“Emily, I won’t do it!” I shouted, feeling like a clown under everyone’s gaze and ridicule.

I gave up struggling. From daylight to nightfall, I walked—

Even when my heels were blistered and blood soaked through my socks and shoes, I didn’t stop.

Finally, facing the empty finish line, I said just one thing:

“Emily, I’m here.”

The moment those words left my mouth, I collapsed.

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in bed back in the bedroom.

Emily and Ryan were already gone.

It wasn’t until the next afternoon that I finally received a message from her:

“I’ve taken Ryan back to the Carter family. They’re throwing a celebration tonight to welcome him home. Don’t be late!”

I had no intention of going.

But after the phone rang endlessly, I gave in and headed out.

The moment I stepped through the door, my parents greeted me with cold faces and disapproval.

“Ryan brought you a gift as soon as he returned yesterday. And you didn’t even return the gesture? Do you have no manners at all?”

The guests nearby joined in, shooting disdainful looks my way.

“Isn’t that the Carter family’s eldest son? He really thinks blood ties are enough to carry him through.”

“If it weren’t for the Parker family marriage, who would care about a cripple like him?”

“He’s been back for ten years and still acts like he came from some lowly background. Thankfully, the Carter family adopted Ryan—at least now, someone can hold things together. Depending on a cripple? What a joke.”

Just as the insults faded, Ryan appeared, dressed in an elegant custom-made suit.

He clutched our parents’ hands lovingly and scolded the crowd in feigned anger:

“Anyone who doesn’t respect our family isn’t welcome here.”

“And without Ethan, I wouldn’t even be part of this family. He’s already been through so much because of his injury—I won’t allow anyone to speak ill of him!”

Then, turning to me with exaggerated concern, he added,

“But Ethan, why are you so late? If the gift I gave you wasn’t enough, I’ll give you everything I’ve earned abroad. Just please, don’t push me away. Let me stay until I repay our parents’ kindness.”

Ryan always did this.

Every time, he made it seem like he was defending me—

But in the end, it only left me more humiliated.

This time was no different.

His words reignited the gossip that had just quieted.

Everyone stared at me with renewed scorn and judgment.

“Ethan, there you are. Come on in, the banquet’s about to start.”

Emily appeared beside me and grabbed my hand tightly.

Her touch looked like comfort—

But her presence only made Ryan’s narrative feel more real.

Inside the grand hall, I sat alone in a corner.

Around Ryan, people gathered, showering him with praise for his “gratitude” and early success overseas.

My parents and Emily wore proud smiles, ones they’d never once shown me—

Not even before my leg was ruined.

I had poured myself into winning that project, only to be told I was vain and lacked the composure expected of a wealthy heir.

Now, another man basked in the spotlight that should have been mine.

It was all absurd.

Just then, a call from Sophia jolted me from the suffocating scene.

I stepped away to a corner to answer.

But before I could speak, I heard Ryan’s mocking voice behind me.

“Ethan, you must be really hurting.”

“You’re the real heir of the Carter family, and yet you still lost to me, the adopted son!”

“I should thank you. If you hadn’t gone missing, I’d never have had the chance to join the Carter family—or meet Emily.”

I turned and looked at him with a blank stare.

Then I smiled coldly and said—

“Since you know you stole my life to get where you are now, this is how you treat your so-called benefactor?”

Hearing that, he dropped the act entirely.

“Benefactor? If you really wanted to be my benefactor, you should’ve never come back. For eighteen years, I was the only young master of the Carter family. You’re the one who took everything that should’ve been mine!”

“But it doesn’t matter anymore. I told you long ago—you’ll never beat me. Watching your parents and your fiancée treat you like you’re invisible... how does it feel to be abandoned by the whole world?”

“Oh, and your leg—did you really think the Carter and Parker families couldn’t afford to fix that? Back then, I just shed a few tears, and Emily replaced all your medicine out of pity. I still laugh when I remember how pathetic you looked after realizing you’d be crippled for life!”

I stared down at my useless left leg, and every insult and injustice over the years surged to the surface.

I couldn’t take it anymore—and slapped Ryan hard across the face.

In an instant, his cheek turned red and swollen.

But instead of retaliating, he smirked.

Before I could react, he collapsed from the force—right into Emily’s arms.

“Ethan, are you insane?”

“Ryan only came to keep you company because he thought you’d be lonely, and you treat him like this?”

Ryan lay weakly in her arms, covering his face and sobbing.

“Emily, I’m sorry. I just saw Ethan struggling and wanted to help. I didn’t expect him to lash out like that.”

“Don’t be mad at Ethan. After all, the Carter family raised me, and he’s still my benefactor. It’s just a slap—let’s just forget it.”

Watching him fake it again made my blood boil.

“Forget it? Why forget it?”

“Emily, how exactly did my leg become disabled? Don’t you owe me an explanation?”

Panic flashed across her eyes, but she quickly regained her composure.

“What is there to explain? Haven’t I done enough these past ten years? So many people told me not to get engaged to you, but I stayed anyway. How long are you going to hold this over my head? Is my life not enough compensation?”

“Ethan, I truly regret letting you save me!”

Saying that, she suddenly snatched a knife from a waiter’s tray and slashed at her wrist—

But he was quickly restrained by the crowd that rushed over.

“You’re heartless! Miss Parker’s been driven this far—what more do you want? You think a tiny favor gives you the right to act like this?”

“With someone like him, if Miss Parker hadn’t been so kind, who would even want him?”

I ignored their scorn and turned to Emily, speaking each word with calm precision:

“Emily, you don’t need to regret it—because I won’t marry you.”

The sneers around me grew louder.

Emily broke away from the crowd, walked up to me, and looked at me with disgust.

“Ethan, fine. As you wish, our engagement is over! But before that, you must apologize to Ryan!”

She reached out to grab me, and I stepped back quickly.

Just as she was about to catch me, a figure stepped between us.

“Sorry, I’m late, husband.”