I grew up in an orphanage. It was only last week that my birth parents finally found me.

They were billionaires in Ashford City, people with real power and influence.

The day we met, my mother was dressed elegantly, poised and refined, but the moment she saw me, she broke down crying so hard she lost all composure.

I hadn't told her I was married yet. I'd been planning to bring Vivienne along to the press conference.

But now, I felt nothing. Just hollow.

The door was kicked open with a “bang.”

Vivienne grabbed me and dragged me out.

It wasn't until I was bundled into a hospital room that I realized she hadn't been joking.

The moment I saw Bertram lying on the bed with that smug grin plastered across his face, I tried to run.

They pinned my arms and legs down. When the cold metal instruments came close, my heart nearly hammered out of my chest.

In the same room, Vivienne was murmuring sweet nothings to Bertram, whose complexion was rosy and healthy.

Meanwhile, I was drenched in my own blood, held down so they could take my kidney.

I thrashed in desperation, but all it earned me was a vicious slap across the face.

Before I blacked out from the searing agony, I saw every ounce of Vivienne's attention fixed on Bertram.

Tender. Adoring. As if she were gazing at something priceless.

When I woke again, Vivienne was sitting by my bed.

She was holding an apple. For a disoriented moment, I thought everything had gone back to the way it used to be.

I'd been bullied in the orphanage since I was small. When I got older and went to school, the other kids shut me out because I had no parents.

I'd swallowed so much cruelty in my life, but then I met Vivienne at my first job.

When coworkers ganged up on me and made my life miserable, Vivienne was the one who fought for me, who warned them to back off.

The way she shielded me, standing between me and the world, I truly believed she was an angel.

She'd carefully prepare medicine for my stomach problems, remind me to take care of myself even if I was alone.

When she'd laugh softly and curl up in my arms, making me promise to love her forever, my heart melted completely.

So why had everything turned into this?

Vivienne saw me wake and reached over to help me sit up. I flinched away.

Her expression hardened.

“Everyone thinks you and I are married. Bertram has borne all that public criticism for years because of it, and he's never once complained.”

“You should say thank you.”

I looked toward the doorway. There stood Bertram, his wound neatly bandaged, already barking orders like he owned the place.

All I felt was the absurdity of it. And an exhaustion so deep it hollowed me out.

But the look in Vivienne's eyes, so matter-of-fact, so absolute, made my blood run cold.

I forced out three words：“Thank you.”

Bertram didn't even glance at me. He just took Vivienne's hand and whined：“Why do you keep coming to check on him~”

“What's worth looking at? The man's useless.”

The contempt in Bertram's eyes cut straight through me. Half a lifetime of sweat and sacrifice, and all of it had been spent building someone else's fortune.

Now even my body was no longer whole. What was the point of staying alive?

Every last shred of will drained out of me. Maybe it would be easier to just die.

Hot tears slid down my face, and two faces surfaced in my mind.

My birth parents. They were still waiting for me.

I had never known an embrace that warm. Love from family.

I refused to die one moment before dawn.

Vivienne stroked Bertram's head lovingly. “I promise you won't have to suffer any more after this.”

“At tomorrow's press conference, I'm going public with our relationship.”

Bertram smiled shyly. “You know me, Vivienne. I'm not like other people. I don't care that much about titles or status. I just want you to love me a little more.” Then he shot me a pointed look.

Vivienne's face softened with satisfaction. “The love is yours. The title is yours too.”

Bertram looked at me with the smug satisfaction of a man who thought he'd already won.

The day of the press conference arrived. I never got the chance to go back to my parents.

Vivienne dragged me to the venue by force.

Days of no rest and no proper food had left my surgical wound inflamed and bleeding.

By the time we arrived, my face was white as paper. I could barely stay conscious.

Vivienne's expression was ice-cold.

I didn't even register what was happening before I was shoved to the ground.

Stacks of photographs hit me like projectiles, their edges slicing thin lines of blood across my face.

“I never thought you'd be this ungrateful! Bertram has put up with so much from you, and you have the nerve to spread lies about him!”

Lies? My head was splitting open. I had no idea what she was talking about.

But Vivienne didn't care. She kept screaming：

“You told people Bertram wrecked our marriage! Now strangers are attacking him online without knowing the first thing about it!”

“Don't you deserve to die?!”

The crowd around Bertram immediately jumped to his defense.

“She's right. Vivienne already showed us the marriage certificate. This guy's the homewrecker!”

“Shameless piece of trash, stalking another man's wife. That's harassment!”

People who didn't know the truth swarmed me, kicking and punching, convinced they were delivering justice.

Bertram still wasn't satisfied. He pulled up the video of my kidney extraction and held his phone high so the entire crowd could watch.

“Cornelius, you're already down a kidney. Still chasing someone else's wife? That's delusional.”

Every face in the crowd twisted into mockery.

I was a joke to them. A toy. Their stares burned through me like open flame.

Pain screamed from every part of my body. The crowd gradually fell quiet. I wiped the blood off my face.

I saw Bertram walking toward me with a slice of cake. He pressed a fork into my hand.

In a voice only I could hear, he said：“You're a cripple now. You really think you can compete with me?”

Then he stepped back and raised his voice for the whole room：“I don't blame you. My wife is irresistible. I can understand why you'd do something like this.”

“Get up. Eat the cake, and we'll call it even.”

A fork was forced into my trembling hands.

Everyone praised Bertram for being generous and reasonable. But I was the only one who saw the sly curl at the corner of his mouth.

“Ah!”

From an angle no one else could see, Bertram drove the fork into his own arm, then screamed.

“She loves me, not you! Even if you're jealous enough to hurt me, she'll still choose me!”

I froze.

Vivienne rushed over from across the room and slapped me so hard I hit the floor.

“Cornelius, you animal! How can you be this vicious?!”

“Bertram hasn't done a single thing wrong, and you stab him?!”

I lay facedown, coughing blood, ears ringing so loud the world went muffled.

“I didn't……”

Vivienne's eyes were red. She wasn't listening. She kicked me over and over, aiming straight for the surgical incision.

The wound tore open. Blood pooled across the floor beneath me, and it wouldn't stop.

“Stop! Stop it! What the hell is going on here?!”

“Mr. Rodriguez is about to arrive! What is this mess?!”

Vivienne stopped instantly. Mr. Rodriguez was the man she'd organized this entire press conference to meet.

The CEO who dominated every major industry in Ashford City. Word was, he was here today to publicly reunite with his long-lost biological son.

Vivienne had already prepared an extravagant gift for the Rodriguez heir she'd never met.

But she could never have imagined that the man she'd just beaten half to death on this floor was Mr. Rodriguez's son.

Someone helped me to my feet. Rudolph Mason, who knew my real identity, took one look at my face and the color drained from his.

“What are you doing?! All of you, what the hell are you doing?!”

“Do you have any idea who this is? How dare you?!”

Vivienne and the crowd went still.

“This is Mr. Rodriguez's biological son! Every last one of you here today is done!”

The entire room fell dead silent. Then Vivienne let out a snort.

She burst out laughing. “Oh my God, Cornelius, you actually hired someone to put on a show? Ha ha ha ha……”

Vivienne shoved Rudolph away from me.

“Do you have any idea who Christopher Rodriguez is? Impersonating his son? You wouldn't have enough lives to pay for that!”

Her eyes were ice-cold. “Keep acting with him and I'll beat you too.”

Rudolph kept warning them. “You'd better stop right now. When Mr. Rodriguez gets here, you'll all……”

He didn't finish. They knocked him flat. Even then, he threw himself over me.

Blood ran down his face and he was still trying to comfort me. “Young Master, Mr. Rodriguez sent me to receive you. I've failed you.”

I tried to fight back, but every inch of my body screamed with pain.

Just as consciousness slipped away, I saw them. My birth parents.

They arrived in a storm of camera flashes and reporters. My father took in the chaos and his brow furrowed.

“What is going on here?”

“Rudolph?”

We were helped to our feet.

My father's rage ignited in an instant. “Who did this?!”

The second Vivienne saw my father, a bright smile plastered itself across her face.

She stepped forward with a gift box she'd prepared. “Mr. Rodriguez, someone here was causing trouble, claiming to be your son.”

“We took care of him for you, so your reputation wouldn't be tarnished.”

My father turned his head slowly toward Vivienne. He looked at her the way a man looks at a corpse.

“Claiming?”

“Every single one of you had better explain yourselves.”

“My son has been beaten to this state. Everyone present today will pay for this!”

Vivienne's brain short-circuited. She couldn't process what she'd just heard.

She looked at me, disbelief flooding her eyes.

“Mr. Rodriguez, you must be mistaken. He's an orphan. How could he possibly be,

She trailed off mid-sentence, freezing in place.

Vivienne knew my family situation. When we first got married, she'd even comforted me.

Told me I'd find my birth parents someday. That I'd have a mom and dad who loved me.

No. No, that's impossible! If he really is, then Vivienne's legs gave out. She collapsed to her knees.

A pair of soft, fragrant hands cradled my head.

Warm drops fell onto my face. My mother was crying.

Make them pay for this, Christopher!

Everyone in the room knew what was coming. One by one, they dropped to their knees, begging.

Everyone knew Christopher Rodriguez had his hands in every industry in Ashford City. Cross him, and you didn't just lose. You disappeared.

Vivienne crawled toward me on her knees, begging. Cornelius, Cornelius, please, can you put in a word with Mr. Rodriguez? I lost my head, I wasn't thinking.

Please, for the sake of everything we've been through, Cornelius, I know I was wrong. Tell him to spare me!

My mother held me tighter and pulled me away from Vivienne's reaching hands.

Get my son to the hospital. Call overseas and have the best equipment airlifted here immediately.

If anything happens to my son, not a single person here walks out alive.

My mother's face was stone-cold. She was not exaggerating.