The celebration dinner ended on a sour note.

The next morning, the stock price of the Chapman Group plummeted as soon as the market opened.

Negative news about the land in the southern part of the city flooded the media.

Wilbur was overwhelmed with stress.

Meanwhile, I sat in the spacious and bright office of the Norris Group and leisurely sipped coffee while watching the red numbers flicker on the screen.

I felt exceptionally happy.

"Ms. Hayes, Wilbur is downstairs. He wants to see you." My secretary called me through the intercom.

"Bring him up," I replied, setting down my coffee cup.

He had fallen into my trap.

Ten minutes later, Wilbur walked into my office.

He looked haggard, with bloodshot eyes and rumpled clothes. He was a far cry from his usual confident demeanor.

"Alina," he said, approaching my desk and placing both hands on it. "We need to talk."

"Talk about what?" I didn't even lift my head as I continued to read the documents in my hands. About how you can give the Chapman Group to me?"

"Alina, I know you hate me." Wilbur took a deep breath, trying to suppress his anger. "But the Chapman Group is also your hard work. Do you really want to watch it fall apart?"

"My hard work?" I finally looked up and was amused by his words. "Wilbur, have you forgotten? You said that I was a useless spender three years ago and that the Chapman family didn't need me. And now you are saying it's my hard work. Don't you find that ironic?"

Wilbur was rendered speechless.

He bit his lip before softening his tone suddenly. "I was wrong about what happened back then. I was fooled by someone. Honestly, I haven't forgotten you these past three years. I was just to spite you when I was with Nora..."

I nearly spat out the coffee I had just sipped.

Could he be any more shameless?

To spite me?

So he forced me to leave with nothing and watched me struggle on the streets?

"Mr. Chapman, cut the drama." I interrupted his performance. "Just say what you want."

Seeing that I wasn't buying his act, Wilbur dropped his affectionate facade. "If you're willing to invest in my company and help it go through this crisis, I can offer you the position of Vice President of my company. Even... we could remarry," he added, and he looked confident that he would get what he wanted.

To him, all my efforts and scheming to return must mean I still had feelings for him.

He believed that I'd obediently return to him like before with just his beckon.

"Remarry?" I seemed to have heard the biggest joke and laughed so hard that tears fell down. "Wilbur, how are you so arrogant? Do you really think you're worthy of me now?"

Wilbur's face turned livid instantly.

"Alina, don't think highly of yourself. Do you really think Theo genuinely cares for you? He's just using you to take over the Chapman Group. Once I'm down, do you think you'll have a good ending?"

I stopped smiling, and my gaze turned icy. "I don't need your concern, Mr. Chapman. Goodbye."

Wilbur was escorted out by security.

As he left, he shot me a venomous glare. "Alina, you just wait. I won't accept defeat like this."

Watching him leave in disgrace, I picked up my phone and dialed Theo's number. "He's panicking. Proceed with the plan. Throw the bait of the Nirvana Project to him."

Wilbur was desperate for a turnaround opportunity, and the Nirvana Project I meticulously crafted was the grave prepared just for him.

Over the next two weeks, I intentionally slowed down the acquisition of the Chapman Group.

Meanwhile, through several intermediaries, I gradually leaked the core information of the Nirvana Project to Wilbur.

It appeared to be a promising project with astonishing profits, but it was actually a financial quagmire.

As long as Wilbur took the bait and invested everything he had, he would meet his ruin.

And Wilbur fell into the trap as I had expected.

He thought it was a secret from the Norris Group and his only chance to turn things around.

He recklessly mortgaged all remaining assets of the Chapman Group and even took out high-interest loans.

He was eager to start the project before the Norris Group did.

Nora wasn't idle either.

She was busy trying to pull strings, hoping to meet me.

After I rejected her, she commissioned defamatory online content to smear my reputation.

She spread the rumors that I had climbed the ladder by selling my charms and that I had an affair while I was married to Wilbur and was pregnant with an illegitimate baby before being expelled by the Chapman family.

She even fabricated scandalous images of me.

Online public opinion was highly unfavorable towards me for a while.

"Miss Hayes, do you need the PR department to handle this?" my assistant asked worriedly.

"Not necessary." I calmly closed the webpage filled with vicious comments. "Let them continue. The harsher the criticism, the more dramatic the reversal will be when the time comes. Nora's little tricks can only fool someone as foolish as Wilbur."

The real culminating strike was yet to come.

I had evidence from years ago when Nora conspired with the Hayes family's competitors to frame Jeremy.

I also had the proof of her laundering money through the Chapman Group over the past few years.

In these three years, the most important lesson I'd learned was patience under Theo's guidance.

I would wait until the enemy let their guard down, and then I would deliver a fatal blow.

One month later, Wilbur thought he had successfully snatched the Nirvana project.

He couldn't wait to hold a grand press conference.

He was eager to announce to the world that the Chapman Group was back.

At the press conference, Wilbur stood confidently on stage.

Nora, dressed in a high-end gown, clung to his arm and smiled happily.

"Thank you, everyone, for being here today. I have great news for you. The Chapman Group has secured exclusive development rights for the Nirvana project. This will be a new milestone for the Chapman Group."

The audience erupted in applause.

Wilbur basked in the long-awaited glory.

His gaze scanned the crowd and was finally fixed on me in the corner.

He smugly raised his chin.

His eyes were clearly saying, "Alina, you lost."

After the press conference, a lavish banquet followed.

Wilbur held a wine glass and went straight towards me through the crowd.

He cornered me in the banquet hall.

The heavy velvet curtains behind me muffled the outside noise.

He reeked of alcohol, and his eyes were hazy and fervent.

"Alina," he said, placing one hand against the wall to trap me between his body and the wall.

That familiar sense of oppression crept over me again.

If it were three years ago, I would have been trembling with fear.

But now, I just looked at him calmly, as if he were a clown.

"Congratulations, Mr. Chapman," I said, swirling the wine in my glass. "But are you sure you've won?"

Wilbur chuckled and leaned closer to my face. "Haven't you had enough fun? You stirred up such a ruckus just to make me regret it and get my attention? Admit it, Alina. You still have feelings for me. Otherwise, why would you deliberately leak such a lucrative project to me?"

He assumed that I had lingering affection for him and that it was proof of his charm.

"Alright. You've won." Wilbur reached out and attempted to touch my face.

His eyes were filled with patronizing affection. "For all your scheming, I forgive you. Now, come home with me. I'll deal with Nora. As long as you behave yourself well..."

Before his hand could touch my face, a strong hand firmly grasped his wrist.

A sharp crack echoed, and the sound of bones misaligning was clear.

"Ah!" Wilbur screamed as his wine glass fell and shattered on the floor.

Theo had appeared beside me before I knew it.

He gripped Wilbur's wrist tightly, and his gaze was cold when he looked at Wilbur as if the latter were a corpse. "Mr. Chapman," Theo said, "did you think you could touch my woman like that?"

I naturally linked my arm with Theo's and nestled into his embrace.

I smiled brightly at Wilbur, whose face was contorted in pain. I said, "Wilbur, did you misunderstand something? I gave you the project not out of love, but because..." I leaned closer and said in a voice only the three of us could hear, "that was your grave I prepared for you. The first lesson Theo taught me was that anything worthless should be thrown away. And you, along with your doomed project, are that trash."