Julian finished a cigarette in a leisurely manner and checked the time.

It was about time; the Old Master should have arrived by now.

He took out his phone, preparing to call the person he had planted outside the private room to ask about the situation.

But after a series of cold, dull sounds, a prompt informing him that no one answered came through.

Julian irritability switched off his phone, staring at the darkened screen as an ominous foreboding welled up in his heart.

He tugged at his collar and paced back and forth, holding his forehead.

He longed to rush into the club right now and snatch Clara back.

But if he did that, his identity would likely be exposed.

It was only now that he suddenly realized a fact.

If this seven-year-long deception were unraveled, he was not nearly as calm as he had imagined himself to be.

He could not bear the consequences of being discovered by Clara; he didn't want to think about it, and he dared not think about it.

Julian closed his eyes and rubbed his face, forcing himself to stop thinking about everything related to Clara.

He picked up his car keys and drove to the company, telling himself not to be soft-hearted.

But halfway through the drive, the oppressive feeling in his heart showed no signs of diminishing.

In his mind, he kept seeing images of Clara in the white wedding dress in the bridal shop, followed by the sound of Clara begging him for help when he left the private room today.

The room had been very noisy at the time, and her voice was actually very low, but he had still heard it.

He had been only a moment away—a moment away from turning back regardless of the cost to pick her up and leave.

But Ivy had suddenly cried out in pain, and thinking of her recent miscarriage and unhealed body, he ultimately didn't stop.

But now, thinking back on that decision,

Julian suddenly felt a sense of regret; he shouldn't have left her there alone.

The thoughts in his mind became increasingly chaotic, all of them filled with Clara's image.

Finally, at the next intersection,

His knuckles gripped the steering wheel until they turned white, and he let out a low, muffled curse, no longer caring about anything else.

He turned the steering wheel directly and sped toward the club.

Arriving downstairs, he changed back into that dirty construction work uniform.

He checked himself in the mirror several times, confirming there were no giveaways, before stepping upstairs.

But to his surprise,

The club, usually boisterous, was abnormally quiet today.

This undoubtedly intensified his anxiety, and he quickened his pace significantly.

Finally, Julian ran all the way to the top floor and kicked the door open with force.

Through the dim light, when he saw that figure in the white dress,

His taut heartstrings relaxed considerably, and he couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

Reason was completely overwhelmed by excitement; he didn't even think as he rushed forward to pull the person into his arms, his voice trembling slightly.

"Honey, I'm here to save you!"

Hearing this, the person whose head was covered by a hood kept making muffled, whining sounds.

Julian’s heart tightened, feeling both heartache and rage.

Wang Shaocong, that animal, actually dared to treat Clara like this; in the future, he would definitely make him pay back double.

He couldn't care about anything else and hurriedly pulled the hood off the person in front of him.

"Zhizhi, don't be afraid, I—"

But in the next second, as he met the unexpected face beneath the hood,

Julian's voice choked off, and he was struck as if by lightning, his face filled with disbelief.

Chapter 13

After a long time, he slowly recovered from the shock, his voice carrying an indescribable hoarseness.

"How... could it be you? Where is Clara?"

Wang Shaocong had been beaten until his face was bruised and swollen, and he was in a miserable state from long-term oxygen deprivation.

Having finally been saved, he saw that the person standing before him was Julian.

The repressed rage in his heart instantly rushed to his head, and he was so angry his face turned red.

"Julian, I was just about to look for you; you motherfucker actually delivered yourself to be beaten, didn't you!"

He spat viciously on the ground and raised his fist to smash it toward Julian.

Julian frowned, raising his leg to kick him directly to the ground.

He barely managed to steady his mind, but there was an unmistakable panic in his voice.

"What exactly happened here? Where did Clara go?"

Wang Shaocong glared at him fixedly and cursed wildly.

"What are you pretending not to know for! You kept saying that woman with the surname Shen was just an orphan and told me to feel free to play with her, so what happened?"

"It's enough that I was beaten like this by the Old Master because of it, but you also made me the laughingstock of the whole circle! I'm not finished with you!"

Capturing a certain word, Julian seemed to be nailed to the spot, the air pressure around him plummeting.

His jawline was set rigidly, and his voice sounded as if it were squeezed through his teeth.

"When did I ever say you could feel free to play with her?"

Wang Shaocong let out a cold snort, stared at his expression for a moment, and smiled mockingly.

"You didn't say it, but that wife of yours with the surname Jiang said it clearly enough—telling me to play with her as I pleased, and that it would be best if I played her to death!"

"Don't tell me you didn't know about all this."

Julian’s pupils shook, and he retorted almost instinctively.

"Impossible—"

But halfway through, as if he had thought of something, his voice gradually grew weaker, and his face was filled with disbelief.

Wang Shaocong took the opportunity to shake off his restraint, stood up, dusted the ash off his clothes, and sneered.

"Don't believe it? Don't forget that every private room here is equipped with surveillance; you can just go and check it yourself if you want to know the truth."

"Besides, we're all in the same circle, and it's not like you're meeting me for the first time. Don't pretend like you don't know anything; the moment you sent her in, you should have known what would happen."

Whoosh—

Julian’s dark, heavy eyes instantly bloodshot, the veins on his forehead throbbing violently as he grabbed Wang Shaocong by the collar and slammed him against the wall.

"Did you touch her?"

His dry voice was completely hoarse, each word roared out with the strength of his entire body.

"Answer me!"

Seeing Julian’s murderous look, Wang Shaocong no longer had the mood to provoke him and said lazily,

"Touch her?"

"If I had listened to that bitch surnamed Jiang and actually touched her today, I probably would have lost my life and wouldn't be standing here talking to you."

Hearing this, Julian first breathed a sigh of relief, but immediately afterward, an even greater panic arose in his heart.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. That Clara doesn't have a simple background."

"How is that possible?!"

Julian spoke almost instinctively, his knuckles clutching the edge of the table turning white.

"The Shen family went bankrupt a long time ago; no one can help her except me."

Wang Shaocong was annoyed by the questioning and frowned.

"Enough, she already left with someone else; it's no damn use asking me anymore."

Taken away?

Julian’s figure swayed violently, his entire body feeling as if it had been drained of all strength, his voice permeated with hysterical despair.

"Who took her away? Where did they take her?"

"No comment."

Chapter 14

Julian remained unwilling to give up, acting as if he had lost his mind, leveraging all his connections to retrieve all the surveillance footage from the private room.

However, the responses he received were all variations of "no comment"; the surveillance footage had been deliberately erased for a specific period.

It was as if Clara had vanished into thin air.

Wang Shaocong swept a cold gaze over him and, before leaving, dropped a meaningful remark.

"Julian, don't waste your energy. That person is someone we can't afford to provoke. Even if you knew who it was, there’s nothing you could do. Understand?"

The corners of Julian's eyes were bloodshot; for the first time in his life, he felt a sense of powerlessness.

He slumped helplessly into the sofa, his heart aching with a heavy, plummeting pain.

Can't afford to provoke?

After being with Clara for so many years, why had he never known that there was someone with such overwhelming power around her?

He couldn't stop wondering what their relationship was, and by what right that person would help her!

Screech—

At the thought, his heart felt as if it were being gripped by something, and he stood up so abruptly that the sofa beneath him was dragged several meters away, emitting a harsh sound.