leanna glanced toward the far side of the room.

Carl was standing there, watching the whole scene unfold.

He looked just as annoyed as Emilio because he had spent the last few days stressed out by angry shareholders and bad press.

His main goal was to find a way to make himself look like a good person to the public again.

Furthermore, the Spencer Group's next big launch was essentially a paperweight without Leanna's sketches, so he literally couldn't afford to let her go.

Carl gazed at Leanna with a calculating, predatory glint. "Leanna, drop the act. Just walk down the aisle with me, and I'll pretend this little tantrum never happened," he offered.

Leanna didn't blink as she looked him right in the eye, her voice icy. "Carl, stop trying to gaslight me. You're the one who cheated right in front of my face. I would never marry you because, honestly, you're just repulsive," she snapped.

"How dare you!" Carl yelled, his face turning red with rage.

Only the fear of that incriminating cheating video going viral had forced him to grovel at the Wheeler Mansion in person.

Beyond the scandal, Carl knew after three years of being together with Leanna that her creative genius was his biggest meal ticket.

"You stubborn, ungrateful girl!" Emilio bellowed, raising his hand once more to try and strike her.

Leanna stared her father down, speaking through clenched teeth with total conviction. "I don't care if you kill me in this house, I am never, ever marrying him!" she vowed.

Fire burned so brightly in her gaze that for a split second, Emilio felt like he was looking at a ghost from his past, making him flinch.

Leanna shouted for everyone to hear, "Lock me up or hit me all you want! It won't change a thing—this marriage is dead!"

During the scuffle with the servants, her collar shifted just enough to reveal a fresh, dark constellation of hickeys blooming across her neck.

Carl's eyes flared a bright, angry red the moment the truth hit him. He didn't actually have any feelings for Leanna, but the thought of her being with another man was a massive blow to his ego.

"Who did this to you?" Carl demanded, his voice shaking as he struggled to keep his temper under control.

The idea of marrying a woman who had already given herself to someone else was completely unacceptable to him.

Leanna looked around at the stunned faces in the room and let out a soft, mocking laugh. "You went out and found someone else, so I just followed your lead. It's only fair that we're even now, right?"

A cold, sharp smirk played on her lips as she tilted her head. "Are you still so eager to make me your wife after hearing that?"

Carl's face twisted with pure rage as he barked back at her. "There's no way those marks are real! Who would even want you? No decent man would even glance in your direction—no one but me! Or did you just pull some random guy off the sidewalk to help you lie?"

Leanna threw her head back and laughed again, though her eyes remained as cold and empty as ice.

"I didn't settle for just anyone," she replied in a perfectly steady tone. "I spent the night with your uncle, Ian."

"My uncle?" Carl repeated, the words knocking the wind right out of him.

He lost his mind and lunged forward, raising his hand to strike her across the face. "Leanna, you pathetic, lying brat!"

A deep, smooth voice echoed from the entrance before his hand could make contact. "Did you just say his uncle?"

Wesley walked into the room with such a powerful presence that it felt like the air had been sucked out of the space.

He kept his eyes locked on Leanna, his expression impossible for anyone to figure out.

"His uncle," he said again, shifting his focus toward Carl for a brief second.

Carl's heart dropped into his stomach the moment he realized he was looking at Wesley Stewart.

The color drained from Carl's face as he scrambled to take back his words. "No, that's not true," he stammered.

One look from Wesley was all it took to make Carl shut his mouth and stop talking immediately.

The two servants holding Leanna were so scared of the man approaching them that they quickly backed away and let her go.

Wesley reached down to pull Leanna up and kept a firm, protective hand on her waist while he scanned the crowd.

"Can someone explain what's going on in this room?" he asked in a relaxed voice that still made everyone's skin crawl with fear.

Emilio stood there in a daze, trying to figure out why this stranger felt so familiar and dangerous at the same time.

Emilio noticed how terrified Carl looked and realized that this newcomer was someone the Wheeler family needed to treat with extreme respect.

"Those marks on my daughter... Did you do that?" Emilio asked, his voice low and heavy.

"Yeah, that was me," Wesley answered, not even flinching as he owned up to it.

Shock hit Leanna hard—she never thought he'd actually show up. All that gutsy energy she had gathered to show off the marks just evaporated into thin air.

Turning her head, she took him in—the man was tall, with sharp features and piercing eyes that made him look like he owned every room he walked into.

A sudden wave of panic washed over her anyway. She couldn't help it; her legs still trembled at the memory of the night before.

Her eyes then drifted back to Carl, who hadn't made a peep since "his uncle" walked in. Carl looked completely humbled, acting like a kid showing massive respect to "his uncle."

Relief and nerves tangled in Leanna's chest. She started to wonder if she'd accidentally messed with someone way out of her league.

Was this side of the Spencer family actually way more powerful than she'd guessed? Still, he was exactly the kind of big shot she needed on her side.

Wesley's gaze shifted to Carl, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "So, my dear 'nephew,' you got anything to say for yourself about this mess?"

Just the way he said "nephew" was enough to make Carl start shaking from head to toe.

Carl hesitated, his lips moving uncertainly before he finally spoke. "I… don't have anything to say."

Utter bewilderment flooded his mind. How could Wesley possibly claim to be his uncle?

Weakness crept through his legs until he nearly lost the strength to remain standing.

Standing before him was none other than Wesley, the formidable patriarch of the Stewart family, a man the Spencer family had spent years trying to get close to. Yet now this powerful figure casually called himself his uncle… all because of Leanna?

From Leanna's perspective, however, the moment looked entirely different.

Carl, usually so arrogant, now appeared entirely deferential before Wesley, and a single word or even a quiet glance from the man seemed enough to pull her safely out of danger.

Heat rushed to Leanna's eyes, the rims turning red in an instant.

Tilting her head downward, she tried to conceal the storm of emotions threatening to spill out.

Why had everything turned out like this?

Without Wesley standing beside her, humiliation would stretch on endlessly.

Forced to witness her own fiance betray her before her very eyes, she would still be expected to marry him afterward, smiling as though none of it had ever happened!

For years she had walked alone, with no one to lean on, training herself never to shed a tear.

Yet in that moment, perhaps because of the steady warmth of the broad hand resting at her waist, a fragile strength stirred within her, and her slender shoulders began to quiver faintly as tears slipped free one after another.

Droplets of moisture landed softly on Wesley's sleeve.

A flicker of surprise crossed his expression, and he lowered his gaze to study her face.

With a low, steady voice, he inquired. "Are you crying?"

Memories of her boldness from the night before flickered through Wesley's mind.

A faint crease formed between his brows as his sharp gaze swept across the people gathered in the room, irritation simmering beneath the surface.

"What exactly were you talking about just now?" he demanded sharply.

How had these people managed to drive Leanna to tears? And the tension right before he walked in…

Carl stood frozen, lips pressed together, not daring to utter a single word.

Drawing in a steady breath, Emilio straightened his posture and pressed himself to clarify. "We were merely discussing the engagement between Carl and Leanna. But who could have imagined that this disgraceful daughter of mine would sneak out and spend the night with another man and..."

Before he could finish speaking, his voice faltered and cut off abruptly.

Wesley slowly shifted his gaze toward Carl, his voice even but cold enough to send a chill through the room. "Yesterday, I happened to see a report circulating online. It mentioned a Miss Wheeler… and you."

The moment those words landed, both Carl's and Emilio's faces drained of color.

Both men immediately understood exactly what he meant.

Though Leanna had never released the video she recorded, whispers had somehow still begun spreading online. Among the rumors circulating, the most explosive one claimed that Leanna had fled home after discovering Lucy and Carl entangled in an affair.

Those rumors had already thrown Carl and Emilio into a frenzy.

Just the day before, they had exhausted every connection they possessed, pouring money and influence into suppressing the story and forcing the media into silence. Their plan had been simple—keep the scandal buried until Leanna married into the Spencer family. Once the marriage was finalized, they could easily steer public opinion and dismiss the entire incident as nothing more than malicious gossip.

What they never expected… was for Wesley to have seen that news himself.

Leanna felt a sudden tug as Wesley drew her firmly against him, guiding her head into the shelter of his arms like a fierce lion shielding its cub.

Calm indifference laced his voice as he remarked, "If that's the case, then the ones caught up in that news should naturally be the ones walking down the aisle, shouldn't they?"

Those he referred to were none other than Carl and Lucy themselves.

Reluctant to offend the Spencer family, Emilio shifted uneasily and turned his gaze toward Carl for his opinion.

At that moment, Carl's entire body quivered, his complexion drained of color as dread settled over him. "Y-yes!"

Wesley regarded him with quiet authority and queried, "In that case, you're willing to cancel your engagement to Leanna, aren't you?"

After a tense pause, Carl swallowed hard and managed to choke out a stiff reply. "That's right."

Such obedient compliance left even Leanna momentarily stunned.

Meanwhile, a faint, amused chuckle slipped from Wesley's lips as he concluded smoothly, "Good. Then it's decided."

Resting against the steady heat of his chest while her tears soaked into the fabric of his shirt, Leanna sensed a storm of protectiveness and unexpected tenderness stirring within him.

"I'll take Leanna with me for now. You two can stay here and keep discussing the wedding."

Without another word, he bent down, lifted Leanna effortlessly into his arms, and strode toward the exit.

Just as he reached the doorway of Wheeler Mansion, Leanna suddenly spoke, her eyes still red with grievance as she looked back at the people inside. "And my mother... what about her?"

Carl stiffened before reluctantly motioning toward Emilio.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Emilio quickly forced out a shaky assurance. "Your mother will be fine—nothing will happen to her."

Upon hearing that, a trace of relief finally eased the tension in Leanna's chest, and she quietly nestled back against Wesley's embrace.

Long after the two disappeared into the distance, Emilio remained rooted where he stood, his legs trembling as the shocking scene from moments ago replayed endlessly in his mind.

His brows drew together slightly as he pressed. "Is that man your uncle? Why does his presence feel so suffocating?"

Carl shook his head quickly. "That's not my uncle. That's the head of the Stewart family."

Fear and reverence flashed across Emilio's eyes. "The head of the Stewart family?" he echoed hoarsely. "You mean the legendary Wesley Stewart—the ruthless man people say holds absolute power, the one infamous for his merciless approach? How could someone like him possibly take an interest in Leanna?"

Struggling to steady himself, Carl answered in a strained tone, "I'd like to know the same thing. I have no idea how she ended up connected to Wesley. But one thing is certain—never try to play tricks in front of Wesley. The last family that attempted it went bankrupt overnight, their entire clan ruined beyond recovery."

Upon hearing that, the color drained from Emilio's face. Shock overwhelmed him so completely that his knees buckled and he collapsed to the floor.

His mind reeled in pure disbelief. Leanna had somehow become entangled with a man of such terrifying power!