Chapter 3

The person who answered was not Claire’s mother. It was her father.

“Dad, where’s Mom?” asked Claire.

“She’s playing cards with her friends. She left her phone at home.”

Her mother spent almost every day playing cards with the same group of friends at a recreational center in the suburbs. There was no way she would have passed through this market.

If what her father said was true, then the woman who died probably was not her mother. At the thought of this, my heart began to race again.

“Well? Still want to keep betting?” Claire smiled smugly.

Henry, who was beside her, hurried to smooth things over. “Claire, please don’t let me come between you and Kevin.”

Then, he said to me, “Kevin, I’m really sorry. If you don’t mind, you can treat my mom as your godmother. She’ll love you like her own son!”

Claire immediately chimed in, “That sounds perfect. Henry’s mother comes from a distinguished family. She’s leagues above your peasant mother. Honestly, you’d be the one benefiting from it, so don’t be ungrateful.”

I shot them both a vicious glare. Just then, my phone rang. My mother was calling back. Relief washed over me as I answered immediately. However, the voice on the other end belonged to my father.

“Dad, where’s Mom?” I asked anxiously.

“She went out and forgot to take her phone.”

My heart skipped a beat. Still unwilling to give up, I pressed on, “Do you know where she went?”

“I think she went to the public square to dance with her friends. It should be the one near home.”

I finally let out a sigh of relief when I heard that. The public square was in the opposite direction from the market. As long as she was not at the market...

I regained some confidence and said to Claire, “I’m in. Why wouldn’t I bet? I stake my 3,200-square-foot penthouse in Riverside Imperial Residences. It’s worth 20 million dollars.”

“Then I’ll put up one of my penthouses worth 80 million. Just in case you shamelessly try to back out later, let’s have a contract drafted and notarized right now. Sounds good?”

“Exactly what I was thinking.”

Claire immediately had a notary prepare the contract.

After we both signed it, she looked at me with a smug smile. “That penthouse is just one of many properties I own. But it's the only decent home your family has. If you apologize to Henry now, maybe I’ll pretend this never happened.”

The contempt on her face filled me with rage. The Carter family was an old-money dynasty with generations of wealth. The Wafford family, on the other hand, had only recently become rich.

That was why her family had always looked down on mine. Back then, we only got married because my grandfather had once saved her grandfather’s life. However, I never imagined she would humiliate me like this!

“Then I’m raising the stakes.” I clenched my teeth. “I'm adding 20% of Wafford Group’s shares, worth 100 million dollars.”

Claire raised an eyebrow. Amusement flashed across her face. “You're not gonna give up until you've hit the wall, huh? Fine. I’ll match it with shares worth 200 million dollars.”

The moment we finished signing the revised agreement, several people from the hospital rushed over.

“Which one of you is the victim's family?” asked one of them urgently. “She’s still alive, but she needs emergency surgery. We need someone to sign the consent form immediately!”