The entire house was so clean it was as if Serena had never left a trace of her existence.

He frowned and pulled out his phone to call Serena, but it went unanswered.

Preston finally pulled up Serena’s chat window in irritation: "Don't think about playing the 'running away from home' game. It’s immature and stupid. You know I hate mind games the most."

He didn't believe for a second that Serena would actually leave. She had forgiven him once before; there would be a second time.

As long as he waited for her anger to subside, and apologized with the same sincerity he had used before, she would soften up again.

This drama of running away was nothing more than a way to make him chase her.

Preston was confident. Serena had already broken ties with her family; without him, where could she possibly go?

It wasn't until a week later, when there was still no news of Serena, that Preston finally began to panic.

Just then, his assistant knocked hurriedly and entered.

"Mr. Preston, several projects have run into trouble. They have all expressed that they will no longer continue the cooperation."

"What’s going on? Where are the project managers? Are they useless?" Preston was already in a bad mood; now, he flew into a rage.

The assistant explained cautiously: "The other side said... they only agreed to sign with us because of Mrs. Preston. But now, she has stated that she no longer has anything to do with you, so they naturally won't renew..."

Preston’s face turned frighteningly dark: "When did Serena say something like that?"

"Mr. Preston, haven't you seen it? Mrs. Preston just released a statement on her social media platform saying that she has finalized the divorce proceedings with you, that you are no longer affiliated, and she... she even posted the divorce certificate."

Boom.

It felt as if an explosion had gone off in Preston’s ears.

He immediately tapped on his phone screen. Serena’s statement was indeed at the top of the trending topics.

The divorce certificate was glaringly bright. He smashed a heavy fist against the desk.

"Fake! I never signed a divorce agreement. How did she get a divorce certificate?"

"It’s real. Fearful that you might not believe it, I even brought the divorce agreement with your signature for you to inspect."

Serena’s lawyer suddenly appeared. The atmosphere froze instantly.

"Mr. Preston, I am here today on behalf of Ms. Serena to formally notify you that she will be suing you for intentional infliction of bodily harm."

Chapter 9

Preston couldn't believe his ears. Serena was suing him?

How dare she?

She had loved him to death, she couldn't possibly live without him—how could she do something like this?

He frowned deeply. "Is she still angry with me? Tell her that this isn't how you throw a tantrum. Tell her to come back immediately, and I won't hold this against her."

The lawyer actually chuckled upon hearing this: "Mr. Preston, you seem to have not grasped the situation. The marital contract between you and Ms. Serena has already ended."

"And during the term of your marriage, all of your actions toward Ms. Serena have been documented by her and handed to me to handle. I suggest you prepare yourself for the consequences."

Seeing that signature on the divorce agreement, Preston’s face turned deathly pale.

That was correct; it was his handwriting.

But he had never signed anything like this.

Could it have been slipped in among other documents, and he hadn't noticed it from beginning to end?

The lawyer reminded him kindly: "Mr. Preston, you might want to ask Giselle if she knows how this divorce agreement came to be."

Preston stared blankly at the lawyer’s departing figure. A memory flashed in his mind: the time Giselle had begged him to buy her a car.

She had given him many documents to sign, and he had assumed they were all related to the car purchase, signing them without even looking.

Could it have been... at that time?

Giselle was far too bold and reckless!

Preston drove to find Giselle, but she was nowhere to be found.

Thinking something might have happened to her, he rushed to her home. By coincidence, he overheard a conversation between her parents.

Giselle’s mother was worried: "Is there any risk in deceiving Preston like this? What if he finds out?"

Giselle’s father scolded her for being a worrywart: "You act as if you haven't seen how much Preston loves Giselle. Even if he finds out, what could he do? With Giselle around, she will protect us. Besides, we are doing this so she can marry into a wealthy family. We haven't done anything wrong."

"But... is this trick of helping Giselle forge the story that we sold her to pay off debts really going to work? Preston has a wife. Is he really willing to abandon his own wife just for Giselle?"

Preston went rigid.

What were they saying? That the whole thing about sending Giselle to that old man to pay off debts was fake?

Blood rushed to his head, and in a fit of rage, Preston kicked the door open.

The people inside went pale the moment they saw him.

"Mr. Preston, why are you here..." Before the father could finish, Preston knocked him over with a forceful kick.

Stepping on the man’s head, he said coldly, "You’d better explain everything clearly, or today will be your last day."

Giselle’s mother knelt on the floor, begging for mercy: "Mr. Preston, how can you do this to us? Does Giselle know you’re here?"

The father still tried to deny it: "Mr. Preston, I was just babbling nonsense; please don't take it seriously..."

Losing his patience, Preston crushed the father’s foot bone with his heel.

"Ah—"

The man screamed in agony, rolling on the floor like a dying dog.

The mother rushed over to kowtow and beg for mercy, but Preston remained unmoved, raising his foot over the other leg.

"I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you! Please, Mr. Preston, spare me!" The father cried out suddenly.

Looking at the couple on the floor, a wave of disgust surged within Preston.

"Actually... it was Giselle’s idea! I owed a mountain of debt, and the creditors were coming after me. We couldn't repay it, so Giselle came up with a plan."

"She said if we were willing to cooperate with her, we would immediately get a large sum of money to pay off the debt. That’s why we acted according to her demands, creating the illusion of sending her away to pay off the debt, letting you play the hero saving the beauty..."

"Giselle said you were always wavering between her and your wife, so she had to force your hand, to make you feel pained and sympathetic for her, so you could never leave her again."

Chapter 10

Preston felt a chill run through his body.

He had always thought of Giselle as an innocent white lily—pure, kind, easily bullied, and always unwilling to hurt Serena.

Whenever she was with him, Giselle was always nervous, terrified that Serena would find out.

He had once felt that he owed her, so he wanted to treat her better. He agreed to whatever she asked and believed whatever she said.

But the reality was poles apart from what he believed.

Which one was the real Giselle?!

By the time Preston sat in his car, his hands on the steering wheel were still trembling uncontrollably.

That person who accused Serena of bribing him to harm Giselle—he, too, had been acting under Giselle’s instructions. It had been Giselle’s one-woman show from start to finish.

When Serena was sent into the dog cage, that Tibetan Mastiff had clearly been the least aggressive one, but Giselle had secretly swapped it out for the most aggressive one.

And that night at the bar, Giselle claimed she received a message from Serena asking her to go there, only for her to be harassed by thugs and almost ruined.

Later, he had been angry that Serena would use such low, dirty tactics against Giselle, so he punished her with ice water...

As it turned out, even that message was fake, forged by Giselle to frame Serena.

Thinking of this, Preston punched the steering wheel.

He suddenly remembered that in the middle of the night, he had left Serena in the deep mountains. It was freezing, and by the second half of the night, a torrential storm had broken out. She had walked home all night in thin clothes, barefoot, until her feet were covered in wounds.

What had he done to Serena!

A massive panic engulfed Preston; he felt a trace of moisture at the corner of his eye.

He and Serena had secretly loved each other since high school. Later, they promised to be together in college. Though separated by distance, their hearts had never wavered.

He didn't know when it started, but every time he went to see Serena, she would bring Giselle along. Gradually, the three of them became best friends.