Chapter 2

My words seemed to have hurt Yvonne's pride.

"Regret? William, the only one who'll regret anything is you!" She jabbed my nose, her voice full of contempt. "Do you think you're still the Guzman family's golden child from five years ago? Your family went bankrupt ages ago! Right now, you're just a nobody who leeches off me.

"I feed you. I put clothes on your back. Asking you to kneel is just a small favor!"

Beside her, Francis chimed in, "Exactly! William, don't be so ungrateful. Yvonne is the CEO of Singer Tech now. Plenty of men are lining up for a chance to marry her. If she weren't sentimental, you wouldn't even be worthy of tying her shoes."

The guests around us began gossiping.

"So, his family is bankrupt. No wonder he's so humble."

"I thought Yvonne married into a wealthy family. Turns out she picked up deadweight."

"Serves him right. He's a loser but still acts arrogant. He deserves what he's getting."

Every cruel word stabbed into my ears like tiny daggers. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. There was no point arguing with people who were about to die.

Memories surfaced in my mind. That winter, when Yvonne's company ran out of cash and she faced countless setbacks, she got drunk and collapsed in the snow. I was the one who carried her home on my back. I paid her rent and bought her meals with the money I had secretly earned from odd jobs.

She clung to me and cried like a child. "Will, I promise I will never let you suffer in this lifetime."

What a joke! Now, for a mere investment deal, she treated me like a toy, trampling on me.

The drop tower kept running. My strength was draining slowly, my consciousness starting to fade. Every time I slammed into the water, my head felt like it was going to split open.

During the struggle, my phone slipped from my pocket and sank to the bottom of the pool. But it didn't matter. Oswald Chance had already gotten the message.

"Yvonne, he looks like he can't hang on much longer," Francis said nervously, watching my lifeless body.

"So what?" Yvonne snorted coldly. "Men like him are stubbornly hard to kill. If we don't teach him a lesson, he'll never learn his place."

She then turned to Zoey with a smile. "Ms. Malcolm, how about we make things more exciting?"

Zoey's interest was piqued. "Oh? I'm listening."

Yvonne pointed toward the waterslide in the distance. "Let's make him go down the tallest slide. Without a life jacket. Doesn't that sound exciting?"

My gaze instinctively followed where she pointed, and my heart dropped to my stomach. That slide was about three thousand feet tall. It was a new attraction that had yet to officially open because it hadn't even passed safety testing yet.

Zoey clapped excitedly. "That's a great idea! I love watching hot guys get soaked!"

Francis squealed, "Yvonne, you're a genius!"

With that, they unstrapped me from the drop tower and dragged me up to the top of the slide. Staring down that nearly vertical slide, fear gripped me tightly.

Yvonne didn't know I was afraid of heights. Going down this slide could very well kill me.

She walked up and grabbed the rope binding me. I looked at her, eyes full of desperation. "Yvonne, please. Don't let go."

She glanced at me with disgust. Then, without hesitation, she released her grip.

I sped down the slide. Without any safety gear, I barely made it halfway before my body lost contact with the slide entirely. I was thrown into the air, tumbling frantically.

Amid my scream, I crashed straight into the pool below, causing a huge explosion of water around me.

This time, it felt like my internal organs had shattered into pieces.