Chapter 1

Inside the abandoned factory.

Silas, a genius bomb disposal expert, faced a nightmare: his five-year-old daughter, Sophie, and his wife’s foster brother, Caspian, were held hostage by kidnappers.

After they were rescued, rescuers discovered high-tech pressure-sensitive timer bombs strapped to their bodies.

There were only fifteen minutes left before the bombs detonated!

Silas felt his blood run cold. He was about to rush forward to disarm his daughter's bomb immediately.

But in the next second!

His wife, Seraphina, blocked his path, her expression icy and detached.

"Save Caspian first."

Silas stared at Seraphina in disbelief, his voice trembling.

"Seraphina, that person tied up there is your own biological daughter!"

Seraphina merely watched him with indifference.

"Silas, save Caspian first, or you won't be able to bear the consequences."

After speaking, Seraphina waved her hand gently at the people outside. Immediately, two burly men dragged Silas’s mother into the room from the doorway.

One person stood by recording, while the other pinned his mother to the ground, violently tearing at her clothes.

His mother’s heart-wrenching screams echoed continuously, as if an invisible hand were crushing Silas’s heart.

Silas looked at Seraphina with bloodshot eyes.

"Seraphina, that is our own child! Why are you forcing me like this?"

Seraphina’s expression remained unchanged, her voice as cold as winter ice.

"Silas, you should know that your mother is a university professor who values her reputation above all else. If she is humiliated, the shame and public opinion will be enough to make her unable to face living."

Seraphina’s cold words were like poison-tipped blades, cutting Silas piece by piece.

"Seraphina, I beg you, let my mother go. I will find a way to do my best to save both Sophie and Caspian, okay?"

Silas fell to his knees with a thud; the once-great genius bomb disposal expert was now as humble as dust.

Seraphina looked down at Silas, her expression unmoved.

"Silas, I will never risk Caspian’s life!"

Silas clenched his fists tightly, a metallic taste of blood in his mouth. "Then you can gamble with our child’s and my mother’s lives? What am I even to you?"

Seraphina acted as if she hadn't heard Silas’s raspy voice and gestured firmly to the burly man.

The next instant, the last piece of his mother’s clothing was ripped away, exposing her trembling body to everyone.

Silas wanted to rush forward like a madman, but his mother’s weak and despairing voice rang out.

"Silas, don't worry about me, save Sophie first!"

His mother trembled, struggling to force a smile at Silas.

"I’m okay!"

His mother’s tear-filled eyes were like sharp daggers piercing Silas’s heart, leaving him in agony with no choice at all.

"Fine, I promise you, I’ll save Caspian first."

Hearing Silas’s answer, Seraphina finally let them release his mother, then pulled Silas up from the ground.

"Silas, go quickly!"

Silas gritted his teeth and walked step by step toward Caspian.

The bomb strapped to them used the most advanced pressure-sensitive technology; once triggered, it could detonate at any moment.

Silas suppressed the nervousness and hatred in his heart, disarming the bomb on Caspian bit by bit, but it took him five minutes.

At this moment, the bomb on his daughter’s body had entered its final five minutes.

However, with Silas’s expertise and speed, there was still enough time.

But just as Silas was about to step forward to help his daughter, he suddenly noticed the timer on her bomb running at an unnaturally fast pace.

A sense of foreboding washed over him.

In the next second, the timer emitted a "tick-tock" sound. Before Silas could react, his daughter suddenly used her small body to push Silas away with all her might.

Then, a thunderous "Boom" rang out.

Silas watched in a state of collapse as his daughter was reduced to flesh and blood in a massive explosion.

"Daddy, Sophie hurts so much!"

His daughter’s broken body lost all signs of life right before Silas’s eyes. He stared fixedly at his daughter’s remains, a mouthful of fresh blood spraying from his mouth as his consciousness began to fade away.

Before being sent into the emergency room, Silas vaguely heard a familiar voice.

"Ms. Seraphina, I don't understand. The person you have always loved has been your brother, so why did you marry Silas?"

Seraphina glanced at the person lying on the hospital bed, her expression obscure.

"I have too many enemies in Sterling City. I cannot let them know that my weakness is Caspian. I could only marry someone I didn't love to block all harm for him."

The assistant looked at the battered Silas with sympathy. "Isn't this unfair to him? After all, the little girl was also your own child!"

Seraphina turned away coldly, no longer looking at the person on the bed.

"Children can always be had again. The position of my husband will always belong to Silas, but my heart can only belong to Caspian alone."

A single tear slipped silently from the corner of Silas’s eye!

Only then did he realize that the lover Seraphina hid in the depths of her heart was actually the foster brother of the Sterling family.

How ironic!

Seraphina wanted to protect her true love, yet she used the life of his child as a bulletproof vest for their romance!

When he opened his eyes again, the pungent smell of disinfectant filled Silas’s nasal cavity. He sat up, his heart filled with ashes.

He then opened the email that had been sealed for three years.

[I accept your conditions, but I have two requirements: first, investigate the reason why the timer on my daughter's bomb accelerated, and second, I want Seraphina to pay the price for my daughter's death!]

The email reply came quickly, which surprised Silas, as if someone had been waiting for his answer all along.

[No problem. In one month, I will personally come to Sterling City to pick you up.]

Having received the reply he wanted, Silas made another call to his lawyer.

"Help me prepare a divorce agreement right now!"

Chapter 2

The moment he hung up the phone, the hospital room door was pushed open with force. Silas hadn't even had a chance to look up before someone threw themselves into his arms.

"Silas, we can have more children. That was just an accident! The explosion happened too fast."

Seraphina’s voice had returned to its usual gentleness, yet it made Silas feel utterly sick.

The image of his daughter crying that it hurt was circling in his mind like a recurring nightmare. Silas pushed Seraphina away with a blank expression.

"That wasn't an accident—it was murder! Her own mother cut off her path to survival!"

Noticing Silas's hatred, Seraphina grabbed his hand, her eyes filled with tender affection.

"Silas, I know you're heartbroken. I've already arranged to transfer 50% of the shares under my name to you as compensation."

"Compensation bought with our child's life?"

Tears streamed down instantly. Silas never imagined he and Seraphina would reach this point.

Silas had achieved fame at a young age, with a brilliant and glorious future ahead of him. But during a rescue mission, he encountered Seraphina, who had been kidnapped by enemies.

At the time, Seraphina was strapped with five light-sensitive timer bombs, and they needed to be disarmed by intuition alone in an environment where no light source could be used. No one in all of Sterling City dared to step forward to face those five bombs.

Silas had taken on the task himself, relying on his superior professional skills to rescue Seraphina in the darkness.

After that, Seraphina had pursued him relentlessly. Public confessions at award ceremonies, solemn vows under the flag, luxury watches and sports cars sent to his home without a second thought. Those were all proofs that she had once loved him.

But now, all of it seemed utterly ridiculous!

Suddenly, the hospital room door was pushed open again, pulling Silas back to reality.

Caspian walked in with bloodshot eyes, appearing utterly aggrieved as he approached Seraphina.

"Sister, everyone outside is saying that Brother-in-law only saved me because you threatened him. They’re saying I should be held responsible for little niece’s death."

Seraphina held Caspian’s hand tenderly, though her gaze swept past Silas.

"Silas, I’m going to hold a press conference. Go and clarify that this was your personal decision, that it had nothing to do with Caspian, and that the child’s death was due to your own misjudgment which caused the bomb to detonate early."

Silas stared at Seraphina in disbelief.

"Sophie was clearly killed by you two, and now you want me to shoulder all the blame? On what grounds!"

Caspian stood fearfully behind Seraphina, tugging at her sleeve.

"Sister, it’s just internet trolling, I can handle it. Don't make things difficult for Brother-in-law."

Seraphina stared at Silas with a gloomy expression, then took out her phone and played a video.

"Silas, you wouldn't want the video of your mother being humiliated to be spread all over the internet, would you?"