“I want to,” Isabella said without hesitation. “Wherever you go, I’ll go too.”

Then, she added, “Papa’s always busy. Just having you with me is enough.”

Her words were simple and direct, and that made it hit the hardest.

Cecilia stroked her head. After she dropped Isabella back at the estate, her phone rang.

It was her assistant.

“Donna Melville, the Don sent someone to take a diamond necklace set from your jewelry vault.”

The assistant said in a low voice, “He said he only needs it for two days. It has already been sent to Gianna.”

Cecilia’s face darkened.

That set of jewelry had been her grandmother’s gift to her for her coming-of-age ceremony. She never lent it to anyone, even for media photoshoots.

Lyon knew exactly which set to choose. Of course, he picked the one she cared about the most.

She paused for a moment. Then, she told her assistant to do two things.

The first was to pull up the insurance appraisal and private rental price for the set.

The second was to send the invoice to Lyon.

If he wanted to show off her things to his mistress, he would pay the highest rental fee.

Less than ten minutes after the invoice went out, Cecilia received a bank notification.

Lyon had transferred the money. The amount far exceeded the normal rental fee. There was also a note. [Enough?]

Cecilia did not reply.

In the days that followed, Lyon remained in the public eye.

He appeared at casinos, on yachts, at film premieres, and at night banquets at the harbor. Photos of him and Gianna Moretti were everywhere.

The gossip pages made the story explosive, as if the Melville family was about to replace its current Donna.

Cecilia stopped following the news.

She focused her energy on her consulting firm. She checked the inventory of her collection, organized the restoration team, and completed the final preparations for the upcoming charity preview.

She had believed that once she stepped back, many things would cease being her concern.

Everything changed on Isabella’s birthday.

The estate was filled with guests. They were all familiar faces whom Margaret had invited.

Cecilia personally inspected the dessert table and the children’s area. When she came out of the kitchen, she noticed a circle of people in the main hall.

Isabella stood in the middle. Her eyes filled with tears. She looked clearly frightened.

Gianna crouched in front of her. She was holding a limited-edition motorized teddy bear almost as tall as Isabella. A beautifully wrapped amusement park tickets lay next to her.

“Isabella, this is a gift I prepared specially for you.”

Gianna smiled sweetly. “Next time, I’ll take you there myself. Okay?”

Isabella instinctively took a step back and whispered, “I don’t want it.”

“Why don’t you want it?” Gianna stayed in front of her, as if she had to keep the cheerful show going. “I really like children.”

Cecilia walked forward and pulled Isabella behind her. Her eyes were cold and sharp.

“Stay away from her!”

The smile on Gianna’s face froze. She looked at Lyon nearby with a wounded face. “I just wanted to give her a gift…”

Lyon walked over and frowned. “Cecilia, it’s Isabella’s birthday. Do you have to make a scene here as well?”

Cecilia looked at him. Her voice was quiet but firm, and everyone around instantly went silent.

“You used my jewelry to make her happy, and now you bring her here to my daughter’s birthday party to act like a caring mother! Do you really think that just because I’ve been quiet these past few days, I don’t matter anymore?”

Lyon’s face darkened immediately.

He hated it when she refused to show him respect in front of others.

“Gianna is my guest today,” he said coldly. “The gift is for Isabella. It’s not for you to judge. Stop causing trouble.”

“Gift?” Cecilia almost laughed. “She cornered my daughter. She knew Isabella was shy around strangers and still forced her way forward. You call that giving a gift?”

Isabella held onto Cecilia’s dress tightly. Her face was pale.

Margaret sat at the head of the table. Her expression was grim.

Gianna realized things had gone wrong, and her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know she would reject me like this. I only wanted to help Don Melville a little—”

“Do you even deserve to?” Cecilia coldly cut her off.

The room went completely tense.

Lyon stepped forward and stood in front of Gianna. His voice was low. “Enough! Don’t make this any worse.”

His willingness to side with Gianna hurt more than any explanation could.

Cecilia did not argue. She picked up Isabella and turned away from the crowd.

At that moment, she realized that the last bit of hope she had for this man was fading, little by little.

Isabella came down with a slight fever that night.

Cecilia stayed with her past midnight. When Isabella’s temperature finally dropped, Cecilia returned to the study and continued sorting through her assets and documents.

She needed to get everything in order before she left.

When she reached the family trust under Isabella’s name, she suddenly stopped.

The numbers did not match.

The old Don had personally set up an education trust in her name. The terms clearly stated that no one could access the funds in advance. Yet within just a few days, most of the money had been withdrawn. The approval signature was Lyon’s. The funds had been transferred into a newly established film production company.

Cecilia stared at the transaction records. A chill spread down her spine.

She did not need to investigate to know who the company was meant for.

She did not go to the family building, and she did not go to the harbor to find him. She drove straight to the pre-marital apartment in Mahattan’s Upper East Side.

It was her property. It was the place Lyon used to visit most often when he was chasing after her.

She had always believed that, at the very least, this place would remain untouched.

The moment the fingerprint lock opened, an unfamiliar fragrance rushed toward her. She understood that she had been wrong.

There was an unfinished bottle of champagne on the coffee table in the living room. A woman’s shawl lay on the couch. Low, hushed laughter came from the bedroom.

When she walked in, Gianna stood by the window. She wore one of Cecilia’s silk robes while holding a glass of wine.

That robe had been custom-made for Cecilia in Nilam. There was only one like it in the world.

Lyon stood nearby. He had just finished fastening his cufflinks. He did not look the least bit embarrassed at having been caught.

“How did you find this place?” he asked as he looked at her. His tone was calm and almost indifferent.

Cecilia did not answer. She threw the trust transaction records onto the table.

“Did you touch Isabella’s money?”

Gianna’s eyes turned teary, and she said, “I’m sorry. This is all my fault. That film project was originally meant for me, but the contract suddenly required a large guaranteed investment. Don Melville only wanted to help me! I didn’t expect it to make you this angry.”

Cecilia looked at her. Her gaze was cold as ice.

“Help you?” She turned to Lyon. “You used your daughter’s money to buy your mistress a role?”

Lyon frowned, as if her words were unpleasant to his ears.

“It is just a temporary transfer,” he said. His tone remained steady. “At the end of the month, a batch of payments from the port will come in. I’ll put the money back.”

“That’s Isabella’s trust! It’s not your cash pool.”

“Cecilia…” Lyon’s voice turned cold. “Don’t make it sound so ugly. Company projects and family accounts are often used to cover each other. I know what I’m doing.”

Cecilia looked at the man in front of her. It all felt like a cruel joke.

In the past, no matter how far he went, he had never touched anything that belonged to Isabella.

Just to please a woman, he had dared to use the protection the old Don had left for his granddaughter.

“Fine!” She gave a slight nod. “What about this apartment? Is this place also something you can use however you like, just to please someone?”

Lyon looked around. It was as if he had just remembered where he was.

He took out a checkbook from his inner pocket and wrote a string of numbers. He tore out the check and placed it in front of her.

“This is the rent,” he said. “I added an extra cleaning fee. If you think this place is dirty, have someone clean it.”

He spoke as if he were dealing with a hotel suite.

Cecilia looked at the check. At that moment, all her anger drained away.

She did not look at them again and did not argue. She folded the check and put it into her bag. She said indifferently, “Fine. Then, I’ll charge at market rate. I’ll charge you for every day you stay.”

She turned and walked out.

When she reached the door, Lyon seemed to grow impatient. He lowered his voice and said warningly, “Don’t drag my mother into this. You’ve already made enough of a scene lately.”

Cecilia did not stop.

The familiar decor faded from her view. She vaguely remembered that she and Lyon once shared a few good moments here.

After all these years, those memories only made her feel nauseous.

The next day, Lyon sent a gift to the villa as an apology.

It was a set of diamond jewelry and an unsigned check.

Cecilia did not look at them. She told the housekeeper to lock them in the storage room.

She did not ask about the trust again and did not get angry about Gianna.

Lyon seemed to take her silence as a sign of compromise.

He stopped paying attention to the household. He spent his time wrapped up in Gianna’s world. Gossip about them appeared everywhere.

Gianna had risen from a struggling, small-time actress to the very top. News of her rise spread through gossip magazines and the family’s business circles. Nightclub managers, port agents, and a few longtime Melville associates whispered about how long Gianna could stay famous and how much her limited advantages were really worth.

But more than that, people remembered how Lyon had pursued Cecilia. He cleared every other woman from his life, settled disputes over her collections, and handed her the cleanest properties and accounts. Everyone in the Melville family knew that when Lyon loved someone, he bet everything. When he walked away, he left nothing behind.

The comparison struck Cecilia. It unlocked memories she had not expected.

She froze for a moment.

When Lyon had pursued her back then, he cut off every messy relationship. All of New Yorke had known that he loved her completely.

He raced through the streets for her and fought with people from rival families. He gave her everything he had.

So, when Margaret saved her mother and suggested that she marry Lyon, she had agreed.

Margaret said that only she could keep Lyon’s heart grounded. Cecilia had believed she was the exception. She believed she was the safe harbor that could finally give the wandering Lyon a place to stay.

Looking back, that seemed laughable.

She turned her focus back to her career. She returned to the private art consulting firm she had founded before her marriage. The firm handled antique restoration, private appraisals, and collection management for high-end clients.

In a few days, she would co-host a charity preview auction with a long-established Mahattan auction house.

This was the firm’s most important project of the year.

Cecilia had spent six months preparing for the preview. She flew to Rondon to secure authorizations from collectors. She invited museum curators and a highly respected actress from the collecting world to attend the event. Everything was meant to establish her firm in New Yorke’s high-end art circles.

That evening, the preview opened under the cold white light of the crystal chandeliers. After the host finished the opening speech, someone walked up the red carpet to the main stage. It was Gianna, dressed to the nines.

Cecilia froze for a moment. Her face went cold.

She could not storm the stage and interrupt the event.

Lyon was there too. He stood at her side while holding a glass of wine. Two family bodyguards, usually assigned to casino security, followed behind him.

Cecilia understood immediately whose plan this was. Her voice was cold as ice. “Lyon, why did you replace the opening guest I selected?”

“It’s just a preview. Anyone on stage can speak.”

He swirled his wine. His tone was calm and almost arrogant. “Gianna wants to raise her profile. The art world suits her better than a movie premiere. Letting her have a moment at your event is nothing. I already had the accounts at the Booklyn docks adjusted to cover the trust funds. Don’t make a scene and try to damage the Melville family’s reputation.”

Cecilia felt her stomach churn. She took a deep breath to hold back the impulse to confront him immediately.

The room was full of collectors, agents, and auction directors. She could not allow the preview she had spent six months preparing to collapse in front of everyone.

When it came time to introduce the key pieces, Gianna appeared uneasy.

She stammered through the description of a nineteenth-century oil painting and a bronze pocket watch. She could not even get the basic introduction right.

When a reporter asked about the restoration process, Gianna panicked and rambled, “Uh… I guess you just make it look old and then refresh it… It just has to look fancy…”

The audience immediately erupted in whispers.

A few experienced collectors looked at each other in disbelief. The auction director’s face went nearly red with anger.

The next moment, Gianna tried to cover up her mistake. She reached for the antique pocket watch in the display case. She fumbled and knocked over a glass of champagne that a server had just handed her.

The liquid ran across the display and soaked the corner of a classical oil painting that had just been restored. Chaos broke out instantly.

“Is she insane?!”

“Who let her touch the restored pieces?!”

“She can’t even tell the difference between valuable items! How could the firm let this person speak on stage?”

Gianna froze, and her face turned pale. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at Lyon. Lyon had the bodyguards escort her off the stage. Then, he turned to Cecilia. His voice was calm, almost indifferent. “It’s her first time in a setting like this. Mistakes happen. I’ll cover the loss on that painting. The finance team will take the funds from the profits of the underground casino and the nightclub. Don’t make a scene.”

The plan to use this preview to connect with high-end clients was completely ruined.

Cecilia’s phone started buzzing nonstop.

The first message was from the auction partner. They accused the firm of violating the consignment agreement.

The second message was from the insurance company. They warned of increased risk and requested a new assessment of the damaged items. Soon after, several collectors she was negotiating with texted her saying that they wanted to reassess their cooperation.

Finally, her assistant sent her an urgent report. Three clients had requested to withdraw their collections. Two partner institutions wanted to terminate their agreements and reserved the right to take action.