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?”

“Why?

“Didn’t you see? Her face is so pale.”

The nurse stammered. “Sir, the prepaid funds in the patient’s account have been completely depleted. Someone just froze the payment channel too. According to regulations, we can’t perform surgery without funds.”

No money left?

“If that’s the case, why didn’t you call me? Why?”

Before I could ask for details, I tremblingly pulled out my bank card and shoved it into the nurse’s hands.

“There’s thirty million in here. There’s money in here. Hurry up and operate on my mother. Hurry!”

But the nurse who went to process the payment quickly ran back and handed the card back to me.

“Sir, this card has been frozen. It shows that the balance is unavailable.”

How could that be?

My head felt like it was about to explode.

Since we remarried, all the “fines” Lana had given me were in there. How could there be no money?

A “ding” sounded as a message popped up on my phone.

It was from Lana.

[Lyle, I just bought a sports car for Eliot. One of my staff accidentally charged it to your supplementary card.]

[Sorry, I’ll reimburse you double later.]

My hands were shaking so badly I could barely hold the phone.

As I watched my mother’s breathing grow weaker and weaker, I felt as if my insides had been torn to shreds.

My gaze drifted to the watch on my wrist, and a last glimmer of hope surfaced.

“My daughter bought this watch for me. It’s a limited edition. It’s worth at least several hundred thousand dollars. Go ahead with the surgery first; I’ll go sell it right away, okay?”

My daughter had bought me this watch with her Christmas gift money way back, before Eliot returned to the country.

Even during the difficult divorce, I could not bring myself to sell it.

But another nurse, who knew her stuff, looked at me with sympathy and pointed at my watch.

“Um… sir, this must be a fake, right? Look, the strap has faded.”

Following her gaze, I saw that the gold plating on the strap had worn off, revealing the metal underneath.

A voice message from Emma popped up on my phone.

“Sorry, Dad. Eliot said your watch was nice, so I gave him the real one.

“You can’t tell the difference anyway, so just make do with this high-quality knockoff. Please don’t take it personally.”

The gold watch slipped from my wrist and fell to the ground.

All the strength drained from my body in an instant.

I watched helplessly as my mother’s face was covered with a white sheet, yet not a single tear could fall.

I lost track of time before Lana called. Her voice sounded lighthearted.

“I’ve already paid you five times the amount. Don’t be angry. It’s Emma’s birthday tonight. You should come, too. Don’t keep everyone waiting.”

I answered numbly, “Okay.”

After hanging up, I looked at the two-hundred-and-fifty-million-dollar balance that appeared on my card once it was unfrozen.

I felt nothing.

I dialed the number of the entertainment reporter who had once threatened me.

“I’ve got a trending topic worth two hundred and fifty million dollars. Interested in a deal?”

At the dinner party, Eliot was dressed in a limited-edition suit. He was trying to say something to Emma.

However, she shook off his hand and looked around restlessly.

“Where’s Daddy? Why isn’t he here yet?”

Lana paced anxiously. She glanced at her watch impatiently.

“Why isn’t he here yet? Is he still throwing a tantrum?”

The next second, the giant screen in the banquet hall suddenly lit up.

The moment Lana saw what was on the screen, her expression changed completely.