Chapter 4

"Didn't you?" Emily said.

I frowned.

"When did I ever tell you to see him off?"

She walked over and slowly crouched in front of me.

"Last time, when Kyle came over for dinner, he insisted I walk him out when he left. I didn't want to, but you said I was being disrespectful to you."

"We argued about it. A huge fight. In the end, you even made me swear I'd always treat your brother properly in the future."

Her voice grew more and more hurt.

"Babe, you lectured me for half an hour that day. Don't you remember?"

Then it came back to me.

It had happened. That day, Kyle was wearing a pair of leather shoes I'd just bought, complaining he couldn't walk in the rain.

I asked Emily to see him out. She refused coldly.

I thought she was looking down on my family, and I ended up fighting with her.

In the end, she gave in—and I still thought her attitude wasn't good enough.

Now that I thought about it, maybe she had already noticed something back then.

I was just too blind to see it.

"I… I…"

I had no defense.

Emily slowly moved closer and rested her head against my knee, speaking carefully.

"Honey… haven't you ever felt like Kyle is a little too… toward me?"

She trailed off.

I let out a slow breath.

"He wants me to divorce you. So he can marry you himself."

Emily snapped her head up.

"You know?!"

Her eyes lit up so sharply it was almost startling. She grabbed my hand tightly.

"Honey! So you finally see it! Do you know how miserable I've been lately?!

"Every time he comes over, his cologne makes me want to throw up!

"Last time, he spilled red wine on my dress and insisted I take it off so he could wash it for me!

"I hide in the study and lock the door, and he still finds excuses to knock just to bring me fruit!"

The more she spoke, the more agitated she became, like a little kid who had finally found someone to complain to.

Then she suddenly froze.

"Wait… how do you even know about this?"

I handed her my phone.

Screenshots of the anonymous post. My mother's chat logs. The AI-generated photo.

One by one, I laid them out before her.

Emily's expression changed—from shock to a deep, ugly darkness.

"This is… your mom?"

Her fingers trembled slightly.

"But she's your biological mother!"

I said calmly, "I've always known she favored Kyle. I just didn't expect her to be this vicious."

Emily suddenly stood up. For a moment, I thought she was about to explode.

Instead, she pulled me into her arms. Tight. Very tight.

"Jason," she murmured into my shoulder, "I love you. No matter whether it's your brother or anyone else, they shouldn't even think about breaking us up."

She rubbed lightly against my neck, like a large cat that had finally found its owner.

No one knew this. The formidable CEO Lin in the business world was, in fact, painfully starved of affection. When she was young, her parents were always busy with business and left her with a nanny.

Money was never lacking. Love was.

In university, on her birthday, she once hid alone on the sports field and cried. I happened to pass by and gave her a piece of candy. She said it was the first piece of candy she had ever received in her life.

After that, she started pursuing me—relentlessly—for three full years.

"Babe… what do we do now?" Her voice was muffled.

I stroked her head, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Let them play their game. We collect evidence and deal with it through the law."

She immediately looked up, eyes bright again.

"Okay! I'll have people install cameras tomorrow!"

Just then, my phone buzzed twice. The post had been updated again.

"Good news, girl! My daughter-in-law has already started falling for my younger son! She even personally walked him home today! I'd say this is basically done—eighty to ninety percent there!"

I exchanged a glance with Emily.

She quickly waved her hands frantically, blinking as if to plead innocence.

I looked away and kept scrolling.

The "girl" who had been giving advice earlier appeared again:

[Congratulations! But I actually have a faster and more effective method. Do you want to hear it?]