Chapter 3

The moment I answered, Tori's accusations came flying at me like a barrage.

"Alex Thorne! What the hell is wrong with you? Unfreeze my accounts right now! Don't you know Lucas is waiting for surgery?!"

I sneered, "Lucas? You call him so intimately. Did you forget you have a husband and a child?"

"Our son ended up in the emergency room because of him, so he won't get off easy either!"

"As for you, for now, it's just a withdrawal of funds. But I'm certainly not opposed to bankrupting Hayes Industries entirely!"

Tori's aggression instantly vanished. She stammered, asking to visit.

Soon after, Tori appeared in front of the emergency room.

Her eyes welled up with tears. "Honey, I really had no idea two hours in the car would send our son to the ER."

"He's my flesh and blood; how could I not feel heartbroken?"

She took my hand. "After all these years of marriage, don't you trust me?"

For Leo's sake, I decided to give her one more chance.

Seeing my expression soften, Tori quickly spoke. "Lucas is seriously injured. You froze Hayes Industries' accounts. Without funds, you're practically forcing him to die."

"Just give me the money first, so I can pay for his surgery."

I laughed in disbelief. "So you came here just for him! You want me to save him? Dream on?!"

Tori’s face shifted drastically. She forced a smile and pouted, "We're family, and you have so much money. What's wrong with helping him out a little?"

I stated firmly, "I won't!"

Her face completely darkened. She yanked her hand away and pointed a finger at me.

"How can you be so cruel? You have so much money; what's wrong with taking out a little?!

"You're going to let someone die right in front of your son's surgery room. Aren't you afraid your son will face retribution and die on the operating table?"

She stormed off in a huff.

Soon, Arthur reported that Tori had mortgaged some fixed assets under Hayes Industries. At my direction, she only managed to get out a couple hundred thousand dollars in cash.

She hesitated for only a moment before transferring the entire sum to Lucas's account.

My heart turned to ice. "Prepare the divorce papers. Send all of Lucas's dirt to Tori's email. If she doesn't act by noon tomorrow, she'll leave with nothing!"

Arthur nodded.

The next afternoon, news of Lucas’s plagiarism and fake graduation experiments became a top trending topic.

His university immediately announced the revocation of his diploma and degree.

Lucas Miller, once an academic elite, instantly became public enemy number one.

A photo of Lucas, hunched over and spitting blood in the hospital parking lot, landed in my inbox.

My eyes were cold. Filth!

After my son recovered, I arranged for him to go on vacation with a professional psychological support team to his grandparents overseas.

My parents were furious when they learned what their precious grandson had endured; they almost had heart attacks.

Years ago, Hayes Industries was on the brink of bankruptcy, and Tori's father committed suicide.

Tori and her mother were like headless chickens, trying to manage everything. I, out of old school ties, lent her a hand.

She clung to me like a drowning person to a last straw, crying and begging to marry me.

My parents disagreed, but I overruled their objections, using every means possible to marry her.

I used my family's resources to revive Hayes Industries, even helping them achieve their dream of going public.

But now, for her lover, she abandoned her ailing mother, harmed her own son, and forgot the Thorne family's kindness.

I couldn't show a shred of weakness to such an ungrateful woman!