3: 3

3

"You don't need to worry about what I mean. All you need to do is go back and ask your old man. If you really want this divorce, I welcome it anytime."

I glanced down at my watch and turned to go.

But Logan blocked my way.

"I don't need my father's nod to get a divorce. You think I'm three years old? My business is mine to decide!"

Since he had no shame about it, I'd say it plainly.

"This marriage was easy to make and hard to break. If you want a divorce, your father has to come tell me so on his knees. You can't carry that weight."

Logan froze, wiped a hand down his face, and laughed with loud contempt.

"Did I hear that right?"

"What did you say? Come on, say it again."

I looked at him, perfectly calm. "This is a consequence you can't handle, Logan. I'll give you one chance. Keep those people far away from me, stop letting them come and disgust me, and we can still make this marriage work."

Shock and disbelief crossed his face, and he let out a few dry laughs.

"Belinda, oh, Belinda. When it comes to putting on a show, you really are something. Backed into a corner like this and still keeping up the act. If you ask me, why bother with finance at all? Go be an actress tomorrow. Your acting's better than half those people onscreen."

"I don't have time to play around with you. Frankly, once the divorce agreement is signed, your Fox family can delist."

Logan stepped forward, narrowed his eyes, and picked up my employee badge. He looked at it for a long moment, then threw it in my face.

"Big talk, huh? Damn it, working at the Lambert Group's given you a real sense of superiority, hasn't it? The number one conglomerate in Nightport City. Even Mr. Lambert would toss me a compliment or two if he saw me. Who do you think you are? A lackey at the Lambert Group, that's all. If you told me your last name was Lambert, I might look at you differently. But you're just the company's lapdog. How are you any different from the watchdog guarding the gate?"

"If my father hadn't damn well insisted I get married back then, you think I'd have actually wanted you? He was in a hurry for a grandson, so he promised me eighty million if I married you. Belinda, are you even worth that eighty million? What a joke!"

The more Logan talked, the angrier he got. He threw his cigarette on the ground and crushed it under his heel.

Katherine nodded, playing the wronged one. "Sister-in-law, you really don't know your place. You don't even know yet that Mr. Lambert and the Fox family are planning a deep partnership, do you? The only reason you have the position you do is that the Lambert Group's giving the Fox family face."

I nodded. "Good analysis. But you've got it backwards."

I scrolled through my call log and dialed the number at the top.

"Wayne Fox. I don't care what you're doing. Be here on your knees with a divorce agreement in five minutes."

I hung up and sat down on the bench by the roadside.

I looked at my watch. "You still have five minutes to change your mind."

"What are you playing at? You have my father's number? You're really going to keep up this act? You almost had me, though. Too bad my father's in meetings all afternoon. He won't even pick up for me, his own son. Belinda, you think you've got that kind of pull?"

"Yes, actually. A little."

Logan propped his cheek on his hand and gave a cold snort.

"Fine. Five minutes, is it? I'll wait with you. I've got all the time in the world. Let's see if you can really summon my father here today!"

Logan sat down on the bench across from me and crossed his legs.

Katherine sat beside him, bandaging the cut on his head.

"Man, don't stoop to her level. Soft-hearted woman's nonsense, nothing worth talking about."

"Man, don't you see you're falling right into her trap? She's just stalling until the employees are back at work, so she can make up whatever she wants. Plain and simple, she's afraid of losing face. She's just buying time."

Once the lunch break ended, the crowd that had gathered to watch had thinned to almost nothing.

Logan looked at his watch and sneered. "About time now. Well? This person you mentioned, where is he?"

I glanced down at my watch. "Twenty seconds left. What's the rush?"

Logan had clearly run out of patience.

"Belinda, I don't have time to sit here shooting the breeze with you! Once I get out of the hospital, I'll make you pay for this."

Clutching his head, Logan turned to get in the car.

Behind him, the screech of hard braking came from the roadside.

Katherine turned first, then grabbed Logan's arm in a panic. "L-Logan, that's, that's Mr. Fox's car…"

4: 4

4

Logan turned around impatiently, then froze. "Dad?"

Wayne Fox scrambled out of the car in a panic. Logan reached to steady him and got a slap across the face for it.

"You worthless idiot! What have you been doing! Look at what you've done!"

"Huh? Dad, what are you talking about?"

"Apologize! Apologize to Belinda!"

Logan was yanked over in front of me.

I sat in my chair, head down, answering messages on my phone.

All I heard was his contempt. "Me, apologize to her? She wishes. She's not even worth it."

"Dad, why are you here? You said you had a meeting this afternoon. You just passing through?"

I kept typing on a work file, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Wayne drop to his knees in front of me.

"Dad! Have you lost your mind! You're kneeling to him? Dad, do you even know what you're doing!"

"You little curse! Get down and beg for forgiveness! Do you want the whole Fox family to pay for your mistake!"

It was the first time Logan had seen his father this furious.

He didn't understand any of it, and he wavered.

Katherine grabbed Logan's arm and whispered, "Logan, what did your wife feed your dad? Your brother's project is about to close. If he acts like this, isn't he humiliating your brother?"

Logan's face shifted, and he crouched down in front of his father at once.

"Dad, don't you know my brother's project is about to close? Once it does, we'll be the top power in Nightport City. Why would we be scared of some VP from the Lambert Group? By then I'll get you a more obedient, better-behaved daughter-in-law!"

Hearing that, I slowly raised my head.

The instant our eyes met, Wayne shuddered from head to toe.

He got up off the ground and slapped Logan.

"You worthless idiot! How did I raise a beast like you!"

I put my phone away and glanced at my watch. "Ten minutes. Still no result out of your talk."

I took the divorce agreement from Wayne's hand and skimmed the terms.

I signed it and threw it at Logan.

"You dare sign?"

Logan, already sour from the slap, grabbed the divorce agreement, crouched on the ground, and signed.

"You cheap slut. From today on, we've got nothing to do with each other. I'll make your life hell!"

He signed, tossed the pen aside.

Just as he was about to throw it at me.

Beside him, Katherine cried out.

"Logan! You, look at the settlement on there!"

Logan flipped through the divorce agreement at once, and the moment he saw the settlement, his pupils blew wide.

Fifty percent of the Fox family's real estate.

Eighty percent of their liquid assets, all handed over as the settlement for our divorce.

"Dad! Did you see this! You got it backwards, didn't you? How could our Fox family be paying out to this slut?"

From the moment we signed, Wayne had collapsed to the ground in despair.

He kept muttering under his breath, over and over, "It's finished, it's finished, it's all finished."

"Dad, did you hear me?"

I leaned back in my chair, one leg crossed over the other, and lifted my chin toward Logan.

"This? This is nothing. The fun part comes later."

Logan couldn't move his father, so he hurried over to me, frantic.

He weighed the contract in his hand and demanded, "Is this your doing!"

"Is it you! What did you do to my dad! To make him defend you like this!"

"Belinda, you want my family's money, is that it? Let me tell you, dream on! You, don't you dare take a single cent from my family!"

As he spoke, Logan tore the divorce agreement to shreds and flung the pieces into the air.

Scraps of paper drifted down across the floor.

I looked up at the shreds in the air and drew a breath.

"I wanted to settle this quietly too. You had to stand here and disgust me. So don't blame me for being ruthless."

At that, Wayne crawled to my feet on his knees. "Belinda! Don't! I'm begging you, spare the Fox family. When we get home, I'll discipline this unfilial son properly!"

Logan yanked Wayne away.

"Dad, I think your eyes are going and your head's gone soft. Forget it, I can't be bothered with you. Move! Belinda, aren't you so capable? Let's hear what you've got. Go on, say it."

I took out my phone again and dialed a number.

"Short the Fox family."