He stared at me closely. “You hit Zaria?”

I answered calmly, “Yes, I did.”

A few months earlier, Zaria had just started working as Ronnie’s assistant and came to our home.

I hadn’t expected her to secretly open my drawer, take out my mother’s keepsake bracelet, and put it on her wrist. I told her to take it off, but she carelessly threw it onto the table, and it cracked.

Anger rushed through me, and before I could stop myself, I slapped her. I thought that once I explained, Ronnie would understand.

But instead, he sneered and said, “Chloe, you’re being ridiculous.”

“Your mother’s already gone, what’s the big deal if someone uses her things?” Then he pulled open the drawer and tossed all my mother’s belongings onto the floor.

My vision went red with rage, and I pushed him with all my strength. The man who had once been kind and protective didn’t show even a hint of mercy.

He slapped me hard, and I fell to the ground.

I looked at my mother’s photo lying on the floor, and tears fell onto it one after another.

Then Zaria pretended to help me up, but purposely stepped on my mother’s photo.

Rage burned inside me, and I pushed her away. She fell to the ground dramatically, crying out, “Chloe, I only wanted to help you.”

Ronnie looked at me with disgust. “Chloe, what’s wrong with you? How did you become like this?”

Then he put his arm around Zaria and said coldly, “Let’s go.”

I stood up, wiped my tears, and said clearly, “Ronnie, let’s get a divorce.”

Ronnie froze for a moment before frowning. “You want to divorce me? Chloe, don’t think you can use that to scare me. The more you act like this, the more disgusted I feel.”

I took out the divorce papers. “I really want a divorce. Sign it.”

Ronnie let out a low laugh. “You even prepared the papers? So this wasn’t a sudden decision; it was planned. Is this because of your sister marrying into the mountains?”

“Chloe, if your sister were like Liana, smart, capable, and with a bright future, I would never have let her marry into that place.”

“But she’s just like you, a useless bookworm. Having a stable home isn’t bad for her.”

“That family said that as long as she gives birth to a son, they’ll treat her like an ancestor. She’ll have good food and won’t have to work. Isn’t that a hundred times better than struggling outside?”

“I really don’t understand what’s wrong with your head. Instead of being thankful to Zaria, you keep causing trouble.”

“Now I finally see what it means to make a fuss over nothing.”

Ronnie kept scolding me without stopping, but I stayed quiet and simply picked up the pen to sign my name.

His voice turned colder. “Chloe, I’m warning you, if you divorce me today, even if you come crawling back later, I’ll never take you back.”

I pointed at the divorce papers and said, “Sign it. I can’t live another moment with a man like you. Don’t worry, even if someone held a knife to my throat, I’d never ask to be with you again.”

Ronnie’s face darkened with anger. “Fine! You think I’d beg you to stay? Keep dreaming.” He scribbled his name on the papers and threw them at me.

I quietly picked them up and placed them in my bag. “One last thing, call your sister and ask how she’s doing.”

Ronnie gave a cold smirk. “What? You’re using my sister now to make me take you back?”

“Chloe, you’ve really miscalculated.”

“My sister went abroad to study. She’s busy and hasn’t replied to my messages recently. She doesn’t care about your small problems. Even if you two were once close, I’m her real brother, and she won’t stand up for an outsider.”

I nodded calmly. “Alright.”

Just then, Zaria’s phone rang. She answered, spoke briefly, then hung up.

There was a faint, pleased look in her eyes as she said, “Chloe, I just got a call. Your sister passed away in the mountain village during childbirth. Please accept my condolences.”

I went quiet, though deep down, I had already known Liana wouldn’t survive. Ronnie, however, looked completely indifferent.

He turned to Zaria and asked, “Chloe’s sister is dead. What about the project? It won’t be affected, right?”

Zaria slipped her arm through his and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, Ronnie. The agreement is already signed, so everything’s fine.”

“Even though they’re villagers, they still keep their word. They wanted a college graduate, and we gave them one. If she died, that has nothing to do with us.”

Ronnie let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good, that’s good.”

Watching them, I felt a coldness spread through my chest. I couldn’t believe I had once fallen for such a heartless man. A life had just ended, yet he showed no emotion at all.

Ronnie glanced at me and said coldly, “Chloe, we’re divorced now. Are you still not leaving? If you apologize, I might think about tearing up the divorce papers.”

I gave a small laugh and slung my bag over my shoulder. “I just have one request. Bring your sister’s body back and let me see her one last time.”

Ronnie replied without hesitation, “That’s not my problem.”

I took a slow breath. “Fine. Then at least give me the address. I want to send her off properly.”

Ronnie looked at Zaria, and she silently sent the address to me.

When I reached that distant mountain village, I found that Liana had been buried in a rush.

There was no tombstone, just a small mound of dirt. I stood by her grave for a long time, sighed, and placed a bouquet of flowers on it.

At that moment, a bulldozer suddenly drove forward, ready to dig up the grave. I froze in shock, then anger surged through me as I stepped in front of it and demanded to know why the driver would do something so heartless.

He replied, “They’re rebuilding this area into a resort. The land was sold long ago. The boss ordered the grave to be dug up. I’m just following orders. If you’re upset, talk to the boss.”

I followed the direction he pointed and saw Ronnie and Zaria standing together on the hillside.

Surrounded by a group of people, they were talking and gesturing proudly, as if the land beneath them had never belonged to anyone else.

By the time I turned back, the driver had already dug open Liana’s grave. He tossed her bones aside carelessly and kept driving forward.

I climbed up the hillside and saw Ronnie and Zaria holding a groundbreaking ceremony in front of reporters.

Ronnie stood proudly, talking about how the new resort would turn this poor mountain area into a tourist attraction.

He spoke about bringing water and electricity, building roads and bridges, and helping the village grow.

The crowd clapped and cheered with excitement. Some villagers even praised Ronnie as a good man and called Zaria a kind-hearted woman, saying they should build a monument to thank them.

I said coldly, “Ronnie, just because you want to build a resort, you think it’s right to dig up someone’s grave?”

When Ronnie saw me, his expression changed right away.

He walked over quickly and said in a low voice, “Chloe, we’re already divorced. Stay away from me. If you make trouble, I won’t go easy on you.”

The noise caught the reporters’ attention. One of them pointed and said, “Isn’t that President Henderson’s ex-wife, Chloe? Are they arguing?”

“Didn’t the news just announce their divorce? The reason hasn’t been revealed yet.”

Their curiosity about the wealthy couple drew more attention, and cameras turned toward us.

One reporter spoke up, “President Henderson, you and your assistant, Miss Zaria, seemed quite close just now, almost like a couple. May I ask if you divorced Miss Chloe because of an affair?”

Ronnie gave a cold laugh and said, “I divorced Chloe because she’s a greedy woman who only wanted money. Her sister’s no different.”

“Maybe you don’t know, her sister hated being poor and wanted a better life.”

“After marrying into the mountain village, she couldn’t stand how hard it was and begged to leave. When she died during childbirth, Chloe didn’t mourn her. Instead, she tried to use her sister’s death to get money out of me.”

“That’s why she came here today, to ruin my press event and demand payment.”

His lies caused an uproar. Reporters quickly turned their cameras toward me for a live broadcast. The villagers started shouting and throwing dirt and stones.

Just then, a young woman pushed through the crowd.

She wore a windbreaker and looked like a traveler. It was my sister, Beatrice. She stared at Ronnie in confusion and asked, “Brother-in-law, who did you say died?”