Before I could even react, Julian had already hopped into a high-powered go-kart.

He floored the accelerator and drove straight at Alaric's wheelchair!

"Bang—!"

The massive impact shattered the wheelchair instantly.

Alaric was sent flying along with the wreckage, smashing heavily onto the hard concrete.

Blood gushed out immediately, staining his small, pale face crimson.

Julian jumped out of the kart, threw the imported ice cream—worth enough to feed my son and me for a week—onto the ground, and started wailing, playing the victim before anyone could accuse him. "Waa! That cripple tried to hit me! I swerved to avoid him and crashed! I was so scared!"

I had just gathered Alaric, who was covered in blood, into my arms when Caspian rushed over, drawn by the commotion.

Suddenly, Isolde let out a shriek. She threw her body back in an exaggerated motion, falling onto the soft grass.

"Ah! My ankle!" She clutched her foot, pointing at me while weeping beautifully, like a pear blossom bathed in rain. "Caspian... Ivy pushed me! She was angry that Julian accidentally bumped into Alaric, so she took advantage of the chaos to push me! It hurts so much!"

Caspian's face instantly turned pitch black.

He didn't even spare a glance at our dying biological son. Instead, he nervously helped Isolde up.

"Where does it hurt? Is it bad?" He asked gently, then turned his head to glare at me, his eyes filled with nothing but disgust and rage. "Ivy! Are you crazy? Julian is just a child; so what if he accidentally bumped him? Unlike you, Isolde is delicate and fragile. How dare you touch her? When did you become so venomous?"

I desperately pressed my hands against Alaric's wound, but I couldn't stop the blood from flowing.

"I'm venomous?" I screamed hysterically. "Open your eyes and look! Julian drove that car and hit the wheelchair on purpose! Isolde faked that fall! Alaric is bleeding! His head is broken! Are you blind?!"

Isolde sobbed even harder, burying her face in Caspian's chest. "Boohoo... Caspian, I didn't... Ivy must be jealous that you treat Julian so well, so she's taking it out on me. If my foot is broken, how can I dance with you in the future..."

Caspian roared at me, "Isolde wouldn't even hurt a fly, how could she fake a fall? Look at you, reeking of poverty. Over these past five years, you've become completely unreasonable! Jealousy has twisted you beyond recognition!"

Alaric was fading in and out of consciousness from the pain. His small hand weakly grasped my collar, his voice faint. "Mommy... it hurts... I can't see... why won't Daddy save me..."

I didn't want to argue anymore. I picked Alaric up, desperate to get to the hospital. "Move! I need to take my child to the hospital!"

"Stand down."

Caspian spoke coldly, blocking my path.

"Caspian!" I screamed in despair, looking at my son whose breathing was getting weaker. "Alaric needs a doctor! He's bleeding! You're going to kill him!"

"Apologize." He looked down at me from his height, pointing at Isolde, his tone leaving no room for negotiation. "Apologize to Isolde for your barbaric behavior just now. Otherwise, don't even think about taking a step out of here."

"I did nothing wrong!" I glared at him with red eyes. "We didn't do anything wrong! Why should I apologize?!"

"Unrepentant." Caspian's voice was cold enough to make one's blood curdle. "Ivy, it seems five years of slum life hasn't taught you humility; instead, it's turned you into an ungrateful shrew."

He pointed at the crocodile skin high heels on Isolde's feet and spoke every word with deliberate slowness:

"Kneel down. Lick the tip of Isolde's shoe to apologize. Lick the dust off until it's clean. Otherwise, I will call the insurance company right now and cancel all of Alaric's medical insurance."

I trembled all over, feeling like I had been struck by lightning.

In this country, without expensive commercial health insurance, the costs for an ambulance, surgery, and hospitalization were astronomical. The savings Alaric and I had wouldn't even cover the registration fee.

He was using our son's life to break me.

"Caspian..." I looked at him in disbelief. "He is your biological son... are you the devil?"

"You have three seconds to decide. Three, two..."

Alaric's body in my arms was growing colder, his breathing fainter.

I crumbled.

"...Fine." I gritted my teeth so hard I could taste blood. "I apologize."

Holding my child, my legs shook as I bent them. Under the gaze of the crowd, I fell heavily onto the hard, cold tiles.

I lowered my head, forcing back tears of humiliation, and moved my lips close to Isolde's expensive shoe.

"I'm sorry..." My voice was hoarse and broken, every word feeling like I was swallowing glass. "I shouldn't have... pushed you."

Isolde looked down at me. Just as my lips were about to touch the surface of her shoe, she pulled her foot back with feigned magnanimity, even wiping it on the grass in disgust.

"Oh my, Ivy, what are you doing? We're all friends here; just don't be so impulsive next time. I'm not one to hold grudges, so let's just forget about it this time."

Caspian looked at me kneeling on the ground, his brow furrowing slightly as if he felt a momentary flash of reluctance. "Enough. Since Isolde has forgiven you, get the hell to the hospital with the kid. Don't be an eyesore here; you've ruined my mood."

I picked up Alaric and fled.

Behind me, I could hear Julian's cheerful laughter and Caspian's gentle voice coaxing Isolde.

At the hospital, Alaric received eight stitches on his brow bone.

Because he was allergic to anesthesia, he had to be stitched up without any numbing.

He convulsed in pain, crying until his voice was hoarse. "Mommy... I didn't do anything bad... why is Daddy treating me like this... did I do something wrong..."

My heart felt like it was being twisted by a knife. I could only kiss his cold forehead over and over, my tears wetting his cheeks. "It's not Alaric's fault... it's Mommy's fault... Mommy is useless, I couldn't protect you..."

After hours of torment, Alaric finally fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.

I went to get a change of clothes for him.

When I passed the VIP lounge, the door was ajar. Familiar voices drifted out from inside.

"Caspian, about what happened in the square today... was it too much for Ivy?" Isolde's voice sounded affected and probing. "Making her kneel and kiss my shoe in public... she must hate me to death. What if she gets angry and leaves you with the child? After all, she really did love you."

"Leave?"

Caspian scoffed nonchalantly. "She can't leave me. Isolde, you don't know her."

I watched as he turned around and gently scraped Isolde's nose, his tone tender yet cruel to the extreme:

"She loves me to the point of madness. Even if I told her to die, she wouldn't hesitate. For the past five years, I made her live in a basement and eat garbage, and I still couldn't drive her away. Today was just a little kneeling. As long as I crook my finger, she'll come crawling back like a dog."

"So, don't worry. In this lifetime, she will never escape the palm of my hand."

Standing outside the VIP lounge, I heard everything.

So he knew. He knew I loved him to the point of losing all dignity. He knew Alaric craved even the smallest scrap of fatherly love. That was why he dared to trample on us like trash, using us as tools to show off his control in front of Isolde!

Caspian, you're too confident.

This time, I will take Alaric and disappear completely. Since you think we'll crawl back like dogs, I'll show you that even a "dog" has a backbone.

As soon as Alaric's wound was bandaged, I rushed him out of the hospital as if we were fleeing for our lives.

"Mommy, where are we going?" Alaric looked up, his eyes still glazed from the anesthesia.

"Home to get our passports. We're leaving," I said, pulling him quickly toward the curb. "We're going to a place where there is no daddy."

Just as we reached the intersection, a black van with no license plates mounted the sidewalk like a mad beast and cut us off!

The door slid open violently. Two men in ski masks jumped out. Without a word, a pungent, wet cloth was clamped over my nose and mouth.

The smell of ether shot straight to my brain.

I forced myself to calm down, quietly fumbled for my phone, and sent the text message I had previously drafted but hadn't sent to Valerius: I need your help.

...

When I woke up, it was from a bucket of freezing water being splashed on me.

I choked, coughing violently, and realized Alaric and I were tied to a concrete pillar in an unfinished building.

"Awake?" The leader of the kidnappers sat on a pile of broken crates, playing with a gleaming dagger. "Call your billionaire husband. Fifty million dollars, or I'll make you wish you were dead."

I spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, looking at Alaric, who was trembling with fear. Despair washed over me. "You grabbed the wrong people. In his eyes, we aren't even worth five bucks."

"Bullshit!" The kidnapper kicked me in the stomach. "You're the Mrs. Thorne, and this kid is the eldest son. He has to pay! Don't play games with me!"

"No... don't hit Mommy..." Alaric cried out.

Impatient, the kidnapper yanked Alaric over and pulled out a syringe filled with a grotesque green liquid. The needle pressed against Alaric's tender neck. "Won't pay, huh? See this? It's the latest poison from the black market. Once injected, his whole body will fester, his insides will feel like they're burning, and he'll scream for three days and nights before dying."

"No!" I screamed like a madwoman, struggling against the ropes. "I'll call! I'll call right now! Don't hurt my son!"

"Beep—beep—"

Finally, the call connected.

In the background, I could hear elegant orchestral music and the laughter of guests toasting.

I suddenly remembered—today was Isolde's birthday.

"Who is this?" Caspian's voice came through, sounding slightly drunk and lazy.

"Mr. Thorne," the kidnapper spoke grimly. "I have your wife and son. If you want them alive, get fifty million dollars in old bills ready. You have half an hour to bring it to the West Harbor pier."

There was a pause on the other end.

Before Caspian could speak, Isolde's voice suddenly cut in. "Oh my, fifty million? Caspian, this must be a birthday surprise from Ivy, right? She knows it's my birthday, so she staged this scene to trick you into leaving and ruining my party. After all, she probably doesn't want you to be with me."

Caspian let out a cold, mocking laugh. "Ivy, your methods are getting more and more disgusting. For a little money, for that pathetic jealousy of yours, you actually hired people to stage a kidnapping? Do you think I'm an idiot?"

I screamed into the phone, "It's not an act! Caspian, I beg you! These are real criminals! They have poison! They will really kill Alaric! Please save him! As long as you pay, I swear I will never disturb you and Isolde again!"

"Enough!" Caspian's voice held zero warmth. "I don't want to hear the same thing twice. This clumsy trick only makes me sick. You want money? Keep dreaming."

The kidnapper was enraged. He roared into the phone, "Caspian, if you don't pay, I'm injecting your son with poison right now! Don't you regret this!"

On the other end, Caspian swirled his wine glass nonchalantly, his voice cold enough to induce despair:

"Go ahead, then. And while you're at it, throw that lying crazy woman into the Atlantic to feed the fish. Fifty million? I'd rather spend it on fireworks for Isolde than save them. Don't disturb us while we cut the cake."

"Click—"

The call was hung up decisively.

The kidnapper stared at the phone in disbelief, then exploded into a furious rage. "F*ck! I've been played! This guy is heartless; he doesn't even care about his own son! Since I can't get the money, I'll take it out on this brat!"

He spun around, his face twisted, and stabbed the syringe viciously into Alaric's thin arm!

"No—! Take me! Please, take me instead!"

My eyes nearly split open. I struggled desperately to break the ropes, my wrists rubbed raw and bloody, but I could only watch helplessly as the green liquid was pushed into Alaric's body bit by bit.

"Ah—! Mommy, save me! It hurts! My veins are burning!"

Alaric let out a blood-curdling scream. His small body convulsed violently on the ground, foam spilling from his mouth, his eyes rolling back. It looked like countless worms were wriggling frantically under his skin.

"Alaric!"

I cried out in despair.

In the split second before the call had disconnected, what came faintly from the other end was Isolde's girlish laughter and the crowd cheering, "Happy Birthday!"

It was their carnival, but it was our doomsday.

"Bang—!"

Before the kidnapper could push the plunger all the way down, his head exploded!

A dozen fully armed mercenaries kicked through every window in the warehouse.

Amidst the smoke and gunpowder, a tall figure walked in, backlit by the light. He wore a black tactical trench coat, the tight fit accentuating his muscular build. His face was cold as a demon's. It was Valerius Sterling.

He kicked the kidnapper leader, who was trying to crawl away, sending him flying. Then he rushed to me. "I'm sorry, I'm late." His voice was low and raspy, carrying a tremor that was hard to detect.

Looking at Valerius's determined profile, my tightly wound nerves suddenly snapped. My vision went black, and I completely lost consciousness.

"Alaric..." I sat up abruptly, my heart pounding wildly.

Valerius, who was guarding my bedside, gently held my shoulders. "Don't move, Ivy. Alaric is fine. The antivenom was administered in time. Although there are residual toxins that need to metabolize, he is out of danger."

He continued, "Your body is very weak due to long-term overwork and excessive blood loss. You need rest."

This warmth broke down my defenses. I covered my face, tears sliding down silently.

On the day of my discharge, I refused Valerius's offer to take me to a hotel and insisted on going back to that basement in Brooklyn.

Valerius didn't stop me; he just silently supported me.

Back in that Brooklyn basement, I dragged a huge black trash bag out from under the bed and started frantically stuffing things into it.

I dug out every "gift" Caspian had bestowed upon me over the past five years, counting his disgusting behavior item by item:

This coat—Isolde threw it away because she thought the color was tacky. He picked it up and gave it to me, claiming it was "vintage."

This scarf—a freebie he got for filling up his gas tank. He turned around and gave it to me as my twenty-fourth birthday present.

And this pile of three-for-ten-dollars cheap T-shirts that started pilling after one wash. He lied to me, saying they were from a niche designer brand.

Looking at this room full of junk, I felt that my last five years had simply been a joke.

"Trash belongs in the trash can."

After doing all this, I took Alaric and our only identification documents and left the cage that had trapped me for five years without looking back.

Late that night.

Caspian returned to the basement reeking of alcohol. He seemed to be in a good mood, carrying an exquisite cake box in his hand.

Inside was a piece of cake with a corner scooped out—leftovers Isolde had eaten at the banquet.

"Ivy? Alaric?" He called out, his tone filled with the arrogance of charity. "You guys are lucky. Isolde said this cake was too sweet and she was afraid of getting fat, so she specifically asked me to bring it back for Alaric to taste. This is a Michelin three-star cake; people like you would never see this in your lives."

However, what greeted him was an empty, deathly silent room.

The closet was empty, the washstand was empty, and even those broken toys Alaric usually treated like treasures were gone.

The only thing left on the table was the divorce agreement I had already signed.

Caspian froze for a moment, then let out a dismissive sneer. He tossed the leftover cake onto the table casually, smashing it into a mess.

"The same old trick."

He kicked the chair next to him, his face full of impatience. "The kidnapping act didn't get you any money, so now you're playing the runaway game? Ivy, your methods are getting lower and lower. Do you think that by running away with a sick child, I'll beg you to come back?"

He was certain I couldn't leave him. In New York, where every inch of land costs a fortune, a woman like me with no money, no background, and a weak child would hit a dead end without him.

He took out his phone and carelessly typed a text message, a mocking curve hanging on his lips:

"Where are you wandering off to with that burden? Don't expect me to search the world for you. When you run out of money, crawl back yourself. Don't expect me to pick you up. Also, remember to apologize to Isolde; you almost ruined her birthday party."

However, the message failed to send.

I had already deleted all his contact information.

Caspian dialed my number in disbelief.

"Sorry, the user you are calling is busy..."

He called again.

"Sorry, the user you are calling..."

A panic he had never felt before finally rose like a delayed tide, slowly drowning his consistently arrogant heart.

He slammed his phone violently against the wall, his roar echoing in the empty basement:

"Ivy! You have some nerve! How dare you block me?!"

Unfortunately, he didn't know.

This time, I really didn't want him anymore.