As the year’s end approached, the city of Portlas’ high society joked that there was no need to worship Lady Fortuna. They only had to worship me instead.

That was because, after our remarriage, I became the most materialistic husband in all of Portlas.

I no longer cared how much Lana Gable doted on that man.

Even when my daughter called him “Daddy,” I turned a blind eye.

There was just one new rule in the house.

Every time they mentioned Eliot Speke’s name, they had to give me one hundred thousand dollars.

Thanks to that, I saved up thirty million dollars in less than two weeks.

On our wedding anniversary, Lana and my daughter mentioned Eliot once again.

The two of them looked stiff, while I simply held out my hand with practiced ease.

“One hundred thousand dollars. Transfer it to my account.”

My daughter finally could not hold back any longer and looked at me with utter contempt.

“Daddy, you’re so vulgar. Is money the only thing on your mind? You’d even demand money for such a trivial matter. You can’t even compare to a speck of dust on Uncle Speke’s shoes.”

I did not argue. I simply held out my hand to my daughter as well.

“One hundred thousand dollars. Since you brought it up first, you have to pay too.”

Our daughter, Emma Gables, stared at me incredulously with her eyes wide. It was as if she did not recognize me.

But I simply held out my hand again. “One hundred thousand dollars. I don’t need to nag you for it, do I?”

There was a loud “clang.”

Lana slammed down her water glass, shielded my daughter behind her, and glared at me.

“Lyle Stafford, do you find this amusing?”

I looked up at her and smiled. “Why wouldn’t I? It wasn’t me who took Emma to see him.”

Lana’s expression froze for a moment before returning to normal.

She grabbed my hand and said gently, “I was wrong. Today is our wedding anniversary. Don’t be angry, okay?”

Once upon a time, I would have dreamed of hearing her admit she was wrong.

But I only felt annoyed by her attempt to deflect the subject.

“I’m not angry. Just pay me on the kid’s behalf.”

Lana’s patience completely ran out.

“Fine. Very well.

“Lyle Stafford, you’ve really surprised me.”

She pulled a checkbook from her bag, wrote a check for two hundred thousand dollars, and slammed it on my face. Then, she carried Emma and walked away.

I bent down to pick up the check, not caring where they had gone.

Eliot would tell me the answer anyway.

I opened my phone, and his message arrived right on time.

Today, the mother and daughter had accompanied him to the amusement park. They looked like a real family of three.

After all, Lana and her daughter had never done such simple, ordinary things for me.

Never mind going to an amusement park, even when taking photos, the two of them would turn away from my camera with looks of disgust.

The next moment, my phone rang.

Several candid photos of Lana and Eliot popped up on the screen.

A tabloid reporter sent a malicious blackmail message.

[Mr. Stafford, you don’t want your wife’s scandal trending on the internet, do you? You’ve just remarried. You need to get your footing first, don’t you?]

I could not be bothered to respond, so I just blocked him.

Why should I be the one paying for their mistakes?

An hour later, the scandal involving the two of them trended everywhere.

When Lana came home, her gaze toward me was filled with suppressed fury.

“Look at the mess you’ve created!”

I glanced at her phone screen.

Apparently, the reporter had not gotten what he wanted from her either. So in a fit of rage, he had leaked the photos.

Judging by Lana’s reaction, she clearly believed I had intentionally facilitated their release.

My voice remained calm. “It wasn’t me. That reporter was desperate. He did not get the money, so he’s lashing out.”

Lana let out a cold laugh as her eyes brimmed with scorn.

“Money? Who in this world loves money more than you?

“The first thing you demanded after we remarried was money and a house. You even asked for money from our child’s innocent words.

“How could you criticize others when you’re just as horrible? Don’t you find that shameful?”

My fingernails dug into my palm as I wrenched my hand free from hers.

Even though everything she said was true, the pain still left me gasping for breath.

She knew full well that I needed all that money because of my mother’s illness.

Yet she saw it as nothing more than a ploy to win her favor.

I let out a self-deprecating laugh.

During our struggle just now, the strap of her watch had cut the back of my hand.

When Emma saw the blood on my hand, her expression changed. She rushed over to examine it.

I thought she would blow on my wound like she used to when she was little.

But the next second, she pressed down hard on it.

Caught completely off guard, the pain made my eyes well up.

Yet my daughter, as if seeking praise, video-called Eliot.

“Eliot, did you see that?

“Bad Daddy made you cry, so I got revenge for you.

“I’ll always protect you, just like Mom told you.”

Lana hurriedly covered Emma’s mouth and looked at me with guilt.

“Children speak without malice. We’re adults. We shouldn’t take it to heart.”

It took me a few seconds to realize what she was saying.

A hint of helplessness finally flashed in Lana’s eyes as she held out her hand to me.

“All right, Emma did go a bit too far.”

I reached out my hand as well.

“Two hundred thousand dollars. You’ve all just mentioned him.”

Lana froze in place.

It took her several seconds to snap out of it.

Her gaze toward me shifted from shock to anger.

“Crash!”

She kicked the coffee table, sending it crashing to the floor.

“Enough, Lyle. Are you ever going to stop?”

“Money, money, money. Does being married to me make you feel like you’re settling for less? Is money all you ever talk about with me now?

“How did you turn out this way?

“The way you’re acting makes me feel like remarrying you has been a huge mistake.”

A mistake?

I certainly felt the same way.

If I had known she was still involved with her ex-boyfriend, I never would have married her.

I laughed out loud and made the gesture for money again.

“I’m just that shallow and in no way as refined as Mr. Speke. So, you’d better hand over the money.”

Lana looked stunned.

Emma hung up the video call and rushed over to spread her arms to shield Lana behind her.

“Bad Daddy, I won’t let you bully Mommy.

“It’s only two hundred thousand dollars. I’ll give it to you.”

The next second, a bank card was hurled at my face.

The child had no control over her strength, and the corner of the card sliced across my face.

That gesture was identical to the way Lana had thrown a check at me.

True to both mother and daughter’s wealthy background, regardless of age, they could casually produce a sum I could not even dream of if I borrowed from every relative I had approached during my divorce.

Blood trickled down my cheek onto the floor.

I paid it no mind and bent down to pick up the card.

With that two hundred thousand dollars, I could get my mother better medicine.

Emma was just a child, after all. Seeing me bleed, she panicked and instinctively cried out, “Daddy…”

She reached out to help me up but was stopped by a fair, delicate hand.

Lana held her daughter in one arm and looked at me with a smirk.

“Be a good girl, Emma. Watch and learn. When you grow up, there’ll be plenty of penniless scoundrels like this trying to extort money from you.

“You’d better be on your guard. Even if it’s your own father, you need to be careful.”

With that, she walked away with Emma.

She did not look back at me even once.

After tending to my wounds, I returned to my room and drifted off into sleep.

When I woke up again, it was to the sound of laughter coming from downstairs.

On the sofa, Eliot was playing enthusiastically with Emma.

Meeting my gaze, Lana showed no remorse and spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world, “Eliot has been down in the dumps because you didn’t handle the trending topic well. I was afraid he might do something reckless, so I called him over to hang out.

“Don’t take it personally.”

I did not say a word and just stared intently at Emma.

How long had it been since I had seen her smile so happily?

When I remained silent, a hint of unease flashed across Lana’s face, and she softened her tone.

“If you mind, you can—”

“I don’t mind.”

Lana’s words got stuck in her throat, but she quickly composed herself.

“Is playing hard to get fun?

“You know you can’t stop me, so you’re trying a different approach?

“You weren’t like this before.”

That was right. Back then, whenever I saw her with Eliot, I would go crazy. The moment I caught a whiff of another man’s cologne on her, I would smash everything in the house to smithereens.

The old me could not stand even the slightest provocation.

But I had wizened up.

What good was love? Money was far more important.

I held out my hand to her again. “You mentioned his name twice just now. Two hundred thousand dollars.”

Lana snorted derisively and nodded repeatedly.

“Fine, I’ll give it to you.

“I’ve got something even more valuable here. Are you in?”

I looked up and met her gaze.

Would she really be that generous?

As if reading my mind, Lana spoke casually, “Hold a press conference and say the video online was photoshopped by a reporter you bribed out of jealousy toward Eliot.

“Once it’s done, I’ll give you twenty million.”

“Are you crazy?” I could not help but retort. “Didn’t you suppress that trending topic the very first moment it appeared?”

I could not wrap my head around it. It was clearly her own failure to handle the situation properly. Why was she trying to smear my name?

Lana’s voice was icy.

“Yes, I did suppress it. But Eliot suffered because of this. Don’t you think you owe him an apology?”

Furious, I laughed bitterly. “What makes you think I’d agree?”

Lana calmly pulled out her phone and pulled up a photo of my mother in the ICU.

“Here’s why. I recommended your mother’s current attending physician. I invested in the hospital too.”

As I looked at my mother’s pale face on the screen, a long-forgotten fear coursed through my body.

I clenched my fists tighter and tighter, but eventually let go.

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

The moment I nodded, all my strength drained away. Cold sweat broke out all over my body.

My daughter, standing nearby, cheered with delight.

Finding me in the way, she shoved me aside and ran to hug Eliot.

“Yay! Bad Daddy is finally going to apologize to Eliot.”

Eliot laughed out loud. His gaze toward me was filled with smug satisfaction.

“Sorry, Lyle, Emma might be closer to me.”

I curled the corners of my mouth into a bitter smile. “Yeah, we’re not that close.”

As I turned to leave, I did not notice the unreadable look in Lana’s eyes.

Backstage at the press conference, the makeup artist was working hard to make me look ugly.

Meanwhile, at the makeup table nearby, Eliot was surrounded by several famous makeup artists. They were making him look even more charismatic and handsome.

Emma was circling around him. “Wow, Eliot is even more handsome than a movie star.”

When she turned to look at me, her face twisted with disgust. “Daddy looks like an old monster.”

Lana stepped out to take a call. The smile on Eliot’s face immediately vanished.

“How does it feel? To be unloved by your wife and despised by your daughter?

“What’s the point of remarrying Lana? She still loves me.”

He tossed the speech manuscript in front of me.

“Take a look at this. Lana wrote these charges for you herself.

“Don’t you want to have a sneak peek?”

I looked down, and a dense web of corrections caught my eye.

To think that she used to believe that replying to text messages was a waste of time.

I lowered my head in self-mockery before looking up to meet Eliot’s gaze.

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll go down fighting and expose how you go about destroying other people’s families right there on stage?”

Eliot’s smile froze on his face. Then, he burst into a bout of laughter so hard he could barely stand.

“Go ahead and try it if you don’t mind your mother dying.”

He waved the black card in his hand.

“Lana gave me this supplementary card linked to your mother’s hospital payments.

“Tell me, what if my hand slips and I accidentally cut off the funds? What would you do then?”

My words got caught in my throat. I could only feel my chest tighten.

Lana was not just using my mother’s life to threaten me. She had handed the deciding power right over to this man.

Cold sweat poured down my forehead. I no longer cared about dignity.

I rushed to the podium and mechanically read my prepared statement. All I wanted was to end it all as quickly as possible.

The reporters’ cameras and microphones were practically shoved in my face.

Eliot’s fanatic supporters even threw eggs at me.

By the time it was over, I was trending at the top of the search rankings.

My phone kept ringing. The whole backend was flooded with messages calling me “trash” and “disgusting.”

I turned off my phone immediately and rushed straight to Lana to demand the money.

“I’ve done what you asked. Now it’s your turn to keep your promise.”

Lana snorted coldly and motioned for the doctor behind her to come forward.

“Check him over. Why is his face so pale?”

She looked at me again, with her tone laced with disgust. “Don’t read too much into it. I just don’t want you dying here. It’s bad luck.”

I looked up and saw Eliot smugly waving the card in his hand.

Something snapped inside me.

“Don’t touch me.”

My eyes reddened as I clung desperately to Lana’s hand.

“Give me the money. Give it to me now.”

With that money, I would not have to be threatened or manipulated by them anymore.

I was going to take my mother away.

No sooner had the words left my mouth than I was roughly shoved aside.

Lana waved her hand to dismiss the doctor.

“No need to examine him. He’s just someone whose mind is filled with nothing but money. Clearly, he values his life more than anyone else.”

She looked down on me with disdain.

“Twenty million has already been transferred to your card.”

“Is there anything else? If not, get out of here. Don’t corrupt the child.”

On the street, no one was willing to give me a ride.

I ran all the way back to the hospital.

However, I found that my mother had already been wheeled into the operating room, yet the doctors and nurses were all outside.

Blood rushed to my head.

I grabbed a nurse’s hand and demanded an answer.

“What’s going on? Why aren’t you treating my mom?”