Chapter 2

"Hello, I'd like to report a crime. Someone intentionally damaged my private property. I have the perpetrators and the evidence right here. Please send officers immediately!"

3

The police arrived at the villa quickly.

They collected evidence, investigated, and took statements.

The farce ended with Julian agreeing to compensate me for the damages, then leaving with Melanie, as if nothing had happened.

By the time I returned home, it was already broad daylight.

I saw the empty safe, and Julian's sneer still echoed in my ears:

"Divorce? Could you really bear it?"

"You chose to abandon a pre-arranged match with a prominent family, and broke ties with your parents to marry me. Now if you divorce, you'll be the laughingstock of the Hayes family."

He was right.

When we married, Julian was just a struggling artist, while the Hayes family was a titan in the cosmetics industry.

For him, I had a huge fallout with my family.

Now, if I divorced him, and for such a scandalous reason as infidelity, my family relatives would surely mock me mercilessly.

But he seemed to have forgotten, when I chose him back then, I never cared about what others thought.

Now, I was still the same me.

Only he had changed.

While discussing divorce papers with my lawyer, I noticed Melanie had updated her SnapChat.

She was wearing two newly bought gold bracelets, smiling brightly.

[My baby has nothing to fear, Daddy is our knight, he will protect us.]

Below, Julian replied:

"From now on, my son and I will protect you. I'll buy you even more gold."

When I first hired her, her SnapChat had always blocked me.

But Julian's protection had clearly emboldened her, making her audacious enough to flaunt their affection right in front of me.

I immediately screenshot it and sent it to my lawyer. The lawyer, in turn, sent me a stock transfer certificate.

The contents were truly shocking.

The cosmetics company, which had grown large thanks to my resources and patents, had 70% of its shares in Julian's hands. He had transferred them all to Melanie seven months ago!

She was now the company's largest shareholder!

My heart pounded. I quickly clicked on Melanie' SnapChat, scrolling back through her posts.

All her posts from the past year were now public, as if intentionally revealed for me to see.

[Julian gave me the company, said it was my 'engagement gift.' He'll run it for me, but I have him, that's all I need, why would I need a company anyway.]

[Luna is pregnant too! Julian was so happy, said it was double good news, he gave all his houses to me, and even said his daughters' houses could be for Luna's babies.]

[Luna is the happiest little cat in the world, with four little babies in her belly, each getting their own penthouse.]

Scene after scene flashed before my eyes.

A month ago, Julian had asked for the property deeds, saying he'd found two adjacent villas and wanted to trade our daughters' four penthouse apartments for them.

I wanted to go see them with him, but he made many excuses to put it off.

Turns out, he'd given the properties to the four kittens in Luna's belly.

And all the houses under our names, and that company, had become Melanie's gifts.

The fund I'd saved for my daughters had become her jewelry.

He had given her everything.

My daughters and I were left with nothing.

My phone rang. Before the lawyer could speak, I gritted my teeth and said, word by word:

"Collect evidence. Sue him for malicious transfer of marital assets."

"Also, revoke all the cosmetics patents I authorized. Don't leave a single one!"

4

After that, Julian seemed to forget about me.

It wasn't until three days later, as I was simmering chicken soup at home, that Julian suddenly entered, arm around Melanie.

Several nannies and bodyguards followed them, one of them carrying a cat carrier.

"Luna is almost due, and Melanie can't stand the smell of blood. So we're bringing Luna here to deliver."

I looked up at him:

"Julian, both my daughters and I are allergic to cat fur. If you let a cat live here, where will our daughters stay?"

He personally helped Melanie to sit on the sofa, naturally brought out a bowl of soup and handed it to her, then looked at me with impatience:

"They can just find somewhere else to stay, can't they? Allergic to cats at such a young age, I wonder if it's some inferior gene they inherited from you."

With the charade finally over, he truly stopped pretending, dropping even the superficial politeness.

I pulled out a chair and sat down, speaking coldly:

"This is my home. If anyone needs to leave, it certainly isn't me."

Melanie blinked, then choked, pretending to stand up:

"Ms. Hayes is right, I'm the one who should leave…"

Julian pressed her back down, his tone hostile towards me:

"Don't waste my time. I told you, if you want to remain Mrs. Vance, you'll listen to me."

"Melanie is due in a few days, she absolutely cannot be stressed… What are you standing there for? Get her out!"

The bodyguards exchanged uneasy glances.

But they were all employees I had hired. Now, one look from me, and none dared to move.

Looking past them, I watched him play the "good husband," the "good father."

It only made me laugh even more bitterly:

"Julian, you gave her the company and all the properties. You even gave her our daughters' properties. Where do you expect us to go?"

Julian's face darkened completely.

He slammed the soup bowl down. Broth splashed across the table:

"Charlotte, you dared to investigate me?!"

"I warned you to wait until Melanie had given birth before discussing anything. But you just couldn't sit still, insisting on making a scene now. Are you trying to anger me, or stress Melanie out?"

"Fine, you want a divorce? Then let's divorce. I want to see how long you, Charlotte, can survive without the Hayes family, and without me!"

Julian, you're mistaken.

I want to see how long you and this woman can survive without me, and without my patents!

Just as tensions were about to explode, the kindergarten teacher brought our two daughters home.

"Mommy, Daddy, why are there so many people here…"

A flicker of regret crossed Julian's eyes. As he turned his head, Melanie suddenly moaned:

"Julian… my stomach hurts so much…"

"This chicken soup… it tastes off. Quick… take me to the hospital…"

Julian immediately spun around, seeing Melanie's face deathly pale, clutching her stomach and panting in pain.

I frowned. Before I could speak, he had already scooped Melanie up and was rushing out.

"Charlotte, you dared to poison the soup!"

"If anything happens to my son, I swear, I'll never let you go!"

My daughters, terrified, stood by the door, frozen.

Julian, in his rage, actually kicked Lily, our eldest daughter, in the leg.

"Get out of the way! Just like your mother, both of you are useless!"

"Julian! How dare you hurt my daughter!"

I lunged forward, but he had already pushed open the door and driven off with the nannies and bodyguards.

Lily had bumped into a cabinet. I quickly helped them both up, checking carefully for injuries.

"Mommy, why did Daddy kick me? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, darling, you didn't do anything wrong."

I hugged them both tightly, watching the car drive away.

After a long moment, I picked up my phone:

"Have the patent authorizations been revoked? Do it now. I want Julian to lose everything!"