Chapter 5

Daryl's smile froze on his face the moment those words left Angela's lips.

"Don't joke around like that, Angie. You know what my bottom line is."

When they first started dating, he'd once said that no matter how angry they got, they could never threaten each other with a breakup.

"I'm not joking," Angela said wearily. "I already know everything about you and Cathy."

The bedroom was so silent that one could hear a pin drop.

A long while later, Daryl pulled himself away from her slightly, his eyes dark and stormy. "Did Cathy talk nonsense to you or something? Don't listen to her!"

Angela's fingertips turned white. "Why are you still trying to lie to me?"

She rushed over to her laptop, meaning to find the website where she saw those explicit videos of Daryl and Cathy together. However, when she typed in the website address, she was stunned.

The "Animal World" website was gone. There was nothing there except for the "Error 404: Page Not Found" message displayed in the center of the screen.

"What? No way! It was still there yesterday!"

Daryl looked at her with a calm, almost pitiful expression, as though he was watching a senile woman trying to make her point.

"I know pregnancy hormones can mess with your head, Angie, so I'm only going to treat what you said earlier as a joke. No matter what you think you saw or heard from other people, it wasn't me. I would never betray you."

Angela's face was pale as she stared at him in disbelief.

It had to be Daryl. He was the only one who had the power and authority to get someone to remove an entire porn webpage at a moment's notice.

"Why are you still lying to me?" Angela asked, her nose stinging. She felt as though someone was painfully squeezing her heart. "A car crashed into me. I nearly died with my baby, and you still don't care about me at all?

"I've already found out about Cathy hiring someone to crash into me. I will definitely report this to the police."

"You should never have suspected Cathy," Daryl said, his eyes turning cold, his voice tinged with suppressed anger. "Cathy might be a little wild at times, but she would never hurt you on purpose!

"I can't believe that you're slandering your own best friend like this, Angie. You've completely disappointed me."

Disappointed him?

While he was busy rolling in the sheets with Cathy, did he think about how disappointed and devastated she'd be?

Angela took a deep breath. "I'm definitely breaking up with you, Daryl. Let's just end things here."

Daryl's eyes were as cold as ice. He forcefully pinned her down onto the bed and tied her hands up with his necktie.

"You need to cool off for a few days, Angie. I'll stay home with you for the next two days."

He ignored all of Angela's screams and protests and locked her up in the bedroom for the rest of the night.

He didn't bother going to the office over the next few days and worked from home instead, keeping an eye on Angela around the clock. He even insisted on feeding her and accompanying her to the bathroom every time.

His phone wouldn't stop buzzing, making him feel even more frustrated. He decided to just toss it aside and head back into his study.

However, Angela quickly caught sight of the text message notifications on the screen. They were all from Cathy.

"Are you seriously going to be this heartless, Daryl Carson?

"Fine! If that's how it's going to be, then you don't have any right to care about who else I sleep with anymore!"

Then, another notification popped up on the screen. It was a push notification reminding Daryl about a new live stream on "Animal World".

Angela tapped on the notification at once and realized that the website hadn't been taken down after all. It had simply been moved to a new address.

Cathy was wearing her usual rabbit mask as she appeared before the camera in her sexy lingerie. Behind her stood a man in a wolf mask.

"Mr. Fox doesn't want me anymore, so I've decided to find myself another partner. I hope he can satisfy me tonight."

She then wrapped her arms around the man and kissed him firmly on the lips, letting him touch and explore every inch of her body.

Suddenly, there was the sound of something breaking in the study. A second later, Daryl rushed out of the door.

"Stay at home, Angie. I need to go out for a bit. It's really urgent!"

Angela watched him make a dash for the front door and disappear. Her heart jumped into her throat, and she was just about to run out after him when the two bodyguards at the door stopped her.

"Sorry, Ms. Spears, but Mr. Carson said that you were not allowed to leave."

"Get out of the way!"

She grabbed a nearby fruit knife and pressed the blade against her neck. "If you refuse to let me out, then I'll just kill myself right here!"

The two bodyguards exchanged glances and eventually let her go.

…

Angela sped right after Daryl, following the GPS tracker on him. Finally, she found herself at the Weston villa where they were supposed to move in after their wedding. Daryl had parked right at the entrance.

She walked in and heard angry roaring and punching coming from the living room. Daryl had grabbed the man in the wolf mask and was beating the living daylights out of him.

"How dare you touch her? I'll kill you!"

He had completely lost control. Gone was his usual cool and calm demeanor—every blow he delivered to the wolf man was critical, and he looked ready to tear the man apart for daring to lay a finger on Cathy.

Angela's heart squeezed in her chest. It hurt so badly that she couldn't even breathe anymore.

Even when Daryl loved her the most, he never got into any physical fights with anyone else for her. He condemned it and said that only barbarians fought with their fists, so he would never do anything of the sort if there was another way to solve the problem.

But as it turned out, it wasn't that he was above fighting. It was just that she was never the person he would get into a fight for from the start.

"Stop it! Don't hit him anymore!" Cathy cried, lunging at Daryl and throwing her arms around his waist. "That's enough, Daryl! Stop hitting him!"

Daryl finally calmed down with Cathy's intervention. He then growled at the wolf man and told him to get out before grabbing Cathy by the back of her neck and pulling her into a fierce, angry kiss.

"Didn't you say that you didn't want me anymore?" Cathy screamed, struggling against his arms. "Didn't you say that we weren't to see each other again anymore? So, what does it matter who I film with?"

"If I said no, that means no!" Daryl growled.

"Why not? You already have Angela! Why should I even listen to you?"

Daryl then bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood.

"I'm going to teach you what it means to defy my orders today!"

Then, he tore his shirt off and pinned her on the carpeted floor.

Angela's blood ran cold. She barely noticed when the wolf man bumped into her on his way out.

There was a clap of thunder, and soon, a heavy thunderstorm broke outside the door. Yet, Daryl and Cathy didn't seem to realize it as they were wrapped around each other on the floor.

Angela covered her ears with her hands. She'd been terrified of thunder since young and would shudder in fear every time she heard it.

Once, Daryl even postponed an international billion-dollar project and flew all the way home during a heavy thunderstorm just so that he could hold her from behind and soothe her through the night.

The thunderclaps this time were even more intense than in the past, and Angela could already feel goosebumps forming on every inch of her body. Yet, Daryl was still lost in Cathy's embrace, oblivious to everything.

Angela curled into a tight ball at the door, watching them silently as her heart turned increasingly cold and numb.

A long while later, she walked out of the villa with tears in her eyes. They mixed with the rainwater and streamed down her face.

"You should have told me that you liked Cathy, Daryl. I would have let you get together with her instead."

Cathy had saved Angela from being blinded by a rock when she was little. Meanwhile, Daryl had given her a kidney to save her life.

So, she decided that she was going to remove herself from the picture altogether as a way of paying them back.

Angela trudged through the rain and slowly made her way to the hospital.

"I'd like to schedule an abortion, please."