The next day, Attorney Evans brought the contract to me.

"Miss Roberts, there are some talks going around online. Yesterday, paparazzi captured Mr. Edwards going in and out of your old marriage home with a woman in a white dress."

I looked down at the divorce agreement and nodded.

"Gather the evidence; it will be useful later."

At that time, my assistant told me they had made a deal with the stock owners who were unhappy with Luther and they were ready to back my return.

"Vale, send someone to Grandpa’s old home and dig out the box under the second tree on the right in the yard and bring it to me."

"Also, watch the company’s stock market for now and grab some shares if the chance arises."

I looked at the divorce papers and told the orders.

As a wedding gift, I gave Luther twenty percent of the company’s shares. Right now, he holds the most shares, while I only hold fifteen percent.

Since we were ending the marriage, let him spit out everything he took!

After my assistant and lawyer left, the hospital room door opened again and Luther slowly led Calliope, whose eyes were red and swollen, into the room.

His face sank the moment he saw me and his voice turned cold.

"Lyra! Have you been spreading rumors everywhere? Can’t you stop being so jealous! Calliope and I are just like brother and sister, what nonsense are you saying outside?"

Hearing his quick blame, I frowned and spoke back, "I didn’t."

Calliope hid her face in Luther’s arms, crying and said in a hurt tone.

"I know you don’t like me, but how could you say… how could you say I’m the mistress? And that the kid in my belly is illegitimate…"

Seeing his loved one in pain, Luther lifted his eyes, his look cold as he looked at me.

"Other than you, who else would send out this news? Sign in to your account and clear things up online that this has nothing to do with Calliope, saying that Calliope was only a guest in our home."

A cold smile pulled at my lips, my tone with sarcasm. "Why should I? Isn’t it true that you two stay together?"

"Because this thing has upset Calliope and hurt her pregnancy." Luther’s voice was cold and hard. "Do as told right now."

"I won’t post it!"

I stood strong against Luther.

Luther’s face sank all the way, his eyes showing cold anger. He lifted his hand and ordered the guards.

"Take my wife to the storage room and lock her in. Don’t give her a drop of water or food during this time. Let her out only when she’s ready to post it."

My blood went cold at once, my body shaking as I tried to fight back.

But the next moment, the guards forcefully pulled the needle from my hand, dragged me up roughly and threw me onto the storage room floor.

I feared the dark most of all.

After my company grew, I was kidnapped by thugs hired by the competitor and kept in a dark room for a week, during which I took countless beatings.

I wasn’t saved by the police until the eighth day.

From then on, I gained a fear of dark places.

I told Luther about this event. I recall one time when the power went out at home, I was shaking and crouched in a corner.

Luther held me tight, gently patting my back. "I’ll always stay with you from now on, don’t be scared.”

But now, he was punishing me with my worst fear, pushing me to speak for the woman who took my boy’s heart.

At the last moment, the door closed and even the last line of light was shut out.

Only endless dark stayed.

I curled in a corner, shaking, hugging my shoulders. I hid my face in my knees, holding back sobs.

Fear took hold of my heart. My nails scratched my wrapped hands until the light smell of blood told me I was still alive, slightly easing the huge panic in my chest.

Time moved slowly in the dark, after what felt like forever, the storage room door finally opened.

I awkwardly and slowly looked up, seeing Luther standing in the shadows. For a moment, I thought I saw hurt in his eyes, but it faded fast.

He gently carried me out, his voice soft, as if we had gone back to the start of our love.

"Lyra, are you willing to leave now?"

I felt the warmth of his touch, yet my body remained cold. I turned my eyes away, a forced smile on my lips.

"And if I still don’t want to?"

The next moment, he threw me onto the floor. Pain rushed through my body and my face became even paler.

He held my chin, forcing me to look him in the eye.

His eyes were dark with anger, a silent weight pressing on me. "You don’t want to?"

Seeing the cold in his eyes, my heart fully died.

"I’ll send it."

I calmly met his eyes, slowly moving my hand away.

"I’ll watch you send it."

The cold look in Luther’s eyes faded and he pushed the phone into my hand.

I signed in to my page, typed my clarification message and sent it.

Luther nodded in ease, getting ready to leave. I grabbed his sleeve, my voice calm. "I have a document here for you to sign. Sign it before you go."

He looked at me with doubt, then picked me up with an annoyed tone and carried me back to the ward. "What document?"

I nervously took out the endpapers, handing them to him, but before I could speak, his assistant interrupted me.

"Mr. Edwards, Miss Collins just saw the negative comments online and passed out from crying."

Luther’s face changed. Without even looking at the documents in his hand, not knowing what he had signed, he simply signed his name and rushed away.

I forced a small smile, lowered my head and signed my name too. The divorce papers were now in use.

Tomorrow, I could leave this place.

I showed the divorce agreement to my lawyer. "Help me finish the steps and move all assets. Withdraw all investments I made in Luther."

But before I leave, I will make those two pay!

After the doctor treated my wounds, I went back with no change of mood to the villa that was no longer mine.

I walked in after typing Calliope’s birth date and opened the door.

Inside the villa, almost all my things had gone and the room had been changed to Calliope’s style.

The only thing that had not changed was the small cloth piece I had made myself, hanging on the wall.

This was from a trip Luther and I took. I had heard that wall cloths could show words we never said.

So, I poured my love for Luther into it and worked on it for half a month.

But Luther never saw it.

I laughed at myself, took a lighter and lit a corner of the wall cloth. The fire spread fast and thick smoke rolled through the room.

Now that we were divorced, there was no need for the marital home anymore.

What first belonged to me, even if I would not want it, Calliope could not take it.

I turned and left the villa, stopped a taxi and said, "Driver, to Dobbie Group."

While on the way, a message popped up on my phone. It was a message from Calliope.

It was a photo.

In that picture, Calliope, wearing a pure white wedding dress, sweetly locked arms with Luther, whose eyes showed soft care.

The backdrop was a picture of the two looking at each other with warm eyes.

Right after that, a message popped up.

"Lyra, stop taking a spot that’s not yours. You’re the one who’s the homewrecker. Get out of here!"

I stared blankly at the two notes, my heart fully calm.

I took a screenshot, signed in to my account and sent out the news post saying Calliope was Luther’s mistress, adding the line, [Let’s cheer this ‘true love’ couple for at last getting together."

In the same post, I added all the proof of Luther’s cheating gathered by my lawyer, along with Calliope’s bold words.

After doing all this, I shut my phone and walked into the Dobbie Group.

I made the calls behind the scenes for this group, while professional managers worked as the legal representatives.

My assistant was already waiting for me at the door. She came right over to greet me and handed me a dusty, gray box.

"Ms. Roberts, I dug this from your grandpa’s yard."

I looked at it closely. Sure enough, the box had a small, old-style number lock.

I carefully took it and went up to the top floor of the office building. Then I took out the strip of cloth I had kept safe and matched the numbers on it one by one.

Click. I pushed the switch on the front and the combination lock opened on its own.

As soon as the box opened, many photos and a note came into sight.

My heart beat fast for some reason. I had a sense that reading this letter would change my whole life.

I gently opened the envelope. Inside was a letter from my grandpa.

"Lyra Roberts, if you open this note, Grandpa will likely be gone by now. I'm so sorry, Grandpa couldn't guard you..."

Seeing the known handwriting, tears rose in my eyes.

But as I read line by line, my look grew more and more serious.

"Lyra, your parents didn't die from natural causes; they were murdered. Grandpa investigated for so many years and in the end, all the proof led to one house, the Edwards Family."

"This is a family that makes a living through lies. They run a big black market. People in the family are ranked by how much money they trick or how many lives they take. If anyone learns their hidden secrets, they will face a bad end..."

My eyes tightened at this point. My hands shook as I picked up the photos from the box. They were all photos of homes tricked or harmed by the Edwards Family.

Every single one showed them begging, locked up, or dead.

In one of the photos, I saw a pair whose faces looked like mine. They lay badly hurt in a car, holding an infant close in their arms.

The last photo had the words "Luther Edwards, the fiftieth head of the Edwards Family" written on the back.

Cold sweat ran down my head and a deep fear climbed up from the bottom of my heart.

So Luther never loved me from the very start.

I was only his hunt, or maybe a task for him to move up.

But why was he going after the Roberts Family?

Right then, my phone rang. I came back to real life, my finger hitting the wrong key to answer. Luther’s voice came through the phone.

"Lyra, if you're not happy with the house, you can burn it down. I'll just give you another one. But why did you post those false things online, making Calliope threaten to jump off a building?"

Hearing this, I held the photo tight and laughed. "Nonsense? Isn't your affair the truth?"

"Lyra, I truly love you. I told you, Calliope and I have nothing going on. Why won't you believe me? And we can't get a divorce! Even if you die, you'll die by my hand!"

Luther was completely angry at my words. The sound of tearing paper came from the phone.

He tore up the divorce papers.

"Luther, even sleeping together means nothing? Does even having a child mean nothing? We are over."

I ended my words with my last bit of air and hung up the phone.

After that, I picked up the worn suitcase and told my assistant.

"Vale, look into Luther’s family, the Edwards Family, as much as you can. Also, check when Calliope got pregnant."

I thought of their wedding shots; the wedding dress could not hide Calliope’s belly anymore and she did not look newly pregnant.

Then I had the driver take me to the airport.

I wanted to go see the house my grandfather and I once lived in, to see if there were any hints left inside.

As I got on the plane, I looked at my phone, which kept flashing.

It was Luther; he had called me many times.

I calmly took the SIM card out of my phone, broke it in two and tossed it in the trash.

Luther, we would meet again.

The next time we met, we would have nothing to do with each other.

I would not hold back.