The young men who were with Nicole noticed my expression and gathered around me.

"Isn't it true that you just made your son run two laps on a horse? Why did you end up like this?"

"You know, Nicole, he's acting pretty convincing. I'm about to take it seriously. Is dislocation really that painful? Is the sweat on his forehead so real?"

"He's acting exactly the same as he tried to pretend that your grandma's death wasn't because of him! Not bad, Ethan, your acting skills haven't deteriorated at all over the years!"

Nicole came over with her lover and looked me up and down with a frown.

She probably forgot what my expression was like before I went into shock from heartache, so like everyone else, she thought I was pretending.

Derrick stepped forward before her. He looked at me with disgust and pretended to be surprised as he watched the liquid flowing from between my son's legs.

"Oh my God, did your son wet his pants?!"

He deliberately raised his voice to draw everyone's attention to Ezra's legs.

"How did you teach your son, Ethan? He still can't hold his urine even at this age. Hahaha, you are the same, aren't you? Or else, why does Nicole dislike you so much?"

A huge feeling of shame overwhelmed Ezra and me and I almost could not breathe.

Ezra instinctively reached out his hand to Nicole for help, "Mom, help me, my body hurts so much, I feel so uncomfortable."

Unfortunately, she slapped her son's hand away in disgust.

"Shameful!"

After saying that hurtful word, she led everyone away and even the staff at the equestrian field did not take me and my son seriously, leaving me alone on the grass shouting for help.

Later, my son fainted and my heart skipped a beat, then I fainted too.

As soon as I woke up, I was here.

My eyes were sore and once again, I almost lost the child I raised with my own hands.

Derrick leaned his head against her head and his hand gently stroked her shoulder.

"It's all Mr. Cruise's fault for not teaching his son well. He just ran a few laps and he was already in the intensive care unit. Mr. Cruise is indeed a jinx. You and I rode back and forth so many times in the past, sweating profusely, but we were still fine and nothing happened to us."

He made the woman amused. She looked up and kissed him on the lips.

"How can he compare to you? If I had met you earlier and trusted you to raise that child, he would definitely be as strong and healthy as you."

She deliberately emphasized the last words, adding endless ambiguity.

I did not know how many times I had heard such hurtful words and every time I heard them, my heart ached a little more.

I would also always question her without long memory.

"You gave birth to him from your belly. How can you say such things!"

Every time it happened, Nicole would look at me coldly and drive me crazy without saying a word.

But now, I felt completely numb and felt nothing.

Perhaps it was because of the weakness of my body after just waking up from the shock, the cool breeze blowing in from the window made me feel particularly cold.

"Nicole, could you please help me close the window? I'm very cold. The doctor said that after waking up from shock, I need to rest more and not catch a cold. Thank you."

My voice was hoarse and my tone was indifferent.

That was what the doctor told me the first few times I went into shock.

Nicole's face was cold and her words were like a knife in the cold winter.

"You're just in a temporary state of heartache and shock and it's not like you've been in a car accident and are all in pieces. Why are you afraid of the cold? Are you using shock as an excuse to slack off and not go back to the manor to take care of my mom?"

After saying that, she was about to leave. She had been waiting here for half an hour and her patience had long been exhausted.

Before leaving, she deliberately opened all the windows.

"Tsk, not to catch a cold? I want to see what will happen if you catch a cold."

I listened to these words in silence, just like the previous five years, bearing her hatred alone.

But now, I was so tired. I did not want to bear the burden of her grandmother's death anymore, nor did I want to be the punching bag for the entire Steinfeld Family anymore.

Five years ago, the story of Cinderella and the Prince happened to Nicole and me.

When we were deeply in love, Nicole took me to the Steinfeld Family's manor.

Although the Steinfeld Family was a small family, they had been arranged marriages for several generations, except for Nicole.

She refused.

In the entire Steinfeld Family, no one really liked me. They all tried to please me for my money.

Only her grandmother, Harrieth Steinfeld.

Harrieth was over ninety years old and her health was gradually declining.

The failure of her organs forced her, who was once the most influential person in the Steinfeld Family, to step down and sit in a wheelchair.

She was the only person in the Steinfeld Family who truly supported my relationship with Nicole.

She liked me very much and she would often ask Nicole to call me to the Steinfeld Family's manor to accompany her.

She was the one who raised and took care of Nicole since she was a child. She often told me about Nicole's childhood.

But as she spoke, the aura around her became gloomy and sad.

In the broken story, I learned that Harrieth had a young confidant before her marriage arrangement.

However, everything was done out of necessity.

Later on, she could not even speak up.

But even so, she still agreed to my proposal to marry Nicole without bringing any gifts against everyone.

Though I did not bring any gifts, in the Cruise Family, the wife had always been in charge of the money when getting married.

So, after getting engaged, my parents and I handed over the financial power of our family to Nicole.

On the eve of the wedding preparations, Nicole and I took grandmother out for a walk.

While walking down a slope in the park, Harrieth wrote on a piece of paper that she was thirsty. Nicole ran out to buy some water and I stayed behind to look after her.

In this moment, she seemed to see an old friend and felt very excited.

I leaned on the wheelchair and looked around, but I did not see anyone.

"Ethan!"

Nicole's voice sounded behind me and I turned around.

In that moment, the wheelchair slid down the slope ....

My negligence caused a tragedy.

After handling Harrieth's funeral, Nicole still married me, but not because she loved me anymore, but because she hated me.

Out of guilt, I gave everything in the Cruise Family to Nicole, including the position of chief executive of the company.

After Nicole became wealthy, powerful and influential, she hated me even more.

She changed the name of the company from Cruise Group to Steinfeld Group and replaced the position of the Cruise Family in the company with the Steinfeld Family.

"Ethan, just stay trapped in the Steinfelds and struggle to make amends for the rest of your life!"

Not only Nicole, but everyone in the Steinfeld Family had pinned their anger and hatred on me.

During our married life, Nicole met a male model from a bar, Derrick Nolte.

The two were in love and their love was inseparable ....

As for me, I could only watch myself trapped in the quagmire of the Steinfeld Family, blaming myself and struggling with the loss of our two children, Nicole and myself.

And now.

"Mr. Cruise, I'm sorry. As a doctor, I have to tell you something. Your son who has just recovered from a severe cold should not do strenuous exercise. If he does, he will ... I'm sorry, your son died this morning. There is one more thing. You have had seven consecutive shocks in five years, which has caused great damage to your body and heart. From now on ... you may have to take medicine all year round. If you have another shock, you will most likely die. Even if you are saved, you will need a heart bypass surgery."

The doctor's words were very tactful and I naturally understood the meaning behind them.

I nodded calmly without saying a word.

"Do I need to tell Ms. Steinfeld about this?"

It was a private hospital under the Steinfeld Family. Although I was not on good terms with the Steinfeld Family and Nicole, it had not yet spread to outsiders.

Everyone only knew that I was not a favored husband and son-in-law of Nicole and the Steinfeld Family, but I was still respected.

I gave a bitter smile.

"No need to tell her."

As soon as the words fell, Nicole called.

Her voice was still lazy, yet mixed with a strong sense of malice.

"Are you dead? If you're not, come over to the villa. The condoms that Derrick and I usually use are gone and I'm not used to other ones. Do you know which brand I usually use? Send it to me and I'll send you the location via WhatsApp."

The phone hung up before I could reply.

The next moment, the address of the villa was sent to my phone.

If it were in the past, I would endure all the sadness, grief, or humiliation out of self-blame and atonement and humbly responded to everything Nicole asked me to do.

Just to make her hate me less, even less.

But now, I felt numb and I calmly clicked into Amazon to have an order.

My friend put down the porridge and choked up, tucking in the corner of my blanket.

"Ethan, do you have to be with Nicole? This is the seventh time you've been in shock and the third time you've seen your child die with your own eyes! What else does she want? What else does she want before she's willing to let you go? Does she have to torture you to death?"

I raised my hand to wipe away the tears from the corners of my eyes and gave him a soothing smile. He had been speaking up for me since he stepped into my ward.

"Don't worry, she can't do anything to me anymore."

Nicole was angry because I did not go to the villa in person to deliver the condoms.

She suspended my card and asked the doctor to kick me out of the hospital.

I packed my things and left the hospital, then went back to the Steinfeld Family's manor.

Since taking complete power, Nicole had destroyed the former Cruise Family's manor.

My parents were also unhappy about this. During the argument with her, she asked her bodyguards to hold me down and humiliate me, which made my parents so angry that they had a heart attack and died ....

The servants of the Steinfeld Family looked at me with contempt.

"Look, the jinx is back. He doesn't have the little bastard around him ... he won't be ... it's really hilarious."

"That's right, how many times has this happened? He can't even raise him and he still has the nerve to run here. If it were me, I would find a place to hide and never come out to see anyone again."

"We are just servants, but we are not as shameless as him, are we? So how can a shameless person like him become the son-in-law of a wealthy family?"

I calmly walked over the living room. Now, I could be indifferent to these words.

I came at a very unfortunate time, as Nicole and Derrick happened to be here to meet Rosie Steinfeld, my mother-in-law.

As soon as I stepped into the living room, Rosie slammed down the teacup in her hand, her voice sharp and harsh.

"Ethan, come here and kneel down in front of grandma's memorial tablet!"

My footsteps up the stairs paused. I always felt guilty towards grandmother.

I turned around and walked towards Harrieth's memorial photo.

Rosie got angry and did not even give me a mat. My knees ached as I knelt on the cold, hard floor.

I had not fully recovered yet and when the ruler hit my back, my heart began to hurt as well.

"Humph, tell me how many times this has happened! I only have a male dog, but I can raise several litters a year, right? And you? You're not even as good as an animal!"

"You should have prevented Nicole from getting pregnant, at least she would have been pure."