That night, Noah and Millie didn’t return.

I looked at the pictures sent from an unknown number on my phone.

In the photos, Noah’s upper body was bare.

And Millie was tightly held in his arms.

She looked at me with a smug smile, just like the message she sent.

[Ma’am, President Garcia has been feeling upset lately, so I could only comfort him this way. I hope she won’t blame me.]

I calmly saved the pictures, then blocked the number.

When I woke up again, I heard noise downstairs.

My heart suddenly tightened.

I quickly ran out, but I was still too late.

The burning flames completely destroyed the child’s last remaining things.

Not only that, the once cozy children’s room had turned into a storage room full of random stuff.

Seeing my red eyes, Millie smiled happily.

She hypocritically said, “Ma’am, after all these unlucky things were cleared away, President Garcia’s condition became much better. Looks like it really worked.”

I glared at her and shouted, “Do you really think Noah can protect you forever? Put the room back the way it was right now, or get out of this villa!”

Right after I spoke, Millie firmly shook her head.

Not only did she refuse, but she also held a familiar urn in her hands.

My eyes instantly widened.

That was the child’s ashes urn I brought home from the hospital!

Millie proudly smiled while casually tossing the urn in one hand.

My heart rose and dropped along with it.

I gritted my teeth hard, holding back my anger as I rasped, “Give me the urn.”

Millie smiled at me and calmly said, “I just remembered something. During this cleanup, the dirtiest thing still hasn’t been thrown away. If President Garcia gets affected, that would be terrible.”

“Ma’am, you should understand, right?”

As soon as she finished speaking, the urn slipped from her hand.

I suddenly rushed forward to catch it, but I heavily crashed onto the floor.

In the end, I could only helplessly watch the child’s ashes break apart in front of me.

At that moment, I loudly screamed.

I didn’t know where I got the strength, but I suddenly stood up from the ground, grabbed Millie’s hair, and forcefully smashed her head onto the floor.

“You should die!”

With just one strike, Millie’s forehead was already covered in blood.

Hatred flashed through her eyes, and just as she wanted to push back, the next second, she suddenly acted like another person. Tears instantly rolled down her face as she begged.

“Ma’am, I truly didn’t do it on purpose. I didn’t know those were the ashes of you and President Garcia’s child. Please let me go. I’m willing to kneel and say sorry.”

As soon as she finished talking, familiar hands tightly stopped me.

I shouted while using my nails to scratch mark after mark onto his body.

But Noah never loosened his grip.

He looked at the bleeding wound on Millie’s head, pain showing across his face.

Then he looked back at me, his eyes cold and blaming.

“Brielle! Exactly how much do you want to destroy this family before you’re happy?”

“Why do you keep hurting Millie? How did you become this cruel?”

I almost broke down. “She threw our child’s ashes onto the floor and even wanted to throw them away. Noah, you’re still protecting her like this? In your eyes, what do our child and I even mean?”

Noah frowned and looked at the ashes on the floor, his grip loosening a little.

I struggled with all my strength, still trying to go after Millie.

But under Millie’s begging look, Noah grabbed me again.

“Enough! Millie didn’t mean to do it either. She only dropped it by accident, just gather it back up.”

“If you touch Millie again, I’ll throw all these ashes into the drain!”

The way he looked at me was full of warning.

And his words completely froze my heart.

For Millie, Noah could even throw his own child’s ashes into the drain.

I lost all strength and dropped onto the floor.

Seeing this, Noah finally relaxed and was about to comfort me.

But Millie leaned her head out and acted worried as she said, “After she lost the child, her emotions became very unstable. These past few days, she’s been even harder to control. If she acts like this in front of other people, too, I’m afraid Garcia Corporation and Simpson Corporation’s reputations will be ruined...”

After hearing that, Noah frowned.

I didn’t even glance at her and only carefully gathered the ashes from the floor.

A dark look appeared in Millie’s eyes as she continued, “I was also wrong for accidentally dropping the ashes. How about I properly teach her etiquette again? That can count as my apology, too.”

Seeing the look in her eyes, I laughed coldly.

“You’re still not good enough to teach me etiquette!”

Right after I said that, Noah frowned.

“Brielle, Millie only means well. Why are you acting like this? Besides, you really have become more unstable lately.”

“The company’s annual meeting is coming soon. You need to relearn etiquette and at least understand what Mrs. Garcia should do.”

I looked at his cold face, and my thoughts suddenly went back years ago.

Back when Noah had just started loving me, he liked everything about me.

He once said he loved my proud personality the most.

Even after I became Mrs. Garcia, he never asked me to change.

He said, “Brielle, you only need to stay proud forever. You never have to change for anyone, because I’ll always protect you.”

But now, that same protection had turned into a knife aimed straight at me.

Looking at the way Noah and Millie looked at each other, I suddenly understood.

Noah never changed. The only difference was that the person he loved was no longer me.

My proud side naturally became something ugly in his eyes.

Thinking about that, I no longer had the energy to argue and only coldly said, “I can choose not to attend the annual meeting, but I’ll never accept Millie’s so-called etiquette lessons!”

Without waiting for Noah to answer, I forced my aching body up and kept the last bit of pride on my face.

Holding the ashes, I walked upstairs.

I thought the matter had already ended.

But unexpectedly, just before sunrise, while I was sleeping in pain, a bucket of cold water suddenly splashed over me.

The freezing water rushed into my nose, making me cough hard at once.

Before I could react, Noah’s bodyguards rushed into the room.

They grabbed my arms tightly and dragged me outside.

Millie stood before me with a training stick in her hand and a smile on her face.

“Ma’am, don’t worry. I’ll properly help you.”

“Today, we’ll first practice standing and walking posture.”

After saying that, she forced me against the wall and locked me in a painful position.

The wall was covered with countless tiny needles.

As Millie moved, the needles pierced deeper into my body.

Only then did I realize Millie wanted to torture me under the excuse of etiquette training.

I struggled with all my strength, but Noah’s bodyguards held me down tightly.

With a loud bang, they slammed me hard against the wall, and the tiny needles dug deeper into my skin.

“Ugh!” I couldn’t stop a painful cry from coming out.

Millie waved her hand, telling the bodyguards to stop for a moment.

She looked at me with disgust in her eyes.

“Ma’am, you can’t even handle simple standing practice? Looks like the training still isn’t enough.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she pushed me harder against the wall.

Dark blood slowly stained my wet clothes.

Coldness and piercing pain spread through my whole body.

I used the last of my strength to break free, but Millie tightly held me down.

A cruel smile appeared on her face as she placed a pair of shoes before me.

“Looks like you can’t wait to learn walking posture. I specially prepared these shoes for you. You’ll definitely like them.”

While speaking, Millie lightly shook the shoes.

The light reflected off the things inside, letting me see them clearly.

Those shoes were actually full of broken glass pieces!

Millie wanted to ruin my feet completely!

I became enraged, and the anger immediately buried the pain in my body.

I didn’t know where the strength came from, but when Millie bent down to put the shoes on me, I kicked her away hard.

Millie cried out and fell heavily onto the ground.

In the next second, Noah hurried over.

The moment he saw the injury on Millie’s hand, he instantly lost his temper.

“Brielle! You’re becoming worse and worse!”

Seeing the worry on his face, the pain made my reaction slower.

So Noah had been standing there the whole time, watching Millie torture me.

Even when I was forced against the wall covered in needles, I was hurting so badly that I cried out.

He still ignored it.

But Millie only got a small scrape.

Yet Noah rushed over to her in panic.

I pulled at my lips and stopped looking at them, then turned around to leave.

Behind me, Noah’s cold voice suddenly sounded.

“Brielle, did I say you can leave? You really disappoint me too much!”

“I already told you, stop using your rude and controlling attitude on Millie!”

“Millie sincerely did this for your own good. She wanted you to learn manners, and this is how you treat her? You fought back and even shoved her down! Whether you want to learn today or not, you still must learn it!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Noah’s bodyguards stepped in front of me.

He tightly held me down and forced those shoes filled with broken glass onto my feet.

After that, the bodyguards tied my hands and dragged me forward by force.

The sharp glass instantly sliced through my feet, and even my breath carried the smell of blood.

I tried to struggle, but they only treated me even more roughly.

The glass pierced deeper into my feet until they slowly became numb.

Right before I passed out, Noah’s smiling face suddenly appeared in my mind.

“Brielle, you can stay proud forever. I’ll always protect you.”

He wasn’t my protection, he was a liar…

When I woke up again, I was already in the hospital.

My feet were wrapped in bandages and raised high.

Noah rested beside my bed, dark circles under his eyes making it look like he had stayed there for a long time.

Not long after, he suddenly woke from sleep.

The moment he saw my eyes open, he immediately pulled me into his arms and said in a shaking voice.

“Brielle, you finally woke up. I didn’t know there was broken glass inside those shoes. Please forgive me, okay?”

He hurriedly placed the apology gifts he had prepared long ago in front of me.

Every item was expensive, but I didn’t even spare them a glance.

I only calmly asked, “Where’s Millie?”

Noah paused for a second before softly saying, “Brielle, Millie already knows she was wrong. She didn’t mean to do it. After hearing you got hurt, she cried for a long time, too. For the sake of these gifts, can you forgive her?”

I mockingly laughed.

“Noah, Millie almost ruined my feet forever. Do you really think I’d believe she didn’t know there was broken glass inside those shoes?”

“The wall she made me stand against during posture training was covered in needles she prepared. Did you really not notice them? Or did you just pretend not to see?”

Noah clearly didn’t expect me to speak so coldly.

He frowned and said, “Brielle, you really misunderstood Millie. She’s not that kind of person.”

Before he could finish speaking, his phone rang.

In just a second, Noah’s expression completely changed.

He stared at me with dark eyes and clenched his teeth.

“Brielle, I already told you Millie isn’t that kind of cruel person. Why did you still have someone kidnap her?”