Chapter 3

I'd adjusted my emotions. My voice was calm, but my face was filled with determination.

I turned to look at Oliver and sneered: "The humiliation I suffered—your entire family will pay for it!"

Her face turned pale, then red, then pale again.

"Don't be afraid, Oliver. He's just a bastard. How could he possibly have that kind of power!" Hernandez said, holding Oliver's arm.

I gave a cold laugh and walked step by step toward Hernandez: "The revenge that belongs to you is coming soon too."

"I want to see how long your true love can last in the face of profit and money!"

I had the butler escort them both out.

I walked to the desk by the floor-to-ceiling window and issued an order—short-sell all Oliver Group stock.

I stared at the constantly changing numbers and stock trend charts on the screen, the corner of my mouth turning up.

The humiliation I suffered at the wedding was finally being avenged, sweet and complete, in this moment.

In just three hours, Oliver Group's stock had dropped three points. But it wasn't enough!

My phone vibrated at that moment.

"Marcus, stop this right now. If you want to die, don't drag the entire Williams family down with you." It was my father, Johnson.

"Being abandoned by Oliver just means you're incompetent. Come home right now and apologize to Mr. Keane with me."

Faced with my father's fury, I remained calm and said flatly: "It should be Mr. Keane apologizing to me!"

"Are you insane? From tomorrow on, you're no longer the company's general manager. Your brother Javier will take over."

As soon as I hung up, my phone vibrated again. It was a familiar string of numbers. I didn't answer, just let it ring.

After calling dozens of times, it finally went quiet.

Then several long voice messages popped up on my screen.

[What happened at the wedding was my fault, but Father has already punished me. You shouldn't auction off your marriage out of spite. You're publicly embarrassing our family. My parents are very angry now. Come to our villa immediately and apologize to them!]

[We can let the stock shorting slide for now. At worst, we'll just harvest another round of retail investors. But tomorrow you must clarify the video of me and Hernandez in front of reporters and play the part of a loving husband with me.]

I blocked Oliver's Twitter directly. I didn't want to hear her speak anymore.

Early the next morning, Oliver blocked me at my door.

"Why didn't you answer the phone yesterday? My parents are very angry. If you don't apologize, they have plenty of ways to punish you."

"I know what I did was wrong. I shouldn't have abandoned you at the wedding. But, but you can't be this unreasonable either."

"Oliver, what about the child?"

"The child?" She was instantly speechless.

On the wedding day, she'd personally admitted she had an unborn child, but she'd never mentioned it to me.

"That was all in the past. You shouldn't keep bringing it up!"

I threw the abortion report in her face.

"The abortion date was during our passionate romance!"

She froze in place.

Who was it that three years ago firmly chose to stay in the country, saying her heart was one hundred percent mine?

And who was it that promised in front of both sets of parents that our wedding would be the grandest and most luxurious in Seattle, then turned around and abandoned the wedding, making me a laughingstock?

She'd been flip-flopping between two relationships, and now she was accusing me of being unreasonable, accusing me of not letting go of the past.

Looking at her face, embarrassed because her lies had been exposed, I called my assistant again.

"Continue shorting Oliver Group stock."

"Continue spreading Hernandez's dirt all over the internet!"

"Miss Oliver, please come to the office immediately. Something's happened!" The assistant stammered.

On the way to the office, my assistant sent me a message: Big trouble, be careful!

When I reached the company entrance, a large group of reporters was blocking the main gate, surrounding someone in the middle. I couldn't see clearly!

I'd barely moved forward two steps when someone grabbed my legs.