Chapter 4

The moment the ice water engulfed me, my lungs almost seized up. It felt as though countless needles were driving into my bones all at once.

Two bodyguards clamped down hard on my shoulders, refusing to let me break the surface. I desperately pounded on the walls of the tank as the air in my lungs rapidly ran out.

I was about to lose consciousness when Peter shoved the bodyguards aside and flipped the tank over. A torrent of ice water flooded the banquet hall. I went down with it, collapsing onto the floor and coughing violently as I lay facedown in the water.

Peter draped his suit jacket over my shoulders. "Hang in there, Ms. Sullivan! Mr. Blackwood will be here any minute now!"

Ms. Ormond kicked him hard right in his injured arm. He let out a muffled groan and collapsed beside me.

"Who do you think you are to dare ruin my plans time and again?" Pointing at me, she barked at her bodyguards, "Haul her up!"

I was dragged back onto the stage by my hair. My soaked clothes clung to my body, and I shivered uncontrollably from the cold.

Ms. Ormond slapped the property transfer agreement in my face. "Sign it, admit you're a fraud, and crawl out of this club on your knees. Do as you're told, and I might just spare your miserable life!"

I looked at the figure on the agreement—225 million dollars. My life could wait, but I had to protect my money.

"No can do."

Ms. Ormond jeered. "Do you really love money that much?"

"I do. If I wasn't after his money, I wouldn't have approached Caspian in the first place."

A collective gasp echoed through the entire room.

Her eyes lit up, and she immediately had the cameras focus on me. "At last, you're admitting it?"

I nodded. "I've never denied it. I'm after his money, and he needs me to stay alive and well. We knew exactly what we were getting into.

"It's a fair trade. You, on the other hand, claim to love him, yet every single thing you do is like driving a dagger right into his heart."

Ms. Ormond raised her hand and slapped me across the face. "How dare you drive a wedge between us?"

I turned my head to the side and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. "I'm attempting to save you. If you let me go right now, when Caspian comes back, you'll get an earful at worst. But if you keep this up, not only can you forget about marrying into the Blackwood family, but Ormond Pharmaceuticals will go down in flames with you!"

"Who do you think you are? Caspian's life?"

She finally hit the nail on the head. I gazed at her and slowly smiled. "Pretty much, yeah."

Ms. Ormond froze for a second. Then, she snapped. "Very well. In that case, I'll take your life today!"

She raised the microphone and addressed the guests. "This woman used her sob story to deceive Caspian and drove countless families into bankruptcy. If anyone here has a score to settle with her, now's your chance!"

The crowd fell silent for a few seconds.

Bella was the first to march up the stage. She grabbed a bottle of wine and smashed it hard against my shoulder. "This one's for my dad's company!"

Right after her, another woman rushed and slapped me across the face. "This is for the endorsement deal I lost!"

Once the floodgates opened, more and more people joined in. The women yanked my hair, kicked my shins with their heels, and unleashed all the resentment they had been too afraid to vent over the years on me.

I shielded my head and memorized every single one of their faces. Every single person who stepped onto the stage that night was going to pay for what they did to me.

Lying on the ground, Peter's eyes were bloodshot as he bellowed, "Mr. Blackwood has already arrived! If you stop now, you might still get out of this alive!"

Everyone froze in their tracks.

Ms. Ormond, however, snatched the golf club from one of her bodyguards. "What are you afraid of? So long as I'm here, Caspian won't lay a hand on you!"

She stepped on my wrist and raised the club high into the air. "Aren't these the hands you use to wrap around Caspian every time you want money, Lucia? I'll smash them first before ruining that pretty face of yours!"

My eyes darted to the sealed doors of the banquet hall, where the faint sound of hurried footsteps echoed from outside.

"He's back, Ms. Ormond," I said lowly.

She jeered. "Perfect timing. I want him to watch with his own eyes as you become a cripple!"

The pool cue whistled through the air as it came crashing down toward my palm.

The very next second, a black-clad figure kicked the doors open, rushed onto the stage, and caught the descending golf club with his bare hand. He then raised his bloodshot eyes and stared long and hard at Ms. Ormond. "Who gave you the right to lay a finger on her?"