Chapter 2

Robert's POV

In that instant, the Quinlan family took a massive hit—thousands of employees were laid off, families were plunged into crisis, and widespread discontent broke out. Zachary had already fled abroad at that point, leaving Sophia to deal with the consequences.

In the end, thanks to me, Dad took a serious hit to plug the Quinlan family's financial hole. Sophia was disowned and nearly left homeless, but I used my remaining savings to get her back on her feet so that she could slowly build back her standing with Quinlan Group.

There were plenty in the business world who admired my decisiveness—so much so that one of the biggest names had even asked me to marry his daughter, saying that if I became his son-in-law, I would be the world's richest man for the next decade.

Everyone assumed Sophia would be overwhelmed with gratitude and that I would win her heart in the end.

I, however, knew that she didn't feel grateful to me at all. She held a grudge instead.

That was because I personally heard her phone call with Zachary.

Sophia resented me, thinking that if I had just finished the project before handing it to Zachary, none of this would have happened, nor would Zachary have fled abroad and forced them apart. She completely forgot that she was the one who stole the project from me in the first place.

I had warned her that the project had flaws, but she just brushed me off impatiently. "Zachary graduated from Capital Elite University too! Do you really think he wouldn't spot a problem with the project? You should just say it out loud if you're reluctant to hand over the project!"

Thanks to my influence, the Quinlans slowly welcomed Sophia back into the fold. David even reached out to me, proposing the marriage alliance that had been previously postponed.

I rejected the offer without hesitation. I knew from the start that Sophia loved Zachary.

I had no desire to chase a lost cause, nor did I want to bring pain to the person I loved. I figured I'd just take the hit alone rather than having two people trapped in misery.

I caught a strange illness that left me frail when I was still in elementary school, so people around me always called me a weakling.

There were a lot of boys in my class constantly looking for excuses to pick on me and show off their strength. They didn't stop even after receiving repeated warnings from the teachers. They would retaliate against me even more severely afterward whenever I reported them.

I was just about to end it all when a girl barged into my life. She acted like a neighborhood ringleader, leading a group of children to beat up my usual bullies and leaving them a warning.

"Robert is under my protection!"

I carried the memory of that girl with me from that day onward.

One day, David suddenly told me that Sophia hadn't rejected the idea and that she was actually the first one on board.

I suddenly felt my resolve wavering then. I figured that no one could have said no when their first love, the one they'd idolized since they were young, stood before them and asked for their hand in marriage.

It was only after we got married that I learned that David had kept the truth from me. Sophia had indeed agreed to the marriage, but only because Zachary's overseas business venture had failed, leaving him with massive debts.

It turned out that the Quinlans had offered to clear Zachary's debts and pass control of Quinlan Group to her, on the condition that she went through with the marriage alliance with me.

"Uh…"

I came back to my senses when someone suddenly patted me on my shoulder. I heard the chatter around me gradually thinning out because the wedding was about to begin, and the bride and "groom" needed to head off to get ready.

I turned around and saw a young man looking at me with a conflicted expression—or rather, looking at the boutonniere pinned to my chest that marked me as the groom. He had probably seen everything that had just gone down and wanted to say something comforting, but didn't know where to start.

I smiled faintly and patted him on the shoulder. I then took the glass from his hand and downed the drink in one go, all while he watched in surprise. "Thanks."