Alivia fell silent for a long moment, her fingers tightening slightly around the edge of the phone. The air in the room seemed to chill as the weight of her brother's words settled over her.

When she finally spoke, her tone was deliberately light and breezy, masking the cold calculation in her eyes. "Well, I survived a great disaster, didn't I? And I was lucky enough to find you guys. They raised me for all those years. Let's just leave it at that."

She would treat it as canceling out the debt of gratitude she owed them for raising her. It was a transaction, a final settling of accounts.

"Sister..." Isaias began, his voice laced with protective frustration. He clearly wasn't happy with her passive stance on people who had potentially tried to have her killed.

Before he could continue his argument, a sharp, impatient knock sounded at her bedroom door. The heavy thuds echoed in the quiet room.

Alivia ignored the person outside for a moment, keeping her voice steady. "Brother, I know what you want to say. But I don't want to complicate things right now. I just hope that in the future, I will never have any connection with them again!"

First of all, the kidnapping investigation hadn't yielded concrete, undeniable results yet. Even with clues, it would be incredibly easy for the Houstons and Adler to deny everything, claiming it was a setup. Without hard evidence, getting bitten back would far outweigh any potential gains.

Secondly, she knew the character of the Houston family all too well. If they found out that her biological family was the incredibly wealthy and powerful Avery family, they would undoubtedly use those twenty years of upbringing as leverage to endlessly and greedily extort the Averys. They were leeches, and she refused to lead them to a new host.

Therefore, her only desire right now was to finalize the divorce as quickly as possible and completely sever ties with the Houston family. That way, even if her true identity was exposed later, it wouldn't bring trouble to her brothers.

The knocking on the door grew more urgent and forceful, the wood rattling in its frame.

Alivia didn't want to talk anymore. "Alright, brother, I have something to deal with. I'm hanging up now. We'll talk later."

She ended the call.

She didn't rush to open the door. Only when the knocking reached a crescendo of obvious annoyance did she lazily smooth down her deliberately ugly bangs, ensuring they hid her eyes, and slowly walked over.

The moment the door swung open, the man outside still had his hand raised mid-knock, his handsome face clearly displaying his impatience.

Alivia looked up at him, her voice soft and airy. "Is there something else?"

Just those few words carried a faint, unmistakable sense of alienation, a stark contrast to the desperate girl he had left behind three years ago.

Adler's brow furrowed involuntarily. He lowered his hand, his tone returning to its usual icy indifference. "Tomorrow is Kendal's birthday. The Houston family is hosting a banquet. Keep your schedule open. I'll come back in the afternoon to pick you up and take you there."

Alivia blinked slowly.

Kendal.

He said the name with such intimate familiarity, a warmth that had never once been directed at her.

She offered a polite, empty smile. "Alright. Is there anything else?"

Adler stared at her delicate, pretty face. Obscured by the dark hair, he couldn't read any emotion. She seemed to accept this decision with eerie calmness, not questioning why she had to attend the birthday of the woman who had ruined her life.

A sudden, inexplicable wave of irritation welled up inside him. He turned to leave, his jaw tight. "That's all. Rest early."

"Wait."

Alivia called out to him, her voice stopping him in his tracks.

She turned back into the room and quickly returned. In her hand was the very same divorce agreement he had handed her just fifteen minutes ago.

"I've already signed it. You can take some time to process the paperwork. As for my documents, you can just mail them to me when it's done. The address is attached on the last page."

When they had gotten their marriage certificate, Adler hadn't even bothered to show up in person. Now that they were divorcing, with his capabilities and connections, it should be even easier to handle without her presence.

Adler looked down at the document she was handing him, then shifted his gaze back to her excessively calm face. He searched for a single trace of sadness, heartbreak, or even hesitation. He found nothing.

His Adam's apple bobbed suddenly, his voice dropping to a low, hoarse register. "Didn't you say you needed a few days to process this?"

"Whether I take a few days or not, the result is exactly the same, isn't it?"

Alivia's arm was getting tired from holding the papers out, so she simply shoved the stack directly into Adler's chest, forcing him to take it. "Besides, tomorrow is Kendal's birthday. If she hears this news, I'm sure she'll be absolutely thrilled."

Caught off guard, Adler slowly brought his hands up to secure the document.

He looked down at the bold, elegant signature, then murmured, "And what about you?"

"What?"

His voice was so low that Alivia hadn't caught it.

"Nothing."

He secured the document under his arm. When he looked back up, his eyes locked onto Alivia's face with an intensity he couldn't quite explain. "Rest early."

Alivia took a step back into her room. "You too."

With that, the heavy wooden door was slammed shut right in the man's face.

Adler stared at the closed door, his expression sinking to its darkest extreme. The faint, indifferent smile on Alivia's face lingered in his mind, impossible to shake off. He glanced down at the papers in his hand, his jaw tightening before he finally turned and walked away down the hall, a storm brewing in his chest.

The next day, Alivia received a phone call from the Houston family.

Lynn Houston, her adoptive mother, beat around the bush at first, asking probing questions about her marriage with Adler, trying to gauge if the three-year exile had broken her spirit.

Alivia didn't bother hiding anything from the Houston family. She laid her cards on the table directly, her voice devoid of any familial warmth. "Aunt Lynn, Adler gave me the divorce agreement last night, and I've already signed it."

Shortly after Kendal had returned to the family, Alivia had been harshly reprimanded by the Houston parents and ordered to change how she addressed them. She was to call them "Uncle" and "Aunt" instead of "Mom" and "Dad." If it hadn't been for the impending marriage with Adler, and their concern for the reputations of both the Rivera and Houston families, she probably would have been kicked out of the house right then and there.

But even though she hadn't been thrown out immediately, the years she spent there afterward were far from pleasant, filled with constant reminders of her "fake" status.

Hearing that she had already signed the divorce papers, the tone on the other end of the line-which had previously been somewhat cautious and placating-instantly changed. It became arrogant, contemptuous, and sounded as if she were bestowing a great charity.

"Today is Kendal's birthday. You should come over tonight and see the world a bit," Lynn commanded, her voice dripping with condescension.

Alivia lowered her eyes, hiding the coldness in them. "Alright."

Normally, after issuing an order, Lynn would just hang up.

But today, she paused, adding a supplementary warning laced with sarcasm. "Back then, Old Mr. Rivera was senile and played matchmaker where he shouldn't have. Now, hasn't everything returned to its rightful track? Alivia, don't you dare feel resentful. You are of low birth; you were never worthy of the Rivera family. If you hadn't been lucky enough to be taken in by the Houston family for a few years, you wouldn't have ever had the chance to step over the threshold of high society. You might have ended up dead in a ditch somewhere. Furthermore, if it weren't for you, Kendal wouldn't have been left wandering outside for so many years, and she wouldn't have gotten sick. You must remember to be grateful. Although her condition is stable now, she can't handle being provoked. As the older sister, and considering how much you owe her, it's only right that you yield to her."

Her words trampled Alivia into the dirt, threatening her life and using the "debt of upbringing" to morally blackmail her. But Alivia had only been an infant back then. If it hadn't been for the earthquake and the hospital nurse mixing up the babies, she would have grown up as the deeply cherished jewel of the top-tier Avery family, far above the Houstons' petty wealth.

"I understand," Alivia replied flatly, casually packing her suitcase as she spoke.

There was nothing else of hers in this villa. She had brought one suitcase in, and she would leave with one suitcase.

Lynn snorted coldly and hung up the phone.

Later that afternoon, the sound of a car horn blared from outside the villa.

Adler didn't get out of the car. He simply called Alivia's phone, delivering two clean, cold words: "Come down."

Alivia deliberately took her time, checking her makeup and ensuring her expression was perfectly neutral.

Only when Adler's second call came through did she finally emerge from the villa.

Seeing the figure jogging over, the man inside the car slightly relaxed his furrowed brow. He leaned over and adjusted a gift box resting on the passenger seat.

"Sorry, I took a nap this afternoon. Kept you waiting," Alivia said formally as she opened the rear door and sat down stiffly.

Adler glanced at her through the rearview mirror, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. "You're going to a banquet dressed like that?"

Alivia let out a confused "Huh?" and looked down at her casual clothes. "Is this not okay? It's just a family dinner, shouldn't it be fine?"

Adler picked up the gift box from the passenger seat and tossed it into the back. "Go change."

The white box bore the logo of Sprince, and the packaging was meticulously crafted. Alivia immediately recognized it as a dress from Sprince's latest unreleased spring/summer collection.

She looked hesitant and pushed the box back. "This is the gift you prepared for Kendal. It wouldn't be right for me to wear it."

Adler tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, pausing at her words. "The news of our divorce hasn't been made public yet. Are you planning to embarrass the Rivera family by showing up looking like that?"

"But..."

"I have a different gift prepared for Kendal. This was sent by the brand, and I just happened to leave it in the car," Adler cut her off coldly, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Go change."

"Fine."

Left with no choice, Alivia carried the box back inside, changed into the dress, and returned.

It was a stunning gradient blue evening gown that made her fair skin look even more radiant. The skirt shimmered like flowing water with every step she took. It was a masterpiece of design.