Chapter 4

The moment those words left Daniel's mouth, a commotion broke out across the entire ballroom. All my relatives turned to look at me, their whispers rising one after another.

"I can hardly recognize Liam anymore. He's been living in the big city for so long that he's even willing to disregard his roots and give up his own last name!"

"Hah! Here I thought he was actually a capable young man. Turns out he latched onto some rich woman and is living off her. How disgusting!"

One by one, my relatives hurled abuse at me as they marched out of the ballroom in fury. They made sure to pass right in front of me and give me a piece of their mind as they did.

In less than five minutes, the only people left in the ballroom were my parents. Dad strode up to me, his expression stormy, and punched me in the face.

"You ungrateful bastard! Is it so embarrassing for you to have my last name? If that's how you feel, then so be it. From this day onward, you've been disowned! Your mom and I don't need a son like you!"

After one final snort, Dad kicked open the door and stormed off. Mom was even more heartbroken, tears streaming down her face. She wouldn't even say a word to me. She merely gave me one long, sorrowful look before following Dad out of the ballroom.

As my cheek stung like mad, I lunged forward and grabbed Daniel by the collar.

"I don't give a damn whether this was your idea or Christina's. You're going to tell everyone the truth! I can give up Christina. But you don't get to humiliate me like this!"

Daniel wasn't the least bit intimidated by my anger. He shoved me away and flashed a triumphant smile.

"What truth? All your relatives saw that agreement. You wanted to marry into the Lockwood family and become their live-in son-in-law. That's the truth. Oh, right. I forgot to tell you. I livestreamed everything that just happened.

"Now it's not just your poor relatives; everyone in the entire country now knows you were trying to climb up the social ladder by marrying rich. Hahaha!"

My head throbbed violently. The veins in my arms bulged as rage surged through me. I shot forward and punched Daniel down, just as Christina arrived.

"Liam Ellison! Have I been too nice to you? How dare you attack Daniel like that!" Christina helped Daniel to his feet, then rushed over and slapped me across the face.

My eyes were bloodshot. My nails dug into my palms.

"He used your phone to send messages to my parents and everyone back in my hometown, telling them to come to our engagement party. Then he livestreamed the whole thing and publicly displayed that agreement in front of everyone, announcing that I was going to marry into your family!

"He dragged my dignity through the mud in front of everyone. Am I still even a man if I don't punch the living lights out of him?"

Christina, who had been furious moments ago, froze. She pressed her lips together, seemingly lost in thought.

But Daniel, who was now standing beside her, tugged on her sleeve and fell back on his usual pity ploy.

"Chrissy, I only wanted the whole country to witness how much Liam truly loves you. What's so wrong about that? Not only did he not appreciate my kindness, but he even beat me up! It's clear now that he never intended to marry you."

After a long silence, Christina finally snapped back to her senses, her gaze hard. "Daniel's right. If you really loved me, you wouldn't be afraid of everyone knowing you were going to marry into my family. I don't care what your excuse is. If you don't apologize to Daniel today, you can get the hell out of here and never show your face again!"

Seeing the way Christina was doing everything she could to defend Daniel, I smirked bitterly and nodded. "Sure. I'll get the hell out right away."

With that, I walked out of the hotel without looking back. A Rolls-Royce had already been waiting outside for quite some time. Without hesitation, I opened the door and got inside.

"Take me to my parents first. I'm taking them with me."

On the way, I sent Christina one final message. "There won't be a 99th proposal, Christina. Our relationship ends here. The poor boy and the wealthy heiress won't be getting their rags-to-riches romance after all."