Ruth’s face turned ashen on the spot. She slapped me.

“Will, how could you be this vicious? Just because we didn’t remarry, you’re cursing my family now? No wonder Peter has always said you are simple-minded and that all you know how to do is threaten me with your past favors.”

The anger I had been suppressing finally exploded. I kicked the table aside and shouted, “If you’ve slept with Peter, then just marry him out in the open. There is no need to come up with these ridiculous bets just to make me sick.”

Peter’s face flushed with a mixture of shame and rage.

“Will, Ruth and I were just playing games like normal siblings. Do you really have to be so disgusting as to slander our relationship? Since you’re so jealous, fine. Next time, I will let Ruth win the bet.”

Then, he lowered his voice beside my ear.

“Will, how do you still have the nerve to stand here barking like a dog? You’ve been abandoned ten times already. If I were you, I would’ve been too ashamed to show my face. Ruth got tired of a useless loser like you a long time ago. She herself said that only I could satisfy her.”

Then, Peter put on an innocent expression and said, “When Ruth lost a bet last time, she promised to use Will’s Saint Christopher pendant to make a collar for Buddy. I didn’t even take it seriously. Will, why do you have to make things difficult for Ruth?”

Ruth smiled at him indulgently.

“A bet is a bet. Just take it. I can’t exactly go back on my word with the person I treat as my little brother.”

I stared at them in disbelief. My heart ached.

She knew perfectly well that the pendant was the only thing my grandmother had left me before she died.

After the liver transplant, my health had steadily worsened. More than once, when I was dying, that pendant had been the one thing keeping me going.

Yet at this moment, she wanted to take away the one treasure I had just for Peter’s dog.

As if it was not a big deal, she looked at me and said, “Will, it’s just a pendant. Buddy got bullied by other dogs because he didn’t have a collar, and now he’s too scared to even go outside. Just give him the pendant.”

Before I could even speak, a vicious look flashed through Peter’s eyes as he grabbed my collar and yanked it open.

I struggled hard, but Peter was far stronger than I was. He tore the pendant chain clean off my neck.

Peter looked at it with obvious contempt.

“Ruth, didn’t you always say Will’s pendant was valuable? Looks like nothing more than a cheap rock to me. It’s not even good enough for my dog.”

Then, he casually tossed it onto the floor.

Right in front of me, the pendant shattered into pieces.

Ruth sighed with resignation and took his hand.

“Alright. Since you don’t like it, we’ll buy a better one tomorrow.”

Rage surged inside me. I grabbed a chair and smashed it hard against Peter’s head.

Blood splattered across my face instantly.

Peter collapsed to the floor at once. He clutched his head as he curled up in Ruth’s arms.

The scene had descended into complete chaos.

“Mr. Will just killed someone!”

I forced myself to steady my trembling body. I was breathing heavily as I stared at Ruth.

“Ruth, are you happy with this bet?”

Ruth held Peter tightly in her arms and frantically shouted for someone to call an ambulance.

Then, she turned toward me with pure disgust in her eyes and kicked me hard.

“Will, no wonder your dad tried to kill you, and your mom would rather jump to her death than stay with you. You ruin everyone around you!”

The words felt like ice water poured straight into my soul.

She felt so sorry for Peter that she did not hesitate to tear open the deepest wound I had.

At that moment, I finally broke. I collapsed to the floor in humiliation.

When the ambulance arrived, before leaving with Peter, Ruth coldly said, “Will, you assaulted him on purpose. This isn’t over.”

Right after she said that, the police arrived.

“Your wife filed a report accusing you of attempted murder. You need to come with us.”

At the police station, I told them everything exactly as it had happened.

Seeing the miserable state I was in, the officer looked at me with sympathy.

“Mr. Will, since she has fallen for someone else, why can’t you just move on?”

Why could I not move on?

That was because in the darkest time of my life, she had once been the only light I had left.

My parents had been trapped in a marriage of convenience. They hated each other for almost their entire lives.

During the first year of their marriage, my father’s mistress gave birth to a son only three days younger than me.

After my father brought his illegitimate son home, consumed by rage, my mother hired people to cripple the mistress. In return, my father beat her so brutally that twelve of her ribs were shattered.

In the end, when my father tried to kill me for the sake of his other son, my mother threw herself from the roof of the Dauchy Group headquarters to save my life.

From that moment on, my hatred for my father only grew stronger with each passing day.

When my half-brother had sat on top of me, punching and kicking me while calling me an idiot with no mother, I snapped his right arm and told him he was nothing more than a disgraceful illegitimate child.

That day, my father flew into a fury. He whipped me until I was barely alive, then threw me out into the freezing snow to reflect on my mistakes.

Ruth was the one who found me half-dead and saved me.

From that day forward, she became the person closest to my heart.

She was not only the woman I loved most, but also the only emotional anchor in my life.

Not long after, Ruth arrived with Peter.

When the police asked her for her statement, Ruth looked at me coldly and said, “He must be punished. We won’t accept a settlement. He has a history of violence. If nobody teaches him a lesson now, he’ll cause even more trouble sooner or later.”

The officer had turned to me with a helpless expression.

“Mr. Will, Ms. Ruth is your ex-wife. Just apologize to her and let this matter end here.”

I stubbornly shook my head.

The officer sighed.

“Mr. Will, don’t let your pride ruin your life. If they decide to pursue charges and you end up in prison, are you really sure you could survive there for a year?”

A chill ran through me.

A manipulative snake like Peter really might do something to me in prison.

In the end, I had no choice but to lower my head. Through gritted teeth, I said, “Peter, I’m sorry. I lost control. Please forgive me.”

Peter scoffed contemptuously. “Will, it’s not that I don’t want to forgive you. But someone as petty and vicious as you? If I don’t teach you a lesson now, you might end up killing someone someday.”

Just then, a sharp pain twisted through my stomach.

Seeing my face turn pale, Ruth’s tone softened slightly.

“Peter, how about this? I’ll make him kneel and apologize to you. I’ll also make him swear that if he ever comes after you again, he’ll end up splattered across the pavement just like his mother.”

Then, she barked at me, “Now get on your knees in front of Peter. Grovel until he tells you he is satisfied.”

The officer instantly kicked me hard behind the knees. I fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

Ruth grabbed my head and slammed it against the floor several times.

My head spun violently. A curtain of red swallowed my vision.

Only after she had slammed my head against the floor countless times did Peter finally put on a fake show of mercy.

“Alright, I’ll let this go for Ruth’s sake. But if there’s a next time, I won’t be so forgiving.”

Ruth immediately let go of my head and wrapped her arms around him.

“Don’t worry, Peter. As long as I’m here, I won’t let him hurt you again.”

Then, she turned toward me and said coldly, “Go home and think about what you did. When you finally understand where you went wrong, then we’ll talk about remarriage. If you can’t help me, the least you could do is not hold me back. Take a lesson from Peter. Learn a little grace and good sense.”

A bitter, mocking smile had spread across my face.

She had forgotten that I was the one who stood beside her when she had nothing.

For her investments, I humbled myself and knelt before my father.

I even apologized to my brother just to secure business deals for her.

I was the reason the Davis family rose into high society. Yet, she actually claimed I had been holding her back.

If I had not donated part of my liver to save her from her liver cancer, I would have already become a titan of the business world.

I wandered the streets in a daze.

Suddenly, someone threw a hood over my face and dragged me into an alley.

Before I could process what had happened, fists and boots began to rain down on my body.

When I tried to fight back, bricks came crashing against my body one after another, forcing a mouthful of blood out of me.

“Disgusting fool, if you know what’s good for you, stay away from the Davis family!”

I had no idea how much time passed before they finally left.

Bracing myself against the ground, I forced myself back to my feet and clutched my throbbing stomach as I made my way to the hospital.

The doctor frowned the moment he saw the state I was in.

“You were already weakened after the liver transplant. It was bad enough that you refused to rest properly. Now, you’re doing this to yourself?”

I was walking out of the hospital while clutching my medical report when I suddenly heard a familiar voice.

I turned around and saw Ruth carefully helping Peter sit up in bed in a ward.

“Ruth, you lied about having terminal liver cancer just to keep Will tied to you back then. You made him donate part of his liver to you, then deliberately divorced and remarried him over and over again. You are not going to do the same thing to me someday, are you?”

“You are the man I love most, silly. How could I ever do that to you?

“Back then, I was the one who spread those rumors about his father trying to kill him. I was the one who drove his mother to jump off that building. I did it all so he would have no one left to turn to except me. He’s Michael Dauchy’s son, after all. Eventually, he would inherit shares from the family. When he has served his purpose, I’ll dump him and marry you.”

The words hit me like a thunderbolt. My mind went completely blank.

So, Ruth was the one who had driven my mother to her death. Tears streamed down my face.

I cried silently for a long time before finally pulling out my phone and making a call.

“Julienne, I’ll agree to the marriage alliance on one condition. I want the Davis family ruined. I want Ruth thrown right back to the bottom where she came from.”

The woman on the other end sounded instantly overwhelmed with excitement.

“I’m coming back to the country right now. Wait for me.”

The next morning, when I turned on my phone, I saw the headlines that flooded the internet.

[Davis Group Crushed by Joint Suppression From International Corporations! Investors Pull Out as Major Projects Collapse!]

I was still trying to process what was happening when someone opened the door. A tall, stunning woman with a cold, elegant presence strode inside.