She scoffed. "He's just a useful dog. Tell him to go east, he won't dare go west. Tell him to eat shit, he won't even complain it's hot. If my mom hadn't made me promise to keep him, I'd have kicked him to the curb years ago."

"Hahahaha, true." Kevin sounded incredibly pleased with himself. "I saw how cowardly he was in the private room. Didn't even dare let out a fart. A man like that is just wasting air by being alive."

"Stop talking about him." She moaned. "Do it again..."

I stood at the bottom of the stairs, expression blank.

Then turned and walked toward the storage room at the end of the hall.

Elisa always claimed the "poor sour smell" on me was too heavy—that I wasn't worthy of sleeping in the master bedroom. I'd been relegated to the guest room. Often, the couch.

I pulled a battered tin box from under the guest bed.

Inside lay my only real possessions—relics from the orphanage. The expensive clothes Elisa had "bestowed" upon me to play the role of her well-dressed accessory? I left them where they hung.

I walked out just as Elisa and Kevin emerged from the master bedroom. They stood on the second-floor landing, staring down at me with cold contempt.

"Adam Mason, what trouble are you trying to stir up now?" Elisa clutched her silk robe.

I ignored her. Headed straight for the front door.

Her temper ignited. She grabbed a vase from a side table and hurled it.

*Crash.*

I sidestepped. Porcelain shattered against the floor where I'd stood a heartbeat before. I turned back. Looked up.

Checked my phone.

Three minutes.

The three-year agreement hadn't ended yet.

"Nothing." My voice was calm. "Just going out for a walk."

"If you dare walk out that door today, we are through!" She shrieked. "If you know what's good for you, get your ass up here and serve us. Clean up the room. Do that, and I won't hold you accountable for embarrassing me tonight."

I said nothing.

Turned around. Walked up the stairs.

Kevin burst into laughter. "I'm telling you, Elisa—your dog-training skills are world-class! You could make a career out of this."

Elisa snorted proudly, arms crossing. "This useless trash. If my mom hadn't been so soft-hearted... I don't know what kind of bewitching potion he gave her to make her insist I stay with him."

She sneered as I reached the landing. "A cowardly waste like him... if he leaves me, he'll never live this kind of luxury again in his entire life."

Hearing this, I finally laughed.

"Elisa, you're right." My voice was steady. "I really did rely on your mother to live a 'good life.'"

The contempt in her eyes deepened. She pointed a manicured finger toward the master bedroom, where tangled sheets lay in chaotic evidence.

"In there. We were a bit too... intense. Hurry up and change the sheets and the quilt. Why aren't you moving? We have important matters to discuss."

But I didn't move toward the bedroom.

I stood in place. Eyes locked on Elisa.

On my phone screen, the numbers shifted.

The time had passed.

"Elisa Fox." My voice dropped to a temperature that matched the frost in my gaze.

"I quit."

The silence that followed was deafening.

Kevin Gilbert clutched his stomach, that grating laugh scraping against the silence. "Elisa, look! The lapdog you keep is actually trying to rebel!"

Elisa Fox snapped out of her shock, her expression hardening into something cold. "What? You think just because you've hung around me for three years, you're suddenly part of the upper class?" She tilted her chin up. "You're nothing but a kept man, Adam. Have some self-awareness."

I didn't waste a single word on her.

I turned on my heel to leave.

Kevin stepped into my path, blocking the doorway.

I shoved him aside hard enough to make him stumble. "Elisa used a breakup to threaten me. Now that we've broken up, I have no reason to tolerate you." My voice dropped. "A good dog doesn't block the road."

Kevin regained his balance, his eyes locking onto the box in my arms. "I suspect you're stealing something! Open that box. I want to see what's inside!"

Inside sat a jade pendant I had carried since childhood—the token that had allowed me to prove my identity to the Mason family. After acknowledging my heritage, I had signed a three-year agreement with Elisa's mother. To avoid exposing myself prematurely, I had kept the pendant hidden away.

My silence only fed his arrogance.

He lunged forward, snatching the box from my grip before I could react.

*Crash.*

He flung it onto the floor. The lid popped open. The jade pendant tumbled out, skittering across the hardwood.

Kevin pointed at it, triumphant. "Mason! I knew your hands were dirty! I caught you red-handed—trying to steal valuables!"

Elisa walked over. She didn't even glance at the heirloom on the floor. Her gaze remained fixed on me, cold and imperious. "If you don't want me to send you to prison for theft, get down on your knees and clean this up. As long as you behave, I might pretend this never happened."

I looked at the two clowns standing before me.

*Idiots.*

"Elisa Fox." My voice came out flat, devoid of emotion. "Instead of threatening me, maybe you should check on your so-called 'bestie.' Does he really have the capability to save your dying company?"

Kevin's face went white. "Mason, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

I ignored him and walked straight downstairs.

Behind me, Elisa's voice rose to a shrill scream. "Adam Mason! If you dare walk out that door, don't expect to come back! You can wait for the police to drag you away!"

I waved a hand dismissively without looking back.

The sunlight hit my face as I stepped outside. A black sedan with a chauffeur was already waiting at the curb.

I slid into the backseat. "Go. Take me to the Manor."

I leaned back against the cool leather, closing my eyes. "I've been away too long. It's time I paid the old man a visit."

…

The next morning, I woke up to a phone screen cluttered with notifications.

**[Shocking! Wealthy Heiress's Live-in Husband Absconds with Fortune!]**

**[Kept Man Turns Thief: The Betrayal of the Century!]**

I tapped on a video trending across every platform. Elisa filled the screen, weeping.

"I really didn't expect this," she sobbed, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. "I supported him for three years. Treated him with all my heart." Her voice cracked beautifully. "In the end, he not only betrayed me but stole my mother's jade pendant and embezzled $500,000 from the company. He even stole our core business secrets..."

Flawless. Voice choking at just the right moments. Tears flowing on command.

"Adam Mason, I'm not asking you to return the money." She looked directly into the camera lens, mascara smudged just so. "But those materials represent the hard work of over a hundred employees. How can you be so ruthless? And that pendant... it was the only thing my late mother left me..."

The camera panned.

Kevin Gilbert's face appeared in the frame, his arm draped protectively around Elisa's shoulders, his expression dripping with righteous indignation.

"Everyone, judge for yourselves. Are men who live off women nothing but trash? Usually, he can't even mop the floor properly, and now he dares to commit crimes!" His lip curled. "People like this belong in prison!"

The comments section was a war zone.

*"Damn, that's disgusting. Living off a woman and stealing her money?"*

*"Cut that scumbag into a thousand pieces! I feel so bad for Miss Fox!"*

*"Dox him! Don't let him escape!"*

*"I know this guy! He used to be the Fox family's dog. Never expected him to be such an ungrateful leech!"*

Vicious curses piled up by the second.

*Stole $500,000 and ran?*

A cold smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth.

Elisa seemed to have forgotten that the registered capital for her company came from my pocket. Although she was the legal representative, the actual control agreement had been notarized by my lawyers three years ago.

As for the "business secrets"? Nothing more than a few discarded proposals I had plucked from the Mason Group's trash bin to give her shell company a facade of value.

Meanwhile, in the CEO's office at the Lin Group—

Elisa scrolled through Weibo, a satisfied smile lighting up her face as she read the thousands of comments cursing my name.

"See, Kevin?" She laughed, spinning her phone around to show him. "I told you this would work. The whole internet hates him. Unless he wants to live like a hermit, he's finished."

"Elisa, you're brilliant." Kevin fawned over her, massaging her shoulders. "Once this charge sticks, he won't just go to prison—he'll have to spit out every cent he took."

"Hmph. $500,000 isn't enough." A vicious glint flashed in her eyes. "I want him to pay back every meal he ate and every drop of water he drank for the past three years."

The office door burst open.

Elisa's assistant stumbled in, her face drained of color.

"M-Ms. Fox..." The girl's voice trembled. "The police... the police are here!"

"Remove the mango cheesecake. Bring the strawberry mousse instead."

"And the foie gras. Switch it to the steak."

The moment Simon Henson arrived, he started commanding the waiter to overhaul the entire table.

I watched in silence as the dishes I had carefully chosen were cleared away one by one. My appetite vanished. A cold knot twisted in its place.

"Is Jasmine going to be mad?"

The girl in the wheelchair looked up at me with wide, timid eyes.

Today was New Year's Eve. It was also our anniversary.

But I was used to this routine. Every major holiday, Simon brought his adopted sister along. She was his responsibility, after all—her leg had been crushed for his sake.

Simon smoothed her hair. "Your Jasmine isn't that petty."

He turned to me, his gaze softening into a practiced apology.

I forced a smile. "It's fine."

It didn't matter anymore. From this moment on, whatever Simon did would no longer concern me.

——

As soon as Simon finished speaking, Sarah Henson added cautiously, "Jasmine, I'm sorry. I didn't do it on purpose."

"The doctor said my leg recovers slower when I'm in a bad mood, so my brother..."

She stopped halfway, her voice dissolving into soft, barely audible sobs.

Simon immediately crouched down, pulling out a tissue to dab at tears that didn't exist.

"Alright, alright, it's not your fault."

"It's on me. I forgot to ask her in advance."

He looked up. His eyes hardened the second they landed on me.

"Jasmine, apologize to Sarah."

"You scared her."

My smile stiffened. Froze on my face.

"Scared her? How?"

"Didn't I just say it was fine?"

Simon's patience snapped.

"You call that fine? Dissatisfaction is written all over your face!"

"Sarah is in poor health. Is it so hard for you to yield to her, just a little?"

His raised voice drew curious glances from the neighboring tables.

I lowered my head, refusing to play the role of the immature shrew in this public farce.

"Fine. Sorry."

I looked directly at Sarah, enunciating every word.

"I shouldn't have been unhappy. I shouldn't have scared you."

Sarah's face went pale. She shook her head frantically.

"No, Jasmine, don't be like that! It's all my fault!"

"Brother, stop blaming Jasmine. Let's just go home. I won't eat anymore, okay?"

As she spoke, she tried to maneuver her wheelchair around.

The wheel clipped the table leg. A sharp cry of pain escaped her lips. Her body tilted precariously to the side.

Simon reacted instantly, catching her before she fell. He whipped his head around, his voice a low, dangerous growl.

"Jasmine Delgado! Are you satisfied now?!"

He scooped Sarah into his arms and stormed out of the restaurant, leaving me behind without a backward glance.

The waiter stood there awkwardly, the strawberry mousse still in his hand.

"Miss, this..."

I picked up my coat.

"Pack it up. Someone likes it."

When I returned to the villa, it was pitch black.

I went straight to the second floor.

The master bedroom door was tightly shut. From inside came the sound of Sarah's suppressed weeping and Simon's gentle, murmuring comfort.

"I told you, she didn't mean it."

"She just has that temper. It's not your first day knowing her."

"Is your leg more important, or her mood? It's not even a question."

I stood outside the door, listening as his words stabbed through my chest like shards of glass.

My stomach churned violently.

I rushed into the bathroom and retched until the world spun around me.

In my pocket, my fist clenched around the plastic stick until the edges bit into my palm. The pregnancy test was crushed out of shape.

Simon... our child.

Would this baby also be less important than her leg?