Chapter 4

"Ms. Sanders, Ronald's leg suffered a comminuted fracture. And... his reproductive function has also been severely affected. It'll be very difficult for him to have children in the future."

"What?!"

Ronald broke down sobbing, biting his lip so hard it nearly bled.

"Zoey... what am I supposed to do now?"

Suppressing her fury, Zoey tightened her grip around his hand. After a long silence, she finally spoke.

"It's okay. I'll do everything I can to help you recover.

"And besides... you're already going to be a father."

She guided Ronald's hand gently onto her lower abdomen.

"Did you forget? Last month, when you got drunk... we slept together."

The faint movement beneath his palm made him burst into tears.

"Zoey, thank you... thank you for letting me become a father."

Then he glanced at me, his eyes brimming with smug triumph.

I froze, staring at Zoey's stomach.

Uncontrollably, I remembered every excuse she had ever used to keep me from touching her.

"We're still young. After we get married, you can do whatever you want."

But now, she was willing to carry Ronald's child.

So it was never that she did not want to.

She just did not want me.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips.

"Henry, you're nothing but a curse. The second you came back, Ronald ended up like this!"

The moment Zoey saw me smile, embarrassment and rage exploded across her face. Her fist slammed straight into me.

I spat out a mouthful of blood and forced the words out.

"He deserved it. This is karma for setting me up.

"If he's really willing to fake losing his fertility, then maybe you should worry whether the baby you're carrying is even his."

Before I could finish speaking, Zoey struck me so hard I flew into the corner wall. Blood streamed down my forehead instantly, blurring my vision.

A sharp pain ripped across my scalp.

Then suddenly, half my body was shoved out the window.

If Zoey loosened her grip for even a second, I would fall to my death.

"You've really lost your mind.

"For the past three years, I thought about bringing you back every single day. I was terrified you'd suffer in prison, so I begged countless people to look after you.

"But you were so heartless! Three years without a word, and after getting out, you vanished completely!

"Do you know how long I searched for you? Do you know how much it hurt watching you throw your life away in those underground fights?

"Henry, you know nothing.

"All you know is how to frame Ronald, slander Ronald. You're a complete psychopath!"

Her eyes were bloodshot as huge tears crashed onto my shoulder.

Hanging outside the window, my heart felt colder than the wind roaring past my ears.

"You're right. We're finished."

She threw me to the ground like discarded trash, her voice icy.

"But you still have to pay for what you've done."

Slowly, I lifted my head.

"As long as you publicly confess to everything you've done over the years and willingly give up all claims to the Goldman family estate, I'll return the old mansion to you."

My ears rang violently. The taste of blood rose in my throat.

"You..."

She stared down at me from above.

"Think carefully before you answer. This is your last chance."

My fingers brushed against the photograph in my pocket, the relic my father had left behind.

On the back of the faded family portrait were a few small handwritten words.

"Henry, once Dad gets better, I'll take you to Zephyrus to see the snowy mountains."

I remembered how thin and fragile his arms had been before he died.

Tears slammed onto the floor as I bit down on my arm, trembling from head to toe as I cried.

"Fine."

"I agree."

The next afternoon, I knelt outside the old mansion, reading aloud from a written confession beneath a storm of flashing cameras.

"...I caused Mr. Ronald's injuries. My crimes are unforgivable.

"I bullied Mr. Ronald Goldman for many years. Everything was my fault."

The crowd watching erupted in fury, hurling garbage at me.

"Go die, you piece of trash!"

"Why don't you just kill yourself and apologize properly?!"

"Mr. Ronald is kind and beautiful-hearted, but you're pure poison!"

Curled up on the ground under the blows, I looked through the chaotic crowd and saw Zoey stepping out of a luxury car with Ronald on her arm.

"Three days from now, Ronald and I will hold the wedding of the century."

By then, security had already tossed me into the back of a garbage truck.

Suddenly, my phone rang.

"Henry.

"I'm back to take revenge for you."

...

Three days later, the wedding was unimaginably extravagant, yet people still kept bringing me up.

"Ms. Sanders, Henry is still part of the Goldman bloodline. Are you really going to force him this far?"

Zoey's expression darkened instantly.

"I forced him?

"He's the one who refused to turn back.

"In his eyes, nothing matters except that old house. The rest of us mean nothing to him. Don't mention him in front of me again."

The room immediately fell silent.

The next morning, Zoey contacted her assistant.

"Go bring Henry here to sign the transfer papers. If he misses the deadline, that's his problem."

She paused, then changed out of her lounge clothes and into a black lace dress instead.

Watching her spray on perfume, Ronald's expression turned ugly.

On their wedding night, Zoey had not allowed him to touch her at all.

When Henry arrived later, he was determined to put him in his place.

But just as Zoey waited expectantly, the assistant suddenly called.

"Ms. Sanders, something's wrong!

"The eldest young master has disappeared!

"And the old mansion was just sold at auction for an enormous price!"