Chapter 3

Several bodyguards immediately closed in around me, and a smile spread across Henry's face, as if he could already picture me covered in blood.

I stood where I was without moving, only looking at Celine.

"Celine, do you think I'm still the same Justin from three years ago—the one you could control at will, the one who couldn't even protect his own daughter?" I remarked, sneering.

Celine rushed forward. Catching me off guard, she tightly wrapped her hands around my throat. Her eyes were bloodshot, filled with undisguised killing intent.

"Justin, do you really think I can't bring myself to hurt you?" she shrieked.

My vision began to turn black, but I looked at her and smiled, forcing the words out through clenched teeth.

"Do it, Celine. Strangle me… Just like you did back then, when you indifferently chopped off Sofie's hands…"

At the mention of Sofie, Celine's pupils contracted, and her grip instinctively loosened.

I took the opportunity to raise my knee and slam it hard into her abdomen.

Celine released me, and I stumbled backward, gasping heavily as my throat burned with pain.

The bodyguards swarmed forward. In an instant, they twisted my arms behind my back and pinned me firmly against the cold marble floor.

Henry hid behind Celine, sticking half his head out. His eyes gleamed with unconcealed malice. "Cece, are you okay? You guys, make him kneel now!"

Celine recovered from the wave of pain, adjusted her slightly disheveled collar, and looked down at me. "Did you hear that? Henry doesn't like seeing you speak while standing up."

She leaned down slightly. Her voice wasn't loud, but every single word was clear.

"Kneel and apologize to Henry. Then, ruin the hand you used to touch him just now.

"Otherwise…"

She paused before she continued, "I don't mind throwing Sofie's severed hands to the dogs as food."

Sofie?

My entire body trembled. Unable to move under the bodyguards' restraint, I could only lift my head helplessly and glare at Celine.

That small child, who used to call me "Daddy" in her sweet, childish voice, had lost both her hands and had to spend the remainder of her living moments in agony.

Yet now, even her severed hands were being used by Celine as a tool to humiliate me.

"Celine, you don't deserve to be Sofie's mother. You're not even fit to be called a human…" My voice was hoarse, and I tasted blood in my mouth.

Celine scoffed, as if she had just heard the funniest joke. "Whether I'm a human or a demon, wasn't all of it something you, Justin, personally chose?"

She was right. Back then, I had fallen in love with Celine when she was still a poor student.

Ignoring my family's opposition, I had given up everything to marry her. I had sacrificed everything, pouring all my savings and calling in every favor to help her reach the position she held that day.

But what I received in return was our daughter's mutilation and the ending where I was discarded like worthless trash.

"It seems you really will only do things the hard way."

Celine had run out of patience. She straightened up and shot a look at the bodyguards.

The bodyguard pinning me down nodded and firmly grabbed my right hand.

Celine stood in front of me, her expression dark and unreadable.

Still, I didn't back down. In a hoarse voice, I taunted, "Celine, do you dare to lay a hand on me?"

She raised a brow, seemingly enjoying my current humiliation and struggle. "Do I dare? You're nothing but a dog who couldn't survive out there and came crawling back, begging for mercy. Why wouldn't I dare?

"It's just a shame that the Lynches have no shortage of dogs—especially a rabid one like you who refuses to obey and even bites back."

I looked at her and let out a cold laugh. Without mercy, I exposed her past in front of everyone.

"Celine, you were clearly the dog that belonged to me. Without me…"