I bent down to pick it up, only to be stunned by the news on the screen. It reported that a mysterious female tycoon had successfully proposed.

Even though the photo was pixelated, after sharing a bed for five years, I recognized her instantly.

She was that eager, proposing the moment she saw him. No wonder the maids pitied me.

"Sir, the internet always writes sensational stuff like that. We all know Madam loves you the most. She even knelt down to beg the old master for you. How could she be with someone else?" The phone's owner awkwardly tried to comfort me as I forced a bitter smile.

Yes, back when the Haynes Family found out about our marriage, they pressured Salma to divorce me.

It was her who knelt before Mr. Haynes herself to beg for a chance for me. She believed I could restore the Lance Family's name. Because of that trust, no matter how many times I failed, I always had the courage to rise again.

But who would've known, it was all a setup, a well-planned trap to make me build a throne for someone else.

Luckily, everything was about to end. I took an advantage of Salma's absence and stayed in the lab to handle the data transfer. When the payment notification finally came through, my tense heart relaxed at last.

With the divorce agreement drafted by a lawyer in hand, I booked a flight to go abroad the next day.

Because the Haynes Family was too powerful in the capital, I had to wait for the perfect moment to strike back at Adam. And tomorrow, at his new product launch, was the best timing.

Back at the Haynes residence, I packed my belongings, searched at all the gifts Salma had given me over the years.

If I hadn't heard it with my own ears, I'd never believe someone could go to such lengths for another person. She abandoned her own marriage, forsaked her own dignity, just to become a thief.

Suddenly, a cat's meow outside the door snapped me out of my thoughts.

I opened the door, about to call a maid to chase the cat away, but it darted into Salma's room. Through the gap in the door, what I saw froze me in place.

At some point, Salma had returned, but she didn't come back alone. There she was, lay softly against Adam's shoulder.

Her lips were swollen, her eyes full of desire, anyone could tell what had just happened.

Then she saw me standing at the door. Her face turned pale and panic filled her eyes.

She quickly pushed Adam away, ran her fingers through her messy hair and asked, "Jason, why are you home? Did the new experiment yield results?"

She continued, "Don't get the wrong idea. This is Adam, you even sponsored him back in the day. He had nowhere to stay after returning and since our companies are working together, I invited him to stay here. I twisted my ankle just now and luckily he caught me."

Hearing this, I couldn't help but scoff inwardly. Even now, in this situation, she still cared about my experiment. And who looked like that just from twisting an ankle?

But since I'd already decided to leave, I had no intention of exposing her lie. I simply said calmly, "Adam, thank you."

He said, "No need to thank me. It's what I should do. Without Salma's help over the years, I wouldn't be where I am today."

Adam's gaze was open, but when he said the word help, he deliberately emphasized it, a secret meaning only they understood, exchanged subconsciously between them. As if I was the one intruded on their world.

I clenched my palm tightly to stop myself from demanding answers.

Suddenly, Adam pulled out a postcard from behind him and handed it to me. He said, "Jason, I picked this carefully before returning. No matter what, that misunderstanding five years ago was my fault. Besides the press conference, I also want to formally apologize to you."

I sneered, how could it have been a misunderstanding? After my first failure, I secretly investigated.

I discovered that the products under his company were strikingly similar to mine.

I reported him under my real name through official channels, demanded proof of data sources, but instead, the police arrested me for spreads false rumors. Everyone said I couldn't handle my failure and slandered others out of spite.

Only Salma stepped up to speak on my behalf, unconditionally believed in me as always. But in truth, she was handing everything of mine over to him.

Seeing that I wouldn't take it, Salma quickly snatched it from Adam and shoved it into my hand and said, "Just take it. Luckily Adam didn't hold a grudge over your false report back then, or you'd have ended up in jail."

As she spoke, she picked up a document from her desk, signed it and handed it to Adam, "This is the cooperation proposal we just discussed. I've agreed to it, think of it as a return gift on Jason's behalf."

I stared hard at that document. The few words that flashed by were all too familiar to me.

She had just blatantly handed over my latest research to Adam as a so-called return gift for a postcard. Absolutely laughable.

After that, she picked up the little black cat that had slipped into the room and gently stroked it and said, "Jason, this cat belongs to Adam. It used to be a stray. It'll be living with us for the next few days. Isn't it adorable?"

Salma held the cat toward me, motioned for me to pet it.

I instinctively took a step back, looked her in the eye and asked, "Are you sure you want me to touch it?" She nodded in response.

I forced myself to stroke it twice, then quickly made an excuse to leave.

Because I had been allergic to cat fur since childhood. Yet it seemed Salma, who grew up with me and used to remember it so well, had completely forgotten.

To avoid the cat, I stayed in my room the entire day. Even with medication applied, I had scratched my skin raw.

That night, Salma unexpectedly came to my room. She said, "Jason, let's have a baby. Tomorrow is Adam's product launch. Let's go together. He promised to share some of his experience with you. Didn't you always say you wanted to be a successful father? This is the perfect opportunity."

I was stunned for a moment. Five years ago, when my parents died in an accident, I who only good at doing experiments, was utterly lost.

Salma pulled me back from the rooftop and we quickly got married. As the daughter-in-law of the Lance Family, she handled everything. Since then, I had yearned deeply to have a child of my own blood.

But repeated business failures made me felt unworthy of asking her for a child. Because I could endure being looked down on, but my child must not.

So for the past five years of marriage, we always took precautions.

"Honey, can we?" Her question snapped me out of my thoughts. Afraid she would notice, I pulled her into my arms, but my eyes turned colder.

She mistook it for excitement and ran off to prepare, casted a flirty glance back at me.

I stared at her retreating figure and whispered, "Salma, I no longer want a child with you."

That night, I never saw her again. By the next morning, neither she nor Adam were anywhere to be seen.

Left with no choice, I went alone to the product launch. Just as I was about to enter the hall, I was stopped by the security guard at the entrance.

The guard asked, "Sir, may I see your invitation?"

When I didn't respond, the guard added, "Today's venue has been fully reserved by the Haynes Group. Only prominent figures in the capital are invited. If you don't have an invitation, please leave."

People waiting to enter all turned to look at me.

They chatted, "Isn't that Salma's husband? Still acting like he's the young star of the Lance Family? He's been living off the Haynes Family for five years, if Salma hadn't kept her word and married him, he'd probably still be working off debts somewhere!"

"The Lance Family used to be something, but look at the son now. I heard Salma invested in his startups 99 times and he still failed, totally hopeless, what a waste of a good wife!" another person chimed in.

Just as they finished talking, Adam arrived with his entourage.

The crowd quickly parted and the security guard rushed over to greet him, "Mr. Stone, welcome! The venue is fully prepared. Let us know if anything's lacking, we'll adjust it right away."

"We also hope you'll put in a good word for us with Miss Haynes, so our hotel can host future Haynes Group events," he continued.

"Don't block Mr. Stone's path. Didn't we tell you to leave? We don't welcome freeloaders here, don't bring down our class!" The guard shoved me aside, now acted submissive, completely different from his earlier pompous attitude.

Adam looked at me smugly and said, "Stop right there! Is this how your hotel treats guests? I welcome anyone who wants to attend my banquet."

"Especially since Jason is my benefactor, without him, I wouldn't have met Salma. He's failed so many times, he's already having a hard time. I won't allow you to treat him like this!"

He continued, "But Jason, if you wanted to see my new product, you could've just asked. I can send you an invitation. Just please don't sneak a peek again and try to copy it like last time."

The moment plagiarism was mentioned, the recently quieted crowd broke into noise again. Countless disdainful eyes turned toward me.

The crowd chimed in, "We almost forgot, do you know why he's useless even with the Haynes Family behind him? Because all his stuff is copied! Even when he helped Mr. Stone back in the day, it was just to freeload ideas!"

"Tsk! Shameful. I actually felt bad for him when I heard his parents died!" another voice said.

If this were before, I definitely would have fought back, to avoid dragging down Salma's reputation. But now, I just wanted to be free of it all as soon as possible.

A crowd of people echoed their accusations while they praised Adam. They said he's grateful and talented at a young age.

I was completely shut out and I couldn't help but sneer inwardly. Adam, let's see if you're still can smile later.

A long time passed before Salma came out. She walked through the crowd and naturally linked her arm with mine. She asked, "Why aren't you going in? What are you doing out here?"

Seeing Salma appear, Adam immediately stepped forward, "Jason, let's go in together. My bad, I forgot to send you an invitation."

Salma pulled me into the banquet hall, she turned back to introduce me as someone here to learn from Adam.

People in the circle already looked down on me. Now, even fewer wanted to talk to me.

Meanwhile, Salma stayed with Adam, she introduced him to various business connections. Their laughter kept drifting over and a few times Adam even leaned entirely onto her.

The out-of-place atmosphere made it hard for me to breathe.

After coming out of the restroom, Adam suddenly appeared in front of me.

Seeing how uncomfortable I looked, he smiled even more smugly, "Jason, you're feeling bad, aren't you? Tables have turned. Never thought you'd end up like this, huh?"

"Actually, I should thank you. If you hadn't taken me under your wing back then, I never would've met Salma," he sneered.

Expressionless, I looked at him and mocked, "What do you mean by that? Don't forget how you begged me for help back then. This is how you treat your benefactor?"