My face turned grim.

"Mom, Dad, every piece of gold jewelry Victoria owns was bought by me," I said. "So, why would I steal a bracelet? You can't just make accusations out of thin air because you've got a problem with me!"

Maybe they remembered how generous I'd always been with Victoria, because for a moment, both of them looked away in guilt.

However, Jonathan refused to let the matter rest. He drove a punch into me that was hard enough to knock me flat on the ground.

"Michael Hoffman, I was trying not to humiliate you during the holidays, but you just had to keep lying through your teeth! If you won't admit it, then don't blame me for what I'm about to do next!"

He pinned me to the ground, shoved a hand into my pants pocket, and pulled out a gold bracelet, which he then held up high for everyone to see.

"Now that the evidence is right here, what do you have to say for yourself? Lowlifes like you truly disgust me!"

I froze because I had no idea how that bracelet had ended up in my pocket.

Under the light, the pattern on it was clear. It was Dian's gold bracelet.

Jonathan looked down at me, his eyes full of malice.

"People with sticky fingers have filthy minds, too. I heard from some girls in high school that you didn't just steal money. You stole underwear, too! How vile can you get?"

He scoffed. "To think they called you a model student back then. Looks like you are just a negative model."

My eyes burned red with rage. It was obvious that Jonathan had stolen the bracelet himself and planted it on me.

I was just about to expose what he'd done when Victoria suddenly hurled a cup of scalding water straight into my face. "Michael, I didn't think you'd stoop so low. I'm very disappointed in you!"

Diana and Caleb stared at me with disdain.

"If people find out our daughter married a lying thief, how are we supposed to face anyone?"

"Victoria, you need to divorce him right now!"

My body was trembling with rage. Shoving Jonathan off me, I forced myself back to my feet.

But by then, it was obvious they'd already decided I was a thief, which meant they weren't going to listen to a single word I said.

I picked up my cracked phone and tried to call the police.

Framing someone and spreading false accusations were crimes, too. If they wouldn't listen to me, then I'd let the law do the talking.

However, the touchscreen had apparently stopped working. I pressed it several times and still couldn't get the call to go through, which only made it look to them like I was bluffing.

Jonathan kicked me to the ground again, then stomped my phone to pieces. "Who are you trying to fool? Like you'd dare to call the cops. What, trying to play the victim now?"

That kick landed hard enough to leave my abdomen throbbing with pain, and I couldn't get up right away.

Jonathan reached for Victoria's hand, his gaze tender.

"See? This is exactly what I meant. There aren't any good guys out there besides me. It's all an act. He says he works at the courthouse, but from the looks of it, I'd say he only ever ends up there after getting sued for all his petty crimes."

I forced myself to look at Victoria. She didn't pull her hand away. Instead, she leaned into him and started wiping her tears.

My blood ran cold.

"You set me up!" I said through gritted teeth.

Jonathan kicked me again, right in the chest. "Quit making things up! I'm calling the cops this second to get you arrested for theft!"

He really did make the call.

Not long after, a group of men in cheap uniforms came rushing in. None of them had badge numbers as they dragged me over, cuffed me to a table leg, and started pummeling me.

I had no way to fight back, and there was nowhere to dodge. Before long, the taste of blood filled my mouth. They'd probably broken one of my ribs because even breathing sent a stabbing pain through my chest.

On top of that, they forced me to the ground and stomped on my face.

No one seemed to think anything was wrong, and no one questioned who these men really were.

I struggled to grab hold of Victoria's pant leg. "They're not real—"

She kicked my hand away before I could finish, her face twisting with disgust and contempt.

"Michael, the only reason I agreed to your proposal in the first place was that I'd fought with Jonathan back then and wanted to get back at him."

"If you hadn't been willing to give us a 1.2-million-dollar engagement gift, I never would've married you in the first place. Now, it turns out that was dirty money anyway."

Victoria's words pierced my heart like a blade.

As it turned out, I had never been anything more than a backup to her. She had married me for my money and nothing else.

Jonathan pulled Victoria into his arms and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"A repeat offender like him doesn't change. Even if he gets locked up, he'll be out in no time. Instead of letting him off easy, we might as well drag him outside and parade him around so everyone can teach him a proper lesson."

Jonathan didn't stop there.

He had them strip me down until I was left in nothing but my underwear, then used a marker to write insults all over my body before fastening a dog collar and leash around my neck.

They then dragged me outside.

By the time we reached the neighborhood park, Jonathan was already shouting at the top of his lungs, "Everyone, come take a look! We caught a thief!"

Windows opened one after another as people leaned out, pointing, whispering, and then laughing as they realized what was going on, while others pulled out their phones to record.

I instinctively tried to hide, but Jonathan yanked on the leash around my neck, forcing me to stay exactly where I was.

There was no escape. I curled in on myself, trembling all over as a crushing sense of humiliation swallowed me whole.

Victoria had no intention of stopping any of it. She even took out her phone and recorded me in that moment of complete disgrace.

My chest tightened painfully as I forced myself to speak. "Victoria, are you just going to believe everything he says? What kind of thief could steal millions of dollars?"

She didn't even look at me.

"How would I know? Jonathan said people pay good money for women's underwear. Maybe that's what you were doing," Victoria said, her tone laced with impatience.

"Honestly, who knows if you've taken mine before. Just thinking about it makes me sick. If you have, I'm not letting it slide!"

Jonathan cupped her face and kissed her again, his tone soft and reassuring. "Don't worry. Whether he did it or not, I'll make sure to teach him a lesson today."

As his words landed, he lifted his foot and ground it into my face.

The pain was agonizing, but I forced myself to speak through it, warning him, "Jonathan, you know exactly what happened. If you stop now, you might still be able to turn this around. If you don't, I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life in prison!"

Jonathan's expression twisted into a snarl as he yanked the leash and slapped me across the face. "You've got a lot of nerve to threaten me instead of begging for mercy! I've been way too patient with you!"

He still wasn't satisfied. He turned, grabbed a large stone out of the flowerbed, and raised it like he was about to smash it into my head.

Victoria immediately threw her arms around his waist. "Are you insane?"

My gaze instinctively snapped to her because I thought maybe she still felt something for me after all.

Unexpectedly, she placed a hand over her stomach and said coyly, "I don't want my baby growing up with a father who's a murderer."

My mind went blank.

Victoria had been married to me while carrying Jonathan's child.

I laughed, and as I did so, tears began streaming down my face.

Jonathan lit up with delight. He pulled her into his arms, kissed her passionately, then turned back to me with a cold look. "Then we'll let everyone else handle him."

My heart lurched. Fear crept into my tone as I said, "Jonathan, what do you think you're doing? There are laws against this—"

Before I could finish, something was stuffed into my mouth.

A vicious grin spread across Jonathan's face as he shouted toward the crowd, "This piece of trash doesn't just steal money and gold bracelets. He steals women's underwear, too! He's done this before. Who knows how many of you he's stolen from? Go ahead, deal with him however you want!"

A lot of the women in the neighborhood had lost underwear before, and hearing that was enough for them to assume I was the one who'd taken them.

In an instant, the crowd was outraged. People rushed forward, grabbing whatever they could find and swinging at me, including rolling pins, baseball bats, and even vases.

Blood flooded my vision as my consciousness slipped out from under me.

I came to when a bucket of cold water was dumped straight over my head, and every part of my body hurt badly.

The park was still packed with people, men and women, old and young alike. When they saw how close I was to dying, some of them started to back off.

"At least he's still alive. I think we've gone far enough."

"Yeah, it's the holidays. Nobody wants to get dragged into a murder case."

Jonathan clearly had no intention of letting things end there. He pulled out his phone and tapped into an e-commerce app. "I found his account. Just like I said, he's been stealing women's underwear and selling it online. It's disgusting."

He deliberately angled the screen toward a few of the women nearby, and they were instantly outraged.

"Wait, that's the lingerie I lost a few days ago!"

Her husband immediately stepped forward and slammed his fist into my face. "You've got some nerve stealing my wife's underwear. I'll kill you!"

The people who had been hesitating got worked up all over again.

"A pervert like him deserves to be beaten to death!"

"He looks decent enough, but he's done such repulsive things. Don't let him off easy!"

A bitter taste rose up my throat, thick and metallic.

Victoria was leaning against Jonathan, and the two of them stood at the very front of the crowd like they were enjoying a sideshow.

Jonathan spoke, pleased. "Michael, do you get it now? If you beg for forgiveness and buy Diana a brand-new gold bracelet to make up for this, I might consider asking everyone to let you off."

My voice was hoarse, but my tone was filled with scorn.

"You made all of this up, set me up, and even brought in fake cops to play along. If you think you can get away with that, you're out of your mind!"

Jonathan's jaw clenched. He yanked the leash from around my neck, threw it over a tree branch, then pulled hard.

"You're still being stubborn, huh? I guess you won't learn your lesson until I knock some sense into you!"

I felt myself choking at once and could only barely hold myself up with the tips of my toes.

Jonathan looked at Victoria, his expression turning troubled.

"Guys like him don't change," he said. "He's a repeat offender. Let him off now, and he'll just keep doing it."

Victoria spoke up, her tone calm, almost indifferent, yet every word she uttered was dripping with cruelty.

"Then break his hands. If he doesn't have hands, he won't be able to steal anymore, and he won't get the chance to hurt anyone else."

The moment she said that, the crowd erupted in agreement.

"Yeah, break his hands! Let's see how he steals after that!"

"People like him won't learn unless you make it hurt!"

It struck me that Victoria was utterly ruthless.

It didn't matter that I had treated her like everything or that I had given her whatever she asked for. She could still say something like that without even hesitating.

At that moment, I realized just how ridiculous I had been to fall for someone like her.

Before long, Jonathan came back with an iron rod. As he dragged it across the ground, the scraping sound was harsh and grating.

"Michael, if you start begging for forgiveness, I might go easy on you."

I struggled and shouted, "Jonathan Zane, don't you dare! This is assault. It's a crime!"

"A crime?" Jonathan repeated, like it was the funniest thing he'd heard all day. "You're a thief, and you have the nerve to bring up the law? If anything, we're breaking your hands to stop you from committing more crimes."

As his words landed, several people grabbed my hands and pinned them down. Jonathan lifted the iron rod and brought it down upon me.

In the nick of time, Jonathan was thrown to the ground by a brutal kick.

"Everyone, hands on your heads!"

A group of uniformed officers rushed into the neighborhood and surrounded everyone.

The police chief, Brandon Norris, pushed his way to the front. When he saw me covered in injuries and barely conscious, his face darkened.

"Have you all lost your minds?" he thundered. "How dare you beat up a judge? Arrest every single one of them!"