Chapter 7

Only when they got home did Scarlett notice all the bruises on Samuel. An ugly look crossed her face as she saw the blue and purple patches on his body. "What happened? Why are you so beat up?"

He shot her a mocking look, his bloodless lips parting slowly. "Remember Tim Ward, the guy you got revenge on before? He was in there, too."

That was enough for Scarlett to put two and two together. Her face filled with anger as she ground out, "So it was him. I let him walk away with his life last time. Looks like I didn't need to."

Scarlett's rage didn't ruffle Samuel at all. He just looked at her coolly and said, "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been locked up for two days. I wouldn't have had to go through this."

When he finished speaking, he turned and headed upstairs, leaving her standing there, frozen in place.

…

Only four days remained before the divorce was finalized. While Samuel stayed home to recover and prepare for his overseas project, Scarlett was always tied up. He knew that she was with Julian.

Just when he thought the next few days would pass in peace, one phone call shattered the quiet.

Greg sounded panicked. "Mr. Pierce, our cash flow just broke! We can't pay for inventory, and the factory has already shut down!"

Samuel's grip on his phone tightened. "What happened?"

Scarlett had always backed their funding chain. Nothing could have gone wrong on its own.

A beat later, Greg cleared up the confusion. "I asked Ms. Bennett's assistant. It seems that Mr. Julian wanted to open a clothing store, so Ms. Bennett pulled the funding chain to help him…"

For a second, Samuel's ears rang. His first reaction was sheer disbelief. Did a clothing store really need that much capital?

After hanging up on Greg, he immediately called Scarlett and got straight to the point. "You pulled the funding."

She paused, then said, "Julian wants to open a clothing store—"

He cut her off, his voice shaky. "Scarlett, you know damn well how important this company is to me. Why would you pull the funding without saying a single word? Does a clothing store really need that much money?"

She knew exactly what this company meant to him, yet she'd still yanked the entire funding chain without hesitation, tossing him straight into a bankruptcy crisis.

Once again, Samuel realized just how much Scarlett loved Julian—and how little she cared about him.

Her breath hitched at Samuel's words, and she didn't like it. Her voice turned cold and hard. "Your company will only be short on cash for a few days. It's not the end of the world. Once the clothing store's steady, I'll transfer it back."

The other end went silent after that. He called out urgently, "Scarlett? Scarlett!"

All he got in return was the harsh beep of a call that had been cut off.

For a normal company, running short on cash for a few days really wasn't a big deal. But Samuel's company had always been in the eye of the storm. Over the years, thanks to Scarlett's protection, many rivals had been jealous of him.

Now that he'd taken a hit, there would be no shortage of hungry wolves ready to tear him apart. Did Scarlett really not get that?

No. It wasn't that she didn't understand. It was just that Julian mattered more.

Samuel's chest tightened with bitter irony. He didn't waste a second; he immediately went to track down the new investors he'd started talking to recently.

Since he'd been reborn, he'd been working to find new funding because he didn't want to be tied to Scarlett anymore.

But when he arrived, he was told they wouldn't be meeting with him. Clearly, once they heard that Scarlett had pulled out, they didn't want to get involved in the mess either.

Over the next two days, Samuel barely slept. He ran all over town, knocking on door after door, begging for favor after favor. In the end, though, he still couldn't save the company.

When he finally signed the acquisition agreement, a crushing sense of defeat enveloped him. This company had been his life's work, and now, it was gone.

He went back to his office, packed his things into a cardboard box, and walked out of the building with it in his arms.

The moment he stepped out of the company, his lawyer called. "Mr. Pierce, everything has been processed and finalized. The divorce agreement is now officially in effect."

"Alright. Thank you."

Samuel had gotten what he wanted, but somehow, there was no real sense of relief.

When he got home, he grabbed his suitcase and headed straight for the airport. With 30 minutes left before boarding, he did something that hadn't been part of the plan.

He unlocked his phone and started a livestream. He'd originally planned to leave quietly, but since Scarlett hadn't spared him, he saw no reason to let her off.

"Bennett Group's CEO Cheats With Husband's Cousin"—he knew that headline would top the trending list the next day.

…

At that moment, Scarlett was with Julian when her assistant, Ashley White, called. "Ms. Bennett! Mr. Samuel is… He's streaming!"

Her brows furrowed. "What?"

"You… You should see for yourself, Ms. Bennett…" Ashley answered, her voice trembling.