My father's voice came through the phone, laced with surprise.

"Why bring this up all of a sudden? Didn't Lucas say this project was guaranteed profit?"

"Listen to me. Pull the funding immediately." My grip tightened around the phone, my knuckles blanching. "And one more thing. If Lucas suggests mortgaging the Eastside land, do not agree to it."

"Did you have a fight with Lucas, Claire?" My father asked, his voice full of concern.

"No. Just trust me this once. I'll go back to the company tomorrow and check the accounts."

After hanging up, I glanced at the darkening sky outside.

The pregnancy test report in my bag had already been torn into pieces.

That life, which had once filled me with joy…

In my previous life, it had become the very blade he used to destroy me.

This time, I wouldn't even give his child the chance to be born.

At eleven that night, Lucas pushed open the bedroom door.

A faint trace of perfume clung to him.

It was Vanessa's favorite brand.

"Still awake?" he asked, slipping off his suit jacket as he walked to the bed.

"I was waiting for you." I closed the book in my hands.

He rubbed his brow.

"Didn't I tell you to rest early?"

"Long meeting?" I asked, my eyes fixed on the faint red mark at his collar.

"A few of the senior shareholders were difficult," he said with a sigh.

He lay down beside me and reached out to pull me into his arms.

I turned away, avoiding his arm.

"I think I'm coming down with something. Don't want to pass it to you."

Lucas's hand fell into empty space.

He went silent for a moment in the dark.

"Claire, you've been avoiding me all day."

"Have I?" I closed my eyes. "I'm just tired."

The room fell into a long, suffocating silence.

"Next week is our third anniversary," he said into the darkness. "What kind of gift do you want?"

"Anything from you is fine," I replied softly.

"Then don't forget to sign that proxy agreement tomorrow." He slipped into the real topic as if it meant nothing.

I opened my eyes, staring at the ceiling.

"Sure. Have the lawyer bring it tomorrow."

Late at night.

Lucas thought I was asleep.

He slipped out of bed, phone in hand, and headed toward the balcony.

I opened my eyes, watching his back.

The sliding door to the balcony was left slightly ajar.

The night breeze carried his deliberately lowered voice into the room.

"Vanessa, don't start. Didn't I spend the whole afternoon with you today? That old bastard already agreed to mortgage the Eastside land. As soon as the funds come through, the Holloway Group will be finished. Be good. Give me a few more days. Once the anniversary is over, I'll come clean with her."

His tone was just as gentle as when he coaxed me.

But beneath it, there was something rotten—something greedy enough to make my skin crawl.

Barefoot, I slipped out of bed, staying out of his line of sight as I made my way into the study.

The safe in the study was set to my birthday.

He had once used that detail to prove how deeply he loved me.

I entered the code and pulled open the heavy door.

Inside lay a thick stack of documents.

I opened the document on top and skimmed the text by the moonlight spilling in through the window.

It was a share pledge agreement, along with several side-bet contracts tied to shorting Holloway Group stock.

Lucas's name was signed under Party A.

Party B was an offshore company registered overseas.

Its legal representative was Vanessa's younger brother.

I took out my phone and photographed each page.

Then the screen suddenly lit up with a message.

An unknown number had sent me a picture.

It showed a messy bed.

Scattered across the sheets were a man's tie and the shirt I had personally picked out for Lucas that very morning.

Another message followed right after.

"Miss Holloway. Lucas said you're so stiff in bed that even touching you bores him. You've held onto the title of Mrs. Ashford long enough. Isn't it time you stepped aside on your own?"

Every word reeked of impatient, desperate possessiveness.

I looked at the photo on the screen without the slightest ripple of emotion.

In my previous life, I had confronted him with pictures like this, only to be brushed off with excuses about business rivals fabricating evidence.

Now it was obvious that even tricks this cheap had just been part of their little game.

I saved the photo and blocked the number without a second thought.

Then I bundled up the contract images I had just taken and sent them to my father.

"Dad, take a look at these."

Less than a minute later, he called.

My father's voice was low and trembling.

"Where did you get these, Claire?"

"From Lucas's safe," I said calmly, leaning against the desk.

"That bastard. He actually teamed up with outsiders to short the Holloway Group?"

"Dad, this is not the time to get angry," I cut him off. "First thing tomorrow morning, issue a public statement in the company's name. Terminate all cooperation related to the Southside project."

"But the penalty for breach of contract..."

"I'll figure out the penalty." My tone turned hard. "At the same time, move every liquid asset the Holloway Group can cash out into the overseas account I sent you."

He hesitated on the other end.

"What are you planning to do?"

"I'm going to make him pay back every last cent, with interest."

I stared at Lucas's signature in the photo.

Didn't he want a company?

Then I would hand him one. A company rotten to the core.

After hanging up, I put everything in the safe back exactly as it had been.

Then I slipped silently back into the bedroom.

Lucas was just coming in from the balcony.

He came back to bed with the chill of the night still clinging to him.

Out of habit, he wrapped an arm around my waist.

"Why are you still awake?" he asked, noticing how stiff my body had gone.

"I got cold and woke up for a bit." I didn't push him away.

"The lawyer will bring the agreement tomorrow. Once it's signed, I'll go with you to try on dresses for the anniversary."

His chin rested in the hollow of my neck, his breathing even.

I closed my eyes and answered with a single word. "Okay."

The next morning, the lawyer arrived at the Holloway mansion right on time with the proxy holding agreement.

Lucas sat across from me and personally handed me a pen.

"Sign it. From now on, I'll carry everything for the Holloway Group for you, Claire."

His eyes were so tender they could melt one's heart.

I took the pen and scrawled my name across the signature line.

As Lucas looked at my signature on the agreement, a flash of wild delight flickered in his eyes.

He slipped the document into his briefcase.

"Thanks, honey. I'll take you to try on couture dresses this afternoon."

"No need. I'm going shopping with a friend this afternoon." I stood up. "Just have the dress sent to the house."

"That works too. I'll head back to the company and take care of a few things first." He was clearly itching to cash in on that agreement.

As I watched him hurry away, I dialed my lawyer's number.

"Julian, what exactly triggers the agreement I just signed?"

Julian Cross's steady voice came through the line.

"The moment Lucas uses that agreement to mortgage assets, he automatically assumes all of the Holloway Group's hidden liabilities."

"Good." I hung up.

Lucas thought he had gotten his hands on the Holloway Group's lifeline.

What he had really taken was a one-way ticket to hell.

I lifted the coffee on the table and took a sip, letting the bitterness spread slowly across my tongue.

The dinner banquet for our third wedding anniversary was held in the grand ballroom at the top of the Peninsula Restaurant in the city center.

Dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit, Lucas moved through the crowd with a glass of wine in hand.

The guests were all flattering him, praising his boldness in preparing to take over Holloway Group.

I sat quietly in the corner in the white mermaid gown he had personally chosen for me.

"Mrs. Ashford, you look stunning tonight." A sweet, cloying voice sounded above my head.

I looked up.

Vanessa stood there in a provocative red gown with a plunging neckline, a wineglass in her hand.

Around her neck was the blue diamond necklace that should have been mine.

"You look lovely too, Miss Wren. That necklace suits you perfectly." I smiled and took a sip of juice.

Vanessa clearly hadn't expected me to stay so calm.

She pulled out a chair, sat beside me, and lowered her voice.

"Claire, you really know how to endure, don't you? You saw those photos, didn't you? Lucas spends every night with me. What's the point of clinging to a marriage that exists in name only?"

"In name only?" I let out a soft laugh. "I think you misunderstand, Miss Wren. I've never cared about the title of Mrs. Ashford."

My attitude clearly infuriated Vanessa.

"Drop the act. After tonight, the Holloway family will belong to Lucas. You won't have even the slightest use left."

"Really?" I set down my glass and looked straight into her eyes. "And yet just yesterday, Lucas was on his knees begging me to have his child."

Vanessa's face turned ashen in an instant.

"That's a lie."

"Whether I'm lying or not, why don't you ask him yourself?"

I rose to my feet and deliberately brushed past her shoulder.

"Excuse me."

Vanessa stumbled, and the red wine in her hand splashed across the floor.

As she noticed the looks turning toward her, the jealousy in her eyes flared into something raw and uncontrollable.

I walked in my heels toward the spiral staircase leading up to the second-floor terrace.

Lucas was standing at the foot of the stairs, talking to several board members.

The moment he saw me approaching, he immediately put on that tender, devoted expression.

"Why didn't you stay seated a little longer, Claire?"

He reached out as if to steady me.

Vanessa came storming over from behind in a fury.

"Claire, say that again. Say it clearly."

She grabbed my arm, her nails digging deep into my flesh.

Lucas's expression changed instantly as he tried to pull her away.

"Vanessa, what are you doing? Let go of her."

"I'm not letting go. Lucas, tell her. Tell her you never loved her. Tell her the one you love is me."

Vanessa's shrill shouting brought the entire room to a halt.

Lucas's face darkened so badly it looked ready to drip storm clouds.

He grabbed Vanessa's wrist and tried to yank her away.

"Security, get this madwoman out of here!"

This was the moment.

I looked at Vanessa's face, twisted by rage and effort.

Then I let my body snap backward, following the force of her pull.

With a sharp scream, I tumbled all the way down the tall spiral staircase.

The white skirt of my gown twisted over the steps, streaked with great smears of blood.

Gasps and screams erupted all around me.

I hit the marble floor hard, and pain tore through my body at once.

But I gritted my teeth and forced myself to stay conscious.

A warm liquid slowly ran down the inside of my thigh.

It was the blood pack I had hidden in advance.

Lucas came charging down the stairs like a madman and dropped to his knees beside me.

At the sight of all that blood, his hands shook so badly he didn't dare touch me.

"Call an ambulance! Now!" he roared at the crowd.

I opened my eyes weakly and looked at his deathly ashen face.

"My baby..." I whispered, each word thin and breathless.

Lucas froze as if he had been struck by lightning.

"Baby? You were pregnant? Why didn't you tell me?"

I ignored him and stared straight at Vanessa, who stood frozen on the staircase in total shock.

"She pushed me."

I pointed in Vanessa's direction.

Every eye in the room snapped toward Vanessa.

"It wasn't me. She fell on her own." Vanessa shook her head frantically, stumbling over her own words in panic.

The wail of an ambulance siren sounded outside the hotel.

Medical staff rushed in and lifted me onto a stretcher.

Lucas tried to follow, but the bodyguards my father had arranged blocked him cold.

"Mr. Ashford, you should stay here and clean up your own mess."

The bodyguard delivered the line without a trace of emotion.

The ambulance doors slammed shut, cutting Lucas out of sight.

The moment the vehicle pulled away from the hotel, I sat up and tore off the monitors attached to me.

"Miss Holloway, everything has been arranged." The doctor riding with us handed me a clean set of clothes.

"Thank you." I changed out of the bloodstained gown and handed the doctor a document. "Please give this to Lucas."

It was a divorce agreement, already signed.

That pool of blood was the first grand gift I had prepared for him.

And the real show had only just begun.