A little boy asked him why he was meddling. Who was she to him? Ethan said in a childish but firm voice:

"My parents said she’s my little bride. I’m going to marry her when I grow up!"

From that day on, she followed him like a shadow. She thought that if she just waited, she would eventually see him fulfill that promise. But reality gave her a brutal blow. Ethan not only didn't marry her, but he also married Clara, who came from a poor background and was inferior to her in every way. Even her status as the "family heiress" was snatched away by Clara.

The massive gap brought her to the brink of collapse. Seeing her biological mother come to the door, she chose to utilize her without hesitation, spending all the Barker family's savings in exchange for Ethan’s guilt. She thought that this time she could finally push Clara out, but she still lost. She gripped the man before her, her heart full of resentment.

Ethan kicked her away, his eyes full of loathing. "How could someone like you even be compared to Clara?"

"Clara is warm and kind; even when she suffers, she never hurts others. You, on the other hand, have the heart of a serpent; you use any means to achieve your goals. You only inspire disgust!"

Scarlett was kicked against the wall, but she still forced herself to crawl up. She shrieked in rebuttal:

"Ethan, you disparage me as worthless, but do you think you’re any better? To tell you the truth, Clara wanted to leave you long ago. You deserve to never have her love!"

"Liar!" Ethan’s forehead veins bulged with rage as he slapped her across the face. Clara had clearly said that he was the person she loved most; it was absolutely impossible for her to want to flee from his side.

Scarlett’s lip bled from the strike, but her laughter became even more frantic. "When we were at the cattle farm, she begged me to let her go and promised she would never return to your side in this lifetime. I should have agreed then."

"I bet she faked her death in that car accident and has long since eloped with a lover in secret. Poor you, wearing a green hat and not even knowing it!"

This sentence completely ignited Ethan’s fury. He rushed forward, grabbed Scarlett by the neck, his eyes full of madness. "Letting you die so easily would be too good for you."

"Didn't you say you were assaulted by thugs? Today, I’ll fulfill that for you!"

He dragged the desperately struggling Scarlett outside. Seeing this, the foster mother rushed up to grab her daughter’s hand, but she was violently thrown aside by Ethan, her head hitting the wall heavily before she fainted.

For the next three days and nights, shrill screams constantly drifted from the guest room. Ethan, however, sat in the living room, a satisfied smile curling his lips.

"Clara, do you hear that? I’ve avenged you."

He threw the semi-conscious Scarlett into the basement like trash and turned to the foster mother, his tone icy:

"How you treated Clara back then, I am having your daughter pay back a hundredfold today. It’s only fair."

The foster mother held the dying Scarlett, collapsing into hysterical curses: "Ethan, I won't let you go even as a ghost!"

...

But Ethan was unmoved. He had the mother and daughter dragged to a coliseum in the outskirts. How long they could survive would depend on their own ability.

Chapter 13

Ethan returned to the villa. The massive house felt hollow with only him left. He sat on the sofa, his gaze unconsciously drifting to the giant wedding portrait on the wall. In the photo, Clara’s eyes were filled with nothing but love for him.

He suddenly recalled the way she had looked at him when he picked her up from the cattle farm—those calm, indifferent eyes, as if she were looking at a total stranger. A sharp pang of guilt and pain pierced his chest.

Since they had been together, this was the first time they had been apart for so long. He wondered where she was now and if her injuries still hurt. Anxiety coiled around his heart like vines, and the words Scarlett had screamed earlier made his heart race with a terrifying sense of dread.

He pulled out his phone, intending to tell Assistant Zhang to increase the reward and find Clara at any cost. However, Assistant Zhang’s heavy voice came through the line first:

"Mr. Miller, the senior management has called an emergency board meeting to dismiss you from your position. You need to get to the company immediately!"

Ethan’s brow furrowed, a dark premonition rising within him. He grabbed his coat and rushed to the office.

When he burst into the conference room, the atmosphere was at a freezing point. The directors sat in their seats, looking at him with nothing but dissatisfaction and alienation; not one of them rose to greet him.

At the head of the table sat a man he knew all too well: Julian Moore—the elder brother of the childhood friend whose hand Ethan had once ruined.

Ethan’s chest tightened, and a chill crawled up from the soles of his feet. Years ago, for Clara’s sake, he had crippled Julian’s younger brother’s hand. Julian had vowed then that he would make Ethan pay. He just hadn't expected Julian to come knocking at a time like this, in such a manner.

Julian looked up at him, his fingers tapping lightly on the table, his voice low but heavy with pressure:

"Mr. Miller, I’ve been waiting for you."

Suppreasing his inner shock, Ethan turned to Assistant Zhang and said coldly, "Assistant Zhang, since when does the board meeting of the Miller Group involve outsiders? Remove him at once!"

Assistant Zhang turned pale and stepped forward hesitantly: "Mr. Moore..."

Before he could finish, Julian pulled several share transfer agreements from his briefcase and tossed them onto the table.

"Who says I’m an outsider?"

"I now hold forty-five percent of the Miller Group’s shares. The position of Chairman belongs to me."

"What?" Assistant Zhang’s eyes widened in shock.

Ethan lunged forward, grabbing the agreements and flipping through them frantically until he reached the final page. It turned out several of his uncles and senior directors had long since sold their shares in secret.

His heart sank further with every page. When he reached the final document, the signature at the bottom was unmistakably Clara’s.

It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck him. Ethan’s hands shook uncontrollably. The Miller and Moore families were bitter rivals; why would Clara transfer her shares to Julian? It was impossible!

Ethan slammed the agreement onto the floor. "Mr. Moore, you have a lot of nerve to forge a transfer agreement! Unfortunately, you picked the wrong person."

"Clara is my wife. She would never betray me!"

"Is that so?" Julian leaned back, looking at him with a mocking smile. "It seems you won't shed a tear until you see the coffin."

He tilted his chin toward his secretary: "Play it."

The secretary inserted a USB drive, and Ethan’s own face immediately appeared on the screen. In the video, Ethan spoke into the camera with a solemn tone:

"I, Ethan Miller, voluntarily transfer ten percent of my shares in the Miller Group to my wife, Clara Miller, free of charge..."

The familiar voice echoed in the silent room. Ethan staggered back several steps, only steadying himself when his back hit the edge of a table. He had recorded that video himself. Only he and Clara knew of its existence.

The truth was now blindingly clear. Clara had indeed betrayed him!

But why? He couldn't understand it.

Before he could process the blow, Julian dropped another bombshell. He reached into his coat and slid two divorce certificates across the table toward Ethan.

"Mr. Miller, I should correct you on one more thing."

"Ms. Clara Miller is no longer your wife. You two have been divorced for quite some time."

"Impossible!"

Ethan roared and lunged for the certificates, his hands trembling as he flipped one open. The official seal was clearly visible, and the date was recent. The divorce certificate was real.

Only then did he truly believe Scarlett’s words. Clara really wanted to leave him. But she had loved him so much; why would she do this?

The massive shock made Ethan’s head throb as if thousands of needles were piercing his nerves. The room began to spin, his vision went black, and he collapsed heavily onto the cold floor.

Chapter 14

Clara lay in the hospital bed and closed the live stream on her phone. Just as the screen went dark, a message popped up:

"Miss Miller, are you satisfied with this performance?"

She lifted her hand, which was still fixed in a splint, and typed a few words: "We are even now."

A few seconds later, Julian’s reply came: