3

“Ouch! That hurts, what are you doing?” she screamed, clutching her bleeding arm with a pained expression.

Sophie widened her eyes, “You bitch, how dare you accuse me?”

Avery grimaced as tears slowly fell from her eyes, “She hurt me on purpose.” 

Leonard stepped closer to Sophie and grabbed the woman's wrist, which was clutching a small, sharp knife. “How dare you hurt my wife,” he said coldly.

Sophie herself was shocked by the knife in her hand. She hadn't brought anything with her earlier, not even a knife. She glanced at Avery, who was still lying on the floor in a worrying position, a slight smirk appearing briefly on her lips. Sophie knew it was the woman's own doing. “No. She hurt herself, Leonard, not me.”

Leonard tightened his grip on Sophie's wrist, making her wince until the knife fell from her hand. “How can I believe you when you're openly holding a bloody knife?”

Sophie stared blankly at her husband, “I'm telling the truth, Leonard. She deliberately put the knife in my hand and hurt herself so you would accuse me.”

“Ah, Mr. Leonard, it hurts so much,” Avery whispered with teary eyes.

Leonard swung his hand and hit Sophie's face, causing her to fall to the floor in great pain. “Stevan, tell the guards to lock her in the upstairs room,” he ordered, and Stevan immediately nodded in agreement.

Stevan immediately called the large guards, who dragged Sophie away from there. “No! Leonard! You have to believe me!” she screamed in vain, even as she struggled.

Meanwhile, Leonard ignored her screams. He crouched down toward Avery and carried her like a bride, tenderly entering Leonard's room. This made Sophie even more angry and furious. “You insolent bitch! Watch out,” Sophie screamed, burning with intense jealousy.

In the hallway of the mansion, Sophie ran into Maxim, who was shocked to see his mother being dragged roughly by the big guards. “Hey, wait. How dare you treat my mother like this,” Maxim interrupted.

Sophie looked at Maxim with a hurt face. “Help me, Maxim. They're going to lock me in the upstairs room.”

One of the large men replied, “These are direct orders from Mr. Elder. You'd better move out of the way because it's useless to stop us.”

“Let my mother go or you'll be fired,” Maxim threatened.

It seemed that the large men did not care about the threat. They pushed past Maxim, causing him to fall to the floor while Sophie continued to be dragged upstairs.

Upon arriving at a room on the top floor, Sophie was roughly pushed inside, and they locked the woman in from the outside. Sophie rushed to get up to open the door, banging on it loudly, “Open the door! I said open the door!” she screamed shrill.

Footsteps could be heard moving away, indicating that the big men had left her alone in the room. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and a sudden cold wind swept over her, sending shivers down her spine. She turned and leaned against the closed door, her eyes scanning the room, especially the large picture frame containing a portrait of a woman in a beautiful, long white dress with a white veil over her head. Sophie's lips trembled as cold sweat began to appear on her forehead. “No, that's not me!”

Sophie shook her head quickly, looking around warily at the warm room filled with belongings. Her eyes glanced at a portrait of a baby on the nightstand, then moved to the bed covered with white sheets. "No, it's not my fault. Leonard should have thrown all those trashy things out of here!" Sophie screamed, pushing the small table beside her, making a loud noise as it crashed to the floor with the items on it falling. After that, Sophie grabbed her own hair, accompanied by a clear cry of frustration. She didn't even dare to glance at the large portrait of a woman in the middle of the room.

Maxim was shocked by Avery's sudden appearance, especially since she had come from Leonard's private room, which was so secret that even his family members were never allowed to enter it. “Are you really married to my father?” he asked, still unable to believe any of this.  

Avery tilted her head. “Have you been deaf since we broke up? Your father even announced it, didn't he?” she asked softly but sharply, deliberately showing off the diamond ring on her slender ring finger. 

Maxim looked at it with eyes that still couldn't accept all this. “Have you been after my father all this time?” 

Avery smiled thinly while gently stroking the diamond ring on her slender finger, “What do you think? I think you're too stupid to realize everything.”

Maxim frowned. “What do you mean?” 

“I think your father is more genius than a mommy's boy like you, who can't even defend his wife and seek the truth,” Avery held back her words, she looked at Maxim with challenging eyes. “I think crying over your loss is stupid. Your father is better than you,” she continued.

Maxim grabbed Avery's injured wrist and held it tightly. “Are you planning something against me?” He stared sharply at Avery.

Avery smiled slightly with a brave expression. “If I say yes... so what?”

Maxim pulled Avery closer until their faces were inches apart, their eyes locked in a fierce stare. “You betrayed me and hurt my mother. Don't act like the victim here.”

A cynical snort escaped her lips. “Yeah, whatever. Your opinion is none of my business anymore. Believe it or not, it's your problem, not mine.”

Maxim growled angrily, “You're the one who caused my mother to be locked up in the room upstairs?” 

Avery put her hand over her mouth in a playful act of surprise, “Oh, your mother is locked up? Oh, how pitiful. I thought it would be worse.”

Maxim tightened his grip on the woman's hand, “What did you do to her that made my father do that!?”

Avery heard footsteps approaching from behind her, “So you want to know?” With that playful tone, Avery suddenly began to sob with an expression of pain.

“Maxim!”