No sooner had Carl slammed the door than Ciara lunged at me, her eyes red as well.

"Are you happy now, Julian? It took me two hours to appease him, and now you've driven him off with just a few words!"

Two hours, huh?

I couldn't believe she could be shameless enough to bring that up.

My throat tightened at the sight of her blatantly accusatory gaze. All of the sincerity I'd shown her in the past several years seemed to be nothing compared to a single one of Carl's tantrums.

Grabbing her handbag in frustration, Ciara threatened, "If anything happens to him, I'll make sure you have hell to pay!"

As soon as she opened the door, however, she was halted by the people who emerged from the elevator.

After seeing the marks on Ciara's neck and noticing the mess in the house, Mr. and Mrs. Hudson both turned pale.

"Why are you two arguing in the middle of the night? Tomorrow, you'll be—"

"Mr. and Mrs. Hudson," I interrupted while jerking down my necktie. "It's just as well that you're here. I won't beat around the bush. Let's call off the wedding."

Mr. Hudson's knees buckled, and Mrs. Hudson had to hold him steady, all the while staring at me in terror.

"D-Don't scare us like that, Mr. Spencer. This joke isn't funny at all!"

"I'm not joking."

Looking right at Ciara, I continued with a sarcastic smirk, "Since you two found yourself a suitable son-in-law and raised him with your family all along, why did you bother making a show of begging me and my family?"

Mr. and Mrs. Hudson looked even more panicked. "What are you talking about? You're the only son-in-law we accept!"

Scoffing, I retorted, "Since there seems to be no limit to certain people's shamelessness, I don't mind being more blunt.

"The two Hudson siblings share such an intimate bond that they'll even get in bed together. Since Ciara adores Carl so much, and you two know all there is to know about him, what's the harm in letting your adopted son become your son-in-law instead? After all, you're already a family."

Ciara's face drained of color. Clutching her handbag even more tightly, she growled, "Don't be ridiculous, Julian!"

"I'm the one being ridiculous?"

Three years ago, it was Mr. Hudson who came to my office, got on his knees, and begged me to save the Hudson family.

Ciara, who'd always been a proud and standoffish woman, compromised for the first time, saying, "As long as you agree to help us, Julian, I'll be your girlfriend."

At the time, her gaze had been stubborn and defiant. There was no affection in her eyes, only the hardened numbness of being backed into a corner with no other options left.

After the Hudsons left us alone in my office, she refused to even stand near me, stiffly declaring, "I'm only going to date you out of obligation, Julian. This is nothing more than a business deal."

I was a fool to think that with enough earnestness, a person's heart could be thawed. Now, I finally understood that no amount of effort made a difference if one didn't have a place in the other's heart.

Over the years, I'd invested ten billion dollars into the Hudson family's business. I bought out three of their competitors and even ceded the export opportunities I had to them.

With the help of my family, in just three years, the Hudsons managed to turn their near-bankrupt factory into a well-known company.

I thought I'd given them enough, but in Ciara's eyes, none of this mattered more than Carl.

Falling to his knees, Mr. Hudson cried out, "We're the ones who failed to raise our daughter well, Mr. Spencer! Please, on account of how we've done everything you told us to in the last few years, do give Ciara another chance!"

"Ciara simply had a momentary lapse of judgment, Mr. Spencer!" Mrs. Hudson cried out tearfully as well. "You're the only one she wants to marry."

Standing to the side, Ciara had turned bright red, but her lips were pressed tightly together. Through it all, she didn't say a single word.

It was only after her friends had managed to talk her parents into leaving that she finally vented all of her displeasure.

"My parents aren't young anymore, Julian! Must you threaten them with the company?"

"Threaten them?" I repeated with a snort.

Ciara sure knew how to twist things around.

"They're the ones who begged me for help back then. If you truly cared about your parents, you'd know what the consequences are for betraying me."

After Ciara stumbled backward, her phone abruptly started ringing.

"Carl! Where are you?"

I didn't know what he said, but her face turned pale, and her lips trembled as she cried out, "Don't do anything rash! I didn't say I'd marry him. Just stop the car first…"

Once the call ended, Ciara glared at me. "Carl's drunk, and he's driving on the highway right now. He said that if I marry you, he'll crash the car."

Taking a step closer, she snarled, "If you have even the slightest bit of conscience left, Julian, you'd stop pressuring us like that!"

As I stared at the blatant threat in Ciara's eyes, I found the entire situation laughable. She was the woman I'd loved and cherished with all my heart for three years—a woman who'd use our marriage to coerce me for the sake of Carl, her adopted brother, whose sole desire was to sleep with her.

"So?" I questioned. "Are you now begging me to help him?"

"Why, you!"

Ciara was shaking with rage, but after thinking of something, she said with a sneer, "Don't think I don't know what's going through your head, Julian. You're just acting like this to make me beg you, right? Fine, then. I'm begging you. Happy now?

"Go out there and bring him back right this minute!"

After a pause, she added fiercely, "Otherwise, even if we get married tomorrow, I won't ever let you touch me! Once we're married, I'll get an IUD—I'll even tie my tubes to see to it that the Spencer family bloodline ends with you!"

Staring at her vengeful expression, I let out an abrupt chuckle.

She wanted to end my family bloodline, huh? She sure thought highly of herself.

Just as I turned to leave, however, I noticed that the keys to my limited-edition Maybach were now missing from the counter in the hallway.

Carl must've stolen them.

Noticing that I'd paused, Ciara realized what had happened, and her face took on a look of triumphant smugness.

"If I recall correctly, you can track the GPS location of that car, right? Even if you don't care about Carl, you should think about that precious car of yours, the one you spent over six months waiting for."

My heart clenched. In all honesty, no matter how expensive a car was, it was nothing more than a car to me. However, the emerald locket that my deceased grandmother gave me was hanging in that car. It was the last token of hers I had to remember her by.

"Why are you still standing there?" Ciara snapped impatiently. "I'm warning you. If Carl does anything rash—"

"Shut up."

Cutting her off, I called up my assistant, Henry Verne. "Bring over a car for me, and send me the location of my car."

I turned back around and eyed Ciara coldly. "Stop bothering me with asinine threats."

…

When Henry brought the car over, I got in, buckled my seatbelt, and drove straight to the GPS location of my car.

My phone started ringing. I wanted to reject the call, but after seeing who the caller was, I took a deep breath and answered it.

Serena Langston's voice was as crisp as ever. "Julian, about tomorrow, are you sure this decision you've made isn't just a whim of yours in the heat of the moment?"

Rubbing my forehead, I replied, "Do I look like the type of person who'd be this impulsive with a marriage alliance?"

"Nope," Serena admitted with a laugh. "But you do look like a fool who's lost his mind because of another woman."

"That's why I need a partner who's clear-headed," I replied.

I checked the location of the Maybach. It was racing toward a mountainous area on the outskirts of the city.

Frowning, I continued, "Langston Group wants to claim the renewable energy market in Eudorea, and my family's business channels are your easiest way in. Our marriage will be a mutually beneficial one."

After a moment of silence, Serena said, "But I won't want to marry a man who's in love with another woman."

"From tonight onward, that's no longer the case," I said, still staring at the GPS tracker on my screen. "See you at the wedding ceremony tomorrow."

I ended the call and floored the accelerator. At the end of the mountain road, I finally spotted the familiar car. However, it suddenly turned around and sped straight toward me.

The headlights blinded me. I couldn't react in time.

The impact of the crash made me lose control of the car. My forehead bashed against the steering wheel, and blood immediately trickled down my face.

As the pain ripped through my body, my vision began to dim. Through the shattered window, I saw the door of the Maybach opening.

Carl stumbled out of the car, clutching a glinting item in his hand—the emerald locket Grandma left to me!

"This is probably worth quite a bit of money, huh?"

I tried my best to crawl toward him, but a few of my ribs seemed to have broken. Even the slightest movement made me tremble from the pain.

"Let go of it…"

"Let go of it, you say?" Carl repeated as he kicked my car door aside. "You've been pestering Ciara for years now! I don't see you doing me a favor and letting her go."

Carl raised his hand and flung the emerald locket heavily onto the ground. Even though it cracked with a crisp sound, it wasn't enough for him. He even stomped on it for good measure.

"Carl!" I bellowed, my throat raw. "That belonged to my grandma!"

"Who the hell cares about your grandma!" Carl roared back at me before clutching me by my bloodied shirt and dragging me out of the car.

Pointing at the hickeys on his neck, he declared, "Ciara gave these to me. I'm the only one who gets to touch her. Do you think she actually likes you? She simply treats you like a personal ATM!"

The more he spoke, the more exhilarated he became.

"As for all the properties, shares, and sports car she demands from you, haven't they all been for me?"

Carl stared at me for a moment before letting out a maniacal laugh, saying, "You think you're so great, don't you, Julian? Since you stole Ciara from me, I'm going to kill you for it!"

With that, he grabbed my collar and started hauling me toward the cliff.

Headlights flashed in the distance.

Ciara scrambled out of the car, panic flooding her face. "Carl! Are you okay?"

She threw herself at him, frantically checking him from head to toe. When she finally confirmed he had nothing more than a few scrapes, she sighed in relief.

But when she turned her head and caught sight of the blood streaming down my forehead, she instinctively looked away.

How could Carl be anything other than fine? I'd gotten that Maybach custom-fitted with the best safety features. Only the bumper was a little dented right now.

"You did it on purpose, didn't you, Julian? Carl's my brother! How could you be vicious enough to try and kill him by crashing into his car!" Ciara shrieked.

Snorting, I retorted, "Anyone with a pair of working eyes can see that he's the one who crashed into me, Ciara."

Pointing at the crushed emerald locket on the floor, I said sharply, "He destroyed the last keepsake my late grandma left to me!"

Ciara was startled when she saw the locket, but she soon let out a scoff. "It's just a broken piece of jewelry. Don't tell me you Spencers care about something like that. I'll just give you an even better one tomorrow. That should be enough for you, no?"

Staring at her, I started laughing until my tears blurred my vision.

Her response shouldn't come as a surprise to me. In her eyes, everything had a price tag attached to it. Everything from Grandma's last keepsake to my years of devotion was nothing compared to a fleeting moment of happiness for Carl, that insane brother of hers.

Alas, after being on her high horse for so long, she'd slowly forgotten that all of the money she could spend as she pleased came from me.

Hiding behind Ciara, Carl mouthed toward me, "You lost."

The pain made my vision darken, but I pulled out my phone with my violently shaking hands. It took a great deal of effort for me to call Henry.

"Tomorrow… the wedding will proceed as planned."

Carl immediately cackled. "Look at him, Ciara. Even though he's on the verge of dying, he doesn't even call an ambulance for himself. He's still so desperately keen to marry you."

Ciara crouched in front of me and asked, "Do you really want to marry me?"

Before I could say anything, she raised three fingers and carried on saying, "If you want to marry me, you'll have to agree to three terms of mine.

"First of all, you need to start a gaming company under Carl's name and invest a billion dollars into the company. Secondly, you need to give him that seaside villa of yours in Ausania. And thirdly, give him 30% of the shares in all of your companies."

Staring at my bloodied face, she continued, "Cash is too basic. I want to ensure that Carl never wants for anything in his life."

I simply stared at the unabashed greed in her eyes before wordlessly looking away. Once I heard the siren of the ambulance, I finally lost consciousness.

…

I opened my eyes to the blinding lights of the hospital. The doctor said I'd broken three ribs and a bone in my left leg. I also needed 15 stitches on my forehead.

On the side, Henry asked hesitantly, "Mr. Spencer, are you sure you want to marry Ms. Langston?"

I closed my eyes. "I've never been one to renege on any decision I make."

…

Ciara sat in the living room the entire night. Her phone screen remained lit up as it sat on the coffee table, but even until dawn, she didn't get a message from me.

Biting her lip, she kept trying to reassure herself, telling herself that I'd been too heavily injured. I was probably still unconscious. That had to be the only reason why I didn't get in touch with her.

Considering how badly I wanted to marry her, even if the wedding ceremony had to be delayed a few days, she had no problems waiting a little longer.

Beyond the window, the sky was slowly brightening. Carl, who was holding Ciara, slept soundly, but she didn't feel the urge to sleep at all.

At noon, the news of the extravagant wedding held by my family, the Spencers, went viral online. There was a photo of the church, with a red carpet running down the aisle. The bride's name was also given.

Her name was Serena Langston.