Chapter 3

"Mr. Hayes, I've already publicly apologized... please, I beg you, let me go, let the Vance family go..."

Trembling, she handed me a document, explicitly stating in black and white:

Agreement to annul the engagement.

But all investments and collaborations would continue as usual.

She had utterly disgraced the Hayes Group, then brought reporters to my office to pressure me, and now had the audacity to demand business as usual?

Did I really look that easy to manipulate?

I sneered in response:

"Serena Vance, you humiliated the Hayes Group, played the victim online, smeared my name, and now you want to cancel the engagement *and* keep the money and resources?"

"Do you think I'm particularly easy to bully?"

She then dropped to her knees with a thud, repeatedly knocking her head on the floor.

Tears mixed with the blood on her forehead, smearing her face.

Serena Vance choked out:

"Mr. Hayes, it's all my fault! Please don't take it out on my parents..."

"Punish me however you want, I won't complain!"

Seeing this, Liam Miller, who was trailing behind her, grabbed Serena Vance and pulled her protectively behind him.

He leaned close to my ear, his voice low but laced with menace:

"Ryan Hayes, don't push your luck. I have a thousand ways to make you beg Serena to let you go."

"There are some people you just can't mess with."

I stared directly at him, refusing to back down:

"I'd like to see who dares to touch the Hayes Group."

Liam Miller's eye twitched in anger, a vein bulging on his forehead.

Just as he was about to land a punch, Serena Vance suddenly lunged forward and hugged my leg.

The blood from her forehead stained my shoe.

"Mr. Hayes, I couldn't control my heart, I fell in love with Liam!"

"You can do anything to me, but please, I beg you, don't hurt innocent people..."

I looked up, seeing the constantly flashing cameras.

My heart felt like it was being pierced by countless needles.

Finally, I just uttered one word, my gaze dark and menacing:

"Get out!"

Serena Vance's legs buckled, and she stumbled backward.

Liam Miller caught her, then swung his hand and slapped me hard across the face.

"You dared to push her?!"

A stinging pain instantly flared across my cheek.

But I licked the corner of my mouth, laughing in furious defiance.

Liam Miller's voice was cold as a viper:

"The Hayes Group can look forward to bankruptcy."

"All these years you forced her to run the company, to attend those late-night business dinners, raking in profits. She doesn't owe you anything anymore!"

"She's a living, breathing person, not a puppet for you to make money!"

My gaze, sharp as a knife, pierced through Serena Vance as I asked, word by word:

"Teaching you to manage, guiding you into the industry – in your eyes, that was just using you to make money?"

"Sending your parents to a top-tier nursing home – was that just to control you?"

"Serena Vance, where's your conscience?"

Her eyes red, she hung her head, not daring to look at me.

I let out a bitter laugh, tears uncontrollably welling up in my eyes.

"Serena Vance, you have no heart!"

She suddenly lunged at my feet again, weeping profusely:

"Mr. Hayes, I will repay your kindness... please, I beg you, let us be together..."

Her trembling hand gently touched her flat stomach.

"The baby is innocent, he can't be without a father..."

I felt like I'd been struck by lightning, staggering back a few steps, barely able to stand.

So, they even had a child together.

That evening, Serena Vance went live on TikTok, tearfully "accusing" me.

She was crying so hard she could barely breathe.

"For projects, he forced me to wear *those* kinds of clothes to please clients..."

"When I refused, he hit me... he burned me with cigarette butts..."

Liam Miller embraced her tenderly, his eyes red as he roared:

"Ryan Hayes! Do you have to drive her to her death before you're satisfied?!"

Serena Vance frantically tried to cover his mouth:

"Mr. Hayes, I'm sorry, Liam is just too upset, he didn't mean to contradict you."

"If you don't break off the engagement, I really can't live anymore..."

Liam Miller, while comforting her, screamed in anguish:

"You're holding onto Serena, aren't you just afraid of not having anyone to make money for you?"

"You're nothing but a worthless parasite, sucking women dry!"

Serena Vance suddenly pushed him away and, facing the camera, repeatedly knocked her head on the floor:

"Mr. Hayes, Liam is just worried about me, please don't be so merciless..."

The comment section had already gone wild.

Countless vicious curses and insults flooded the screen.

【Ryan Hayes, go to hell! Scumbag! Bloodsucker!】

【Serena, run! We support you!】

【The seemingly glamorous CEO of Hayes Group turns out to be a coward who relies on women!】

Finally, Serena Vance tearfully announced that she would be marrying Liam Miller abroad next month.

"I want to live for myself, for once."

The live stream ended, and that's when the real storm began.

Hayes Group's stock plummeted, partners terminated contracts one after another, and I became public enemy number one.

I looked at the pitiful face on the screen, feeling only absurdity and a chilling coldness.

Hatred, like a rampant vine, grew wildly, tightening around my heart.