Chapter 2

Back in the day, Jacob had a childhood engagement. The girl was a weightlifting champion who relentlessly pursued him because she was obsessed with his looks. But for Angela's sake, Jacob burned bridges with his fiancee's family and even made his parents pay a huge sum to cancel the engagement.

Ever since then, he'd had a bias against Physical Education students. I played tennis because I loved it, and my college entrance score was actually much higher than Angela's. If not for the Larkins, I wouldn't have missed out on my dream and ended up trapped in this gilded cage.

As I thought of all this, my gaze turned colder as I looked at Jacob. "In that case, I'll leave with Tim once the banquet is over."

A strange look flashed in his eyes. Then, he yanked Tim over to himself, ignoring his struggles. "My parents invited a ton of media here today. Are you trying to turn our family into a laughingstock? You can leave if you want, but the boy stays here!"

Before I could say anything, the doors to the banquet hall swung open. Jacob's parents, Michael Larkin and Ursula Walker, filed in behind the guests.

Ursula was all smiles as she held Angela's hand and led her over to me, saying, "We especially invited Angela to the party to celebrate Jacob's recovery. Maisie, you won't mind, right?"

Michael scoffed. "What's there to mind? The doctor said everything should revolve around Jacob's mental and physical well-being."

When Jacob was still bedridden, Michael and Ursula had fussed over me every day, thanking me for taking such good care of Jacob, for bringing back his glow, and for raising Tim to be so sweet and well-behaved.

Now, their attitudes had completely flipped. Every word out of their mouths hinted that Jacob could immediately find a woman with the right pedigree and have a few more healthy kids.

The moment Jacob saw Angela, he dropped Tim's hand and rushed straight to her. They'd literally seen each other just the night before, yet they acted like they were lovers reunited at long last.

The guests started lamenting. "If Angela hadn't gone abroad back then, Maisie would never have ended up as Jacob's wife."

"She sounded like she was doing a noble thing, marrying a man in a coma out of duty. But everyone knows her family went bankrupt, and she latched onto the Larkins in a panic. She got ten million dollars in wedding gifts!"

"She's a total ambulance chaser. If she knows what's good for her, she'll quickly get a divorce and walk away without a penny to her name."

Angela couldn't hide the delight in her eyes as she listened to the comments, though she still put on an anxious face. "Don't say things like that, everyone. Jacob and I are a thing of the past now.

"The three of us—me, him, and Maisie—have been good friends since college. She's always liked him, so this is a dream come true for her."

The crowd immediately started gossiping about how I'd plotted this for ages; they said I coveted both Jacob and Larkin Group behind him. Otherwise, would any woman want to live like a widow and marry a man in a coma, even shamelessly having his child?

I sneered and signaled Linda to take Tim away. I hadn't wanted to get this nasty, but since these people started smearing me first, they couldn't blame me for hitting back.

I strode forward and slapped Jacob hard across the face. Angela had barely gasped when I swung back and landed a second heavy slap across her cheek.

The two crisp smacks stunned the entire room. Everyone stood there, their eyes wide and their jaws slack. "Are you out of your mind? How dare you slap my son!"

"Security! Security! Seize this lunatic now!" Michael and Ursula snapped out of it and rushed forward to shield Jacob, checking him over like they were terrified I'd broken him somehow.

But his first concern was Angela. He shot me a vicious glare. "Come at me if you've got a problem!"

I smirked as I admired the matching handprints on their faces. I still had it. It was no wonder I was the queen of the tennis court back then!

Some of the more sensationalist media started livestreaming the drama.

"Mega scandal! Will the elite scion of Jebony choose his youthful first love, or the wife who stuck by him through thick and thin?"

Angela pushed Jacob aside and stepped up to me, her eyes brimming with tears. She said pitifully, "I can understand if you need to take out your anger on me, Maisie, but Jacob has just recovered. How can you bear to upset him?"

The clueless onlookers chimed in, condemning me.

"Money is all Maisie cares about. Of course, it doesn't matter to her if Jacob lives or dies."

"One vicious woman ruins three generations of Larkins. They're cursed to have her in their family!"

My in-laws, Jacob, and Angela looked more like one big happy family than I ever had. They weren't even willing to say a word for me; they just watched coldly while I was made out to be the public enemy.

I should never have expected anything from them.